Anthropology 1010 Quiz 1

"Race"

A group of human beings distinguished by physical traits, blood types, genetic code patterns or genetically inherited characteristics.

Acculturation

The adoption of cultural traits, such as language, by one group under the influence of another.

Cultural Relativism

the practice of judging a culture by its own standards

Culture

Beliefs, customs, and traditions of a specific group of people.

Definitions of Culture

-cultures change over time

-scholars disagree about how to categorize some nations and have not studies some regions (Africa/Middle East)

-not every member of a cultural group will respond the same way

-political and cultural boundaries are not always identical (Spain/France)

-Westerners have developed most of the cultural category systems and may have overlooked values that are important to Non-Western societies

Emic

approach of studying a culture's behavior from the perspective of an insider

Enculturation

The social process by which culture is learned and transmitted across generations

Ethnicity

Identity with a group of people that share distinct physical and mental traits as a product of common heredity and cultural traditions.

Ethnocentrism

evaluation of other cultures according to preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of one's own culture.

Etic

description of local behavior and beliefs from the anthropologist's perspective in ways that can be compared across cultures

Gender

the socially constructed roles and characteristics by which a culture defines male and female

Globalization

Actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope.

Indigenous peoples

natives of an area who have been conquered or dominated by others who came later

Race as a social construct

Racial categories as socially and historically contingent and subject to change

Sub disciplines in anthropology

physical anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and cultural anthropology

Holism (what does it mean that anthropology is a holistic discipline)

Why did we read about the Nacirema? Who are the Nacirema? Is Horace Miner giving an etic or emic description?

Culture shock

the disorientation that people experience when they come in contact with a fundamentally different culture and can no longer depend on their taken-for-granted assumptions about life

Deductive vs. inductive

Deductive is definite; inductive is iffy. More common but less correct: Deductive is general to specific; inductive is specific to general.

Ethics

the principles of right and wrong that guide an individual in making decisions

Ethnography

the method by which researchers attempt to understand a group or culture by observing it from the inside, without imposing any preconceived notions they might have

Ethnology

the analysis and comparison of ethnographic data across cultures

Fieldwork

the study of geographic phenomena by visiting places and observing how people interact with and thereby change those places

Functionalism

early school of thought promoted by James and influenced by Darwin; explored how mental and behavioral processes function- how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish

Hawthorne effect

the alteration of behavior by the subjects of a study due to their awareness of being observed.

Methods (qualitative, quantitative, specific methods)

Participant observation

a key anthropological research strategy involving both participation in and observation of the daily life of the people being studied

Rapport

mutual understanding and harmony

Social Evolution (unilineal evolution)

Stages of culture shock

1. confusion

2. small victories

3. honeymoon

4. irritation and anger

5. reality

Verandah and Arm Chair anthropology

Who is Bronislaw Malinowski? What did he pioneer in anthropology? Where was his most famous research conducted?

Who is Franz Boas and why is he important?

Subsistence strategies

ways in which a society uses technology to provide for the needs of its members

foraging, horticulture, pastoralism, agriculture

slash and burn (swidden)

nomadic pastoralism, transhumance,

correlates and sustainability of subsistence strategies (carrying capacity, population size, etc.)

cultural ecology

Geographic approach that emphasizes human-environment relationships.

egalitarianism

the belief that all people should have equal political, economic, social, and civil rights

types of reciprocity

generalized, balanced, negative

industrialism

the production of goods using advanced sources of energy to drive large machinery

intensive vs. extensive strategies

exchange

the act of obtaining a desired object from someone by offering something in return

consumption

spending by households on goods and services, with the exception of purchases of new housing

reciprocity

the exchange of resources, goods, and services among people of relatively equal status; meant to create and reinforce social ties

redistribution

a form of exchange in which accumulated wealth is collected from the members of the group and reallocated in a different pattern

balanced exchange

a system of transfers in which the goal is either immediate or eventual equality in value

leveling mechanism

a cultural obligation compelling prosperous members of a community to give away goods, host public feasts, provide free service, or otherwise demonstrate generosity so that no one permanently accumulates significantly more wealth than anyone else

market exchange

an economic system in which goods and services are bought and sold at a money price determined primarily by the forces of supply and demand

capitalism

an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.

mode of exchange

dominant way in a culture of transferring goods, services, and other items among people and groups

mode of consumption

the dominant way, in a culture, of using up goods and services

minimalism

an attitude of doing only the least that is required by law in our moral life

poverty

the state of being poor

pure gift

something given without expectation or thought of a return

unbalanced exchange

items of unequal value exchanged (where profit motive overrides social relationships)

use rights

culturally legitimated right to use something such as land, homes, or a tool (think rent or borrow)

roots of global economy

colonialism

the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.

underdevelopment

the term used to suggest that poor countries are poor as a result of their relationship to an unbalanced global economic system

planned

perceived obsolescence (from Story of Stuff)

joint stock companies

an association of individuals in a business enterprise with transferable shares of stock, much like a corporation except that stockholders are liable for the debts of the business

triangle trade

a trade route that exchanged goods between the West Indies, the American colonies, and West Africa

slavery

the condition of being owned by another person and being made to work without wages

Anthropology

Study of the origins and development of people and their societies

ethnographic fieldwork

four-field approach

holism

The anthropological commitment to consider the full scope of human life, including culture, biology, history, and language, across space and time.

participant-observation

ethnology

key dynamics of globalization

time-space compression, flexible accumulation, increasing migration, uneven development, rapid change

flexible accumulation

the increasing flexible strategies that corporations use to accumulate profits in an era of globalization, enabled by innovative communication and transportation technologies

subfields of anthropology

Horace Miner: Who are the Nacirema?

Were you surprised to learn it was describing Americans? Why?

What does this article tell us about ethnographic description?

What is "The Danger of a Single Story"?

What are some of the 'single stories' Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie discusses?

culture

Beliefs, customs, and traditions of a specific group of people.

enculturation

The social process by which culture is learned and transmitted across generations

norms

rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members

values

the ideas, beliefs, and attitudes about what is important that help guide the way you live

symbol

A thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract.

mental maps of reality

cultural classifications of what kinds of people and things exist, and the assignment of meaning to those classifications

cultural relativism

not judging a culture but trying to understand it on its own terms

unilineal cultural evolution

The belief that human societies have evolved culturally along a single developmental trajectory. Typically, such schemes depict Western civilization as the most advanced evolutionary stage; anthropology rejects this idea.

historical particularism

The idea, attributed to Franz Boas, that cultures develop in specific ways because of their unique histories.

structural functionalism

theoretical tradition claiming that every society has certain structures (the family, the division of labor, or gender) that exist to fulfill some set of necessary functions (reproduction of the species, production of goods, etc.)

power

the ability of one person to get another person to act in accordance with the first person's intentions