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)