anthropology chapter 2

Ethnocentrism

Feeling that everyone else is wrong and our way is right

Relativism

Interpreting culture using another culture's perspective

If you wanted to understand the norms of a society, you would most likely focus on

everyday interaction

A social consequence of introducing coffee into the highlands of Papua New Guinea was that

young men gained social status, coffee plantations took over all open land an people had more access to commodities

The theorist most connected with post-structuralism is

Renato Rosaldo

holistic perspective

connections between individual cultural beliefs and practices

All humans are born with some culture

false

Because our values and beliefs include many elements of life such as clothes, food, and language means that culture is

intergrated

norms

patterns of behavior and rules about how thingd should be done

If a functionalist were to explain why the teacher lectures from the front of the classroom to students organized in neatly arranged chairs, she or he would emphasize that

this way of teaching organizes people to promote shared cultural goals

The main idea behind the holistic perspective is to study culture

through systematic connections of different parts

The most enduring and ritualized aspects of culture are referred to as

traditions

Culture can be transmitted virtually through the Internet in addition to face-to-face interaction.

true

Culture consists of the collective processes that make the artificial seem natural

true

Who was responsible for the theory of functionalism?

Emile Durkheim

The American anthropologist responsible for the concept of historical particularism was named

Marvin Harris

cultural construction

People build concepts, meanings,practices out of shared experiences

A cross-cultural perspective on eating insect larvae would reveal

The artificiality of taste, the cultural constructions of insects as food, that eating insects can be adaptive

Interpretive theory of culture

a theory that culture is embodied and transmitted through symbols

The idea that Ongee ancestors make tidal waves and earthquakes would be understood by an interpretive anthropologist as

a way of explainign how the world works

symbol

an object, idea,image,figure or character that represents something else

cross-cultural perspective

analyzing a human social phenomenon by comparing that phenomenon in different cultures necessary to appreciate just how artificial our beliefs are

interpretive

approach to culture, such as that promoted by Clifford Geertz, Victor Turner, and Mary Douglas, emphasizes that culture is a shared system of meanings.

functionalism

assumes that cultural practices and beliefs serve purposes for society

anthropology overcome ehtnocentrism

by using relativistic perspective

A symbol is

can be used to express something or stand for something

When Kay Warren presented her anthropological research, a group of Maya intellectuals, activists, and political leaders:

challenged her right, as a foreign anthropologist, to study the Maya culture

Anthropologists believe that analyzing human cultural phenomena by comparing those phenomena across different societies, called the

cross-cultural

Collective definitions of proper and improper behavior that "build" meanings through common experiences and negotiations are cultural

cultural construction

interpretive theory of culture

culture is embodied and transmitted through symbols

explicit

directly taught to you... to write, analyzing a text

Culture is

dynamic, shared, learned

The process of learning culture from a very young age is called

enculturation

The experience of feeling that the way your culture does things is the right way and any different way of doing things is wrong is called

ethnocentrism

Cultural appropriation involves relationships of power.

false

Cultural relativism is important because it helps anthropologists understand and defend all the things that people in other cultures do.

false

Culture is uniquely human

false

People rarely hold conflicting values.

false

activities that are biologically based, such as eating and sleeping, are universally the same for all humans

false

most anthropologists believe in a single unified theory of culture

false

The theory of culture that proposes that cultural practices, beliefs, and institutions fulfill the psychological and physical needs of society is called

functionalism

The theory that posits that cultural practices and beliefs serve purposes for society is called

functionalism

The perspective that aims to identify and understand cultures in the entirety is called

holism

The defining feature of historical particularism is

individual societies develop particular cultural traits and undergo a unique process of change

Michael Ames developed exhibits with native Canadian communities at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia because he believed in

interpretive theory

Many anthropologists are wary about traditions because, while they may feel antiquated to some people, they are often

invented

Cultural determinism is unproductive for cultural analysis because

it explains all human action as the product of culture alone, it can justify atrocities, it denies the influence of factors like physical environment and biology on humans

How would a critical relativist explain Native American criticisms of cultural appropriation

it is important to understand Native American claims from their point of view though it doesn't necessarily mean we should accept them as the only way to view the issue

examples of social instutions

kinship, marriage and farming

Enculturation

learning the cultural rules and logic of a society

customs

long-established norms that have codified and law-like aspect

"Owning" culture

means controlling symbols that give meaning

implicit

not clearly expressed, like obedience, respect to social hierarchy sy

social institutions

organized sets of social relationships that link individuals to each other in a structured way in a particular society

Norms are stable because

people learn them when they are young

The structuralist approach to culture theorizes what?

people make sense of the world through binary oppositions

The idea that embraces dynamic cultural processes and the idea that the observer of cultural processes can never see culture completely objectively represent

post-structuralism

The controversy between Native Americans and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) schools using mascots illustrates

power of tradition

tradition

practices and customs that have become most ritualized and enduring

social sanctions

rewards or punishments that encourage conformity to social norms

The idea that cultures pass through stages from primitive to complex is known as

social evolution

The application of a holistic perspective to understand changes in everyday practices, such as eating breakfast cereals, reveals

the connections between social institutions and sexuality are interconnected

Ethnocentrism

the feeling that our culture and the way we do things is correct

cultural determinism

the idea that all human actions are the product of culture, which denies the influence of other factors like physical environment and human biology on human behavior

Cultural appropiation

the unilateral decision of one group to take control over the symbols practices or objects another