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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 po-
litical 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. reli-
gion

Directions: Based on the output from the previous activity, the teacher will ask the students to discuss their observa-
tions 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 Politus 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 con-
cepts to each other or even deconstruct old ones and replace them with something new.

Students as Social Beings

The way we live our livesor should we say, the way we are being steered to live our lives- presupposes omnipo-
tent forces shaping the very fabric of our existence. The categories that we posses as individualslabels that are
ascribed or given to us individually and collectivelyare 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.
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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.

Identity can also change over the course of a persons lifetime. It is continuosly shaped and reshaped through pas-
sage of time as well as the overall context of ones life cycle, including his or her activities within the society and
interaction with other people.

Identities are important because they shape both individula and group behavior as well as peoples views about other
people and society
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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 re-
spective 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 ac-
counts 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 LewisHenry 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 ethnogra-
phy. Bronislaw Malinowski is the founding father of this strategy.

B. The Study of the Social World: Sociology

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.

Sociologys 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
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particular events. The first systematic study on suicide provides a good example. Emile Durkheims 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
peoples 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 sociol-
ogy. 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 posi-
tive stage.

The founding mother of sociology is Harriet Martineau (1802-1876), an English writer and reformist. In her ac-
counts in her book How to Observe Morals and Manners (1838), the deep sociological insights we call now ethno-
graphic narratives are fully expressed.

Karl Marx (1818-1883), a German philosopher and revolutionary further contributed to the development of sociol-
ogy. Marx introduced the materialist analysis of history which discounts metaphysical explanation for historical de-
velopment. 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 mis-
ery 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 peoples 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, ratio-
nalization 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 politi-
cal.

Politics

Generally, politics is associated with how power is gained and employed to develop authority and influence on so-
cial affairs. It can also be used to promulgate guiding rules to govern the state. It is also a tactic for upholding col-
laboration among members of a community, whether from civil or political organizations.

Concept of Politics
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Politics is allied with government which is considered as the ultimate authority. It is the primary role of the govern-
ment 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. Poli-
cy-making and government decisions should be done through proper research, social investigation, analysis, valida-
tion, planning, execution and evaluation. Thus, politics is a science.
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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 foesall 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 pre-
dictions 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 devel-
opment, one derives principles based on ones 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 observa-
tions. 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.

Three Major Perspectives in Sociology

Sociologists analyze social phenomena at different levels and from different perspectives. From concrete interpreta-
tions 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 soci-
ety and its workings. Their views form the basis for today's theoretical perspectives, or paradigms, which provide
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sociologists with an orienting frameworka philosophical positionfor asking certain kinds of questions about
society and its people.

Sociologists today employ three primary theoretical perspectives: the symbolic interactionist perspective, the func-
tionalist 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. Al-
though 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 (18631931) introduced
this perspective to American sociology in the 1920s.

According to the symbolic interactionist perspective, people attach meanings to symbols, and then they act accord-
ing 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 oth-
er 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 per-
ceptions 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.
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Critics claim that symbolic interactionism neglects the macro level of social interpretationthe 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 mar-
riage). The perspective also receives criticism for slighting the influence of social forces and institutions on individ-
ual 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 soci-
ety 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 interde-
pendent, 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 func-
tionalists 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 mem-
bers learn to discern personal from institutional values. With common sense, manifest functions become easily ap-
parent. 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 me-
chanical 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
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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 nega-
tive, 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 stu-
dents.

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 na-
ture of society.

Critics of the conflict perspective point to its overly negative view of society. The theory ultimately attributes hu-
manitarian 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.
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Module 4

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

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 nev-
er 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 sug-
gest 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.
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Theory
Theories construct the enterprise of science. A theory is an abstraction that applies to variety of circumstances, ex-
plaining relationships and phenomena, based upon objective evidence. For example, evolution is a theory that ap-
plies 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 im-
portant 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, doesnt 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 cant
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
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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 chemi-
cals? 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. Thats why we use sci-
ence.

Metaphysics
Science rules out untestable, metaphysical explanations where common sense does not. That which cannot be ob-
served (at least tangentially) or tested is of no concern to science. This is why religious-based explanations of scien-
tific 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 ob-
served 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 wont 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 dis-
covery 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 wasnt 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 elimina-
tion of prejudices against certain groups of people such as racism, sexism, and cultural ethnocentrism. It enable peo-
ple 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 peoples 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.
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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 Qualita-
tive data collection methods. Quantitative data collection methods include various forms of surveys online sur-
veys, 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 politi-
cal 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 tradi-
tion in the social sciences like hermeneutics (or the study of textual interpretation), phenomenology (used in qualita-
tive 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 formula-
tion 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 ones subject of research.

Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways;

the point is to change it.Karl Marx

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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
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Module 5: Society as An Objective Reality

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 insti-
tutionalized 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 scien-
tists 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 func-
tion. 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
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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.

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 Apparatusesfunctionby ideol-
ogy.
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 Appara-
tuses with the (Repressive) State Apparatus.
This is the fact that the (Repressive) State Apparatus functions massively and predominant-
lyby 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 predominantlyby ideology, but they also function sec-
ondarily 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
 17 of 69

From a structural functionalist perspective, social reproduction is carried out through four functional prerequisites
as elaborated by the American sociologist, Talcot Parsons.

A-DAPTATION G-OAL ATTAINMENT

Personality
Organism
I-NTEGRATION L-ATENCY
Society Culture

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 redistribu-
tion.

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, adjust-
ment 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
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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 ones 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 Parsons 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?

Module 7: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

3. Identifies aspects of culture and society as a complex whole

4. Discuss cultural diversity and human differences.

Motivation:
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List all things that make Filipino culture unique and different from other cultures. Then explain why Filipinos be-
have 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 peoples way of life. This classic definition appears generic, yet prefigures both the processes and struc-
tures 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, consti-
tuting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiment, in artifacts , ideas and their at-
tached 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.

BeliefsThe 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

FolkwaysThe patterns of repetitive behavior which becomes habitual and conventional part of living.

MoresThe set of ethical standards and moral obligations as dictates of reason that distinguishes human acts as
right or wrong or good from bad.

ValuesAnything held yo be relatively worthy, important, desirable, or valuable.

TechnologyThe practical application of knowledge in converting raw materials into finished products.

Aspects of Culture

Since culture is very complex, there are important aspects of culture that contribute to the development of mans
social interaction.

Dynamic, flexible and adaptive

Shared and contested

Learned through socialization or enculturation

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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 mans 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 dif-
ferently. Judging another culture solely by the values and standards of ones own culture.

Cultural Relativism- The attempt to judge behavior according to its cultural context. The principle that an individ-
ual persons beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individuals 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 ones 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 dif-
ferences 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 genera-
tion. 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 re-
sponse 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 dom-
inant culture, one has to look into the language or lingo and symbolic elements of the group. Subcultures coalesce
 21 of 69

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 contraculture. The term counterculture 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 con-
fines. 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 origi-
nally 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
Magdangals 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 cul-
ture. 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 post-
modern 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 clothings (ukay), Internet, YouTube, torrents, file
sharing, etc. many elements and cultural styles once enjoyed by the middle and upper classes are now easily ac-
cessible to the people from lower classes and vise versa.

Evaluation

A. My Culture My Heritage

Identify two Philippine cultural heritage under threatone 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

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B. Genocide Events

List down 3 notorious genocide events and killings in history. You may consider past and recent events.

Event, Time and Perpetrators Targets Justification for

Place Victimization

Looking back at Human Biocultural and Social Evolution

At the end of this module, the student can

 23 of 69

- analyze the key features of the interrelationships of biological, cultural and sociopolitical processes in hu-
mans 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 Brocas 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 Species with large brow ridge and short wide bodies that lived about
heidelbergenesis 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 Subspecies with short yet stocky in body build adapted to winter
neanderthalensis 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 Subspecies known as Cro-Magnon characterized to be anatomically
sapiens 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

Mans Cultural Evolution

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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 - Stone tools were shaped by
10,000 BC 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 NEOLITHIC

Nomadic way of Living in perma-

living
 25 of 69

The evidence of change in economic aspect have resulted in the transformation of mans way of life. Early societies
started to emerge as a result to mans 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 be-
havior 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 societys 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 - The earliest form of human society.
societies - 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
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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

Mans 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 ig-
noring 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
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Man as a social being needs other people to survive. We develop ourselves as human beings through our social in-
teraction. 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:

It is through the process of socialization that we develop our sense

of identity and belongingness.

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 societys norms with regard to acceptable social relationships and
social behavior.
 28 of 69

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 mans social reality modifies his culture . The culture becomes internal-
ized that the individual imbibe it. This influences his/her conduct.

Culture

Sex Role
Differentia- Personality
Socialization is
tion
Vital to:

Agents of Socialization

These refers to the various social groups or social institutions that play a significant role in introducing and integrat-
ing the individual as an accepted and functioning member of society (Banaag, 2019 p.138)

Family Work Place

Individual
 29 of 69

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 peoples 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

Humanitarianism

Efficiency and Practicality

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In study about Filipino values, Jaime Bulatao, SJ, discovered the following values held highly by the Filipinos.

Emotional Closeness and Security in the Family

Authority Value

Economic and Social Betterment

Patience, Suffering and Endurance

Socialization serves as an avenue for developing self-concept which is essential in role identification. The self re-
sponds 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 evange-
list, 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:
 31 of 69

Ascribed Status- Achieved statuses

Choice in occupation, marriage,

Conformity and Deviance

Social Role must be performed in connection with the xpected behavior. Erving Goffman, in his book The Presenta-
tion of Self in Everyday Life, tried to show how certain social processes modify the presentation of self and the im-
pact 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 specif-
ic punishment or disapproval by conformity. (Kelman, 1958,.p53)
 32 of 69

2. Internalization (genuine acceptance of group norms)

This occurs when an individual accepts influence because the content of the induced behaviorthe ideas and ac-
tions of which it is composedis 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:

- Unofficial, often casual pressures to conform

- Positive informal sanctions involve reward for conformity

Informal or compliance.. Exmples: smiles, kiss, an affirmation
Sanctions
- Negative sanctions or informal sanctions involves penalties
for not conforming. These may take the form of ridicule,

- Official, institutionalized incentives to conform and penal-

ities for deviance.

Formal - Needed in large complex societies.

Sanctions
- Criminal Justice system is the most important and visible
institution of social control.
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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 informa-
tion) Rights enjoyed by an individual by virtue of his citizenship in a state or community.

5. Economic Rights- rights to property, whether personal, real or intellectual. (right to use and dispose his
property, right to practice ones 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.

Protection of dif-
ferent rights of HUMAN DIGNITY
Human Beings.
 34 of 69

HUMAN DIGNITY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT HUMAN RIGHT

FROM WHICH ALL OTHER FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS DERIVE

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.
 35 of 69

Social Groups

A social group consists of two or more people who interact with one another and who recognize themselves as a
distinct social unit. The definition is simple enough, but it has significant implications. Frequent interaction leads
people to share values and beliefs. This similarity and the interaction cause them to identify with one another.

Identification and attachment, in turn, stimulate more frequent and intense interaction. Each group maintains solidar-
ity with all to other groups and other types of social systems.

Groups are among the most stable and enduring of social units. They are important both to their members and to the
society at large. Through encouraging regular and predictable behavior, groups form the foundation upon which so-
ciety rests. Thus, a family, a village, a political party a trade union is all social groups. These, it should be noted are
different from social classes, status groups or crowds, which not only lack structure but whose members are less
aware or even unaware of the existence of the group. These have been called quasi-groups or groupings. Neverthe-
less, the distinction between social groups and quasi-groups is fluid and variable since quasi-groups very often give
rise to social groups, as for example, social classes give rise to political parties.

Social Aggregate

A social aggregate is a collection of people who are in the same place at the same time, but who otherwise do not
necessarily have anything in common, and who may not interact with each other.

A social aggregate is different from a social group, which refers to two or more people who interact regularly and
who have things in common, like a romantic couple, a family, friends, classmates, or coworkers, among others. A
social aggregate is also different from a social category, which refers to a group of people defined by a shared social
characteristic, like gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, age, class, etc.

Every day we become part of social aggregates, like when we walk down a crowded sidewalk, eat in a restaurant,
ride public transit with other passengers, and shop in stores. The only thing that binds them together is physical
proximity.

A social category is a collection of people that have certain characteristics or traits in common, but they tend not to
interact with each other on a regular basis. For example, teenagers is a social category because they are all within a
particular age range and share certain characteristics.

Factors That influence Groups

- Motivational base shared by individual

- Size of group

- Type of group goals

- Kind of group cohesion

Social Organization- is a process of bringing order and significance into human social life. It has its roots in social
interaction.
 36 of 69

According to McGee (1977:132) there are certain identifying characteristics of social organizations:

- Differentiationin statuses and roles on the basis of sex, age and ability which may be observed in the activities
of different types of people.

- Recurrent connection between sets of activities and the repeated tendency for one type of social activity to fol-
low regularly after another.

- A system of norms and values govern the social activities.

- Control: some person control the behavior of others, and a system of sanctions maintain orderly behavior.

- Repeated activities and behavior.

Social structure is the organized set of social institutions and patterns of institutionalized relationships that together
compose society. Social structure is both a product of social interaction, and directly determines it. Social structures
are not immediately visible to the untrained observer, however they are always present and affect all dimensions of
human experience in society. It also refers to independent network of roles and the hierarchy of statuses which de-
fine the reciprocal expectations and the power arrangement of the members of the social unit guided by norms.

Primary and Secondary Groups

Primary Group- is a small, intimate and less specialized group whose members engage in face-to- face and emo-
tion based interactions over extended period of time. ( family, close friends, work-related peers, class mates and
church groups)

Secondary Groups are larger. Less intimate and more specialized groups whre members engage in an impersonal
and objective-oriented relationship for a limited time. (example employees treat their colleagues as secondary group
since they know that they need to cooperate with one another to achieve a certain goal.)

In-groups and Out-groups

A self-categorization theory it proposes that peoples appreciation of their group membership is influenced by their
perception towards people who are not members of their group.

An in-group is a group to which one belongs and with which one feels a sense of identity. An out-group is a group
to which one does not belong and to which he or she may feel a sense of competitiveness or hostility.

Reference Group

A group to which an individual compares himself or herself. Such group strongly influence an individuals behavior
and social attitude. It is considered a source of role models since the individual uses it as a standard for self-assess-
ment.

Network

Refers to the structure of relationships between social actors or groups. These are interconnections, ties , linkages
between people, their groups, and the larger social institutions to which they all belong to. Modern societies feature
more expansive, diverse and overlapping social networks than primitive ones.
 37 of 69

Evaluation:

My Group As a mirror of Myself

From among the many groups that you have had, past and present choose one that you think provided you the most memorable
impacts. Describe the group in column A, then enumerate the imoacts it had on you as a social person.

A The Group B its lasting impact on me as a person

SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS

CULTURAL, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS: The Family Today: Declining or Changing?

At the end of this module the student can:

- Explain the function of the family

- Define kinship, marriage and household

- Enumerate and explain the different forms of kinship by blood, kinship by marriage and kinship by rituals

- Discuss the different types of families

- Summarize recent changes in the family as an institution

Motivation:

What is your own idea of a family? Draw a picture or make a sketch that matches your definition. In your drawing, be sure that
you specify the members and the gender of the parents. Compare your work with your classmates own drawing or sketches.

Kinship is one of the main organizing principles of society. It is one of the basic social institutions found in every society. This
institution establishes relationships between individuals and groups. People in all societies are bound together by various kinds of
bonds.

The most basic bonds are those based on marriage and reproduction. Kinship refers to these bonds, and all other relationships
resulting from them. Thus, the institution of kinship refers to a set of relationships and relatives formed thereof, based on blood
relationships (consanguineal), or marriage (affinal).

Types of Kinship

Kinship by blood

Consanguineal kinship or kinship based on blood is considered as the most basic and general form of relations. This relation-
shipis achieved bu birth or blood affinity.
 38 of 69

Descent refers to a biological relationship. Societies recognize that children descend from paerents and thatthere exists a biologi-
cl relationship between parents and offspring.

Lineage refers to the line where ones ddescent is traced.

Symbols used by anthropologists to study patterns of descent and kin groups

Male Female

= Marriage Bond

Descent bond

Codescent bond

Unilineal Descent is a system of determining descent groups in which one belongs to one's father's or mother's line,
whereby one's descent is traced either exclusively through male ancestors (patriline), or exclusively through female ances-
tors (matriline).

Bilateral Descent some societies trace their descent through the study of both parents ancestors. In a baliteral descent,
kinship is traced through both ancestral lines of the mother and father.

Kinship by Marriage

Affinal Kinship refers to type of relations developed when marriage occurs. When marriage takes place new forms of
social relations are developed.

Marriage- is an important social institution wherein two persons, eneter into family life. During this process, the partners
make a public, official and permanent declaration of their union as lifetime couples.

Endogamy and Exogamy

Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific ethnic group, class, or social group, rejecting others on such a basis
as being unsuitable for marriage or for other close personal relationships.

Exogamy is the custom of marrying outside a community, clan, or tribe.

Monogamy and Polygamy

Monogamy- refers to the marriage of sexual partnering practice where the individual has only one male of female
partner or mate.

Polygamy- refers to the practice of having more than one partner or sexual mate. It can be polygyny (a man has
multiple partner) or polyandry (a woman has multiple mate).

Family and the Household

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The family is considered the basic unit of social organization. It is made up of group of individuals who are linked
together by marriage,blood relations, or adoption.

The best way to look for the definition of family is to look at the government census definition. For example, the
Census Bureau of Canada defines the family: Census family refers to a married couple and the children, if any, of
either or both spouses; a couple living common law and the children, if any, of either or both partners; or, a lone
parent of any marital status with at least one child living in the same dwelling and that child or those children. All
members of a particular census family live in the same dwelling. A couple may be of opposite or same sex. Children
may be children by birth, marriage or adoption regardless of their age or marital status as long as they live in the
dwelling and do not have their own spouse or child living in the dwelling. Grandchildren living with their grandpar-
ent(s) but with no parents present also constitute a census family. (Source: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/concepts/defini-
tions/c-r-fam-eng.htm, accessed August 11, 2014)

The United Nations (UN) uses the term nucleus family: A family nucleus is of one of the following types (each of
which must consist of persons living in the same household):

a. A married couple without children, b. A married couple with one or more unmarried children, c. A father with one
or more unmarried children or d. A mother with one or more unmarried children. Couples living in consensual
unions should be regarded as married couples. (Source:http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sconcerns/fam/fam-
methods.htm#A3, accessed June 4, 2014)

Common in these definitions are the following elements: the biological component (with a child, married), the func-
tional component (takes care of the children and provides economic support), and the residential component (living
under one household or common residence). Whether the family is universal, whether it has existed from the begin-
ning in all forms of societies, will depend on the definition of the family. But Friedrich Engels, who wrote The Ori-
gin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884), is right to argue that families do evolve in relation to the
material and economic conditions of societies. Families have never been static all throughout human evolution. All
definitions of the family will have to address three components: residential, biological, and functional roles. If one
defines the family simply as the nuclear family, meaning two adult couples with children, then this can be chal-
lenged immediately by the case of kibbutz in Israel and the Nayar in India. If one defines the family as taking care of
the children, then it can be shown that in many societies, socialization is carried by kinship groups and not the nu-
clear family. Another challenge to the nuclear definition of the family is the emerging single-parent households, gay
couples living together, and overseas families whose members do not live regularly with the family. These examples
may not contradict and discredit the definition of the family, but they challenge the nature and functions of the fami-
ly. The family as a basic unit of society performs several important functions or roles for society: (1) for biological
reproduction; (2) as the primary agent of socialization of children; (3) as the institution for economic cooperation
through division of labor; and (4) to care for and nurture children to become responsible adults.

Different definitions of family according to Sociologists and Anthropologists

Sociologist and Anthropologist Definition of Family

 40 of 69

George Peter Murdock Family is a social group that has the

following characteristics:
1. Share common residence
2. Presence of economic cooperation
3. Reproduce offspring
4. Includes adults of both sexes,
wherein at least two of whom uphold
a socially approved ofrm of sexual
relationship.
5. Responsible for the socialization of
infants and children.
Kingsley Davis Family is a group of individuals wherein the
relationship is based on consanguinity and
kinship.

Talcott Parsons Family is a factory that develops and

produces human personalities.

Bronislow Nalinowski Faily is an institution that passes down the

cultural traditions of a society to the next
generations.

Assumptions of Major Sociological Perspective About Family

Assumptions about Family

Theoretical Perspective
Structural Functionalism Family is important because it performs
different roles for society

1. Agent of socialization
2. Provides emotional and practical
support for family members
3. Controls sexual activity and sexual
reproduction
4. Provides family members with social
identity
Conflict Theory Family is a cause of social inequality because
it strengthens economic inequality and
allows the continuity of patriarchy.
 41 of 69

Symbolic Interactionist Theory The family members interaction can

produce a shared understanding of their
situations.

Nuclear Family and Extended Family

The Problem of Defining The Family

Traditional definitions Filipinos are family-oriented. The anak-magulang complex and the kamag-anak relationship
are very important to Filipinos. Ama (father), ina (mother), and anak (children) are culturally and emotionally signif-
icant to us Filipinos who treasure filial attachment not only to our immediate family but also to our extended family
(tiya and tiyuhin, inaanak, lolo, at lola). This family centeredness supplies a basic sense of belonging, stability, and
security. It is from our families that we Filipinos naturally draw our sense of self-identity. This traditional view of
the family leads many people to think that the family is an indispensable unit or institution of society. Today, how-
ever, many experts who study the family raise doubts about its future. Consider the following statistics:

- Declining marriage rate and increasing rate of cohabitation There were 476,408 marriages registered in 2011,
down by 1.3 percent from 482,480 recorded in 2010, the NSO said in a report posted on its website, adding that
the number of registered marriages has been declining since 2009. (Source: http:// www.philstar.com/headlines/
2013/03/28/924859/fewer-pinoys-getting-married, accessed August 19, 2014)

- Increasing annulment rate in the Philippines The number of marriage annulment cases in the Philippines has
risen by 40 percent in the last decade with at least 22 cases filed every day, according to a report by the Catholic
bishops news agency. Citing data from the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), CBCP News said the number
of annulment cases had risen from 4,520 in 2001 to 8,282 in 2010.

- Increasing number of cases of domestic violence The 2008 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS)
conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) revealed that one in five women aged 1549 has experienced
physical violence since age 15; 14.4 percent of married women have experienced physical abuse from their
husbands; and more than one-third (37%) of separated or widowed women have experienced physical violence,
implying that domestic violence could be the reason for separation or annulment.
 42 of 69

Religion and the Search for Ultimate Meaning

At the end of this module, the students are expected to:

- discuss the significant role of religion in society;

- distinguish religion from other social institutions;

- define and explain the meaning of religion;

- explain the various religious groups;

- connect contemporary religious movements with globalization; and

- conduct participant observation (e.g., attend, describe, and reflect on a religious ritual of a different group).

The Nature of Religion and Its Meaning T

he English word religion is from the Latin verb religare, which means to tie or to bind fast. Religion is a power-
ful institution that connects human beings, both as individuals and collectively, to a transcendent reality. A scholar
studying the importance of religion in world history and in the evolution of humanity observes, The evidence
proves that since the remote past religion has been a part of our mental and emotional make-up. Even nonbelievers
usually agree that the term homo religiosus [religious man] aptly describes the human experience. Men and women
by their nature are religious, and efforts to eliminate religion, as many social and political movements have done
since the eighteenth century, come up short. Religion has a pervasive effect and influence on the development of
humanity, society, culture, and the individual. However, many scholars in the early 20th century predicted the
demise of religion as a social phenomenon because of the advancement in science and the unprecedented advance-
ment in technology. As people rely more and more on scientific reason and method to explain natural events and so-
called miracles, supernatural occurrences, and mysteries, many critics of religion such as Sigmund Freud, the
founder of psychoanalysis, and Karl Marx, the father of scientific socialism, believed that religion will gradually
disappear. This view is called secularization (from the Latin word saeculum, which means worldly). Surprisingly,
in the 21st century, religion seems to have grown stronger, with no sign of abetting. Headlines in both local and in-
ternational scenes contain news about religious issues. Hence, one scholar on religious studies boldly concludes,
The fact is that atheism and rationalism no longer constitute (if they ever really did) the major challenge to Christ-
ian theology today. That challenge comes not from the death of God but from the rebirth of the gods (and the god-
desses!) (Cox 2000, p. 9).

Some social scientists prefer a functional definition of religion that does not necessarily refer to the belief in a su-
pernatural being (god or force). In the functional definition, religion is anything that provides an individual with the
ultimate meaning that organizes his/her entire life and worldview. A classic statement of this definition is given by
the American scholar of religion, Milton Yinger, who defines religion as a system of beliefs and practices by means
of which a group of people struggles with the ultimate problems of human life (Yinger 1970, p. 7). In this defini-
tion, religion may also include humanism, individualism, nationalism, and even socialism. Peter L. Berger (1973), a
pioneer in sociology of religion in the United States, singles out the problem of legitimation as a primary function of
religion: Religion legitimates social institutions by bestowing upon them an ultimately valid ontological status, that
is, by locating them within a sacred and cosmic frame of reference. The historical constructions of human activity
are viewed from a vantage point that, in its own self-definition, transcends both history and man (p. 43).

In this view, religion provides the ultimate basis for social order. The separation between the sacred and the profane
or the unholy, for instance, is a reflection of the order of the cosmos. Religious myths designate and consecrate cer-
tain spaces as sacred. Hence, holy places are considered as places for worship and for connecting with the divine
such as churches and burial grounds. Berger further adds that religion provides an all-encompassing explanation for
the negative experiences in this world. For Berger, religion maintains the socially defined reality by legitimating
 43 of 69

marginal situations [i.e., sufferings, pains, and miseries] in terms of an allencompassing sacred reality. This permits
the individual who goes through these situations to continue to exist in the world of his [sic] societynot as if
nothing had happened, which is psychologically difficult in the more extreme marginal situations, but in the
knowledge that even these events or experiences have a place within a universe that makes sense (p. 52).

Types of Religious Organizations

Religion is necessarily social. Beliefs and rituals are usually shared by people belonging to a definite religious
community. While an individual may opt not to belong to or affiliate with an established religion or religious tradi-
tion, that person is still religious and belongs to an individualistic or spiritualistic interpretation of religion. In the
age of global capitalism, more and more people tend to retreat into their own private world and create their own in-
dividualized religion. But they do not create it from scratch. They also borrow and pick from various religious tradi-
tions in the market of religion. Even the practicing New Age believers who have their own distinctive personal be-
liefs are influenced by non-Western religious traditions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and other beliefs. These peo-
ple are called un-churched believers. Those who belong to organized religious groups may belong to any of the fol-
lowing (Furseth 2006, pp. 137ff):

Church

The church is a religious organization that claims to possess the truth about salvation exclusively. A classic example
is the Roman Catholic Church. The church includes everybody or virtually everybody in a society. Membership is
by childbirth: new generations are born into the church and are formally inducted through baptism. The church
adapts to some extent to the fact that it must embrace everyone. Unlike the sect, the church tends to be oriented to-
ward compromises with the prevailing culture and the political sphere. Hence, the church is relatively moderate in
its demands on its members. In the Philippines, the National Statistics Office estimates the Roman Catholics at
about 74,211,896 in 2014 (http://web0.psa.gov.ph/sites/default/files/2014%20PIF.pdf, accessed September 10,
2014). Being the largest religious organization in the country, it is a very powerful institution as attested by the re-
cent controversy regarding the reproductive health bill.

Sect

The sect also perceives itself as a unique owner of the truth. However, it constitutes a minority in a given society.
Recruitment takes place through conscious individual choice. A good example is the resurgence of born again
Christianity that recruits members by asking them to accept Jesus Christ in their lives. Once an individual has
joined, the sect requires a high level of commitment and activity. Members are expected to support the teachings of
the sect and to comply with its lifestyle, which may be strict and ascetic. Life as a sect member constitutes a major
contrast to the lives of people in society. Therefore, the sect and the larger society may harbor mutual suspicions
toward each other. Sects tend to depict society as a place full of dangers and moral and religious decay. Sects often
are breakaway groups from the mainstream churches. An example of sect in the Philippines is the Iglesia ni Cristo
(INC, or Church of Christ) that has 2,251,941 members in 2014. The INC was established in 1914 by Felix Manalo,
who served as the first executive minister. As a sect, the Iglesia ni Cristo believes itself to be the one true universal
church. It preaches that all other Christian churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, are apostates

Denomination

In contrast to the church and sect, the denomination is oriented toward cooperation, at least as it relates to other
similar denominations. People join through individual and voluntary choice, although the most important form of
recruitment in established denominations takes place through childbirth. The demands for activity and compliance
are moderate, and there is a relatively harmonious mutual relationship between the denomination and the larger so-
ciety. The liberal branches of Protestant groups belong to this category. In the Philippines, the religious groups affili-
ated with the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) are usually tolerant of other forms of reli-
 44 of 69

gious organizations. The NCCP, founded in 1963, is composed of ten mainline Protestant and non-Non-Catholic
denominations, and ten service-oriented organizations in the Philippines. It is a member of the World Council of
Churches and the Christian Conference of Asia. These groups usually maintain dialogues and cooperative programs
with other religious groups (http:// nccphilippines.org/about-us/, accessed August 7, 2014).

Cult

The concept of another form of religious organization, the cult, was introduced in 1932 by sociologist Howard
Becker. After reviewing the literature on cults, Gerry Lanuza (1999) provides a comprehensive definition of a cult:
a non-traditional form of religion, the doctrine of which is taken from diverse sources, either from non-traditional
sources or local narratives or an amalgamation of both, whose members constitute either a loosely knit group or an
exclusive group, which emphasizes the belief in the divine element within the individual, and whose teachings are
derived from either a real or legendary figure, the purpose of which is to aid the individual in the full realization of
his or her spiritual powers and/or union with the Divine (p. 494). The label cult is often attached to a religious
group that society considers as deviant or non-traditional. Hence, the term cult is often used in a negative way. Cults
are often considered as deviant groups within society. In the 1960s, when a series of unusual religious groups
emerged to challenge the dominant religious institutions, the members were considered as cultists. They were con-
sidered as brainwashed by their religious organizations. Brainwashing means that cult members were forced to
believe in the doctrine of the group by force. Cults include the Moonies of the Unification Church, the Hare Krishna
of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), the Church of Scientology, and the People of
Jonestown (with its 911 deaths in the jungles of British Guyana in 1978), Heavens Gate, Scientology, Dianetics, and
others (see Demerath III, 2003, p. 22).

Religion in the Age of Globalization

Secularization thesis reconsidered Peter L. Berger (1999) briefly summarized the thesis of secularism: Moderniza-
tion necessarily leads to a decline of religion, both in society and in the minds of individuals (p. 2). Modernization
drastically replaces tradition with science-based knowledge. And as science dominates the entire cognitive fabric of
society, it pushes the split between religion and other institutions. Religion is reduced to just one of the many
sources of ultimate meaning. Religion declines because the previously accepted religious symbols, doctrines, and
institutions lose their prestige and significance, culminating in a society without religion. Hence, religious belief
system weakens its hold on society. To have a secular mind means that one believes that this world is all there is to
reality. There is no heaven, no afterlife of any kind, and no Messiah (Ledewitz 2009, p. 1). This definition is well-
expressed in the statement of Richard Dawkins, a contemporary biologist who wrote several books criticizing reli-
gion: This brings me to the aspect of humanism that resonates most harmoniously for me. We are on our own in the
universe. Humanity can expect no help from outside, so our help, such as it is, must come from our own resources.
As individuals we should make the most of the short time we have, for it is a privilege to be here. We should seize
the opportunity presented by our good fortune and fill our brief minds, before we die, with understanding of why,
and where, we exist. (Source: Free Inquiry 18, no. 1 (Winter 1997):18.)

Or, in the statement of Edward Wilson, a pioneer in the study of sociobiology, who himself grew up as a believer: I
was raised a Southern Baptist in a religious environment that favored a literal interpretation of the Bible. But it hap-
pened that I also became fascinated by natural history at an early age, and, as a biology concentrator at the Universi-
ty of Alabama, discovered evolutionI realized that something was terribly wrong in this dissonance. The God de-
picted in Holy Scripture is variously benevolent, didactic, loving, angry, and vengeful, but never tricky. As time
passed, I learned that scientific materialism explains vastly more of the tangible world, physical and biological, in
precise and useful detail, than the Iron Age theology and mysticism bequeathed us by the modern great religions
ever dreamed. It offers an epic view of the origin and meaning of humanity far greater, and I believe more noble,
than conceived by all the prophets of old combined. Its discoveries suggest that, like it or not, we are alone. We must
measure and judge ourselves, and we will decide our own destiny. (Source: Free Inquiry 18, no. 1 (Winter 1997):18.)
 45 of 69

With secularization, religious beliefs cannot compete with the intellectual credibility of both natural and social sci-
ence. Religious beliefs are made relative to ones private belief. It is sufficient to claim a religious belief as true for
me for it to be recognized as in some way valid. Yet scientific statements are considered truths. The notion that
the laws of gravity are a matter of private opinion, and therefore might be believed or not, rather than scientifically
accepted public truth, is dismissed as nonsense in secular society

However, with the coming of globalization, there is a resurgence of religious movements, or new religious move-
ments as discussed earlier. This resurgence seems to challenge the thesis of secularization. While statistics would
show the rapid decline of church attendance and declining religious membership in mainstream religion, it does not
necessarily support secularization or the idea that once people begin to live in a scientific and rational society, they
will gradually shed off their religious beliefs just like in the case of Wilson and Dawkins above. The rapid commu-
nication among people across time and space promotes the spread of religious ideas across geographical boarders.
As Peter Beyer (2006) points out, People, considered now as loci of communication, carry their communicative ori-
entations and habits, their particularity, with them, but to a different social context. Migration is thereby a way of
universalizing various particulars, but also of particularizing universals as migrants generate adaptations of what
they carry with them, transfer these adaptations back to the place of origin and elsewhere, and thus contribute to the
transformation or at least pluralization of the original form (p. 59).

Summary

Religion as a social institution has a very powerful impact on society and the world. Basically, religion provides the
ultimate meaning to human beings quest for life meaning, the search for origin of the world, and the justification for
death and suffering. Today, religions, instead of dying because of scientific and technological advancement, are very
much alive as shown in the cases of neo-pagan religions, Islamic resurgence, Pentecostalism, charismatic groups,
and born again Christianity. The revival of religion is facilitated by the growing interconnection of different geo-
graphical regions through globalization. Globalization is allowing religions to travel faster from one area to another.
Indeed, religion contributes in the globalization process since its creation.

Evaluation

Group yourselves with five members in each group. With the help and permission of your teacher, visit a chapel, a
mosque, or a church near your school. Request permission from the local priest or pastor that you be allowed to ob-
serve their religious services. Show respect and observe proper behavior when you attend a religious service. Record
your observations after the services. Compare the religious services in your church with the religious services you
attended.
 46 of 69

Education and Reproduction of Inequality

At the end of this lesson, the students are expected to:

- know what are the social functions of education is in society;

- appreciate the interaction between education and the social system;

- understand how education helps in reproducing social inequalities;

- promote primary education as a human right;

- evaluate how functions of education affect the lives of people in society; and

- appreciate the transformation of education in the era of globalization.

Motivation

Which track did you choose under the K-12 program: technical-vocational or college track? Why? What and who
influenced your decision? Why? In your opinion, what is the primary consideration of students in choosing a track?
How about for parents?

Education and Social Reproduction

Education and perpetuation of inequalities

Another social institution that has pervasive influence in shaping the minds of the younger generation is education.
Education refers to the formal and informal process of transmitting the knowledge, beliefs and skills from one gen-
eration to the next. However, it is not a simple process of transmission. It also includes equipping the minds of the
younger generation with the necessary critical skills to challenge and change the existing knowledge system and
practices. Therefore, education has a humanistic goal of freeing the members of society from ignorance and false
beliefs. Educational institutions are important in reproducing the existing belief system and practices of a particular
society. It accomplishes this goal by allotting to the individual learners the roles they need to fulfil as adult members
of society. Horace Mann, an American educational reformer, proposed that education could cure social ills. He be-
 47 of 69

lieved that education is the great equalizer by giving people the knowledge and technical skills to participate in na-
tional development. Education is one of the most pervasive institutions that determine ones future status. Hence,
many people believe in education-based meritocracy or the belief that education is the great equalizer and the key to
succeed in life. Filipinos, for example, believe in the value of education that they are willing to sacrifice everything
just to finish college. If the functionalist analysis of education as a social institution sees education as allocating
social roles to the individuals and providing them with skills to become useful members of society, the conflict theo-
ry of education looks at it differently. Randall Collins, a neo-Weberian sociologist, for instance, argues that educa-
tion functions as a filter to perpetuate credentialism. Credentialism refers to the common practice of relying on
earned credentials when hiring staff or assigning social status rather than on actual skills. Collins further argues that
people should be hired by employers not on the basis of educational qualifications, although this is also necessary,
but on the actual skills of the applicants. Many radical sociologists also challenge the functional analysis of educa-
tion. In 1968, Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, both American economists, published Schooling in Capitalist
America. In this classic textbook on the sociology of education, Bowles and Gintis argued that education is a tool for
capitalism to equip the workers with the necessary skills so they can be hired and exploited by the employers. The
schools teach their students the values necessary to be successful workers. In other words, education reproduces
social and economic inequalities along racial, gender, and class division of labor. Pierre Bourdieu, a French sociol-
ogist, further advanced this analysis and combined it with neo-Weberian analysis. Bourdieu, and his colleague Jean-
Claude Passeron, studying the French educational system, showed empirically how education is advantageous to
middle class children by teaching and rewarding behaviors that are generally expected from middle class families.
Middle class children possess relatively more cultural capital. Cultural capital is acquired in the family from which
one belongs. It is further reinforced in the academic market that hones students to have the right styles and deco-
rumaccent, dispositions, books, qualifications, dictionaries, artistic preferences, etc. Having knowledge of high
art, for example, will give the children of the middle class a huge advantage in art and humanities classes. Inspired
by Bourdieus analysis, many sociologists of education argued that the school involvement of middle class parents
also help in augmenting the scholastic achievement of middle class children.

Education and economic development

For social scientists, education is seen as an important determinant of national development. Existing studies con-
firm this consensus among social scientists. First, education provides basic knowledge and skills that enhance the
productivity of labor. Second, education contributes to new innovations that lead to inventions, discoveries, and con-
tinuous upgrading of technologies. This is very true for the development of knowledge economy. Knowledge econ-
omy is made possible through the massive promotion of educational technologies that support the utilization of in-
formation. Third, education is an effective instrument to spread and disseminate knowledge among different sectors
of society (Hanushek and Wobmann 2010, Vol. 2, p. 245). Such diffusion of knowledge can sustain the endless pro-
duction of new knowledge. For children with poorly educated parents, the effects of social deprivation manifest ear-
ly in life. Lack of education has adverse impact on the life course of individuals and their well-being. More impor-
tantly, education serves as a human capital for society that produces skilled and learned citizens. The benefits from
education is summarized by Brewer, Hentschke, and Eide (2010):

Economic research has also found nonmonetary benefits, both private and public, associated with educational at-
tainment. Individuals who have invested in education and job training often have more job stability, improved health
(e.g., exercise regularly, smoke less, and eat better), are more likely to receive employer-provided health insurance
and pension benefits, are more inclined to vote, and have generally increased social and cultural capital that often
enables upward mobility (p. 194).

Economists, in general, agree that investments in education can increase economic growth. Educational reforms can
provide new knowledge and re-tooling of existing skills of the people to expand labor productivity. Education con-
tributes to economic development not only by producing well-informed citizens but also by amplifying human capi-
tal or the potential of the laborers to improve the quality of their work. Statistically, earnings rise with education
level and at an increasing rate in the immediate post education years, continue to increase at a slower pace, and then
flatten as individuals approach retirement. Economic research has also found nonmonetary benefits, both private and
 48 of 69

public, associated with educational attainment. Individuals who have invested in education and job training often
have more job stability, have improved health (e.g., exercise regularly, smoke less, and eat better), are more likely to
receive employer-provided health insurance and pension benefits, are more inclined to vote, and have generally in-
creased social and cultural capital that often enables upward mobility. Educational improvements in all levels,
through its effects on individual values and beliefs, create the foundations for a productive work force that can sus-
tain economic growth. An educated citizenry is the bedrock for modernization. In short, the greater the provision of
schooling, the greater the stock of human capital in society and the greater the increases in national productivity and
economic growth.

Recognizing the importance of education in national development, the report of Jacques Delor to the International
Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century, UNESCO entitled Learning, The Treasure Within (1996)
suggested, among other things, that each country should at least allocate 6% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to
the annual budget for education.

Summary

Louis Althusser once argued that education had taken over the function of the Church and religion in reproducing
the capitalist social system. Education is a pervasive institution that shapes the minds of the young generation. Edu-
cation is a very powerful tool for allowing society to survive and persist through generations, while also contributing
to the reproduction of existing inequalities. Despite this, education has a very strong impact on national develop-
ment. By providing human and social capital, education significantly contributes in economic development. Today,
with the advent of globalization, education is being streamlined to international standards, and many scholars are
debating on the nature of this internationalization of education.

Evaluation

Group Research

1. Given the basic problems of the Philippine educational system, such as shortages of classrooms, teachers,
textbooks, and facilities, and the low salary of teachers, what concrete solutions can you suggest? Interview
the teachers in your school and summarize their answers. Based on the answers, what are the most common
themes?

2. Many students drop out from schools because of economic reasons. Interview out-ofschool youths in your
barangay and summarize their answers. What stands out among the answers given? Why?

3. Do a research on changing the academic calendar or moving the start of classes in our country. You may
interview students and teachers from schools that have changed their academic calendars. List all the ad-
vantages and disadvantages of adopting a new academic calendar. Among the advantages and disadvan-
tages, which is the most convincing? Why
 49 of 69

Economy, Society, and Cultural Change

After this module, the students are expected to:

- analyze economic organization and its impact on the lives of people in the society;

- examine stratification from the functionalist and conflict perspectives;

- identify characteristics of the systems of stratification;

- discuss the process of economic globalization and its consequences;

- suggest ways to address global inequalities;

- identify new challenges faced by human populations in contemporary societies;

- describe how human societies adapt to new challenges in the physical, social, and cultural environment; and
 50 of 69

- identify the social goals and the socially acceptable means of achieving these goals.

Motivation

Divide the class into three groups. Then ask them to create a skit and present to class a dramatization of the differ-
ence between a wealthy family (owner of a mall), middle class family (both parents are professionals), and poor
family (both parents are high school graduates). Focus on the behavior of the families during dinner.

The Economy as Foundation of Social Life

The Importance of economic structure Karl Marx, the father of scientific socialism, famously stated in his A Preface
to a Critique of Political Economy the most controversial assertion in sociology:

In the social production of their life, men enter into definite relations that are indispensable and in-
dependent of their will; these relations of production correspond to a definite stage of development
of their material forces of production. The sum total of these relations of production constitutes the
economic structure of societythe real foundation, on which rises a legal and political superstruc-
ture and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of ma-
terial life determines the social, political and intellectual life process in general. It is not the con-
sciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines
their consciousness.

System of Stratification as Source of Inequalities

Some sociologists, however, extend the definition of class to include not only access to the means of production like
land, capital, and technologies but also to the prestige attached to ones social position. Hence, some sociologists,
writing along the Weberian tradition, use the term stratification. When regularly recognized social differences (of
wealth, color, religion, ethnicity or gender, for example) become ranked in some hierarchical manner, sociologists
talk about strata (Bruce and Yearly 2006, p. 290). Max Weber defined class a category of individuals who (1) have
in common a specific causal component of their life chances in so far as (2) this component is represented exclusive-
ly by economic interests in the possession of goods and opportunities for income, and (3) it is represented under the
conditions of the commodity or labor market. He was close to Marxs view because he believed that ownership of
property is crucial to the definition of class. But Webers sociology distinguished status from class as the two princi-
pal bases of social stratification. Where class referred to social differences based on economic divisions and inequal-
ities, status designated the differentiation of groups in the communal sphere in terms of their social honor and so-
cial standing. For Weber and his followers, status groups are differentiated less on the basis of wealth but by the kind
of shared lifestyle they have. It is well known that Weber saw class as only one aspect of the distribution of power in
society. So, while a physician belongs to the middle class, being a member of a professional group of physicians also
means having an elite status that gives a member social prestige. Caste Caste system as a system of social stratifica-
tion differs from class in its rigidity and in the basis of legitimation. It is also called a closed system in contrast with
the class system that is relatively open. Membership of castes is ascribed rather than achieved, and social contact
between castes is heavily constrained and ritualized. Unlike in the class system, in the caste system the positions of
people are already determined at the moment they were born. In his famous essay on The Future Results of British
Rule in India, Karl Marx characterized the Indian castes as the most decisive impediment to Indias progress and
power. Marx correctly argued that the caste system of India was based on the hereditary division of labor, which
was inseparably linked with the unchanging technological base and subsistence economy of the Indian village com-
munity.

Class system
 51 of 69

As discussed earlier, under the class system, individuals are positioned according to their access to the means of
production and contribution to productive labor. People with higher income tend to have children who also have
higher income. Parents who can aff ord to send their children to better schools are promoting the future advantage of
their children. To talk about the class system is to talk about the ways in which individuals from a defi nite family
background can advance to a relatively better economic position than their parents. In most class system, education
has become the accepted means to advance ones social mobility. Among Filipino families, education is considered
as the ticket to success. This is supported by the theory of education-based meritocracy proposed chiefl y by
American sociologists Daniel Bell in the 1960s. In this theory, education is supposed to be the great status equalizer.
Education provides much needed capital to climb the economic ladder. Hence, many Filipino families will sacrifi ce
anything for their children to fi nish a college degree. This practice is based on the belief that our society is an
open society that allows the movement of individuals from a lower class to a relatively higher class. When people
are allowed and are capable of moving from one stratum or class to another class, it is called social mobility. Ac-
cording to Bruce and Yearley (2006), social mobility signifi es the movement of people between positions in a sys-
tem of social stratifi cation. In modern societies this means the movement of people between social classes is defi
ned by occupational scales. It may occur between generations (as when a girl born into a working-class family
achieves a middle-class occupation) or be the ups-anddowns of an individual career (p. 283). Status and class In
sociology, when the concept of class is discussed, it is often diff erentiated from Webers notion of stratifi cation.
According to Peter Saunders (1990), the term stratification has been borrowed by sociologists from the science of
geology. Stratification, in geology refers to the accumulated strata of rock that form the earths surface. In sociology,
while strata do not constitute communities, according to Max Weber, status groups normally are communities. Status
refers to life chances that are determined by social honor or prestige. People who belong to status groups usually
form exclusive communities with clear boundaries. They distinguish themselves from the outsiders by the use of
the derogatory terms of us versus them. This is exemplified in the caste system where high-class caste sets itself
apart from the outcast. Whereas Karl Marx defined class in relation to the ownership of the means of production or
property, Weber framed class in terms of life chances in the market. In the market, one can increase ones life
chances or economic opportunities by having more prestige or social honor. These prestige and honor are often not
acquired by merits but through birth to a status group. Being a member of a royal family, for instance, is not ac-
quired but inherited. Yet, like Marx, Weber believed that it is property or the lack of property which are decisive in
determining the individuals chances in competing in the marketplace. In contemporary sociology, it is Pierre
Bourdieu (19302002), a French sociologist, who dealt extensively with class inequalities by arguing that capital, in
its classic Marxist usage, does not refer only to economic assets but also includes cultural, symbolic, and social capi-
tal. Cultural capital refers to the forms of knowledge, educational credentials, and artistic taste that a person ac-
quires from family background, which give them higher status in society. A physician has a higher cultural capital
compared with an ordinary office clerk. Parents provide their children with cultural capital by transmitting the atti-
tudes and knowledge needed to succeed in the current educational system. Middle class families prefer to send their
children to exclusive private schools so their children can acquire higher cultural capital. Social capital refers to
resources based on group membership, relationships, and networks of influence and support. Bourdieu (1984) de-
scribed social capital as the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a
durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition. In tradition-
al societies, for instance, individuals are recruited in a bureaucracy on the basis of blood relations. In his book Dis-
tinction (1984), Bourdieu refers to symbolic capital as the acquisition of a reputation for competence and an image
of respectability and honourability (p. 291). A celebrity has a higher symbolic capital than an ordinary individual.
She can utilize that symbolic capital to run for political office. These forms of capital constitute the resources of a
persons habitus, which refers to the personal psychological dispositions of a person that are shaped by these forms
of capital and family background, while also modifying them in the light of engagement with the social world.
Bourdieu defines the habitus as an acquired system of generative schemes objectively adjusted to the particular
conditions in which it is constituted (Bourdieu 1977, p. 95). A person can combine these forms of capital and trans-
form or activate them to gain advantage in the social field. A middle class student, for instance, can hire a tutor for
his/her subjects. A middle class family can only do this because it has economic resources. In this example, a middle
class family converts economic resources to cultural and symbolic capital. In return, this conversion will serve as an
asset and resource for a middle class student in achieving better scholastic performance in school. In the case of stu-
 52 of 69

dents coming from the lower class, the cultural and symbolic capitals they acquire from college education are trans-
formed into assets in applying for employment.

The Mass Media and Society

!
At the end of this lesson, the students are expected to:

explain the pervasive influence of mass media on society especially young people;

analyze the dynamic relationship between mass media and other social institutions;

discuss the transformation of mass media in the age of globalization and Internet;

assess the ways in which the new media shape identity, intimacy, and
self-concept; and

explain how the new media create digital divide while promoting cyberdemocracy.

. Pre-Lesson Assessment Activities

Do a survey on the use of Internet by students in your school. Include the following questions:

Is it helpful or destructive to young people? How?

Is it addictive or not?
Ask your respondents the following basic questions:

What gadgets do they have personally and at home?

For what purposes do they use these gadgets?

How many social networks do they have (Facebook, Twitter, Wattpad, etc.)?
 53 of 69

How many email accounts do they have?

How much time do they spend for Internet per day?

What online games do they play?

Have they experienced using different persona on the Internet?

Violence, Consumerism, and Mass Media

Most people think that the mass media especially television has a pervasive effect on society, especially on children.
Today, it is not an exaggeration to say that younger generations are shaped more by the mass media more than their
genes. This is especially true when one considers the pervasive presence of Internet-mediated technology in the lives
of young people. In effect, people have often blamed the mass media for shaping the violent behavior of children.
Violent behaviors are also commonly associated with watching movies and television.

The media process does not merely interact with the rest of society; it has a major impact on how the rest of society
understands and imagines itself (Couldry 2000, 54). McGuire (1986) noted several of the most commonly men-
tioned intended media effects: (a) the effects of advertising on purchasing, (b) the effects of political campaigns on
voting, (c) the effects of public service announcements (PSAs) on personal behavior and social improvement, (d) the
effects of propaganda on ideology, and (e) the effects of media ritual on social control. These media effects work
together to shape the behavior and thinking of people.

One of the most important influences of the mass media is on the socialization of children. By providing role mod-
els and stereotypes, children often adopt these models and stereotypes as they engage with their families and
friends. During Halloween, children wear the costumes of their favorite horror movie characters such as vampire,
Dracula, werewolves, and zombies. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) website, children be-
tween the ages of 2 and 18 spend an average of three hours each day watching television. A three-year National
Television Study, reported by the AAP, found that childrens shows had the most violence of all television program-
ming. Statistics read that some cartoons average 20 acts of violence in one hour, and that by the age of 18, children
will have seen 16,000 simulated murders and 200,000 acts of violence on television. Young people are especially in
jeopardy of the negative effects of television violence because many younger children cannot discriminate between
what they see and what is real reports the AAP (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/108/5/1222.full), ac-
cessed September 10, 2014.

Recent reviews of the media violence research have concluded that there are three primary effects of viewing violent
television programming on children. First, ample evidence supports the contention that children can and do learn
aggressive behaviors and attitudes from viewing violence on television. For example, heavy viewers of television
violence are more likely to see violence as a reasonable means for settling disputes. Second, those who view rela-
tively high levels of televised violence develop an increased and exaggerated fear of becoming a victim of violence.
Finally, viewers of television violence have shown a tendency to become desensitized to violence.

Among Filipino children, the picture is different. According to the New Generations 2012 survey of Cartoon Net-
work, led by Duncan Morris, Vice President for Research and Market Development for Turner International Asia
Pacific Ltd., Filipino children are clear about what they want and dont want. Morris says, Filipino children have
firm preferences on what gadgets they like to use, what TV shows they like to watch, and what activities they want
to do. In terms of access to gadgets, the Internet, and related technology, Filipino children are ahead of their peers in
more developed countries in Asia-Pacific. Read more on http:// business.inquirer.net/61337/children-influence-buy-
ing-patterns-poll-says#ixzz3HVPcfNO0 (accessed October 8, 2014).

Mass media and youth culture

In the review of literature done by Lanuza (2003), regarding the mediatization of the Filipino youth, he observes that
mass media exhibits ambivalent character in relation to the formation of youth culture. So, while it carries mod-
ernizing currents, yet at the same time, it also promotes traditional Filipino values. Hence studies on youth and val-
ues promoted by television would show the propagation of traditional Filipino values such as respect for elders, fam-
 54 of 69

ily solidarity, and reverence for authorities. Furthermore, Lanuza shows that mass media today, largely through
advertising, operates as the major harbinger of late modern culture. Citing several studies, he points out that the
following images are associated with female Gen X youth: aggressive, expressive, unconventional, and liberated.
Males are depicted as optimistic, independent, adventurous, and wild.

Mass media also impact on the way young people spend their leisure. In the same review of Lanuza, it is shown that
young Filipinos prefer to go to malls than in parks and museums. The situation may even be worse today. Todays
youth are fond of going to shopping malls rather than hanging at historic places and public parks. Moreover, many
young Filipinos prefer to play online games than engage in traditional physical sports and games. Among the major
findings of the survey, Internet Access and Use by Filipino Schoolchildren, conducted by the Asian Institute of Jour-
nalism and Communication (AIJC), commissioned by UNICEF in 2009, is that online gaming is another favorite
pastime of the Filipino youth with almost 8 of 10 schoolchildren connected to the net playing online games.

Mass media and gender stereotypes

Another pervasive influence of mass media is the acquisition of stereotypes. Stereotypes are images that can be
adopted about specific types of individuals, groups or certain ways of doing things. These thoughts or beliefs may or
may not accurately reflect reality. Stereotypes enable each member of society to deal properly about certain individ-
uals and provide them with the right script on how to act properly in a certain social situation. However, stereotypes
can also be a product of prejudices. Prejudices are prejudgments, opinions that people have before knowing the full
circumstances about a person or an event. In social sciences, prejudice is often used to refer to negative or unfavor-
able judgments toward people or a person because of social class, gender, age, disability, religion, sexuality, race and
ethnicity, nationality, or other personal characteristics. Mass media is a powerful tool in disseminating stereotypes
especially about women. Movies and television shows, for instance, usually portray women as mothers or house-
wives rather than as professionals. They are often seen as care-givers and taking care of household chores. Mean-
while, men are often depicted as professionals and leaders. In advertising, sexy and young women are often associ-
ated with alcoholic drinks and beverages. Young women are usually seen as obsessed with their skin and hair. Mass
media, therefore, is powerful in shaping not only the attitude and perception of people about women but also more
importantly the minds of young girls.

Studies would also show that constant exposure to sexually explicit materials tends to affect family values. Com-
pared to the control group, the exposure group reported more tolerance for pre- and extra-marital sexual activity, less
endorsement of marriage as an institution, were reported to want fewer children, and were more likely to believe that
there were health risks in sexual repression. Taken together, these results suggest a view that sexually explicit media
content fosters exposure to deviance and may undermine societal values. Many feminist scholars support this view.
They believe that the portrayal of women in mass media tend to support stereotypes against women. These stereo-
types include the myth that women want to be raped, that men are naturally aggressive, and that women are passive
objects that can be manipulated by men. Constant exposure to sexually explicit materials also reinforce the idea
among men that violence against women is morally acceptable.

It must be borne in mind, however, that while mass media may influence the viewers in forming their stereotypes
and prejudices about certain individuals or groups, nevertheless, it must also be noted that mass medias influence is
mediated by other factors such as the family, religion, and peer group. People who watch violent films with the
proper guidance of adults in the family may not necessarily develop and embrace prejudices against women or peo-
ple with different skin colors or religions. But people whose friends also watch violent films that glorify domestic
violence against women may find themselves embracing these stereotypes. A school that does not promote religious
pluralism and tolerance may inadvertently reinforce the prejudices in mass media about certain religious groups that
are not part of the mainstream society. In short, the effects of mass media are not unproblematic and straightforward.
Researchers also point to the intervening factors and variables that either facilitate or depreciate the effects on
stereotype-formation among young viewers.

Mass Media and Knowledge Production

Media as a tool for propaganda

Aside from reinforcing existing social stereotypes and prejudices, mass media is also a powerful tool in disseminat-
ing certain political ideas. In some countries, the mass media is strictly regulated by the government. Authoritarian
 55 of 69

states usually use the mass media for its project of nation-building. Hence, it constantly watches over oppositions
and protests in alternative platforms of mass media. Mass media can also be used to strengthen national interests. As
President Suharto declared in a speech on National Press Day in 1989: As an integral part of our developing society,
nation and state, the press has an important role to assist in managing this nation in all its complexity through the
dissemination of news, opinions, ideas, grievances and hopes to the masses...It is in this respect that the press has a
role to play in helping build and preserve our unity and cohesion as a nation (quoted in McCargo 2003, p. 3).

By performing this function, the media act as an agent of stability, charged with the task of helping preserve social
and political order. This function is commonly associated with the term development journalism. Mass media can
also be used to inform people about corruption and can be a catalyst for social change as in the case of toppling
Marcos regime during the Edsa People Power I in 1986. In this sense, mass media can perform three functions: as
conservative, progressive or transformative institution.

But mass media generally has the function of maintaining the status quo by controlling the information that goes to
the audience. This mass media influence on the audience is well elaborated in the Chomsky and Herman model of
propaganda. They summarize this theory by saying:

It is our view that, among their other functions, the media serve, and propagandize on behalf of, the powerful soci-
etal interests that control and finance them. The representatives of these interests have important agendas and princi-
ples that they want to advance, and they are well positioned to shape and constrain media policy. This is normally
not accomplished by crude intervention, but by the selection of right-thinking personnel and by the editors and
working journalists internalization of priorities and definitions of newsworthiness that conform to the institutions
policy.

Herman and Chomsky argue that mass media do not simply provide objective information and images. These infor-
mation and images are already pre-selected, edited, and screened out before they are presented and consumed by the
audience. What is newsworthy and what is not, how long should a news or a segment in a TV series should be, how
news is to be presented are already products of deliberation among the reporters, producers, and directors. And while
new technologies are introduced, Chomsky and Herman point out that they are created simply to meet corporate
needs. They further argue that those of recent years have permitted media firms to shrink staff even as they achieve
greater outputs, and they have made possible global distribution systems that reduce the number of media entities.
The audience interaction facilitated by advancing interactive capabilities mainly help audience members to shop,
but they also allow media firms to collect detailed information on their audiences, and thus to fine-tune program
features and ads to individual characteristics as well as to sell by click during programs. Along with reducing priva-
cy, this should intensify commercialization (p. XVIII). The wars of US against terrorist states, for instance, are of-
ten described as forms of pre-emptive wars in behalf of justice and liberty, while the terrorist states and groups are
called enemies of peace-loving nations. The US media tend to downplay the violence and genocide that the US gov-
ernment perpetrates against other countries.

In the case of the Philippine press, Rosalinda Pineda-Ofreneo (1986), observed, No press in the world is exempt
from bias. This includes the Philippine press. In fact, many local critics have complained of canned or managed
news which necessarily reflect the bias of these sources. One factor behind this is the rise of public relations men
who act not only as image builders but also as outright censors. In the latter capacity, they limit the freedom of ac-
cess to information to a great extent. Local publishers, editors, columnists, reporters and all other people who have a
say in the running of a newspaper can also serve as sources of bias because they likewise have particular interests
and viewpoints to advance (p. 236).

Mass media and the Society of Spectacle

Mass media do not only maintain the status quo by disseminating propaganda, they can also make and unmake the
career of politicians. In an age of society as spectacle, a term coined by Guy Debord (19311994), a French artist
and social critic, spectacle or media images dominate politics in modern societies. It is not surprising, therefore, that
presidency in the Philippines is staged and presented to the public in melodramatic terms, using media spectacle to
sell the policies, person, and image of the president to a vast and diverse public. The media are complicit in the gen-
eration of spectacle politics, redefining politics as battle for image, display, and story in the forms of entertainment
and drama. Politicians get elected because they represent the poor and the oppressed in their movies such as Joseph
Erap Estrada and Ramon Bong Revilla. But Estrada was also responsible for the downfall of many celebrity-politi-
cians as in the case of corrupt politicians.
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POLITICS

What does politics mean? Why does politics bear a negative connotation especially when used by well known politi-
cians, celebrities, and media practitioners? What is the relationship between power and politics? Where does power
lie? Who wields power? Who seizes power? What does it mean to be political? What does it take to be politicized?
What are the possible ways in which politics and empowerment can mean something meaningful and fruitful for the
majority?

Politics and Social Organization

All known societies are organized in ways that facilitate and maintain the everyday life and culture of different so-
cial groups. This means that the morality made up of norms, mores, and folkways that people live by are part of an
 57 of 69

organized system of ways of doing and mixing are ways of living in a world where each individual needs to mix
with other people. In other words, there are rules, unwritten or written, that guide peoples ways of socializing. This
way of inhabiting the world is conceptualized as social relations. Power is a nominal term or another word we use to
refer to social relations. This means that the rules for relating socially are observed depending on ones position in
society. This is why all social relations are power relations. This why politics is not even a choice that those who can
get into. Politics is part and parcel of social life. It shapes the way people live and die.

Since people are not similarly situated in society, they will wield power in different ways forming a hierarchy of
social relations wherein some groups wield power over another. Individuals, depending on the social groups to
which they belong, would exercise power or the lack of power on the basis of their life chances. Life chances are
determined by ones social origins, primarily ones economic class. Take the social organization of class for exam-
ple, an individual who comes from the economic elite of a given society will most likely to wield power over an
individual who comes from the dispossessed class. This social relation between two people, one is rich, the other is
poor, is a relation of power, and it is the kind of relation that makes up politics.

The dominant type politics of any given society therefore is a reflection of a societys social organization. In a soci-
ety where only one percent of the population monopolizes wealth, and the rest are engaged in hard labor and/or bare
survival, the dominant form of politics will be that of the rich using all its resources (which translates to political
power) to maintain a system that will keep the majority in their places, that is, a life of material and moral poverty,
and poor health.

Forms of Legitimacy

In the scientific study of politics, there are typically three types of legitimacy or kinds of legitimate rule. But first,
what does it mean to be legitimate? Legitimacy means the recognition, acceptance, and support for an existing form
of rule or government as right and proper. A legitimate government is one which has a recognized, accepted, and
supported sphere of influence by the majority. A popular consent of the governed is the basic condition for legitimate
authority.

German Sociologist Max Weber identifies 3 types of legitimacy which concretizes the same in its various concrete
forms:

1. Traditional legitimacy (TL)

TL is the kind of moral authority that keeps society together by virtue of custom and habit. This type of legitimacy
emphasizes the authority of tradition by virtue of its historical practice by a particular group. This form of rule is
understood as historically accepted by its practitioners: This is how we have always done things. Governments or
forms of rule that are based on traditional legitimacy are historically continuous such as monarchies and the tradi-
tional legitimacy of customary law that govern tribal societies.
 58 of 69

2. Charismatic Legitimacy (CL)

In his book Charisma and Institution Building, Weber studies the transition of power from one regime to another
through the seizure of power or revolution. He studies a dimension of regime change or revolution focusing on a
charismatic leader. He argues that seizure of power is often initiated by a leader who questions traditional authority,
brings together and leads followers to oust the old regime and bring forth a new one. Fidel Castro of Cubas 1959
revolution, Mao Zedong of the 1949 Chinese Revolution, Vladimir Lenin of the 1917 October Russian Revolution.
Other examples of charismatic leaders in world history are Zapata, Khomeini, and Mandela. The charismatic leader
is often regarded as endowed with exceptional powers and superhuman qualities. Charisma is the quality of political
leaders whose individual characteristics set him apart from ordinary people. Weber, however, highlights that the
charismatic leaders authority over her followers can only be maintained and reinforced when solidified in political
institutions. This means that as a quality of a leader, charisma must itself undergo institutionalization, the most effec-
tive of which are formal bureaucracies or modern governments that have replaced the traditional and hereditary rule
of monarchs.

3. Rational-legal legitimacy (RLL)

Authority in this context derives from formal procedures of institutions. This is a type of legitimacy that is based on
a governments capacity to use public interest as the rationale for establishing and enforcing law and order. Rational-
legal legitimacy is therefore the basis of power and leadership of a government that pledges to abide the law and
wins consent from the people through public trust. Modern states or governments premised on representative or par-
ticipative democracies are examples of the kind of authority that is derived from rational-legal legitimacy. Betrayal
of trust and culpable violation of the constitution by a government official strips him or her of rational-legal authori-
ty. This explains the phenomenon of presidents leaving their office due to public clamor and/or people power.

Power and Authority

From the examples above it is now easier to understand the connection between power and authority. First, bear in
mind that power is a nominal term for social relations, and thus exists as a given in all societies and forms of social
interaction. Authority, on the other hand is a by-product of power or how social relations are organized in a given
social setting. Authority is conferred to a person or a group of people whose position in society matches a societys
mode of constituting political authority in a given historical period. For example, in the feudal epoch, kings, mon-
archs, and bishops of the church were authority figures of authority because they had control over the major eco-
nomic resource of feudal societyland. In the era of modernity, politicians are figures who must exhibit a dedica-
tion to protect law and order. They are usually recruited from the intellegenstia or the educated class as law and or-
der are presumed to be products of a legal-bureaucratic organization based on knowledge-production of contempo-
rary societies.
Political conflicts take place when power is not wielded properly or in the right way. Conflicts happen when authori-
ty is deemed as ineffective that constituents or followers can no longer put their confidence in an authority figure.
The authority figure then in the form of a government or a politician is challenged by another power group in soci-
ety. If this competing group manages well in exposing and opposing an existing government authority, the latter
gradually loses its/his or her mandate or legitimacy. Depending on the critical mass that the opposition is able to
 59 of 69

muster, governments may be dislodged or continue to rule but no longer with moral and intellectual leadership that
makes government to people relation smooth and effective.

Political conflicts are one of the consequences of challenges posed against an existing authority or government.
What this reveals about power and authority is the fact that they do not reside in exclusively in the political leader.
The greatest mistake of the king is his assumption that he is king because of his crown. He therefore assumes that
there is essentially powerful about his crown. The truth about the kings crown is the same truth about power and
authority. The king is king because the people recognize the power of his crown. In other words, the people relates
to the crown in a particular way. It is a symbol of power for them. Whoever wears the crown is a worthy figure of
this symbol of the authority that the people confer to the crown. The king is not king because of his crown, he is
king because the people recognizes his crown. Without the peoples consent to a particular form of social relation or
power, for example one entity controlling over another, authority cannot be established. In the end, especially in
modern democracies and dictatorial regimes, authority resides in and depends on the continued recognition of the
people and not in the inherent power of the political leader. The reason that politics bears a negative connotation is
due to the historical practice of authority itself. The social relation between leader and the people is one that is
skewed to reinforcing the privilege of the former than promoting the interest of the latter. Theoretically, there is
nothing essentially wrong with authority. But the history of governance since the emergence of the state has only
reflected the use and abuse of power of the economic elite or the ruling class. The authority to run governments and
thus, shape the everyday lives of people has yet to be practiced by the majority of the laboring majority. The ajoritys
participation in politics is only encouraged and maximized by political leaders to activate the electoral process. The
majoritys active participation and intervention in policies that affect their lives is yet to be constructed and realized.
This is the challenge of true and participative democracy: a state for, by, and of the people.

State Power
What is a State?

Some see a "state" as an ancient institution, going back to Rome, Greece and before, and theorized by Plato, Aristo-
tle and other classical philosophers. Others insist on the unique features of the modern state, with its extensive rule
of law, citizenship rights, and broad economic and social responsibilities. A state is more than a government; that is
clear. Governments change, but states endure. A state is the means of rule over a defined or "sovereign" territory. It
is comprised of an executive, a bureaucracy, courts and other institutions. But, above all, a state levies taxes and
operates a military and police force. States distribute and re-distribute resources and wealth, so lobbyists, politicians
and revolutionaries seek in their own way to influence or even to get hold of the levers of state power. States exist in
a variety of sizes, ranging from enormous China to tiny Andorra. Some claim a long lineage, while others are of
modern construction. In all but the short term, states are in flux. They expand and contract as military and political
fortunes change. Some, like Poland, even disappear and re-appear later. Or they may be divided up (sometimes
peacefully) by communities that prefer to go their separate ways (Czechoslovakia). Others, such as Iraq, may be
occupied or run as a colony or protectorate. States can also "fail" - their governing institutions collapse due to civil
war and internal strife (as in Somalia) or because the state has little authority outside the capital city (Afghanistan).
 60 of 69

While globalization and regional integration (like the European Union) challenge the state's powers, the state is still
the dominant arena of domestic politics as well as the primary actor in international relations.

Some states occupy a unique status in the international community of states, due to a very small population or very
small land area, but usually both.Microstates, or small states and territories (SSTs) are sovereign state and enjoy a
disproportionately large influence in the United Nations General Assembly thanks to the one state, one vote
rule. Experimental States, such as Sealand, Freedom Ship, Cyber Yugoslavia are among the hundreds of experi-
mental states that people have founded in order to avoid taxation, feel independent, or to create a tourist attraction.

State and Class

Class as a social relation generally refers to the dominant/ruling class and the dominated/ruled. There are various
signifiers of class, namely, status, lifestyle, distinction, etc. but in the last instance, what determines class is its eco-
nomic basis. Social class in modern as well as in feudal societies is based on the relationship between property own-
ership and dispossession. Those who own property or the means of production that is productive of value are in the
position to rule the ones who surrender their labor by tilling the land or selling their labor power as a worker in a
factory in exchange for wages.

Classes in society are a result of the accumulation of wealth by the ruling class and the rendering of labor by the
ruled. The accumulation of wealth is not a result of natural development of societies. A social scientific analysis of
class formation has to account for the fact that the same phenomenon did not occur through peaceful gradual differ-
entiation. Rather, class formation and the current global class structure is the result of violent invasion and subjuga-
tion.

Recall how the Squirearchy (English ruling class) was made up of the Normans or the successful conquerors, whose
subject class were the defeated English Saxons. In the same manner, the dominant class of the Frankish state (which
would later evolved into France and the Holy Roman Empire) were the Frankish and Burgundian conquerors whose
subject populations were the descendants of the conquered Romanized Celts.

These historical accounts belie the assumption that classes are a product of natural development. What is then the
connection between class and state? It must be clarified in the outset that the State is not a human aggregation or a
collection of various groups of people that may possibly come to be, or happen as it should be. The State is the sum
total of advantages, privileges, dominating positions that are concretized by surplus economic power that operates in
society, and is monopolized by a few dominant groups and institutions.

Russian philosopher and revolutionary Vladimir Lenin succinctly articulates the relationship between State and
Class: The State is the instrument of class rule. This means that in every society, the economically dominant social
class takes over the State and rules. State power, therefore, is the rule of one class over the rest of society. Under
global capitalism, the State is an instrument for the advantages, interests, and privileges of the capitalist class. In
socialist states such as the Soviet Union and China before their systems reverted back to capitalism, the state power
was seized through a proletarian (working class) revolution so that state became the instrument of proletarian rule.
 61 of 69

Today, Cuba and Venezuela are holding fast to the proletarian orientation of state power or class rule. Cuba won the
revolution against its local ruling elites and colonizer United States in 1959. Venezuelas socialist construction began
with Hugo Chavez emerging as a leader through popular vote in 1998.

In South America, different States have recently converged to form what is now known as ALBA:

ALBA-TCP is the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our AmericaPeoples Trade Treaty (1). Established on
December 14, 2004 for the development of cooperation and the economical, commercial and productive integration
with special emphasis on the social dimension, ALBA-TCP was first launched in a Summit held in Havana, Cuba
through the subscription of the Joint Declaration for the establishment of the ALBA and the Agreement for the im-
plementation of the Alliance, by the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, and the Presi-
dent of the Council of State of Cuba, Fidel Castro.

Currently, the ALBA-TCP members are: Venezuela (December 14, 2004) Cuba (December 14, 2004) Bolivia (April
29, 2006), Nicaragua (January 10, 2007)Dominica (January 26, 2008) Ecuador (June 24, 2009) Antigua &
Barbuda( June 24, 2009) Saint Vincent & The Grenadines (June 24, 2009) Saint Lucia (July 30, 2013).

In 2006, merely two years after ALABAs founding, and with Bolivia joining in, it scaled new heights through the
proposal of the Peoples Trade Treaties. TCP constitutes instruments of trade that promote solidarity and comple-
mentary exchanges among member countries whose goal is to carry out a plan of economic development that will
benefit the people. This formation is in stark opposition to the Free-Trade Area (FTA) whose neoliberal mandate is
to promote the profit-driven logic of transnational corporations.

As a complementary economic zone, ALBA-TCP seeks to expand and consolidate the Latin American and Car-
ibbean (Petrocaribe) trade integration from a progressive standpoint. From South America and the Caribbean basin,
member states have been promoting an economic integration that is based on humanist principles of justice and soli-
darity. The starting point for which is the existing conditions of hunger and poverty in the region.

On account of the long history of colonialism and imperialist plunder external forces that have historically
brought together the peoples of this region to struggle for national sovereignty and dignity the world has wit-
nessed counter-hegemonic ruptures from tyranny and exploitation in the great revolutions led by Bolivar, Marti,
Sucre, OHiggins, and the more contemporary victories and struggles led by Fidel Castro in Cuba and Hugo Chavez
in Venezuela.

In its 2004-2014 Management Report, it is made known that:

The nine Member States of ALBA-PTA are inhabited by some more than 74 million people, 47.7% of which forms
part of the labor force 1. It spreads over three million square kilometers in the aggregate, including the exclusive
economic zones, 49.5% of which comprises forests and 6.73% covers plowlands. The latter number surpasses the
average of 1% in the whole Latin American and Caribbean region.
 62 of 69

As opposed to the FTA that promotes the privatization of the basic services of water, education, health, transport,
communications and energy, the PTT promotes and strengthens the role of the State in these essential services that
allow for the full compliance with human rights.
For 10 years now, ALBA has been keen on identifying new economic actors in redefining a growing commercial
presence.

Source: http://bulatlat.com/main/2015/01/01/albas-alternative/#sthash.ja1q6Af4.dpuf

Origins of the Philippine Modern State

Modern Principalia: A continuity of leadership recruitment from a tiny minority of elite families and, inspite
of democratic elections, members of these families get elected again and again. Dante Simbulan

In a very important work on the analysis of the Philipine State entitled The Modern Principalia: The Historical Evo-
lution of the Philippine Ruling Oligarchy, Simbulan traces the historical evolution of the Philippine ruling oligarchy,
or the few who run and rule this country, and how.

The ruling elite or the plutocracy refers to any given societys economic and political elite. In this context, the meld-
ing of economic and political power is decisive in the formation of the Philippine State and the different regimes or
governments that have historically made it up. In an ideal world, governance only requires political acumen or the
ability to wield political capital effectively. But the history of colonialism and neo-colonialism has shaped the con-
fluence of economic and political power in shaping the life of a nation.

Each province in the Philippines is almost always ruled by political dynasties that rule not only the political life,
they also shape and control ordinary peoples economic and social life.

How are political dynasties maintained? Simbulan keenly observes that power is concentrated to a few land-owning
families. These families hold on power is transferred from one generation to the next, from grandfather to son or
daughter, to wife or husband, brothers or sisters and on to their grandchildren. Political power for this economically
dominant class is a curious case of heredity. The process of naturalization of political power, which appears as
though it is imprinted in each family members genes, is part and parcel of the elites mechanisms to monopolize,
maintain, and accumulate economic power through political power. While political power finds its base on economic
power, it also reinforces the latter, giving the Congress and the Senate, and even local governments a flavor of fami-
ly enterprise that extends to their relatives and business associates.

Why do they get elected? Does winning elections any indicator of the peoples will? A quick rundown of the news
during election period since the establishment of the Philippine government, electoral fraud and violence would
dominate the headlines. The electoral process is a superficial indicator of the majoritys choice. The Hello Garci
Scandal that involved former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo allegedly rigging the elections of 2004, and the
Ampatuan Massacre that gathered 58 victims in a mass grave in Maguindanao in 2009 are symptomatic of the elec-
toral and political crisis in the country. Elections are largely a result of the methods of manipulation used on the
electorate identified by Simbulan as follows:
 63 of 69

1. widespread use of bribery

2. vote buying by politicians using taxpayers money

3. hiring journalists and other media people as the as polticians public relations agents

Polticians wanton use of the 3 Gs, that is, guns,goons, and gold is no longer an expose about the Philippine electoral
system.

In such conditions, can there be genuine democracy? A democracy is the rule of, by, and for the people or the major-
ity. What actually exists when a plutocracy runs the political, social, and economic life of the country is not a
democracy but an oligarchy or the rule of the few. According to Simbulan, oligarchy is made up of plutocrats of
wealthy people, whose source of power is not the sovereign will of the people as the Constitution states but mainly
the possession of wealth. Following the aforementioned definition of democracy and actually existing governance in
Philippine society, Simbulans argument that ours is a democracy without substance can be supported. In addition,
this kind of democracy that operates like an oligarchy, Simbulan avers is a faade conveniently used by the elite to
disguise their control of power. Hence, the Philippine Oligarchy that presents itself as a democracy is, as Simbulan
established, composed of families who have monopolized political power since the nation-state was formed.

Senator Juan Sumulong of the wealthy Sumulong clan had this to say in a Senate speech made in 1935:the ma-
jority and minority parties represent almost exclusively the intelligentsia and what we would call the Philippine plu-
tocracy, and that the needy classes have no representation in these parties and for these reasons they have no voice
nor vote, even only as minorities, in the formulation of governmental policies

image from http://retrato.com.ph/retratoimages/Midsize/PP/PP00546a.jpg

The Modern Principalia in Philippine History

The principalia is a product of Spanish colonialism that morphed into the modern principalia all throughout Ameri-
can colonialism and neo-colonialism, up to the institution of the modern Philippine State.
 64 of 69

Caciquism is a system of rule introduced by the Spanish colonizers who ruled the Philippines from 1571-1898.
While leaders of barangays and datus already existed in the social organization of the various regions in Luzon,
Visayas, and Mindanao before Spanish colonial rule, these sophisticated system of organization was used by the
Spanish colonizers against the colonized.

The Spanish colonizers introduced caciquism or the rule of the cacique or chief through local leaders like the datos
and cabezas de barangay. In other words, local chiefs were recruited to the Spanish colonial government as local
collaborators. They were compensated through the encomienda system, or land grants to local caciques. The
caciques then started to preserve and reinforce power through getting more land which allowed them to make their
constituents, the people, dependent on them. This newly formed local elite group also served as tax collectors who
extorted money from the locals, partly for their use and part of it to be surrendered to their Spanish superiors.

In the Bonifacio-led 1896 Katipunan Revolution, the principalia played a counter-intuitive role. The 1896 Revolu-
tion was inspired by the reform movement initiated by the ilustrados, they are intellectual segment of the princi-
palia who are alienated from the practices and interests of this elite group. They are the young intellectuals who
studied in Europe amidst the Philippines colonization of Spain. Their exposure to the literature on the Enlighten-
ment and the different revolutions in the West, foremost of which is the French Revolution, these alienated young
intellectuals would come home to the country to become propagandists of the reform movement against Spanish
colonialism. From this movement, the revolutionary Katipunan was born and eventually won the revolution against
Spanish colonialism.

During the United States colonization of the Philippines, the campaign to pacify revolutionary anti-colonial forces
ensued. The principalia during this period was comprised of pro-American upper class Filipinos, who in December
12, 1900, came together, all 125 of them, to organize the Federalista Party. As part of the pacification campaign,
local Filipino elites were also appointed by Americans in different positions in the bureaucracy culminating in the
Commonwealth period. This period marked the institutionalization of the modern principalia as pillars in the estab-
lishment of state institutions in the so-called post-colonial period. This segment of the principalia has its roots from
the land-owning principalia that collaborated with Spanish colonizers.

This is how the modern principalia became the local ruling elite that occupy seats in local government units, Con-
gress, Senate, and the Malacanang Palace. Contemporary Philippine politicians preference for foreign investors,
partnerships with big business, and US military forces is a disposition that has its historical roots in the making of
the modern principalia which now comprise the Modern Philippine State. The phenomenon of making profits out of
ones seat in government or what is known as bureaucrat capitalism is a logical trajectory of governance that was
instituted during colonial rule, and whose substance and bases (economic power based on land, and later on, entan-
glement with foreign interests) have yet to be eliminated to make Philippine politics a practice of genuine democra-
cy.

Branches and Functions of State Power

The Philippine Government

 65 of 69

The Philippines is a republic with a presidential form of government wherein power is equally divided among its
three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.

One basic corollary in a presidential system of government is the principle of separation of powers wherein legisla-
tion belongs to Congress, execution to the Executive, and settlement of legal controversies to the Judiciary.

! !

The Legislative branch is authorized to make laws, alter, and repeal them through the power vested in the Philippine
Congress. This institution is divided into the Senate and the House of Representatives.

! !

The Executive branch is composed of the President and the Vice President who are elected by direct popular vote
and serve a term of six years. The Constitution grants the President authority to appoint his Cabinet. These depart-
ments form a large portion of the countrys bureaucracy.

! !

The Judicial branch holds the power to settle controversies involving rights that are legally demandable and enforce-
able. This branch determines whether or not there has been a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess
of jurisdiction on the part and instrumentality of the government. It is made up of a Supreme Court and lower courts.

The Constitution expressly grants the Supreme Court the power of Judicial Review as the power to declare a treaty,
international or executive agreement, law, presidential decree, proclamation, order, instruction, ordinance or regula-
tion unconstitutional.

Source: The Philippine Gazette http://www.gov.ph/about/gov/

What is a State?
http://www.globalpolicy.org/nations-a-states/what-is-a-state.html

The Idolatry of the state by Franz Oppenheimer

http://www.globalpolicy.org/nations-a-states/what-is-a-state.html
 66 of 69

Dante Simbulan. 2005. Modern Princiaplia:The Historical Evolution of the Philippine Ruling Oligarchy.
Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press.

Possible class exercises:

Trip to the Senate, Congress, Malacanang
Invite a progressive parliamentarian to talk about the Partylist system: from teachers, farmers, workers,
women sector to explain the legal parliamentarian struggle
Workshop: What is Good Governance for me? What are the important social services to be delivered by
government? How do we ensure our right to social services? How to achieve Good Governance? (group
discussion and group presentation)
Debate: Should we abolish the pork barrel system?

Culture and Society in the Globalizing World

At the end of this lesson, the students are expected to:

explain the changes brought about by modernization while being critical of the Western-dominated
definition of modernization;

identify the changes that culture undergoes during the period of globalization;

critically examine the Westernizing influence of globalization on local nonWestern cultures; and

discuss the positive ways by which globalization is able to widen the cultural horizons of people
around the world

Motivation

List down the things you use daily, from food, shampoo to school supplies, music, and TV programs. Identify each
item whether it is imported or not. How did you get to know about these products? Do you believe that Filipinos
have neo-colonial consciousness, that is, they prefer imported products rather than local ones? Prove your point.

Culture and Social Change Modernization and cultural change

 67 of 69

Culture is an important ingredient in the life of a group of people. While early social scientists argue that society
evolves and develops primarily due to social and economic factors, many scholars also point out to the significant
role played by cultural forces like religion. Max Weber, a German sociologist, in his classic work The Protestant
Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, provided an interesting analysis that showed how capitalism in the West could
have not developed were it not for the push given by Calvinist ethics. Calvinists are followers of John Calvin.
(1509 1564), an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. According to Weber,
Calvinism shaped the work ethics of entrepreneurs and capitalists during the early part of capitalist industrialization.
Calvinism created anxiety among the believers that could only be relieved through hardwork, total devotion to
work, avoidance of idleness, and renunciation of worldly pleasures. Furthermore, Calvinist doctrine of predestina-
tion (i.e., the doctrine that teaches that God already preordained some people to be saved), led its members to equate
prosperity in this world with salvation. Hence, the cultural ethos generated by the teachings of Calvinism supplied
the work ethic necessary for capital accumulation during the incipient growth of capitalism. Webers culturalist theo-
ry of the emergence of capitalism in the West became one of the pillars for the development of modernization theo-
ry. In the 1960s, many social scientists, governments, and policy makers believed in the theory of modernization.
According to this view, based on evolutionary theory of culture, all societies undergo a process of change in the di-
rection of greater complexity and progress. The Western model of development is often held up as the showcase on
how non-Western societies or backward societies can catch up with Western development. The earliest formulation
of modernization theory is proposed by Walt Rostow. Walt Rostow (19162003), an American economist and politi-
cal theorist, proposed five stages of development. The first stage is known as the traditional society which is associ-
ated with the country that has not yet developed. Majority of the people are engaged in subsistence agriculture and
more investments are channelled to services or activities, such as military and religion. The second stage is called
the precondition for take-off in which the economy undergoes a process of change for building up of conditions for
growth and takes off. It is characterized by the massive development of mining industries, increase in capital use in
agriculture, the necessity of external funding and some growth in savings and investments. The third stage is called
the take-off stage of development which is sometimes called the economic take-off. It is characterized by dynamic
economic growth which is due to sharp stimulus of economic, political, or technological in nature. The fourth stage
after the take-off stage is the drive to maturity which is concerned with the extension of modern technology over
other sectors of the economy or society. Drive to maturity stage refers to the period when a country has affectively
applied the range of modern technology to the bulk of its resources. Finally, the fifth and final stage is called the age
of high mass consumption where the leading sectors in the society shift toward durable consumers goods and ser-
vices. This is called industrialization.

In this view, underdeveloped societies, which are in the first stage, must be able to go through the five stages in or-
der to be on par with the developed economies of the world. Concomitant with this view is the assumption that the
problem of underdevelopment has to do with the backward culture of the people. Therefore, they prescribe the intro-
duction of Western ways of knowing and coping with social change so that people in traditional societies can devel-
op into modern societies. This is called cultural change through Westernization. In this view culture from the West
must be assimilated to non-Western world through the process of cultural borrowing or diffusion. Diffusion is the
appearance of elements of one peoples culture or practices in another; it was first mentioned by Edward B. Tylor in
Primitive Culture (Morris 2012, p. 76). Impact of modernization on culture and its discontent Modernization theory
as an explanation of social change promotes Western cultural values, such as individualism and rationalism, and
does not only introduce new technologies from the West. People can only accept and adapt to new technologies if
they have corresponding changes in their cultural values and attitudes. This is the gist of cultural modernization.
People must be willing to embrace change no matter how destructive it is to the traditional way of life. This destruc-
tive and anti-tradition rhetoric of modernization theory has generated a lot of controversy among its supporters and
detractors. Modernization of culture promotes individualism, consumerism, and the reliance on science as the right
attitude to explain the world. These radical shifts tend to be unwelcome among the older generation that still value
the old ways of looking and interpreting the world. But policy makers and governments in developing countries tell
their people that modernization, like birth, is a painful process. It is inevitable, therefore, it has to be embraced un-
conditionally.
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Globalization and Culture

Cultural homogenization and its critics Globalization is the process whereby spaces between nations become porous
because of the accelerated phase of diffusion of information, people, capital, and goods. Immersed in computer-me-
diated technologies, peoples relationships and forms of interaction around the world increasingly have become un-
constrained by geography and are no longer necessarily local or national in nature. Roland Robertson (1992) defines
globalization as the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole (p.
8). Globalization process intensifies the consciousness of the people that cultures are intricately linked on the global
scale. This is globalityas opposed to globalism that equates globalization with simple spread of Western-style
liberal democracy and unhampered market forces of capitalism. With globalization has come the idea of a world
culture, that is, the universality of particular cultural traits, whose spread is a consequence of globalization. Cultural
universalism refers to cultural elements, such as the Internet, fast food from McDonalds, and Nike sneakers. Tech-
nological objects such as iPhone and Android are known allover the world although many people do not possess
them. Scientific ideas have the same status. This parallels the idea of a world polity, that is, the world as a single
social system exemplified by multinational corporations and the United Nations (Rosman, Rubel, and Weisgrau,
2009, p. 23). World culture, as many critics of global homogenization assert, is nothing but the dominance of the
largest corporations in the world such as retail-oriented Walmart, an American giant corporation. These giant corpo-
rations are spreading the values of consumerism around the world. Fear of consumerism leads many sociologists to
invent new words to characterize this corporate process of homogenization of the world like Coca-Colonization by
Kuisel, (1993), McDonaldization by Ritzer (2008), Disneydization by Bryman (2004), and Wal- Martization
by author (YYYY). The newest is Starbuckization prompted by the phenomenal spread of Starbucks worldwide
(Ritzer 2010, p. 36). The spread of consumer culture in a globalized world is aptly described by Zygmunt Bauman
(2011):

Ours is a consumers society, in which culture, in common with the rest of the world experienced by consumers,
manifests itself as a repository of goods intended for consumption, all competing for the unbearably fleeting and
distracted attention of potential clients, all trying to hold that attention for more than just the blink of an eye (p. 14).

This kind of cultural homogenization is called grobalization which is defined as the imperialistic ambitions of
nations, corporations, organizations, and the like and their desire, indeed need, to impose themselves on various ge-
ographic areas throughout the world (Ritzer 2011, p. 172). According to Ritzer (2011), the sociologist who popular-
ized McDonaldization, grobalization involves a variety of sub-processes, three of which capitalism, Americaniza-
tion, as well as McDonaldization are not only central driving forces in grobalization, but also of great significance
in the worldwide spread of nothingness (p. 172). By globalization of nothingness, Ritzer refers to those cultural
items that spread from the rich countries to the rest of the world, cultural items that are devoid of any substance or
content. Hence, they can easily be assimilated to local cultures. The best example given by Ritzer on globalization of
nothingness are the malls. The structure of the malls can easily be adapted and transported to other localities yet
allowing for local choice of goods, services, and commodities to be served and displayed. Malls are nothing be-
cause they can contain anything yet without any defining content. Among Filipinos who live in urban centers, malls
have become both a regular place for relaxation, shopping, and a nightmare. It is a nightmare for commuters who
have to endure heavy traffic jams especially during holidays and Christmas season. Malls have created a culture of
malling. The practice of malling includes a range of activities such as window-shopping and people-watching, as
well as sampling the food courts and going to the movies. Malls have eclipsed the parks and museums, even the
churches, as places that Filipino families frequently visit. Interestingly, two of the top five biggest malls in Asia are
found in the Philippines, namely, the SM Mall of Asia and the SM North EDSA (located in Quezon City). The SM
Mega mall located in Mandaluyong City, has daily foot traffic of 800,000 people, to talling 292,000,000 people a
year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ largest_shopping_malls_in_the_world).

Other scholars from neo-Marxist tradition still insist on the continuation of Lenins famous analysis of imperialism
as the highest stage of monopoly capitalism. According to Lenin, the leader of the Russian Bolshevik Revolution,
imperialism is the last stage of capitalism where corporations merge to form large monopolies. David Harvey
(2003), an American social geographer, argues that the new imperialism is different from the earlier imperialism
 69 of 69

described by Lenin in that the new imperialism uses new technologies to consolidate its reach and power. Unlike
Hart and Negris Empire, however, Harvey argues that the new imperialism is still dominated by the United States
as a world power.

Cultural heterogenization as hybridization

As globalization intensifies cultures become hybridized. Hybridization denotes a wide register of multiple identity,
cross-over, pick-n-mix, boundary- crossing experiences and styles, matching a world of growing migration and
transnational families, intensive intercultural communication, everyday multiculturalism and erosion of boundaries.
In optimistic takes on hybridity, hybrids were conceived as lubricants in the clashes of culture; they were the nego-
tiators who would secure a future free of xenophobia (Papastergiadis 1997, p. 261). A Filipino-American, for exam-
ple, may find himself or herself in Seoul, South Korea watching American soap opera dubbed in Korean language
while eating Mediterranean food. Hybridity has always been with us. But the pace of mixing accelerates and its
scope widens in the wake of major structural changes, such as new technologies that enable new phases of intercul-
tural contact. Scholars who support cultural heterogenization does not deny that there is some truth in claims as to
global cultural homogenization, that is, the whole world becoming culturally similar in some ways. But this is not
the whole story, for forms of cultural heterogenizationthings becoming more culturally complexare also part of,
and are produced by, globalization processes (Back, et al. 2012, p. 122). People do frame their thinkingespecially
thinking about themselves and who they arewithin global frames of reference. They are compelled to see them-
selves as just one part of a much greater global whole. In this view, cultural globalization is ambivalent: it can either
encourage a cosmopolitan consciousness and open attitude towards the wider world and all the diff erent cultures
and groups within it, or it can involve the creation of negative feelings towards people from other cultures, involving
racist and ethnocentric attitudes. Eric Hobsbawm (1982) puts this analysis in good light: somewhere on the road
between the globally uniform coke-can and the roadside refreshment stand in Ukraine or Bangladesh, the supermar-
ket in Athens or in Djkarta, globalization stops being uniform and adjusts to local differences, such as language, lo-
cal culture or... local politics (p. 2, as quoted in Back 2012, p. 122).

EVALUATION

1. Cultural differences are often expressed in the generation gap. List all the things that you and your par-
ents share and believe together (religion, education, and family values) as well as those that you disagree
with (music, clothing, and love relationships,). How will you explain these differences based on the lesson?

2. List the things you think are good about traditional Filipino values (example: resiliency, kasipagan, and
family ties). List also those traditional values that you think should be discarded (example: ningas kugon,
family ties, and mamaya na habit). Explain your answer.