anthro test: quiz 3

Anthropologists today assume that culture is:

(D) none of the above... (A) fixed, (B) internally homogenous (C) internally harmonious and consensual

Anthropologists use the following tool to better understand cultural groups other than their own:

Cultural relativity

Humans are born with certain cultural tendencies and spend their lives learning to perfect them.

FALSE

Sally Engle Merry argues that from an anthropological perspective, the fact that corporate executives in the US steal millions of dollars through accounting fraud shows that dishonesty and theft are central to American culture.

FALSE

Sally Engle Merry argues that the anthropological commitment to cultural relativism makes it impossible for anthropologists to promote activism on behalf of oppressed people in various cultural contexts.

FALSE

Sally Engle Merry argues that one reason why human rights activists are critical of anthropologists and cultural relativity is that they don't understand what anthropologists mean by "Culture".

TRUE

Sally Engle Merry argues that the assumption that cultures are internally homogenous prevents us from understanding the internal conflicts and hierarchies that often are at the root of violent practices within them.

TRUE

According to Lassiter, "culture" is best understood as:

an abstraction that helps us understand patterns of meaning in a,b,and c. (A) social roles of people in a group (B) material objects produced by a group of people (C) intellectual achievements of a group of people;

According to Lassiter, a comparative perspective that looks at similarities and differences between different cultural descriptions from across the world is also known as:

both a and b. (A) ethnology (B) cultural anthropology

Lassiter argues that ethnocentrism is:

important to shift from the unconscious to the conscious realm of knowlege