Anthro 2A Egan Midterm 1

Subfields of Anthropology

1) Sociocultural

2) archeological

3) linguistic

4) biological

-study of humans diversity

Culture

-Traditions and customs that govern behavior and beliefs

-Learned

The Power To Naturalize

relating everything to nature; breaking things down to simple level even if it cannot be evaluated in that manner.

A Priori

Knowledge prior to or independent of experience; deducted from abstract principles

Scientific Racism

-Using science to justify racism by categorizing different phenotype a into discrete races.

-critique: culture is socially transmitted not biologically transmitted

Race and Colonialism

local people and outside groups interact, and power is unequal between them; when a foreign country controls a land and its people politically, socially, economically, and culturally for a long time

Science and Culture

scientist use qualifications to interpret things and in this case culture.

Linneaus

Developed a system of taxonomy to categorizize the different species in the animal kingdoms, including homo sapiens; created four variants of humans.

Blumenbach

Elevated the word race into a scientific category; defined 5 human races.

Hooton

Created 3 big races: Caucazoid, Monogoloid, Negriod

Monogenesis

Argued about a common ancestor for all humans

Polygenesis

Argues about an independent ancestor for every race (every individual races has its own Adam and Eve). Most extreme form of scientific racism.

Typologyzing

Putting people into fixed racial groups just based on how they look or act.

Craniometry

The study of head size;

-scientist used this to prove superiority of certain races and ethnicities. (Falsified data and didn't take in account environment, age, nutrition, etc. : related to a priori)

Robbert Bennett Bean

Compared Genu(front brain, smarts) and splenium(back, labor) in blacks and whites.

Concluded he was right 100% of time.

Falsified his data.

Paul Broca

Used the location of the foranen magnum(hole in skull for soinal chord) as a divider of Genu and splenium to conclude whites were better.

Falsified his data.

Broca's Hypothesis and Research

Hypothesis: the larger the skull, the larger the brain, the more intelligent a human being is

Research, he completely skewed his data to tailor his hypothesis of superiority. Whites were slightly more posterior.

Culture: Biological vs. Social Transmission

Culture is learned from others, not inherited through biology; everyone has the ability to learn culture.

Facts of Human Biological Variation

1. Human biological variation exist

2. Geographically localized

3. Continuous in geographical distribution

4. Discordant in geographical distribution

Social Races

A group defined by a social context rather than their biological traits.

Hypodescent

A rule that automatically places the offspring of two mates of different races into the one less privileged.

Ex. Child of white woman and black father makes child black.

Race and Intelligence

independent of each other.

-intelligence is best determined by the culture and the surroundings.

Osage Indians IQ Scores

The IQ's of different native american tribes were tested and the Osage tribe had the highest IQ out of all tribes because they invested their money on education. As a result their culture promotes education, thus proving that IQ depends on culture.

IQ Scores Black and White WWI Military Recruits

Studies in the rural South showed white people scoring higher on IQ tests, but they ignored Black people who moved north and scored higher—likely because of social and cultural differences.

-We have better ways to measure the IQ's of people as of before they were not as reliable.

Genes

Determinants of traits and characteristics, not intelligence or culture.

Clines

A gradual change in one trait, or how often a gene appears, across different geographic areas.

Ethnicity

Identification with, feeling part of, an ethnic group and exclusion from certain other groups because of this affiliation

-expression of ethnic identity is situational

Ethnic Groups

A group distinguished by cultural similarities and differences; values, habits, customs, norms.

-Common language, religion, history, geography, kinship, race.

Minority Groups

Subordinate groups in a sociopolitical hierarchy, with inferior power and less secure access to resources.

Majority Groups

Superordinate, dominant, or controlling groups in sociopolitical hierarchy

Assimilation

minority is incorporated into the majority and no longer exist as two separate cultural units

Multicultural

The idea that having many different cultures in a country is a good thing; people learn both the main (dominant) culture and their own ethnic culture

Discrimination

Policies and practices that harm a group and its memebers

Apartheid

Occurred in South Africa, example of jure discrimination. Blacks and whites had different rights and privileges and social interaction was legally curtailed

Nationalities

Groups of people who share an identity and once had, want, or believe they should have their own country (“imagined communities”).

Social Evolution

Based on Charles Darwin theory of evolution

Social Darwinism

Many different societies are in natural competition for resources. Some are more "fit" to dominate over other societies. This is a natural process.

Herbert Spencer

First made the term, "survival of the fittest". Also created the idea of social Darwinism

Unilinear Evolution

Alternative to scientific racism; developed by the American anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan

Lewis Henry Morgan

Savagery (simple hunters)

Barbarism (village farmers and herders)

Civilization (cities and states)

Evolutionary stages

Savagery, Barbarism, Civilization

Diversity and Evolutionary Stages

Idea that societies change at different rates and the less advanced ones move at a slower rate.

Franz Boas

Founding father of anthropology; critiqued unilinear evolution. Was a diffusionist.

Franz Boas's Critique

Boas critiqued unilinear evolution by saying that they were based off of little empirical data and that the data was terrible quality. He argued that societies were not independent of others.

Empirical Problems with Social Evolution

Bad data for unilinear ideas, leaving much up to speculation.

-Many societies exhibit characteristics of multiple evolutionary stages simultaneously, contradicting the unilinear model

Multilinear Evolution

Julie Steward argued that all societies change at different rates and that cultures change in different ways that can not be predicted. Calling a civilization primitive is robbing them of their history .

Cultural Difussion

Borrowing between cultures either directly or through intermediaries

Ethnocentrism

The tendency to view ones own culture as best to judge the behavior and beliefs of culturally different people

Nature vs. Nurture

the debate over which factor plays a bigger role in behavior, genes vs. culture.

Thomas Hobbes

Believed the human nature is evil, vile, greedy and nasty; society and culture restrains it by forcing us to cooperate

Rousseau

Believed the human nature of man is good but society corrupts us and teaches us to be evil, selfish.

He admired primitive people because he thought they were closest to natural self (noble savage)

Field study of chimpanzees

they demonstrate culture in their ability to learn language and ability to use tools

Fossil records in evolutionary perspective

suggest that our ancestors had culture in the form of pre-modern humans with stone tools

Culture and biology

is socially transmitted, not biologically

Culture and world views

The way we see the world is based on culture, operates invisibly

Culture constructions

the meaning of culture; product of social interaction and and human history

Cultural Relativism

The position that values and standards of cultures differ and deserve respect.

Language (verbal and non-verbal communication)

The use of words and body language to communicate with people.

Language and thought

language spoken and written is our primary means of communication; our thought process allows us to be able to use language to discuss with other human beings.

Sociolinguistics

Investigates the relationships between social and linguistic variation

Social organization and social structure

All human labor is socially organized; they have a way of delegating task of a society; society and social groups cannot be judged based on the technique of production.

Races in Brazil and Japan

-Japan: assimilation is discouraged. Keep minorities in their place. Burakumin are the "outcasts."

-Brazil: Brazilian racial classification pays attention to phenotype, permit individuals to change their racial classification.

Race

cultural categories in hands of science

implications for racial typologies

prejudice: negative attitudes towards certain groups of people

Steele and Aronson

-stereotype threat: fear of confirming a negative stereotype about one’s social group (such as race or gender) creates enough stress and distraction to significantly lower performance on a task, regardless of actual ability.

-GRE scores in “black” and “white”

Breeding population

This is the smallest unit of evolution. These populations are usually defined by geography (e.g., people living on the same island) or culture (e.g., a religious group that only marries within the faith).

Evolution happens to populations, not individuals.

“Progress” -problematic

-Value Laden Term

• Ethnocentrism

• assumes all moving toward a common goal

Imagination and Identity

We use ideas from “imaginary” sources like media, books, and culture. We take these ideas and use them to build our own personal imagination. These ideas can be changed, updated, or reworked over time.

Nationalities & Imagined Communities

Community is something about how you've come to imagine the social world. Imagining others in similar space/time: (it's a fiction)

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.

-social race: sociocultural construct shaped by historical, economic, and political factors rather than genetic differences instead of a unit of analysis

Differs from scientific racism because instead of believing races have a biological basis, social race understands the cultural and societal effects that affect races.

ex. hypodecsent

Brazil- you can change your race based on appearance, and physical traits

Discrimination: de jure & de facto

policies and practices that harm a group and its members
-De Jure: Legally sanctioned/ part of law discrimination
-De Facto: Discrimination practiced but not legally sanctioned

Culture in Evolutionary Perspective: Field Studies with Chimpanzees

Chimpanzees show behaviors similar to culture, like using tools, learning from others, and fighting between groups. This suggests that “culture-like” traits exist outside humans. Our shared ancestors with chimpanzees likely had some form of culture too.

Culture in Evolutionary Perspective: Fossil record

humans differ from chimps mainly through bipedalism. Early stone tools (2.5+ million years ago) show very early culture, and modern humans appeared about 200,000 years ago. Humans evolved biologically to be cultural beings—culture is part of our nature.

Culture & Society

Culture is learned, shared behavior and ways of living beyond biology. It is not the same as society. Culture gives meaning and direction to how people understand the world and can spread and change. Society is the group of people who live together.

Culture & Biology

Culture is learned not inherited. Differences between a sociocultural group are never due to the biological differences between. No biological basis for differences. Yes, we acknowledge we are predisposed to biology but this is something all homosapiens have

Supra-Organic

Culture operates at a level above the individual and you can't reduce it to individuals. It persists across generations, transcends individuals, and cannot be reduced to biology or individual psychology

Subjectivity

Your own personal perspective of yourself, of others, of the world. A sense of where you fit in the broader scheme of things. We all have different subjectivities

Agency

our capacity for creative action. The ability to act and make choices in a social context

Culture and World View

The way we see the world is based on culture. Culture includes all sorts of things, even when we aren't aware. Culture operates very invisibly but profoundly impacts so much

Cultural Constructions

Cultures create meanings through complex interactions and social practices (not deliberately), which are constructed over time, not fixed or natural. Even our beliefs about nature are themselves constructive and vary. Culture is hardly ever politically neutral. Products of human history but we think they're fixed in nature

Biopolitics

The relationship between biology and power, how social power inscribes meaning onto bodies and differences. ​​Power relations are socially produced, but are made to appear as though they emanate from the very structure of bodies and differences of bodies

Imagined Community

A socially constructed sense of belonging to a group or community, even when its members don't know each other personally.

Assemblage

Putting together cultural symbols to target and appeal to specific racial or ethnic groups in advertising. It means combining different elements into a set of meanings for a specific purpose.

Ethnorace

A combined idea of race and ethnicity. It shows that race (seen as biological) and ethnicity (seen as cultural) often overlap, especially in how groups are portrayed and understood, like in advertising.

"Asian American" as a census category

The "Asian" category on the U.S. Census includes people from a wide variety of linguistic, religious, and cultural backgrounds. Despite these differences, they are grouped together under one racial category, which is not biologically or socially coherent

“Asian American" as ethnorace in advertising

Asian Americans are often portrayed in ways that combine race and culture. Advertising agencies might use markers like language, cultural symbols, and consumer behaviors to appeal to this group, defining what it means to be Asian American through marketing strategies

Advertising: turning model citizens into model consumers

often portrayed as “ideal” consumers, with ads targeting cultural values like family or education to sell products.

It also refers to how ads combine different cultural and identity symbols—often from migrant experiences—to both appeal to a group and shape how that group is defined.

Normal and Not Normal- Marked and unmarked categories

In advertising, "normal" is often unmarked and refers to white, middle-class Americans. The term "diversity" or "culture" becomes marked, signaling non-white, non-normal categories. This reinforces whiteness as the default and anything else as "other."

General Market Advertising: Characteristics

Large corporations with substantial budgets, aimed at appealing to a broad, diverse American public while maintaining a sense of "normalcy"

General Market Advertising: View of Normal

White, middle-class Americans are portrayed as the "normal" in these advertisements. This is reflected in their language, mannerisms, and lifestyle, with whiteness being the unmarked category

General Market Advertising: Approach to Diversity

Minority actors are included, but their representation is made as "normal" as possible. The goal is to avoid making diversity seem forced while keeping the majority representation aligned with white norms.

General Market Advertising: "20-30% Mix"

Ad agencies believe that incorporating 20-30% minority presence creates an illusion of diversity without making it seem artificial or out of place in the "normal" American context

Multicultural Advertising: Producing creative affect

Multicultural ad agencies aim to evoke positive emotions from ethnic audiences by incorporating culturally specific elements (language, symbols) into their ads. This affect helps link the brand to the target group

Multicultural Advertising: Use of signs, qualisigns to index diversity

Signs are used in advertisements to communicate specific cultural meanings. Qualisigns go further by attaching social or cultural qualities to a racial or ethnic group, such as associating Asian Americans with technology or fiscal conservatism

Multicultural Advertising: In-language and in-culture

Ads use the target group's language (in-language) and cultural references (in-culture) to establish familiarity and connection, making the advertisement feel more authentic to the intended audience.

Transcreation

The process of adapting general market ads to appeal to specific ethnic groups. This involves more than just translation; it requires adjusting the cultural context to resonate with the target group while maintaining the core message

Multicultural Ad Agencies: Who do they hire and why

Multicultural ad agencies hire staff who belong to or have experience with the ethnic communities they target. This is because these employees understand the cultural nuances, values, and language, making the ads more effective in resonating with the audience

Multicultural Ad Agencies and Client Relations

These agencies often work with predominantly white corporate clients who may have stereotypical views of ethnic groups. Agencies must carefully navigate these relationships, educating clients while ensuring they don't alienate them, as this could result in losing accounts

Multicultural Ad Agencies: Intercultural Affect and its implications

Agencies must manage their ethnic audiences and white corporate clients by balancing authentic representation with the client's often narrow or stereotypical view of diversity. This creates tension but also offers potential for positive changes in racial representation

Racialization of Space

Corporate spaces are often racially white spaces, with minority employees and ideas seen as external or "other." Advertising, both general and multicultural, often reinforces this idea by casting minorities in roles that lack substantial cultural markers, emphasizing sameness while erasing diversity.