Chapter 8: Culture

Question 1

Ethnographic research

Answer 1

the process of studying culture

Question 2

Ethnography

Answer 2

the visual or written product of research about a culture

Question 3

Emic*

Answer 3

cultural insiders view

Question 4

Etic*

Answer 4

outside observers view

Question 5

3 parts of culture

Answer 5

cognition, behaviour, artifacts

Question 6

Cognition

Answer 6

what we think- values we learn, symbols we understand

Question 7

Behaviour

Answer 7

what we do- actions and interactions with others. How someone eats, works, plays

Question 8

Artifacts

Answer 8

what we have- material products of society, pottery, clothing, buildings and roads

Question 9

4 Characteristics of culture

Answer 9

Culture is learned, Culture is based on symbols, Culture is holistic (altering one aspect will alter another), Culture is shared

Question 10

Identity markers / Cultural identity

Answer 10

ethnicity, socioeconomic status, religious beliefs, age, gender, interest

Question 11

Homogenous

Answer 11

the same

Question 12

Heterogenous

Answer 12

different

Question 13

Cultures can be…

Answer 13

concentrated or diasporic

Question 14

Eugenics

Answer 14

a pseudoscientific plan to “purify” the human race

Question 15

Ethnocentrism*

Answer 15

the notion that our own customs are normal and other customs are strange, weird or disgusting

Question 16

Cultural relativism*

Answer 16

all cultures are equally valid

Question 17

Biological adaptations

Answer 17

allow an organism to better survive in its present conditions or to live successfully and reproduce in a variety of habitats

Question 18

Cultural adaptations

Answer 18

include all the ways that humans use cultural knowledge to better adapt and succeed in their surroundings

Question 19

Maladaptive

Answer 19

any behaviour that leads to a decrease in well being of the member of a culture or of the culture itself

Question 20

2 types of enculturation in child rearing

Answer 20

Independence training and Dependance training

Question 21

Dependance training

Answer 21

supports the family unit over the individual,
teaches importance of family compliance, sense of self is strongly linked to the group

Question 22

Independence training

Answer 22

foster a child’s self-reliance, Individuals can shape their own destiny, Taught to be competitive and successful in life, Sense of self is strongly linked to the individual

Question 23

Participant observation

Answer 23

process in which a researcher lives with people and observes their regular activities, often for a year or more

Question 24

Informants

Answer 24

members of the community in the field study, they are chosen by: random sample, snowball sample, judgement sample

Question 25

Key informants

Answer 25

when the fieldworker develops close ties with certain informants, crucial contributors

Question 26

Applied anthropologists*

Answer 26

work to find solutions for problems in the real world, rather than focussing on research

Question 27

Participatory action research

Answer 27

research that prioritizes the needs and concerns of the people who desire it

Question 28

Enculturation*

Answer 28

the process by which a child learns his or her culture

Question 29

What are Morgan’s stages of the evolution of societies and what are his flaws*

Answer 29

Unilinear theory of cultural evolution:
Savagery -> Barbarism -> Civilization

Flaws: ethnocentric & racist, assumes universal linear path & goals, misunderstands evolution

Question 30

What did Franz Boas believe and what were his key concepts

Answer 30

a person wears a set of “cultural glasses” through which we interpret the world around us

key concepts: cultural relativism & historical particularism

Question 31

historical particularism

Answer 31

every culture is a product of its own unique history

Question 32

human culture is … (6)

Answer 32

learned, holistic, patterned, symbolic, shared, adaptive

Question 33

human capacity for culture depends on what 5 things

Answer 33

transmission, memory, reiteration, innovation, selection

Question 34

transmission

Answer 34

ability to copy a behaviour by observing or learning

Question 35

memory

Answer 35

ability to remember behaviours

Question 36

reiteration

Answer 36

ability to imitate or reproduce behaviours

Question 37

innovation

Answer 37

ability to develop new behaviours

Question 38

selection

Answer 38

ability to know which behaviours to keep or discard

Question 39

holism*

Answer 39

integrating all that is known about human beings and their activities at the highest and most inclusive level

Question 40

ethnology

Answer 40

the study of the characteristics of various people and the differences and relationships between them