Chapter 2: Culture

Question 1

Culture

Answer 1

system of knowledge, beliefs, patterns of behavior, artifacts, and institutions that are created, learned, shared, and contested by a group of people

Question 2

Enculturation

Answer 2

process of learning culture

Question 3

What are some examples of conscious enculturation?

Answer 3

Learning culture in schools, doctor visits, etc.

Question 4

What are some examples of unconscious enculturation?

Answer 4

Learning culture from family, the internet, etc.

Question 5

What four things do anthropologists look at to understand culture?

Answer 5

Norms
Values
Symbols
Mental Maps

Question 6

Norms

Answer 6

ideas or rules about how people should behave in particular situations or towards others

Question 7

Exogamy

Answer 7

marrying outside of one’s social group

Question 8

Endogamy

Answer 8

marrying within one’s social group

Question 9

Values

Answer 9

fundamental beliefs about what is important, what makes a good life, and what is true/right

Question 10

Symbols

Answer 10

something that stands for something else; has historical process

Question 11

Mental Maps of Reality

Answer 11

“maps” that humans construct of what kinds of people and things exist

Question 12

Unilineal Cultural Evolution

Answer 12

idea that all cultures would evolve through the same sequence of stages

Question 13

Why did the idea of unilineal cultural evolution develop?

Answer 13

Idea developed to combat prevalent racist belief that many non-Europeans were of a different species

Question 14

Why is the idea of unilineal cultural evolution criticized?

Answer 14

Places various cultural expressions in a hierarchy with European culture as the ideal

Question 15

Historical Particularism

Answer 15

ideas that cultures develop in specific ways because of their unique histories

Question 16

Who developed the idea of historical particularism?

Answer 16

Franz Boaz

Question 17

Structural Functionalism

Answer 17

conceptual framework suggesting each element of society serves a particular function to keep the entire system at equilibrium

Question 18

Intepretivist Approach

Answer 18

idea that sees culture as a symbolic system of deep meaning

Question 19

Thick Description

Answer 19

combining elevated description of cultural activity and an analysis of deep cultural meaning in which those activities are co-embedded

Question 20

Who developed the idea of thick description?

Answer 20

Clifford Geertz

Question 21

Power

Answer 21

ability to bring about change through action or influence, either one’s own or that of a group or institution

Question 22

Stratification

Answer 22

uneven distribution of resources and privileges

Question 23

Hegemony

Answer 23

ability of a dominant group to create consent and agreement within a population without the use of force

Question 24

Agency

Answer 24

potential power of individuals and groups to contest cultural norms, values, symbols, mental maps of reality, and structures of power

Question 25

Epigenetics

Answer 25

area of study exploring how genetics/gene expression is influenced by environmental factors between generations

Question 26

Consumerism Culture

Answer 26

norms, values, beliefs, practices, and institutions that have become normal and cultivate the desire to acquire goods to enhance one’s life

Question 27

Cosmopolitanism

Answer 27

outlook combining universality and difference