UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, SOCIETY,

AND POLITICS
NOTES/REVIEWER

2ND SEMESTER – PRELIMINARY EXAMS REVIEWER

any other capabilities and habits acquired by any man
as a member of the society”
OUTLINE FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE
I Understanding the Meaning of Identity • Adapt and Integrate
II Understanding the Meaning of Culture o Culture makes it possible for a man to adapt and
A Functions of Culture integrate himself into his environment by being
B Components of Culture creative and resourceful in coming up with ways and
i Social Norms means of survival.
III Overview about Social Sciences
• Establishes patterns of acceptable social behavior
A Anthropology
i Influential Persons o Culture establishes patterns of acceptable social
ii Subfields of Anthropology behavior such as etiquette, protocols, good manners
B Sociology and right conduct, roles and duties, etc. as determined
i Basic Social Institutions by folkways, mores, and laws.
ii Theoretical Perspectives • Conveys and facilitates meanings
iii Disciplines of Social Science o Culture conveys and facilitates meanings through
iv Influential Persons
verbal and non-verbal communication, written and non-
C Political Science
i Views on Politics
written language, forms of expression, and symbolism.
ii Subfield of Political Science o Also categorized as non-material dimension or type of
iii Influential Persons culture
• Produces man-made things
o Culture produces human-made things such as
UNDERSTANDING THE MEANING OF IDENTITY clothing, tools, instruments, machines, equipment,
• Identity structures, etc. made possible by technological know-
o The “likeness” and belonging of identification. how.
o Cultural Identity • Contributes to overall human satisfactions
 Has a connection to ethno-cultural identity o Culture contributes to overall human satisfaction as we
 Distinctive stress on the group destiny of a people develop ways to make life more enjoyable, more
or ethnic group from which members cannot comfortable, easier, and more rewarding such as
extract. recreational activities, leisure, entertainment, and arts,
o Political Identity etc.
 Highlights the subjective values and intentions COMPONENTS OF CULTURE
chosen, conclude, and assessed by the members • Norms
of society. o Guidelines people are supposed to follow in their
• David Bohm connection with one another; shared rules that specify
o “Each individual already contains the whole information what is right or wrong the inappropriate or appropriate
field with society.” behavior
• Jeffrey H. Schwartz SOCIAL NORMS
o “Culture of any society represents an adaptation or
adjustment of the various conditions of life” • Folkways
o Everyday habits, customs, traditions, and conventions
UNDERSTANDING THE MEANING OF CULTURE
people obey.
• Culture
• Mores
o Composed of the beliefs, behaviors, objects, and any
o Norms that people consider vital to their well being and
other characteristics common to the members of a
most cherished values
specific group or society.
o Special customs with moral and ethical significance
o Material and non-material features are linked because
• Laws
physical objects often symbolize cultural ideas.
o Formalized norms enacted by people vested with
• Material culture
legitimate authority.
o Deals with the objects or belongings of a group of
people. • Values
o Anything held to be relatively worthy, essential,
o Metro passes, bus tokens, automobiles, stores, etc.
desirable, or valuable.
• Non-material culture
o From the Latin term “valere” = “to be worth” “to be
o Composed of the ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of a
strong”
society.
• Technology
• Sir Edward Burnett Tylor
o The practical application of converting raw materials
o “Culture refers that complex whole which includes
into finished products.
knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, laws, customs, and
OVERVIEW ABOUT SOCIAL SCIENCES

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 NOTES: UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, SOCIETY, AND POLITICS

• Social Science o Defined as the study and expounding of past societies

o Composed of a wide formation of academic disciplines and cultures from ancient times to the present.
or branches that studies the totality of functions of o Archaeologists reconstruct past cultures’ behavior by
society as well as the interactions between its collecting and scrutinizing the material culture remains
members and institutions. of people in the past.
ANTHROPOLOGY • Social Anthropology
• Anthropology o Study on how social patterns and practices and
o It is the study of human beings and their ancestors cultural variation develop across different societies.
through time and space and in relation to physical • Cultural Anthropology
character, environmental and social relations, and o Study on cultural variation across different societies
culture. and examines the need to understand each culture in
o It integrates the elements from biological sciences and its own context.
humanities to fully comprehend the complex human o Deals with the origins, history, and development of
species including their past practices and social human culture.
patterns. o Cultural anthropologists tend to study groups that have
o Focused on human diversity. different goals, values, views of reality, and
o A systematic study of biological, cultural, and social environmental adaptations that are very different from
aspect of man. those of themselves.
o Anthropos = “man”, Logos = “study” “inquiry” o Culture is learned and that it is through culture that
• Ethnocentrism people adapt to their environments; therefore,
o Perspective promoting one’s culture as superior. populations living in different places with different
• Cultural Relativism environments will have different cultures.
o Perspective that cultures must be understood in locality • Biological Anthropology
context. o Origins of humans
o Makes you tolerant of others’ differing attitudes and o Focuses on the study of biological facets of human
practices. beings, past and present.
• Xenocentrism o Have more similarities with biology than the other
o Perspective promoting one’s culture as inferior. subfields of anthropology.
• Biological Egalitarianism o Deals with the biological nature, as well as the
o Perspective promoting equality of biological makeup. development of humans.
INFLUENTIAL PERSONS • Linguistic Anthropology
o Language and discourse.
• Edward Burnett Taylor o Study of language.
o Provided one of the earliest and clearest definitions of o They look for a diversity of grammar systems and
culture that is widely accepted and used by different ways of producing sounds as a way to
contemporary anthropologists. understand the language, which a great potential that
o Primitive Culture (1871) can shed insight on cultural behavior.
• Franz Boas o Often a discipline of its own at big universities.
o The Mind of Primitive Man (1937) SOCIOLOGY
o Race, Language, and Culture (1940)
• Sociology
o Anthropology was a holistic and eclectic field of study
o A social science that studies human societies, their
• Alfred Kroeber interactions, and the process that preserve and change
o The first student of Franz Boas and main proponent of them.
his theories (cultural relativism). o Also studies social stratification or social status, social
o Second American to earn a PhD in anthropology. movements, and social change as well as societal
• Brownislaw Malinowski disorder in the form of crime, deviance, and revolution.
o Malinowski’s theory of needs is closely related to his o Offers a range of research techniques that can be
perspective on individual functionalism. applied to virtually any aspect of social life: street crime
 Culture exists purely for biological, psychological, and delinquency, corporate downsizing, how people
and/or social needs. show emotions, welfare or education reform, and how
o Outlines the variation between a process (how) and a families differ and flourish, or problems of peace and
function (why). war.
• Clifford Geertz BASIC SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
o Proponent of symbolic anthropology and interpretative
anthropology. • Family
o “Culture is a system of inherited conceptions • Religion/Church
expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men • Economy
communicate, perpetuate, and develop their • Government/State
knowledge abut and attitudes towards life” • Education/School
• Margaret Mead THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
o Studies of the nonliterate peoples of Oceania • Theoretical Paradigms
o Mead’s famous theory of imprinting found that children o The fundamental assumptions that sociologist have
learn by watching adult behavior. about the social world, the ones that guide their
SUBFIELDS OF ANTHROPOLOGY thinking and research.
• Archaeology o Micro and Macro.
o Prehistoric societies o Raw facts

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 NOTES: UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, SOCIETY, AND POLITICS

 Simple descriptions of empirical reality. o Law of three stages: the theological, the
• Structural Functionalism metaphysical, and the positive.
o Emile Durkheim o Scientific methods: Quantitative surveys or
o Society is seen as a complex system whose parts work Qualitative cultural and historical analysis.
together to promote stability and social order. • Herbert Spencer
o Everyone has a role in society. o “Sociology as the study of super-organic phenomena-
o Functions that is, of relations among organisms.”
 Society is like a system; o Sociology could study nonhuman societies but the
 As a system, it is composed of different paramount super-organic phenomenon is human
components each having its own function. society.
 The parts work with each other to attain stability. o Doctrine of social Darwinism
 If parts do not function well, there is disfunction.  Principles of evolution apply to human societies,
o Social Function social classes, and individuals.
 Manifest • Karl Marx
• Intended or obvious consequences o Focuses on the struggle between capitalists and the
 Latent working class.
• Unintended or unrecognized o Power relationships between capitalists and workers
• Conflict Theory were inherently exploitative and would inevitably create
o Class conflict theory class conflict which will lead to a revolution wherein the
 Karl Marx working class would overthrow the capitalist class.
 Different classes based on means of production • Emile Durkheim
(Capitalists or Bourgeios and Workers) o Helped define and establish the field of sociology as an
 The history of all previous societies has been the academic discipline.
history of class struggles. o Division of Labor
o Race-conflict theory  Shift in societies from a simple society to one that
 W.E.B. DuBois is more complex.
 Result of conflict between racial and ethnic o Functionalism
groups.  Addresses society in terms of the function of its
o Gender-conflict constituent elements (norms, customs, traditions,
 Social inequalities between men and women. and institutions)
• Symbolic Interactionism • Max Weber
o Max Weber and his focus on Verstehen (action from o One of the founding fathers of Sociology
the actor’s POV) o Structural and action approaches are necessary to
o George Herbert Mead and his focus on individuals’ develop a full understanding of society and social
social situations and the meaning they attach to them. change.
o Product of everyday social interactions. o Bureaucracy > Traditional structures.
o No big truth.  In bureaucracy, everyone is treated equal and the
o Assumption division of labor is clearly described for each
 People attach meaning employee.
 There can be different meanings o Believes that there are four ideal types of social
 Meaning we attach to things can change actions.
DISCIPLINES OF SOCIAL SCIENCE  Traditional Social Action – Actions controlled by
traditions
• Anthropology – Culture
 Affective Social Action – Actions determined by
• Demography – Population
one’s specific affections and emotional state
• Economics – Budget  Value Rational Social Action – Actions that are
• History – Past events developed by a conscious belief in the inherent
• Geography – Relationships of individuals with their natural value of a type of behavior.
environment  Instrumental-Rational Social Action – Actions
• Linguistics – Language that are carried out to achieve a certain goal.
• Psychology – Behavior • Anthony Giddens
• Political Science – Government (views society as a POLITICAL SCIENCE
political arena and man as a political animal) • Political Science
• Sociology – Society and individuals o The systematic academic discipline that study politics.
INFLUENTIAL PERSONS o Focuses on the theory and practice of government and
• Auguste Comte politics at the local, state, national, and international
o Father of Sociology levels.
o One of the founders of sociology. o It focuses on the fundamental values of quality,
o Coined the term “sociology” freedom, and justice and its processes are linked to the
 Latin Socius (Companion, associate) dynamics of conflict, resolution, and cooperation.
 Greek Logia (study of, speech) o The branch of knowledge that deals with systems of
o Called the scientific study and showing it employing government: the analysis of political activity and
empirical data as positivism. behavior.
o The Course in Positive Philosophy and A General View • Democracy
of Positivism. o Procedural
 Emphasis on procedure.

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 NOTES: UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, SOCIETY, AND POLITICS

 When we adopt good procedure, public decisions • Political Economy

will be devoted to public welfare. o Branch of social science that studies the relationships
 Government by the people. between individuals and society and between markets
 Liberal democracy and the state, using a diverse set of tools and
o Substantive methods drawn largely from economics, political
 Emphasis on the end results. science, and sociology.
 People’s welfare should take precedence over its • Comparative Politics
procedure. o Studies the effects of political culture, institutions and
 Socialist democracy individual decision-making in different political systems
• International recognition around the world.
o De facto o Examines how political processes and structures vary
 Temporary across counties and the historical development of
 Based on factual situation and is not a process of these political processes and structures.
law. • International relations
 Diplomatic representatives are not exchanged. o States as primary actors
 No possible membership to UN. o Interactions between and among states
 Factual recognition o Diplomacy
o De jure INFLUENTIAL PERSONS
 Permanent
• Plato
 Given after following due process of law
o The Republic (c. 380 BCE)
 Diplomatic representatives are exchanged
 Contains important ideas, including justice and
 Legal recognition
government, as philosophers argue over the
• Government
definition and advantages of justice and
o Involves the ability to make decisions and ensure that
governance of the city-state.
they are carried out.
o Known for formulating his theories through Socratic
• Governance dialogue.
o Involves the management of a country’s affairs at all o Justice is a social condition of balance and harmony,
levels to ensure balance and fairness in realizing both in the state and the individual.
certain ends. o “Democracy is governed by the people, and most
o Government + people people are at the lowest level of enlightenment.”
o New public managerialism
• Aristotle
 Collaboration between the government and
o “Man is by nature a political animal”
people.
 If somebody lives without polis, that is not a man
 Bottom-up approach.
but either a god or an animal.
o Traditional
o Aristotelian types of government
 Top-down approach
• Niccolo Machiavelli
VIEWS ON POLITICS o Father of modern political philosophy and political
• Politics as art of Government science.
o Only the government is the source of change o The Prince
o Government institutions as focus of analysis.  An instruction guide for new princes and royals
• Politics as public affairs  The general theme is accepting that the aims of
o Government is seen as the protector of the people princes – glory and survival – can justify the use of
o Parens Patriae Doctrine – “Parent of the people” immoral means to achieve those ends
o Politics as conduct and management of public o Machiavellian
interests.  The teaching of worldly success through scheming
• Politics as compromise and consensus deceit.
o Existence of conflict or struggle. • Baron De Montesquieu
o Politics as “art of the possible” (soft power – diplomacy, o “Trias politica” = “Separation of powers”
hard power – brute force)  Division of government responsibilities into
o Consensus distinctive branches to limit any one branch from
 Belief in the majority exercising the core functions of another.
• Politics as power and distribution of resources  Legislative
o Politics as exercise of authority in the distribution and • Responsible for enacting the laws of the state
use of resources. and appropriating the money necessary to
o Budget cycle, Pork barrel politics, Appointment to key operate the government
government positions.  Executive
• Politics as a vocation • Responsible for implementing and
o Lives for vs. Lives off politics administering the public policy enacted and
o Good politics, inevitable when elect good men who funded by the legislative branch.
serve the people’s interest over their own.  Judicial
SUBFIELDS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE • Responsible for interpreting the constitution
• Public Administration and laws and applying their interpretations to
o The implementation of government policies. controversies brought before it.
o It is the planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, o Wrote that the main purpose of government is to
and controlling of government operations. maintain law and order, political liberty, and the
property of the individual.

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 NOTES: UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, SOCIETY, AND POLITICS

• Jean Jacques Rosseau

o The Social Contract
 Citizens being “forced to be free” when they are
constrained to obey the general will.
 “Man is born free, but is everywhere in chains”
 The government attains its right to exist and to
govern by “the consent of the governed”
• Thomas Hobbes
o Leviathan
 Believes that the only true and correct form of
government was the absolute monarchy.
o His theory of Social Contract supports absolute
sovereign without giving any value to individuals.
• Karl Marx
o Marx wrote that the power relationships between
capitalists and workers were inherently exploitative and
would inevitably create class conflict.
o Marxism is both a social and political theory, which
encompasses Marxist class conflict theory
o The Communist Manifesto
 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
 Lays out the theory of class struggle and
revolution
o Das Kapital (1867)
 Focuses on the criticisms of capitalism.
• John Locke and Thomas Hobbes
o Social Contract Theory
o State of Nature
 Freedom and all rights are absolute
o Thomas Hobbes
 We will surrender our rights to the state.
 Leviathan will protect the life, liberty and property.
 Absolute monarchy
 No rights to revolt because you cannot revolt
against the rights you created.
 Negative state of nature.
o John Locke
 Concept of Duty
 People will lend their rights to the state.
 You cannot enjoy life, liberty, and property with the
fear of being violated.
• David Easton
o Political systems theory
o Authoritative allocation of values in society.
• Robert Dahl
o Existence of rules or authority within the state
• Harold Lasswell
o Who gets what, when, and how
• Andrew Heywood

REFERENCES

Alejandria-Gonzalez, M. C. (2019). Understanding Culture,

Society, and Politics (2nd ed.). DIWA LEARNING SYSTEMS
INC.
Notes from the PPT of Ms. Ruth Grace B. Dela Rosa, UE SHS
PHUMSS Faculty
Notes from the PPT of Mr. Roger Christopher R. Reyes. UE
SHS PHUMSS Faculty

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