Anthropology Basics
Study of human similarities, differences, and culture
Anthropology
A learned system of meanings through which people orient themselves in the world so that they can act in it.
Culture
The process by which members of a society pass on culture to new generations
Enculturation
The unpleasant, even traumatic, feeling people get when the rules and understandings by which they have organized their lives do not apply
Culture Shock
People tend to define what they are accustomed to as normal; comparison allows for the questioning of normalcy.
Comparative Perspective
A set of unstated assumptions we share with others in our community
Common Sense
Something that stands for something else to someone in some respect
Symbol
The acquisition of cultural knowledge that takes place within institutions specifically designed for this purpose, such as schools, apprenticeships, and on-the-job training
Formal Learning
The spread of cultural practices through migration or conquest, as well as through indirect contact such as trade and mass media
Diffusion
Anthropologists assume that all aspects of life are intertwined
Holistic Perspective
These occur when people operate according to different common senses
Cultural Misunderstandings
Institutions and processes that teach and reinforce common beliefs, values, and orientations among members of a community
Generation of Similarity
The learning we engage in simply by watching, listening, and participating in everyday activities
Informal Learning
Everyday activities of people in a particular community, as well as the artifacts they employ
Cultural Practices
Anthropology is an empirical science in which data is collected through observation and interaction
Empirical perspective
The flows of symbols across the global landscape
Intercultural Relations
Political and social organizations with the power to regulate behavior
Organization of difference
Cultural learning that shapes our bodies and unconscious behaviors, including such things as how we speak, how we move, how we eat, and our comfort level in relation to the proximity of other people
Embodiment
The underlying mechanism that generates meaningful human action
Cultural Logic
Long-term engagements with a host community, anthropologist enters into everyday life with the community
Participant observation
The most encompassing level of cultural integration, comprising organized assumptions people have about the structure of the universe. A model of reality that people use to orient themselves in the world.
Worldview
This involves common understanding of symbols and their meanings that allow us to communicate, to cooperate, and to predict and understand one another's actions. Cooperatively understood but not equally distributed across the population.
What is shared culture?
Can change over time; changing conditions in a number of ways - change in the environmental, economic, political, and social conditions, as a result of internal and external pressures
What is adaptive culture?
This is how empirical data is gathered, including a variety of methods such as interviewing, taking censuses, collecting stories, etc.
Fieldwork
An assumption, that all human actions make rational sense when understood in their own contexts.
Theoretical relativism