Cultural Anthropology Final

What is culture?

Culture refers to the shared beliefs, values, norms, and practices that characterize a group of people, shaping their behaviors and social interactions.

Enculturation

is the process by which individuals learn and adopt the culture of their society or social group.

6 characteristics of culture

1. Humans are born with the capacity to learn the culture of any social group. We learn culture both directly and indirectly.

2. Culture changes in response to both internal and external factors.

3. Humans are not bound by culture; they have the capacity to conform to it or not, and sometimes change it.

4. Culture is symbolic; individuals create and share the meanings of symbols within their group or society.

5. The degree to which humans rely on culture distinguishes us from other animals and shaped our evolution.

6. Human culture and biology are interrelated: Our biology, growth, and development are impacted by culture.

Ethnocentrism

is the belief in the superiority of one's own culture, often leading to the judgment of other cultures based on the standards of one's own.

cultural relativism

is the practice of assessing a culture by its own standards rather than viewing it through the lens of another culture. This approach promotes understanding and respect for cultural differences.

holism

Anthropologists are interested in the whole of humanity, in how various aspects of life interact

inductive versus deductive

Inductive is a method of reasoning where generalizations are formed based on observations and specific instances, while deductive reasoning starts with general principles to draw specific conclusions.

Applied anthropology

is the application of anthropological methods and theory to address real-world problems and inform policy decisions, often collaborating with communities to implement solutions.

Biological anthropologists use what kind of approach?

scientific

Which of the following is NOT a major subfield of anthropology in the United States?

1. Sociopolitical anthropology

2. Cultural anthropology

3. Archaeology

4. Biological anthropology

1. sociopolitical anthropology

Which subfield of anthropology aims to solve specific practical problems in collaboration with governmental, non-profit, and community organizations?

1. Cultural anthropology

2. Applied anthropology

3. Political anthropology

4. Linguistic anthropology

2. Applied anthropology

structural functionalism

explain how social institutions contribute to the organization of society and the maintenance of social order.

cultural determinism

the idea that behavioral differences are a result of cultural, not racial or genetic causes.

Cultural evolutionism

a discredited theory popular in nineteenth century anthropology suggesting that societies evolved through stages from simple to advanced.

Instead of studying social groups that differ from their own, to where are cultural anthropologists increasingly turning their focus?

1. Their own societies and subgroups within them

2. Other non-human mammal species

3. Societies that speak English, in addition to their native language

4. Global institutions, such as the United Nations

1

Which of the following does NOT describe culture?

1. It is a set of beliefs, practices, and symbols that are shared.

2. It is the genetic range of a society or subgroup.

3. It is learned from other members of a society or subgroup.

4. It can change in response to both internal and external factors.

2

Contested identity

a dispute within a group about the collective identity or identities of the group.

Diaspora

the scattering of a group of people who have left their original homeland and now live in various locations. Examples of people living in the diaspora are Salvadorian immigrants in the United States and Europe, Somalian refugees in various countries, and Jewish people living around the world.

Emic

Culture from an insider perspective

Land tenure

how property rights to land are allocated within societies, including how permissions are granted to access, use, control, and transfer land.

Cultural imperialism

Attempts to impose unequal and unfair relationships between members of different societies.

Arbitrariness

the relationship between a symbol and its referent (meaning), in which there is no obvious connection between them.

Gesture-call system

a system of non-verbal communication using varying combinations of sound, body language, scent, facial expression, and touch, typical of great apes and other primates, as well as humans.

Linguistic relativity

the idea that the structures and words of a language influence how its speakers think, how they behave, and ultimately the culture itself

Morphemes

the basic meaningful units in a language.

Paralanguage

those characteristics of speech beyond the actual words spoken, such as pitch, loudness, tempo.

Phonemes

the basic meaningless sounds of a language.

Semantics

how meaning is conveyed at the word and phrase level.

Syntax

the rules by which a language combines morphemes into larger units.

Vernaculars

non-standard varieties of a language, which are usually distinguished from the standard by their inclusion of stigmatized forms.

Balanced reciprocity

the exchange of something with the expectation that something of equal value will be returned within a specific time period.

Generalized reciprocity

giving without expecting a specific thing in return.

Means of production versus modes of production

the means are the resources used while the modes are the social relations in which human labor is used

Political economy

an approach in anthropology that investigates the historical evolution of economic relationships as well as the contemporary political processes and social structures that contribute to differences in income and wealth.

Subsistence farmers

people who raise plants and animals for their own consumption, but not for sale to others.

Affinal

family relationships created through marriage.

Band

the smallest unit of political organization, consisting of only a few families and no formal leadership positions.

Bilateral descent

kinship (family) systems that recognize both the mother’s and the father’s “sides” of the family.

Chiefdom

large political units in which the chief, who usually is determined by heredity, holds a formal position of power.

Matrilineal

kinship (family) systems that recognize only relatives through a line of female ancestors.

Patrilineal

kinship (family) systems that recognize only relatives through a line of male ancestors.

Ranked

societies in which there are substantial differences in the wealth and social status of individuals; there are a limited number of positions of power or status, and only a few can occupy them.

Reverse dominance

societies in which people reject attempts by any individual to exercise power.

Sumptuary rules

norms that permit persons of higher rank to enjoy greater social status by wearing distinctive clothing, jewelry, and/or decorations denied those of lower rank.

Tribe

political units organized around family ties that have fluid or shifting systems of temporary leadership.

Unilineal descent

kinship (family) systems that recognize only one sex-based “side” of the family.

Endogamy

a term describing expectations that individuals must marry within a particular group.

Exogamy

a term describing expectations that individuals must marry outside a particular group.

Matriarchal

a society in which women have authority to make decisions.

Polygamous

families based on plural marriages in which there are multiple wives or, in rarer cases, multiple husbands.

Polyandry

marriages with one wife and multiple husbands

Polygyny

marriages in which there is one husband and multiple wives

Androgyny

cultural definitions of gender that acknowledge the huge variability in capacities and preferences within each sex/gender and encourage sex-role flexibility, fluidity and individual-based role behavior

Essentialism

A belief that gender and certain other social categories are inherent, fixed, internal, stable, deeply embedded, and unchangeable.

Acculturation

loss of a minority group’s cultural distinctiveness in relation to the dominant culture.

Amalgamation

interactions between members of distinct ethnic and cultural groups that reduce barriers between the groups over time.

Ethnogenesis

gradual emergence of new ethnicities in response to changing social circumstances.

Ethnicity

the degree to which a person identifies with and feels an attachment to a particular ethnic group.

One-drop rule

the practice of excluding a person with any non-white ancestry from the white racial category.

Reified

the process by which an inaccurate concept or idea is accepted as “truth.”

Symbolic ethnicity

limited or occasional displays of ethnic pride and identity that are primarily for public display.

Commodity chain

the series of steps a food takes from location where it is produced to the store where it is sold to consumers.

Ethnoscape

the flow of people across boundaries

Financescape

the flow of money across political borders.

Glocalization

the adaptation of global ideas into locally palatable forms.

Habitus

the dispositions, attitudes, or preferences that are the learned basis for personal “taste” and lifestyles.

Neoliberalism

the ideology of free-market capitalism emphasizing privatization and unregulated markets.

 Anthropocene

a term proposed to describe the current moment (or epoch) in geological time in which the effects of human activities have altered the fundamental geochemical cycles of the earth. There is some disagreement about when the Anthropocene period began—most likely, it began with industrialization.

Anthropogenic

environments and pollutants produced by human activities.

Cultural ecology

a subfield of cultural anthropology that explores the relationship between human cultural beliefs and practice and the ecosystems in which those beliefs and practices occur.

Cultural evolutionism

a theory popular in nineteenth and early twentieth century anthropology suggesting that societies evolved through stages from simple to advanced. This theory was later shown to be incorrect.

Ethnocide

destruction of a culture, often intentionally, through destruction of or removal from their territory, forced assimilation, or acculturation.

Ethnoecology

the relationships between cultural beliefs and practices and the local environment. Components include ethnobiology, ethnobotany, and ethnozoology.

Extractive reserves

community-managed protected areas designed to allow for sustainable extraction of certain natural resources (such as fish, rubber, Brazil nuts, and rattan) while maintaining key ecosystems in place.

Exurban

migration of generally affluent people from urban areas to rural areas for the amenities of nature, recreation, and scenic beauty associated with rural areas.

Political ecology

an interdisciplinary field of research that emphasizes the political and economic dimensions of environmental concerns.

Wilderness

a natural area that is untouched or unchanged by human activities and often seen as a cultural construct of the American West.

Community of practice

A group of people who engaged in a shared activity or vocation, such as dance or medicine.

Cultural Performance

A performance such as a concert or a play.

Hegemony

Power so pervasive that it is rarely acknowledged or even recognized, yet informs everyday actions.

Performing culture

Everyday words and actions that reflect cultural ideas and can be studied by anthropologists as a means of understanding a culture.

Reflexivity

Awareness of how one’s own position and perspective impact what is observed and how it is evaluated.