Anthropology: Culture

characteristics describe cultures based on their subsistence strategies:

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difference between trading and bartering

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purpose in writing "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema?

1) To critique the exotic tone with which anthropology might cast a cultural Other 2) To demonstrate the ways anthropology can misrepresent the cultural practices of an unfamiliar group

Kinship systems

: A network of relatives within which individuals possess certain mutual rights and obligations. : 1) Eskimo; used by English-speaking North Americans and many others, emphasizes the nuclear family and merges all other relatives in a given generation into a few large, generally undifferentiated, categories. 2) Iroquois; a single term is used for father and his brother and another for a mother and her sister. Parallel cousins are equated with brothers and sisters but distinguished from cross cousins. 3) Hawaiian is the simplest with all relatives of the same generation and gender referred to by the same term.

Cultural control

: internalized vs. externalized control cultural in nature, self-imposed by enculturated individuals. They rely on personal shame, fear of divine punishment, and magical retaliation. vs Positive sanctions are rewards or recognition by others. Negative sanctions include threat of imprisonment, fines, corporal punishment, or loss of face. Sanctions are formal, including actual laws, or informal, involving norms

Parallel vs Cross-cousins

A PARALLEL COUSIN IS THE CHILD OF A FATHER'S BROTHER OR A MOTHER'S SISTER. A CROSS COUSIN IS THE CHILD OF A MOTHER'S BROTHER OR A FATHER'S SISTER. THE MAJORITY OF SOCIETIES THAT PERMIT (OR EVEN PREFER) COUSIN MARRIAGE SELECT CROSS COUSINS AS THE IDEAL MATE WHILE HAVING INCEST TABOOS AGAINST PARALLEL COUSIN MARRIAGE

culture

A SOCIETY'S SHARED AND SOCIALLY TRANSMITTED IDEAS, VALUES, AND PERCEPTIONS, WHICH ARE USED TO MAKE SENSE OF EXPERIENCE AND GENERATE BEHAVIOR AND ARE REFLECTED IN THAT BEHAVIOR

How is culture based on symbols

A SYMBOL IS A SOUND, GESTURE, MARK, OR OTHER SIGN THAT IS ARBITRARILY LINKED TO SOMETHING ELSE AND REPRESENTS IT IN A MEANINGFUL WAY. THE MOST IMPORTANT SYMBOLIC ASPECT OF CULTURE IS LANGUAGE—USING WORDS TO REPRESENT OBJECTS AND IDEAS. THROUGH LANGUAGE, HUMANS TRANSMIT CULTURE FROM ONE GENERATION TO ANOTHER

What is the relationship of adaptation to culture

A complex of ideas, activities, and technologies that enables people to survive and even thrive in their environment. By manipulating their environment, for example, people have been able to migrate throughout the world.

marriage

A culturally sanctioned union between two or more people that establishes certain rights and obligations between the people, between them and their children, and between them and their in-laws.

Relatedness through Blood vs. Law

A family is defined as two or more people related by blood, marriage, or adoption. Blood ties, or biological kinship, often overlap with legal kinship. The family may take many forms, ranging from a single parent with one or more children, to a married couple or polygamous spouses with offspring, to several generations of parents and their children.

Kula

A form of balanced reciprocity that reinforces trade relations among a group of seafaring Melanesians inhabiting a ring of islands off the eastern coast of Papua New Guinea.

redistribution

A form of exchange in which goods flow into a central place where they are sorted and reallocated.

Household composition

A household is the basic residential unit where economic production, consumption, inheritance, child rearing, and shelter are carried out.

informal economy

A network of producing and circulating marketable commodities, labor, and services that for various reasons escape government control

pluralistic society

A society in which two or more ethnic groups or nationalities are politically organized into one territorial state but maintain their cultural differences.

reciprocity

A transaction between two parties whereby goods and services of roughly equivalent value are exchanged

Lineage

A unilineal kin-group descended from a known ancestor or founder, who lived four to six generations ago, and in which relationships between members can be stated in genealogical terms.

Bride price

ALSO CALLED BRIDEWEALTH) IS THE PAYMENT OF MONEY OR OTHER VALUABLES FROM THE GROOM'S TO THE BRIDE'S KIN.

Segregated pattern

Almost all work is defined as either masculine or feminine, so men and women rarely engage in joint efforts. Most common in pastoral nomadic, intensive agricultural, and industrial societies. Typically men are expected to be tough, aggressive, and competitive.

Age grade/Age set

An age grade is a category of people organized by age. An age set is a formally established group of people born during a certain time who move through the series of age grade categories together.

Clan

An extended unilineal kin-group, often consisting of several lineages, whose members claim common descent from a remote ancestor, usually legendary or mythological.

What does it mean that culture is integrated?

Anthropologists customarily imagine a culture as a well-structured system made up of distinctive parts that function together as an organized whole. While they distinguish each part as a clearly-defined unit with its own features, anthropologists recognize that divisions between cultural units are not always clear. They view each unit in terms of its larger context and carefully examine its connections to related cultural features

What is cultural tradition? What is the role of tradition?

CUSTOMARY IDEAS AND PRACTICES PASSED ON FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION, WHICH IN A MODERNIZING SOCIETY MAY FORM AN OBSTACLE TO NEW WAYS OF DOING THINGS.

What are the functions of law?

DEFINES RELATIONSHIPS AMONG SOCIETY'S MEMBERS AND MARKS OUT PROPER BEHAVIOR. ALLOCATES THE AUTHORITY TO EMPLOY COERCION IN THE ENFORCEMENT OF SANCTIONS. FUNCTIONS TO REDEFINE SOCIAL RELATIONS AND TO ENSURE SOCIAL FLEXIBILITY.

Descent groups:

Descent Groups: Any kin-group with a membership lineally descending from a real (historical) or fictional common ancestor unilineal (matrilineal and patrilineal)/ ambilineal/double descent/bilateral descent

Divorce

Divorce rates have become so high in Western industrial and postindustrial societies that many worry about the future of traditional and familiar forms of marriage and the family.

Endogamy vs. Exogamy

Endogamy is marrying within a group of individuals. Exogamy is marrying outside a group. If the group is limited to the immediate family, almost all societies can be said to prohibit endogamy and practice exogamy. Societies that practice exogamy at one level may practice endogamy at another.

enculturation

Everyone learns their culture through the process of

When did warfare begin? Why?

Evidence shows that warfare first developed some 10,000 years ago after food production began and state societies developed. Warfare has reached crisis proportions in the last 200 years. Sedentarism and population growth means that carrying capacity has been exceeded in many areas, leaving few resources available to large numbers of people.

Division of labor by gender

Flexible/integrated pattern - Segregated pattern Dual sex configuration

Balanced reciprocity

Giving and receiving are specific as to the value of goods and the time of their delivery.

Group marriage

Group marriage in which several men and women have sexual access to one another, occurs rarely. Among Eskimos in northern Alaska, sexual relations between unrelated individuals imply ties of mutual aid and support. To create or strengthen ties, a partner could lend his or her partner to another person for temporary sexual relationships.

relationship of global markets to local markets

IMPOSING MARKET PRODUCTION SCHEMES ON OTHER SOCIETIES AND IGNORING CULTURAL DIFFERENCES CAN HAVE UNINTENDED NEGATIVE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES.

Economics of marriage

IN MANY HUMAN SOCIETIES, MARRIAGES ARE FORMALIZED BY AN ECONOMIC EXCHANGE.

Patrilocality

IN WHICH A MARRIED COUPLE LIVES IN THE HUSBAND'S FATHER'S FAMILY The son stays and the daughter leaves, so that the married couple lives with or near the husband's parents (67 percent of all societies in the ethnographic record)

Matrilocality

IN WHICH A MARRIED COUPLE LIVES LIVING IN THE WIFE'S MOTHER'S FAMILY. The daughter stays and the son leaves, so that the married couple lives with or near the wife's parents (15 percent of all societies)

Dowry

IS THE PAYMENT OF A WOMAN'S INHERITANCE AT THE TIME OF MARRIAGE TO HER OR HER HUSBAND.

Arranged marriages

In an appreciable number of societies, marriages are arranged; negotiations are handled by the immediate families or by go-betweens

Dual sex configuration

In this pattern, men and women carry out their work separately, as in societies segregated by gender, but the relationship between them is one of balanced complementarity rather than inequality. Although competition is a prevailing ethic, each gender manages its own affairs, and the interests of both men and women are represented at all levels.

Division labor by age

In traditional farming societies, children and older people make a greater contribution to the economy in terms of work than in postindustrial societies. In industrial societies, where poor families depend on every possible contribution to the household, children often work.

Infrastructure vs. Superstructure

Infrastructure: The economic foundation of a society, including its subsistence practices, and the tools and other material equipment used to make a living. Superstrucure: The collective body of ideas, beliefs, and values by which a group of people makes sense of the world—its shape, challenges, and opportunities—and their place in it.

Food-foraging

Involves some combination of hunting, fishing, and gathering of wild plant foods.

Culture characteristics

LEARNED SHARED BASED ON SYMBOLS INTEGRATED DYNAMIc

Neolocality

LIVING IN A LOCALITY APART FROM THE HUSBAND'S OR WIFE'S RELATIONS. Both son and daughter leave; married couples live apart from the relatives of both spouses (5 percent of all societies)

Avuncolocality

LIVING WITH WIFE'S MOTHER'S BROTHERS (PREDOMINANTLY SEEN IN MATRILINEAL SOCIETIES)

Incest taboo

Like marriage, the incest taboo is found in all cultures. The incest taboo is the absolute forbidding of sexual contact between certain close relatives. The scope and details of the taboo vary across cultures and time, but almost all societies past and present strongly forbid sexual relations between parents and children and between siblings.

Lineage Exogamy

Lineage members must find their marriage partners in other lineages.

Bilocality

MARRIED COUPLE LIVES WITH EITHER WIFE'S OR HUSBAND'S FAMILY, WITH BOTH VARIATIONS AS COMMON Either the son or the daughter leaves, so that the married couple lives with or near either the wife's or the husband's parents (7 percent of all societies) Both son and daughter normally leave, but the son and his wife settle with or near his mother's brother (4 percent of all societies)

Uncentralized political systems

Marriage and kinship are the principal means of social organization. Primarily associated with subsistence economies. Leaders do not have real power to force compliance. Decisions are made by consensus. This is considered an egalitarian form of political organization. Band and Tribes

Residence patterns

Matrilocality Patrilocality Neolocality Bilocality Avuncolocality

Flexible/integrated pattern

Most common often among food foragers and subsistence farmers. Men and women perform up to 35 percent of activities with equal participation. Boys and girls learn to value cooperation over competition. Adult men and women interact with each other on a relatively equal basis.

Bride service

OCCURS WHEN THE GROOM IS EXPECTED TO WORK FOR A PERIOD FOR THE BRIDE'S FAMILY.

ethnic group

PEOPLE WHO COLLECTIVELY AND PUBLICLY IDENTIFY THEMSELVES AS A DISTINCT GROUP BASED ON CULTURAL FEATURES SUCH AS SHARED ANCESTRY AND COMMON ORIGIN, LANGUAGE, CUSTOMS, AND TRADITIONAL BELIEFS. ETHNIC IDENTITY MAY HAVE NO BIOLOGICAL COMPONENT.

Polygamy as polyandry and polygyny

POLYANDRY - MARRIAGE OF A WOMAN TO TWO OR MORE MEN AT THE SAME TIME. POLYGYNY - MARRIAGE OF A MAN TO TWO OR MORE WOMEN AT THE SAME TIME.

Violent and Non-violent Resistance

REBELLION - ORGANIZED ARMED RESISTANCE TO AN ESTABLISHED GOVERNMENT OR AUTHORITY IN POWER. REVOLUTION - RADICAL CHANGE IN A SOCIETY OR CULTURE. IT INVOLVES THE FORCED OVERTHROW OF A PRIOR GOVERNMENT AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A COMPLETELY NEW ONE.

Pastoralism

Relies on breeding and managing migratory herds of domesticated grazing animals, such as cattle, sheep, and goats.

What is the role of religion in establishing political legitimacy

Religion is often intimately connected to politics. In both non-industrial and industrial societies, belief in the supernatural is reflected in the extant political institutions. Often, religion is used to legitimate political authority.

Political leadership and gender

Research shows that far fewer women than men have held important positions of political leadership. In a number of societies, women have enjoyed political equality with men, as among the Iroquoian peoples in northeastern North America. Under centralized political systems, women are traditionally most likely to be subordinate to men.

How has the internet played a role in associations?

SOCIAL NETWORKING PLATFORMS ENABLE INDIVIDUALS TO TEXT MESSAGES AND EXCHANGE IMAGES WITH "FRIENDS," CONTINUALLY UPDATE THEIR PERSONAL OR OTHER INFORMATION, AND ENGAGE IN MICROBLOGGING. NEW SOCIAL MEDIA MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO BUILD AND EXPAND SOCIAL NETWORKS REGARDLESS OF GEOGRAPHIC DISTANCE.

money

Something used to make payments for goods and services and to measure their value.

cultural norms of property ownership are related to different subsistence strategies

THAT IS PRACTICED IN THE CULTURE TO WHICH WE BELONG, IDEAS OF PROPERTY OWNERSHIP ARE CULTURALLY AND HISTORICALLY DEFINED. An economic system is an organized arrangement for producing, distributing, and consuming goods. In every society, customs and rules govern the kinds of work done, who does the work, attitudes toward the work, how it is accomplished, and who controls the resources.

ethnocentrism

THE BELIEF THAT ONE'S OWN CULTURE IS SUPERIOR TO ALL OTHERS

Ethnocide vs. Genocide

THE VIOLENT ERADICATION OF AN ETHNIC GROUP'S COLLECTIVE CULTURAL IDENTITY AS A DISTINCTIVE PEOPLE; OCCURS WHEN A DOMINANT SOCIETY DELIBERATELY SETS OUT TO DESTROY ANOTHER SOCIETY'S CULTURAL HERITAGE vs The physical extermination of one people by another, either as a deliberate act or as the accidental outcome of activities carried out by one people with little regard for their impact on others.

Role of myth in political traditions

THESE ACCOUNTS ARE USUALLY RECORDED IN LITERARY CULTURES. THEY PROVIDE RATIONALES FOR RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL BELIEFS AND PRACTICES AND SET CULTURAL STANDARDS FOR "RIGHT" BEHAVIOR. MYTHS CAN ALSO PROVIDE THE BASIS FOR POLITICAL POWER.

Power

The ability of individuals or groups to impose their will upon others and make them do things even against their own wants or wishes.

Negative reciprocity

The aim is to get something for as little as possible and may involve hard bargaining, manipulation, cheating and theft.

Where does political legitimacy come from

The right of political leaders to exercise power. Required to govern with authority. Legitimate government may be distinguished from rule based on intimidation or force. Most governments use ideology, including religion, to legitimize political power.

Monogamy vs. Polygamy

The taking of a single spouse vs. WHEN ONE INDIVIDUAL HAS MULTIPLE SPOUSES.

generalized reciprocity

The value of the gift is not calculated, nor is time of repayment specified.

Political organization

The way power is distributed and embedded in society; the means through which a society creates and maintains social order and reduces social disorder.

Cousin marriage

WHILE COUSIN MARRIAGE IS PROHIBITED IN SOME SOCIETIES, CERTAIN COUSINS ARE THE PREFERRED MARRIAGE PARTNERS IN OTHERS.

Moiety

When a society is divided into two halves, each half consisting of one or more clans, these two major descent groups are called

Crop Cultivators

When small communities of gardeners work with simple hand tools, using neither irrigation nor the plow. (horticulture, agriculture, intensive agriculture) Emergence of fixed settlements Division of labor was altered Development of tools, pottery, clothing, and housing Social stratification began

culture deal with change

a culture must be flexible enough to allow adjustments in the face of unstable or changing circumstances. When a culture is too rigid and fails to provide its members with the means required for long-term survival under changing conditions, it is not likely to endure.

Common-interest association

are linked with rapid social change and urbanization. They have increasingly assumed the roles formerly played by kinship or age groups. In urban areas they help new arrivals cope with the changes demanded by the move. are seen in traditional societies, and their roots may be found in the first horticultural villages.

Political systems

bands-A relatively small and loosely-organized, kin-ordered group that inhabits a specific territory and that may split periodically into smaller extended family groups that are politically and economically independent. tribes-Refers to a range of kin-ordered groups that are politically integrated by some unifying factor and whose members share a common ancestry, identity, culture, language, and territory. chiefdoms-A regional polity in which two or more local groups are organized under a single chief, who is at the head of a ranked hierarchy of people. states-In anthropology, a state is a centralized political system that has the capacity and authority to make laws and use force to maintain social order. A nation is a people who share a collective identity based on a common culture, language, territorial base, and history.

Phratry

is a unilineal descent group of two or more clans that supposedly share a common ancestry.

Nuclear family vs. Extended family vs. Non-traditional household composition

n= The most basic family unit is the nuclear family. Consists of one or two parents and dependent offspring. e=Two or more closely related nuclear families clustered together into a large domestic group. This is traditionally found in horticultural, agricultural, and pastoral societies. nt=In the U.S., 1/3 of all households consist of nontraditional families. Cohabitation households are comprised of unmarried couples. Cohabitation break-ups often lead to the creation of single-parent households, also a very typical family form.

Dispute settlement:

negotiation, mediation, adjudication Disputing parties may voluntarily arrive at a mutually satisfactory agreement, referred to as negotiation or, if it involves the assistance of an unbiased third party, mediation. In chiefdoms and states, an authorized third party may issue a binding decision that the disputing parties will be compelled to respect, referred to as adjudication.

primary resources in the economic system of a culture (there are three)

raw materials, technology, and labor.

New kinship technologies:

reproductive therapies, migration, surrogacy, adoption,