Anthropology Chapter 2

You arrive at a red, eight-sided sign when driving your car, and know that the sign is suggesting that you stop.

symbol

Some, but not all, cultures participate in daylight savings time

mental map of reality

There are rules governing when to kiss someone

norm

Freedom of religion is a cornerstone of American society

value

Advances in transportation technology via seafaring allowed Europeans to travel farther and faster, thus seeing more of the diversity of the world's people. This resulted in the creation of the concept of different "races" of humans. This concept of race

mental map of reality

Americans tend to drive on the right side of the road. This is an example of a

cultural norm

Bernice spends time each day reading online news reports from several different news agencies around the world. As a result, she becomes aware of multiple ideas and perspectives, incorporating these into her own outlook and actions. This is an example of:

cosmopolitanism

Bertha likes to eat dinner at 5 p.m. She travels to Italy and decides she doesn't like the country because restaurants tend to open for dinner at 7 p.m. or later. Bertha is practicing

ethnocentrism

Bertram marries someone from outside his cultural group. Which anthropological term best applies to this situation?

exogamy

Contemporary debates about privacy in American society post 9/11 are fundamentally debates about which of the following?

cultural values

Culture is something that is shared and learned, traits that are

unique among animal species

Franz Boas believed that cultures develop in different ways because of the unique and complex sets of issues and situations that members of the cultural group face over time. This way of understanding cultural differences came to be known as:

historical particularism

Societies are not omnipotent. Individuals within a society do have the ability to challenge existing norms and values, and to effect change in the mental maps of reality and the structures of power. This is known as

agency

The appearance of McDonald's in China and the way that it homogenizes Chinese culture, the influx of Mexican refugees in southern California, and the degree to which Mexican culture itself impinges on the cultural landscape of southern California are both

global outlook we call cosmopolitanism

The attacks of 9/11 led to serious problems in American-Muslim relations, even among those Muslims who were born and raised in America. In any balanced attempt to examine the motives for the attacks, it is necessary to practice cultural relativism, which

suspend judgment and consider Muslims in their own cultural context

The belief that cultural patterns are determined by our genetic makeup is best described using which term?

nature

The belief that culture is held together by a series of important elements such as economy, education, religion, kinship, and politics that all serve to maintain societal equilibrium is known as:

structural functionalism

The handshake as a form of greeting in the United States is an example of a

cultural symbol

The suggestion that all cultures progress through a similar set of stages is no longer accepted in contemporary anthropology. This theory was known as:

unilineal cultural evolution

There is evidence that minority residents of Anytown have reduced access to resources such as strong schools, libraries, and recreational centers than their majority counterparts. This is an example of:

stratification

We often consider the idea of power as being the ability to change using direct force. It can also mean, however, that we exert ____ to effect change?

influence

Which of the following terms refers to the process of learning culture?

enculturation

Which of the following theoretical perspectives sees culture as a symbolic system of deep meaning?

the interpretivist approach

While material power such as coercion and brute force were tools used by the Nazi regime, the creation of cultural agreement about the supposed dangers of populations such as the Jews, Roma, and others was what ultimately allowed the horrors of the Holoca

hegemony

Why might an anthropologist consider the fans of a sports team a culture?

The fans share a set of beliefs and behaviors about their team

agency

The potential power of individuals and groups to contest cultural norms, values, mental maps of reality, symbols, institutions, and structures of power.

structural functionalism

A conceptual framework positing that each element of society serves a particular function to keep the entire system in equilibrium.

hegemony

The ability of a dominant group to create consent and agreement within a population without the use or threat of force

stratification

The uneven distribution of resources and privileges among participants in a group or culture

culture

A system of knowledge, beliefs, patterns of behavior, artifacts, and institutions that are created, learned, and shared by a group of people

cosmopolitanism

A global outlook emerging in response to increasing globalization.

enculturation

The process of learning culture

unilineal cultural evolution

The theory proposed by nineteenth-century anthropologists that all cultures naturally evolve through the same sequence of stages from simple to complex

norms

Ideas or rules about how people should behave in particular situations or toward certain other people

symbol

Anything that signifies something else

historical particularism

The idea, attributed to Franz Boas, that cultures develop in specific ways because of their unique histories

mental maps of reality

Cultural classifications of what kinds of people and things exist, and the assignment of meaning to those classifications

interpretivist approach

A conceptual framework that sees culture primarily as a symbolic system of deep meaning

power

The ability or potential to bring about change through action or influence

thick description

A research strategy that combines detailed description of cultural activity with an analysis of the layers of deep cultural meaning in which those activities are embedded

values

Fundamental beliefs about what is important, true, or beautiful, and what makes a good life