Final (Health and Illness to Language) Flashcards
Holism in anthropology
(1) studies all dimensions of humanity throughout history (2) established, institutional disciplinary boundaries should not constrain our ability to understand society as a whole with interconnected parts e.g. cultural, social, medical, historical, religious, economic, linguistic, etc.
Deviance (abnormality)
an attribute that sets the individual part from the majority of the population, who are assumed to be normal; often accompanied by social stigma due to overt or external deformations, leading to social isolation and shame
Structure
patterned social arrangements that constrain us, but we need them
Agency
people’s ability to act independently from structures
Structural adjustments
policies implemented by the IMF and the World Bank in developing countries to reduce inflation and fiscal imbalance at the expense of reduction in social spending which results in worsening poor people’s condition
World bank as a global apartheid
it represents over 180 countries but is run by a small number of powerful economies (the core)
Structural violence
subtle, often invisible, systematic ways in which social structures harm or otherwise disadvantage individuals and usually has no one specific person who can (or will) be held responsible
Capitalist world economy
a single system committed to production with the object of maximizing profits rather than supplying domestic needs
Capital
wealth and resources invested in business with intent to make a profit
Modernization theory
ALL societies naturally pass through certain stages of development driven by population growth and technological advancement. Western developed countries help developing countries.
World systems theory (a response to modernization theory)
Social systems, based on wealth and power, operate outside their own nation or state. Unlike European countries, others have a history of colonization and have to compete with highly developed countries. These countries become stuck in a state of underdevelopment.
What does WST criticize?
specialization on the goods in which a country has a comparative advantage leads to gains from trade for i.e. a win/win situation where everyone becomes more efficient and wealthy
Three positions of economic and political power
(1) core or the geographic center (2) semiperiphery (3) periphery
Core
dominant position in the world system, complexity of economic activities are the highest, sophisticated technologies and mechanized production
Semiperiphery
industrialized, exports industrial goods but lacks the power of core nations
Periphery
least privileged and powerful countries, less mechanized but with some degree of industrialization
Dependency
The vulnerable state of being exploited by core countries; Poor (peripheral) countries depend on rich (core) countries to get technology, machinery, manufactured goods, etc. to develop their economies and are forced to pay high prices yet they sell their raw materials and agricultural products very cheaply
Special Housing Unit Syndrome
effects of solitary confinement on prisoners e.g. distortions of time and perception
Life cycle
our lifetime is broken up into phases, which are infancy, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, adulthood, middle aged, and old, that are usually punctuated with rituals
Rituals
Must be performed and set apart from everyday life by setting a stage; Consists of a sequence of symbolic activities; Sometimes connected to a myth; Accomplished the work of society and replicates the social system
Two types of rituals
Calendrical and Rites of passage
Calendrical rituals
occur each year and may connect participants to the sacred myth of creation
Rites of passage
marks transitional events such as birth, marriage, and death; marks an individual’s crossing over from one social status to another (Van Gennep), wherein the types of status are ascribed and achieved
Three phases of a rite of passage
separation, marginality, admission
Separation
ritual removal of the individual from everyday society
Marginality (liminal status)
a period of isolation when the individual is in-between two social identities, considered to be a precarious situation
Admission (incorporation)
formal return of the individual and readmission back into society in their new social status
Theory of the sign (de Saussure)
language is a process of signification that establishes a link between names (signifier) and ideas (signified), wherein the relation between the two is arbitrary; meaning emerges in relation to all other signs as language is a closed system with no relation to the external/actual world
Edward Sapir’s theory of language
different societies live in distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels; the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation
Benjamin Whorf’s theory of language
language use affects habitual behavior and people act on the basis of linguistic cues
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
differences in the way languages encode cultural and cognitive categories affect the way people think so speakers of different languages tend to think and behave differently; language is not a mere reflection of the world and means for connecting things and words
Metaphors we live by
everyday language is filled with conceptual metaphors we may not always notice, which then shape not just our communication, but also the way we think and act
Language and other social categories
Gender (feminist linguistics) and race
Collective effervescence (Émile Durkheimm)
an ecstatic state of shared excitement generated by collective performance of a ritual that results in alignment of emotional states, producing a sense of belonging and assimilation in all participants who feel and act as one
