Anthropology Test 3 Review

Question 1

Know the anthropological definition of family. What are the different types of family?

Answer 1

Family: group of 2 or more people related by birth, marriage, or adoption
-types: single parent, nuclear, extended

Question 2

What is a descent system? Know the three ways to define descent. In addition, make sure you can understand and can describe the three different types of descent groups.

Answer 2

System: rules for assigning social identity based on how a specific culture defines ancestry
-3 ways to define: Unilineal (1 line of descent, mother or father), bilateral (traced equally through males and females), ambilineal (descent through common ancestor, chose which side)

Question 3

Understand the different ways different culture calculate kinship. Make sure you are aware of the anthropological ways to distinguish between genealogical kin types and kin terms. In particular, make sure you can identify the difference between parallel cousins and cross cousins.

Question 4

What are the four kinship terminology categorization systems? How do they correlate with descent principles and economic adaptive strategies?

Answer 4

1. Lineal (what our culture uses): bilateral, (M), (F), (MB & FB), (MZ & FZ)
2. Bifurcate Merging Terminology: unilineal, separates M relatives from F; (M&MZ), (F&FB), (MB), (FZ)
3. Generational Term.: ambilineal, diff. b/w generations and sex; M=MZ=FZ and F=FB=MB
4. Bifurcate Collateral Terminology: distinguishes b/w mother or fathers side, generation AND sex

Question 5

Know what lineal, collateral, and affinal relatives are.

Answer 5

Lineal: *parental generation has four terms
mother, father, aunt (MZ, FZ), uncle (FB, MB)
*distinguishes relatives in a direct line (lineal) from all other relatives (collateral & affinal).

Collateral: relatives outside the direct line

Affinal: relatives by marriage

Question 6

Also, be able to explain why different kinds of societies using these four terminology systems may bifurcate, merge, or neither.

Answer 6

Linguistic terms and categories shape cultural understandings of social interactions. Each system gives the social context to define a relationship and becomes interconnected with other parts of culture.

Question 7

What is race? What is constructed race?

Answer 7

Race is a cultural construction of categories impacting behaviors, it is not a scientific biological categorical system and does not explain biological differences. There are clinal differences that overlap between groups and there is greater biological variation within races that between. Different cultures categorize race differently, which creates constructed races. For example, in Japan, race is viewed as homogenous. You are either Japanese or you are not.

Question 8

Make sure you understand the impact of colonialism on global culture. What is a world system and what does it mean in terms of understanding modern global interactions and globalization?

Answer 8

Colonialism is political, social, economic, and cultural domination by an external power for an extended period of time. The structure of countries that were under colonial rule reflect the country that dominated them, and their culture is strongly influenced by the rule that controlled their lives for so long. Often, the impact was negative, implementing policies and rules that did not correspond with the colony’s original culture. Now, many countries reflect aspects of western, industrialized culture. A world system is composed of inter society connections based on economic exchange, development, and political dominance, and asserts that everyone in the world in connected in some way. The world system explains global interactions in how countries are connected. The world system has three components: the core (developed) semi periphery (in between), and periphery (developing). The world system is a result of globalization, the systematic economic, social, and cultural interaction and sharing between cultures of the world. Industrialization and the world system stress the existence of globally shared culture with many economic and social benefits and successes. Colonialization is a prime example of globalization.

Question 9

How do anthropologists understand what economics and economic behavior is? Make sure you know what an adaptive strategies and the five different adaptive strategies discussed in class.

Answer 9

Economic behavior is the pattern of subsistence in a culture. Otherwise defined as doing what is necessary to sustain human life: how they are producing things and how they are supporting themselves. Economic behaviors can be defined in terms of adaptive strategies, which are a societies main system of economic production.
1. foraging: hunter gatherers, tend to live in marginal areas such as tropical zones, mobile and rely on natural resources, social groups are small and can be called band societies, groups of about 100 that are kinship based, egalitarian social systems, older=more prestige, Sans and Inuit
2. horticulture: subsistence farmers, simple non- intensive farming with few tools, little work with lots of production, fields are not permanent, cut down parts of rainforest, let vegetation dry, burn it to turn it back into soil, larger than bands, ranked societies, social structure is kinship based, Maya and Bari
3. pastoralism: subsistence herders, managing domesticated grazing herd animals, nomadic to semi-nomadic, pastoral nomadism and transhumance (nomadic and sedentary), permanent communities that follow herds, smaller ranked communities that are kinship based, Basseri and Saami
4. agriculture: intensive farming, complex farming and tools, more capital, labor, and input to support larger populations, use fertilizer, water terracing, mechanized, ranked and state level stratified social systems, intensified environments able to support larger populations
5. industrialism/globalization: industrial production, selling of labor, factory production, interdependence, economically interdependent

Question 10

Think about what an economy is. What is a mode of production? When we talked about modes of production, what were the two modes of production that we talked about and describe them? How does this distinction impact the different means of production?

Answer 10

An economy is a system of resource production, distribution, and consumption. A mode of production is a specific set of social relations that organizes labor, and it balances demands, supply, and needs. In an industrial mode of production, labor is organized by selling it. People are disconnected from the means of production, meaning someone else owns the means of production, we sell our labor for an amount of money but we don’t own the means of production (land, labor, and technology). In a nonindustrial mode of production, production is based on the kinship group you’re a part of, as well as how old you are and your gender. You own the means of production yourself and supply your own labor without getting money for it. The technology used is your own. Mode of production is based on age and gender and the means are owned by kinship groups. An example of a nonindustrial society is the Betsileo of Madagascar.

Question 11

When you think about the differences of motivation between Industrial and Nonindustrial societies, how do we describe them?

Answer 11

In industrial societies, the motivation primarily comes from maximizing (desire and need for individual profit) and economizing (trying to spend less and reduce one’s expenses while producing as much as possible), due to unlimited wants with limited resources. In nonindustrial societies, the motivation varies based on particular social and cultural understandings. Examples include subsistence funds (need to work to feed ourselves), replacement funds (need to collect some things to replace old tools), social funds (everybody is part of a social group and have responsibilities), ceremonial funds (people understand that certain parts of the year require some type of religious and ritual celebration they need to provide for), and rent funds (need to give a portion of production to someone who is more powerful than us).

Question 12

Make sure you know the 3 patterns of economic exchange (as well as the three different types of reciprocity). It won’t hurt you do know about the Northwest Coast

Answer 12

1. market principle: exchange of goods and services based on a standardized value, dominant in global change
2. redistribution: centrally redistributed goods throughout a community, particularly times when a community needs them, ranked societies, tribes and chiefdoms, flow from local level to central government and back out
3. reciprocity: the exchange of goods and services, giving back, returning the favor, repaying debt
   generalized: people exchange items and goods, but it is unequal, they actually desire that the goods are unequal, Christmas presents, gift giving typically between people who are close to each other or small societies
   b. balanced: equal exchange of goods and services, negotiate so they can both agree that there has been an equal exchange
   c. negative: unequal, there is no negotiation and both people who the exchange is unequal, but they aren’t happy about it, they know they’re getting “hosed”, happens when people aren’t close, stealing
   Potlatching is a practice among tribes of the North Pacific Coast of North America where tribes would host other tribes in their community for lavish feasts and give away food and wealth items such as blankets and copper in exchange for prestige. The prestige increased with the lavishness of the potlatch. This is a form of generalized reciprocity because it was understood that the exchange was unequal, but this inequivalence was favorable. When one tribe was having a particularly successful year, they would celebrate by giving away large portions of their wealth, assuming that they would be invited to potlatches of other tribes when they were having a poor year in terms of subsistence. They were willing to give away wealth in hopes that they would be given good and wealth items when they needed it.

Question 13

Think about how all of these economic ideas and principles coexist at same time and when in action reflect social and cultural relationships.

Answer 13

These co-existing economic sytems include adaptive strategies, modes of production, and exchange principles. The types of economic systems employed reflect the social structure and the development and values of the society. Few direct social connections can be explained by the market principle, which is exchange not between close people and has to do with unfair trade. Close social connections can be explained by generalized reciprocity, kinship connections. The closer you are to someone the less likely you are to engage in something like the market principle, but the more developed and the larger a society, the more impersonal the interactions have to be to support the entire society.

Question 14

What is a political system as we would define it in anthropology in terms of function for a culture and society?

Answer 14

A political system describes how communities manage and serve social needs, how power is used to influence choices and behavior, and a formal system of social control.

Question 15

What are the four major categories or types of political systems? Make sure you can describe them and give some ethnographic examples

Answer 15

1. band: small kin-based group, foraging adaptive strategies, egalitarian, Inuit (egalitarian foragers, conflict resolution system lacked formal political codes
2. Segmentary society (tribe): large kin-based, horticulture/pastoralism, somewhat egalitarian, no ranking, some people are of higher ranked, but they achieved it rather than inheriting it, Kapauku (Indonesia, egalitarian horticulturalists, community management structure, big man society, status achieved by accumulating wealth and having large celebrations to give it all away, political leaders, prestige is based on generosity)
3. ranked societies (chiefdoms): centralized polity, horticulturalists/agriculturalists, redistribution economy, power is centralized in a single political leader that has the job of collecting surplus for redistribution and they keep some for themselves, Polynesian chiefdoms (agriculturalists, conflict resolution system, status based on kinship, chief is power centered, inherit position from ancestors, know ancestors back 10 generations, mage society, reducing conflict, have other chiefs below the head chief like the talking chief)
4. states: centralized political system, sometimes it has an individual ruler or a group of rulers that have overall control, socially stratified based on prestige, status, and power, sometimes inherited, industrialized economy, make laws and use force to enforce the laws, behavior becomes codified through writing, example: parking ticket, our society

Question 16

What do we mean when we see political process and how is this connected to ideas about social control? What are the differences between formal and informal political processes of social control?

Answer 16

Political behavior is defined by social control, which is how systems of power maintain social interactions. This is done through the organization of socio-political structures (formal) and the regulation of behavior through cultural norms and social institutions (informal). Social control is maintaining social norms and regulating conflict. Examples include men’s houses where all the men live in the Kapauku society and political parties shaped by political behavior in the US. Formal processes of social control are defined by having written laws and regulations as well as set punishments for violating these laws. Our culture exhibits formal social control. Informal social control is defined by social pressure (gossip, peer pressure, accusations, etc.) and hegemony (the belief that people are born with ranks, inequalities, social classes, etc.). Examples include Gonzales’s friend in Belize who was accused of being a witch, so he normalized his behavior (social pressure), and how there are casts in India that determine your job and who you marry, as well as segregation in the US (hegemony).

Question 17

What is hegemony and how does it shape people’s behaviors and choices?

Answer 17

Hegemony is when cultural constructs of inequality become natural and ranks and differences become neutralized. It states that inequalities are things we are born with and this is now the world works. This determines the tasks and activities you do for the rest of your life and who you marry. It determines who you interact with, your role in society, and the power and rank that you have.

Question 18

How do we see resistance expressed in reaction to formal or informal process of social control?

Answer 18

Resistance can be seen in the form of a public or hidden transcript. Public transcripts include open resistance, stating “we don’t like this, we want change”. This is the type of resistance in our culture, but it is not an option in every culture due to political repercussions. With a hidden transcript, these are hidden ways to resist the power structure. An example is the Malay agriculturalists. They have to pay a 10% tax for the Islamic rule based on rice yield, but they are mot Muslim, and if they don’t pay the Islamic government will take their land. So, the underreport their rice yield and bag sand and grit with rice to avoid taxes. They only pay 5-10% of what they are supposed to pay. Another example is the Brazilian slave dances that are actually martial arts training that they use in revolts.

Question 19

What does the idea of race mean when you compare different cultures?

Answer 19

The definition of race can change between cultures and each culture has their own way of categorizing races. In Japan, they view race as homogenous, and you are either Japanese or not, there is no mix. They do not think of themselves having a race, race is only given to people that are different from them and judgements are made based on where they were born and raised. In contrast, Brazil categorizes races heterogenous as they have over 40 races. Race can be manipulated and changed based on physical traits and appearances, for example getting a sunburn or tan can change your racial category.

Question 20

What is ethnicity and how is it different from race?

Answer 20

Ethnicity is yourself identification with an ethnic group that you put yourself into. Individual and group identity is based on cultural descent, biological descent, and known origins. Not all countries think of ethnicity, and in the US, we tend to associate ethnicity with minorities. Ethnicity is malleable as individuals can shift the culture that they identify with, specifically for those with mixed racial backgrounds. New ethnic identities can be formed by multicultural interactions, acculturation, and formation of entirely new ethnic groups. You don’t get to choose your race, it is determined by physical traits determined by your culture and it cannot change. Ethnicity is more based on self-identification and can change.

Question 21

How do we think about ethnic interactions in terms ethnic conflict and coexistence?

Answer 21

Ethnicity is a cultural category that shapes interactions within and between societies. It exists on cultural, subcultural, national, and international levels. Ethnic interactions lead to conflict in the following ways. Prejudice exists by devaluing and stereotyping people based on their race and ethnicity. Discrimination exists when there are policies and practices that harm those of a specific race/ethnicity. Cultural biases are rooted in learned ethnic status differentiation with underlying hegemony structures and the breakdown of multicultural structures. Increased conflict leads to ethnocide and genocide as well as forced assimilation

Question 22

When we think about the anthropological idea of cultural categories, focal vocabularies, and hegemony, how do we apply these in order to explain how a culture like the U.S. thinks about race and ethnicity. Specifically how does the language of Race shape the way people act and think and what does it mean?

Answer 22

The US was founded by primarily white settlers, who asserted their dominance on other races. This led to the origins of derogatory focal vocabularies to describe Mexicans, African Americans, and Native Americans. The US political system has been dominated by white men, and many policies have been put into place that discriminate against other races and ethnicities such as travel bans for specific races such as Asians and Middle Easterns and slavery and segregation of African Americans. This devaluation of specific races has led to prejudice and derogatory focal vocabularies that are still used today that often assert white people as the dominant race. This hegemony has been present in the US for a long time and still exists today with many people still employing racism

Question 23

a. What is gender? Think about the definition, biological factors, and how culture adds meaning

Answer 23

Gender is a cultural construction of sexual differences, shared ideas about categories, male to female, and based on both biology and culture. Biological factors include reproduction abilities, sexual dimorphism, and sex and intersex traits. Culture adds meaning through gender roles (tasks and activities), gender stratification (unequal distribution of power and reward), and gender types (male, female, others; gender is a spectrum).

Question 24

What are the different ways that cultures think about, identify, and understand different kinds of gender identities.

Answer 24

Gender varies cross-culturally and through time. It is not biologically fixed. Male and female genders are universally dominant, but cultural variation exists regarding multiple gender types.

Question 25

. What is the connection between gender and sexual orientation. How do these vary culturally?

Answer 25

Sexual orientation is a person’s habitual sexual attractions and activities. It is not equal to gender and varies cross culturally.

Question 26

Cross culturally how are gender roles impacted by subsistence labor and the domestic-public dichotomy?

Answer 26

Cross-culturally, the subsistence contributions of men and women are roughly equal. But in domestic activities and child care, female labor clearly predominates. Domestic activities are dominated by women, while public activities are restricted to men. Women ultimately work more hours than men, cross-culturally.

Question 27

How are the type of gender status for women impacted by the adaptive strategy of a society, their labor roles, and the descent system that they have?

Answer 27

The general pattern across most cultures is that domestic activities are dominated by women and public activities are restricted to men. Direct correlation exists between gender status and three factors: descent principle, economic subsistence role, and domestics and public role access.
1. Foragers: bilateral descent pattern, specific gender roles, men are hunters, women are gatherers (sexual dimorphism), this is the closest we get to not having a gender hierarchy, Inuit pattern (bilateral descent, men’s hunting makes up a larger portion of traditional diet, women’s subsistence role is much smaller, large gender hierarchy), Agta pattern (Philippines, overlap of activities, there is no difference between who deals with domestic or public roles, no set roles).
2. Horticulturalists: unilateral descent pattern. Matrifocal societies have women involved in subsistence and production, wealth gets passed down from mother to daughter, former Iroquois (women in charge of domestic activities and subsistence, men had public roles, women could tell men no because they controlled the food, less stratification), Ebo (men tended to travel for trade and war and labor jobs, women stayed home with the families and have economic power, stratification is reduced due to economic power). Patrifocal societies have wealth going from father to son and a lot greater stratification, subsistence roles mean less, domestic violence ensues, women do the labor without the credit, Yanomami (women do most of the farming, but it is not valued work)
3. Pastoralists: mostly patrifocal, domestic activities are usually female, women don’t have much of a role in subsistence, women are gatherers, Saami (northern Europe, in the modern day both men and women are equal in subsistence roles, reduction in gender stratification, not typical for pastoralists)
4. Agriculturalists: patrifocal, male side is more important, men do most of the subsistence, Betseleo (Madagascar, bilateral descent, reduced gender stratification, both men and women are involved in production, specific tasks for men and women but are equal, gendered activities for public and domestic roles, but not defined by gender dichotomy)
5. Industrialized: variable and changing, shifted over time, men and women aren’t equal, gender hierarchy in domestic and public role access, a lot less women in political representation, early 1800s had the same gender stratification as today in regard to subsistence NOT public roles, unemployment hits women harder

Question 28

a. How do we define what marriage is? Be able to discuss the different traits that describe the connection of marriage and culture many different cultures.

Answer 28

Marriage is a culturally approved and marked relationship. Membership, type, purpose, and function varies widely. Marriage traits that describe the connection of marriage and culture in many different cultures include (1) marriage implies certain sexual access (2) marriage connects two descent groups (3) marriage in primarily about descent and connection (4) marriage is about wealth exchange between unilineal groups. In the Nuer ghost marriages, the oldest son inherits the descent groups and if he dies before getting married, a girl will be married to the dead son and all the kids and wealth will belong to the dead son. Another son usually steps in to provide the biological necessity to create children, but they will not belong to him. A bride wealth is a payment made to the bride’s family to buy the alliance and continuance of the lineage, is contingent on the production of children. A dowry is a payment made by the bride’s family with the intention for the wealth to go to the bride once they are married but often times the groom’s family keeps it. If the dowry is not large enough the wife will be abused.

Question 29

What are the different types of marriage depending on who is married? Why do plural marriages exist? Think about why it is acceptable in a culture and why someone would be a part of a plural marriage.

Answer 29

Monogamy: one spouse, exists in every society, usually one male and one female
Polygamy: marriage of three or more individuals, multiple wives or husbands
Polygyny: one husband and multiple wives
Polyandry: one wife and multiple husbands
Fraternal polyandry: multiple brothers marrying the same wife
Plural marriages exist for political reasons (Marina culture, king has one wife in each province), to equalize the sex ratio (men die in war, Asani culture, men get married a lot later than women, leads to widows remarrying to already married men), and economic cooperation (more labor in shared unit, number of wives is a marker of status)

Question 30

. How do marriage define who you can and cannot marry? How is this connected to incest taboos and kinship principles?

Answer 30

There is a cultural universal prohibition against sexual and/or marital relations with a close relative. This varies due to who is considered a relative in each culture. In the patrilineal Manawami culture, cross cousins are not seen as siblings or cousins and are perceived as the preferred marriage partner. In the patrilineal Lackair culture women can divorce their husbands but lose their kids, and if they remarry their new kids aren’t related to their old kids and it isn’t uncommon for them to marry.

Question 31

Why do incest taboos exist as universal cultural beliefs?

Answer 31

ncest taboos are a cultural prohibition of sexual relations. They are universal because defining who is related differs in each culture and each defines their incest taboo differently. Incest taboos are not due to instinctive biological responses or cause biological degradation but do promote the theory of marry out or die out and promote wider social networks. Exogamy is marriage outside of a defined social or kin group. Endogamy is marriage inside a defined social or kin group.

Question 32

What is the connection of divorce patterns with descent principles and gender status?

Answer 32

Divorce is not common in patrilineal groups as there is high gender stratification with low female status, the children will stay with the father, and the woman has to repay the bride wealth. It is more common in matrilineal societies as there is lower gender stratification and higher status for women, where the children belong to the mother. In the US there is shifting gender ideas and economic conditions. Divorce rates go up when women are in the work force and the economy is good

Question 33

What is religion and how do we understand what is in anthropology

Answer 33

Religion is a shared set of ideas about supernatural and spiritual reality. It is associated with religious behaviors in everyday life. It gives context for daily experiences, controls the uncontrollable, and maintains social order.

Question 34

What are the different ways that we see how religious behaviors and beliefs are expressed?

Answer 34

Animism: beliefs in souls/spirits, connection between the physical world and supernatural worlds, Native Americans have a strong sense of spirits, everything has a spirit for them
Totemism: belief that they descend from or are connected by a mythical being or force, Uga is a totem for UGA
Rituals: stylized, repetitive, shared, social practice set off from the routine of every day life
Mana: belief in supernatural impersonal force, impact on daily activities, rooted in people, some people have more mana in them than others, biological, inherited trait for some cultures
Magic: supernatural techniques intended for specific aims
Mana and magic together control the uncontrollable, what we call luck

Question 35

. Make sure you understand what a ritual is and the three different types of ritual.

Answer 35

A ritual is a stylized, repetative, shared, social practice that is different from the routine of everyday life.
Liturgical orders: occur in the same order and time, you know when they are going to happen and what is going to happen, the result isn’t always the same but the process is, not every day, Church, football games
Rites of intensification: they aren’t predictable, we don’t know when they’re going to happen, repetitive, funerals, Armenian rain ritual during a drought
Rites of passage: mark important life cycle events, have three stages (1) separation: taken out society and status (2) liminal: position in society is unclear, changing position (3) reincorporation: back to society with a different status; all cultures have these, marriage, pregnancy/birth

Question 36

Understand what we mean when we see magic as an expression of religious beliefs

Answer 36

Imitative magic - Attempt in controlling another person. Ex. Voodoo
Contagious magic - Objects and parts are used to impact other people. Ex. Illness, healing, punishment
Practical magic - Spells, trying to control things that are otherwise hard to control. Controlling the Uncontrollable. Ex. Faith healingImitative magic - Attempt in controlling another person. Ex. Voodoo
Contagious magic - Objects and parts are used to impact other people. Ex. Illness, healing, punishment
Practical magic - Spells, trying to control things that are otherwise hard to control. Controlling the Uncontrollable. Ex. Faith healing

Question 37

What are the functions of religion for a culture? What is the cultural ecological explanation and make sure you can provide an example. What is the social control explanation and what is the different between informal and formal behavior influence?

Answer 37

What are the functions of religion for a culture? What is the cultural ecological explanation and make sure you can provide an example. What is the social control explanation and what is the different between informal and formal behavior influence?

Question 38

What is art? Make sure you can explain the interconnection and overlap of art and culture.

Answer 38

Art is an object or event that evokes an aesthetic reaction. Art is defined by aesthetic quality, location, and purpose. It is culturally defined, meaning the culture in which something is created determines if it is art and the quality of it. Art expresses culture.