Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM


Top Flashcards (Certified)
All Flashcards

Cultural Anthropology > Anthropology-Study of culture > Flashcards

Anthropology-Study of culture Flashcards

1
Q

What is anthropology?

A

Anthropology is the study of humanity like out prehistoric origins and contemporary human diversity. It is broader and covers a much greater span of time and broader range of topics than other disciplines that study humanity.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Anthropology as a science

A

Hypothesis, hunch, observing and testing

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Anthropology as a humanistic approach

A

Understanding humanity through study. Culturally informed understanding

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Biological anthropology

A

Study of humans as biological organisms, evolution and contemporary variation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Archaeology

A

Study of past human cultures through their material remains

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Linguistic anthropology

A

Human communication, origins, history, contemporary variation and change

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Cultural anthropology

A

Study of living people and their cultures(variation and change)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Applied anthropology

A

Using anthropological knowledge to prevent and solve problems or shape and achieve policy goals

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Culture

A

People’s learned and shared behaviours and beliefs

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Functionalism

A

The view that a culture is similar to a biological organism, in which parts work to support the operation and maintenance of the whole

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Holism

A

The view that one must study all aspects of a culture in order to understand the whole culture

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Cultural relativism

A

Each culture must be understood in terms of values and ideas of that culture and not be judged by standards of others

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Historical particularism

A

Individual cultures must be described and studied on their own terms

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Increased theoretical diversity

A

Theories of culture based on environmental factors, similar environments lead to emergence of similar cultures

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

French structuralism

A

Best way to understand a culture is to collect myths and stories and analyze the themes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Symbolic anthropology

A

Study of a culture as a system of meanings

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Cultural materialism

A

Studying culture by emphasizing the material aspects of life

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Interpretive anthropology/Intepretivism

A

Understand culture should be what people think about, their ideas and the symbols and meanings that are important to them

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

Postmodernism

A

Intellectual pursuit that asks whether modernity is truly progress and it questions such aspects of modernism as the scientific method, urbanization, mass communication and technological change.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

Structural

A

The view that powerful structures such as economics, politics and media shapes culture and creates entrenched systems of inequality and oppression

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Agency

A

Power of individuals to create and change culture and make choices and exercise free will

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

Feminist anthropology

A

The need to study female roles and gender-based inequality

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Gay/lesbian/queer anthropology

A

The need to study gay people’s cultures/discrimination based on sexual identity and preferences

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

Local culture

A

A distinct pattern of learned and shared behaviour and thinking found within larger cultures

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Culture and nature
The relationship is of great interest to help understand people's behaviour and thinking
26
Eating
Culture shapes how, what, when, meaning of food and eating, foods that are acceptable and unacceptable
27
Drinking
Appropriate substances, when, with whom to drink. Particular drinks, style of drinks, serving them are heavily influenced by culture
28
Sleeping
Who sleeps with whom, where children sleep. Excessive daytime sleepiness
29
Elimination
Where to eliminate? Private or public. Positive or negative effect
30
Culture and symbols
A symbol is a object that has a range of culturally significant meanings. It is through symbols that culture is shared, stored and transmitted over time
31
Culture is learned
Cannot be predicted but must be learned, begins at birth
32
Enculturation
Hearing stories and seeing performances of rituals and dances
33
Cultures are integrated
Studying only 1-2 aspects of a culture provides limited understanding that leads to misunderstanding or wrong
34
Cultural interaction and change
Factors that affect cultural change through contact
35
Class
Category based on people's economic position in society. Income, wealth, lifestyle. Upper, middle, lower class
36
Globalization
The process of intensified global interconnectedness and movement of goods, information, and people is a major force of contemporary cultural change.
37
Localization
Transformation of global cultures by local cultures into something new.
38
Culture
Culture is always changing and adapting, it is not the same as nature, it is based on symbols, it is learned, it is integrated, culture interact and change. Culture is a learned and shared behaviour of ideas of a particular group. All human beings belong to a culture and a numerous number of subcultures.
39
Working class
Trade labour for wages
40
Landowning class
Own land, they or others labour the land
41
Race
Homogenous biological traits
42
Ethnicity
Sense of group affiliation based on a distinct heritage or worldview as a people
43
Indigenous people
Group that has a long standing connection with their home territory, numeral minority who have lost their right to their original territory
44
Gender
Males, females or blended as a third gender
45
Age
Cultural stages for appropriate behaviour and thinking must be re-learnt
46
Institutions
Have their own cultural characteristics (hospitals, schools, universities, prisons)
47
Ethnography
First-hand, detailed description of a living culture, based on personal observation. Provides rich, culturally specific insights
48
Ethnology
Comparative study of a particular topic in more than one culture using ethnographical material. Cross-cultural analysis
49
Ethnocentrism
Judging other cultures by the standards of one's own culture rather than by the standards of that particular culture
50
Cultural relativism
Each culture must be understood in terms of values and beliefs of that culture and should not be judged by standards of other cultures.
51
Absolute cultural relativism
Whatever happens in a particular culture must not be questioned or changed by outsiders because there is no right to question any behaviour or idea anywhere
52
Critical cultural relativism
Poses questions about cultural practices, ideas, who accepts them and why. Critique, recognizes oppressors, winners, victims
53
Cultural imperialism
One dominant group claims supremacy over minority culture and changes the situation to its own interests
54
Critique
Probe underlying power interests
55
Criticism
Offer negative comments
56
Valuing diversity
Contribute to the preservation of cultural diversity and knowledge by describing cultures as they existed, exist and change
57
Cultural survival
Hels indigenous people and ethnic minorities to interact as equals in society.
58
Contemporary theoretical approaches
Interpretive, symbolic, political ecology and economy, post-modernism
59
Biological determinism
Why people do and think what they do by considering biological factors like genes and hormones. They also search for genes/hormones that can lead to certain for of behaviour
60
Cultural constructionism
Human behaviours and ideas are best explained as products or culturally shaped learning. Skills are passed culturally through learning not genes. Important roles of childhood experiences and family role more important than genes and hormones
61
Interpretive anthropology
How people use symbols to make sense of the world around them and what those symbols mean. Privilege what people are saying
62
Cultural materialism
Emphasize studying of material conditions. Importance of material conditions in studying and explaining human behaviours and ideas.
63
Structure
Social organization, kinship, political organization
64
Superstructure
Ideas, values, beliefs
65
Infrastructure
Crucial material factors that largely shape culture, seek explanations for behaviour and ideas by looking primarily at infrastructural factors
66
Individual agency
Choose how to behave and think
67
Structural
Free choice is an illusion since choices are structured by larger forces
68
Individual agency vs Structural
How much individual will, agency has to do with why people behave the way they do vs the power of forces and structures by larger forces
69
Materialist anthropology
Patterned repetitive ways of thinking, feeling and acting of a certain society
70
absolute cultural relativism
perspective that says a person from culture should not question rightfulness and wrongfulness of behaviour or ideas in other cultures because that would be ethnocentric
71
adaptation
process in which plants, animals, humans make adjustments to their environments enhancing their survival and reproduction; human cultural adaptations include technology, language and social organizations
72
critical cultural relativism
perspective that promotes people in all countries to raise questions about their own and others cultural practices and ideas, especially regarding who accepts them and why, who's harming or helping
73
structural theory
theoretical positions which argues free choice is an illusion, all human behaviour is constrained by economy, social and political structures and ideologies

Cultural Anthropology (8 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions