Set 2: Terms and Concepts in Social and Cultural Anthropology

Agency

The capacity of individuals to act freely and independently and make choices and decisions for themselves.

• This capacity is often constrained by structural, social and cultural factors, such as age, race, class or gender.

Belief and Knowledge

A set of convictions, values and viewpoints regarded as “the truth” and shared by members of a social group.

• These are underpinned and supported by known cultural experience.

Change

The alteration or modification of cultural or social elements in a society.

• Change may be due to internal dynamics within a society, or the result of contact with another culture, or a consequence of globalisation.

Class

Hierarchical divisions of people within a society based on their social and economic status.

Community

A group of people who share a common interest, locality or social system.

• Traditionally, this term referred to a geographically-bounded group of people who engage in face-to-face contact.

• Today, the term includes groups accessed through space, such as ‘virtual communities’ or ‘communities of taste’.

Cultural Relativism

A principle that emphasises that each society or culture can only be properly understood on its own terms, by its own standards and values – not by imposing judgement or assessing the worth of a society or culture.

Enculturation / Acculturation

The process of learning the rules and norms of a culture.

Ethnicity

A social group connected by a shared understanding of cultural identity.

• Attributes of ethnicity can include a common nation of origin, ancestry, traditions, language, history, society, religion, or social treatment.

Ethnocentrism

Viewing other cultures and societies according to the assumptions of one's own society; making judgments about others based on what is normal in your own experience and culture.

Identity

Identity can refer either to the individual’s private and personal view of the self—this is sometimes referred to as the “moi”—or the view of an individual in the eyes of the social group.

• Identity also refers to group identity, which may take the form of religious identity, ethnic identity, or national identity for example.

Kinship

A web of social relationships that connects people.

• Kinship traditionally referred to family relationships based on blood or marriage, but other types of relationships, such as friendships or intimate partners, are increasingly viewed as parts of people’s kinship (‘fictive kin’).

Materiality

Objects, resources and belongings have cultural meaning, described by Arjun Appadurai as “the social life of things”, and are embedded with all kinds of social relations and practices.

• Some anthropologists think that human experience can be understood through the study of material objects. For example, contemporary approaches focus on the materiality of the body.

Power

Power is an essential part of social relations and can be considered as a person's or group's capacity to influence, manipulate or control others and resources.

• In its broadest sense, power can be understood as involving distinctions and inequalities between members of a social group.

• Some approaches to power focus on structural power or the capacity of power to produce subjectivities.

Reciprocity

A form of exchange that involves giving and receiving objects and things between relative equals.

Social Relations

Any relationship between two or more individuals in a network of relationships.

• Social relations involve an element of individual agency as well as group expectations and form the basis of social organisation and social structure.

• They pervade every aspect of human life and are extensive, complex, and diverse.

Socialisation

The process through which a person learns how to become an accepted member of a society.

Status

The position a person has within a social system, which might be ascribed (given at birth) or achieved (earned).

• Individuals often have multiple statuses within a society and/or at different moments of their life course, each coming with different expectations, obligations and duties.

Structure

The resilient, regulating features of a society that determine and limit the actions of its members through social institutions and practices.

Stratification

The division of society into different and unequal groups, for example, on the basis of class, age, status, gender, work specialisation, nationality and ethnicity.

Symbolism

Symbolism is the study of the significance that people attach to objects, actions, and processes creating networks of symbols through which they construct a culture’s web of meaning.

Examples of Primary/Formal Socialisation

Families, schools, governments, religious institutions.

Examples of Secondary/Informal Socialisation

Peers, external relationships, hidden curriculum, media.

Hierarchical Societal Structure

A society arranged in order of rank.

• A stratification/stratified structure

• Having different layers (in relation to a specific attribute)

Egalitarian Societal Structure

A society structure based on the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities.

• More equal/linear distribution of the societies ‘shape’

Role-modelling

Canalisation

Verbal Appellations

Discipline

Manipulation