Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective: Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture

symbol, adaptive

*Class 3 - Concepts of Culture Part 1*... *Anthropology: "Binocular" field* -One eye on empirical behavior [___1___s]... -One eye on decoding the meanings [___2___]... =These are the two ways in which we view culture =-Example: We drive the proper way in our country because we understand culture. Different places have different traffic rules. =--According to professor, In Cairo, Egypt; obeying traffic ___1___s was more of an advisory than a rule. Drivers would only stop if a police offer was standing there with a pad in his hand.

society

*Class 3 - Concepts of Culture Part 1*... *Cultural Anthropology* -...Looks at _____ and culture. -_____ is the set of social relationships among people, traditionally within a given geographical area.

Culture, society

*Class 3 - Concepts of ___1___ Part 1*... *Cultural Anthropology* -The study of human behavior that is learned rather than genetically transmitted, and that is typical of groups of people. Looks at ___2___ and ___1___.

small-scale society

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *"Primitive" Cultures*... Because of the misleading implication that something primitive is both inferior and earlier in a chronological sense, we will not use the term primitive in this book. Instead, we will use the term _____, which refers to societies that have small populations, are technologically simple, semiliterate, lack complex economies and government, have little labor specialization, and are not highly stratified. ---------- *Definition* _____ - A society that has a small population, has minimal technology, is usually preliterate, has little division of labor, and is not highly stratified.

Primitive

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *"_____" Cultures* A fundamental feature of the discipline of cultural anthropology is its comparative approach... Societies with simple technologies, once called "_____," are described by contemporary cultural anthropologists as preliterate, small-scale, egalitarian, or technologically simple.

economic system, systems of marriage and family, educational system, social control system, system of supernatural beliefs, systems of communication

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultural Universals*... *Basic Needs* One of the most fundamental requirements of each society is to see that the basic physiological needs of its people are met... ...___1___... ...___2___... ...___3___... ...___4___... ...___5___... ...___6___... Sometimes the similarities (or universal aspects) of different cultural features are not obvious... Despite what may appear to be an overwhelming amount of cultural variety found in the world today, all cultures, because they must meet certain universal needs, have a number of traits in common. Those just mentioned are some of the more obvious cultural universals, but many more could be cited. Anthropologist George Peter Murdock (1945: 124) compiled a list of cultural universals that our species has in common, including bodily adornment, courtship, decorative arts, dream interpretation, etiquette, food taboos, kinship terminology, status systems, and tool making. Despite the fact that cultural anthropologists (since Murdock's list first appeared) have tended to emphasize cultural differences rather than similarities, cultural universals nevertheless exist, are numerous, and are theoretically significant for carrying out the work of anthropology... *Class 4 (1-23-20)*... *Cultural Universals* -Societies share common features because they solve problems shared by all human societies...

systems of marriage and family

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultural Universals*... *Basic Needs*... ...economic system... ...all societies need to make provisions for orderly mating and child rearing that give rise to patterned _____... ...educational system... ...social control system... ...system of supernatural beliefs... ...systems of communication...

educational system

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultural Universals*... *Basic Needs*... ...economic system... ...systems of marriage and family. If a society is to endure, it will need to develop a systematic way of passing on its culture from one generation to the next. This universal societal need for cultural transmission leads to some form of _____ in all societies... ...social control system... ...system of supernatural beliefs... ...systems of communication...

system of supernatural beliefs

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultural Universals*... *Basic Needs*... ...economic system... ...systems of marriage and family... ...educational system... ...social control system. Because people in all societies are faced with life occurrences that defy explanation or prediction, all societies have developed systems for explaining the unexplainable, most of which rely on some form of supernatural beliefs such as religion, witchcraft, magic, or sorcery. Thus, all societies have developed a _____ that serves to explain otherwise inexplicable phenomena... ...systems of communication...

systems of communication

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultural Universals*... *Basic Needs*... ...economic system... ...systems of marriage and family... ...educational system... ...social control system... ...system of supernatural beliefs... ...because all societies, if they are to function, need their members to be able to send and receive messages efficiently, they all have developed _____, both verbal and nonverbal.

social control system

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultural Universals*... *Basic Needs*... ...economic system... ...systems of marriage and family... ...educational system... A prerequisite for the longevity of any society is the maintenance of social order; that is, most of the people must obey most of the rules most of the time. This universal societal need to avoid chaos and anarchy leads to a set of mechanisms that coerce people to obey the social norms, which we call a _____... ...system of supernatural beliefs... ...systems of communication...

economic system

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultural Universals*... *Basic Needs*... Even though the details of these systems of distribution vary greatly, every society has worked out systems of production and distribution, ensuring that people get what they need for survival. As a result, we can say that every society has an _____... ...systems of marriage and family... ...educational system... ...social control system... ...system of supernatural beliefs... ...systems of communication...

Behavior patterns

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Defined*... *Figure 2.3: The three components of culture.* -Material objects -Ideas[,] Values[, and] Attitudes -_____

Ideas[,] Values[, and] Attitudes

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Defined*... *Figure 2.3: The three components of culture.* -Material objects -_____ -Behavior patterns

Material objects; Ideas[,] Values[, and] Attitudes; Behavior patterns

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Defined*... *Figure 2.3: The three components of culture.* -___1___ -___2___ -___3___

Material objects

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Defined*... *Figure 2.3: The three components of culture.* -_____ -Ideas[,] Values[, and] Attitudes -Behavior patterns

have

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Defined*... Adding to the already sizable number of definitions, we will define the concept of culture as "everything that people _____, think, and do as members of a society." This definition can be instructive because the three verbs (_____, think, and do) correspond to the three major components of culture. That is, everything that people _____ refers to material possessions; everything that people think refers to the things they carry around in their heads, such as ideas, values, and attitudes; and everything that people do refers to behavior patterns.

think

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Defined*... Adding to the already sizable number of definitions, we will define the concept of culture as "everything that people have, _____, and do as members of a society." This definition can be instructive because the three verbs (have, _____, and do) correspond to the three major components of culture. That is, everything that people have refers to material possessions; everything that people _____ refers to the things they carry around in their heads, such as ideas, values, and attitudes; and everything that people do refers to behavior patterns.

do

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Defined*... Adding to the already sizable number of definitions, we will define the concept of culture as "everything that people have, think, and _____ as members of a society." This definition can be instructive because the three verbs (have, think, and _____) correspond to the three major components of culture. That is, everything that people have refers to material possessions; everything that people think refers to the things they carry around in their heads, such as ideas, values, and attitudes; and everything that people _____ refers to behavior patterns.

civilization

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Defined*... Another popular misunderstanding involves the confusion between culture and _____... Although all _____s are cultures, not all cultures are _____s. The concept of _____, as used by anthropologists, refers to a specific type of culture that first appeared around 5,500 years ago in the Fertile Crescent (present-day Iraq). _____s are essentially cultures that have developed cities. Based largely on the definition of archaeologist V. Gordon Childe (1936), _____s (or urban societies) are characterized by traits such as monumental architecture, centralized (hierarchical) governments, fully efficient food production systems, and writing... modern anthropologists do not use the term _____ to designate a superior type of cultures. ---------- *Definition* _____ - A term used by anthropologists to describe any society that has cities.

race

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Defined*... In everyday usage[,] the term _____ often is used as a synonym for culture. But anthropologists consider these to be two different concepts. A _____ is an interbreeding population whose members share a number of important physical traits with one another, such as blood types, eye color and shape, skin color, and hair texture, to mention just a few... By way of contrast, culture refers to our nonbiological and nongenetic characteristics.

have, think, do

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Defined*... Over the past century, anthropologists have formulated a number of definitions of the concept of culture... Adding to the already sizable number of definitions, we will define the concept of culture as "everything that people ___1___, ___2___, and ___3___ as members of a society." This definition can be instructive because the three verbs (___1___, ___2___, and ___3___) correspond to the three major components of culture. That is, everything that people ___1___ refers to material possessions; everything that people ___2___ refers to the things they carry around in their heads, such as ideas, values, and attitudes; and everything that people ___3___ refers to behavior patterns. Thus, all cultures are composed of material objects; ideas, values, and attitudes; and patterned ways of behaving (see Figure 2.3). Although we compartmentalize these components of culture, we should not conclude that they are unrelated.

symbol

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Defined*... Perhaps the most fundamental aspect of culture, and what makes humans unique in the animal world, is the capacity to _____ize. A _____ is something that stands for (represents) something else... As Leslie White (1959) stated so eloquently more than half a century ago, the ability to _____ize is the single most important hallmark of humanity... *Cultures Change*... *Linked Changes*... *Table 2.1: Features of the Concept of Culture*... Culture is _____ic - The capacity to use such _____s as language and art (which is the hallmark of humanity) enables people to better understand the world around them. ---------- *Definition* _____ - Something, either verbal or nonverbal, that stands for something else... *Class 3 - Concepts of Culture Part 1*... *Anthropology: "Binocular" field* -One eye on empirical behavior... -One eye on decoding the meanings --Culture as a _____ --Shared understandings... *Class 4 (1-23-20)* *_____s* 1. Something that conventionally stands for (represents) something else, either verbal or nonverbal 2. The ability to _____ize is the single most important hallmark of humanity. 3. Assists in the capacity to create and give meaning to things and experiences. =-Help us make categories 4. Helps people identify, sort, and classify things, ideas, and behaviors. =-Think about a cross. Think about the idea of the flag when we pledge allegiance to it growing up. The flag, as a _____, represents liberty and the unity we have made in America. Patriotism/pride, democracy, freedom. These are positive but they could be negative, like racism, war, terrorism, systemic oppression. This _____ can have multiple meanings to different people because they are "multi-vocal", they say multiple things / have multiple interpretations. The relation between the _____ and the meaning is arbitrary and that's why it's possible for different interpretations. It's not that one individual feels that way, many people as a collective must understand it that way. =-Single most used _____ is language. _____s are critically important for understanding social life. 5. Allows the ability to store collective wisdom of past generations, which can help prevent repeating mistakes of the past. =We are _____ic creatures as humans

body

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Influences Biological Processes*... *Our Bodies and Culture* The nonmaterial aspects of our culture, such as ideas, values, and attitudes, can have an appreciable effect on the human _____... Even our _____ shape is related to a large extent to our cultural ideas... Altering the _____ for aesthetic purposes (what is known euphemistically as "plastic surgery") has become increasingly widespread in U.S. culture over the last decade... In South Korea, which is ranked number one for most plastic surgery procedures conducted per capita, a high school graduation gift for some teenagers is a nose job or eyelid surgery...

Biological

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Influences _____ Processes* Human existence, by its nature, is biocultural - that is, the product of both _____ and cultural factors... *Cultures Change*... *Linked Changes*... *Table 2.1: Features of the Concept of Culture*... Culture influences ______ processes - Our bodies and _____ processes are influenced by culture... *Summary*... 4. Certain aspects of culture - such as ideas, beliefs, and values - can affect our physical bodies and our _____ processes. More specifically, certain culturally produced ideas concerning physical beauty can influence the ways in which people alter their bodies.

enculturation

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Is Learned* Culture is not transmitted genetically. Rather, it is acquired through the process of learning or interacting with one's cultural environment. This process of acquiring culture after we are born is called _____. We acquire our culture (ideas, values, and behavior patterns) by growing up in it... *Summary*... 3. Rather than being inborn, culture is acquired through a learning process that anthropologists call _____. People in different cultures learn different things, but there is no evidence to suggest that people in some cultures learn more efficiently than do people in other cultures. ---------- *Definition* _____ - The process by which human infants learn their culture... *Class 4 (1-23-20)*... *Culture is Learned* -Culture is acquired through the process of learning or interacting with one's cultural environment. -Acquiring culture after we are born is called _____.

Content

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Is Learned*... *Learning Different _____* Even though there is an enormous range of variation in cultural behavior throughout the world, all people acquire their culture by the same process... The study of comparative cultures has taught us that people in different cultures learn different cultural _____ (attitudes, values, ideas, and behavioral patterns) and that they accomplish this with similar efficiency... In short, people learn (with relatively equal efficiency) what they need to know to best adapt to their environment). Some degree of learning is nearly universal among all animals.

Instincts

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Is Learned*... *Learning versus _____* During the first half of the twentieth century, psychologists and other social scientists tended to explain human behavior in terms of various _____ or genetically based propensities... Today the discipline of anthropology has dismissed this type of biological determinism. Instead, through acknowledging the role of biology, most social scientists support the notions that humans are born with little predetermined behavior.

mainstream culture, subculture

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Is Shared*... In larger, highly complex societies, such as the United States or Canada, one is likely to find a number of subcultural groups in addition to the ___1___. The use of the terms ___2___ and ___1___ should in no way imply that ___2___s are inferior or any less worthy of study. Rather, ___2___s are subsets of the wider culture.

pluralistic societies

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Is Shared*... Many societies, such as Canada and the United States, are called _____ because they are composed of a number of subcultural groups. _____ are not without their difficulties. When different subcultural groups operate with different sets of values and behaviors, misunderstandings (or outright hostilities) are always possible. ---------- *Definition* _____ - Societies composed of a number of different cultural or subcultural groups.

subculture

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Is Shared*... The use of the terms _____ and mainstream culture should in no way imply that _____s are inferior or any less worthy of study. Rather, _____s are subsets of the wider culture. They share a number of cultural features with the mainstream [culture], but they retain a certain level of cultural uniqueness that sets them apart. ---------- *Definition* _____ - A subdivision of a national culture that shares some features with the larger society and also differs in some important respects.

mainstream culture

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Is Shared*... The use of the terms subculture and _____ should in no way imply that subcultures are inferior or any less worthy of study. Rather, subcultures are subsets of the wider culture.

culture shock

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Is Shared*... When we step outside our familiar cultural setting - where meanings are not shared with other people - misunderstandings occur. In fact, the uncertainty one experiences when trying to operate in an unfamiliar culture often leads to _____, a form of psychological distress that can result in depression, overeating, or irritability... ---------- *Definition* _____ - A psychological disorientation experienced when attempting to operate in a radically different cultural environment.

Share

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Is _____d* The last phrase in our working definition - as members of a society - reminds us that culture is a _____d phenomenon... Because people _____ a common culture, they are able to predict, within limits, how others will think and behave... The degree to which people within any given society _____ their culture varies from culture to culture... *Cultures Change*... *Linked Changes*... *Table 2.1: Features of the Concept of Culture*... Culture is _____d - The _____d meanings connected to things, ideas, and behavior patterns make life less ambiguous and more predictable for members of the same cultural group... *Summary*... 2. Culture is something that is _____d by members of the same society. This _____d nature of culture enables people to predict - within broad limits - the behaviors of others in the society. Conversely, people become disoriented when attempting to interact in a culturally different society because they do not _____ the same behavioral expectations as members of that society... *Class 4 (1-23-20)*... *Culture is _____d* -For something to be cultural, it must have a meaning _____d by most people in a society. =-It's not _____d by everybody, hence potential misunderstandings with those the culture isn't _____d with =-Intracultural variation - Variation even within culture; culture does NOT determine our behavior =--Why discomfort happens apparently -When people _____ a culture, they can predict how others will behave. -When we step outside our familiar culture setting - where meanings are not _____d with others - misunderstandings occur. =-Microaggressions are when one person says something offensive to another person but, in the speaker's mind, it's not offensive.and the other person does. different cultures.

Learn

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture Is _____ed*... If we stop to think about it, a great of what we do during our waking hours is _____ed... To be certain, some aspects of our behavior are not _____ed but are genetically based or instinctive... Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of our behavioral responses are the result of complex _____ing processes. *_____ing versus Instincts*... By the beginning of the twenty-first century, it is safe to say that, as a discipline, anthropology has taken a strong stand in favor of the _____ (rather than biological) nature of human behavior... *Cultures Change*... *Linked Changes*... *Table 2.1: Features of the Concept of Culture*... Culture is _____ - Culture is transmitted not genetically but through interacting with one's cultural environment.

influences, determines

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture and the Individual* Throughout this chapter we have used the term culture to refer to everything that people have, think, and do as members of a society... Our cultures exert a powerful influence on our conduct, often without our even being aware of it. However, to assert that culture ___1___ our behavior is hardly the same as asserting that it ___2___ our behavior.

ideal behavior

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture and the Individual*... ...cultural anthropologists distinguish between _____ (what people are expected to do or what they say they do) and real behavior (what people actually do).

real behavior

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture and the Individual*... ...cultural anthropologists distinguish between ideal behavior (what people are expected to do or what they say they do) and _____ (what people actually do).

influences

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture and the Individual*... ...to assert that culture _____ our behavior is hardly the same as asserting that it determines our behavior.

determines

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture and the Individual*... ...to assert that culture influences our behavior is hardly the same as asserting that it _____ our behavior.

ideal behavior, real behavior

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture and the Individual*... People sometimes choose to go against cultural convention for a number of reasons... Whatever the reason, the fact remains that social norms rarely, if ever, receive total compliance. For this reason, cultural anthropologists distinguish between ___1___ (what people are expected to do or what they say they do) and ___2___ (what people actually do).

adaptively neutral

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture is Adaptive and Maladaptive*... The notion that culture is adaptive should not lead us to the conclusion that every aspect of a culture is adaptive. It is possible for some features to be _____, neither enhancing nor diminishing the capacity of a people to survive. Moreover it is even possible for some features of a culture to be maladaptive.

Maladaptive, adaptively neutral

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture is Adaptive and ___1___*... Culture provides humans with enormous adaptive advantage over all other forms of life... The notion that culture is adaptive should not lead us to the conclusion that every aspect of a culture is adaptive. It is possible for some features to be ___2___... Moreover it is even possible for some features of a culture to be ___1___... An understanding of the adaptive nature of culture is further complicated by its relativity. What is adaptive in one culture may be ___1___ or ___2___ in another culture.

Maladaptive

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture is Adaptive and _____*... The notion that culture is adaptive should not lead us to the conclusion that every aspect of a culture is adaptive. It is possible for some features to be adaptively neutral... Moreover it is even possible for some features of a culture to be _____ or dysfunctional... *Class 5 (1-28-20)*... *Culture: Adaptive and _____*... -Some features of a culture may be _____: --The use of automobiles coupled with industrial pollutants is destroying the air.

monochronic

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture is Taken for Granted*... Anthropologist Edward T. Hall devoted much of his career to the study of time across cultures... Hall distinguished between two fundamentally different ways of dealing with time: _____ally and polychronically. People from _____ cultures - such as the United States, Germany, and Switzerland - view time in a linear fashion, prefer to do one thing at a time, place a high value on punctuality, and keep precise schedules... Although North Americans have been traditionally _____, the information technology (IT) revolution in recent decades turned many people in the United States and Canada into multitaskers... So, multitaskers beware! Doing two or more tasks at once is associated with (1) spending more, not less, time, and (2) decreasing the quality as well as quantity of the work product. ---------- *Definition* _____ cultures - Cultures in which people view time in a linear fashion, place great importance on punctuality and keeping on schedule, and prefer to work on one task at a time.

polychronic

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture is Taken for Granted*... Anthropologist Edward T. Hall devoted much of his career to the study of time across cultures... Hall distinguished between two fundamentally different ways of dealing with time: monochronically and _____ally... ...[Some] cultures tend to be _____ cultures, preferred to do many things at the same time... Their de-emphasis on schedules and punctuality should not be interpreted as being lazy. Rather, owning to their cultural values, they choose to place greater worth on social relationships instead of completing a particular task on time. ---------- *Definition* _____ cultures - Cultures in which people typically perform a number of tasks at the same time and place a higher value on nurturing and maintaining social relationships than on punctuality for its own sake... *Class 4 (1-23-20)*... *Monochronic and _____ Culture*... =-Time is seen as more cyclical and flexible

monochronic, polychronic

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture is Taken for Granted*... Culture is so embedded in our psyche that we frequently take it for granted... Learning not to take our own culture for granted is the best way to combat ethnocentrism. Perhaps an example of taking one's culture for granted will be helpful. Anthropologist Edward T. Hall devoted much of his career to the study of time across cultures... Hall distinguished between two fundamentally different ways of dealing with time: ___1___ally and ___2___ally... How we deal with time varies greatly from culture to culture... *Class 4 (1-23-20)*... *___1___ and ___2___ Culture*... =Should be a "style" as opposed to a rule. We don't talk about these much in anthropology because they're old fashioned. =If you take this sort of dichotomy and don't take it as rigid and more of a statistical likelihood, it can be a very interesting thing.

adaptive

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Culture is _____ and Maladaptive* Culture represents the major way by which human populations adapt or relate to their environments so that they can continue to reproduce and survive... Because humans rely much more heavily on cultural adaptation than on biological adaptation, we are enormously flexible in our ability to survive and thrive in a wide variety of natural environments. Because of the _____ nature of culture, people are now able to live in many previously uninhabitable places, such as deserts, the polar regions..., under the sea, and even in outer space... *Linked Changes*... *Table 2.1: Features of the Concept of Culture*... Culture is _____ - Culture enables people to adapt to their environments and thus increase their chances of survival. ---------- *Definition* _____ nature of culture - The implication that culture is the major way human populations adapt or relate to their specific habitat to survive and reproduce... *Class 3 - Concepts of Culture Part 1*... *Anthropology: "Binocular" field* -One eye on empirical behavior --Culture as... adaptation -One eye on decoding the meanings... *Class 5 (1-28-20)*... *Culture is _____* -Culture enables humans to adapt to the most hostile climates, as illustrated by a colony of scientists living at this research station in Antarctic.

organic analogy

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Are Generally Integrated* To suggest that all cultures share a certain number of universal characteristics is not to imply that cultures comprise a laundry list of norms, values, and material objects. Instead, cultures should be thought of as integrated wholes, the parts of which, to some degree, are interconnected with one another. When we view cultures as integrated systems, we can begin to see how particular culture traits fit into the whole system and, consequently, how they tend to make sense within that context... One way of describing this integrated nature of cultures is by using the _____ made popular by some of the early functionalist anthropologists, most notably Herbert Spencer and Bronislaw Malinowski. This approach makes the analogy between a culture and a living organism such as the human body... Although the _____ (layered like an onion or cogs in a gear box) is a useful model for looking at culture, it should not lead us to believe that all parts of a culture are intimately interconnected with all other parts... ...cultures, like machines, often have parts that are out of sync and detract from the well-being of the whole. And yet the culture, or the machine, does not come to a grinding halt. There are, in other words, parts of culture that may not be mutually supportive, or may even be in conflict with one another. For example, the goals of a family are not always compatible with those of the workplace. Moreover, within the workplace itself, there are built-in conflicts between labor (interested in maximizing wages) and management (interested in maximizing profits). ---------- *Definition* _____ - The early functionalist idea that cultural systems are integrated into a whole cultural unit in much the same way that the various parts of a biological organism (such as a respiratory system or a circulatory system) function to maintain the health of the organism.

cultural relativism

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Are Generally Integrated*... *Cultural Interconnections* The concept of integrated cultures is directly related to the concept of _____..., which involves viewing any item from within its proper cultural context rather than from the perspective of the observer's culture.

Integrated

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Are Generally _____*... *Cultural Interconnections* In the same way that human organisms comprise various parts that are both functional and interrelated, so too do cultures... Thus, we can speak of cultures as being logical and coherent systems. The _____ nature of cultures enables anthropologists to explain certain sociocultural facts on the basis of other sociocultural facts. When we say that cultures are _____, we are suggesting that many parts not only are connected to one another but in fact influence one another... The notion of _____ cultures has important implications for our understanding of culture change. If the parts of any given culture are _____, then we might expect that a change in one part of the cultural system will bring about changes in other parts of the system. To illustrate, since Coca-Cola was introduced into the southern Mexican state of Chipas in the 1950s, the soft drink has influenced (that is, stimulated changes in) a number of other features of the local culture... Over the decades[,] other cultural changes related to health and the environment have ensued related to Coca-Cola consumption, which became important for applied anthropologists and other practitioners to consider... *Cultures Change*... *Linked Changes*... *Table 2.1: Features of the Concept of Culture*... Cultures are _____ - The various parts of a culture (that is, things, ideas, and behavior patterns) are interconnected to some degree. Thus, a change in one part of the culture is likely to bring about changes in other parts of the culture... *Summary*... 7. A culture is more than the sum of its parts. Rather, a culture should be seen as an _____ system with its parts interrelated to some degree. This cultural integration has important implications for the process of culture change because a change in one part of the system is likely to bring about changes in other parts.

internal, external

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change* Cultural change is brought about by both ___1___ and ___2___ factors... ...it is important to examine both processes of change in greater detail.

internal

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change* Cultural change is brought about by both _____ and external factors. _____ factors include inventions and innovations...

external

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change* Cultural change is brought about by both internal and _____ factors... ..._____ factors include cultural diffusion (spreading) between cultures.

future shock

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change* One need not be a scholar of cultural change to notice that cultures have been changing more rapidly with each passing decade... In 1970 Alvin Toffler coined the term _____, which he defined as the psychological disorientation resulting from living in a cultural environment that is changing so rapidly that people feel they are constantly living in the future. In the second decade of a new millennium, Toffler's notion of _____ rings truer than ever before.

contact, integration, similarities

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change*... *Cultural Diffusion*... *Diffusion Is Affected by Other Important Variables* These variables include the duration and intensity of ___1___, the degree of cultural ___2___, and the ___3___ between the donor and recipient cultures.

contact

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change*... *Cultural Diffusion*... *Diffusion Is Affected by Other Important Variables* These variables include the duration and intensity of _____, the degree of cultural integration, and the similarities between the donor and recipient cultures.

integration

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change*... *Cultural Diffusion*... *Diffusion Is Affected by Other Important Variables* These variables include the duration and intensity of contact, the degree of cultural _____, and the similarities between the donor and recipient cultures.

similarities

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change*... *Cultural Diffusion*... *Diffusion Is Affected by Other Important Variables* These variables include the duration and intensity of contact, the degree of cultural integration, and the _____ between the donor and recipient cultures.

material culture

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change*... *Cultural Diffusion*... *Some Parts of Culture Are More Likely to Diffuse than Others* As a general rule, items of _____ are more likely candidates for diffusion than are ideas or behavior patterns.

Selective, Reciprocal Process, May Be Modified, Some Parts... [of Culture] Are More Likely to Diffuse than Others, Other Important Variables

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change*... *Cultural Diffusion*... Because diffusion plays such a prominent role in cultural change, it is appropriate to examine this process in some detail. Even though cultural diffusion varies from situation to situation, a number of generalizations about the process are worth mentioning. *The Process of Diffusion Is ___1___*... *Diffusion Is a Two-Way, ___2___*... *Cultural Elements ___3___*... *___4___*... *Diffusion Is Affected by ___5___*

acculturation, assimilation

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change*... *Cultural Diffusion*... Before we leave the topic of cultural diffusion, it is important to distinguish between it and two related terms that anthropologists use: ___1___ and ___2___.

acculturation

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change*... *Cultural Diffusion*... Before we leave the topic of cultural diffusion, it is important to distinguish between it and two related terms that anthropologists use: _____ and assimilation. The concepts of diffusion and _____ have some things in common. In fact, _____ is a special type of diffusion that takes place as a result of sustained contact between two societies, one of which is subordinate to the other. Thus, both diffusion and _____ involve cultural change as a result of contact with another group. But whereas diffusion involves a single trait or a complex set of traits, _____ occurs as part of a group's adjustment to living within another more dominant culture. As some might say, _____ is the process whereby people learn another culture while maintaining their own cultural identity in their new setting or home... *Summary*... 10. _____ is a specialized form of cultural diffusion that involves forced borrowing under external pressure. ---------- *Definition* _____ - A process by which a less dominant culture group adjusts (learns) to live within a dominant culture while at the same time maintaining their cultural identity.

assimilation

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change*... *Cultural Diffusion*... Before we leave the topic of cultural diffusion, it is important to distinguish between it and two related terms that anthropologists use: acculturation and _____... _____... occurs when a less dominant group changes its ways to blend in with the dominant culture. In the _____ process[,] people abandon or modify their cultural practices and adopt those beliefs and practices of the dominant population... ...whatever form it takes, _____ generally is forced, borrowing under conditions of external pressure. ---------- *Definition* _____ - The process by which a less dominant cultural group changes in ways to blend into the beliefs and practices of the dominant culture.

Other Important Variables

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change*... *Cultural Diffusion*... Even though cultural diffusion varies from situation to situation, a number of generalizations about the process are worth mentioning. *The Process of Diffusion Is Selective*... *Diffusion Is a Two-Way, Reciprocal Process*... *Cultural Elements May Be Modified*... *Some Parts... [of Culture] Are More Likely to Diffuse than Others*... *Diffusion Is Affected by _____* These variables include the duration and intensity of contact, the degree of cultural integration, and the similarities between the donor and recipient cultures.

Some Parts... [of Culture] Are More Likely to Diffuse than Others

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change*... *Cultural Diffusion*... Even though cultural diffusion varies from situation to situation, a number of generalizations about the process are worth mentioning. *The Process of Diffusion Is Selective*... *Diffusion Is a Two-Way, Reciprocal Process*... *Cultural Elements May Be Modified*... *_____* As a general rule, items of material culture are more likely candidates for diffusion than are ideas or behavior patterns... *Diffusion Is Affected by Other Important Variables*

May Be Modified

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change*... *Cultural Diffusion*... Even though cultural diffusion varies from situation to situation, a number of generalizations about the process are worth mentioning. *The Process of Diffusion Is Selective*... *Diffusion Is a Two-Way, Reciprocal Process*... *Cultural Elements _____* Once a cultural element is accepted into a new culture, it may undergo changes in form or function. Pizza is a good example of how a cultural item can change form as it diffuses... Sometimes the reinterpretation process involves a change in the way an item is used... *Some Parts... [of Culture] Are More Likely to Diffuse than Others*... *Diffusion Is Affected by Other Important Variables*

Reciprocal Process

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change*... *Cultural Diffusion*... Even though cultural diffusion varies from situation to situation, a number of generalizations about the process are worth mentioning. *The Process of Diffusion Is Selective*... *Diffusion Is a Two-Way, _____* We should not assume that cultural items diffuse only from technologically complex societies to simpler societies. The anthropological record from many parts of the world clearly shows that cultural traits are diffused in both directions... *Cultural Elements May Be Modified*... *Some Parts... [of Culture] Are More Likely to Diffuse than Others*... *Diffusion Is Affected by Other Important Variables*

Selective

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change*... *Cultural Diffusion*... Even though cultural diffusion varies from situation to situation, a number of generalizations about the process are worth mentioning. *The Process of Diffusion Is _____* When two cultures come into contact, they do not exchange every cultural item. If that were the case, there would be no cultural differences in the world today. Instead, only a small number of cultural elements are ever diffused from one culture to another. Which cultural item is accepted depends largely on the item's use and compatibility with already existing cultural traits... *Diffusion Is a Two-Way, Reciprocal Process*... *Cultural Elements May Be Modified*... *Some Parts... [of Culture] Are More Likely to Diffuse than Others*... *Diffusion Is Affected by Other Important Variables*

Taken for Granted

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change*... *Linked Changes*... *Table 2.1: Features of the Concept of Culture*... Culture is _____ - Our own culture is so ingrained in us that we are often unaware that it even exists... *Class 4 (1-23-20)*... *Culture is _____* -Culture is deeply embedded in our psyche. -How we act and what we think are often habitual.

Linked Changes

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change*... *_____* In the previous section, we introduced the ideas that cultures are more than the sum of their parts... If cultures truly are integrated wholes, it would follow that a change in one part of the culture would be likely to bring about changes in other parts. In other words, most changes that occur in cultures tend to be _____. The introduction of a single technological innovation may well set off a series of changes in other parts of the culture. An example of linked cultural changes is the boom in cell phone usage that has occurred throughout the world. ---------- *Definition* _____ - Changes in one part of a culture brought about by changes in other parts of the culture.

cultural diffusion

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change*... ...external factors include _____ (spreading) between cultures... _____ is responsible for the greatest amount of cultural change... *_____* In addition to changing as a result of inventions and discoveries, cultures change through the process of _____: the spreading of a thing, an idea, or a behavior pattern from one culture to another... *Summary*... 9. _____ is selective, it is a two-way process, it is likely to involve changes in form or function, some cultural items are more likely candidates for _____ than are others, and it is affected by other important variables. ---------- *Definition* _____ - The spreading of a cultural trait (that is, a material object, idea, or behavior pattern) from one society to another.

invention, innovation

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change*... Internal factors include ___1___s and ___2___s...

invention

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change*... Internal factors include _____s and innovations... *_____s and Innovations* Any new thing, idea, or behavior pattern that emerges from within a society is an _____ or an innovation. Some _____s are deliberate and purposeful, whereas others are unconscious and unintentional... The unconscious or accidental inventor contributes to cultural change without being driven by an unmet societal need or even realizing that she or he is making a contribution... These numerous unintentional inventors sometimes go unnoticed and unrewarded, even though they may be making a significant cumulative contribution to their culture... Sometimes _____s occur as a result of a person simply following his or her chosen profession of inventor. ---------- *Definition* _____ - A new combination of existing cultural features.

innovation

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures Change*... Internal factors include inventions and _____s... *Inventions and _____s* Any new thing, idea, or behavior pattern that emerges from within a society is an invention or an _____. ---------- *Definition* _____ - A change brought about by the recombination of already existing items within a culture.

Change

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *Cultures _____* Thus far we have presented culture as a combination of things, ideas, and behavior patterns transmitted from generation to generation through the process of learning... And yet a fundamental principle underlying all cultures is that there is nothing as constant as _____. Some cultures - those that remain relatively insulated from the global economy - _____ quite slowly, whereas _____ occurs more rapidly for others. Despite the wide variation in the speed with which cultures _____, one thing is certain: No culture remains completely static year after year, as we saw in the previous Chiapas, Mexico, Coca-Cola example... Cultural _____ occurs at such an accelerated pace today that it is often difficult to keep up with the latest developments... In a real sense, any ethnographic description of a specific group of people is like a snapshot at one particular time... *Linked _____s*... *Table 2.1: Features of the Concept of Culture*... Cultures _____ - The things, ideas, and behavior patterns of some cultures _____ more rapidly than others, but all cultures experience _____, both internally and externally... *Summary*... 8. Cultures - and their three basic components of things, ideas, and behavior patterns - are constantly experiencing _____. Although the pace of culture _____ varies from society to society, no culture is totally static. Cultures _____ internally (innovation) and by borrowing from other cultures (diffusion)... 11. Because the parts of a culture are to some degree interrelated, a _____ in one part is likely to bring about _____s in other parts. This insight from cultural anthropology should be of paramount importance to applied anthropologists, who are often involved directly or indirectly with planned programs of cultural _____.

Cultural Universals

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *_____* Since the early twentieth century, hundreds of cultural anthropologists have described the wide variety of cultures found in the contemporary world... This vast documentation of culturally different ways of behaving has been essential to our understanding of the human condition. The significant number of cultural differences illustrates how flexible and adaptable humans are in comparison with other animals because each culture has developed its own set of solutions to the universal human problems facing all societies... Thus, it is important to bear in mind that despite their many differences, all cultures of the world share a number of common features (_____) because they have all worked out solutions to the whole series of problems that face all human societies... *Cultures Change*... *Linked Changes*... *Table 2.1: Features of the Concept of Culture*... _____ - Despite variations in specific details, all cultures have certain common features such as systems of governing, patterns of producing and distributing food, forms of enculturation, and family members... *Summary*... 5. Although cultures throughout the world vary considerably, certain common features (_____) are found in all cultures. Cultural anthropology - the scientific study of cultures - looks at both similarities and differences in human cultures wherever they may be found. ---------- *Definition* _____ - Those general cultural traits found in all societies of the world.

New Twenty-First-Century Tools for the Study of Cultures

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture*... *_____* (New Twenty-First-Century Tools for the Study of Cultures) In the previous chapter we mentioned how the process of globalization... has intensified the interconnectedness of the various peoples of the world in the last three decades... But it is important to end this chapter by discussing briefly how this recent revolution in information technology has developed exciting new tools for the study of ethnography (descriptions of individual cultures), ethnology (analysis of cultural comparisons), and culture change. The internet has provided easy access for hundreds of (keyword) databases that enable anyone from professional anthropologists to third graders to access specific cultural data suitable for analysis... Although space does not permit a complete survey of these new tools for the study of culture, we will consider one recent development that could vastly facilitate our understanding of cultural variability as well as how and to what extent cultures change over time. In 2010, Google made available a free online data bank (and accompanying searching tools) comprised of words and short phrases, which was generated by digitizing 5.2 million books published between 1508 and 2009 in English, French, Spanish, German, Chinese, and Russian... Developed by Google Labs, this research tool, called Ngram, allows anyone to string together up to five words, and within several seconds, see a graph that charts how often each term is used in print over time... Not only can Ngram transform our understanding of language and language change, but it can also track a wide range of other features of culture as well as the flow of ideas... Although the Ngram Viewer is too recent an innovation to assess its true significance as an anthropological research tool, it does show enormous potential for testing hypothesis about cultural features, culture change, and the ebb and flow of human ideas... *Summary*... 13. With the vast changes in information technology over the past thirty years, a number of powerful tools (such as AnthroSource and Ngram) have been developed that greatly facilitate the study of culture, culture change, and the flow of ideas from one part of the world to another.

Culture

*Cultural Anthropology - Applied Perspective*... *Chapter 2: The Concept of _____*... Although the term _____ is used by most of the social sciences today, over the years it has received its most precise and comprehensive definition from the discipline of anthropology... Our discussion of the concept of _____ in this chapter will examine such topics as how anthropologists define _____, how _____ is acquired, the relationship between _____ and biology, cultural universals, and how _____ changes over time. *_____ Defined* In nonscientific usage, the term _____ refers to personal refinements such as classical music, the fine arts, world philosophy, and gourmet cuisine... An inescapable conclusion from studying cultural anthropology is that there are an enormous number of discrete societies with their own unique _____s. Just how many distinct _____s there are depends largely on how one defines the term _____, an issue on which there is no absolute consensus among anthropologists. Many scholars equate the number of discrete _____s with the number of mutually unintelligible languages... But in addition to linguistic differences, there are literally hundreds of cultural features that vary from one society to another, including ideas, values, ideologies, religions, material objects, and behavior patterns... *_____s Change*... *Linked Changes*... *Table 2.1: Features of the Concept of _____* _____ defined - _____ is everything that people have, think, and do as members of a society... *Summary* 1. For the purposes of this book, we have defined the term _____ as everything that people have, think, and do as members of a society... 6. _____s function to help people adapt to their environments and consequently increase their chances for survival. It is also possible for _____s to negatively alter or even destroy their environments... 12. Although _____ exerts considerable influence on a person's thoughts and behaviors, it does not determine them... *Class 3 - Concepts of _____ Part 1*... *Cultural Anthropology* -...Looks at society and _____... -_____ is the learned behaviors and symbols that allow people to live in groups, and works together in organizations... *Class 3 - Concepts of _____ Part 1*... -Anthropology relies on the concept of _____ to explain the diversity of human ways of life. -_____ --Patterns of learned behavior and ideas that human beings acquire as members of society, together with the material artifacts and structures humans create and use. --Human beings use _____ to adapt and to transform the world in which they live. =There are many definitions of _____, all of which overlap *Understanding _____* -A dynamic, symbolically based system through which people construct and enact meaning. A learned system of meanings communicated by natural language and symbols. =-Provides a framework for three really important things =--Helps us participate in a particular sense of reality; helps us understand ontology; what's real... =--Helps us organize ourselves in relation to those real things. =--Also helps tell us how we should feel about it. -_____ allows groups of people to construct a particular sense of reality by providing representational, directive, and affective frameworks.