Anthropology culture definitions

Culture

• learned behaviors, beliefs, values, and attitudes characteristics of a particular society or population

• Culture consists of concepts, values, and assumptions about life that guide behavior and are widely shared by people. these are transmitted generation to generation

Features of culture

Culture

• is learned

• is symbolic

• is all encompassing

• organizes nature

• is shared

• is integrated

• can be both adaptive and maladaptive

Arbitrariness

no obvious “natural” or necessary connection between the symbol and what it symbolizes

• the quality of being based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system.

The “Barrel Model” of culture

• developed by Harald Prins

• their three features of culture: it is strucutred, it is pervasive and present in all aspects of our lives from our economy to our worldview , and each element of culture is integrated with the other elements

• shows culture is interconnected and interdependent

superstructure

worldview

• ideas, ideals, values, and beliefs

• how people make sense of themselves and their world

social structure

Social organization

• includes family structure, power relations, politics and social control

infrastructure

economy

• technologies and techniques used to harness food and energy

• how goods are exchanged and distributed

enculturation

the process through which an individual learns about their own culture through exposure and influence from various external sources and forces

cultural transmission and cultural change

• diffusion

  • direct (firsthand contact)

  • forced( warfare or domination)

  • indirect (intermediary)

• acculturation ( process of intermingling of cultural groups in direct contact)

• independent invention (agriculture)

• Globalization (series of change processes)