UConn ANTH 1000 Midterm Study Guide

four subfields of anthropology

archaeological, biological, linguistic, sociocultural

cultural anthropology

study of human society and culture

emic

inside perspective

etic

outside perspective

cultural relatvisim

a commitment to the view that values/views/practices of one culture should not be judged by the standards of another culture

ethnocentrisism

the error of seeing one's own culture as superior and applying one's own cultural values in judging the behavior and beliefs of people raised in other cultures

ethnography

fieldwork-based accounts of particular communities, societies, or cultures

enculturation

process by which a child learns his or her culture

ideal culture

what people say they do and should do

real culture

actual behavior

participant observation

taking part in the activities being observed

genealogical method

procedures to discover and record connections of kinship, descent, and marriage

informed consent

agreement to take part in research required

sociolinguistics

study of language in use

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

the language we speak shapes our view of reality

focal vocabulary

specialized sets of terms and distinctions that are particularly important to certain groups

displacement

the ability to refer to events in the past, future, or abstract domains

disglossia

regular shifting between dialects

kinesics

study of communicaton through body movements, stances, gestures, and facial expressions

nuclear family

usually spouse and children, impermanent

extended family

three or more generations

family of procreation

formed when one marries and has children

family of orientation

family in which one is born and grows up

clan

descent group whose members claim, but cannot demonstrate, common descent from an apical ancestor (stipulated descent)

lineage

descent group whose members can demonstrate common descent from an apical ancestor (demonstrated descent)

matrilineal descent

people automatically have lifetime membership in their mother's group

patrilineal descent

people automatically have lifetime membership in their father's group

matrilocality

married couples (and their children) live in the wife's community

patrilocality

married couples (and their children) live in the husband's community

endogamy

procreation of marriage within the group one belongs to

exogamy

practice seeking a spouse outside of one's own group

polyandry

one wife, multiple husbands

polygyny

one husband, multiple wives

sororate

widower marries one of his deceased wife's sisters

levirate

widow marries one of her deceased husband's brothers

lobola

husband and husband's family give wife and wife's family a gift

dowry

wife and wife's family give husband and husband's family a gift

key functions of states

enforcement, judiciary, fiscal support, population control

opioid substitution therapy

replacing heroin with a controlled legal substance

sex

biology, assigned at birth, chromosomes

gender

social roles and cultural expectations, socialized behavior, social construct

gender roles

culturally assigned tasks and activities

gender stereotypes

oversimplified strongly held ideas about he characteristics of males and females

gender stratification

unequal distribution of rewards between men and women, reflecting their differences in a social hierarchy

matriarchy

political system in which women play a much more prominent role than men do in social and political organization

patriarchy

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

intersex

biological conditions involving ambiguity regarding external and/or internal genitalia

adaptation

the process by which organisms cope with environmental stresses

anthropology

the study of the human species and its immediate ancestors

applied anthropology

the application of anthropological data, perspectives, theories, and methods to identify, asses, and solve contemporary social problems

archaeological anthropology

the branch of anthropology that reconstructs, describes, and interprets human behavior and cultural patterns through material remains, best know for the study of prehistory

biocultural

referring to the inclusion and combination (to solve a common problem) of both biological and cultural approaches

biological anthropology

the branch of anthropology that studies human biological diversity in time and space

cultural resource management

the branch of applied archaeology aimed at preserving sites threatened by dams, highways, and other pojects

culture

tradition and custom that govern behavior and belief distinctly human, transmitted through learning

food production

cultivation of planets and domestication of animals

general anthropology

the field of anthropology as a whole, consisting of cultural, archaeological, biological, and linguistic anthropology

holistic

interested in the whole of the human condition

linguistic anthropology

the branch of anthropology that studies linguistic variation in time and space, including interrelations between language and culture; includes historical linguistics and sociolinguistics

science

a systematic field of study or body of knowledge that aims, through experiement, observation, and deduction, to produce reliable explanations of phenomena, with reference to the material and physical world

society

organized life in groups; typical of humans and other animals

acculturation

the exchange of cultural features that results when groups come into continuous firsthand contact; the original cultural patterns of either or both groups, may be altered, but the groups remain distinct

core values

key, basic, or central values that integrate a culture and help distinguish it from others

cultural rights

doctrine that certain rights are vested not in individuals but in identifiable groups, such as religious and ethnic minorities and indigenous societies

diffusion

borrowing between cultures either directly or through intermediaries

estrus

period of maximum sexual receptivity in female baboons, chimpanzees, and other primates, signaled by vaginal area swelling and coloration

generality

culture pattern or trait that exists in some but not all societies

globalization

the accelerating interdependence of nations in a world system linked economically and through mass media and modern transportation systems

hominids

a member of the taxonomic family that includes humans and the african apes and their immediate ancestors

hominins

a member of the human lineage after its split from ancestral chimps, used to describe all the human species that have ever existed, including the extinct ones, but excluding chimps and gorillas

human rights

doctrine that invokes a realm of justice and morality beyond and superior to particular countries, cultures, and religions

independent invention

development of the same culture trait or pattern in separate cultures as a result of comparable needs and circumstances

international culture

cultural traditions that extend beyond national boundaries

national culture

cultural experiences, beliefs, learned behavior patterns, and values shared by citizens of the same nation

paricularity

distinctive or unique culture trait, pattern, or integration

subculture

different cultural symbol-based traditions associated with subgroups in the same complex society

symbol

something, verbal or nonverbal, that arbitrarily and by convention stands for something else, with which it has no necessary or natural connection

universal

something that exists in every culture

cultural consultant

someone the ethnographer gets to know in the field, who teaches them about the consultant's society and culture; also called an informant

interview schedule

ethnographic tool for structuring a formal interview

key cultural consultants

an expert on a particular aspect of local life who helps the ethnographer understand that aspect

life history

of a cultural consultant; provides a personal cultural portrait of existence or change in a culture

longitudinal research

long-term study of a community, society, culture, or other unit, usually based on repeated visits

sample

a smaller study group chosen to represent a larger population

survey research

characteristic research procedure among social scientists other than anthropologists

variables

attributes that differ from one person or case to the next

call systems

systems of communication among nonhuman primates, composed of a limited number of sounds that vary in intensity and duration; tied to environmental stimuli

cultural transmission

a basic feature of language; transmission through learning

daughter languages

languages developing out of the same parent language

descriptive linguistics

the scientific study of a spoken language, including its phonology, morphology, lexicon, and syntax

historical linguistics

subdivision of linguistics that studies languages over time

morphology

the study of form

phoneme

significant sound contrast in a language that serves to distinguish meaning, as in minimal pairs

phonemics

the study of sound contrasts of a particular language

phonetics

the study of speech sounds in general; what people actually say in various languages

phonology

the study of sounds used in speech

productivity

the ability to use the rules of one's language to create new expressions comprehensible to other speakers; a basic feature of language

protolanguage

language ancestral to several daughter languages

semantics

a language's meaning system

style shifts

variations in speech in different contexts