ANTH study set

Interpersonal inequalities

power imbalances that are rooted in personal biases and occur every day, reifying and naturalizing inequalities that exist at institutional and systemic levels.

Structural inequalities

power imbalances that exist at a level above personal interactions and institutions and are based on the accumulated effects of institutional decisions across society and history.

Institutional inequalities

power imbalances that stem from the policies and practices of organizations (education, government, companies, etc.) that perpetuate oppression.

Protolanguage

refers to a very simple set of gestures or utterances that may have preceded the development of human language.

Neocolonialism

refers to the indirect ways in which modern capitalist interests continue to put pressure on poor nations through economic, political, or military means in order to further exploit wealth for multinational corporations and their allies.

Functionalism

seeks to understand the purpose of the elements and aggregates of culture in the here and now.

ethnocentric or etic perspective

someone is judging a culture according to the standards of their own culture and belief system.

mirror neurons

special brain cells that seem to enable mimicry

language ideologies

specific ideas about language that are widespread in a culture, including how language is acquired, how it varies across social groups, how it changes over time, etc.

social mobility

the ability of an individual to move up into higher and thus more powerful classes merely by working hard.

Cultural capital

the competencies, skills, and qualifications that people acquire that create cultural authority

Capitalism

the economic mode of production based around markets, ownership of land and resources, and wage labor

Diffusion

the movement of an element of culture from one society to another, often through migration or trade.

social capital

the nonmonetary resources people use to gain social status, such as mutual acquaintances, shared cultural knowledge, or shared experiences.

Intersectionality

the observation that one's class, race, sexuality, age, and ability can all define and complicate experiences.

downward social mobility

the ongoing loss of capital and ensuing loss of social status.

code-switching

the practice of tacking back and forth between various linguistic styles depending on contexts and interlocutors.

language acquisition

the process of learning a language.

Repatriation

the process of restoring human remains and/or objects of religious or cultural importance to the peoples from whom they originated.

language revitalization

the process of reviving an endangered or dormant language using strategies such as immersion schools and master-apprentice programs.

racial capitalism

the process through which the key aspects of capitalism (credit/debit, production/surplus, capitalist/worker, developed/underdeveloped, etc.) become articulated through existing relations of racial inequalities.

Symbolic capital

the resources available to an individual because of honor, prestige, or recognition

Innovation

the slight alteration of an existing element of culture, such as a new style of dress or dance.

language socialization

the social contexts in which language is learned as well as the role of language in social learning.

Misogyny

the socialized prejudice against women and feminine characteristics.

structuralism

the study of culture as a system of symbolic categories embedded in the myths, religion, kinship, and other realms of a culture.

Indigenous anthropology

the study of one's own culture or society using anthropological methods. The term has come to mean any application of Indigenous knowledge, perspectives, and scholarship in anthropology.

ontology

the study of the nature of existence.

cultural evolutionism

the study of the origins of human cultural forms and how those forms have changed over long periods of time.

Inequity

the unequal distribution of resources due to an unjust power imbalance.

linguistic relativity

the way that language varies across cultures, reflecting different environmental, historical, and sociocultural conditions.

systemic oppression

the ways in which political, economic, and social inequalities are normalized and perpetuated.

biopolitics

the ways populations are divided and categorized as a means of control, often by the state.

armchair anthropology

theories about human societies and human behaviors were proposed solely based on secondhand information.

Which anthropologist was largely responsible for changing many of the misrepresentations of Indigenous people common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?

Franz Boas

material culture

Objects that are made and used by humans in group contexts

Ontological anthropology

explores how culture constructs our social and natural realities, what we consider real, and how we act on those assumptions.

provenance

place or source of origin

systemic inequalities

power imbalances created by the confluence of interpersonal, institutional, and structural inequalities.

performativity

the functional power of language to make things happen.

social stratification

the hierarchical organization of different groups of people, whether based on racial category, socioeconomic status, kinship, religion, birth order, or gender.

unilineal evolution

the idea that all cultures pass through a single set of developmental stages.

Invention

the independent creation of a new element of culture, such as a new technology, religion, or political form.

habitus

the ingrained habits and dispositions that are socialized into people from birth depending on their status in society,

systematic oppression

the intentional mistreatment of certain groups.

Sojourner syndrome

the interlocking ways in which race, class, gender, and resistance to oppression shape Black women's bodies and biology. Emphasizes that race, class, and gender are not necessarily multiplied to mean more oppression, but they change the ways people experience oppression.

rites of passage

used to mark the movement of a person from one social status to another.

Intergenerational wealth

wealth that is passed down through generations, accumulating interest over many years.

paradigms

worldviews that often define a scientific discipline during a specific time period.

technology

The specialized knowledge and skills used for making material culture

social structure

The way a society is formally organized

emic perspective

To observe a culture from the perspective of the people being researched

symbolic violence

When those with symbolic capital use their power against those with less power in order to change their actions

speech community

a community of speakers sharing a common grammar and vocabulary, as well as a set of understandings about how language is used in different situations.

cultural role

a conventionalized position held by a person or persons in a particular context or situation.

ethnology

a cross-cultural comparison of different groups.

structural functionalism

a form of analysis that describes how various aspects of culture fit together and contribute to the integrated whole of culture.

ideology

a model that depicts how a social realm operates or should operate. identifies the entities, roles, behaviors, relationships, and processes in a particular realm as well as the rationality behind the whole system.

incantation

a patterned set of phrases or sentences used to compel a magical result.

ritual

a special kind of repeated, patterned action conventionally associated with a particular meaning.

meritocracy

a system in which people succeed entirely through their own hard work

hierarchy

a type of social organization in which certain people or roles are given more power and prestige than others.

worldview

a very broad ideology that shapes how the members of a culture generally view the world and their place in it. tend to span several realms, including religion, economics, and politics.

Feminist anthropology

an approach to anthropology that seeks to transform research methods and findings by engaging with more diverse perspectives and using insights from feminist theory.

historical particularism

an approach to cultural change that describes the combination of internal and external factors that shapes the unique historical trajectory of each culture.

agency

capability to act and make decisions.

egalitarian

describes a society or other group in which diverse roles are all given the same decision-making power and accorded the same respect among the group.

vernacular

dialects that are not necessarily regional but associated with specific social categories such as groups based on ethnicity, age, or gender.

ideological state apparatuses

distinct and specialized institutions such as religious institutions, public and private education systems, legal systems, political parties, communication systems (radio, newspapers, television), family, and culture (literature, arts, and sports).

Which of the following items BEST describes culture?

dynamic and changing

Which term refers to the process of acquiring knowledge about the norms and values of one's own culture?

enculturation

participant observation

entails directly participating in the activities and events of a host culture and keeping records of observations about these activities.

Which subfield of anthropology examines how people in different cultures categorize and use plants for food, shelter, tools, transportation, art, and religion?

ethnobotany

Which term describes the mindset or belief that one's own cultural knowledge, traditions, and beliefs are better than that of another culture?

ethnocentrism

cultural ecology

how humans develop culture as an adaptation to various environments.

Repressive state apparatuses

institutions through which the ruling class enforces its control, including the government, administrators, the army, the police, courts, and prisons.

What type of anthropologist studies the origins of language, how language shapes thoughts, and the power of language in forming relationships and cultural worldviews?

linguistic anthropologist

intellectual property

material and nonmaterial products of an individual or group that are protected by national and international laws and cannot be used for profit by others without attribution or compensation.

ahistorical

not acknowledging the specific historical experiences of a group, and thus attempting to understand societies without taking into consideration their connections to other cultures.

Friction

occurs when two or more elements of culture come into conflict, resulting in alteration or replacement of those elements.

National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA)

passed to ensure that federal agencies would identify and take actions to protect and preserve the nation's historic sites and locations.

cultural frames

patterned, shared ways of interpreting situations.

cultural practices

routine or habitual forms of behavior.

folk taxonomies

systems of categories that people use to organize their knowledge of the world.

In the United States, repatriation is executed under

the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)

American Antiquities Act (1906).

the United States made it illegal for nonscientists to remove artifacts from archaeological sites on federal lands

Misogynoir

the intersection of the systems of sexism and racism experienced by Black women.

inequality

unequal distribution of resources.

oppression

unjust exercises of power that may be overt or covert and are often used to control or inflict harm on entire groups of people.

As a cultural anthropologist researching your own personal cultural backgrounds, how would you integrate holism into your research?

An anthropologist seeking to utilize a holistic approach would look not only at those things that keep a society together, but also those things that have the potential to create conflict and change. You would want to examine the dynamics within the culture as well as external influences such as the threats of capitalist industries and habitat loss. For example, how might the destruction of a community center impact the social dynamics of members of a neighborhood who depend on the community center for social connection, education, access to resources, cultural events, and childcare?

Neoliberalism

an economic model that prioritizes privatization of public services in order to decrease government spending, based on the idea that free markets and supply and demand will lead to economic progress and development.

cultural materialism

an evolutionary approach that identifies technology and economic factors as fundamental aspects of culture, molding other features of culture such as family life, religion, and politics.

Necropolitics

an extension of Foucault's biopolitics that explores the government's power to decide how certain categories of people live and whose deaths are more acceptable.

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

argues that the particular language you speak influences how you think about reality

cultural appropriation

claiming or using elements of another culture in an inappropriate way.

culture

combination of materials, technologies, social relationships, everyday practices, deeply held values, and shared ideas.

institutional review board (IRB)

committees housed within a university that must review and approve research plans before any research begins

linguistic universals

common elements found in all human languages, attributable to human anatomy, perception, and cognition.

Anthropologists are interested in learning about the different types of relationships between groups, which are BEST described as which of the following?

cooperative, competitive, or combative

Which term refers to the practice of understanding elements of a culture within the context of that particular culture?

cultural relativism