Chapter 2 - The Culture Concept

Question 1

Armchair Anthropology

Answer 1

An early and discredited method of anthropological research that did not involve direct contact with the people studied.

Question 2

Cultural Determinism

Answer 2

The idea that behavioral differences are a result of cultural, not racial or genetic causes.

Question 3

Cultural Evolutionism

Answer 3

A discredited theory popular in nineteenth century anthropology suggesting that societies evolved through stages from simple to advanced.

Question 4

Cultural Relativism

Answer 4

The idea that we should seek to understand another person’s beliefs and behaviors from the perspective of their own culture and not our own.

Question 5

Culture

Answer 5

A set of beliefs, practices, and symbols that are learned and shared. Together, they form an all-encompassing, integrated whole that binds people together and shapes their worldview and lifeways.

Question 6

Enculturation

Answer 6

The process of learning the characteristics and expectations of a culture or group.

Question 7

Ethnocentrism

Answer 7

The tendency to view one’s own culture as most important and correct and as the stick by which to measure all other cultures.

Question 8

Functionalism

Answer 8

An approach to anthropology developed in British anthropology that emphasized the way that parts of a society work together to support the functioning of the whole.

Question 9

Going Native

Answer 9

Becoming fully integrated into a cultural group through acts such as taking a leadership position, assuming key roles in society, entering into marriage, or other behaviors that incorporate an anthropologist into the society he or she is studying.

Question 10

Holism

Answer 10

Taking a broad view of the historical, environmental, and cultural foundations of behavior.

Question 11

Kinship

Answer 11

Blood ties, common ancestry, and social relationships that form families within human groups.

Question 12

Participant Observation

Answer 12

A type of observation in which the anthropologist observes while participating in the same activities in which her informants are engaged.

Question 13

Structural-Functionalism

Answer 13

An approach to anthropology that focuses on the ways in which the customs or social institutions in a culture contribute to the organization of society and the maintenance of social order.