Anthropology Exam 1 Study Guide

Anthropology

The study of humans around the world and through time

Adaptation

The processes by which organisms cope with environmental forces and stresses

Culture

Traditions and customs transmitted through learning

Food production

An economy based on plant cultivation and/or animal domestication

Cultural anthropology

The comparative, cross-cultural study of human society and culture

Ethnography

Fieldwork in a particular cultural setting

Ethnology

The study of sociocultural differences and similarities

Biological anthropology

The study of human biological variation through time and as it exists today

Linguistics

The study of language and lingustic diversity in time, space, and society

Archeaology

The study of human behavior through material remains

Applied anthropology

The use of anthropology to solve contemporary problems

Science

A field of study that seeks reliable explanations, with reference to the material and physical world

Hypothesis

A suggested but as yet unverified explanation

Theory

A set of ideas formulated to explain something

Enculturation

The process by which culture is learned and transmitted across the generations

Symbol

Something, verbal or nonverbal, that stands for something else

Maladaptive culture

An inadequate adaptation that occurs when a group pursues an adaptive strategy that fails to provide the necessities of life or, in the long run, destroys the environment that nourishes it

Universal

Something that exists in every culture

Generality

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

Acculturation

An exchange of cultural features between groups in firsthand contact

Independent invention

The independent development of a cultural feature in different societies

Globalization

The accelerating interdependence of nations in the world system today

Particularity

Distinctive or unique culture trait, pattern, or integration

Ethnocentrism

Judging other cultures using one’s own cultural standards

Human rights

Rights based on justice and morality beyond and superior to particular countries, cultures, and religions

Cultural relativism

The idea that behavior should be evaluated not by outside standards but in the context of the culture in which it occurs

Diffusion

Borrowing of cultural traits between societies

Rapport

A good, friendly working relationship based on personal contact with hosts

Participant observation

Taking part in community life, participating in the events one is observing, describing, and analyzing

Emic

A research strategy focusing on local explanations and meanings

Etic

A research strategy emphasizing the ethnographer’s explanations and categories

Variables

Attributes that differ from one person or case to the next

Informed consent

An agreement to take part in research after having been informed about its purpose, nature, procedures, and possible impacts

Edward Burnett Tylor

English founder of cultural anthropology who applied the theory of evolution to human societies (cultural evolutionism) and introduced the idea of animism

Lewis Henry Morgan

American ethnologist and principal founder of scientific anthropology, known for establishing and expanding the study of kinship systems and his theory of social evolution (savagery, barbarism, and civilization)

Boas

German-American anthropologist who is associated with historical particularism, cultural relativism, and the four-field anthropological approach

Malinowski

Polish-British anthropologist and ethnologist who helped found social anthropology, studied the people of Oceania, and created participant observation

Unilinear evolutionism

The 19th-century idea of single line or path of cultural development

Historical particularism

The idea that histories are not comparable and diverse paths can lead to the same cultural result

Functionalism

An approach that focuses on the role/function of sociocultural practices in social systems

Marvin Harris

American anthropologist who heavily influenced cultural materialism by popularizing the idea of emic perspectives

Cultural materialism

The idea that cultural infastructure determines structure and superstructure

Geertz

Primary advocate for interpretive anthropology who used Malinowski’s beliefs of grasping a native point of view

Interpretive anthropology

The study of a culture as a system of meaning

Levi-Strauss

French anthropologist most associated with structuralism and his idea that all human minds have universal characteristics due to being human

Structuralism

The belief that all minds have universal characteristics of needing to classify and impose order on aspects of nature, people’s relation to nature, and on interpersonal relations

Agency

The actions of individuals, alone and in groups, that create and transform culture

Practice theory

The approach to culture which recognizes that individuals in a society vary in motive and held power

World-system theory

The theory in which countries are placed in different economic classes to explain their economic relationships with each other

Political economy

The web of interrelated economic and power relations in society

Hegemony

The dominance of one culture over another’s culture due to enforcement from the dominating culture

Development anthropology

A field that examines the sociocultural dimensions of economic development

Increased equity

Reduction in absolute poverty, with a more even distribution of wealth

Overinnovation

Trying to achieve too much change

Underdifferentiation

Seeing less-developed countries as all the same; Ignoring cultural diversity

Urban anthropology

The anthropological study of cities and urban life

Medical anthropology

The comparative, biocultural study of disease, health problems, and health care systems

Public anthropology

Efforts to extend anthropology’s visibility beyond academia and to demonstrate its public policy relevance

Ethnicity

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

Racial classification

Assigning humans to categories (purportedly) based on common ancestry

Phenotype

The expressed or evident biological characteristics of an organism

Hypodescent

Children of mixed unions assigned to the same group as their minority parent

Multiculturalism

The view of cultural diversity as valuable and worth maintaining

Prejudice

Devaluing a group because of its assumed attributes

Stereotypes

Fixed ideas—often unfavorable—about what members of a group are like

Discrimination

Policies and practices that harm a group and its members

Cultural colonialism

The internal domination by one group and its culture or ideology over others

Food production

An economy based on plant cultivation and/or animal domestication

Adaptive strategy

A society’s primary way of making a living, even though its people might engage in other economic activities

Foraging

An economy and a way of life based on hunting, gathering, and/or fishing

Economy

A system of resource production, distribution, and consumption

Mode of production

A specific set of social relations that organizes labor

Means (factors) of production

Major productive resources, e.g., land, labor, technology, capital

Market principle

Buying, selling, and valuation based on supply and demand