Intro to Cultural Anthropology midterm

Ethnographers can collect reliable data and develop a realistic understanding of the cultural patterns

1.Proper mental preparation (including adopting the cultural relativity perspective) 2.Participant-observation 3.Competence in using the host culture's language 4.Long-term residence 5.Luck in being at the right place at the right time.

This is called participant observation

Anthropologists have discovered that the best way to really get to know another society and its culture is to live in it as an active participant rather than simply an observer.

ethnography

Anthropologists learn about the culture of another society through fieldwork and first hand observation in that society.

This is called ethnology

Cultural anthropologists also do systematic comparisons of similar cultures.

Who first defined culture as "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society?"

E. B. Tylor

Define the holistic perspective of anthropology.

The holistic perspective in anthropology views culture as an integrated whole, no part of which can be completely understood without considering the whole.

subculture

The second layer of culture that may be part of your identity. A regional, social, or ethnic group that is distinguishable from other groups in a society by the fact that its members share a common identity, food tradition, dialect or language, and other cultural traits that come from their common ancestral background and experience.

cultural universals.

The third layer of culture; These are learned behavior patterns that are shared by all of humanity collectively. No matter where people live in the world, they share these universal traits.

informants

These are people who are not only knowledgeable about their own culture but who are able and willing to communicate this knowledge in an understandable way to an outsider

judgment sample

This is a limited number of key people selected on the basis of criteria deemed critical to the research questions.

adaptive mechanism

a behavior, strategy, or technique for obtaining food and surviving in a particular environment. Successful adaptive mechanisms provide a selective advantage in the competition for survival with other life forms. For humans, the most important adaptive mechanism is culture.

culture shock

a feeling of confusion, distress, and sometimes depression that can result from the psychological stress that commonly occurs during the first weeks or months of a total cultural emersion in an alien society. Until the new culture becomes familiar and comfortable, it is common to have difficulty in communicating and to make frustrating mistakes. This is usually compounded by feelings of homesickness. These feelings can be emotionally debilitating. However, culture shock eventually passes for most people.

tribalism

a profound loyalty to one's tribe or ethnic group and a rejection of others. Those who promote tribalism generally believe that globalism is a threat that must be overcome. A pattern of establishing ethnically "pure" nations through aggressive "ethnic cleansing" occurred in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990's. Similar attempts to carve out tribal based nations have occurred in the former republics of the Soviet Union and in a number of African nations.

Ethnography

anthropological research in which one learns about the culture of another society through fieldwork and first hand observation in that society. Ethnography is also the term used to refer to books or monographs describing what was learned about the culture of a society.

four major fields of anthropology:

biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and archaeology.

Biological (or physical) anthropologists

carry out systematic studies of the non-cultural aspects of humans and near-humans. Non-cultural refers to all of those biological characteristics that are genetically inherited in contrast to learned.

Culture vs. Society

cultures are complexes of learned behavior patterns and perceptions. culture is non-instinctive. culture is cumulative societies are groups of interacting organisms.

probability sample

i.e., a sample that has a high probability of reflecting the entire population.

A random sample

is one in which people are selected on a totally random, unbiased basis.

Believed behavior

is what we honestly think we are doing

The term "subsistence pattern" refers to the sources and methods a society uses to ______________________________ .

obtain food and other necessities

A stratified sample

one in which people are selected because they come from distinct sub-groups within the society.

ethnographers opt for one of three types of probability samples:

random, stratified, or judgment.

Archaeologists

recovering the prehistory and early history of societies and their cultures. They systematically uncover the evidence by excavating, dating, and analyzing the material remains left by people in the past

Linguistic anthropologists

study the human communication process

cultural relativity

suspending one's ethnocentric judgments in order to understand and appreciate another culture. Anthropologists try to learn about and interpret the various aspects of the culture they are studying in reference to that culture rather than to their own. This provides a better understanding of how such practices as polygamy and cannibalism can function and even support other cultural traditions.

cross cultural comparison;

the comparative study of ethnographic data, of society and of culture

ethnocentrism

the deep felt belief that your culture is superior to all others. Being fond of your own way of life and condescending or even hostile toward other cultures is normal for all people. Alien culture traits are often viewed as being not just different but less sensible and even "unnatural." Ethnocentrism is normal for all people in the world.

culture

the full range of learned behavior patterns that are acquired by people as members of a society. A culture is a complex, largely interconnected whole that consists of the knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs, skills, and habits learned from parents and others in a society. Culture is the primary adaptive mechanism for humans.

future shock

the kind of culture shock that can be experienced by members of a society who are undergoing too rapid of culture change, usually as a result of diffusion of traits from other societies and frequent inventions that alter significant portions of daily life. Elderly people in the rapidly changing cultures of the world sometimes experience this today. The concept of future shock was developed by Alvin Toffler in his 1970 book entitled Future Shock

diffusion

the movement of cultural traits and ideas from one society or ethnic group to another. While the form of a trait may be transmitted to another society, the original meaning may not. For instance, McDonald's hamburgers are thought of as a cheap, quick meal in North America, but they are generally considered to be a special occasion food in Beijing, China.

cultural anthropology

the study of contemporary and recent historical cultures all over the world. The focus is on social organization, culture change, economic and political systems, and religion. Cultural anthropology is also referred to as social or sociocultural anthropology.

integration

the view that all aspects of a culture are interrelated and that an understanding of any cultural trait or institution requires knowing how it impacts and is in turn impacted by other institutions.

globalism

the view that the people and nations of the world should become more economically and politically integrated and unified. Those who advocate globalism generally believe that ethnocentrism, nationalism, and tribalism are obstacles that must be overcome.

cultural relativity approach.

they try to learn about and interpret the various aspects of the culture they are studying in reference to that culture rather than to the anthropologist's own culture.

Ideal behavior

what we think we should be doing and what we want others to believe we are doing