society (4)
-groups of people
-separated from surrounding populations
-occupy a specific area
-share a culture that can be subdivided
power
the power to get people to do what you want, even without consent
anthropology
the study of humans, past and present
cultural anthropology focuses on
-how people around the world organize and govern themselves
Dahmer family
successful blacks attacked by KKK because they allowed black voter registration in their house/store
inequality
a system where individuals can gain more power, prestige, influence, or wealth than others
elite
the people benefiting from inequality
holism
attempts to understand a society as a whole, rather than aspects of it (i.e., economy)
ethnography
book/article/film that makes an anthropological description/analysis of a particular culture
Ethnographies are generally based on
fieldwork
participant observation
anthropological research method spent living among the people whose culture is being studied
ethnocentrism
judging the members of another culture by the standards of one's own (as obviously the best)
culture
the learned behavior patterns shatred by a group of people
a society's culture includes
all that the society produces (ideas & things)
fieldwork
process of studying a particular group's way of life by living with them
exploitation
using other people/their resources for one's own benefit w/o ensuring equal benefits
cultural determination
how a human's behavior is controlled by their culture
The process of societal option setting is called
cultural determination
class marker
behavior/consumption patterns/display of objects that identify someone as being a member of a class
means of production
resources used in the process of production
you need a job because
the means of production are not available to most people
social construction of reality
-way of understanding that recognizes that people's behavior makes what is real in this world
-basic to the social organization of all societies
Thomas Theorem
if enough people believe something is real, it can have real consequences, even if it is a flat-out lie
The Thomas Theorem explains the
social construct of reality
infant mortality rate
#/1000 births of children who die before 1
discrimination
action that treats someone differently (usually based on their identity)
cultural univeral
all cultures have elements that meet universal basic needs (i.e., child care/language)
...
...
cultural variation
different cultures meet basic human universal needs in different ways (i.e., child care/language)
collaborator
member of subordinate group who cooperates with dominant group in maintaining control/extracting profits from the subordinate group (i.e., manager in foodservice)
ideology
belief systems that rationalize and legitimatize the distribution of power
blaming the victim
claiming a bad situation is a result of the victim's own actions (avoiding the need to look for social forces which might be causing situation)
class bias (classism)
assumption that how one's own class sees the world and acts is the only natural, correct, and moral way (more exploited are irrational/stupid for acting differently)
2 basic classes
1. those who own resources
2. those who provide labor
hegemony
the dominance of ideas or power structure so powerful and entrenched it goes unchallenged
class
a group of people who have the same relationship to the means of production
professional/managerial class
in a capitalist economy, the section of working class that performs professional/managerial services for capitalist class by managing, training, controlling the rest of the working class
(i.e., manager in foodservice)
double vision
ability resulting from one's subordinate position to see things from both subordinate & dominant point of view
learned ignorance
a lack of knowledge which is fostered to protect the distribution of power in a society
'other'
people defined as being irrevocably different from you and your group
prejudice deals with _____ while discrimination deals with _____
attitudes; actions
all culture is
learned behavior
studying up
focusing on the people who hold power in a situation
social inequality
system whereby certain individuals can gain more power, prestige, influence, or wealth than others
social inequality becomes stratified when
people who gain wealth, power, or prestige through their own efforts gain control of the means of production and can pass their advantages on to their children
state
political entity that has rights over a territory
have monopoly over use of force in territory
exercise power via bureaucracy to control production, collect revenue, enforce laws
What kind of societies are states?
Stratified
Some groups monopolize power, wealth, prestige
expropriation
taking profits/goods away from people who produced
expansionism
state policy trying to annex more territory & supporting ideologies
nearly all states in existence formed this way
nation-state
members of state are all members of same nation
very few today
nation
group who consider themselves to be 'one people'
conquest states
formed via forcible annexation of territory & people outside to expand borders
most modern states (US)
citizenship
legal status of membership in a country
civil rights
rights belonging to full citizens of a state
divide & rule
strategy of getting controlled people to fight each other rather than those controlling them
human rights
rights morally believed to belong to all humans
(right to eat)
labor importation
acquiring workers (legally/illegally) from outside state to work in the state, usually w/ very low wages & w/o granting rights
- contract labor/guest worker programs/temporary work permits/recruitment
(extreme = slavery)
bracero program
Mexican workers recruited from Mexico for ag work, sent back at end of season
internal colonialism
treating section of country/group of people as a colony; what they produce goes to benefit outsiders
disposable labor
health & safety of workers ignored; can be replaced once no longer useful (ill/disabled/dead)
- resource extraction industry (Appalachian coal)
poverty
inability due to lack of resources to participate in society as people IN the society say they should
(Appalachian coal miners w/ bigger wages than their parents)
debt peonage
system of involuntary servitude
employers forcing those who owed money to work debt off
charging high rent and paying low wages extended debt indefinitely
reserve labor force
people in capitalist society w/o jobs who want work
or who work part-time and want full-time work
dying wages
super-exploitation in capitalist economy
people selling labor for extremely low wages
imperialism
provides exploitable places outside state boundaries
What differentiates empires from conquest states?
Conquest states simply expand borders
Empires remain distinct
2 things empires accomplish
Conquered people can be ruled under traditional system (difficult for elite to rouse revolt)
Removes obligation to treat conquered people as equal
capitalism
socio-politico-economic system where
-means of production & distribution are privately owned and operated for profit
-land & labor are commodities that can be bought/sold
aristocrats
in a ranking system, members of families/lineages that
-receive privileges by birth
-inherit rights to positions of power
-usually have control over means of production
colonialism
est.'t of relationship btwn 2 countries, in which colonizing country goes & reorganizes the culture, economy, & resource use of the colonized country in order to extract cheap labor & resources
labor reserve area
section of colonized country where traditional subsistence economy & related aspects of a culture are kept relatively unchanged so that the traditional economy can supplement low wages (families & unneeded workers left behind)
docile labor
people working for a co. who cannot economically/politically/socially afford to object to the policies of the co. or the laws regulating co. policies
neocolonialism
(dependent development)
in a former colony that is politically independent but economically dependent on other more powerful countries guidance of development
organized to ensure conquering capitalist enterprises continue to expropriate labor & resources
peripheral nation
(World system theory analyzes the relationships btwn nations by dividing them into core nations and peripheral nations)
those exploited nations which supply labor & raw materials to core nations
global south
used in place of 'underdeveloped' or '3rd world'
negative implication to refer to parts of the world which have been/continue to be exploited by more powerful nations referred to as the Global North
global apartheid
the idea of 'trickle-down' economics that says the poor will benefit from the rich getting richer, justifying societal disadvantages
used to describe the relationship of powerful countries to less powerful countries
transnational corporation
term now used for multinational corporations, that have become so powerful that they transcend the power of most nations
multinational corporation
co. w/ HQ in one (usually industrialized) country & branches in many different countries around the world
structural adjustment
imposition of austerity measures to cut govt spending, mainly on social welfare & justice programs, thus adjusting structure of a society so that poorer people have fewer options & will work for less
structural violence
violence resulting from inequality built into social structure
deaths, maimings, and malnutrition among those most seriously exploited
(i.e., death resulting from society's refusal to commit adequate tax money to care for the poor--not murder)
resistance
refusal to accommodate exploitative demands of those with more power
refusal to do something against one's will
socialism
one approach to creating a more egalitarian social structure
socio-economic system in a state society in which all or some of the means of production are owned by the state as representative of the members of society
accommodation
process of adjusting oneself to the circumstances & people who affect one's life
applies to situations of inequality, where person w/ less power must somehow learn to live with demands of more powerful people
liberation theology
form of resistance mixed with accommodation
religious doctrine & movement emphasizing justice and social activism on behalf of the oppressed
(i.e., movement within Catholicism)
revitalization movement
form of resistance mixed with accommodation
frequently religious
attempt to revive a society that has been conquered/damaged or bring to life a new society in its place
wage labor
selling your labor to someone who owns the means of production
super-exploitation
people are left with so little of what they produce/paid so little for the work they do that they cannot pay the cost of raising the next generation/of maintaining themselves as workers
boundary markers
characteristics said to demonstrate/indicate membership in a particular group, often an ethnic group (catholicism)
egalitarian
society in which everyone has equal access to needed resources
no one can be denied access to means of production; leaders have no real power, their position is not passed on, and they have no more stuff than anyone else
deterritorialized
culture/significant aspect of culture that is no longer associated only with that territory/geographic area of origin
austerity program
program pursued by national govt to reduce spending, usually by cutting programs & subsidies that benefit poorer segment of society
instigated by international financial institution as a condition for loans
ethnotourism
tourism based on organizing attractions by exhibiting 'traditional' way of life of indigenous groups
NGO
Non-Governmental Organization
private/nonprofit orgs frequently associated with development in failed states/countries with history of colonialism/neocolonialism
Often funded by orgs of Global North