Cultural Change & Anthropology - Lecture Flashcards
What is the duality of cultural change?
External and subjective process
When won’t cultural change occur?
if conditions are stable
According to Ralph Linton, what percent of each culture originated in cultures of others? What is this referred to as?
- 90%
- cultural borrowing
What is the general idea behind Linton’s theory of cultural borrowing?
Despite our idea that we live in a culture that is ours, we actually live in a composite of cultures.
What are the 4 mechanisms of cultural change?
- innovation
- diffusion (and ‘borrowing’)
- cultural loss
- forcible change and acculturation
What is the difference between primary and secondary innovation?
- Primary innovations are chance discoveries of new principles
- secondary innovations are improvements made by applying known principles
What an example of primary and secondary innovations with clay?
- firing clay makes it hard (discovery made 25 000 years ago)
- pottery is about 7000-6500 years od
When is innovation accepted?
There has to be an economic need and benefit seen (the invention the wheel, for example)
What is the QUERTY versus Dvorak keyboards an example of?
A prestige of the innovator and recipient groups with acceptance of innovation.
Describe QUERTY vs. Dvorak.
Dvorak keyboard was better …all had to do with placement of home row. Yet, the Dvorak keyboard failed to become mainstream stable, even though it was better. The innovation wasn’t accepted because the conditions were not what it needed In the case of these 2 keyboards, we already had an established base, our marketing is such, part of the industrial story, technology a part of production line, to remove habit was not possible (also possibly lack of funds to push into mainstream, and marketing might not have been done properly). WE tend to stick with what we know better. Certain innovations will find a place in the market, some will not until certain conditions will change.
What is diffusion?
The borrowing of cultural elements from one society by members of another. Oftentimes borrowed elements are seen as novel in the culture. Some ‘modern practices’ can be disadvantageous
What is the example of medicine and diffusion?
- ~200 borrowed from Indigenous cultures
- When European physicians (early encounters) with Indigenous cultures commented that Indigenous cultures had best pharmaceutical methods of their time
What are some examples of cultural loss (3)?
- foraging as a lifestyle
- traditional cultures (and open air museums)
- world languages
What is one of the only ways to preserve traditional cultures today?
in museums
What does cultural loss come down to? Explain.
- It comes down to linguistic development
- Languages of power causes other languages and cultures to disappear
- Goes hand in hand with extinction of entire group of people
How make Native American languages ares till spoken in the USA?
165
Fill in the following regarding Native American languages spoken in the USA:
- ___almost extinct (handful of elderly speakers) (__%)
- ___with fewer than 1000 speakers (__%)
- ___with 1000-10 000 speakers (__%)
- ___with 10 000 + speakers (__%)
- 74 almost extinct (handful of elderly speakers) (45%)
- 58 with fewer than 1000 speakers (35%)
- 25 with 1000 - 10 000 speakers (15%)
- 8 with 10 000 + speakers (5%)
What are 2 types of forcible change?
1) acculturation
2) genocide
What are 2 examples of acculturation (2 types)?
1) merger or fusion (American, Caribbean cultures)
2) extinction (Yanomami, Ju / ‘hoansi, Beothuk)
What is genocide?
Genocide can be either: (1) Extermination of one group of people by another openly directed at another ethnic group and/or (2) Socially engineered (against the social class and ethnic group).
What are the following examples of:
- Nazi German (against Jews and Roma)
- Rwanda (1994), Hutus exterminated up to 800 000 Tutsis
Genocide (extermination of one group of people by another openly directed at another ethnic group)
What are the following examples of:
- Holodomor or Soviet-made famine in Ukraine, 1933.
- Famine in China (1959-1961)
Genocide (socially engineered [against the social class and think group])
With Holodomor, how many million peasants died of starvation? What percent of those were children?
- 4-7 million
- 30% were children
How many died from the famine in China?
15-30 million died
Approximately how many Yanomami are alive today?
20 000
What is acculturation?
Contact between groups when cultural practices from dominant group will penetrate and become dominate of the other groups. Not a balanced process. Not to suggest there is no opposite diffusion, but this comes with some delay and is often discussed in the context of colonialism.
What are cargo cults?
- Religious reactions to European expansion
- Utopian view
- Conquering territories by European Empires
- This is a response to colonialism, a reaction
Where have cargo cults occurred?
Melanesia, other locations
What are the following examples of:
- Mormonism (19th century –)
- Branch Davidians (mid 19 century –)
- Apocalyptic Orthodox Sect in Penza (Russia)
movements aiming at ‘revitalizing’ the existing religion
What are movements aiming at ‘revitalizing’ the existing religion related to?
The increase of anxiety in a society.
- Movements directed at revitalizing belief systems. Models of explanations that help people deal with new changes in reality.
What is resistance (2 types)?
Resistance to global corporate development
1) local
2) global
what is an example of local resistance?
The Kayaop of Brazil
What is an example of global resistance?
Greenpeace movement, Global resistance to WTO, Occupy Wall Street
What is an example of resistance to assimilation?
Global Indigenous Movement
What happened with the Kayapo of Brazil?
Cultural groups have self-mobilized. Have become so effective immobilizing resources they had to fight off advances by government and developers that the had established the network, been successful, the Brazilian government had to recognize them. They were not always peaceful fights.
what is cultural (mis)appropriation?
Adoption of the lemmas of one culture by members of another culture in a colonial manner.
In what ways is cultural appropriation a colonial matter?
- One group more or less controls the resources, is more or less at the height of political establishment
- The other group is more or less marginalized
- History of poor relations between the two groups that feed into the changes
What is becoming ‘modern’ or becoming ‘like us’?
modernization
What are four sub-processes of modernization?
1) technological development
2) agricultural development
3) industrialization
4) urbanization
What are the two processes behind the saying “from many cultures to one cultural world”?
Globalization or Glocalization (local response to globalization)
In 1994, ___individuals directed___North American companies with combined assets of___trillion (10% of all US corporate assets).
- 10
- 37
- 37
What is the difference between political leaders and multinational corporations?
Unlike political leaders, most powerful directors are unknown to the masses.
What is apartheid?
Legalized, institutionalized, validated structural oppression of one group by another one. Recognized legally.
True or False: The affluent, largely minority possess a disproportionately large share of the world society’s political, economic, and military power.
True
8 billionaires own as much as___billion people own.
3.6
___of the poorest use only___of global economy.
- 75%
- 30%
the 8 billions own as much as the poorest___of the world.
50%
Define apartheid.
- a minority occupies the pole of affluence, while a majority occupies the pole of poverty
- economic inequality is often enforced locally through various regulations and bylaws
What is social integration of the two groups with apartheid made difficult by?
Social integration of the two groups is made extremely difficult by barriers of skin colour, economic position, political boundaries, and other factors.
