Human Culture and Ties that Connect

Vocabulary flashcards covering the anthropological study of culture, its characteristics, variations, mechanisms of change, and the institutions of marriage, family, and kinship.

Edward B. Tylor's definition of Culture

A complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.

Malinowski's definition of Culture

The cumulative creation of man; the hand work (achievement) of man and the medium through which he achieves his ends.

Enculturation

The process by which an individual learns the rules and values of one’s culture after being born.

Symbol

Something verbal or nonverbal, within a particular language or culture, that comes to stand for something else with no necessary natural connection.

Integrated nature of culture

The concept that cultures are interconnected systems where a change in one aspect will likely generate changes in other aspects, similar to a living organism.

Maladaptive Cultural Patterns

Adaptive behaviors that offer short-term benefits but may harm the environment and threaten long-term survival, such as chemical emissions from automobiles.

Material Culture

Man-made objects such as tools, furniture, and buildings; the physical substance changed and used by man, often referred to as civilization.

Non-Material Culture

Internal and intrinsically valuable aspects reflecting the inward nature of man, including language, beliefs, values, habits, and rituals.

Values

The standards by which members of a society define what is good or bad, beautiful or ugly.

Beliefs

Cultural conventions concerning true or false assumptions, including descriptions of the nature of the universe and humanity’s place in it.

Norms

Shared rules or guidelines that define how people ought to behave under certain circumstances.

Folkways

Norms guiding ordinary usages and conventions of everyday life that are not strictly enforced, such as giving up a seat for the elderly.

Mores

Stronger norms believed to be essential to core values where conformity is insisted upon and violations carry severe punishments like imprisonment or exile.

Cultural Universality

Traits found in every culture, such as long period of infant dependency, year-round sexuality, complex brains, life in groups, and the incest taboo.

Cultural Generality

Cultural traits that occur in many societies but not all of them, such as the nuclear family and farming.

Cultural Particularity

Traits of a culture that are not widespread and remain unique to certain cultural traditions.

Ethnocentrism

The tendency to see the behaviors, beliefs, values, and norms of one's own group as the only right way of living and to judge others by those standards.

Cultural Relativism

The concept that a cultural trait has meaning only within its cultural setting; it involves suspending judgment and viewing behavior from the perspective of that culture.

Human Rights

Rights based on justice and morality that are inalienable, international, and superior to the laws and customs of particular countries or cultures.

Diffusion

The process by which cultural elements are borrowed from another society; can be direct (trade/war), forced (subjugation), or indirect (via mass media).

Acculturation

The exchange of cultural features that results when groups have continuous firsthand contact, such as in situations of trade or colonialism.

Invention

The process by which humans innovate and creatively find solutions to problems, such as the independent development of agriculture.

Incest Taboos

Prohibitions on mating with certain categories of relatives, most universally involving mother-sons, father-daughters, and brother-sisters.

Exogamy

The rule by which an individual is not allowed to marry someone from his or her own social group.

Endogamy

A rule requiring individuals to marry within their own group and forbidding them to marry outside it.

Cross Cousins

Children of siblings of the opposite sex, specifically one’s mother’s brothers’ children and one’s father’s sisters’ children.

Parallel Cousins

Children of siblings of the same sex, specifically the children of one’s mother’s sister and one’s father’s brother.

Levirate

The custom whereby a widow is expected to marry the brother or close male relative of her deceased husband.

Sororate

The practice of a widower marrying the sister or close female relative of his deceased wife.

Polygyny

The marriage of one man to two or more women at a time.

Polyandry

The marriage of one woman to two or more men at a time.

Bride Price

Compensation given upon marriage by the groom's family to the bride's family, also known as bride wealth.

Bride Service

A practice where the groom works for his wife’s family, historically seen in the example of Jacob in the Old Testament.

Dowry

A transfer of goods or money from the bride's family to the groom’s family.

Patrilocal Residence

A post-marital residence rule where the married couple lives with or near the relatives of the husband’s father.

Avunculocal Residence

A post-marital residence rule where the married couple lives with or near the husband’s mother’s brother.

Extended Family

A family structure consisting of two or more families linked by blood ties, where blood ties are more important than ties of marriage.

Nuclear Family

A two-generation family formed around a conjugal union consisting of husband, wife, and their children.

Family of Orientation

The family in which an individual was born and reared.

Family of Procreation

The family established through marriage.

Consanguineous Kinship

Relationships based on blood ties.

Final Relationship

A bond arising out of a socially or legally defined marital relationship (kin are not related through blood).

Patrilineal Descent

Descent traced solely through the male line; only sons continue the affiliation of the group.

Cognatic Descent

A rule of descent where individuals are free to show genealogical links through either men or women.