Key Concepts in IB Anthropology

Belief and knowledge

A set of convictions, values, and viewpoints regarded as 'the truth' and shared by members of a social group.

Power

A person's or group's capacity to influence, manipulate, or control others and resources within social relations.

Culture

Organized systems of symbols, ideas, beliefs, and material production that humans create and manipulate in daily life.

Society

The way humans organize themselves in groups and networks, sustained by social relationships and internal coherence.

Social relations

Involves individual agency and group expectations, forming the basis of social organization and structure.

Symbolism

The study of the significance people attach to objects, actions, and processes, constructing a culture's web of meaning.

Materiality

Objects, resources, and belongings with cultural meaning, embedded with social relations and practices.

Change

The alteration or modification of cultural or social elements in a society, influenced by internal dynamics, contact with other cultures, or globalization.

Self

A relatively stable set of perceptions of who we are, socially constructed through interactions with others.

Personhood

An analytical term indicating who, within a culture, is considered a fully functioning and accepted member of adult society.

Agency

One's ability to determine and chart their personhood, having their identity accepted on their own terms.

Identity

Awareness of self and group categories, a culturally-conditioned concept of 'who you are' in terms of sameness, oneness, distinctiveness, or otherness.

age

a set social category consisting of people of similar age

agency

a persons ability to get their identity accepted on their own terms

class

division of people in a society based o social and economic status

community

a group of people who share common interest, ecology or locality, social system or structure

comparative

comparison of the diverse and various ways that people make sense of their world

cultural relativism

not making value judgement’s about cultural differences —> understanding a different culture in its context

ethnicity

a social group is connected by shared understanding of cultural identity

ethnocentrism

tendency to view the world only from the perspective of one’s own culture

gender

the culturally constructed distinctions between males and females

role/status

dynamic aspect of status- a person’s actual behavior within the context of that status

personhood

culturally constructed concept of the individual human being, “the self”

self

individuals social self is the product of social interaction and not he biological preconditions of that interaction

other

describes how people who are members of a particular social group perceive people who are not members

sexuality

includes sexual feelings, thoughts, attractions, preferences, and sometimes behavior

structure

concept derived from all social institutions and social relations existing in a society