Anthropology of Food - Prelim #2

Gender Roles

the tasks and activities that a culture assigns to each sex

Gender Stereotypes

oversimplified, strongly held ideas about characteristics of males and females

Gender Stratification

inequality based on a gender hierarchy - differential access to socially valued resources

Secondary Sexual Characteristics

physical signs of sexual maturation that do not directly involve sex organs

Gendered Division of Labor

"A division of duties between men and women under which women have the main responsibility for home and nurturing and men are mainly active in the public sphere."

Role of Gender among Foragers

in (__) societies, men contribute much more to the diet then women did

Public-Domestic Dichotomy

strong differentiation between home and outside world

Role of Gender among Horticulturists

females tend to have high status in this society

Male-Female Avoidance

Extreme in densely populated area of P.N.G where there is strong pressure on resources

Role of Gender among Agriculturalists

women aren't typically the primary cultivators in (__) economies

patriarchy

political system ruled by men in which women have inferior social and political status, including basic human rights

Domestic violence

physical, sexual, or emotional abuse by spouses, intimate partners, or family members

Link between Patriarchy and Domestic Violence

more common in societies where women are separated from supportive kin

Role of Gender among Industrialist

• women were biologically unfit for factory work emerged as machine tools and mass production reduced the need for female labor

• a sustainable, extensive, and often nomadic livelihood focused on raising domesticated livestock—such as cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and reindeer—on natural rangelands

Feminization of poverty

• # of single-parent, female-headed households doubles

• seen worldwide - one way to improve is to organize

Sexual orientation

refers to a person's preference for emotional and sexual relationships with individuals of the same sex, the other sex, or either sex

Heterosexuality

sexual attraction to someone of the other sex

Homosexuality

sexual attraction to someone of the same sex

Bisexuality

sexual attraction to people of both/either sexes

Asexuality

a lack of sexual attraction to people of either sex

social structure

“the formal rules governing the relationships within society…”

“… the idea that social relations are patterned and predictable”

branislaw malinowksi

A pioneering anthropologist known for his ethnographic work in the Trobriand Islands and contributions to social theory; fuctionalist

functionalists

• concerned with the individual in society

• societal beliefs, actions, and institutions all developed to serve a function in a given society, usually to provide for or fulfill a basic biological need

• saw society as a self-perpetuating, self-regulating system which was kept in balance partly by “constraining behavior”

Structural Functionalists

• looked to “social structure to describe patterns of relations between individuals and groups…”

• these patterns were explained in relation to their function to perpetuate social institutions and society

Claude Levi-Strauss

• saw “social structures as existing to organize the flow of marriage partners among groups, seeing reciprocity, exchange, and alliance as defining social relations”

• responsible for changing our thinking about society from that of an organic model to a cybernetic one. The part of society were accordingly seen not so much as resembling organs in a body as constituting flows of data in a system of information

Karl Marx

• regarded social life and the structure of society as contingent upon the dominant technologies of a given period and the ways people were organized to produce with these technologies

• philosophy about social structure and the power of different groups in society hinged upon the control of the means of production in that society.

cybernetic model of society

The part of society were accordingly seen not so much as resembling organs in a body as constituting flows of data in a system of information

Mechanical Solidarity

Emile Durkheim; society is held together by the basic similarity of its members

organic solidarity

emile durkheim; society is held together by the interdependence of its parts and allegiance to common symbols

geneinshaft

ferdinand tonnies; traditional rules create a sense of universal solidarity among people

gesellshaft

lewis tonnies; society constituted by a deliberately formulated social contract which reflects rational self interest

common kinship

lewis henry morgan; the basis for collective identity

common territory

lewis henry morgan; the basis for collective identity

status

sir henry maine; a person’s rights and relationships are determined by the position in society assigned by birth

contract

sir henry maine; a person’s rights and relationships are determined by negotiated but legally binding agreements with others

enchantment, tradition

max weber; people relate to the world around them as participants in an animated whole; legitimacy is drawn from divine sources; positions are determined by social status

rationality, modernity

max weber; people see themselves as separate from the natural world; legitimacy derives from proven merit; institutions are organized for efficiency

pre-logical thinking

lucien levy-bruhl; the thought of primitive people is not illogical but mystical and associative

logical thinking

lucien levy-bruhl; modern thought is dominated by logic and scientific method

elman service

suggested that most societies could be classified as one of the following basic types of sociopolitical entities: band, tribe, chiefdom, state

bands

small kin-based groups found among foragers

tribes

• non intensive food production (horticulture and pastoralism)

• villages

• kin groups based on common descent

• lack of formal gov’t

chiefdom

• intermediate between tribe and state

• kin-based lake bands and tribes

• permanent political structure and differential access to resources (wealth, prestige, power)

state

formal gov’t and socioeconomic stratification

sociopolitical organization

exercise of power and regulation of relations among groups and representatives

political regulation

• decision making, social control, conflict resolution

• bands, tribes, chiefdoms are known archaeologically

• exist within nation-states and are subject to state control

common descent

evolutionary theory proposing that all living organisms on earth share a single, distant common ancestor; kin groups based on this

kin groups

a group of people related by blood or marriage

horticulturalism

the science, art, and small-scale, intensive cultivation of fruits, vegetables, flowers, & ornamental plants

sodalities

Secret societies; made up exclusively of men or women, that have secret initiation ceremonies

based on age, gender, and ritual link members of different local groups – create a sense of ethnic identity

pantribal sodalities

• extend across whole tribe, spanning several villages

• Sometimes arose in areas where two or more cultures came into regular contact

• Especially likely to develop in the presence of intertribal warfare

• Able to mobilize a large number of men from multiple villages for attacks or retaliation against other tribes

age sets

sodalities that include all of the men born during a certain time span

prestige

widespread respect and admiration felt for someone or something on the basis of a perception of their achievements or quality

stratification

creation of separate social strata

population control; states

• Administrative divisions (e.g., provinces, districts, counties, subcounties, parishes) managed by lower-level officials

• Reduced importance of kinship in sociopolitical organization

• Geographic mobility and resettlement are fostered – severs ties between people, land, and kin

• Different rights and obligations are assigned to different social groups – e.g., citizens vs. noncitizens; members of different social classes (elites, commoners, and slaves); soldiers vs. ordinary civilians

weber’s dimensions of social stratification

• Economic status – based on wealth (a person’s material assets)

• Political status – based on power (the ability to exercise one’s will over others)

• Social status – based on prestige (esteem, respect, or approval for acts, deeds, or qualities considered exemplary)

judiciary

• Laws based on precedent and legislative proclamations – regulate relations between individuals and groups

• Courts and judges to handle disputes and crimes

• Intervention in family affairs (unlike nonstates)

enforcement

• Agents to enforce judicial decisions

• Governments are concerned with preserving internal order, guarding against external threats, and defending hierarchy, property, and power of the law

fiscal systems

• Support rulers, nobles, officials, judges, military personnel, and other specialists in a state

• some resources collected by a state (e.g., via taxation) are redistributed to citizens; others (often more) are used to support the government and the elite

• Common people in states usually must work harder than those in nonstates

• (__) of archaic states helped to maintain and elaborate class distinctions

pastoralism

a sustainable, extensive, and often nomadic livelihood focused on raising domesticated livestock—such as cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and reindeer—on natural rangelands.