all Flashcards
(197 cards)
Cultural Anthropology:
Focuses on the study of cultural variations among humans and collects data through fieldwork and participant observation.
Archaeology
: Studies past human societies, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data they have left behind.
Biological/Physical Anthropology
Concentrates on the biological development of humans and human ancestors, as well as the study of human genetics, primates, and fossil records.
Linguistic Anthropology
language reflects and influences social life, including language development, usage, and cultural norm
What does it mean to be enculturated
Learning culture through social groups (e.g., ethnic groups, family); involves understanding norms, values, and what’s considered right or wrong.
Ethnocentrism
Viewing other cultures from one’s own cultural perspective. This approach is discouraged.
Culture is expressed and transmitted symbolically.
Symbols
Cultural Relativism:
Understanding a culture within its own context, which is challenging but preferred.
Human Rights and Society:
rights and wrongs within a society, influenced by cultural norms.
Power Structures in Culture
can be ideological, shaped by power structures.
Stratification
Division into superordinate (dominant) and subordinate (lower) groups.
Hegemony:
Government-sanctioned practices; non-compliance leads to legal consequences.
Often associated with dictatorships controlling society.
Human Agency
Present in all individuals, particularly in subordinate groups within hegemonic states.
Example: Individuals in hegemonic states using tactics like shame and gossip against leaders to resist and challenge the system.
Origin and Evolution
Developed over time, adapting new methods and theories.
Herbert Spencer
Unilineal Cultural Evolution
All societies pass through stages, from primitive state to complex civilization. Cultural differences are the result of different evolutionary stages.
Franz Boaz
Historical Particularism
individual societies’ unique traits.
Edward Sapir:
Contributions in linguistics.
Functionalism
Bronislaw Malinowski, key figure in British anthropology, developed participant observation.
Cultural Materialism
Focus on religious aspects
E.E. Evans-Pritchard:
Work in 1950s-1970s.
Cognitive Anthropology
Understanding cultural models through logical models.
Structuralism
Claude Levi Strauss
Analysis of cultures through binary oppositions.
Interpretive Anthropologist
Clifford Geertz, Victor Turner