General Anthropology Vocabulary Flashcards
Intersectionality
the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage. For example, a black woman in the US would face overlapping discrimination due to both racism and misogyny
Cultural capital
The knowledge and experience individuals acquired through socialization, which enables successful interaction in their social world.
Ethnocentric
An adjective describing the condition of viewing and judging (often in pejorative terms) other cultures and societies according to the (usually taken-for-granted) assumptions of one’s own society. By way of contrast, anthropology is concerned not only to highlight our assumptions but also to show that other cultures and societies are different to our own, but not any worse or better.
Ethnography
The recording and analysis of a culture or society, usually based on participant-observation and resulting in a written account of a people, place or institution.
Evolutionary
One meaning of this term refers to the now out-dated notion that societies are organised in terms of how far they have developed in terms of their social and cultural organisation. Some social evolutionists believed that all societies had to pass through certain stages over time as they moved from being simple to complex in their culture and organisation. In biological terms, however, it refers to the more current notion that human populations and other living creatures have genetically adapted to changing environments by descent through random mutation and processes of natural selection.
Ideology
Beliefs, attitudes and opinions that come together and link to form a world-view. In Marxist writings, ideology is related to economic organisation and usually entails the justification of social relations that benefit one social and economic class at the expense of others.
Narrative
Many understandings of narrative exist in anthropology. One that is relatively common is the idea that it relates to a description (fictional or supposedly fact) of people and events that help give such events particular meaning and order for the narrator and/or audience.
Participant-observation
The study of a culture or society usually carried out by living for an extended period of time with its members. The participant-observer takes part in everyday life and carefully records such things as behaviour, events and conversations, in order to obtain a fully-rounded picture of beliefs, social groupings and customs.
physically and emotionally participating in the social interaction of another society on a daily basis in order to learn about its culture. In practice this usually requires living within the community as a member, learning their language, establishing close friendship ties, eating what they eat, and taking part in normal family activities. By becoming an active participant rather than simply an observer, ethnographers reduce the cultural distance between themselves and the host society.
Pastoralism
A form of life where herding of animals such as sheep, goats or horses provides the major forms of subsistence, in particular food. To be contrasted with agriculture and hunting and gathering as a way of life.
Shamanism
A technique of communicating with supernatural beings or forces, usually carried out by ritual specialists. The technique may involve being possessed by spirits in a way that is controlled by the shaman.
Social change
Anthropologists attempt to to explain not just how societies are organised, but also how and why they change over time owing to such factors as new technology, influx of newcomers, internal revolution, etc.
acculturation
the process by which a culture is transformed due to the massive adoption of cultural traits from another society–it is what happens to a culture when alien traits diffuse in on a large scale and substantially replace traditional cultural patterns
achieved status
a status that is acquired by doing something. For instance, someone acquires a criminal status by committing a crime. Likewise, the status of mother is attained by having a baby. Contrast with ascribed status.
adaptive mechanism
a behavior, strategy, or technique for obtaining food and surviving in a particular environment. Successful adaptive mechanisms provide a selective advantage in the competition for survival with other life forms. For humans, the most important adaptive mechanism is culture.
Anomie
a feeling of alienation and isolation from all other people, including family and friends.
Animism
a belief that natural objects are animated by spirits. This belief can take diverse forms. Things in nature may all have within them different spirits–each rock, tree, and cloud may have its own unique spirit. In contrast, all things in nature may be thought of as having the same spirit. In both forms of animism, the spirits are thought of as having identifiable personalities and other characteristics such as gender.
arranged marriage
a marriage partner selection process in which the future bride and groom usually do not participate actively in the decision. Marriages are commonly arranged by parents or their agents when the marriages are seen as principally uniting two families rather than just husband and wife. There is also often the rationalization that teenagers and young adults are too inexperienced to make a wise mate selection. The tradition of arranged marriages has been dramatically undermined whenever romantic love becomes a popular notion in a society.
Ascribed status
a status that is the result of being born into a particular family or being born male or female. Being a prince by birth or being the first of four children in a family are ascribed statuses. Contrast with achieved status.
Assimilation
the absorption of an individual or minority group of people into another society or group. This is achieved by learning and adopting the cultural traditions of the society to which assimilation occurs. It is also often hastened by intermarriage and de-emphasizing cultural and or biological differences.
caste
an individual’s rigidly ascribed, or inherited, status within society. The most extensive caste system is in India where it is associated strongly with the Hindu religion. There are 4 major Indian castes originally based on vocation: the Brahmans (or Hindu priests), warriors, farmers, and shop keepers. The castes are all ranked relative to each other with the Brahmans being at the top. In addition, there are people in India who are outside of the caste system. These outcasts are at the bottom of society. One’s caste is extremely important in India. People are careful to marry within their own caste and to avoid physical contact with members of lower castes because of the danger of pollution.
clan
a group of people who claim unilineal descent from the same ancestor but who cannot specify all of the actual links. The ancestor is genealogically so remote that he or she is often thought of as a mythical being, animal, or plant. Clans usually consist of a number of related unilineages.
clan
a group of people who claim unilineal descent from the same ancestor but who cannot specify all of the actual links. The ancestor is genealogically so remote that he or she is often thought of as a mythical being, animal, or plant. Clans usually consist of a number of related unilineages.
cosanguinity
a socially recognized biological descent link, such as between a woman and her father, aunt, or daughter. Individuals who have a consanguinity relationship are “consanguines” click this icon to hear the preceding term pronounced to each other. Consanguinity literally means “with the blood”, reflecting the old incorrect assumption that biological inheritance is passed on through blood rather than DNA
core values
the fundamental values that provide the basis for social behavior in society. They are what people believe is desirable or offensive, appropriate or inappropriate, and correct or incorrect.
crime
a deviation from the social norm that is of such magnitude as to go beyond what would be considered bad manners or odd behavior. Societies respond to such exceptionally deviant actions by creating laws to curb and sometimes punish them. There is no universal agreement between the societies of the world about what constitutes criminal behavior or how it should be dealt with. Sufficient ethnographic data have been collected over the last century to show that societies with different kinds of economies have radically different sorts of laws and legal concerns.
cultural relativity
suspending one’s ethnocentric judgments in order to understand and appreciate another culture. Anthropologists try to learn about and interpret the various aspects of the culture they are studying in reference to that culture rather than to their own. This provides a better understanding of how such practices as polygamy and cannibalism can function and even support other cultural traditions.
culture death
the complete disappearance of a culture as a result of the total acculturation or the death of all of the people who shared it.
culture loss
the loss of cultural traits. As cultures change and acquire new traits, old no longer useful or popular ones inevitably disappear. An example of culture loss is the disappearance over time of certain words and phrases in a language. In some cases, the words continue to be used but acquire new, very different meanings. Culture loss is accelerated during periods of acculturation and transculturation.
developed nation
a nation or society that is relatively wealthy and usually industrialized. Most of the people in developed nations have adequate access to food, electricity, fossil fuels, education, and medicine with the consequence that their lives are materially more comfortable and their life spans are significantly longer than those in underdeveloped nations. The United States, Canada, most of Europe, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand are developed nations.
egalitarian
referring to societies in which all people are equal in terms of economic and political rights. Foraging bands are the most egalitarian societies. However, even in these societies, there are differences based on age and sometimes gender.
emic categories
referring to the categorization of things according to the way in which members of a society classify their own world. In other words, this is the way their culture and language divide up reality. Such emic categories generally differ from culture to culture and provide valuable insights into the perceptions and world view of other peoples. Discovering, recording, and analyzing emic categories is the task of ethnoscience. Contrast with etic categories
etic categories
referring to the classification of things according to some external system of analysis brought in by a visitor to another society. This is the approach of biology in using the Linnaean classification system to define new species. It assumes that ultimately, there is an objective reality and that is more important than cultural perceptions of it. Contrast with emic categories
ethnocentrism
the deep felt belief or feeling that your culture is superior to all others. Being fond of your own way of life and condescending or even hostile toward other cultures is normal for all people. Alien culture traits are often viewed as being not just different but less sensible and even “unnatural.” This results in the interpretation of other people in terms of one’s own cultural values and traditions. An example is people from monogamous societies condemning polygamy as being “unnatural” and immoral. Ethnocentrism is universal and normal but not necessarily morally defensible or desirable because it prevents understanding other cultures. It also interferes with meaningful intercultural communication
heterogeneous society
a society consisting of many different ethnic and/or “racial” groups, social classes, languages and/or dialects, and cultural traditions. The U.S. and Canada are heterogeneous societies. Contast with homogenous society.
