Lecture 12 Flashcards
Ethnocentrism
The tendency and bias to view ones own culture as superior and look down at others cultures
Classifying vs understanding human variation
1) Human variation is permanent, ancient and divinely ordained
2) Human variation is a product of natural cases
The Great Chain of Being
The idea that all living creatures occupy a position on a continuous scale.
Carolus Linnaeus
viewed humans as natural beings like other animals
Genus: Homo Species: Sapiens
Varieties: American, European, Asian, African
Johann Friedrich Blumenbach
- founder of anthropology
*referred to 5 racial categories: Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, American, and Malay - groups look different because of environmental factors, but come from the same ancestor
Scientific Racism
*Assumes races are natural categories
Polygenism
Doctrine that held that human races were separate biological species that were descended from different “Adams”
Monogenism
Doctrine that held that all human races were the result of a single origin as described in the scripture. Subsequent changes in traits were the result of different factors such as climates and modes of living
Typology
Popular approach in the late 1800 and early 1900
A method for reducing a spectrum of variation to a smaller set of categories. (Note: categories were made on idea that there are ideal types that are representative of a certain groups)
Bad idea because it’s impossible to identify the idea type and also ignores variation
Anthropometric
A trait used to distinguish racial groups:
* Anthropometrics: measurement of the human body, head, and face
Cranial Index
Maximum breadth of the skull/maximum length of the skull x (100)
- scientists thought size of skull and intelligence were proportionate
Another trait used to distinguish racial groups: Eugenics
*movement beginning in the late 1800s and sought to improve the human species and preserve racial purity through planned human breeding
Ex: some states passed laws to sterilize people with disabilities or mental illnesses, thinking it would improve society by “preventing” these traits in future generations.
Frank Boas (1858-1942)
*submitted a proposal to the US immigration Commission
* study demonstrated the phenotype plasticity in response to environmental changes
*considered the “father of anthropology)
Plasticity
The ability of an organism to modify its biology or behavior to respond to changes in the environment
Ex: people living at high altitudes may develop larger lung capacities over generations to better absorb oxygen, showing the body’s adaptability.
Is it impossible to delineate racial groups using anthropometric measures because…
(Aka) you can’t define racial groups by anthropometric measures because
1) They are influenced by the environment
2) They are independently inherited (principle of discordance)
3) they exhibit a clinal distribution pattern
Cline/Clinal Distribution
A plot or map of the changes in allele, genotype, or phenotype frequencies over a geographic area
A cline is a gradual change in a trait (like skin color or height) across different areas. Clinal distribution is how that trait changes smoothly as you move across places.
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
*Taught anthropology
*categorized humanity into groups based on skin color and hair texture and thought these correspond to other behavioral and physical traits.
*Argued that these categories were fixed and the aesthetics and other traits of whites were superior
Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis 1932
Goal of the study was to study the natural course of syphilis in African American men. 600 Men were told they were being treated for bad blood. Never received a diagnosis or treatment.
399 men had syphilis while 201 did not
Genetic Variation Within Your Own Race Vs Geographical Divisions
You’re often more genetically similar to someone from a different race than you are to someone within your own race. This is because the genetic differences between people of different races are actually quite small compared to the variety within each race.
Institutional Review Boards
Reviews all federally funded grants involving human subjects
Today IRBs review all human subjects research projects
