Cultural Anthropology Test 2 Hartigan

Race has an effect on...

wealth, life expectancy, home ownership

Basic elements of race

- it is a classification

- it is socially constructed

- it is how people hold power over others

Race is a classification

categorizes socially defined groups of people as belonging together based on physical markers

ex. skin color, hair texture, etc.

Race is a social construct

the things that constitute a race and how we recognize racial differences are CULTURAL

We invent categories of people based on physical characteristics and these categories become socially significant.

The number of recognized races differs across the world - this shows that our concept of what we consider a "race" is flexible

Race is power

racial categories are a result of european colonialism and their desire for wealth and political dominance

slavery - used to perpetuate capitalism and build large structures; largely religious based

"slavery produced racism" - people of all colors were enslaved far before racism was a thing

Bacon's Rebellion (1676)

When we shifted from black and white slaves to dominantly black slaves

This created "white identity" - skin color automatically gave you more or less power rather than ethnicity or background

Are races biologically distinct?

Humans are genetically very similar - we create different skin orders to gain power

There is mass overlap between races and their characteristics so it is hard to put people in distinct categories

(ex. southern Indians have dark skin but they still aren't considered black because they have more "caucasian features")

"caucasian"

The idea of caucasian is a myth - came from a German anthropologist who visited the Caucasus mountains

It is an umbrella term for people with a certain set of facial features and hair textures

Kinship

the ways people are grouped together as relatives and non relatives

based on descent and marriage

family organizations are shaped by culture and politics

Kinship as discourse and metaphor

the "family tree" is a metaphor used to track power and how it is passed through generations

Kinship is a discourse over the relationship between biology and social relationships

- supposedly based on "human nature" but with grounds in culture

Marriage

marriage acts as a rite of passage

- new social/legal recognition

Rules surrounding marriage

- Rules on who can marry who

- rules on divorce

- rules regarding payments: transfer or exchange of property or wealth

Family and power

family/descent is a main factor when it comes to social, financial, and political opportunities

Term family is often used in the workplace to get people to put in extra effort - "we're a family here"

Hierarchies

based on ancesty - lineages/dynasties claim power

often involves and origin story linking dynasty to the divine

Genealogical records

Used to be kept by religious authorities

Now it is kept by the government - they can certify you as a person through identity documents

- some governments would deny citizenship and civil rights based on ancestry

Patronym + patrilineal

a name taken from one's father

a child belongs to their father's clan - sons inherit from their father

matronym

A name derived from ones mother

a chiled belongs to their mother's clan - sons do not inherit from their father

tekonym

Identified by kin relationship

exogamy

marriage outside the tribe, caste, or social group

endogamy

marriage between people of the same social category

Debt

an obligation to pay or do something

Contradiction over Debt

people all agree that debt is a bad thing and should not be endorsed, but we continue to engage in it and most use it tactfully

Thomas Jefferson - saw it as unjust but used it for political agendas (native americans and land ownership, tenant farming)

Debt discourse

negative stigma surrounding debt - language is used to make people feel like its your fault - turns debt into a moral issue

origin of debt

emerged with the development of states

Not capitalism - debt arrived before capitalism

additional elements of debt

- failure to pay typically leads to threat of violence

- credit originated with Mesopotamia city states

- money was invented to pay debt

"Bullshit Jobs" by David Graeber

book that talks about jobs where you don't really do anything

behavioral economics

model of human behavior that describes human judgement as flawed and irrational

* combats classic economics

3 main elements of economy

1. production

2. distribution/exchange

3. Consumption

Cultural relevance of economy

The economic order/organization is a cultural construct

Money is merely a symbol who's nature is a political matter

Debt and money are flexible matters

* ex. primitive currencies were used to rearrange relationships between people rather than buy and sell.

Markets

two meanings

1. the physical location where food and crafts are bought and sold

2. an entire economic system

states create markets and markets depend on states

political leaders target the market

Production - domestication

domestication creates biological changes - animals undergo enhancements to make them more useful to humans

humans have to adapt to domestications

domesticatin of plants and animals took a very long time

Production - Horticulture

def - working in a land where you are not entirely changing it

Swidden

A patch of land cleared for planting through slashing and burning.

Natives used this - europeans saw the land as unaltered, wild

Production - Agriculture

working in a land where you are changing

dependent on irrigation systems, mound buildings, and storage

Cultivation of cereal crops leads to taxation - they grow above ground

3 main elements of exchange

- giving

- receiving

- returning

reciprocity

if an object is accepted then its equivalent must be returned at some point - creates a relationship

Gift economy

exchange where valuables are not traded or sold but rather given without explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards

establish social status, affirm relationships, gives people access to the goods they want

exchange and flexible rank

the more you give the better your societal rank

exchange and fixed rank

you can give as much as you want but your societal rank will not change

negative reciprocity

when one party gives something highly valued and receives nothing or something of low value

Politics definition

"politics is about the relationships of cooperation, conflict, social control and power that exist in any community and at all levels of social life"

always linked to everyday social interactions, belief systems, and cultural practices

Partisanship

the strong support of ones party and its political stances

Prejudice in favor of a particular cause

ex. democrats vs republicans

Effects of partisanship

- division of people; intense polarization

- demonization of those with opposite beliefs (major misconceptions about other parties and their behaviors)

- threats of violence

Michel Foucault

studied surveillance and power

Panopticon (Foucault)

-architectural machine that allows the spectator to observe the subject without being seen

-subjects discipline themselves

*the potential to be seen or observed, even if you are not being directly looked at, causes people to change their behavior

Traditional politics

sovereign power - king has ultimate power and is not, by any means, bound by rules

cared very little about personal lives

Discipline Politics

The use of rules and procedures in order to control behavior

uniform standards - people want to fit into what is "normal" - used to create healthy docile bodies that can be regulated and put to work

Use of institutions such as schools

Biopolitics

the extension of state power over the physical and political bodies of a population

Biopower (Foucault)

forms of power preoccupied with bodies, both the bodies of citizens and the social body of the state itself

"subjugation of bodies and the control of populations"

Modern Power

Power is instilled through institutions that operate to make us normal, healthier, and more productive - the state gains nothing from people who do nothing and have no education

The state is invested in the health of populations - statistics on birth and death and plagues

Power/Knowledge (Foucault)

the inseparability of power and knowledge such that knowledge is a specific means for exercising power, while power is most potent when translated into a system of knowledge or "truth"

Discipline leads to power knowledge and Power produces reality

"The New Jim Crow"

Book by Michelle Alexander about mass incarceration as a means of controlling African Americans today.

U.S. Prison system and race

- Black people were blamed for the drug epidemic and were locked up more even though white people were using mass amounts of opioids (people saw white drug use as addiction - something they couldn't help - led to research on neuroscience)

- There was never a difference in who used drugs just in who got arrested for it

- white people are treated better all throughout the prison system; often receive less time or misdemeanors for things like drunk driving

Racial denial

the notion that race does not play a factor in present day life in the US; people deny that racial disparity is caused by the system

mass incarceration of black people being seen as natural and normal - seen as "fact of life"

Racial Biopolitics

pharmaceutical reasons that stem from preexisting structures of exclusion, inclusion, political pragmatism and industry that over-determine the strategies of scientists, treatment advocates, policymakers and pharmaceutical representatives."

How is inequality perpetuated - how does this "racial caste system" remain

- surveillance: officers patrol minority neighborhoods

- formal control: violations lead to sentences

- invisible punishment: perpetual marginality; once you are a prisoner, you are stripped of your former citizenship and cannot return to your former standing (disenfranchisement)

- the myth of choice: it is made to seem that black people choose to be criminals and that the system plays no role

- the system sees blacks and Latino's choices and not their social circumstances

"Driving after Class" Heiman

Book that is concerned with the anxieties surrounding class

covers how families try to make sense of who they are and where they are going in a highly competitive and uncertain time

"Culture Builders" Jonas Frykman and Orvar Lofgren

This is an interdisciplinary project that covers topics of nature, privacy, time, taste, power, and individuality and the emergence of middle class

These topics reflect social order and middle class worldview

witness class culture (one class is more dominant over others) and mass culture

middle class hegemony

attempt of dominant classes to colonize and reform other groups in a society who are seen as inferior or lacking culture

Increase in urbanization

Over 1/2 of the worlds population lives in cities

Result of people being pushed off their lands - therefore needed to move to cities

Cities take up less space but demand the most natural resources

People no longer had their own resources and relied on commodities - dependence on money

Industrial Revolution

A series of improvements in industrial technology that transformed the process of manufacturing goods.

The creation of a mechanized factory system - produced a demand for more products/services - led to a market

Peasant society

- rise of state leads to rise of agriculture which leads to rise of peasantry

- they were not special but were important to the state (taxes, cultivation)

- Individuals were bound through cooperative work and kinship

Colonization

One country taking over another area to be used for their benefit

Colonizes wanted to extract materials from other lands - this created markets

This also drained colonized lands and people - led to great famine

Capitalism

the rise of capitalism destroys all other economic systems

Sidney mintz - created colonies, exonomic exercises, slave based production

London

- Was the most preeminent world capitalist city

- Industrial structures dominated over religious structures

- middle class were in the city

- It was a port ; made global exchange and colonization easier

- created economic institutions for control and administrations

Manchester

Large industrial center/city - focused on the mass production of goods

Located near fuel sources - not a port

Effect on land

Land becomes a commodity - becomes something that can be bought and sold; used for profit (rent, resources, etc.)

Effect on agriculture

More demand leads to more production/productivity

People sell their labor/time - leads to a factory system

Less irrigation - high taxes

monocultures - cultivation of a single crop in one area

surpluses of grain shipped out of india

Cotton and Textiles

- looming became industrialized with the steam engine

- a big factor of the triangle trade and global exchange in general

- they had too many goods and had to export it

Colonial market

Indian textiles had already been a prominent market - englands mechanized loom production wrecked the indian handloom industry

- British were untaxed while indian was heavily taxed

Triangle exchange

Sugar in the Americas - Sidney Mintz's "Sweetness and Power" focuses on sugar in the growth of world capitalism - sugar altered work patterns, eating habits, and the modern diet

agro industrial

term concerning the combination of agriculture and processing

Plantationocene

Movement of plant lifeforms around the world for capital accumulation and profit - transformation of human tended farms

Effect of urbanization and labor on humans

Increased labor - increased child labor

increased disease, malnutrition, overworking

mass alcoholism, infanticide, prostitution, suicide, and mental derangement

increased crime

rapid growth and lack of planning led to lack of sewers, street cleaning, water supply, and supervisions - led to epidemics

loss of social unity - greater class distinctions

Class culture - "Culture Builders"

- The home is a lesson; here we learn social relationships and rules

- Class culture is conventional not natural

- It is mediated through rituals, exchange, and kinship

- Associations are made with certain beliefs, ideas, and symbols; often conveyed through nonverbal actions

Cultural clashes over time

people have different concepts of time

- missionaries thought natives, who had a different form of time, were undisciplined and lazy

- for peasants time was based on types of tasks that needed done

Time and culture

- key role in social organization

- It is artificial and generated by instruments of measure

- time is fetishized

Industrial revolution and time

- for industrial/corporate workers time was uniform and mechanized; people had to be on the same time to be more productive

- train system led to time zones

- school and institutions teach us to be on time

- metaphors surrounding time and careers (climbing the corporate ladder, working around the clock)

Time rituals

Peasants didn't have birthdays, they would have various annual festivals

Birthdays arose as rites of intensification focused on mechanical time - life cycle of the individual

Contradiction over nature

Nature was seen as something primitive and uncivilized, but also something to return to

"don't act like a wild animal" but also go about things the "natural way"

Nature - industrial sense

nature is a resource - something to be extracted from

Nature - recreational sense

Nature is a place of escape where one can immerse themselves - Rituals of separation (camping, mountain climbing)

The aesthetic of landscapes produces a sense of belonging

Kindness towards animals

- new behavior was a symbol of civilization (Peasants were seen as being cruel to animals)

- they liked to "love at a distance" - protect the animals but not live with them

- led to anthropomorphic dialogues and bird watching

Pets

There became a boundary between pet and animal

pets were clean, and listened to their owners

it was taboo to eat animals that could be pets

Relational Identities

For peasants: social relationships are based on the farm

- weddings are about production rather than love

- children are learning how to work

For middle class: family is a unit of consumption rather than production

- marriages become about love

Disgust/dirt

This is a learned emotion based on culture

Roman Baths and toilets

they had communal baths, toilets and cleaning devices; they washed their tunics in urine

aristocracy and peasants have no sense of privacy - this arose with the middle class

Clean rites of passage

Potty training

- disgust and shame are imbedded

- punishment and rewards are used

Cleaning ones environment reflected anxiety - we can establish control over nature

kids had to learn how to be clean - control their animalistic behaviors

Dirt as a product of a system

people cared more about cleanliness and showering during the industrial revolution - cleanness separated classes

People interpret the dirty based on who and what they consider dirty

"dirt is in the eye of the beholder - mary douglas

table manners and the ability to have them separated those of class

Disadvantages of too clean environments

- Overwashing is bad for the skin microbiome

- development of allergies

Peasants and cleanliness

Nobody was seen as inherently dirty, people lived with animals, people with dirt and sweat were seen as good, showers were only used for religious days, urine and breast milk was used to clean wounds

sex and how it became dirty

the bourgeois tried to cover up the body as much as possible

euphemisms were used for bodily functions

subordinates and maids

maids were brought in to raise children, cook food, and clean the house

there became a higher demand for a clean house and a higher demand for these workers

Middle class anxieties

The are goods and services produced in order to appease insecurities but end up making people less secure

Increased visibility caused feelings of vulnerability

Neoliberalism

A strategy for economic development that calls for free markets, balanced budgets, privatization, free trade, and minimal government intervention in the economy - promotes state deregulation to encourage economic growth

Spatial advantages of being white

- Access to superior schools (white neighborhoods contribute more money to education)

- protection from environmental hazards

- inclusion in word of mouth network

- cheaper credit

Other white advantages

- suburban whites are not inherenty racist but they do benefit from a system of white success

- whites tend to dismiss their privilege; they seem themsleves as an individual

- federal policies promote white success and (redlining led to black dominant regions loosing funding; FHA funded white neighborhoods)

- freeways separated white and black neighborhoods; designed to connect suburbs to cities

- Urban renewal: minority neighborhoods were knocked down to create centers to "benefit urban dwellers"

White Flight

working and middle-class white people move away from racial-minority suburbs or inner-city neighborhoods to white suburbs and exurbs

Postfordism

What happened after Fordism (e.g. crisis, recession, seeking out new markets) = flexible accumulation

when industrialized nations found ways to produce things quicker

- more production

- skilled laborers got payed more

- increased social movements

3 key elements of ethnographic analysis

1. ethnographic moments - glimpses of everyday life

2. Discourse analysis

3. Analytical images - metaphors

Hyper consumption

People consume things to demonstrate class standing

Many people choose display over practicality - not driving a really nice car