Exam 1 Flashcards
Anthropological Subfields
physical/bio anthropology
archaeology
linguistics
cultural anthropology
society
group of people who share a common habitat or territory, interact on a regular basis, mutually dependent upon each other in some way
ethnography
systematic description of a culture based on first hand experience
cultural relativism
no culture is inherently superior or inferior to any other
anthropology
the academic discipline that studies all of humanity
applied anthropology
uses all four major subfields to help solve real world problems
archaeology
investigates the human past through excavation and analysis of material remains
prehistoric and historic
biological anthropology
studies the biological dimensions of humans and other primates
primatology
study evolution, anatomy, adaptation, and social behavior of primates
Jane Goodall- tool making in chimps
human variation
study how/why human populations vary physically due to heredity, genetic factors
paleoanthropology
investigates biological evolution of the human species
cultural anthropology
study of contemporary and historically recent human societies and cultures
anthropological linguistics
focuses on interrelationships between language and other aspects of culture
globalization
process by which peoples of the world’s nations participate in a single system that encompasses all people and nations
holistic perspective
no single aspect of human culture can be understood unless it’s relationships to other aspects of the culture are explored.
Comparative Perspective
Insistence that valid hypotheses & theories about humanity be tested with info from a wide range of cultures
Cultural Realism
One shouldn’t judge the behavior of other peoples using the standards of ones own culture
Ethnocentrism
Belief that the moral standards, manners, attitudes of one culture are superior to those of other cultures
E.B. Tylor
One of the founders of cultural anthropology
Wrote - “Primitive Culture”
Ex: religion to explain the unexplainable
Cultural Knowledge
Attitudes, beliefs, conceptions, rules, values, standards, perceptions, and other info learned while growing up
Patterns of Behavior
Behavior most people perform within a culture when they are in certain culturally defined situations
Cultural Integration
Interrelationships among the various components of a cultural system
Culture
Socially learned knowledge and patterns of behavior shared by some group of people
Cultural Identity
Individuals define themselves partly by the cultural group in which they were born and raised
Subculture
Cultural variations that exist within a single nation
Enculturation
Transmission of cultural knowledge to the next generation
Role
Rights and duties that individuals receive because of their identity or membership in a social group
Material Culture
Artifacts or other physical, visible manifestations of culture
Norms
Shared ideals about how certain people ought to act in given situations
Values
Shared ideas about the worthwhileness of goals and lifestyles
Symbols
Objects, behaviors, sound combinations, and other phenomena whose culturally defined meanings have no necessary relationship to their inherent physical qualities
Classifications of Reality
Ways in which the members of a culture divide up the natural and social world into categories
Worldview
Way people interpret reality and events, including how they see themselves related to the world around them
Philip Lieberman
Investigated the origins of language
Cultural Determinism
Notion that the beliefs and behaviors of individuals are largely programmed by their culture
Biological Determinism
Idea that biologically inherited differences between populations are important influences on cultural differences between them
Cultural Universals
Elements of culture that exist in all known human groups and societies
Diachronic
through time
Synchronic
without time (present)
Early Examples of Anthropological Thinking
Herodotus: recorder of customs and beliefs
Ibn-Khaldun: scientific study of society
Enlightenment Examples of Anthropological Thinking
Thomas Hobbes-we are naturally warlike, native americans are window to human nature
John Locke-we are naturally peaceful/reasonable
Jean-Jacques Rousseau-things are getting worse over time
Immanual Kant-things are getting better over time
Anthropological Theory
A system of assumptions, accepted principles, rules of procedure devised to analyze, predict, or explain social phenomena/behavior
Criminal Behavior Theories
Born criminals, psychological, sociologial
Cultural Evolution
Gradual, structural change in human culture
savagery-barbarism-civilization
Lewis H. Morgan
Studied Iriquox Indians
Unilineal Evolution
Morgan Theory of Evolution
Lower Savagery-wild fruit and nut subsistence
Middle Savagery-fish subsistence and fire technology
Upper Savagery-bow and arrow technology
Lower Barbarism-pottery
Middle Barbarism-domestication of animals, cultivation of maize
Upper Barbarism-iron technology
Civilization-phonetic alphabet and writing
Psychic Unity of Mankind
Human minds have the same capability of evolve
Karl Marx
Communist manifesto
Historical Materialism
Economics explains course of history
Substructure (economics) shapes super structure (religion, politics, etc)
19th Century Cultural Assumptions
- Evolution is unilinear
- Psychic Unity and Independent Invention
- Progress of Reason
- Cultures at the same stage today are like cultures at the same stage in the past
- Ideas about cultural evolution were combined with ideas about racial hierarchy
Franz Boas
Father of American anthropology
Challenged notions of cultural evolution as well as racial hierarchy
Studied Bella Coola
Summary of Boas’ Influences on Anthropology
- Argued for the detailed historical investigation of specific cultures
- Critic of the idea of “primitive mentality”
- Argued against explanations based on race
- Laid the foundation for modern concept/definition of culture
Army Alpha Test
Intelligence test developed by Robert Yerkes
Functionalism
Society is a system of interrelated parts that work together
Bronislaw K. Malinowski
3 types of needs: Primary (food, shelter); Secondary (animal needs filtered through human needs); Integrative (myths, beliefs, values)
Emphasized needs of individuals
Trobriand Islanders, New Guinea
A.R. Radcliffe-Brown
How cultural practices function to maintain society’s equilibrium, holding society together
Focused on needs of societies
Joking/Avoidance relationships
Charles Darwin
Established possibility that humans evolved from apes
Historical Particularism
Each culture is the unique product of all the influences to which it was subjected in its past
Configurationalism
Each culture historically develops its own unique thematic patterns around which beliefs, values, and behaviors are oriented
Neoevolutionism
Rebirth of evolutionary approaches to the theoretical study of culture
Scientific Approaches
Human cultural differences/similarities can be explained in the same sense as biologists explain life and its evolution
Evolutionary Psychology
Emphasis that humans are animals and so are subject to similar evolutionary forces as other animals
Edward O. Wilson
Humanistic Approach
Rejects attempts to explain culture in general in favor of achieving an empathetic understanding of particular cultures
Interpretive Anthropologistics
Analyze cultural elements by explicating their meanings to people and understanding them in their local context
Clifford Geertz
Postmodernists
Methods and assumptions of all science are themselves culturally situated and culturally bound
Ethnographic Fieldwork
Collection of info from living people about their way of life
Ethnohistoric Research
Study of past cultures using written accounts and other documents
Recall Ethnography
Attempt to reconstruct a cultural system at an earlier period by interviewing older individuals who lived during that period
Participant Observation
Main technique used in conducting ethnographic fieldwork, involving living among a people and participating in their daily activities
Ethnohistory
Study of past cultural systems through the use of written records
Cross-Cultural Comparisons
Methodology for testing a hypothesis using a sample of societies drawn from around the world
Controlled Comparisons
Comparative use of historically documented changes in particular groups of societies over time to define general cultural patterns and to test hypothses
