ANTH 341 Midterm

Edward B. Tylor and his ideology

English anthropologist & anthropology professor whose ideology was based on cultural evolutionism

• Reconstructed the history of human culture, based around the concept of uniformitarianism and the concept of “survivals”

Lewis Henry Morgan

American anthropologist and social theorist who conducted research on kinship and social structure, and theories of social evolution

Who wrote an ethnography on the Iroquois people?

Lewis Henry Morgan

Karl Marx

Philosopher, social theorist, revolutionary socialist who founded marxism with Engels. Co-authored the communist manifesto & das kapital, and advocated for the abolition of private property and class struggle

Freidrich Engels

Philosopher, social & political theorist, revolutionary socialist, Co-founder of Marxism

• Wrote “the condition of the working class in england”

• Co-author of the communist manifesto

Marx and Engels ideology (4)

• dialectical/historical materialism

• mode of production

• communism

• alienation and exploitation (conflict between the bourgeoisie (owners of the means production) and the proletariat (workers.)

_____ ________ argued that human culture evolves similarly to biological organisms, simple to complex.

E.B. Tylor

who founded the concept of psychic unity?

E.B Tylor

Which anthropolgist suggested that human societies progress through the stages of savagery (hunt/gather), barbarism (agri, pottery), and civilization (tech)?

Lewis Henry Morgan

Which anthropologist focused heavily on how kinship systems structure societies and change overtime moving from group marriage to monogamy?

Lewis Henry Morgan

Whose ideas were foundational to Marx and Engels’ ideas on private property and state?

Morgan

Which anthropologists focused heavily on class struggle, historical materialism, and the critique of capitalism?

Marx and Engels

Historical Materialism was developed by who and means what?

Marx and Engels; The belief that economic forces determine the social, political, and intellectual life of society, that history moves forward through changes in the modes of production

Max Weber; rationalization

central figure in sociology, influenced by romanticism

• Argued modern society is defined by rationalization, a shift from tradition to efficiency, predictability, and bureaucratic control.

Max Weber’s three types of authority

• Legal Authority- based on established rules, procedures, and laws (modern),

• Traditional Authority- Bases on long-standing customs and belief in legitimacy (kings, monarchy),

• Charismatic Authority- based on the exceptional personal characteristics (prophets).

Max Weber’s three dimensions of social stratification

Class, Status, & Party: argued that social stratification is not just based on economics (class) but also on social honor (status) and political influence (party)

Max Weber - Iron Cage

The Iron Cage: rationalization, bureaucracy and capitalist in modern society trap individuals in a rigid system of control, robbing life of meaning and human freedom.

Max Weber concepts (4):

• rationalization

• three types of authority

• class, status, party

• iron cage

Emile Durkheim

French sociologist, known as the “father of Modern sociology”

Who was focused on social facts? What are they?

Emile Durkheim; manners of acting, thinking, and feeling that are external to individuals but have coercive power and social control.

Who believed in collective consciousness? What is it?

Emile Durkheim; Shared system of beliefs and values which shapes and directs the behavior os its members.

Franz Boas and his concepts

Father of American Anth, anti-racist, belief in historical particularism and cultural relativism, four-field approach

W.E.B DuBois

American sociologist and civil rights activist, co-founder of the NAACP. A founding figure of sociology

W.E.B DuBois’ concepts (2)

The Veil and Double Consciousness

Who wrote “The Souls of Black Folks”?

WEB DuBois

Ruth Benedict

American anthropologist and folklorist, wrote Patterns of Culture on the Pueblo southwest, New Guinea, and Pacific Northwest societies. Did research on cultural configurations

Who conceptualized the three types of cultural configuration? what are they?

Ruth Benedict; Apollonian, Dionysian, Douboan

Cultural Survivals

- Concept developed by E.B. Tylor in his book Primitive Culture.

- The processes, customs, opinions, beliefs that have been carried on throughout time by force of habit

- practices that outlive their origins. (remain as “proofs and examples” of an older condition of culture, saying “bless you”, the hand motion you make to mimic calling someone on the phone, etc.)

Mode of Production

- According to Marx and Engels, mode of production is the base of a society and its superstructure.

- Encompasses the different ways in which societies organize the production and distribution of goods and services. Includes technological, social, and economic factors.

- Includes the: relations of production: patterns of ownership and organization of work. forces of production: tech, resources, knowledge of how to use them.

Psychic Unity of Humankind

- A concept that originated with Tylor and was later harnessed by Durkheim and structuralists.

- The idea that all human beings share the same mental capabilities so therefore their mental processes will be consistent across cultures.

- Built on assumptions and evolutionary perspective.

Cultural Ecology

- Main thinker was Julian Steward.

- Branched off of possibilism because he thought it was too broad/vague.

- argued that human cultures are closely linked to environmental conditions, and that specific features shape particular practices.

- Later CE was adopted and synthesized into Ecological/cultural materialism.(Harris)

Cultural Materialism

- A synthesis of cultural ecology and Marxist theory.

- Main theorist was Marvin Harris.

- Technological ecological demographic determinism: technology, ecology, and population density determine other aspects of culture.

- Also placed emphasis on infrastructure (mode of production, reproduction), structure (kinship, legal systems, politics, property), and superstructure (env. limits and adaptations, its effects on cultural factors)

- A society's material conditions, specifically its environment, technology, and economy shape its social structure and culture

Derek Freeman

- New Zealand Anthropologist

- Known for his critiques on Margret Mead's work in Samoan societies, published in 1983.

- First worked as a school teacher in Samoa in the 1940s.

-Known for having a "difficult" personality and mental health challenges.

- Claimed Mead was a cultural determinist, biased in her analyses, and had been misled by informants.

Scientific Paradigm

- Argued by philosopher Thomas Kuhn that science is organized by paradigms, which are often unstated and implicit worldviews of scientists that govern their understandings of the world and their research into how it works. (evolutionary paradigms of creationism (Biblical), The Great Chain of Being (Christian natural order), cultural relativism and historical particularism (Boas), etc.)

- Kuhn said science does not invoke progress but rather revolution.

Dialectical materialism

- Founded by Marx and Engels.
- Views reality as material, interconnected, and in constant change driven by internal contradictions.
- Combines materialism, and dialectics.
- Explains social change through class struggle and contradictions in production, arguing that quantitative changes led to qualitative transformations.

Herbert Spencer

- Originated the term “survival of the fittest.” 

- Developed the concept of social darwinism: argued that social inequality, racism, and imperialism were natural, justified by the idea that strong individuals or nations rightfully dominate the weak.

- Applied evolutionary principles to sociology, psychology, and ethics, arguing that human societies evolve through competition.

Polygenism vs. Monogenism

1. Belief in separate times of creation for human races (and therefore that each race is a separate species.)

2. Belief that there was only one moment of creation for all races and that everyone evolved from a common ancestor.

Hegel (Philosopher)

- German philosopher who viewed history as the continuous unfolding of ideas.

- Believed in dialectical (reactive) evolution and said that historical change could be observed through contradictions (thesis and anti-thesis)which resulted in new historical synthesis.

- Characterized historical epochs by the “spirit of the age.”

- Considered by Marx to be too idealist, the two were rivals of sorts and M & E often criticized Hegelian philosophers in their own works.

Base

- Society’s mode of production, economy and social classes.

Superstructure

Every part of a society not to do with production. (Politics, family, law, religion)

Mechanical vs. Organic Solidarity

- Concepts developed by Emile Durkheim, who believed that division of labor created social cohesion, but the ways in which labor is conducted create different types of societies.

1. Characterizes non-industrial societies where uniformity creates cohesion and solidarity between laborers.

2. characterizes industrial societies where specialization of laborers creates cohesion and solidarity. Everyone is dependent on one another.

Diffusionism

- Cultural traits, innovations, and technologies originate in specific centers and spread to other societies through migration, trade, or contact.
- Argues that cultural similarities between distant societies are evidence of historical contact rather than independent development.
- Used by Boas and the Boasians

Cudjo Lewis/Kossula

- Born Oluale Kossola, one of the last survivors of the atlantic slave trade Interviewed by Zora Neal Hurston in 1927.
- Wasn't published until 2018.

Cultural Configuration

- A concept proposed by Ruth Benedict in her work Patterns of Culture.

- Stated that when faced with an array of behavioral possibilities, each culture will select only a limited range as acceptable, while other behaviors will be considered as deviant.

- Described three types:

Apollonian (restrained)

Dionysian (celebratory)

Douban (distrustful)

Synchronic vs. Diachronic

- Used mainly in linguistic anthropology.

1. considers a language at a moment in time without taking its history into account.

2. used in historical linguistics, considers the development and evolution of a language through history.

Total Social Phenomenon

- An extension of Durkheim’s idea of “social facts,” coined by his nephew Marcel Mauss.

- A practice or event that touches/incorporates every part of a society. (e.g. Superbowl)

- Emphasizes the interconnectedness of all aspects of culture and society (economic, legal, political, religious, etc.)

Potlatch

Ceremonial, gift-giving feast practiced by indigenous people of the PNW to celebrate major life events, validate social status, and redistribute wealth. Malinowski

Kula

- One of the main focuses of Bronislaw Malinowski’s anthropological research in the Western Pacific region, in the Trobriand islands. 

- A trade system in which men from across the ring of islands in the region make voyages to neighboring islands to exchange mwali and soulava as a way to make and foster intertribal connections and alliances, as well as build prestige.

Mwali

Armbands made from shells.

Soulava

Necklaces made from shells.

Possibilism

- Main proponent was Alfred Kroeber, one of Boas’s students who observed that many kinds of culture could be found in a single region.

- The environment sets broad limits on cultural possibilities and does not directly determine the traits that will develop.

Sapir-whorf hypothesis

- Also known as linguistic relativity.
- Perceptions of reality are inevitably shaped by the language we speak (time, space, and color)

Cultural Survivals:

• concept developed by E.B. Tylor in his book Primitive Culture

• processes, customs, opinions, etc. that have been carried on throughout time by force of habit - practices that outlive their origins

  • remain as “proofs and examples” of an older condition of culture.

  • ie. saying “bless you”, the hand motion you make to mimic calling someone on the phone, etc.

mode of production

• According to Marx and Engels, mode of production is the base of a society and its superstructure. 

• Encompasses the different ways in which societies organize the production and distribution of goods and services. Includes technological, social, and economic factors.

• Includes the:

  • relations of production: patterns of ownership and organization of work

forces of production: tech, resources, knowledge of how to use them

psychic unity of humankind

• a concept that originated with Tylor and was later harnessed by Durkheim and structuralists

• The idea that all human beings share the same mental capabilities so therefore their mental processes will be consistent across cultures

• built on assumptions and evolutionary perspective

Cultural ecology

• one of the main thinkers was Julain Steward

  • Branched off of possibilism because he thought it was too broad/vague

  • argued that human cultures are closely linked to environmental conditions, and that specific features shape particular practices

• later CE was adopted and synthesized into Ecological/cultural materialism (Harris)

Who proposed that religion originated from “animism?”

EB. Tylor

Whose ultimate goal was communism, a stateless society based on collective ownership and production from human needs rather than profit?

Karl Marx

the “hau of the gift”

objects are never entirely separated from their owners. The gift carries the spirit of the giver, which compels the receiver to reciprocate.

Cultural Relativism

No culture is superior to another, and practices must be understood within their own cultural context rather than being judged by the standards of another-specifically Western-culture.

The Veil

DuBois, The Veil represents a literal and figurative segeration between Black and white people, hiding the true humanity of black individuals from the white world.

Double consciousness

DuBois, feeling of a "twoness" looking at oneself through the eyes of others and their selves which leads to identify conflict. Felt by African Americans

Historical Particularism

Argues that to understand a culture one must conduct intensive fieldwork to understand the unique history rather than trying to fit it into a preconceived universal evolutionary stage.

Scientific paradigm

• Argued by philosopher Thomas Kuhn that science is organized by paradigms, which are often unstated and implicit worldviews of scientists that govern their understandings of the world and their research into how it works.

  • ie. evolutionary paradigms of creationism (Biblical), The Great Chain of Being (Christian natural order), cultural relativism and historical particularism (Boas), etc.

• Kuhn said science does not invoke progress but rather revolution