CULTURE IN MORAL
BEHAVIOR
Jocelyn M. Erorita-dela Vega, MAN, LPT, MAEd, RN
Delivered by: Godfrey G. Mendoza, RN, PhDNEd, LPT
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WHAT IS CULTURE?
• refers to the beliefs, values,
behavior and material objects that,
together, form a people's way of
life;
• determines how the world is
viewed;
• includes the traditions inherited and
pass on to the next generations;
• totality of the learned, socially
transmitted or shared language,
knowledge, material objects, and
behavior
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WHAT ARE THE COMPONENTS OF
CULTURE?
• SYMBOLS - are defined as anything that carries a particular
meaning recognized by people who share culture. The meaning
of the same symbols varies from society to society, within a
single society, and over time.
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• LANGUAGE - is a system of symbols that allows people to communicate
with one another. It can be either written or spoken or both. Language is
the key to cultural transmission, the process by which one generation
passes culture to the next. Through most of human history, cultural
transmission has been accomplished through oral tradition.
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WHAT ARE THE COMPONENTS OF CULTURE?
• VALUES are culturally defined standards by which people judge
desirability, goodness and beauty, and which serve as broad
guidelines for social living. Values are broad principles that
underlie beliefs, specific statements that people hold to be true.
• Values - are collective conceptions of what is good, desirable, and
proper–or bad, undesirable, and improper–in a culture.
• Values influence people’s behavior.
• Values are criteria for evaluating actions of others.
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WHAT ARE THE COMPONENTS OF CULTURE?
• NORMS - are the rules and
expectations by which a society guides
the behavior of its members.
established standards of behavior
maintained by a society. Formal norms
express values as laws and regulations
whose violation is strictly punished.
Informal norms are those norms which
are generally understood but which
may loosely defined. Mores are widely
observed and have great moral/social
significance. Folkways are norms that
govern everyday behaviors
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WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF
CULTURE?
• CULTURE IS LEARNED
• CULTURE IF SHARED
• CULTURE IS SYMBOLIC
• CULTURE IS ALL-ENCOMPASSING
AND INTEGRATED
• CULTURE IS DYNAMIC
• CULTURE CAN BE BOTH ADAPTIVE
AND MAL ADAPTIVE
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CULTURE IS LEARNED BEHAVIOR
• EACH CHILD GOES THROUGH
A PROCESS OF
ENCULTURATION WHEN
THEY GROW UP IN A
CULTURE.
• CHILDREN LEARN BY
OBSERVING THE BEHAVIORS
OF PEOPLE IN THEIR
SURROUNDINGS, INCLUDING
THE RECOGNITION OF
SYMBOLS SPECIFIC TO THAT
CULTURE.
EXAMPLES OF CULTURAL SYMBOLS
• CULTURE IS AN ATTRIBUTE
NOT OF INDIVIDUALS PER
SE BUT OF INDIVIDUALS AS
MEMBERS OF GROUPS.
• CULTURE IS TRANSMITTED
BY SOCIETY.
• ENCULTURATION UNIFIES
PEOPLE BY PROVIDING US
WITH COMMON
EXPERIENCES.
CULTURE IS SYMBOLIC
• SYMBOLS CAN EITHER BE
VERBAL (LINGUISTIC) OR
NONVERBAL (OBJECT,
WRITTEN SYMBOL).
CULTURE AND NATURE: DIFFERENCES IN HOW
WE MEET THE CALL
• CULTURE DEFINES WHAT PEOPLE EAT,
HOW FOOD IS PREPARED, AND WHEN
AND HOW FOOD IS EATEN.
• WASTE ELIMINATION IS CULTURALLY
PRESCRIBED.
• SEXUAL ACTIVITIES ARE ALSO
DICTATED BY CULTURE (WITH WHO,
HOW, WHERE, AND WHEN).
CULTURE IS ALL-ENCOMPASSING AND
INTEGRATED
• CULTURE ENVELOPES EACH OF US, AND TOUCHES
EVERY ASPECT OF OUR LIVES.
• CULTURE IS SYSTEMATIC AND INTEGRATED (IT IS NOT A
RANDOM PHENOMENON).
• CULTURES TEACH US TO SHARE CERTAIN CORE
VALUES THAT HELPS SHAPE THE PERSONALITY OF THE
INDIVIDUALS WITHIN A CULTURE.
CULTURES ARE DYNAMIC: RULES ARE MADE
TO BE BROKEN
• HUMANS ARE CREATIVE ANIMALS
AND ALWAYS DO NOT STRICTLY
FOLLOW THE DICTATES OF THEIR
CULTURE.
• THERE IS INDIVIDUAL
INTERPRETATION OF EACH ASPECT OF
CULTURE THAT IS IN PART DUE TO
FAMILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY.
• REAL VS. IDEAL
CULTURE.
CULTURE CAN BE BOTH ADAPTIVE AND
MALADAPTIVE
IN CONTRAST, MALADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR IS A
TYPE OF BEHAVIOR THAT IS OFTEN USED TO
REDUCE ONE'S ANXIETY, BUT THE RESULT IS
DYSFUNCTIONAL AND NON-PRODUCTIVE.
ADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR REFLECTS AN
INDIVIDUAL'S SOCIAL AND PRACTICAL
COMPETENCE TO MEET THE DEMANDS OF
EVERYDAY LIVING.
CULTURAL MALADAPTATION
(DYSFUNCTIONAL) . POOR OR INADEQUATE
ADAPTATION THAT OCCURS WHEN A GROUP
PURSUES AN ADAPTIVE STRATEGY THAT, IN
THE SHORT RUN, FAILS TO PROVIDE THE
NECESSITIES OF LIFE OR, IN THE LONG RUN,
DESTROYS THE ENVIRONMENT THAT
NOURISHES IT.
LEVELS OF CULTURE
• NATIONAL: LEARNED BEHAVIORAL PATTERNS, BELIEFS, VALUES, AND
INSTITUTIONS SHARED BY THE CITIZENS OF A NATION.
• INTERNATIONAL: CULTURAL TRADITIONS THAT EXPAND BEYOND
CULTURAL BOUNDARIES.
• SUBCULTURE: DIFFERENT TRADITIONS PRACTICED BY GROUPS SET WITHIN
A LARGER CULTURE. FREQUENTLY REGIONALLY BASED.
ACTIVITY #1: DEBATE
• Does Culture have an
Influence on Moral
Development? Yes or No?
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WHAT IS THE ROLE OF CULTURE
IN MORAL DEVELOPMENT?
• Three variables that jointly give rise to the moral character of a human being (Plato):
a. Native traits (genetic endowment or pre-disposition);
Early childhood experience; INSTEAD OF STRENGTHENING DIRECT INSTRUCTIONS IN SCHOOLS, efforts should be
directed towards weaving around the children of the community , a cultural totality that will nurture them with images of moral
goodness.
SCHOOLS AS A CULTURE – is capable of changing the quality of mental disposition – an educative change.
Surrounding culture. Different cultures have different moral codes. What is right within one group maybe abhorrent to another
Treatment of the dead
Polygamy
Sharing of wives among Eskimos
Infanticide
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DOES THIS
PICTURE
OFFEND
YOU?
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Balut is a duck meat dish. Now, eating ducks is 6. BALUT
completely normal and people from all around the
world eat duck meat. But this dish serves duck
with a twist. Balut is a dish served mainly in the
Philippines which is basically fertilized duck egg.
The eggs are served with a hole and they contain a
grown duck embryo. To perfectly get the taste, you
have to pierce the duck eggs first and drink all the
liquid inside it and then break the shell and eat the
entire developing duck baby. Mostly, Baluts are
eaten when the egg is 17 days old but some people
wait till it is 21 days old and the duck has
developed beak and feathers!
3. LIVE COBRA
HEART
Live Cobra Heart is not a common thing to eat
but some people in Vietnam do it. If that wasn’t
bad enough, you should know that the
Vietnamese eat live cobra’s heart raw and
uncooked. And to top it all off, the only
‘preparation’ to this dish is that they wash the
cobra’s heart with the cobra’s blood! Takes
bizarre to a whole new level, doesn’t it? People
who eat this dish think that they will endure the
powers and strengths of the Cobra and so, they
don’t even clean it, just swallow it whole, while
it is still beating. This dish is definitely not for
the faint-hearted.
2. CHILLED
MONKEY
BRAIN
In parts of China, the monkey's brain is eaten raw. While it is most likely an urban legend, some people claim that
monkeys' brains are, or were, eaten from the head of a live monkey. Monkey brains is a dish consisting of, at least
partially, the brain of some species of monkey or ape. In Western popular culture, its consumption is repeatedly
portrayed and debated, often in the context of portraying exotic cultures as exceptionally cruel, callous, and/or strange.
What could be worse than eating a monkey’s brain? 1. CASU MARZU
This Italian dish is your answer. Italian cuisine is not
all about pizzas, pasta, and gelatos. Casu Marzu is a
rather unappetizing dish. It is a type of sheep milk
cheese which contains live insect larvae. Now, all
cheeses have to go through the process of fermentation
and we know about the presence of bacteria in that
process.
But the process that goes into the making of Casu
Marzu is less fermentation and more decomposition.
The live larvae are said to give the cheese a unique
taste and soft, gooey texture. No matter how tasty this
is, getting someone to eat a dish when you can clearly
see worms wriggle in it is definitely a task that the
Italians mastered!
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IF SO, THEN YOU MAY BE
GUILTY OF ETHNOCENTRISM!
• PEOPLE WHO ARE ETHNOCENTRIC
APPLY THEIR OWN VALUES IN JUDGING
THE BEHAVIOR AND BELIEFS OF OTHER
PEOPLE RAISED IN OTHER CULTURES.
• ETHNOCENTRISM CONTRIBUTES TO
SOCIAL SOLIDARITY (UNITY OR
HARMONY) AND A SENSE OF VALUE
AND COMMUNITY.
• HOWEVER, IT ALSO FUELS CONFLICT.
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ETHNOCENTRISM, CULTURAL RELATIVISM, AND
HUMAN RIGHTS
• THE “HUMAN RIGHTS”
MOVEMENT SUGGESTS THAT
THERE IS A REALM OF JUSTICE
AND MORALITY THAT
SUPERSEDES THE PRACTICES
OF MANY CULTURES.
• EXAMPLE: FEMALE GENITAL
MUTILATION IN THE MIDDLE
EAST; MALE CIRCUMCISION AT
BIRTH IN THE UNITED STATES.
IS FEMALE
GENITAL
MUTILATIO
N MORALLY
RIGHT?
IS FEMALE
GENITAL
MUTILATI
ON
MORALLY
RIGHT?
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Rationale for the practice
Women are incapable of sexual pleasure and less likely
to be promiscuous (immoral);
Fewer unwanted pregnancies in unmarried women;
Women will be more faithful to their husbands;
Un-excised women are viewed as unclean and
immature;
Arguments for this practice is that it benefits men,
women, families and children.
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Young girls often look forward to this because it a
acceptance into adulthood. It is an accepted practice in
many villages.
Consequences of excision
painful, results in permanent loss of sexual pleasure,
hemorrhage, tetanus, septicemia, death, chronic infections,
hinder walking, chronic pain
Apparent no social benefits, not a matter of religious beliefs
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IS EXCISION MORALLY RIGHT? HELPFUL?
Cultural Relativist would conclude that
excision has been practiced for centuries and
we should not intervene and change ancient
ways.
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HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT’S
MORALLY GOOD AND MORALLY
BAD? WHAT STANDARDS HELP US
THROUGH ETHICAL DILEMMAS?
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CULTURAL
RELATIVIS
M
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CULTURAL RELATIVISM
Cultural relativism is the idea that a person’s beliefs, values, and practices
should be understood based on that person’s own culture, rather than be
judged against the criteria of another.
Is the view that all beliefs, customs, and ethics are relative to the individual
within his own social background.
Refers to the idea that the values, knowledge and behavior of people must be
understand within their own cultural context.
The goal of this is to promote understanding of cultural practices that are not
typically part of one’s own culture.
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HOLOCAUST
The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and
murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. Holocaust is a
word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire." The Nazis, who came to power in
Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that
the Jews, deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial
community.
During the era of the Holocaust, German authorities also targeted other groups
because of their perceived racial and biological inferiority: Roma (Gypsies), people
with disabilities, and some of the Slavic peoples (Poles, Russians, and others).
Other groups were persecuted on political, ideological, and behavioral grounds,
among them Communists, Socialists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and homosexuals.
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CLAIMS OF CULTURAL RELATIVISTS
1. Different societies / cultures have different moral codes.
2. The moral code of a society determines what is right within that society.
3. There is no objective standard that can be used to judge one societies
code as better than another.
4. The moral code of our society offers nothing special.
5. There is no universal truth in ethics. Therefore, there are no objective
truth in morality. Right and wrong are only matters of opinion, and
opinions vary from culture to culture.
6. It is arrogant to judge the conduct of other societies, we should adopt an
attitude of tolerance and accept cultural differences.
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WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF
ACCEPTING CULTURAL RELATIVISM?
We could no longer say that custom of other societies are
morally inferior to others. (This is one of the main points of
Cultural Relativism)
We would have to stop condemning other societies merely
because they are different.
Tolerance towards slavery, anti Semitism (racism or
discrimination against Jews), hatred towards ethnic groups,
or minorities, kiddy porn, sex slave trade
If we took the cultural relativism seriously we would have
to regard these behaviors as immune from criticism.
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CULTURAL RELATIVISM?
If we say ‘no’, the UN cannot tell other cultures
what to do, we lose the UN (what point would
the UN serve if it couldn’t be right about how
others should behave?).
If we say ‘yes’, the UN can tell other cultures
what to do, then UN authority is determined by
a vote and by power … the UN becomes a
bullying institution.
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WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION’S CALL
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WHAT ETHICAL/MORAL IDEAS
(INFLUENCED BY CULTURE) THAT HAVE
CHANGED OVER THE YEARS?
Divorce, Living together, Mixed race marriages, Allowing same sex marriages
Gambling, casinos, internet poker
Internet dating
Women in the workforce, women operating farm equipment, firewomen, truck / taxi
drivers
Spanking/punishment of children
Acceptance of cremation for the dead
Competition vs cooperation in farming, relying on neighbors help vs outbidding the
neighbor
Animal welfare, recognizing that animals have certain rights
Natural resource protection
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FILIPINO NORM OF MORALITY
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FILIPINO NORM OF MORALITY
• Filipino norm of morality was inherited from the Roman Catholic
Christian doctrine as introduced by the Spaniards.
• Like PARROTS, Filipinos recite various incantations/prayers learned by
rote;
• Like ROBOTS, Filipinos observe religious holidays, church rites and other
symbols of Catholicism without really understanding what they mean and
stand for;
• Clergy and Laity are more concern about following the Catholic Church as
an INSTITUTION (its rules and teachings) rather than living or emulating
the supposed ideas and life of Jesus.
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FILIPINO NORM OF MORALITY
1. There is a conflict between what they say as Christians and what they do as
Filipinos; between their actual Filipino behavior and their ideal Christian
behavior; in short, between what is and what ought to be.
2. One norm of morality in the Philippines is based on "group-centeredness" or
"group-thinking." One's in-group determines for the individual what is right or
wrong.
Shame or hiya makes one conform to the social expectations of the neighbors
lest they become the object of chismis or gossip. ("Iha, please entertain your
boyfriend at home. Do not go outside. What will the neighbors say? Nakakahiya
naman.“)
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FILIPINO NORM OF MORALITY
• norm of behavior is purely external, a split between the
ideal Christian norm of morality and the actual
Filipino norm of morality. He will put on the externals of
Christian moral behavior in front of the authority figure
while at the same time follow in "real life" an inconsistent
moral behavior when the latter is "at a distance."
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FILIPINO NORM OF MORALITY
3. "Don't be caught" attitude based on shame or fear of the authority
figure. The authority figure may be a parent, teacher, priest or
policeman. As one law student puts it:" What's wrong with cheating in
the bar examinations as long as you do not get caught?"
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FILIPINO NORM OF MORALITY
4. Another wrong attitude is complacency when one is aware but is
not concerned. The individual who feels secure and comfortable with
the status quo sees no need for change. Some individuals see the
problem but it is too frightening. Hence they are afraid to make a
decision and initiate change because it is painful and difficult. This is
the attitude of timidity. Others try to escape from their real problems.
They skirt confrontation with the real issue in their lives and hence
raise up pseudo problems as camouflage.
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FILIPINO NORM OF MORALITY
5. The common attitude of rationalization. People who know
they are doing wrong but do not want to change easily find
excesses like "ako'y tao lamang" (I'm but human), "ganyan
lamang ang buhay" (life is like that), "bahala na" (come what
may), or "eveybody is doing it." In this age of "passing the
buck," another excuse for shrinking personal responsibility
is the Filipinism, "I am not the one".
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WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT THE PROBLEM
OF MORALITY IN THE PHILIPPINES?
• The solution to a problem depends to a great extent
on one's awareness of the problem and his attitude
towards it.
• The norm of morality should be internalized so that
the mature individual should form his own moral
"conscience from the inside."
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Songgadan, 2019
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