anthro final

economic system

norms governing production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services within a society

production + resources

• traditional customs and social rules determine:

  • kinds of work done

  • who does the work

  • attitudes toward the work

  • how it is accomplished

  • who controls the resources necessary to produce desired goods, knowledge, and services.

productive resources

• material goods, natural resources, or information used to create other goods or information

  • land

  • water

  • labor

  • tools knowledge

  • Access

reciprocity

• refers to the exchange of goods and services, of roughly equal value, between two parties.

  • Generalized reciprocity

  • Balanced reciprocity

  • Negative reciprocity

balanced reciprocity

can take more complicated forms, whereby mutual gift giving serves to facilitate social interaction, smoothing relations between traders wanting to do business

redistribution

a form of exchange in which goods flow into a central place where they are sorted, counted, and reallocated

marketplace

• the buying and selling of goods and services, with prices generally determined by rules of supply and demand—was carried out in specific localities or marketplaces.

• many market transactions still take place in a specific identifiable location

market exchange

• Principle distribution mechanism in most societies today

• Goods and services bought and sold at a monetary price determined (theoretically) by impersonal market forces

• Industrial states reciprocity and redistribution

• Basic factors of production bought and sold freely

  • Land

  • Labor

  • Capital

general-purpose money

• Most modern commercial transactions involve “money”

• universal medium of exchange

  • Serve as an acceptable medium of exchange

  • Serve as a standard of value

  • Serve as a store of wealth

• First monetary systems based on precious metals

• used for transactions

• condenses wealth

special-purpose money

• Used by societies whose food production is insufficient to support a large population of nonfood producers

• objects of value for which only some goods or services can be exchanged

monogamy

marriage in which both partners have just one spouse—is the most common form of marriage worldwide.pi

serial monogamy

an individual marries a series of partners in succession

polygamy

• the preferred form of marriage in a majority of the world’s cultures.

• one individual having multiple spouses

polygyny

• a man is married to more than one woman

• favored in about 80–85% of the world’s cultures; commonly practiced in parts of Asia and much of sub-Saharan Africa.

polyandry

the marriage of one woman to two or more men simultaneously

fraternal polyandry

the practice of brothers sharing one wife

endogamy

rules requiring marriage be within a particular group

exogamy

rules require marriage be outside of a particular group of individuals

parallel cousin

• the child of a father’s brother or a mother’s sister.

• the preferred spouse for a man is his father’s brother’s daughter—patrilateral parallel-cousin marriage

cross cousin

• the child of a mother’s brother or a father’s sister.

• Some societies favor matrilateral cross-cousin marriage—marriage of a man to his mother’s brother’s daughter or a woman to her father’s sister’s son

descent group

• any kin-group whose members share a direct line of descent from a real (historical) or fictional common ancestor.

• membership must be sharply defined in order to operate effectively in a kin-ordered society

unilineal desent

establishes group membership based on descent traced exclusively through either the male or the female line of ancestry

matrilineal descent

descent group traced through the female

patrilineal descent

descent traced through the male

lineage

• a unilineal kin-group descended from a common male or female ancestor or founder who lived four to six generations ago

• relationships among members can be exactly stated in genealogical terms

clan

an extended unilineal kin-group, often consisting of several lineages, whose members claim common descent from a remote ancestor, usually legendary or mythological

double descent

The tracing of descent through both matrilineal and patrilineal link each used for a different purpose

phratry

a unilineal descent group composed of at least two clans that supposedly share a common ancestry, whether or not they really do

Bilateral Kinship

a family system where individuals trace their ancestry and relationships through both their mother's and father's sides of the family, recognizing the importance of both lineages

The Eskimo system

It emphasizes the nuclear family by specifically identifying mother, father, brother, and sister while lumping together all other relatives into a few large categories

the hawaiian system

• It refers to all relatives of the same generation and sex by the same term.

• reflects the absence of strong unilineal descent, and members on both the father’s and the mother’s sides are viewed as more or less equal

The Iroquois System

the father and father’s brother are referred to by a single term, as are the mother and mother’s sister, but the father’s sister and mother’s brother are given separate terms

kindred

a grouping of blood relatives based on bilateral descent

ascribed status

status assigned at birth or acquired later in life involuntarily

achieved status

status earned through voluntary effort

egalitarian societies

• Differences in position and prestige out of difference in ability

• Equal access to status positions for people of same ability

• Depend on sharing

• Equal access to Power

ranked society

Characterized by social groups with unequal access to prestige or status, but not unequal access to economic resources or power

class system

form of social stratification in which different strata form a continuum

caste

a closed social class in a stratified society in which membership is determined by birth and fixed for life

slavery

the ownership of a person as property, especially in regard to their labour

social mobility

movement from one social stratum to another

political organization

• patterned ways in which power is legitimately used in a society

  • regulate behavior

  • maintain social order

  • make collective decisions

  • deal with social disorder

big men

“self-made” leader who rules with his influence and has a temporary term of office

chiefs

Hold power and authority, position is usually inherited, and held for life

bands

generally consists of a small kin group, no larger than an extended family or clan

tribes

hierarchically larger than a lineage or clan, but smaller than a chiefdom, ethnicity, nation or state

chiefdoms

a political organization of people represented or governed by a chief

hegemony

The (usually elite) construction of ideologies, beliefs, and values that attempt to justify the stratification system in a state

nation-state

A sovereign, geographically based state that identifies itself as having a distinctive national culture and historical experience

authority

ability to cause others to act based on characteristics such as honor, status, knowledge, ability , respect, or holding of formal office

influence

ability to talk people into doing something without the use of force

social complexity

The number of groups and their interrelationships in a society

elites

The social strata that has differential access to all culturally valued resources

myth

• Stories that members of a religious traditions hold to be holy and true

  • Historical events

  • Heroes

  • Gods

  • Spirits

  • Creation

animism

a belief that nature is enlivened or energized by distinct personalized spirit beings separable from physical bodies or the material substance they inhabit

animatism

the belief that nature is enlivened or energized by an impersonal force or supernatural energy, which may make itself manifest in any special place, thing, or living creature

polytheism

belief in more than one god

monotheism

belief in one god

5 characteristics of religion

• Social institution characterized by sacred stories

• Makes use of symbols, and symbolism

• Proposed existence of immeasurable beings, powers, states, places and qualities

• Rituals means of addressing the supernatural

• Specific practitioners

priests

full-time religious specialists authorized to perform sacred rituals and mediate between fellow humans and supernatural powers, divine spirits, or deities

shaman

someone who enters an altered state of consciousness “to contact and utilize an ordinarily hidden reality in order to acquire knowledge, power, and to help other persons”

Spiritual lineage

a principle of leadership in which divine authority is passed down from a spiritual founding figure, such as a prophet or saint, to a chain of successors who derive legitimacy as religious leaders from their status in such a lineage

kawaii

a Japanese cultural phenomenon which emphasizes cuteness, childlike innocence, charm, and simplicity

folk art

Art originating among the common people of a nation or region and usually reflecting their traditional culture, especially everyday or festive items produced or decorated by unschooled artists

world art

Contemporary visual arts and cultural performances of non-Western peoples

orientalism

Scholarship and art generated by Europeans, representing their views of the Middle East

primary invention

the creation, invention, or chance discovery of a completely new idea, method, or device

secondary innovation

a deliberate application or modification of an existing idea, method, or device

diffusion

• the spread of ideas, customs, or practices from one culture to another.

• Particularly significant among the domesticated plants

• breaks through multiple language barriers and long-held local traditions

• is the metric system used for measuring length, weight, capacity, currency, and temperature

stimulus diffusion

Ideas from one culture trigger similar but drastically different version in another culture

eskimo terms

EGO’s father and mother are distinguished from EGO’s aunts and uncles, and siblings are distinguished from cousins

hawaii terms

The men numbered 2 and 6 are called by the same term as father (3); the women numbered 1 and 5 are called by the same term as mother (4). All cousins of EGO’s own generation 7–16 are considered brothers (B) and sisters (Z)

iroquois terms

EGO’s father’s brother (2) is called by the same term as the father (3); the mother’s sister (5) is called by the same term as the mother (4); but the people numbered 1 and 6 are each referred to by a distinct term. Those people numbered 9–14 are all considered siblings, but 7, 8, 15, and 16 are considered cousins