HUMAN CULTURAL

VARIATION
An Interactive Presentation
by MR. DIEGO C. POMARCA JR.
Teacher I, Pangpang National High School - SHS
Human Cultural Variation:
A Definition

• refers to the differences in social

behaviors that different cultures
exhibit around the world. What may
be considered good etiquette in one
culture may be considered bad
etiquette in another.
(globalsociology.pbworks.com).
Cultural Variation Between
Cultures

• If human cultures modify the natural

environment, it is also true that the
natural environment initially shaped,
and still shapes to some extent, the
culture of society.
Variation Between Cultures
• The Japanese diet consists largely of fish, seafood
and vegetables because Japan is an archipelago
and the sea provided consistent sources of food
and, with one twentieth of the surface of the
United States, there is no room for grazing land for
raising beef cattle. Similarly, climate, soil, and
geography affect cultural aspects.
 Variation Between Cultures

• Marvin Harris (1974) has demonstrated that

the specific treatment of cows in India is in
fact an adaptation to natural and social
conditions. India is still a largely traditional
agricultural country with extremely low
mechanization. Cows are sources of male
calves that become oxen which can be used
to plow fields. Cows are also a major source
of manure, a valuable resource since India
does not have oil resources and suffers from
a shortage of wood. Manure can be used as
fertilizer and heating energy. Finally, when
cows die, they are given to Untouchables
(the lowest caste) who then tan the skin
into leather. Untouchables are also then
relieved from the prohibition of eating beef,
which provides them with a source of
proteins.
VARIATION
WITHIN
CULTURES
SUBCULTURE
1. SUBCULTURES - A segment of society
which shares a distinctive pattern of mores,
folkways, and values which differ from the
pattern of larger society. It is a culture within a
culture.
- These are groups that have specific cultural
traits that set them apart from the dominant
culture.
 Example of Subculture (Activities
done during December in the United
States of America)

HANUKKAH - a lesser Jewish festival, lasting

eight days from the 25th day of Kislev (in
December) and commemorating the
rededication of the Temple in 165 BC by the
Maccabees after its desecration by the Syrians.
It is marked by the successive kindling of eight
lights.
MENORAH - a candelabrum used in Jewish
KWANZAA - a secular festival observed by many
worship, especially one with eight branches
African Americans from December 26 to January 1 as a
and a central socket used at Hanukkah.
celebration of their cultural heritage and traditional
values.
 Example of Subculture (Activities
done during December in the United
States of America)

WINTER SOLSTICE - the

solstice that marks the
onset of winter, at the time
of the shortest day, about
December 22 in the
northern hemisphere and
June 21 in the southern
hemisphere.
COUNTER CULTURE
• is a group whose values and norms place it at odds
with mainstream society or a group that actively
rejects dominant cultural values and norms. In most
Western countries, the 1960s saw the rise of different
countercultural groups and social movements that
sought to dismantle the different inequalities that
were then part of the dominant culture, such as
racism (Civil Rights movement), sexism (modern
Feminist movement) and homophobia (Gay rights
movement).
COUNTER CULTURE
• More recently, paramilitary groups, militias and
survivalist groups constitute countercultures as they
reject the social changes that came out of the 1960s
and became part of the mainstream.
A paramilitary is a semi-
militarized force whose
organizational structure, tactics,
training, subculture, and (often)
function are similar to those of a
professional military, and which is
not included as part of a state's
formal armed forces.
MILITIA - a military force that engages in rebel
or terrorist activities, typically in opposition to a
regular army.
 Falun Gong
- a spiritual movement active in China

The Chinese government has

banned this movement. Its
practitioners are regularly
imprisoned for advocating
superstition and spreading
social disorder. In a country
where religion is outlawed, a
spiritual sect (there is debate
as to whether Falun Gong is
merely a spiritual movement
or a cult) constitutes a
countercultural movement,
seen as challenging
established norms.
 HIGH CULTURE / POPULAR
CULTURE

• "High culture" is a term now used in a number

of different ways in academic discourse,
whose most common meaning is the set of
cultural products, mainly in the arts, held in
the highest esteem by a culture.
• POPULAR CULTURE - culture based on the
tastes of ordinary people rather than an
educated elite.
References:

• https://faisal2050.wordpress.com/2008/12/16
/culture-2/
• https://globalsociology.pbworks.com/w/page/
14711170/Cultural%20Variation