Whats culture? Flashcards
(40 cards)
Humans:
share behavioural and biological characteristics (exhibit tremendous variation).
Anthropology:
Search for what it means to be human, and a documentation of human life and possibility.
2 approaches:
Holistic, and Comparative
Holistic:
taking all aspects of human life into consideration
Comparative:
using comparison to learn what humans have in (common, different, and what changes).
Main branches of Anthro
- Socio-cultural
- Linguistic
- Archeological
- Physical/Biological
Culture:
A set of beliefs/practices/symbols that are learned/shared and form an encompassing community that binds people together.
Culture is . . .
Things we take for granted such as . . .
- rules
- moralities
- Behaviours that feel natural
Nacirema
- American spelt backwards
- Shows an ethnocentric bias towards other cultures (not our own).
Human:
Share behavioural and biological characteristics. But, exhibit tremendous variation.
Anthro:
search for what it means to be human, through documentation of human life and possibility.
2 approaches:
Holistic, and Comparative.
Holistic:
Taking all aspects of life into consideration.
Comparative:
Using comparison to learn what humans have in common, different, and what changes.
4 main branches of anthro
- Socio-Cultural
- Linguistic
- Archeological
- Physical/Biological
Culture:
A set of beliefs/practices/symbols which are shared within a community, and bind people together.
Culture is . . .
Things we take for granted in every day life . . .
- rules
- moralities
- behaviours that we feel are natural
Nacirema
- American spelt backwards
- Shows an ethnocentric bias in which we view other cultures.
How do people judge the beliefs and behaviours of others?
Ethnocentrism, and Cultural Relativism
Ethnocentrism:
Tendency to judge (beliefs)/behaviours of other cultures from the perspective of your own culture.
Cultural relativism:
Attempt to understand the beliefs and behaviours of other cultures in terms (of cultural contexts found).
T or F: is the anthro perspective of cultural relativism hard to maintain?
True
T or F: does cultural relativism force people to question what is normal?
True
When studying other cultures it is important to . . .
Develop empathy