MIDTERM 1 ANTHRO FREE RESPONSE

Discuss and critique the theory of scientific racism. What is “race” and how is it used to account for social and cultural as well as biological differences in human beings?  What criticisms have anthropologists made of race and its use as a unit of analysis for gaining insights into human sociocultural and biological variation?  What alternative concepts do anthropologists use to analyze human biological variation?

The theory and critique of scientific racism is that scientific racism categorizes humans based on their race where it assumes that intelligence and behavior are inherited when they aren’t. The critique of scientific racism is that it is inaccurate as it promotes racial inequality and white supremacy. Race is a socially constructed term where they group people based on their attributes like ancestry and physical appearance. Criticisms anthropologists have made of race and its use as a unit of analysis is that race is not an accurate biological variable. Alternative concepts that anthropologists use to analyze human biological variation are ancestry and clines instead.

Discuss the concept of “social race”. How do cultural anthropologists approach the race concept today, and how does this differ from scientific racism?   Discuss some examples of how race is culturally constructed in different times and places.

The concept of social race is a socially constructed idea where they group people based on things like skin color or physical attributes when they have no biological correlation. Cultural anthropologists approach the race concept today as using it instead as a historical and political process  where they instead use race as a context-dependent historical variable. This differs from scientific racism because scientific racism incorrectly uses race to determine someone’s intelligence and other attributes and additionally use it as a foundation for biological hierarchy. For example in South Africa Apartheid where people were classified in different categories such as white, black, indian, etc. where it determines where they live, their job, and who they can marry. Another example was in Germany where they categorized against the Jewish people so that they can justify mass genocide. 

Discuss the field of craniometry and related uses of anatomical measures in racial arguments. What criticisms have Stephen Jay Gould and anthropologists made of these arguments?  What logical and empirical errors are made?  Give and discuss specific examples to make your points.

The field of craniometry is the study of human skulls to determine and classify human populations. It was used in a way to distinguish in the 19th century, that was later proven false, that the larger the head, the smarter the individual. Criticisms that Stephen Jay Gould and anthropologists made of these arguments is that there were biased assumptions that occurred in these experiments, Some of these assumptions included using the standard western academic performances .Additionally, a scientist Broca determined that Europeans had larger skulls meaning more intelligence than non-europeans, but others realized that he failed to factor in several important factors. For example, he didn’t factor in body size and education level Logical and empirical errors that occurred was only factoring their size of the skull rather than factoring in other important factors like living conditions and education level. Some empirical errors that were made is that the samples were not representative of the population. 

Discuss the theory of unilinear social evolutionism. What are its core assumptions, and how does it represent sociocultural diversity?  What criticisms have anthropologists made of unilinear social evolutionism?

The theory of unilinear social evolutionism is the idea that human societies evolve in the same way. The core assumption is that they follow the same structure of savagery, barbarism, and civilization. Where each society experience the same processes of having their society evolve from utilizing tools such as hunting to pottery to using phonetic alphabets and additionally follow similar marriage where it goes from group marriages to polygamy to monogamy. This represents sociocultural diversity by establishing the hierarchies and causing misinterpretations of unilinear social evolution as stages of development rather than alternative pathways. Some criticisms anthropologists made of unilinear social evolutionism is that this makes it seem like all evolution follows this one path rather than this being an alternative path. Additionally this would mean the end goal for all society would be a western industrial society which engages in the idea of ethnocentrism.

What do anthropologists mean by culture? What common elements can one expect to find in anthropological conceptions of culture?  What do anthropologists mean when they speak of culture as super-organic – more than biological and not merely psychological?  What does it mean to say that culture has the power to naturalize? 

What anthropologists mean by culture is that culture is a shared system where everyone could understand the same symbols (norms, values, etc.) and their respective meanings. Some common elements that can be found in culture is shared and learned. What anthropologists mean when they speak of culture as super-organic more than biological and not merely psychological is that culture exists at a level above those biological and individual. What it means to say that culture has the power to naturalize is that culture is capable of making socially constructed ideas as the norm. For example, in some cultures, it’s normal for men to have short hair while women have longer hair.

What is “ethnocentrism” and what problems does it pose for anthropological investigation of sociocultural diversity? How does cultural relativism offer a solution to these problems?  Are there limits to cultural relativism?

Ethnocentrism is the idea of using their own culture as the standard to judge other cultures. Problems it pose for anthropologists investigation of sociocultural diversity is that they have a bias for their own culture and struggle to understand other cultures. Cultural relativism offer a solution to these problems by having the individual understand other cultures by their own terms. There are limits to cultural relativism as it can be difficult to distinguish between ethically critiquing the culture and disrespecting the culture altogether. Some cultures can deal with inhumane activities or infringing on human’s rights. 

According to Shalini Shankar, how do general market advertising agencies in the United States represent diversity in their advertisements? What does she say are the implications of representing diversity in this way?

According to Shankar’s argument, general marketing advertising agencies in the US represent diversity in their arguments in a controlled and selective way. They include racial and ethnic minorities in their ads, but they only present them in a safe and non-conflicting way. Diversity is often turned into a marketing aesthetic where they utilize cultural foods and language in their advertisements to promote their products. The implications of representing diversity in this way avoids addressing actual issues of structural inequality in culture and instead use it as a marketing tool they can abuse.

What does Shalini Shankar mean when she argues that multicultural advertising agencies both reflect and create ethnoracial categories through their advertising practices, and how does this happen?  Give some examples.

Shankar argues that multicultural advertising agencies both reflect and create ethnoracial categories through their advertising practices by turning their socially constructed identities into marketing strategies. For example, using black culture in these marketings can utilize hip-hop style and AAVE in slogans. Another example can include using hispanic culture where they utilize mariachi music and utilize speaking spanish in their slogans or advertisements.