CULTURE
- “refers to the complex whole that includes knowledge,
belief, art, morale, law by man as a member of
society.”(Edward Taylor)
- is an organized body of conventional understandings
manifest in art and artifacts, which persisting through
tradition (Robert Redfield)
KINDS OF CULTURE
1. Material Culture - refers to the concrete and tangible
things that man creates and uses.
2. Non-material Culture - refers to non-material things or
intangible objects which the persons uses, follows,
profess, or strives to conform.
A. Beliefs - man’s perception about reality of things
and are shared ideas about how the environment
operates.
B. Knowledge - is a body facts and beliefs that
people acquire and accumulate over time. It may be
natural, supernatural, technical and magical.
C. Norms - guides or models of behavior which tell
how people should behave in a particular situation; what
people ought or not ought to do.
1. Folkways - are customary ways of behaving
which have become habitual and repetitive. These
are the simple way of people in doing things. The
forms of folkways are: customs and traditions.
Customs are repetitive ways of doing things such as
manner and style of dressing, marriage ceremony
etc. Traditions are ways of believing such as belief in
God, belief in life hereafter, belief in superstition.
2. Mores - are norms that become more
compulsive and necessary for the welfare of society
and take on moral significance.
3. Laws - these are formalized social norms
enacted by people and are enforced formally by a
special political organization.
4. Values - are abstract ideas of what are
desirable, correct and good that most members of a
society share.
5. Language - a system of symbols which have
specific and arbitrary meaning in a given society.
6. Fashion, Fads and Crazes - Fashion follows a
special pattern of behavior such that it spreads from
the upper levels of society downward.Fads are either
verbal or non-verbal (body piercing and tattooing)
which eventually dies out. Crazes are sometimes
called rages or social epidemics (hair coloring and
manicuring)
D. Sanctions - are prescribed norms of conduct
exposed by society to an individual for him to conform to
moral standards and accept those that are favorable to a
group.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
1. Culture is learned and acquired
2. Culture is shared and transmitted
3. Culture is adaptive or dynamic
4. Culture is cumulative
5. Culture is “ideational”
6. Culture gratifies human needs
7. Culture is social
8. Culture is integration
FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE
1. It serves as “trademark” of the people in a society
2. It gives meaning to man’s existence
3. Culture unifies diverse behavior
4. Culture provides social solidarity
5. Culture establishes social personality
6. Culture provides systematic behavioral pattern
7. Culture promotes meaning individual’s existence
8. Culture predicts social behavior
9. Culture provides social structure category
MODES OF ACQUIRING CULTURE
1. Imitation - imitate values, attitudes, language and all
other things in their social environment. Some of those
things imitated are internalized in their personality and
become part of their attitude, character and other
behavioral patterns.
2. Indoctrination or Suggestion - may take the form of
formal training or informal teaching. Formally, the
person learns from school. Informally, he may acquire
those behaviors from listening, watching, reading,
attending training activities or through interaction.
3. Conditioning - can be reinforced through reward or
punishment.
ADAPTATION OF CULTURE
1. Parallelism - same culture may take place in two or
more different places.
2. Diffusion - behavioral patterns that pass back and forth
from one culture to another.
3. Convergence - 2 or more cultures are fused or merged
into one culture making it different from the original
culture.
4. Fission - when people break away from their original
culture and start developing a culture of their own.
5. Acculturation - individuals incorporate the other
cultures into their own either voluntary or by force.
6. Assimilation - when a culture of a larger society is
adopted by a smaller society.
7. Accommodation - when the larger society and smaller
society are able to respect and tolerate each others
culture even if there is a prolonged contact of each
others culture.
OTHER CULTURAL CONCEPTS
1. Sub-culture - groups of people who do not want to
assimilate the culture of others or follow exactly the
culture of the society where they belong.
2. Culture shock - when people go to other places and are
confronted with a different culture of their own. A kind
of negative reaction is ensured.
3. Cultural Lag - when some parts of society’s cultural
pattern sometimes become outmoded in relation to
others due to rapid changes that could not cope with
innovation and modern changes.
4. Cultural Universal - commonly found in all human
cultures.
5. Cultural Dualism - a behavioral pattern of some Filipinos
in which 2 cultures or even more are being manifested
in the personality and character of a Filipino.
6. Cultural Relativism - is a cultural concept based on the
idea that culture is relative, that no culture is perfect,
good or bad.
7. Cultural Ethnocentrism - is a belief that one’s culture
is superior, right, and normal than other cultures.
8. Cultural Xenocentrism - is a belief that one’s culture
is inferior than the other cultures.

FILIPINO CULTURAL VALUES AND PRACTICES

Positive:
1. Balikatan System
2. Bayanihan System
3. Pakikisama or Conformity
4. Smooth Interpersonal Relationship
5. Pakikiramay
6. Compadre and Comadre System
7. Utang na Loob
8. Desire for Socio-Economic Improvement
9. Hospitality Value
10. Fiesta Celebration
Negative:
11. Indolence
12. Ningas-Kugon
13. Mañana Habit
14. Bahala Na
15. Indulging in Gambling
16. Hiya Complex
17. Amor propio
18. Lagay and Areglo
19. Palakasan Scheme
20. Use of Euphemestic Expression
21. The suerte, tadhana, malas, and buenas forms of
Fatalism
22. Existence of spirits, ghosts and supernatural being
23. Gaya-gaya Practice
24. Karma