Art, Music and Folklore/Political Life

Question 1

What is art?

Answer 1

human actions and productions that have aesthetic value and meaning (e.g., symbolic, expressive, emotional) beyond simple mechanical function

Question 2

What are some examples of body adornment?

Answer 2

tattoos, jewelry, makeup, clothing, etc.

Question 3

What meanings can tattoos have?

Answer 3

serve for decoration, signify status, indicate clan/lineage membership, and mark ritual transitions

Question 4

Relationship between visual arts and social stratification

Answer 4

a study by John L. Fischer hypothesized that the degree of social stratification in a society would be associated with formal properties (complexity, space utilization, symmetry/repetition of design elements) of art

Question 5

Space utilization

Answer 5

Low social stratification is associated with high levels of open space utilization, and high social stratification is associated with low levels of open space utilization, and vice versa.

Question 6

Symmetry

Answer 6

Low social stratification is associated with high symmetry, high social stratification is associated with low symmetry

Question 7

Complexity

Answer 7

Low social stratification is associated with high levels of simple complexity, high social stratification is associated with low levels of simple complexity

Question 8

Music and social stratification

Answer 8

Music is shaped by societal organization. Stratified-wordiness and enunciation, polyphony, lead singer with backup. Egalitarian-nonwords, repetition, interlock style

Question 9

Bourdieu and his argument

Answer 9

Bourdieu argued that there is a need to differentiate ourselves, especially among the elite. Our “tastes” can distinguish social classes/groups. Elite aesthetic is not easily accessed, and thus serves as a marker of “upper” status-justification/naturalization

Question 10

Folklore

Answer 10

stories, myths, legends, folktales, riddles, ballads, proverbs, and/or superstitions more or less specific to a cultural group or area. There are two types: traditional and urban legends

Question 11

Cross-cultural elements of folklore

Answer 11

catastrophe (esp. floods), monsters, incest, sibling rivalry, castration, hero’s journey

Question 12

Kurt Vonnegut and his story arcs

Answer 12

man in hole, Cinderella, etc.

Question 13

Politics

Answer 13

mechanisms (e.g., institutions, roles, beliefs) that establish social order and deal with minimizing and controlling social disorder, often through accumulation or use of power

Question 14

Power

Answer 14

the ability to shape, influence, and/or direct the thoughts and actions of others

Question 15

Bands

Answer 15

a fairly small, usually nomadic group local group that is politically autonomous (independent). No higher level of integration exists above the group of closely related people with face-to-face relationships

Question 16

Examples of a band

Answer 16

Australian Aborgines, !Kung

Question 17

Tribes

Answer 17

a culturally homogeneous, non-stratified society possessing a common territory, without centralized political or legal institutions, whose members are linked by extended kinship ties, ritual obligations, and mutual responsibility for the resolution of disputes

Question 18

Examples of tribes

Answer 18

Yanomamo, Tiv

Question 19

Chiefdoms

Answer 19

intermediary in organizational scale and complexity between egalitarian social organizations and bureaucratic, stratified states. Chiefdoms have a political system involving organized inequality of rank, based upon distinctions of kinship and descent

Question 20

Examples of chiefdoms

Answer 20

Trobrianders, Samoans

Question 21

States

Answer 21

a society characterized by autonomous political institutions, sovereign control of territory, centralized appropriation of surplus, and support of authority through legitimate force

Question 22

Examples of states

Answer 22

Inca, Aztec, Roman Empire, the U.S. and most countries today

Question 23

State organization

Answer 23

when a society is composed of one or more political units that are states it has state organization

Question 24

Fragile state

Answer 24

states are formed by encapsulating smaller (or competing) social formations in efforts to homogenize the encapsulated identities rarely succeed entirely

Question 25

Ascribed status

Answer 25

social status a person is assigned at birth or assumed involuntarily later in life

Question 26

Achieved status

Answer 26

social position a person takes on voluntarily that reflects both personal responsibility and merit