UNDERSTANDIN

G CULTURE,
SOCIETY AND
POLITICS
 SOCIOLOG
Y

cultural
practices social forces
FACES OF
THE
SOCIAL
ANTHROPOLOG
power POLITICAL
Y
relations SCIENCE
 MATCHING TYPE
Examine the two sets of words/concepts below. Match each word/concept in set A with a word/concept in set
B by connecting their respective dots with a line.

Sociological imagination The search for the social

Social map Political science
Traditions Sociology
Power relations Social lens
Social forces
Anthropology
Social sciences Perspective
Connecting personal life with history Social locations
CULTURE, SOCIETY AND POLITICS AS
CONCEPTUAL TOOLS
Culture, society, and politics are concepts. They exist in the realm of ideas
and thoughts. As such, they cannot be seen or touched and yet they
influence the way we see and experience our individual and collective lives
as social beings.
Students as Social Beings
The way we live our lives or should we say, the way we are being steered to live our lives -
presupposes omnipotent forces shaping the very fabric of our existence.

Our categories as male/female, rich/ poor, or tall/short, and even the problematic effect of the color
of our skin are evidences of the operation of these social forces.

Of all the social labels attached to members of society, gender appears to be the most fundamental,
intrusive, and limiting. The personal traits and social positions that members of a society attach to
being male or female reflect this insight.

Even before we see the first light of day, our world is already being organized by society: as boys or
girls, we have been assigned appropriate colors, toys, clothes, mannerisms, etiquette, careers to
pursue, and choice of mate.

In short, the totality of our sociality has already been constructed for us.
SOCIAL REALITIES: BEHAVIOR AND PHENOMENON
There are times that we find ourselves in a situation unlike other
situations.

• Istambay
• lagay
• food taboos
• same sex partnership
• use of a go-between/padrino
ISTAMBAY
Gary graduated a year ago. Despite being blessed with several job offers, he chose to
remain jobless and hang around with his barkada. Together they love to istambay in the
town plaza especially at night.

LAGAY
As a businessman, Mang Leo is used to giving "padulas" (or lagay) to his main suppliers
in order to expedite his business transactions with them.

FOOD TABOOS
Members of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church are strongly prohibited from eating pork
and food with blood, as well as from smoking and drinking alcoholic beverages.

SAME SEX PARTNERSHIP

Darius is openly gay. He lives with his partner Garner. He and Garner are both college
professors in the local city college.

USE OF A GO-BETWEEN/PADRINO
If grades were to be the basis of Rusty's standing in his economics
class, he would surely fail the course. However, he was given a
passing grade by his economics teacher, who happened to be a
childhood friend of his mother.
VALUES AND BELIEFS AS BEHAVIOR MOTIVATORS
Values are a person's or a collectivity's principles or standards of behavior
and are considered as judgment of what is important in life.

Values are the criteria people use in assessing their daily lives, arranging
their priorities, and choosing between alternative courses of action.

Belief, on the other hand, is something one accepts as true or real. More
often than not, belief takes the form of firmly held opinion or conviction,
regardless of the lack of verifiable evidence. Beliefs may be based on
tradition, faith, experience, scientific research, or some combination of
these. Both values and beliefs are commonly shared by a particular
culture.
 SOCIAL DYNAMICS:
SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND CULTURAL CHANGE

• Selfieing
• Political Dynasty
• transnational families
• youth volunteerism
• video gaming
SELFIEING
Taking "selfies" is Alyssa's preoccupation. It became a habit when her parents gave her
a phone on her birthday.
POLITICAL DYNASTY
Kapitan Tim is the incumbent mayor of the City of Amin-Amin. His son, Timmy Jr. is
currently running for the congressional seat of the district, a position occupied by his
mother Cong. Valencia for about three consecutive terms.
TRANSNATIONAL FAMILIES
Amina, a college student, is living alone in Manila. Both of her parents are OFWs
working in the Middle East. She visits them every summer break.

YOUTH VOLUNTEERISM
As a youth volunteer, Verna finds the rainy season a busy season due to the frequency
of typhoon-related disasters. Sometimes she even spends her own money to buy relief
goods for typhoon victims.

VIDEO GAMING
Michael almost missed the chance to finish high school because he
had been absent most of the time playing Clash of Clans (COC).
 What is common among the scenarios is that they may all be
considered as manifestations of cultural and political changes. New
technological platforms facilitating communication, self-expression,
and interactions represent the cultural change, while possession and
expressions of power represent the political change.
 MY BIOLOGY, MY DESTINY
Write 10-15 sentence paragraph describing how your
gender (male or female) may be the reason for the kind of
the social person you are today. highlight the significant
opportunities that have been afforded to you, as well as the
constraints you constantly encounter as you navigate the
social world.
 Activity 1
● marriage ceremony • suicide Culture Society Politics
● type of government • national flag
● table manners • diet/food
● respect for old people • language
● sports • house designs
● women in labor force • contractualization
● religion • inheritance
● accent • weaving designs
• crime
• women as government officials
• value of children
• clothing
Activity 2
In two paragraph essay, describe your feelings
toward a specific nationality (e.g., Koreans,
Iranians, Americans and etc.). State why you like or
dislike them.
 SOCIETY AS CONCEPT
In two paragraph essay, describe your feelings
toward a specific nationality (e.g., Koreans,
Iranians, Americans and etc.). State why you like or
dislike them.
CULTURE
CULTURE
● It is a complex whole that encompasses beliefs, practices, values, attitudes, laws,
norms, artifacts, symbols, and knowledge that a person learns and shares as a
member of society.
● It refers to an organization of phenomena that is dependent upon symbols and
includes acts (patterns of behavior), objects (material things), ideas (beliefs and
knowledge), and sentiments (attitudes and values). It transcends among different
groups, regardless of age, gender, economic status, and affiliations.
● culture is the structure that unifies a human group and gives it an identity as a
society.
● culture encompasses our ways of thinking and acting and the material objects
that together form a people's way of life.
● Culture is also dynamic, flexible, and adaptive.
 NONMATERIA
MATERIAL l
CULTURE CULTURE
Material culture refers Nonmaterial culture
to the physical aspects of includes creations and
a society, the objects abstract ideas that are not
made or modified by a embodied in physical
human. These objects objects. In other words,
surround a people and its any intangible products
activities and are defined created and shared
by their properties, be between the members of a
they chemical, physical, culture over time are
 IDEAL AND REAL CULTURE
Crapo (2001) defines ideal culture as to how people describe their way of life,
while real culture refers to the actual behavior of people in society.
 ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
1. NORMS
2. BELIEFS
3. SYMBOLS
4. LANGUAGE
5. VALUES
 ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
1. NORMS a.Folkways
2. BELIEFS b.Mores
3. SYMBOLS c.Laws
Norms are essential in society because
4. LANGUAGE the majority of the people pattern their
way of living after them. Through these
5. VALUES norms, people can distinguish good
from bad, depending on the norm of
their society. However, norms are
complex standards – each has different
kinds and severities.
 ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
1. NORMS
2. It is define as how people make
sense of their experiences or ideas
BELIEFS
3. SYMBOLS that people hold to be true, factual,
and real.
4. LANGUAGE
5. VALUES
 ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
1. NORMS
Symbols are illustrations used to
2. BELIEFS
3. represent a particular meaning of
something. A symbol may be
SYMBOLS anything that is used to represent,
4. LANGUAGE express, and/or stand for an event,
situation, person, or idea.
5. VALUES
 ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
1. NORMS Language is defined as the system
2. BELIEFS of symbols that individuals utilize to
communicate, interact, and share
3. SYMBOLS their views, thus, creating an
4. understanding among individuals. It
LANGUAGE is considered one of the greatest
5. VALUES inventions of man since language is
an essential tool in teaching and
transferring knowledge from one
generation to the other.
 ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
1. NORMS Values help shape a society by
2. BELIEFS suggesting what is good and bad,
beautiful and ugly, sought or
3. SYMBOLS avoided.
4. LANGUAGE
5. VALUES
 CHAPTER 2

HUMAN
BIOCULTURAL
AND
SOCIOPOLITICAL
EVOLUTION
At the end of the Lesson, the learners will
be able to:

• Trace the development of human race

• Understand the significance of material
remains
Guide Questions:

1. What do you think distinguishes humans from

animals?
2. Does the evolution matters?
3. Does human exist because of evolution?
 Homo Sapiens
Homo
Neanderthalensis
Homo Erectus
“Java Man”
Homo Habilis

Modern
Human

Revolution of
technology

Revolution of Revolution of Revolution of

tool usage fire and language
hunting
 Paleolithic Age – 2.5M to 10,000 years ago
 Neolithic Evolution – 8,000 years ago
 Copper Age – 6,000 years ago
 Bronze Age – 4,000 to 3,500 years ago
 Iron Age - 1,200 to 550 years ago
 Democratization – 508 years ago
 Paleolithic Age
The term "Paleolithic" has been derived from two Greek words paleo which means "Old,"
and lithic which means "stone.' " Thus, Paleolithic Age pertains to the Old Stone Period. It
is believed to be the earliest stage of human development, which took place about 2.5
million years ago to 10 thousand years ago. This stage is subdivided into Lower, Middle,
and Upper Phases.
LOWER: 2.5M to 40,000 years ago
MIDDLE: 250,000 to 10,000 years ago
UPPER: 100,000 to 10,000 years ago