Module 1: Understanding Culture, Society and Politics- Some Key Observation At the end of this module the student should be able to:
- Articulate observation on human cultural variations, social differences, and social change and political identities
- Demonstrate curiosity and an openness to explore the origins and dynamics of culture and society and political identities.
- Trace the link between behavior and culture through observation and analysis Motivation:
Activity 1
Directions: 1. Get one whole sheet of paper. 2. Write your name inside the circle.
3. Draw figure 1 on the sheet of paper
4. Write the following information of yourself in the 4 spaces: a. gender b. socio-economic class c. ethnicity d. religion
Directions: Based on the output from the previous activity, the teacher will ask the students to discuss their observations based on the following questions: 1. What are the similarties and differences of every individual? 2. Do these similarities and differences affect the life of the whole community? Why? The teacher will give each group a time frame of 2 minutes to present their answers group outputs. Processing of answers shall follow.
Culture, Society and Politucs 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 the influence the way we see and experience our individual and collective social beings.
Concepts are created and have been used to have firm grasp of a phenomenon. Just like any other words, concepts nare initially invented as icons to capture phenomena and in the process assist the users/inventors to describve facets of social experience in relation to the phenomena concerned. What is interesting about concepts is that as conceptual tools, they allow us to form other concepts, or relate concepts to each other or even deconstruct old ones and replace them with something new.
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. The categories that we posses as individuals—labels that are ascribed or given to us individually and collectively—are testament to the operation of these forces which leave us unsuspecting of their intrusive and punitive implications in our lives. 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. Our sociality is defined by the very categories that we possess, the categories assigned to us by the society at large. These labels so to speak, function, as tags with which our society read our worth and value. These categories that we posses are not natural; rather they are socially constructed. Identity
Identity is the distinctive characteristic that defines an individual or is shared by those belonging to a particular group. People may have multiple identities depending on the groups to which they belong.
Module 2
The Scope of Anthropology, Sociology and Political Science
Lesson 1: The Need for Studying Social, Cultural, and Political Behavior through Science At the end of this module the student can
1. appreciate the value of disciplines of Anthropology, Sociology, and Political Science as social sciences.
2. Understand the shared concerns of sociology, anthropology and political science A. The Holistic Study of Humanity: Anthropology
Definition and Scope of Anthropology
Anthropology is derived from two Greek words anthropos and logos, which intensively studies human and the respective cultures where they were born and actively belong to.
It is considered the father or even grandfather of all social and behavioral sciences like sociology, economics and psychology, to name a few. The discipline had its humble beginnings with early European explorers and their accounts which produced initial impressions about the native peoples they encountered In their explorations.
The father of American anthropology, Franz Boaz, a physicist, strongly believed that the same method and strategy could be applied in measuring culture and human behavior while conducting research among humans including uniqueness of their cultures.
Two American anthropologists Alfred Kroeber and William Henry Morgan, became prominent in their field since their specialization included the championing of indigenous rights like traditional cultural preservation and ancestral domain of the American Indian tribes they intensively studied.
Historical Beginnings
Ruth Benedict became a specialist in anthropology and folklore and authored the famous book Patterns of Culture.
The field of anthropology offers several topics for relevant research and discussion in various academic fields since its distinct way of data gathering from their respondents applies participant observation which is central to ethnography. Bronislaw Malinowski is the founding father of this strategy.
Sociology and the Sociological Perspective
Sociology is the study of society, social institutions, and social relationships. Sociology is interested in describing and explaining human behavior, especially as it occurs within a social context (Merriam-Webster).
Studying sociology is practical and useful. A social beings, we gain understanding of how the social world operates and of our place in it. C.Wright Mills (1959) calls it sociological imagination which he defined as “the vivid awareness of the relationship between private experience and the wider society.”
Sociology’s point of view is distinct from other sciences. Peter Berger explains that the perspective of sociology enables us to see “general patterns in particular events” (Macionis, 2010). This means finding general patterns in particular events. The first systematic study on suicide provides a good example. Emile Durkheim’s pioneering study on suicide in the 1800s revealed that there are categories of people who are more likely to commit suicide.
History of Sociology as Science
Sociology emerged with the two of the most significant social and political revolution in the history. The French Revolution of 1789, along with the Industrial Revolution in England during the 18th century, tremendously changed people’s lives.
Early Thinkers
August Comte (1798-1857) is the person who “invented” sociology in 1842, by bringing together the Greek word socius or “companion” and the Latin word logy or “study”. He originally used “social physics” as a term for sociology. Its aim was to discover the social laws that govern the development of society. Comte suggested that there were three stages in the development of societies, namely the theological stage, the metaphysical stage, and the positive stage.
The founding mother of sociology is Harriet Martineau (1802-1876), an English writer and reformist. In her accounts in her book How to Observe Morals and Manners (1838), the deep sociological insights we call now ethnographic narratives are fully expressed.
Karl Marx (1818-1883), a German philosopher and revolutionary further contributed to the development of sociology. Marx introduced the materialist analysis of history which discounts metaphysical explanation for historical development. Before Marx, scholars explain social change through divine intervention and the theory of “great men”.
Marx is the forerunner of the conflict theory. He wrote the Communist Manifesto a book that is focused on the misery of the lower class (working class) caused by the existing social order. He reiterated that political revolution was vital in the evolutionary process of the society, the only means to achieve improvement of social conditions.
Emile Durkheim (1864-1920) a French sociologist who put forward the idea that individuals are more products rather than the creator of society; the society itself is external to the individual. In his book Suicide, Durkheim proved that social forces strongly impact on people’s lives and that seemingly personal event is not personal after all.
Max Weber (1864-1920) Weber stressed the role of rationalization in the development of society. For Weber, rationalization refers essentially to the disenchantment of the world. As science began to replace religion, people also adopted a scientific or rational attitude to the world. People refused to believe in myths and superstitious beliefs.
C. The Study of Politics: Political Science
Guide Questions: 1. Why is there a need for politics? 2. Can we exist without politics?
Political Science is part of the social sciences that deals with the study of politics, power, and government. In turn, politics refers to “ the process of making collective decisions in a community, society, or group through application of influence and power” (Ethridge and Handelman 2010, p.8). Political Science studies how even the most private and personal decisions of individuals are influence by collective decisions of a community. “The personal is political.”
Politics
Generally, politics is associated with how power is gained and employed to develop authority and influence on social affairs. It can also be used to promulgate guiding rules to govern the state. It is also a tactic for upholding collaboration among members of a community, whether from civil or political organizations.
Concept of Politics
Politics is allied with government which is considered as the ultimate authority. It is the primary role of the government to rule the society by stipulating and transmitting the basic laws that will supervise the freedom of the people. Each form of government possesses power to attain order that should lead toward social justice.
Politics as Science
Science is commonly defined as the knowledge derived from experiment and observation systematically done. Policy-making and government decisions should be done through proper research, social investigation, analysis, validation, planning, execution and evaluation. Thus, politics is a science.
Module 3
Theoretical Foundations of Culture, Society and Politics
Humans seek explanations about why things happen. Each person has ideas about the nature of existence, motion, and relationships. Our ideas come from everywhere- from experiences, conversations, materials we read, media we access, our teachers, family friends and foes—all these are sources of ideas.
A. What is a Theory?
Theory explains how some aspect of human behavior or performance is organized. It thus enables us to make predictions about that behavior.
The components of theory are concepts (ideally well defined) and principles.
A concept is a symbolic representation of an actual thing - tree, chair, table, computer, distance, etc. Construct is the word for concepts with no physical referent - democracy, learning, freedom, etc. Language enables conceptualization.
A principle expresses the relationship between two or more concepts or constructs. In the process of theory development, one derives principles based on one’s examining/questioning how things/concepts are related.
Concepts and principles serve two important functions:
1) They help us to understand or explain what is going on around us. 2) They help us predict future events (Can be causal or correlational)
Theories are crucial to science because they provide a logical framework for making sense out of
scientific observations. In sociology, a theory is a set of general assumptions about the nature of society. B. Theoretical Paradigms
Macro vs. Micro view
Sociologists may study human society by focusing on the large social phenomena or “the big picture”, such a social institutions and inequality to see how it operates. This is the macro view. They can also zero in on the immediate social situation where people interact with one another or looking at the situational patterns of social interaction. This is the micro view.
Sociologists analyze social phenomena at different levels and from different perspectives. From concrete interpretations to sweeping generalizations of society and social behavior, sociologists study everything from specific events (the micro level of analysis of small social patterns) to the “big picture” (the macro level of analysis of large social patterns).
The pioneering European sociologists, however, also offered a broad conceptualization of the fundamentals of society and its workings. Their views form the basis for today's theoretical perspectives, or paradigms, which provide sociologists with an orienting framework—a philosophical position—for asking certain kinds of questions about society and its people.
Sociologists today employ three primary theoretical perspectives: the symbolic interactionist perspective, the functionalist perspective, and the conflict perspective. These perspectives offer sociologists theoretical paradigms for explaining how society influences people, and vice versa. Each perspective uniquely conceptualizes society, social forces, and human behavior (see Table 1).
The symbolic interactionist perspective
The symbolic interactionist perspective, also known as symbolic interactionism, directs sociologists to consider the symbols and details of everyday life, what these symbols mean, and how people interact with each other. Although symbolic interactionism traces its origins to Max Weber's assertion that individuals act according to their interpretation of the meaning of their world, the American philosopher George H. Mead (1863–1931) introduced this perspective to American sociology in the 1920s.
According to the symbolic interactionist perspective, people attach meanings to symbols, and then they act according to their subjective interpretation of these symbols. Verbal conversations, in which spoken words serve as the predominant symbols, make this subjective interpretation especially evident. The words have a certain meaning for the “sender,” and, during effective communication, they hopefully have the same meaning for the “receiver.” In other terms, words are not static “things”; they require intention and interpretation. Conversation is an interaction of symbols between individuals who constantly interpret the world around them. Of course, anything can serve as a symbol as long as it refers
to something beyond itself. Written music serves as an example. The black dots and lines become more than mere marks on the page; they refer to notes organized in such a way as to make musical sense. Thus, symbolic interactionists give serious thought to how people act, and then seek to determine what meanings individuals assign to their own actions and symbols, as well as to those of others.
Consider applying symbolic interactionism to the American institution of marriage. Symbols may include wedding bands, vows of life-long commitment, a white bridal dress, a wedding cake, a Church ceremony, and flowers and music. American society attaches general meanings to these symbols, but individuals also maintain their own perceptions of what these and other symbols mean. For example, one of the spouses may see their circular wedding rings as symbolizing “never ending love,” while the other may see them as a mere financial expense. Much faulty communication can result from differences in the perception of the same events and symbols.
Critics claim that symbolic interactionism neglects the macro level of social interpretation—the “big picture.” In other words, symbolic interactionists may miss the larger issues of society by focusing too closely on the “trees” (for example, the size of the diamond in the wedding ring) rather than the “forest” (for example, the quality of the marriage). The perspective also receives criticism for slighting the influence of social forces and institutions on individual interactions.
The functionalist perspective
According to the functionalist perspective, also called functionalism, each aspect of society is interdependent and contributes to society's functioning as a whole. The government, or state, provides education for the children of the family, which in turn pays taxes on which the state depends to keep itself running. That is, the family is dependent upon the school to help children grow up to have good jobs so that they can raise and support their own families. In the process, the children become law-abiding, taxpaying citizens, who in turn support the state. If all goes well, the parts of society produce order, stability, and productivity. If all does not go well, the parts of society then must adapt to recapture a new order, stability, and productivity. For example, during a financial recession with its high rates of unemployment and inflation, social programs are trimmed or cut. Schools offer fewer programs. Families tighten their budgets. And a new social order, stability, and productivity occur.
Functionalists believe that society is held together by social consensus, or cohesion, in which members of the society agree upon, and work together to achieve, what is best for society as a whole. Emile Durkheim suggested that social consensus takes one of two forms:
Mechanical solidarity is a form of social cohesion that arises when people in a society maintain similar values and beliefs and engage in similar types of work. Mechanical solidarity most commonly occurs in traditional, simple societies such as those in which everyone herds cattle or farms. Amish society exemplifies mechanical solidarity.
In contrast, organic solidarity is a form of social cohesion that arises when the people in a society are interdependent, but hold to varying values and beliefs and engage in varying types of work.
Organic solidarity most commonly occurs in industrialized, complex societies such those in large American cities like New York in the 2000s.
The functionalist perspective achieved its greatest popularity among American sociologists in the 1940s and 1950s. While European functionalists originally focused on explaining the inner workings of social order, American functionalists focused on discovering the functions of human behavior. Among these American functionalist sociologists is Robert Merton (b. 1910), who divides human functions into two types: manifest functions are intentional and obvious, while latent functions are unintentional and not obvious. The manifest function of attending a church or synagogue, for instance, is to worship as part of a religious community, but its latent function may be to help members learn to discern personal from institutional values. With common sense, manifest functions become easily apparent. Yet this is not necessarily the case for latent functions, which often demand a sociological approach to be revealed. A sociological approach in functionalism is the consideration of the relationship between the functions of smaller parts and the functions of the whole.
Functionalism focuses on social order. Emile Durkheim differentiates two forms of social order. The first is mechanical solidarity. It is a type of social cohesion that develops when people do similar work. Most, often it exists in small scale traditional societies. The second is organic solidarity. It is a type of social cohesion that is formed in a society whose members work in specialized jobs.
Functionalism has received criticism for neglecting the negative functions of an event such as divorce. Critics also claim that the perspective justifies the status quo and complacency on the part of society's members. Functionalism does not encourage people to take an active role in changing their social environment, even when such change may benefit them. Instead, functionalism sees active social change as undesirable because the various parts of society will compensate naturally for any problems that may arise.
The conflict perspective
The conflict perspective, which originated primarily out of Karl Marx's writings on class struggles, presents society in a different light than do the functionalist and symbolic interactionist perspectives. While these latter perspectives focus on the positive aspects of society that contribute to its stability, the conflict perspective focuses on the negative, conflicted, and ever-changing nature of society. Unlike functionalists who defend the status quo, avoid social change, and believe people cooperate to effect social order, conflict theorists challenge the status quo, encourage social change (even when this means social revolution), and believe rich and powerful people force social order on the poor and the weak. Conflict theorists, for example, may interpret an “elite” board of regents raising tuition to pay for esoteric new programs that raise the prestige of a local college as self-serving rather than as beneficial for students.
Whereas American sociologists in the 1940s and 1950s generally ignored the conflict perspective in favor of the functionalist, the tumultuous 1960s saw American sociologists gain considerable interest in
conflict theory. They also expanded Marx's idea that the key conflict in society was strictly economic. Today, conflict theorists find social conflict between any groups in which the potential for inequality exists: racial, gender, religious, political, economic, and so on. Conflict theorists note that unequal groups usually have conflicting values and agendas, causing them to compete against one another. This constant competition between groups forms the basis for the ever-changing nature of society.
Critics of the conflict perspective point to its overly negative view of society. The theory ultimately attributes humanitarian efforts, altruism, democracy, civil rights, and other positive aspects of society to capitalistic designs to control the masses, not to inherent interests in preserving society and social order.
Doing Research in the Social Science
At the end of this module, the students are expected to:
1. Identify the subjects of inquiry and goals of Anthropology, Political Science and Sociology 2. Explain the nature of social research and its importance to society
3. Distinguish scientific method from common sense
4. Discuss some of the major methods used in the social science 5. Explore the political and ethical issues in social research 6.
One of the strongest features of science is that it can correct our seriously flawed cognition and give us an unfiltered view of reality. Most people put a lot of faith into relying on common sense and intuition, but as any social scientist will tell you, this faith is misplaced.
Science helps us to understand the universe by freeing us from a reliance on gut-feelings or unchecked reasoning hopelessly rooted in the unsystematic software of our brains. Common sense, as a product of this software, will never get us as far as we may wish.
Science, as a way of thinking, possesses many vital qualities for true understanding that common sense does not. Based on observations we make, science operates under theories, constantly revised and checked by experiment. Based on the required validity that we need to make judgments, science tests its own propositions, throwing out the theories which do not fit our world. Science also has controls, or ways of eliminating other explanations that may fit our preconceptions and intuitions but do not adequately explain phenomena. Causation, itself crucial to decision-making and judgment, can only reliably be determined through analytical methods that common sense pretends to involve but does not. Lastly, science rules out the metaphysical (so far). Common sense allows us to believe that ghosts, goblins, and angels run amok throughout our world, themselves causal agents of events in our lives. To suggest that angels cured your disease, and not modern medicine, for example, is exactly why common sense is such a poor master.
We will take all of these components in turn. Hopefully, by the end, you will realize that the chains of intuition and common sense that bind you should be cast off, unless you prefer the darkness of ignorant assumption.
Theory
Theories construct the enterprise of science. A theory is an abstraction that applies to variety of circumstances, explaining relationships and phenomena, based upon objective evidence. For example, evolution is a theory that applies to a wide range of phenomena (the diversity of life, development, etc.),
and explains the observations of said phenomena, all of which is based upon evidence. Gravity too is a theory, explaining the phenomena that we observe in interactions of bodies with mass.
Common sense has no structure to it, is explicitly subjective, and is subject to all manner of cognitive biases. There is no need for testing, replication, or verification when you are reasoning for yourself. No checks for you to pass or fail, no peers reviewing. It is no wonder why science is so much better at explaining things.
Testing/Verification
Unlike common sense or intuition, science systematically and empirically tests theories and hypothesis. This is important when viewed in the light that psychological research shows us that the default mode of human information processing includes the confirmation bias, which is a form of selective testing, and unworthy of scientific thinking.
If unchecked, most people intuitively notice or select ideas, beliefs, or facts that fit within what they already assume the world to be like and dismiss the rest. Common sense reasoning has no problem with the idea that the Sun goes around the Earth because it sure looks like it does, doesn’t it? Humans already feel like they are the center of the universe, why not accept a belief that confirms that notion? Science is free from such constraints.
Controls
Science controls for possibly extraneous sources of influence. The lay public does not control for such possibilities, and therefore the chains of causation and explanation become tangled.
When trying to explain a phenomena, science rigorously excludes factors that may affect an outcome so that it can be sure where the real relationships are. Common sense has no such control. The person who believes that a full moon increases the rate of crime does not control this hypothesis. Without control they may never see that statistics speak to the contrary. Assuming a connection is never as meaningful as proving one.
Correlation and Causation
Science systematically and conscientiously pursues “real” relationships backed by theory and evidence. Common sense does not. Common sense leads us to believe that giving children sugar causes them to be more hyper. Science shows us that this is not the case. We see possible correlations everywhere, but that does not mean much if we can’t prove it. “It seems right” is not enough.
When we use science to actually establish causation, it is for the betterment of society. For a long time the tobacco industry would have us believe that smoking did not lead to lung cancer, it is merely a
correlation. Medical science has now shown unequivocally that smoking causes lung cancer. How could common sense ever lead us to this healthy conclusion? Would common sense ever intuit that smoke hurts your lungs or that it contains harmful chemicals? It may seem like common sense now, but remember that hindsight is 20/20. People who began smoking 60 years ago had no clue that it was harmful. Even children smoked back then. Could common sense ever grasp the methodological measures required to prove such a harmful connection? I do not think so. That’s why we use science. Metaphysics
Science rules out untestable, “metaphysical” explanations where common sense does not. That which cannot be observed (at least tangentially) or tested is of no concern to science. This is why religious-based explanations of scientific concepts, i.e. creationism, is not a science and has no business in the science classroom.
Ghosts and goblins may be thought to be the causes of many a shenanigan, but their reluctance to be tested or observed renders them, at least scientifically, non-existent. If they have no effects that cannot be explained naturally, if they are invisible, if they interact with no one and are only revealed in
anecdotes, what is the difference between those qualities and non-existence? Metaphysical explanations so far offer nothing to the understanding of the natural world. Common sense invokes them heavily, see the problem?
We are just not as smart as we think we are and common sense won’t help rectify that. It did not lead us to invent microwaves, planes, space shuttles, cell phones, satellites, particle accelerators, or skyscrapers, nor did it to the discovery of other galaxies, cures for infectious disease, or radioactivity, science did. Everything that makes your life better than those who came before us is due to science. You would probably not live past 40 if it wasn’t for scientific thinking.
You may amble your way through life, with a common sense master, assuming connections and learning little, but only a scientific structure of thought will teach you about the universe. And what else could you do with your short time in the sun other than contribute to human understanding of the greatest mysteries?
The Emancipatory Potential of the Social Science
Based on the preceding section by using scientific method, the social science can contribute greatly to the elimination of prejudices against certain groups of people such as racism, sexism, and cultural ethnocentrism. It enable people to become open minded an welcoming of other beliefs and practices no matter how foreign or alien. They can also predict future events that would allow people to mitigate
dangers, risk and casualties. It also helps people to better understand other people’s way of life. By studying scientifically, people may come to realize that society can be controlled to a certain degree. It is transformative insofar as it allows the social scientist to imagine an alternative way of life or direction for the future. In this sense, social sciences like natural sciences are revolutionary.
Two Basic Methods in the Social Sciences
Social Research- methods and techniques that go into the investigation of social phenomena in order to understand and interpret the occurrence of such phenomena.
Qualitative Research is primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research. Qualitative Research is also used to uncover trends in thought and opinions, and dive deeper into the problem. Qualitative data collection methods vary using unstructured or semi-structured techniques. Some common methods include focus groups (group discussions), individual interviews, and participation/observations. The sample size is typically small, and respondents are selected to fulfill a given quota.
Quantitative Research is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data or data that can be transformed into useable statistics. It is used to quantify attitudes, opinions, behaviors, and other defined variables – and generalize results from a larger sample population. Quantitative Research uses measurable data to formulate facts and uncover patterns in research. Quantitative data collection methods are much more structured than Qualitative data collection methods. Quantitative data collection methods include various forms of surveys – online surveys, paper surveys, mobile surveys and kiosk surveys, face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, longitudinal studies, website interceptors, online polls, and systematic observations.
Ethics and Politics of Social Research
In the past, social scientist have debated among themselves and even outside their disciplines the question of political nature of doing research. They asked controversial questions like “Can science be free of values and prejudices?” “Should social research be politically neutral?” Traditionally, the answers to these questions were provided by those who work within the positivist tradition in the social sciences. Many of the social scientist and researchers believed in the objectivity and neutrality of social science research. They believed that social research should not criticize existing social beliefs and practices; instead it should only focus on describing accurately what is happening in the world.
Today, with the advent of of post colonial critique of Western science (based on indigenous knowledge systems)., the feminist critique of science, the postmodern critique of positivism, and the growing assertion of humanistic tradition in the social sciences like hermeneutics (or the study of textual interpretation), phenomenology (used in qualitative observation), and other qualitative methodologies, many social scientist believe that the personal and political values of the social scientist as well as the
community to which they belong to have a great impact of the formulation analysis, and interpretation of research.
Reflexivity is the conscious effort of the social researcher to be aware of the social conflicts and power struggle that underlie one’s subject of research.
“Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.—Karl Marx
Evaluation:
Read the newspaper. Based on the headlines, what particular social issue do you think is worth researching using the method of the social sciences? Write one page presentation of the issue using the following outline:
Topic or issue (title)
Background of the study (Why did you choose the topic?)
Method (the technique and processes that will be used to gather data, whether survey or not, qualitative or quantitative, the sample size, respondents, etc
At the end of this module the student shoud be able to:
1. Explain how society and its institutions shape individuals
2. Describe the construction of society through the hidden rules of society
Concept of Society
In order to concretize society mainstream sociologists have tended to define it as structure that is a recognizable network of inter-relating institutions.
The word recognizable is crucial in its context because it suggests that the way in which societies differ from one another depends on the manner in which their particular institutions are inter-connected. The notion that societies are structured depends upon their reproduction over time. In this respect the term institution is crucial. To speak of institutionalized forms of social conduct is to refer to modes of belief and behaviors that occur and recur are socially reproduced. While we may subscribe to the arguments that society is both structured and reproduced the Marxist account attempts to provide us with a basis for understanding how particular social formations arise and correspond with particular mode of production. Society is not a static or peace-fully evolving structure but is conceived of as the tentative solution to the conflicts arising out of antagonistic social relations of production. Frequently social scientists emphasize the cultural aspect of social relationships. In doing so they see society as being made possible by the shared understanding of its members. Because human beings exist in a linguistic and symbolic universe that they themselves have constructed the temptation is to construe society as a highly complex symbolic and communication system.
This stress on culture is associated with the notion that society is underpinned by ideas and values. Society is a process in which people continuously interact with one another, the key terms are negotiation, self, other, reflexivity the implication being that society is constituted and reconstituted in social interaction. Society is not imposed upon people in the processual definition rather it has to be accepted and confirmed by participants. Each interaction episode contains within it the possibility of innovation and change. So against the view of society that sees it as structure the process view asserts that people make structure.
Definitions of Society
August Comte the father of sociology saw society as a social organism possessing a harmony of structure and function. Emile Durkheim the founding father of the modern sociology treated society as a reality in its own right..
According to Talcott Parsons Society is a total complex of human relationships in so far as they grow out of the action in terms of means-end relationship intrinsic or symbolic.
G.H Mead conceived society as an exchange of gestures which involves the use of symbols.
Morris Ginsberg defines society as a collection of individuals united by certain relations or mode of behavior which mark them off from others who do not enter into these relations or who differ from them in behavior. Cole sees Society as the complex of organized associations and institutions with a community. According to Maclver and Page society is a system of usages and procedures of authority
and mutual aid of many groupings and divisions, of controls of human behavior and liberties. This ever changing complex system which is called society is a web of social relationships.
Social Reproduction or How Societies Persist
If one defines society as “organization of groups that is relatively self-contained,” then the next question is how societies manage to exist and persist across time and space. The problem of explaining how societies manage to exist over a long period of time is called reproduction by Louis Althusser. No society can edure over time if it does not support its very own reproduction. To do this all societies require the creation of institutions to perpetuate the existence of the society.
Two types of institution that reproduce the condition of social life:
Ideological State Apparatuses – are institutions that are and used by society to mold its members to share the same values and beliefs that a typical member of the society possess.
Repressive state apparatuses – refer to those coercive institutions that use physical force to make the members conform the laws and norms society like courts,police and prisons.
From a structural functionalist perspective, social reproduction is carried out through four functional prerequisites as elaborated by the American sociologist, Talcot Parsons.
What distinguishes the ISAs from the (Repressive) State Apparatus is the following basic difference: the Repressive State Apparatus functions ‘by violence’, whereas the Ideological State Apparatuses function ‘by ideology’. I can clarify matters by correcting this distinction. I shall say rather that every State Apparatus, whether Repressive or Ideological, ‘functions’ both by violence and by ideology, but with one very important distinction which makes it imperative not to confuse the Ideological State Apparatuses with the (Repressive) State Apparatus. This is the fact that the (Repressive) State Apparatus functions massively and predominantly by repression (including physical repression), while functioning secondarily by ideology. (There is no such thing as a purely repressive apparatus.) For example, the Army and the Police also function by ideology both to ensure their own cohesion and reproduction, and in the ‘values’ they propound externally. In the same way, but inversely, it is essential to say that for their part the Ideological State Apparatuses function massively and predominantly by ideology, but they also function secondarily by repression, even if ultimately, but only ultimately, this is very attenuated and concealed, even symbolic. (There is no such thing as a purely ideological apparatus.) Thus Schools and Churches use suitable methods of punishment, expulsion, selection, etc., to ‘discipline’ not only their shepherds, but also their flocks. The same is true of the Family.... The same is true of the cultural IS Apparatus (censorship, among other things), etc. -Louis Althusser, Lenin Philosophy and Other Essays
A-DAPTATION
Organism G-OAL ATTAINMENTPersonality
I-NTEGRATION
Society L-ATENCYCulture
Adaptation- is the capacity of society to take resources from society and distribute them accordingly. This function is carried out by the economy which includes gathering resources and producing commodities to social redistribution.
Goal Attainment- is the capacity to set goals and mobilize the resources and energies necessary to achieve the goals set forth by society. This is set by the political subsystem. Political resolutions and societal objectives are part of this necessity.
Integration- or harmonization of the entire society to achieve consensus. Parsons meant, the coordination, adjustment and regulation of the rest of the subsystem so that society will continue to function smoothly. It is a demand that the values and norms of society are solid and sufficiently convergent.
The strength of reproduction theory is also its weakness. It fails to explain how people do not simply reproduce the very social conditions that they are born with, but they also possess the power of agency. One can be born slave in a slave society, but it does not mean that being born a slave, one has no power and opportunities to ameliorate and change the conditions of one’s birth. People can also change the social structures that they themselves created. For if societies simply reproduce their own existence, then no radical change is forthcoming.
Evaluation
Write an analysis of your family using Parson’s AGIL scheme. How does your family mobilize resources, set goals, integrate, and maintain intimacy among members. Who do you think acts as government in your family? How about the economy?
Defining Culture and Society
At the end of this module, the student should be able to: 1. Define and explain what culture is
2. Describe culture and society a complex whole
4. Discuss cultural diversity and human differences. Motivation:
List all things that make Filipino culture unique and different from other cultures. Then explain why Filipinos behave the way they do. Are these cultural traits unchangeable or are they subject to historical and social changes? Do all Filipinos share the same traits? Explain
The complexity of Culture
Culture is a people’s way of life. This classic definition appears generic, yet prefigures both the processes and structures that account not only for the development of such a way of life, but also for the inherent systems that lend it its self-perpetuating nature.
According to British literary scholar, Raymond Williams, the first thing that one has to acknowledge in defining culture is that culture is ordinary. This means that all societies have a definite way of life, a common way of doing and understanding things.
Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiment, in artifacts , ideas and their attached values.
Elements of Culture
To understand culture, it is necessary to understand the different elements that compose it: Knowledge – It refers to any information received and perceived to be true.
Beliefs—The perception of accepted reality. Reality refers to the existence of things whether material or nonmaterial
Social Norms-- These are established expectations of society as to how a person is supposed to act depending on the requirements of the time, place, or situation.
Different forms of Social Norms
Folkways—The patterns of repetitive behavior which becomes habitual and conventional part of living. Mores—The set of ethical standards and moral obligations as dictates of reason that distinguishes human acts as right or wrong or good from bad.
Values—Anything held yo be relatively worthy, important, desirable, or valuable.
Aspects of Culture
Since culture is very complex, there are important aspects of culture that contribute to the development of man’s social interaction.
Dynamic, flexible and adaptive Shared and contested
Learned through socialization or enculturation Patterned social interactions
Integrated and at times unstable Transmitted through socialization
Requires language and other forms of communication
Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism
The range of variations between culture is almost endless and yet at the same time cultures ensemble one another in many important ways. Cultural variation is affected by man’s geographical set-up and social experiences. Cultural Variation refers to the differences in social behaviors that different culture exhibit around the world. There are two important perceptions on cultural variability namely
ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.
Ethnocentrism- It is a perception that arises from the fact that cultures, differ and each culture defines reality differently. Judging another culture solely by the values and standards of one’s own culture. Cultural Relativism- The attempt to judge behavior according to its cultural context. The principle that an individual person’s beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individual’s own culture.
Xenocentrism and Xenophobia
Xenocentrism refers to preference for the foreign. In this sense it the opposite of ethnocentrism. It is characterized by a strong belief that one’s own products, styles, or ideas are inferior to those which originate elsewhere.
Xenophobia- is the fear of what is perceived as foreign or strange. Diversity of Cultures
Traditionally, many anthropologists believed that culture is a seamless whole that is well-integrated with the rest of social system and structures. Hence, many students of culture believed that within a given society there is little room for cultural diversity. However it did not take long for students of culture to realize that culture is not merely body of well-integrated beliefs and symbols. The culture in a given society is also diverse. There is no single culture but plural cultures. In the sixties, the term “subculture”
became prominent among scholars of culture. The fieldworks done by the sociologists from the Chicago University highlighted the unique character, if not, the fundamental differences between mainstream American culture and subgroups within American society such as migrants, homeless, “deviant” groups, black ghettoes, minorities, and those who dwell on slum areas. In response to the growing unrest among youth, many sociologists used the term subculture to define the unique character of youth culture. Subculture is used to denote the difference between the parent and dominant culture from the way of life of the younger generation. In particular, Milton Yinger (1960) defines subculture “to designate both the traditional norms of a sub-society and the emergent norms of a group caught in a frustrating and conflict-laden situation. This indicates that there are differences in the origin, function, and perpetuation of traditional and emergent norms, and suggests that the use of the concept contra-culture for the latter might improve sociological analysis.” In other words, subculture is a response to the conflict between the values of the dominant culture and the emerging values and lifestyle of the new, younger generation. In England, the works of Birmingham Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies, led by Stuart Hall and Jefferson, argue that in modem societies the major cultural configurations are cultures based on social class, but within these are subcultures which are defined as: “smaller, more localised and differentiated structures, within one or other of the larger cultural networks” (Hall and Jefferson 1975,p. 13). The larger cultural configuration is referred to as the ‘parent culture’. Subcultures, while having different focal concerns from the parent culture, will share some common aspects with the culture from which they were derived. To distinguish subculture from the dominant culture, one has to look into the language or lingo and symbolic elements of the group. Subcultures coalesce around certain activities, values, uses of material artefacts, and territorial space. When these are distinguished by age and generation, they are called ‘youth subcultures’. Some, like delinquent subcultures, are persistent features of the parent culture, but others appear only at certain historical moments then fade away. These latter subcultures are highly visible and, indeed, spectacular (Burke and Sunley 1998, p. 40). Some examples of subcultures include the “skinheads,” “punks”, “heavy metal,” and gay subculture. Spectacular subcultures that appear only during certain historical moments would include some fans club around certain pop icons or artists. They have to be distinguished from “fads” and “fashions” that are regular part of social life. Fads are short-lived collectively shared fascination with being cool such as playing the Japanese electronic pet Tamaguchi during the 1980s. Fads may also cover the popularity of certain songs and hairstyles of certain artists among young people like Michael Jackson and Madonna in the 1980s, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga most recently. The popularity of the language jejemon (popularly known for typing jejejeje in social networking sites) is also a fad. Usually, these fads are short-lived. While subcultures may co-exist with the parent culture peacefully, sometimes they become radical and extreme. They are called counter-culture or contracounter-culture. The term countercounter-culture is attributed to Theodore Roszak (1969), author of The Making of a Counter Culture. Typically, a subculture may expand and grow into a counterculture by defining its own values in opposition to mainstream norms. In the early 1970s, the young college Americans who rejected the dominant values of American society, and championed antiVietnam war sentiments, advocated free love and psychedelic experience through drugs could be considered as expressions of counterculture. Other than the dominant or parent culture, a certain type of culture tends to be widespread and appreciated by a large mass of people beyond geographical confines. This is popular culture. The term “popular culture” is a controversial concept in social sciences. An obvious starting point in any attempt to define popular culture is to say that popular culture is simply culture that
is widely favored or well-liked by many people (Storey 2009). This definition separates popular culture from “high culture” or the culture that is shared only by an elite group within the wealthy echelons of society. Hence, popular culture is often seen as inferior or a product of mass production for people with bad artistic taste. In the Philippines, those who patronize popular culture are often labeled as jologs or bakya crowd. Their taste is supposed to be “baduy” —originally referring to the promdi (a person from the province) way of combining clothing style in a wrong way: Ang baduy manamit. Popular culture is often equated with cheaply made box-office movies, while better taste is reserved for those who watch Oscar-winning films or movies shown in Cannes festival. So, somebody who watches Jolina Magdangal’s movie is a jolog, but someone who wears green shirt with red pants is baduy. So, popular culture is controversial. But many students of media studies and culture now realize the value and importance of popular culture. Many scholars believe that popular culture cannot easily be distinguished from high culture. For instance, many people from the lower class also enjoy the music of the late Luciano Pavarotti, an Italian operatic tenor. And many middle class persons enjoy popular culture. This is the postmodern analysis of popular culture. According to postmodern analysis of culture, the distinction between what is low and high in culture cannot be rigidly established. With the advent of mass production —music, CDs, DVDs, used clothing’s (ukay), Internet, YouTube, torrents, file sharing, etc.— many elements and cultural styles once enjoyed by the middle and upper classes are now easily accessible to the people from lower classes and vise versa.
Evaluation
A. My Culture My Heritage
Identify two Philippine cultural heritage under threat—one tangible and one intangible. For both, identify the threats and their sources, and then come up with a plan of action on how to to deal with these threats. Write your output on the table.
Heritage Threats Plan of Action
B. Genocide Events
List down 3 notorious genocide events and killings in history. You may consider past and recent events.
Event, Time and Place Perpetrators Targets Justification for Victimization
Looking back at Human Biocultural and Social Evolution At the end of this module, the student can
- analyze the key features of the interrelationships of biological, cultural and sociopolitical processes in humans that can still be used and developed
- explain the diffeences of biological and cultural revolution - explain how hominids evolved into modern humans
Species Characteristics
Homo habilis Species with a brain of a Broca’s area which is associated with speech in modern humans and was first to make stone tools. The species name means
“Handy Man”. Lived about 2.4 to 1.4 million years ago scavenging for food. Homo rudolfensis Species characterized by a longer face, larger molar and pre-molar teeth, and
having a larger braincase compared to habilis particularly larger frontal lobes, areas of the brain that processes information. The species lived about 1.9 to 1.8 million years ago.
Homo erectus The species name means “Upright Man” with nody proportions similar to that of modern humans. Lived 1.89 to 143,000 years ago; adapted to hot climates and mostly spread in Africa and Asia. They were the first to use axe and knives and produce fire.
Homo heidelbergenesis Species with large brow ridge and short wide bodies that lived about 700,000 to 200,000 years ago in Europe and Africa. They were the first to hunt wild animals in a routine basis using spears, and first to construct human shelters. Homo floresiensis Species nicknamed “Hobbit” due to their small stature with a height of more or
less 3 feet and lived 95,000 to 17,000 years ago in the island of Flores, Indonesia along with other dwarfed animal species.
Homo sapiens The species name means “Wise Man” that appeared form 200,000 years ago. The present human race belongs to this species.
Homo sapiens
neanderthalensis Subspecies with short yet stocky in body build adapted to winter climates especially in icy cold places in Europe and Asia. The subspecies, also known as “Neanderthal Man” is the closest relative of modern humans. The first to practice burial of their dead, hunting, and gathering food and sewing clothes from animal skin using bone needles.
Homo sapiens sapiens Subspecies known as Cro-Magnon characterized to be anatomically modern humans and lived in the last Ice Age of Europ from 40,000 to 10,000 years ago. They were the first to produce art in cave paintings and crafting tools and accessories
Man’s Cultural Evolution
Cultural Period Time Frame Cultural Development
Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age) Traditionally coincided with the first evidence of tool construction and use by Homosome 2.5 million years ago.
- Use of simple pebble tool - Learned to live in caves - Discovered the use of fire Neolithic Age (New Stone Age) Occurred sometime about 10,000
BC - Stone tools were shaped by polishing or grinding. - Settlement in permanent
villages
- Dependence on domesticated plants or animals
- Crafts (pottery and weaving) - Food producing cultures
Simple Differentiation of the Cultural Evolution PALEOLITHIC
AGE PALEOLITHIC
AGE NEOLITHIC NEOLITHIC AGEAGE
Unpolished Stone Tools Hunting and Gathering Nomadic way of living Polished stone tools Domestication of plants and animals
Living in permanent address
The evidence of change in economic aspect have resulted in the transformation of man’s way of life. Early societies started to emerge as a result to man’s interaction with his environment. Every society is organized in such a way that there will be rules of conduct, customs, traditions, folkways and mores and expectations that ensure appropriate behavior among members. Sociologically and anthropologically, society possesses different characteristics that show the interdependence of people with one another. Characteristics of Human Society
1. It is a social system. 2. A society is relatively large.
3. A society recruits most of its members from within. 4. A society sustains itself across generations.
5. A society’s members share culture. 6. A society occupies a territory. Types of societies
Have you ever wondered what society was like before your lifetime? Maybe you wonder in what ways has society transformed in the past few centuries? Human beings have created and lived in several types of societies throughout history. Sociologists have classified the different types of societies into six categories, each of which possess their own unique characteristics:
Type of Society Characteristics
Hunting and gathering societies
- The earliest form of human society.
- People survived by foraging for vegetable foods, hunting larger wild animal, collecting shell fish
- They subsisted form day to day on whatever was available - They used tools made of stones, woods and bones
Pastoral societies - It relied on herding and domestication of animals for food and clothing to satisfy the greater needs of the group Horticultural societies
Agricultural societies Industrial societies EVALUATION
Fill up the table with correct information. Evolution of Man
Species Characteristics
1. Homo habilis 2. Homo erectus 3. Homo sapiens
4. Homo sapiens sapiens
Man’s Cultural Evolution
Cultural Period Cultural Development
Paleolithic Neolithic
Unit 2: Organization of Society In the end of this module:
1. I can identify norms and values to be observed in interacting with others in society, and the consequences of ignoring these rules.
2. I can assess the rules of social interaction to maintai9n stability of everyday life. 3. I can recognize the value of human rights and promote the common good. Socialization
Man as a social being needs other people to survive. We develop ourselves as human beings through our social interaction. Socialization is a continuing process whereby an individual acquires a personal identity and learns norms, values, behavior, and social skills appropriate to his and her social position.
Socialization can be described from two points of view : objectively and subjectively. Objective Socialization- refers to the society acting upon the child.
Subjective Socialization- The process by which society transmits its culture from one generation to the next and adapts the individual to the accepted and approved ways of organized social life.
This perspective on socialization helps identity formation of individuals which is essential in establishing her/his social skills. Its functions are:
Importance of Socialization
Socialization continues to be important part of human development. It is an instrument on how an individual will adapt to his existence to survive. The process of socialization enables the individual to grow and function socially (Medina, 1991 p. 47). Hence, the change in man’s social reality modifies his culture . The culture becomes internalized that the individual “imbibe” it. This influences his/her conduct.
Personality
Development It is through the process of socialization that we develop our sense of identity and belongingness.
Skills Development and Training Values Formation Social Integration and Adjustment Social Control and Stability
Social skills like communication, interpersonal and occupational are developed.
Individuals are influenced by the prevailing values of social groups and society.
The socialization process allows us to fit-in an organized way of life by being accustomed including cultural setting.
Integration to society binds individual to the control mechanisms set forth by the society’s norms with regard to acceptable social relationships and social
behavior. Culture Personality Sex Role Differentiati on Socialization is Vital to:
Agents of Socialization
These refers to the various social groups or social institutions that play a significant role in introducing and integrating the individual as an accepted and functioning member of society (Banaag, 2019 p.138)
The agents of socialization guide every individual in understanding what is happening in our society. People learn to determine what is proper, right or wrong. Social norms were formed in order to control the individual behavior in the society. The following are forms of social norms.
Folkways – Customary patterns that specify what is socially correct and proper in everyday life. They are repetitive or the typical habits and patterns of expected behavior followed within a group of community. Mores- They define what is morally right and wrong. These are folkways with ethical and moral
significance which are strongly held and emphasized.
Laws- Norms that are enforced formally by a special political organization. Component of culture that regulates and controls the people’s behavior and conduct.
According to Peter Worsely, values are general conceptions of “the good”, ideas about the kind of ends that people should pursue throughout their lives and their activities they engage.
Major Value Orientation according to Robin Williams
Mass Media Family School Peer Group Church Work Place
Individual
Achievement and Success Activity and Work Moral Orientation Humanitarianism Efficiency and Practicality
In study about Filipino values, Jaime Bulatao, SJ, discovered the following values held highly by the Filipinos.
Socialization serves as an avenue for developing self-concept which is essential in role identification. The self responds to categories called social statuses (Clark and Robboy, 1986 p.65). The child must learn the categories or statuses by which to identify or define himself or herself like being a daughter, friend, student, Catholic lay evangelist, teacher, officer of an organization. Social status refers to position an individual occupies in society and implies an array of rights and duties. Related to status is a social role which involves the pattern of expected behavior in a social relationship . Social status can be classified into two:
Emotional Closeness and Security in the Family
Authority Value
Economic and Social Betterment
Patience, Suffering and Endurance
Ascribed Statuses
Ascribed Statuses Achieved statusesAchieved statuses
Those which are assigned to the individual from birth.
It involves little personal choice like age and sex.
It carries with it certain expectations of behavior.
It is acquired by choice, merit, or individual effort.
Made possible through special abilities or talents, performance or
opportunities
Choice in occupation, marriage, joining religious organization are
Conformity and Deviance
Social Role must be performed in connection with the xpected behavior. Erving Goffman, in his book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, tried to show how certain social processes modify the presentation of self and the impact of the role expectations on the behavior of the individual. To Goffman, everyone is consciouysly playing a role. When persons present themselves to others in everyday ineteractionm they organize their overt behavior in such a way as to guide and control the impressions others form of them to elicit role-taking response.
It is a process of conformity where individuals attempt to change his/her behavior because of the desire to conform with the defined social norm. Different types of conformity according to Kelman (1958). 1. Compliance (group acceptance)
Occurs when an individual accepts influence because he hopes to achieve a favorable reaction from another person or group. He adopts the induced behavior because he expects to gain specific rewards or approval and avoids specific punishment or disapproval by conformity. (Kelman, 1958,.p53)
2. Internalization (genuine acceptance of group norms)
This occurs when an individual accepts influence because the content of the induced behavior—the ideas and actions of which it is composed—is intrinsically rewarding. He adopts the induced behavior because it is congruent or consistent with his value system.
3. Identification
This occurs when an individual accepts influence because he wants to establish or maintain a satisfying self-defining relationship to another person or group. Individuals conform to the expectations of a social role, eg. Nurses, police officers.
4. Ingratiational
This is when a person conforms to impress or gain favor/acceptance from other people. It is similar to normative influence, but is motivated by the need for social rewards rather than the threat of rejection. Example group pressure does not enter the decision to conform.
Nonconformity of an individual would mean deviation from the acceptable social norms which is known as social deviance. Social Deviance refers to any behavior that differs or diverges from established social norms.
Functions of Deviance
- Deviance serves as an outlet for diverse forms of expressions. - Deviance serves to define the limits of acceptable behavior. - Deviance may also promote in group solidarity
- Deviance can serve as a barometer of social strain Social Control of Deviance
Two type of Sanctions:
Human Rights and Dignity
Human Rights are natural rights of all human beings whatever their nationality, religion, ethnicity, sex, language and color. We ara equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination.
1. Natural Rights- rights inherent to man and given to him by God as human being. (Right to live, love and be happy)
2. Constitutional Rights- rights guaranteed under the fundamental charter of the country (rights against unreasonable searches and seizure, rights safeguarding the accused.)
3. Statutory Rights- rights provided by the law making body of a country or by law, such as the right to receive a minimum wage and right to preliminary investigation.
4. Civil Rights- These are rights specified under the Bill of rights. (freedom of speech, right to information) Rights enjoyed by an individual by virtue of his citizenship in a state or community.
Informal Sanctions
Formal Sanctions
Unofficial, often casual pressures to conform
Positive informal sanctions involve reward for conformity or compliance.. Exmples: smiles, kiss, an affirmation
Negative sanctions or informal sanctions involves penalties for not conforming. These may take the form of ridicule, ostracism, rejection, or even expulsion from the group.
Official, institutionalized incentives to conform and penalities for deviance.
Needed in large complex societies.
Criminal Justice system is the most important and visible institution of social control.
5. Economic Rights- rights to property, whether personal, real or intellectual. (right to use and dispose his property, right to practice one’s profession, right to make a aliving)
6. Political Rights- rights an individual enjoys as a consequence of being a member of body politiv. (right to vote and right to be voted into public office.
Process Question:
1. How does socialization help in development of individuals to become a productive member of society? 2. Why is social conformity important in society?
How Society is Organized
Groups: The Heart of Interactions In the end of this module I can;
1. Understand and discuss the composition of society based on the groups that compose it; 2. Identify and define the different types of groups in society
3. Explain the role that social groups play in the formation of identities, values, attitudes and beliefs 4. Describe theorganized nature of social life and rules governing behavior in society
Motivation:
Fill in the blanks with information regarding your home province, your favorite things, and interest and desired profession. Find classmates that share the same characteristics and interest.
Protection of different rights of
Human Beings.
HUMAN DIGNITY
HUMAN DIGNITY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT HUMAN RIGHT FROM WHICH ALL OTHER FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS DERIVE
