Ch. 2 - The Concept of Culture Flashcards
Everything that people have, think, and do as members of society
Culture
A community of people who share the same culture
Society
What is important to people, and that which they act to acquire or maintain
Values
Learned, positive or negative evaluations of an element of culture
Attitudes
Ideas about what is true
Beliefs
Ideas about what is appropriate and what is inappropriate behavior
Norms
List the 6 Cultural Universals
- Education
- Religion
- Language
- Biological needs
- Social organization
- Economic system
How is American culture often described?
A “melting pot” culture; meaning everything eventually assimilates into the same thing
General cultural traits found in all societies of the world
Cultural Universals
The process by which humans learn their culture
Enculturation
The spreading of a cultural trait from one society to another
Cultural Diffusion
Cultural diffusion is both __________ and _________
Selective and Reciprocal
To have many meanings or symbols
Polysemic
Societies composed of a number of different cultural or subcultural groups
Pluralistic Societies
A change brought about by the recombination of already existing items within a culture
Innovation
A new combination of existing cultural features
Invention
What are the 4 ways that cultural anthropologists describe “primitive” cultures?
- Preliterate
- Small-scale
- Egalitarian
- Technologically simple
Who came up with the first anthropological definition of culture?
Edward Burnett Tylor
A process whereby a people are forcibly assimilated by a dominant culture
Cultural Hegemony
A process whereby a people lose their identity as a distinct culture through disposing of their lands and cultural hegemony
Cultural Genocide
The implication that culture is the major way human populations adapt or relate to their specific habitat in order to survive and reproduce
Adaptive Nature of Culture
Changes in one part of a culture brought about by changes in other parts of the culture
Linked Changes
Something tangible, such as a material object or behavior, that represents something intangible, such as value, attitude, belief, or an organization
Symbol
An organized pattern of behavior that help organize our daily lives
Schema
What was the name of Edward Burnett Tylor’s 1871 book?
“Primitive Culture”
