Anthropology Test 2 - All Vocab

Culture

A society's shared and socially transmitted ideas, values, and perceptions, which are used to make sense of experience and generate behavior and are reflected in that behavior

Enculturation

The process by which a society's culture is passed on from one generation to the next and individuals become members of their society (basically one learns one's own culture by growing up with it)

Society

An organized group or groups of interdependent people who generally share a common territory, language, and culture and who act together for collective survival and well-being...they are bound together by a general sense of common identity and depend upon one another by features of economics, communication, and defense systems

Gender

The cultural elaborations and meanings assigned to the biological differentiation between the sexes...one's sex is biologically determined yet one's gender is socially constructed within the context of one's particular culture

Subculture

Groups functioning by a distinctive set of ideas, values, and behavior patterns while still sharing common standards with that larger society

Ethnic Group

People who collectively and publicly identify themselves as a distinct group based on cultural features such as common origin, language, customs, and traditional beliefs

Ethnicity

This term, rooted in the Greek word ethnikos (nation) and related to ethnos (custom), is the expression of the set of cultural ideas held by an ethnic group

Pluralistic Society

A society in which two or more ethnic groups or nationalities are politically organized into one territorial state but maintain their cultural differences

Symbol

A sign, sound, emblem, or other thing that is arbitrarily linked to something else and represents it in a meaningful way

Social Structure

The rule governed relationships (with all their rights and obligations) that hold members of a society together.This includes households, families, associations, and power relations (including politics)

Infrastructure

The economic foundation of a society, including its subsistence practices and the tools and other material equipment used to make a living

Superstructure

A society's shared sense of identity and worldview. The collective body of ideas, beliefs, and values by which a group of people makes sense of the world—its shape, challenges, and opportunities—and their place in it...this includes religion and national ideology

Culture Adaption

A complex of ideas, activities, and technologies that enables people to survive and even thrive in their environment

Ethnocentrism

Belief that the way of ones own culture is the only proper way

Cultural Relativism

The idea that one must suspend judgment of other people's practices in order to understand them in their own cultural terms

Language

A system of communication using sounds or gestures that are put together in meaningful ways according to a set of rules

Signals

Instinctive sounds or gestures that have a natural or self-evident meaning

Linguistics

The modern scientific study of all aspects of language

Phonetics

The systematic identification and description of distinctive speech sounds in a language

Phonology

The study of language sounds

Phonemes

The smallest units of sound that make a difference in meaning in a language

Morphology

The study of the patterns or rules of word formation in a language (including such things as rules concerning verb tense, pluralization, and compound words)

Morphemes

The smallest units of sound that carry a meaning in language. They are distinct from phonemes, which can alter meaning but have no meaning by themselves

Syntax

The patterns or rules by which words are arranged into phrases and sentences

Grammar

The entire formal structure of a language, including morphology and syntax

Language Family

A group of languages descended from a single ancestral language

Linguistic Divergence

The development of different languages from a single ancestral language

Linguistic Nationalism

The attempt by ethnic minorities and even countries to proclaim independence by purging their language of foreign terms

Sociolinguistics

The study of the relationship between language and society through examining how social categories (such as age, gender, ethnicity, religion, occupation, and class) influence the use and significance of distinctive styles of speech

Gendered Speech

Distinct male and female speech patterns, which vary across social and cultural settings

Dialects

Varying forms of a language that reflect particular regions, occupations, or social classes and that are similar enough to be mutually intelligible

Code Switching

Changing from one mode of speech to another as the situation demands, whether from one language to another or from one dialect of a language to another

Ethnolinguistics

A branch of linguistics that studies the relationships between language and culture and how they mutually influence and inform each other

Linguistic Relativity

The idea that distinctions encoded in one language are unique to that language

Linguistic Determinism

The idea that language to some extent shapes the way in which we view and think about the world around us

Gesture

Facial expressions and body postures and motions that convey intended as well as subconscious messages

Kinesics

A system of notating and analyzing postures, facial expressions, and body motions that convey messages

Proxemics

The cross cultural study of humankind's perception and use of space

Paralanguage

Voice effects that accompany language and convey meaning. These include vocalizations such as giggling, groaning, or sighing, as well as voice qualities such as pitch and tempo

Tonal Language

A language in which the sound pitch of a spoken word is an essential part of its pronunciation and meaning

Displacement

Referring to things and events removed in time and space

Writing system

A set of visible or tactile signs used to represent units of language in a systematic way

Alphabet

A series of symbols representing the sounds of a language arranged in a traditional order

Self-Awareness

The ability to identify oneself as an individual, to reflect on oneself, and to evaluate oneself

Naming-Ceremony

A special event or ritual to mark the naming of a child

Personality

The distinctive way a person thinks, feels, and behaves

Dependence Training

Child-rearing practices that foster compliance in the performance of assigned tasks and dependence on the domestic group, rather than reliance on oneself

Independence Training

Child-rearing practices that foster independence, self-reliance, and personal achievement

Modal Personality

The body of character traits that occur with the highest frequency in a culturally bounded population

Core values

Those values especially promoted by a particular culture

Intersexuals

People born with reproductive organs, genitalia, and/or sex chromosomes that are not exclusively male or female

Transgendered

People who cross over or occupy a culturally accepted intermediate position in the binary male-female gender construction. Also identified as "third-gender" people (or by various culturally specific names such as "two spirits" used in many Native American groups)

Ethnic Psychosis

A mental disorder specific to a particular ethnic group

Ecosystem

A system, or a function whole, composed of both the natural environment and all the organisms living within it

Cultural Evolution

Culture change over time (not to be confused with progress)

Convergent Evolution

In cultural evolution, the development of similar cultural adaptations to similar environmental conditions by different peoples with different ancestral cultures

Parallel Evolution

In cultural evolution, the development of similar cultural adaptations to similar environmental conditions by peoples whose ancestral cultures were already somewhat alike

Food Foraging

A mode of subsistence involving some combination of hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plant foods

Industrial Society

A society in which human labor, hand tools, and animal power are largely replaced by machines, with an economy primarily based on big factories

Neolithic Revolution

The profound culture change beginning about 10,000 years ago associated with the early domestication of plants and animals and settlement in permanent villages; sometimes referred to as the Neolithic transition

Horticulture

Cultivation of crops carried out with simple hand tools such as digging sticks or hoes

Slash-and-Burn Cultivation

An extensive form of horticulture in which the natural vegetation is cut, the slash is subsequently burned, and crops are then planted among the ashes; also known as swidden farming

Agriculture

Intensive crop cultivation, employing plows, fertilizers, and/or irrigation

Pastoralism

Breeding and managing large herds of domesticated herbivores (grazing and browsing animals), such as goats, sheep, cattle horses, llamas, or camels

Post-Industrial Society

A society with an economy based on research and development of new knowledge and technologies, as well as providing information, services, and finance capital on a global scale

Economic System

An organized arrangement for producing, distributing, and consuming goods

Technology

Tools and other material equipment, together with the knowledge of how to make and use them

Reciprocity

The exchange of goods and services, of approximately equal values, between two parties

Generalized Reciprocity

A mode of exchange in which the giving and the receiving are specific as to the value of the goods and the time of their delivery

Balanced Reciprocity

A mode of exchange in which the giving and the receiving are specific as to the values of the goods and the time of their delivery.

Negative Reciprocity

A mode of exchange in which the aim is to get something as little as possible. Neither fair nor balanced, it may involve hard bargaining, manipulation, outright cheating, or theft

Kula Ring

A form of balanced reciprocity that reinforces trade and social relations among the seafaring Trobriand people, who inhabit a large ring of islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean off the eastern coast of Papua New Guinea, and other Melanesians

Redistribution

A mode of exchange in which goods flow into a central place, where they are sorted, counted, and reallocated

Conspicuous Consumption

A slowly display of wealth for social prestige

Potlatch

On the northwestern coast of North America, a ceremonial event in which a village chief publicly give away stockpiled food and other goods that signify wealth

Prestige Economy

Creation of a surplus for the express purpose of displaying wealth and giving it away to raise one's status

Leveling Mechanism

A cultural obligation compelling prosperous members of a community to give away goods, host public feasts, provide free service, or otherwise demonstrate generosity so that no one permanently accumulates significantly more wealth than anyone else

Market Exchange

The buying and selling of goods and services, with prices set by rules of supply and demand

Money

Anything used to make payments for other goods and services as well as to measure their value; may be special purpose or multipurpose

Informal Economy

A network of producing and circulating marketable commodities, labor, and services that for various reasons escape government control

Progress

The ethnocentric notion that humans are moving forward to a higher, more advanced stage in their development toward perfection

Marriage

A culturally sanctioned union between two or more people that establishes certain rights and obligations between the people, between them and their children, between them and their in-laws. Such marriage rights and obligations most often include, but are not limited to sex, labor, property, child rearing, exchange, and status

Incest Taboo

The prohibition of sexual relations between specified individuals, usually parent and child and sibling relations at a minimum

Endogamy

Marriage within a particular group or category of individuals

Exogamy

Marriage outside the group

Monogamy

Marriage in which both partners have just one spouse

Serial Monogamy

A marriage form in which a man or a woman marries or lives with a series of partners in succession

Polygamy

One individual having multiple spouses at the same time; from the Greek words poly ("many") and gamos ("marriage")

Polygyny

Marriage of a man to two or more women at the same time; a form of polygamy

Polyandry

Marriage of a woman to two or more men at one time; a form of polygamy

Group Marriage

Marriage in which several men and women have sexual access to one another...also called co-marriage

Parallel Cousin

Child of a father's brother or a mother's sister

Cross Cousin

Child of a mother's brother or a father's sister

Bride-price

Money or valuable goods paid by the groom or his family to the brides family upon marriage, also called bride wealth.

Bride Service

Designated period of time where the groom works for the bride's family.

Dowry

Payment of a woman's inheritance at the time of her marriage either to her or her husband.

Family

Two or more people related by blood marriage or adoption. The family may take many forms ranging from a single parent with one or more children to a married couple or polygamous spouses with or without offspring to several generations of parents and their children.

Household

The basic residential unit where economic production, consumption, inheritance, childrearing and shelter are organized and carried out

Conjugal Family

A family established through marriage

Cosanguineal Family

A family of blood relatives consisting of related women, their brothers, and the woman's offspring

Nuclear Family

A group consisting of one or two parents and dependent offspring, which may include a stepparent, step children and adopted children

Extended Family

Two or more closely related nuclear families clustered together into a large domestic group

Patrilocal Residence

A residence pattern in which a married couple lives in the husband's father's place of residence

Matrilocal Residence

A residence pattern in which a married couple lives in the wife's mother's place of residence

Neolocal Residence

A pattern in which a married couple establishes its household in a location apart from either the husband's or wife's relatives

Kinship

A network of relatives within which individuals possess certain mutual rights and obligations

Descent Group

Any kinship group with a membership lineally descending from a real (historical) or fictional common ancestor

Unilineal Descent

Descent that establishes group membership exclusively through either the male or female line

Matrilineal Descent

Descent traced exclusively through the female line to establish group membership

Patrilineal Descent

Descent traced exclusively through the male line to establish group membership

Lineage

A Unilineal kinship group descended from a common ancestor or founder who lived four to six generations ago, and in which relationships among members can be exactly stated in genealogical terms

Clan

An extended Unilineal kinship group, often consisting of several lineages, whose members claim common descent from a remote ancestor, usually legendary or mythological

Fission

The splitting of a descent group into two or more new descent group

Totemism

The belief that people are related to particular animals, plants, or natural objects by virtue of descent from a common ancestral spirits

Phratry

A Unilineal descent group composed of at least two clans that supposedly share a common ancestry, whether or not they really do

Moiety

Each group that results from a division of society into two halves on the basis of descent

Kindred

An individuals close blood relatives on the maternal and paternal sides of his or her family

EGO

The central person from whom the degree of each relationship is traced

Eskimo System

Kinship reckoning in which the nuclear family is emphasized by specifically identifying the mother, father, brother and sister, while lumping together all other relatives into broad categories such as uncle, aunt and cousin. Also known as the lineal system

Iroquois System

Kinship reckoning in which a father and father's brother are referred to by a single term, as are a mother and mother's sister, but a father's sister and mother's brother are given separate terms. Parallel cousins are classified with brothers and sisters, while cross cousins are classified separately but not equated with relatives of some other generation

Hawaiian System

Kinship reckoning in which all relatives of the same sex and generation are referred to by the same term. Also known as the generational system.

New Reproductive Technologies (NRT's)

Alternative means of reproduction such as surrogate motherhood and in vitro fertilization

Age Grade

An organized category of people based on age; every individual passes through a series of such categories over his or her lifetime

Age Set

A formally established group of people born during a certain time span who move through the series of age grade categories together

Common-Interest Associations

Associations that result from an act of joining based on sharing particular activities, objectives, values, or beliefs

Stratified Societies

Societies in which people are hierarchically divided and ranked into social strata, or layers, and do not share equally in basic resources that support survival, influence, and prestige

Egalitarian Societies

Societies in which everyone has about equal rank, access to, and power over basic resources

Social Class

A category of individuals in a stratified society who enjoy equal or nearly equal prestige according to the system of evaluation

Caste

A closed social class in a stratified society in which membership is determined by birth and fixed for life

Social Mobility

Upward or downward change in one's social class position in a stratified society

Power

The ability of individuals or groups to impose their will upon others and make them do things even against their own wants or wishes

Political Organization

The way power is distributed and embedded in society; the means through which a society creates and maintains social order and reduces social disorder

Band

A relatively small and loosely organized kin-ordered group that inhabits a special territory and that may split periodically into smaller extended family groups that are politically independent

Tribe

In anthropology, refers to a range of kin-ordered groups that are politically integrated by some unifying factor and whose members share a common ancestry, identity, culture, language, and territory

Chiefdom

A regional polity in which two or more local groups are organized under a single chief, who is at the head of a ranked hierarchy of people

State

In anthropology, a centralized political system involving large numbers of people within a defined territory who are divided into social classes and organized and directed by a formal government that has the capacity and authority to make laws and to use force to defend the social order

Nation

A people who share a collective identity based on a common culture, language, territorial base, and history

Pluralistic Society

A society in which two or more ethnic groups or nationalities are politically organized into one territorial state but maintain their cultural differences

Legitimacy

The right of political leaders to govern—to hold, use, and allocate power—based on the values to a particular society holds

Cultural Control

Control through beliefs and values deeply internalized in the minds of individuals

Social Control

External enforcement through open coercion

Sanctions

Externalized social controls designed to encourage conformity to social norms

Law

Formal rules of conduct that, when violated, lead to negative sanctions

Negotiation

The use of direct argument and compromise by the parties to a dispute to arrive voluntarily at a mutually satisfactory agreement

Mediation

Settlement of a dispute through negotiation assisted by an unbiased third party

Adjudication

Mediation with an unbiased third part making the ultimate decision

Carrying Capacity

The number of people that the available resources can support at a given level of food-getting techniques

Acculturation

Massive culture changes that occurs in a society when it experiences intensive firsthand contact with a more powerful society

Ethnocide

The violent eradication of an ethnic group's collective cultural identity as a distinctive people; occurs when a dominant society deliberately sets out to destroy another society's cultural heritage

Genocide

The physical extermination of one people by another, either as a deliberate act or as the accidental outcome of activities carried out by one people with little regard for their impact on others

Tradition

Customary ideas and practices passed on from generation to generation, which in a modernizing society may from an obstacle to new ways of doing things

Syncretism

In acculturation, the creative blending of indigenous and foreign beliefs and practices into new cultural forms

Rebellion

Organized armed resistance to an established government or authority in power

Revolution

Radical change in a society or culture. In the political arena, it involves the forced overthrow of an old government and establishment of a completely new one

Civil Disobedience

Refusal to obey civil laws in an effort to induce change in governmental policy or legislation, characterized by the use of passive resistance or other nonviolent means

Revitalization Movements

Movements for radical culture reform in response to widespread social disrupt and collective feelings of great stress and despair

Worldview

The collective body of ideas that members of a culture generally share concerning the ultimate shape and substance of their reality

Religion

An organized system of ideas about the spiritual sphere or the supernatural, along with associated ceremonial practices by which people try to interpret and/or influence aspects of the universe otherwise beyond their control

Spirituality

Concern with the sacred, as distinguished from material matters. In contrast to religion, spirituality is often individual rather than collective and does not require a distinctive format or traditional organization

Myth

A sacred narrative that explains the fundamentals of human existence—where we and everything in our world came from, why we are here and where we are going

Polytheism

Belief in several Gods and/or Goddesses (as contrasted with monotheism—belief in one God or Goddess)

Pantheon

The several Gods and Goddesses of a people

Animism

A belief that nature is enlivened or energized by distinct personalized spirit beings separable from bodies

Animatism

A belief that nature is enlivened or energized by an impersonal spiritual force or supernatural energy, which may make itself manifest in any special place, thing, or living creature

Priest or Priestess

A full time religious specialist formally recognized for his or her role in guiding the religious practices of others and for contracting and influencing supernatural powers

Shaman

A person who enters an altered state of consciousness—at will—to contact and utilize an ordinarily hidden reality to acquire knowledge and power, and to help others

Rite of Passage

A ritual that marks an important stage in an individual's life cycle, such as birth, marriage, and death

Separation

In a rite of passage, the ritual removal of the individual from society

Transition

In a rite of passage, isolation of the individual following separation and prior to incorporation into society

Incorporation

In a rite of passage, reincorporation of the individual into society in his or her new status

Imitative Magic

Magic based on the principle that like produces like' sometimes called sympathetic magic

Contagious Magic

Magic based on the principle that things or persons once in contact can influence each other after the contract is broken

Witchcraft

An explanation of events based on the belief that certain individuals possess an innate psychic power capable of the causing harm, including sickness and death

Divination

A magical procedure or spiritual ritual designed to find out about what is not knowable by ordinary means, such as foretelling the future by interpreting omens

Cargo Cult

A spiritual movement (especially noted in Melanesia) in reaction to disruptive contact with Western capitalism, promising resurrection of deceased relatives, destruction or enslavement of white foreigners, and the magical arrival of utopian riches

Modernization

The process of economic change, whereby developing societies acquire some of the social and political characteristics of Western industrial societies. It features five key sub-processes: technological development, agricultural development, urbanization, industrialization, and telecommunication

Multiculturalism

Public policy for managing cultural diversity in a multi-ethnic society, officially stressing mutual respect and tolerance for cultural differences within a country's borders

Structural Power

Power that organizes and orchestrates the systemic interaction within and among societies, directing economic and political forces on the one hand and ideological forces that shape public ideas, values, and beliefs on the other

Hard Power

Coercive power that is backed up by economic and military force

Soft Power

Co-optive power that presses others through attraction and persuasion to change their ideas, beliefs, values, and behaviors

Structural Violence

Physical and/or psychological harm (including repression, environmental destruction, poverty, hung, illness, and premature death) caused by impersonal, exploitative, and unjust social, political, and economic systems

Internal Migration

Movement within the boundaries of a country

External Migration

Movement from one country to another; can be voluntary (involving people seeking better conditions and opportunities), involuntary (involving those who have been taken as slaves or prisoners, or driven from their homelands by war, political unrest, religious persecution, or environment disasters), or imposed (not entirely forced but made advisable by the circumstances)