Week 3: Anthropology 11--Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

Definitions for Chapter 2:

The Nature of Culture(32-53)

Professor John Wolford
Department of Anthropology
University of Missouri-St. Louis

Email: wolfordj@msx.umsl.edu

Lecture Notes for Chapter 2

Outline for Chapter 2

Anthro 11 homepage

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Definitions

Page Number In Haviland	Anthropological Term	Anthropological Definition

34	culture	the ideals, values, and beliefs shared by members of a society, that they use to interpret experience and generate behavior and that are reflected in their behavior
34	society	a group of interdependent people who share a common culture
34	social structure	the rule-governed relationships of individuals and groups within a society that hold it together
35	gender	the elaborations and meanings cultures assign to the biological differentiation of the sexes
35	subculture	a distinctive set of standards and behavior patterns by which a group within a larger society operates
37	pluralistic societies	societies in which there exist a diversity of cultural patterns
40	enculturation	the process by which a society's culture is passed from one generation to the next and individuals become members of their society
	integration	the tendency for all aspects of a culture to function as an interrelated whole
50	adaptation	a process by which organisms achieve a beneficial adjustment to an available environment and the results of that process; the characteristics of organisms that fit them to the particular set of conditions of the environment in which they are generally found
51	ethnocentrism	the belief that the ways of one's own culture are the only proper ones
51	cultural relativism	the thesis that one must suspend judgement on other peoples' practices [and beliefs and values] in order to understand them in their own cultural terms

Created: December 05 2000
previously revised: January 28, 2002
Last revised: January 31, 2002

Week 3: Anthropology 11--Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

Definitions for Chapter 2:

The Nature of Culture(32-53)

Definitions

Page Number In Haviland

Anthropological Term

Anthropological Definition

34

culture

the ideals, values, and beliefs shared by members of a society, that they use to interpret experience and generate behavior and that are reflected in their behavior

34

society

a group of interdependent people who share a common culture

34

social structure

the rule-governed relationships of individuals and groups within a society that hold it together

35

gender

the elaborations and meanings cultures assign to the biological differentiation of the sexes

35

subculture

a distinctive set of standards and behavior patterns by which a group within a larger society operates

37

pluralistic societies

societies in which there exist a diversity of cultural patterns

40

enculturation

the process by which a society's culture is passed from one generation to the next and individuals become members of their society

integration

the tendency for all aspects of a culture to function as an interrelated whole

50

adaptation

a process by which organisms achieve a beneficial adjustment to an available environment and the results of that process; the characteristics of organisms that fit them to the particular set of conditions of the environment in which they are generally found

51

ethnocentrism

51

cultural relativism

the thesis that one must suspend judgement on other peoples' practices [and beliefs and values] in order to understand them in their own cultural terms