cultural anthropology Flashcards
culture explanation by Recall EB Tylor
“That complex whole which included knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”
more modern definitions of culture
- Richerson and Boyd 2005 - “information acquired from other members of their species through teaching, imitation, and other form of social transmission that’s capable of affecting individuals’ behavior”
- Mesoudi 2001 - “information that is acquired from other individuals via social transmission mechanisms such as imitation, teaching or language”
example of a cultural anthropology study
The American Soldier
- 600,000 soldiers studied
- Rural vs Urban men
- Men from rural backgrounds were better with coping at being at war and reintegrating into society afterwards – more acustom to hard labor
- City men did better under a military context – more acustom to a chain of command
- Both explanations sound valid
what’s the Fundamental Attribution Error
western cultural experiment
- Stable underlying disposition vs situational e.g. essay writing experiment
- American undergraduate students provided with essays about Cubas value – group 1 told the writers can choose which side of the argument they are on
group 2 was told the writer was told which side to be on – still believed the writers believed in what they were saying despite being told they were assigned a side of the argument
- Eastern people could come up with different results
what is Civic Duty measured by
Tendency to donate to charity
Do volunteer work
Vote in elections
Organize local pressure groups
Read newspaper
Civic Duty experiment
- Denmark, Norway, Sweden vs Italy, Spain
- US citizens that migrated from Denmark, Norway, Sweden showed higher civic duty levels compared to Italy and Spain – cultural values persist across generations
- 1930s: high civic predicts 1990s high socioeconomic BUT, 1930s: high socioeconomic does not predict 1990s civic
experiments showing individual learning (psychology) can’t explain human behavioral variation
- UK vs Australia – different fundamental environment (weather etc) – but similar cultural particularities (language etc)
- 36 African ethnic groups were coded by environment – code 109 customs – only 4 co-varied with environment:
-Small vs large extended family
-Demographic vs hereditary leadership
-Hereditary class structure vs control of scare resources
-Male circumcision in late childhood vs adolescence - Environment = not a good predictor of behaviour
experiment showing why genes (Biology / evolutionary psychology) probably can’t explain human behavioral variation
- kids learn 6-8 words a day – absorb cultural behaviors by being around it
- Kids vs chimps and orangutans – when measuring physical tasks they are undestinguishable - these abilities are likely rooted in shared evolutionary traits by genes
- but measuring cultural intelegence e.g. communicate to get a reward – kids outperform them
what is enculturation
The process of learning culture – not specific to humans e.g. birds learn certain songs
what is meant by shared but not contested
Individuals don’t have their own culture
what is meant by norms
Ideas about appropriate beaviour e.g. standing in elevator facing door – not written down, but some are
what are values
Fundamental beleifs – what you’re willing to die for
what are symbols
Stand for something else – money symbol for wealth
2 types of power
Material power – power with a fist
Hegemony – power the create something within a society e.g. popular movies
what Is agency
Go against hegemony power
