Cultural Anthropology
What is Culture?
What is culture? a societies shared and socially transmitted ideas, values, and perceptions which
are used to make sense of experience, which generates behaviors.
What is meant by the statement “culture is learned and taught?” Stories told in culture teach
moral lessons to kids. Fables are what is taught when it comes to dangerous situations.
Tales/Folktales are a way of communication from one generation to another or one culture to
another. Give a representation through art of what individuals in that culture have been through
and what lessons they want to teach.
What is meant by the statement “culture is shared, yet contested?” No individual has his or her
own culture. Culture is a shared experience developed as a result of living as a member of a
group. Although culture is shared by members of groups, it is also constantly contested,
negotiated and changing.
What are norms? Rules defining appropriate and inappropriate behaviors.
Provide some examples of norms: Saying “thank you” for favors. Holding the door open for
another individual. Asking how someone is doing. Be an active listener.
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Cultural Anthropology
What is Culture?
What are values? The ideas, beliefs, and attitudes about what is important that help you guide
your way of live.
Provide some examples of values: Honarable (worthy of respect), virtuous (having excellent
morals/righteous), honesty, integrity, acceptance.
What are symbols? Symbols are signs, emblems, and/or other things that are arbitrary but
represent something in a meaningful way.
Provide some examples of symbols: Language (how one communicates) . Double Air kissing
(big in European countries) Forms of dancing in other cultures, sign language.
What are mental maps of reality? Mental maps are a way of combining our objective knowledge
of places in addition to our subjective perceptions, or opinions, of locations around the world.
What is ethnocentrism? Attitude based on the idea that one’s group or culture is better than any
other.
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Cultural Anthropology
What is Culture?
What is cultural relativism? Idea that cultures cannot be objectively understood since all humans
see the world through the lens of their own culture. Emphasizes understanding culture from an
“insiders’ perspective”.
Who is Henry Lewis Morgan and how did he influence the field of Anthropology? Lewis Henry
Morgan is known as a pioneer of anthropology, the study of human societies, cultures and how
they develop. He was especially interested in ideas about kinship, classifying and defining family
relationships. Different societies do this in different ways.
What is British Structural functionalism? An approach to anthropology developed in British
anthropology that emphasized the way that parts of a society work together to support
functioning of the whole.
Who is Clifford Geertz and how did he influence the field of Anthropology? Founding member
of postmodernist anthropology. Stated that culture is an historically transmitted pattern of
meaning embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms
by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and their
attitudes towards life."
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Cultural Anthropology
What is Culture?
What is ‘thick description?’ a way of providing cultural context and meaning that people place
on actions, words, things, etc. Thick descriptions provide enough context so that a person outside
the culture can make meaning of the behavior.
How do we define power? Represents the ability to transform a given situation.
What is stratification? A system of inequality based on ranking people or groups based on
power, prestige, or wealth.
What is material power? Material power looks at things to define power. This power can be
defined as national industrial strength, education level, and size of population.
What is hegemony? leadership or dominance, especially by one country or social group over
others:
What is human agency? Agency refers to the thoughts and actions taken by people that express
their individual power.
Name some individuals that have influenced American society: Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks,
Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein, Susan B. Anthony
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Cultural Anthropology
What is Culture?
Biology vs. Culture debate: Are the differences between men and women purely biological? Sex
refers to biological differences between males and females. Gender refers to the cultural
differences expected by (society/culture) of men and women according to sex.
How has the consumer culture influenced American society? Consumer culture can be broadly
defined as a culture where social status, values, and activities are centered on the purchase and
consumption of goods and services. Innovations in technology, more credit, and more jobs are all
reasons consumer culture influenced American society.
How has the advertising industry influenced American culture? Advertising has infused
American Culture with mass images and ideas, creating a nation of consumers and shaping how
people view themselves and others.
How has the credit card industry influenced American culture? Credit cards have brought
convenience to those who use them. They also changed the way people both spend and save
money which brought changes to the economy.
What is the homogenizing affect? Cultural homogenization is an aspect of cultural globalization,
listed as one of its main characteristics, and refers to the reduction in cultural diversity through
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Cultural Anthropology
What is Culture?
the popularization and diffusion of a wide array of cultural symbols—not only physical objects
but customs, ideas, and values.
What is migration and two-way transference? The movement of people in large numbers within
and across national boundaries associated with contemporary globalization reveals that cultures
are not necessarily bound to a particular geographic location. People migrate with their cultural
beliefs and practices.
What is increasing cosmopolitanism? Increasing Cosmopolitanism, the increasing flow of
people, ideas, and products that has allowed worldwide access to cultural patterns that are new,
innovative, and stimulating.
This assignment was completed by Andrew Payton on February 13, 2023 at 9:53 am for
Anthropology 102.
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