Anthro 101 Final

culture

sets of learned behaviour and ideas that individuals acquire as members of society; the unique way in which a population combines, views, and practices these components at a given time

how is culture shared

passed from generation to generation; revolve around need for learning; not reinvented with each new generation

socialization

the process of learning to live as a member of a group

enculturation

cognitive challenges faced by humans who live together and must come to terms with the ways of thinking and feeling considered appropriate; adaptive response to living in large groups

culture is symbolic

the significance of culture lies in the meaning it holds for people

culture is adaptive

humans are born without the instinct, but our biological survival depends on it

culture is learned

Culture is transmitted not genetically but through interactions with one's cultural environment.

culture is variable

the selective pressures they mediate and how they are used to mediate these pressures differs across populations

culture is shared

Common practices and beliefs are shared with others in a cultural group

ethnocentrism

the view that one's way of life is natural and right, and the only way of being fully human; may lead to the desire to convert members of other groups to one's own way of doing things

cultural relativism

used to study other cultures without judgement; understanding a culture on its own terms, as a coherent and meaningful design for living; no culture is better than any other

cultural hybridity

cultural mixing; focuses on formation of new cultural practices, rather than seeing it as a loss of old ones

cultural imperialism

the idea that some societies dominate others, leading to the destruction of subordinated societies and their replacement by the culture of those in power; attributed to the spread of western culture

holism

a theoretical approach that recognizes all elements of a subject must be examined to understand its entirety

culture vs cultures

universal attribute vs. groups of people with common ideals, values, and beliefs; implication that it is a static rather than adaptive concept; denies the existence of human agency

language

the system of arbitrary symbols human beings use to encode and communicate about their experience of the world and one of another

linguistic competence

A speaker's implicit, internalized knowledge of the rules of their native language; mastery of adult grammar

communicative competence

the ability to communicate in a personally effective and socially appropriate manner; mastery of adult roles for socially and culturally appropriate speech

proxemics

the study of the use of space

types of interpersonal space

intimate, personal, social, public

kinesics

the study of body language

pragmatics

the study of language in the context of its use; involves linguistic and non-linguistic context

linguistic context

other words, expressions, and sentences surrounding the expression whose meaning one is trying to determine

non-linguistic context

objects and activities present when one is speaking

sociolinguistics

the study of how language serves and is shaped by the social nature of human beings

open call system

system in exchange of matter with its environment, presenting import and export, building-up and breaking-down of its material components

closed call system

a communicative system in which there are a fixed number of calls

6 features of language

openness, displacement, arbitrariness, duality of patterning, semanticity, prevarication

openness

the ability of speakers to create and understand new messages

displacement

ability to talk about absent or non-existent objects or future and past events

arbitrariness

indicates the fact that there is no necessary link between linguistic sounds and their meaning

duality of patterning

The concept that language works at two general levels, with units of sound combining into meaningful units (usually words) and these meaningful units combine into a larger pattern of meaningful syntactic units.

semanticity

refers to the association of language to the social, cultural, and physical world of the speech community

prevarication

the ability to make false, nonsensical, and contradictory statements

sapir-whorf hypothesis

the idea that different languages create different ways of thinking

linguistic determinism

the strong form of Whorf's hypothesis—that language controls the way we think and interpret the world around us

problems with linguistic determinism

Languages with one, third-person pronoun for genders still display male-dominant social patternsLanguages with gendered grammar demonstrate high level of gender equalityIt would be impossible to translate one language to another or learn another language with a different grammatical system - engrained cultural meaningsIn many societies, people learn to speak more than one language fluently and are still able to reconcile both views of reality

linguistic inequality

refers to the view that certain ways of speaking are standard and others are defective and inferior; occurs as a result of domination of one group over another

language ideology

a marker of struggles between social groups with different interests, revealed in what people say and how they say it

languages disappear when

People in the speech community stop using or never learn the language"World" languages, such as English, threaten small languagesOne dialect or language is marginalized in favour of anotherA national language is supported over local dialects

evolving languages

allows for the passing on of cultural traditions and knowledge through the new ways of communicating

patriarchy

A system of society in which men have the power and women are excluded

feminism

the theory that women and men are equally human and therefore are entitled to enjoy the same rights and privileges as men

sexism

the systematic sociocultural structures and practices of inequality derived from patriarchal institutions, that continue to shape relations between men and women

gender

socially constructed roles, behaviors, expressions, and identities; how people perceive selves and others; fluid and changing; on a spectrum

sex

biological attributes; static and unchanging; physical characteristics that distinguish males from females

sexuality

how you identify; the way you experience sexual or romantic desire

gender binary

assumes all societies distinguish between men and women, only has these 2 options

gender peerformativity

individuals learn how to act through social interaction and each performance is part of their identity; includes gender identity, sexuality, and other forms of social identity; something we learn, not born with

transvestism

the practice of dressing and taking on mannerism traditionally associated with a gender other than one's own, which encompasses gendered speech and forms of dress and bodily movement

hetereosexuality

attraction to and sexual relations between individuals of the opposite sex

heteronormativity

idea that heterosexual intercourse is (and should be) the "normal" form of human sexual expression; ethnocentrism of sexuality

heterosexism

bias against those who aren't heterosexual

imagined communitites

social, cultural, and historical consturctions

kinship

form of relatedness linked with universal human experiences of mating, birth, and nurturance

bilateral descent

a kinship system in which both sides of a person's family are regarded as equally important

unilineal descent

descent that establishes group membership exclusively through either the male or female line

clan

a descent group made up of lineages whose members believe they are related, even if they can no longer specify the links

lineage

serves as foundation for social life; control resources and wealth; provide political or legal sttatus for meembers

family

a group of individuals who can be considered as a single unit based on shared rights and responsibilities

conjugal family

a family established through marriage

non-conjugal family

a woman and her children; the husband/father may be occasionally present or completely absent

nuclear family

Mother, father and children living as a unit

extended family

parents, married children, and grandchildren; consists of 3 generations

joint family

brothers and their wives, or sisters and their husbands, living together with their children; can be 2+ generations

marriage

form of relatedness; another adaptive system; not synonymous with mating or love; provides framework for linking previously unrelated people; creates new relationships between the kin of the spouses

neolocal residence

couple sets up independent household in a new location of their choosing, found in societies that are individualistic

patrilocal residence

couple lives with/near husband's father, common among patrilineal pastoral and farming communities

matrilocal residence

couple lives with/near wife's mother, common among matrilineal groups

avunculocal residence

couple lives with/near husband's mother's brother (groom's uncle), found among matrilineal groups

5 common elements of marriage

transforms status of participants, stipulates degree of sexual access, perpetuates social patterns through production of offspring, creates relationships between kin of partners, symbolically marked

endogamy

marriage contracted within a defined social group

exogamy

marriage outside the tribe, caste, or social group

benefits of monogamy

more parental investment, population at stable level

benefits of polyandry

form of birth control in populations with limited space/resources, maintains wealth within bloodline when fraternal model, provides necessary support for time consuming gendered roles

benefits of polygyny

increases birth rate, provides more labor power, social status (more wives reepresents more wealth)

bridewealth

the transfer of goods from the family of the groom to the family of the bride and serves to compensate bride's family for loss of her labor and reproductive capacities, cement affinal relations between the bride's and the groom's family, circulate resources

dowry

the transfer of wealth from the bride's parents to their daughter at her marriage, as a contribution to her household; considered wife's contribution to the establishment of new household; ensures daughter will continue to enjoy her accustomed lifestyle

intersectionality

the acknowledgement that everyone has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression and we must consider everything and anything that can marginalize people

naturalizing discourses

the representation of particular identities as though they were eternal and unchanging, rather than the product of history or culture; categories are culturally constructed, not biological/natural

issues of naturalizing discourses

ignore historical evidence showing how present-day arrangements contrast with earlier social arrangements in society, ignore variations in social arrangements in other present-day societies, direct attention away from social inequalities

class

hierarchically arranged social groups based on access to sources of wealth, occupaiton, or other economic criteria; based on differences in relations to the means of production

caste

ranked groups within hierarchically stratified society; based on descent relationships and lineages; closed system, can't move between ranks

ascribed status

a status into which one is born; involuntary status

achieved status

a status into which one enters; voluntary status

race

outward phenotypic appearance and assumed linked traits such as intelligence; culturally constructed social category; developed as result of colonization; used to explain diversity and justify domination and enslavement

ethnicity

a principle of social classification used to create groups based on selected cultural features such as language, religion, or dress; emerges from historical processes that incorporate distinct social groups into a single political structure under conditions of inequality; fluid and malleable; not a singular identity

self-ascription

insider's efforts to define their own identity

other-ascription

Outsider's efforts to define the identity of other groups

racism

systematic oppression of one or more socially defined racism by another and justified by the supposed inherit biological superiority of the rulers and inferiority of those they rule

colorism

the belief that one type of skin tone is superior or inferior to another within a racial group

racialization

the formation of a new racial identity by drawing ideological boundaries of difference around a formerly unnoticed group of people

ethnicization

the making of an ethnic group, the process by which a group of persons comes to see itself as a distinct group linked by bonds of kinship or their equivalents, by a shared history, and by cultural symbols that represent their peoplehood

human rights

refers to the notion that, by virtue of being human, people everywhere are justly entitled to certain powers, privileges, or material resources

rights vs culture

human rights are opposed to culture, rightt to culture is a human right; assume that: cultures are homogenous, bounded, and unchanging sets of ideas and practices; each society has only one culture which its members must follow; international interference with those customs that are thought to violate human rights is in itself a human-rights violation