Anthropology Exam 2/Final Study Guide

Differential access

Favored access to resources by superordinates over subordinates

Conflict resolution

Means of settling disputes

Band

The basic social unit among foragers that is fewer than a hundred people and may split up seasonally

Tribe

A food-producing society with a rudimentary political structure

Chiefdom

A society with permanent political structure, hereditary leaders, and social ranking but lacking class divisions

State

A society with a central government, administrative specialization, and social classes

Wealth

All a person’s material assets which is the basis of economic status

Power

The ability to execute one’s will over others

Prestige

Esteem, respect, or approval

Social control

Maintaining social norms and regulating conflict

Hegemony

A stratified social order in which subordinates accept hierarchy as “natural”

Religion

Belief and ritual concerned with supernatural beings, powers, and forces

Animism

The belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess spiritual essence

Magic

The use of supernatural techniques to accomplish specific ends

Mana

The spiritual life force energy throughout the universe in Melanesian and Polynesian beliefs

Ritual

Formal, repetitive, stereotyped behavior that’s based on a liturgical order

Liminality

The in-between phase of a rite of passage

Revitalization movements

Social movements aimed at altering or revitalizing a society

Syncretisms

Cultural, especially religious, mixes, emerging from acculturation

Antimodernism

Rejecting the modern for a presumed earlier, purer, better way of life

Arts

Objects, events, or other expressive forms that evoke an aesthetic reaction

Expressive culture

The manifestations of human creativity, such as dance, music, painting, sculpture, pottery, cloth, stories, drama, and comedy

Aesthetics

The appreciation of qualities perceived in art

Ethnomusicology

The comparative study of the musics of the world and of music as an aspect of culture and society

Folk

Of the people or the art, music, and lore of ordinary people

Catharsis

Intense emotional release

Text

A cultural product that is processed and assigned meaning by anyone exposed to it

Capitalist world economy

A profit-oriented global economy based on production for sale or exchange

Capital

Wealth invested with the intent of producing profit

World-system theory

The idea that a discernible social system, based on wealth and power differentials, transcends individual countries

Core

The dominant position in the world system or nations with advanced systems of production

Semiperiphery

The positions in the world system intermediate between the core and the periphery

Periphery

The weakest structural and economic position in the world system

Industrial revolution

In Europe, after 1750, the socioeconomic transformation through industrialization

Bourgeoisie

Owners of the means of production

Proletariat

The working or lower class of a society

Social stratification

The presence of social divisions (strata) with unequal wealth and power

Colonialism

The political, social, economic, and cultural domination of a territory and its people by a foreign power for an extended time

Imperialism

A conscious policy aimed at seizing and ruling foreign territory and peoples

Postcolonial

The historical period and the state of affairs representing the aftermath of Western colonialism

Intervention philosophy

An ideological justification for outsiders to guide or rule native peoples

Neoliberalism

The principle that governments shouldn’t regulate enterprise and free market forces should rule

NAFTA

The North American Free Trade Agreement which aimed to gradually eliminate most tariffs and other trade barriers on products and services passing between the United States, Canada, and Mexico

Socialism

A social political organization and economic system in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the government, rather than by individuals or corporations

Communism

A social system in which property is owned by the community and people work for the common good

Globalization

The accelerating interdependence of nations in the world system today

Anthropogenic

Caused by humans and their activities

Climate change

Global warming, plus changing sea levels, precipitation, storms, and ecosystem effects

Environmental anthropology

The study of cultural adaptations to environments

Ethnoecology

A culture’s set of environmental perceptions and practices

Westernization

The acculturative influence of Western expansion on local cultures worldwide

Cultural imperialism

The spread or advance of one (dominant) culture at the expense of others, or its imposition on other cultures, which it modifies, replaces, or destroys

Postmodernity/postmodern

Time period marked by the breakdown and questioning of established canons, categories, distinctions, and boundaries