Anthropology 1220 - Unit 2: The Culture Concept

Vocabulary flashcards covering core terms, definitions, key anthropologists, and theoretical frameworks from Unit 2 of Anthropology 1220.

Culture (Tylor's Definition)

That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.

Biocultural Organisms

Human beings understood as organisms shaped by both biological and cultural factors.

Armchair Anthropologist

An early anthropologist, such as E. B. Tylor, who did not conduct direct field research but relied on second-hand accounts of other societies.

Psychic Unity

The idea that people everywhere are engaged in the same narrative of progress, though not all at the same pace.

E. B. Tylor

The first professor of Anthropology, an evolutionist, and armchair anthropologist who offered the first modern definition of culture and proposed the concept of psychic unity.

Participant-Observation Fieldwork

A research method championed by Bronislaw Malinowski involving direct engagement and immersion in a society's daily life.

Functionalism

A perspective represented by Bronislaw Malinowski, who believed culture functions to satisfy individual biological, social, and psychological needs.

Organic Analogy

A concept developed by A. R. Radcliffe-Brown to explain how societies self-regulate, comparing society to a biological organism.

A. R. Radcliffe-Brown

Main rival to Bronislaw Malinowski who developed the organic analogy to explain self-regulating societies while recognizing the limitations of functionalism.

Franz Boas

Known as the 'Father' of North American Anthropology; proposed cultural relativism, developed the four-field approach, and argued each society is a product of its own history.

Cultural Relativism

The concept developed by Franz Boas stating that each society can only be understood as a product of its own specific history.

Interpretive Anthropology

An approach led by Clifford Geertz that treats the analysis of culture not as an experimental science in search of law, but as an interpretive science in search of meaning.

Webs of Significance

Clifford Geertz's metaphor for culture, defining man as an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun.

Human Agency

The ability of human individuals to make choices and act within cultural and historical contexts without being entirely determined by biology or culture.

Material Culture

Things made and used by humans (or near humans) in a group context.

Technology

Specialized knowledge and skills used for making material culture.

Cultural Practices

Routine actions that organize social events and routine speech that communicates meaning and values within a group.

Cultural Frames

Patterned, shared ways of making sense of situations.

Cultural Roles

Conventionalized positions held by a person or persons in a particular context or setting.

Values

Cross-culturally variable standards within a culture regarding what is desirable, good, or important.

Beliefs

Cultural conventions regarding what is true and false.

Ideology

A set of symbols and beliefs supporting the interests of a specific group.

Cultural Hegemony

Control over values, beliefs, and norms exercised by dominant groups in complex societies.

Counterhegemony

Opposition or resistance to dominant cultural hegemony within complex societies.

Norms

Rules for right and wrong behaviour that are connected to cultural values.

Folkways

Taken-for-granted, somewhat flexible norms guiding everyday behaviour.

Mores

Stronger cultural norms, the violation of which results in punishment.

George Murdock

Anthropologist who founded the HRAF (Human Relations Area Files) to systematically study cross-cultural similarities.

Human Relations Area Files (HRAF)

An organization founded by George Murdock to compile data for cross-cultural research on similarities and universals.

Cultural Universals

Common features, practices, or traits found across all human cultures, such as language, cooking, family, folklore, and toolmaking.

Enculturation

The process through which individuals learn and acquire the culture of their group, studied within psychological anthropology.

Ruth Benedict

Founder of the 'Culture and Personality' school of thought who stated that 'culture is personality writ large.'

Piano Analogy (for Emotions)

An analogy illustrating that while all humans share the same full keyboard of emotional capacity, different individuals and cultures strike certain keys more than others.