Class Topic 3: Theory in Anthropology
Leslie white
American anthropologist known for his advocacy of theories of cultural evolution, sociocultural evolution, and especially neoevolutionism,
technology
Application of science to help people
argonauts of the western pacific
Argonauts of the Western Pacific, subtitled An account of native enterprise and adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea, is a 1922 ethnological work by Bronisław Malinowski, which has had enormous impact on the ethnographic genre
institutions
Complex social organizations such as governments, economies, and education systems
core
Congress of Racial Equality
domination
Control by the exercise of power or constituted authority.
Foucault
Discipline and Punish
Trobriand
Island group that Malinowski studied
ruth benedict
Prominent 1930s social scientist who argued that each culture produced its own type of personality
Margaret mead
The anthropologist that conducted a now-classic study of cultural variation in the 1930s
power
The rate at which work is done
environment
The surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates
league of the Iroquois
They convinced the five tribes to form the Indian confederation called the Iroquois League
infrastructure
Underlying foundation on which a community or nation depends
Claude levi-strauss
a French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theory of structuralism and structural anthropology.
peripheny
a marginal or secondary position in, or part or aspect of, a group, subject, or sphere of activity.
lewis morgan
a pioneering American anthropologist and social theorist who worked as a railroad lawyer. He is best known for his work on kinship and social structure, his theories of social evolution, and his ethnography of the Iroquois
structure
a thing constructed
culture trait
an activity or behavior in which people often take part
superstructure
anything built on top of some other structure
Emic
approach of studying a culture's behavior from the perspective of an insider
Etic
approach of studying a culture's behavior from the perspective of an outsider
needs functionalism
as a school of thought in anthropology, emerged in the early twentieth century. Bronislaw Malinowski and A.R. ... Malinowski suggested that individuals have physiological needs (reproduction, food, shelter) and that social institutions exist to meet these needs.
julian steward
cultural ecology
franz boas
father of modern American anthropology; argued for cultural relativism and historical particularism
world system theory
how economic and political connections developed and now tie the world's countries together
historical particularism
idea (Boas) that histories are not comparable; diverse paths can lead to the same cultural result
unilinear evolutionism
idea of a single line or path of cultural development
Edward Tylor
in 1871, he wrote Primitive Culture, some say he was ethnocentric
resistance
in psychoanalysis, the blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden material
multilinear evolution
independent cultural development: similar to independent invention
wallerstein
made 3-teir structure of the world: core, periphery, semi-periphery
Ethnographic techniques
observation, conversation, genealogical method, work with key consultants, interviewing
salvage ethnography
recording cultural diversity that was threatened by westernization
culture area
region in which people share a similar way of life
Bronislaw Malinoswski
remembered as the father of the functionalist school of anthropology as well as for his role in developing the methods and the primacy of anthropological fieldwork.
evolutionary perspectives
results in genetics from our ancestors
energy
the ability to do work
ethnographic realism
the goal to produce an accurate, objective, scientific account of the study community
diffusion
the process by which the adoption of an innovation spreads
superorganic
the special domain of culture, beyond the organic and inorganic realms
functionalism
the study of the purpose mental processes serve in enabling people to adapt to their environment
fieldwork
the term anthropologists use for on-location research
structuralism
understanding the conscious experience through introspection
configurationalism
view of culture as integrated and patterned