Midterm 2 (Race to Economy and Exchange) Flashcards
The Constitutional Act of 1982
Anti-discrimination: every individual has the right to equal protection and benefit without discrimination
Social stratification
Unequal access to advantages: economic resources, power, and prestige, NOT natural because we used to be egalitarian
Egalitarian society
everyone has equal access to economic resources, power, and prestige
Rank society
Some social groups have greater access to prestige
Class/caste society
Unequal access to economic resources, power, and prestige
Racism
belief that some racial groups are inferior, combines with social stratification when ethnic diversity is associated with differences in physical features
Race defined in biology
A subgroup within a species - not applicable to humans (no subspecies within modern homo sapiens) and arbitrary
Which are subsets of genetic variation in the African population?
Genetic variations in European and Asian populations, though each group has a significant level of uniqueness
4 major groups or racial categories based on geographic area (Linnaeus)
All Europeans are white, Africans are black, Native Americans are red, and Asians are yellow
Where did “caucasian” come from (Blumenbach)?
Light-skinned people (Europeans) are “Caucasian” from the skull of a woman in the Caucasus mountains that reflects nature’s ideal form while dark-skinned Africans are “Ethiopian”
Hierarchy of races according to Blumenbach
Caucasians are the original, ideal, god-intended race while others have degenerated into inferior races and moved away from their place of origin
Franz Boas
Against scientific racism, racial hierarchies, and introduced the ideology of cultural relativism
Hypodescent or One-drop rule in the US and Canada
A person with any drop of “black blood” will be considered black but a small amount of white ancestry did not make them white
Reverse of the one-drop rule in Latin America
A small amount of European blood makes a person white, wealthier individuals are considered whiter (race is fluid)
Miscegenation
interbreeding of people considered to belong in different races
What does skin color indicate?
Not a person’s race, culture, or susceptibility to disease but offers insights into one’s geographic ancestry, an adaptive trait linked to the strength of the sun’s ultraviolet rays
How genetically similar and different are humans?
Humans share ~99.9% of genetic code with each other while genetic variation mostly occurs within groups
Where is human DNA and specific alleles traced back to?
African population that existed over 10,000 years ago
Genetic variations found Africans vs. Asians and Europeans
Nearly all genetic variations found in Asians and Europeans are also found in Africans, who also possess novel variants
What do genetic changes indicate?
Geographic ancestry: each is a marker for a person’s ancestors who lived where the changes occurred
Sickle cell trait
Offers resistance to malaria, prevalent in places where malaria is common e.g. those of African, Middle Eastern, Indian, Mediterranean
Health consequences of racism as a stressor
Mental distress and increased cardiovascular response
Racialization
genetic variation explains racial variation
Spirometer
medical device that naturalizes racial differences and correct for race e.g. African Americans are assumed to have smaller lung capacity
Are gender and sexuality natural (biologically determined)?
No, instead they are deeply embedded in and shaped by culture
Are gender (male and female) and sexuality (heterosexuality and homosexuality) universal?
No, they are culturally and historically specific inventions i.e. have different cross-culturally despite having biological components
Feminist anthropology
focused attention on cross-cultural variability and historical changes in the meaning of gender to show that it is culturally constructed
Margaret Mead
Questioned biological determinism and examined masculine and feminine among 3 groups in New Guinea: The Arapesh, Mundugamore, Tchambuli
Arapesh
Both men and women are expected to behave in Westerners consider naturally feminine e.g. taking care of children
Mundugamor
Both men and women fit Western notion of masculinity e.g. aggressive, has little interest in children
Tchambuli
traditional Western notions of femininity and masculinity are reversed
Two-spirit people (Ruth Benedict)
Individuals who do not comfortably conform to the gender roles and ideology normally associated with their biologic sex
Non-binary system of Zuni people of New Mexico
Individuals can choose an alternative role of “not men” or “not women” e.g. a man may show an early preference for woman-identified activities and even marry a man
The Igbo of Nigeria
men and women can fill male gender roles, daughters can fill sons’ roles and women can be husbands, without being considered masculine
Nandi of Kenya
the “female husband” is considered to be a man and adopts many aspects of the male gender roles
Hijra of India
biologically male but adopt female gestures, clothing, names, eschew sex, undergo religious rituals that give them divine powers, may undergo surgical removal of genitals
Intersex
individuals with ambiguous genitals, 5% of human births, may be placed in one of two binary categories or in a third category
Inis Beag (Island in Ireland) vs. Mangaia (South Pacific)
Limited knowledge of sexual behavior; Educated early about sexual relations
Gender roles
cultural expectations of gender of a particular society
Private/public dichotomy
gender system in which women are identified with the home and children and men take over public, prestigious, economic, and political roles
Marriage
a culturally sanctioned union between two or more people that establishes certain rights and obligations between the people, them and their children, them and their in-laws
Incest taboo
prohibits sexual relations between specified individuals, usually parent and child and sibling relations (varies across cultures)
Parallel cousin
child of a father’s brother or mother’s sister
Cross cousin
child of a father’s sister or a mother’s brother
Endogamy
marriage within a particular group or category of individuals
Exogamy
marriage outside the group
Arranged marriage
taking the decision-making power from the people united by the marriage
Optative marriage
the mate is selected independently from the kin
Has love always been the reason for marriage?
Not always been based on sexual attraction or romantic love, rather the economic benefits of creating a family and enabling the inheritance of property
Monogamy
both partners have only one spouse
Serial monogamy
where divorce rates are high and people who’ve been divorced remarry, one marries a series of partners in succession
Polygamy
one having multiple spouses at the same time
Polygyny
marriage of a man to two or more women at the same time
Polyandry
marriage of a women to two or more men at the same time
Group marriage or co-marriage
several men and women have sexual access to one another e.g. Inupiat of Northern Alaska
Fictive marriage
marriage by proxy to the symbols of someone not physically present to establish the social status of a spouse and heirs e.g. ghost marriage of Nuer cattle herders in South Sudan
Temporary marriage
fixed-term or short-term marriage in Shi’a Islam where the duration and compensation are both agreed upon in advance
Bridewealth or bride-price
money or valuable goods paid by the groom or his family to the bride’s family upon marriage
Bride’s service
a designated period of time when the groom works for the bride’s family
Dowry
payment of a sum of money at the time of the bride’s marriage, either to her or her husband
Spiritual dower (dos religiosa)
nuns bring a sum of money or property to a Roman Catholic religious order upon entering a spiritual marriage
Divorce among Gusii farmers in Kenya
sterility (unable to produce a biological child) and impotence
Chenchu farmers in central India
couples are urged to adjust their differences after their children are born so virtually no divorce
The Hopi
a dissatisfied husband would take his belongings elsewhere and a disgruntled wife merely set her husband’s possessions outside her door
Family
two or more people related by blood, marriage, or adoption
Nuclear family
1 or 2 parents and dependent offspring, may include stepparent, step siblings, and adopted children
Extended family
2 or more closely related nuclear families clustered together in a large domestic group
Family of orientation
family into which a person is born and early socialization takes place
Family of procreation
family within which humans recreate themselves, formed through marriage and by having or adopting children
Kinship
a network of relatives within which individuals have certain mutual rights and obligations
Descent group
any kin-ordered social group with a membership in the direct line of descent from a real (historical) or fictional common ancestor
Matrilineal descent (unilateral)
descent exclusively traced through the female line to establish group membership
Patrilineal descent (unilateral)
descent traced exclusively through the male line to establish group membership
Ego in kinship notation
the identity of the reporting subject
Alphabetical notation of kinship
(F)ather, (M)other, (B)rother, (Z)ister, (S)on, (D)aughter, (W)ife, (H)usband
Kinship terminology
any system of organizing people who are relatives into different kinds of groups influences how relatives are labeled, vary across cultures; there are 6 major systems
Subsistence (or adaptive) strategy
the way a society transforms environmental resources into food, produce resources that they value
Foraging or hunting and gathering
food-gathering strategy that doesn’t involve food production or domestication of animals, or any conscious efforts to alter the environment
Pedestrian foraging
diversified hunting and gathering on foot
Aquatic foraging
hunting fish and marine mammals usually from boats
Equestrian foraging
hunting large animals from horseback
Pastoralism
food-getting strategy that depends on the care of domesticated herd animals, shouldn’t be confused with ranching (commercial animal husbandry)
Transhumant pastoralism
herd animals are moved regularly throughout the year to different areas as pasture becomes available
Nomadic pastoralism
the whole social group and their animals move in search of pasture
Horticulture
production of plants using simple, non-mechanized technologies; fields aren’t used continuously, produces lower yield per acre and uses human power
Agriculture
form of food production in which fields are in permanent cultivation using plows, animals, and techniques of soil and water control, supports larger populations
Industrialism
replacement of humans and animals by machines in the process of production
Reciprocity
mutual give and take among people of (usually) equal status
Generalized reciprocity
giving goods with no immediate or specific return expected, among close kin, common in foraging bands
Balanced reciprocity
giving and receiving of goods of nearly equal value with a clear obligation of a return gift within a specified time limit, among non-industrialized people
Negative reciprocity
the purpose is material advantage, to get more out of the exchange than the other, the unsociable extreme
Redistribution
exchange in which goods are collected then distributed to members of a group, requires a social center e.g. bigmen (self-made leaders) in horticulture societies
Market exchange
an economic system in which goods and services are bought and sold at a money price determined by the forces of supply and demand
Capitalism
most dominant economic system in the past 3 centuries in which people work for wages; land and capital goods are privately owned; and capital is invested for profit
Principles of capitalism
(1) constant consumption expansion (2) material standards of living must always go up
Capitalist compared to non-capitalist societies
goods are produced as a means to create wealth, not to be consumed or traded
Productive resources
material goods, natural resources, or information used to create other goods or information
Capital
productive resources that are used with the primary goal of increasing their owner’s financial wealth
Cultural capital
collection of symbolic elements such as taste, posture, clothing, mannerisms, material belongings, credentials, etc. that one acquires through being part of a particular social class
Embodied cultural capital
cannot be given immediately to someone else e.g. bodily capital, linguistic capital, good taste
Objectified cultural capital
physical objects that are owned, provide their owner’s with prestige
Institutionalized cultural capital
consists of institutional recognition e.g. academic credentials
Social capital
resources based on group membership, relationships, networks of influence and support
