Recognize that the universal presence of gender role definitions does not mean the roles are identical in all societies.
For example, the male/female Hijra in Hindu India. A combined male/female role is a major theme in Hindu art, religion, and mythology. For example, androgynous people and impersonators of the opposite sex are found widely in Hindu mythology among both hum
Understand the meaning of gender stratification and the difficulties involved in its measurement.
Gender Stratification: The hierarchical ranking of members of a society according to a gender. For example, in some East African pastoral societies, women are in a clearly subordinate position in their social relationships with men.
Discuss whether or not women are universally subordinate and the dimensions in which women's status varies.
Universally, women tend to be subordinate towards their husbands/the men in their societies. Women's status in their societies vary though. To illustrate both points, women in certain West African societies, because of their influence in the marketplace,
Explain gender ideology and its multifaceted dimensions.
Gender Ideology: a system of thoughts and values that legitimizes gender roles, statuses, and customary behaviors. In religion women are often excluded categorically by gender ideology from holding major leadership roles or participating in certain ceremo
Give examples of male gender bias and the impact it has on women in U.S. culture and in other cultures.
male gender bias- a preference found in some societies for sons rather than daughters
In the workplace -- males paid more than females
At home-- "breadwinner" vs "housewife"
In some countries-- women are not even "people" and are treated like dirt
genital mutilation
any type of cutting or removal of all or some of the genital organs,especially excision of the clitoris.
female infanticide
the killing of female infants
it is not a good thing.
Explain when there is a period of breadwinner/housewife households in the U.S. and why that type of household came to prevail and then became less common.
During the industrial revolution, the economy shifted from agriculture to manufacturing. Therefore, men had to leave the home for work at the factory and women stayed home to take care of the house. As women became more confined to the home, their direct
Describe the characteristics of occupational segregation along gender lines in the United States and the impact it has on women and men.
occupational segregation- the separation of different occupations in a society along gender lines
Most women in the U.S. work as clerk/secretaries, hairdressers, sales clerks, food service workers, health care professionals, and nurses. While men tend to
Define political organization.
There are three dimensions:
Extent to which political institutions are distinct from other aspects of the social structure.
Extent to which authority is concentrated into specific political roles.
Level of political integration (the size of the territoria
Define and identify four types of political organization: bands,tribes, chiefdoms, states and how they compare and contrast with one another.
1. band societies- the basic social units in many hunting-and-gathering societies; characterized by being based on kinship and having no permanent political structure
2. tribal societies- small scale societies composed of autonomous political units with c
Understand the differences between nation, state, and nation-state.
nation- a group of people who share a common identity, history, and culture
state- a particular type of political structure that is hierarchical, bureaucratic, centralized, and has a monopoly on the legitimate use of force to implement its policies
nation
State societies
most formal and complex form of political organizations and are organized into a hierarchical form. They collect taxes, recruit labor for armies and civilian public works projects, and have a monopoly on the right to use force. They are large, bureaucrati
authority of the state
rests on the fact that the state holds the exclusive right to use force and physical coercion, as well as through means of ideology.
Class Systems
upward and downward social mobility exists, where an individual can change his/her social position dramatically within a lifetime. This could happen through diligence, intelligence and good luck, where (conversely) a person can go from being a millionaire
Caste Societies
have little to no social mobility, where the membership of a caste is determined by birth and lasts throughout their lifetime (although this is changing in places like India). Caste societies only allow marriages within ones same caste. (ex. Rwandans in C
Achieved Status
associated with class systems where people have control over their statuses and its a result of his or her personal efforts, such as graduating from college or taking a particular job.
Ascribed Status
associated with caste systems, where a person is born into their status and has no control over it, such as race, sex, and age.
Stratification
cannot all be divided neatly into either class or caste systems, in the real world things overlap. In stratified societies, they contain elements of both class and caste systems.
Social Norms
serve as behavioral guidelines that help the society work smoothly. Most people abide by the norms most of the time. They take a number of different forms, ranging from etiquette to formal laws, and some are taken more seriously than others.
Deviance
refers to the violation of social norms. It is important to keep in mind that deviance is relative. (ex. suicide is unacceptable in USA, but honorable in traditional Japan)
Political Coerciveness
the capacity of a political system to enforce its will on the general population
Socialization
teaching the young people the norms in a society
Public Opinion
what the general public thinks about a certain issue
Degradation Ceremonies
deliberate and formal mechanisms designed to publically humiliate someone who has broken a social norm.
Corporate Lineages
kinship groups whose members engage in daily activities together
Supernatural Belief Systems
a set of beliefs that transcend the natural observable world
Ancestor Worship
the souls are considered supernatural beings and fully functioning members of a descent group. Therefore, they are active members and they are feared as they can become involved in daily activities.
Understand the great diversity in formal means of social control and the significant difference in the objectives of legal systems in more and less complex societies.
--Song Duel: a means of settling disputes over wife stealing among the Inuit involving the use of song and lyrics to determine one's guilt or innocence.
--Intermediaries: mediators of disputes among individuals or families within a society. (Nuer of the A
Understand the causes of crime, rebellion, and revolution.
Small societies have little or no anonymity, which makes getting away with crime more difficult.
People in small-scale societies know most of the other people, so they are more likely to be concerned with negative public opinion.
The heterogeneous charact
Explain how the complexity of human social organization differs from that of any other species.
Humans have groups for family, friends, different kinships, and all these things, but monkeys or dogs, or whatever else don't do that kind of thing. Even if there are certain relationships felt by monkeys, for example, they don't have the other ties to ea
Give a clear definition of kinship and distinguish this from the concept of family.
Kinship refers to the relationships- found in all societies- that are based on blood or marriage. Family is defined as a social unit characterized by economic cooperation, management of reproduction, child rearing, common residence, and a male and female
Recognize the importance of cultural rules for kinship classification that may not account for biological factors.
not by marriage or blood, such as godparents or "aunts" and "uncles" that are really just close family friends (fictive kinship). It may also be referring to boundaries in marriage with these types of relationships. Though it wouldn't be incest or anythin
Diagram their own or another's kinship systems.
figures on pages 171 and 172.
Patrilineal- descent
traced through the males in a family. So a father's children, his brothers' children, and his sons' children are all part of the same descent group, but his sisters' children and daughters' children would be traced through their husbands' descent groups.
Matrilineal- descent
the same thing A Ptrilineal, but with the females in the families. Don't get this confused with a matriarchy, though. Matriarchy means that the women have the power in a society. In a matrilineal system, the families are traced through the women, but the
Know the five basic residence rules that operate in human societies.
Patrilocal residence
Matrilocal residence
Avunculocal residence
Ambilocal (bilocal) residence
Neolocal residence
Patrilocal residence
the married couple lives with or near the relatives of the husband's father
Matrilocal residence
the married couple lives with or near the relatives of the wife
Avunculocal residence
the married couple lives with or near the husband's mother's brother
Ambilocal (bilocal) residence
the married couple has a choice of living with either the relatives of the wife or the relatives of the husband
Neolocal residence
the married couple establishes an independent place of residence away from the relatives of either spouse
Understand some of the social and ethical challenges that accompany new reproductive technologies.
Technologies like sperm banks, in vitro fertilization, and surrogate motherhood have caused disputes and dilemmas for our legal system, our ethical and moral standards, and our basic vocabulary of kinship and family. For example, if a man's sperm is ferti
Give a cross-culturally valid definition of family.
A family is a social unit characterized by economic cooperation, the management of reproduction and child-rearing, and common residence. They recognize certain rights and obligations towards one another.
Give a cross-culturally valid definition of marriage.
A series if customs that formalize the relationship between adult partners within the family. Socially approved union that regulates sexual and economic rights and obligations between them.
Endogamy
requires a person to select a mate from within one's own group, Hindu caste system, even in US though there isn't that much pressure.
Exogamy
marrying outside a certain group, because of incest taboo, only marry slightly outside of the nuclear family. In societies based on unilineal descent this can make lineages of people unmarriageable.
Understand the circumstances that foster the practice of polygyny.
The circumstances that foster polygyny are those where it is the marriage ideal. The men require financial and social approval from kinsmen, have a high enough status, have good administrative skills.
The planet Grayson in the Honor Harrington Novels!
Understand the practice of bridewealth and why it is important to recognize its social, as well as economic,aspects.
is the compensation given upon marriage by the family of the groom to the family of the bride," Bridewealth solidifies long-term ties between the two families. It is seen as a sort of insurance that the wife will be treated well, it legitimizes marriages.
Explain under what circumstances nuclear families are found and why they are not more common in the United States.
is a two-generation family formed around the marital union and the children," They are common in the US and Canada because the couple lives apart from the parents (neolocal) because geographic mobility is common, it is highly industrialized,.
Explain under what circumstances extended families are found and in which economies they are most beneficial.
Consists of two or more nuclear families that are linked by blood ties. Most commonly this takes the form of a married couple living with one or more of their married children in a single household or homestead under the authority of a family head," New s
Explain why anthropologists discuss gender differences along with sex differences.
During the 20th century, ethnographers showed that the definitions of femaleness and maleness vary widely from society to society. Because of significant cultural variability in behaviors and attitudes between the sexes, most anthropologist now prefer to
Discuss how research on gender in other cultures demonstrates that it is not biology alone that is responsible for differences in women's and men's behavior.
To illustrate, the fact that only women can give birth provides a basis for a particular set of attitudes and behaviors for women, and this results in some cultures socializing women to be nurturing and have life-giving qualities. LIkewise, because of the