What Are Some Key Concepts In Anthropology
Some Key Terms and Concepts in Anthropology
By Lewis K. Thomas
1. Culture. A learned system of beliefs, feelings, behaviors, and rules for living acquired and shared by a group of people. A person’s culture powerfully influences her/his attitudes, perceptions, notions of what is ‘reasonable’ or ‘unreasonable,’ attractive or disgusting, correct or incorrect behavior, etc.
a. Enculturation. The process of ‘learning’ or ‘acquiring’ a cultural system; the process of cultural transmission to infants, children, and other new members, also called socialization.
b. Microculture. A distinct pattern of learned and shared behavior and thinking found within a larger cultural context; examples of microcultures may include ethnic groups, class-based groups, religious groups, institutional cultures, etc. …show more content…
Ethnocentrism. Judging other cultures by the standards of one’s own culture rather than by the standards of that particular culture. From an ethnocentric perspective, that which is culturally familiar is normal, ‘natural,’ true, right, moral, and proper; that which is unfamiliar is bizarre, inexplicable, abnormal, unnatural, inferior, and/or even immoral, savage, or barbaric.
Ethnocentrism can range in severity and destructiveness from simple ignorance that other cultural ways of living even exist, to ethnocide and genocide.
Ethnocentrism is a universal and, when directed inward to one’s own culture, can be positive in that it fosters a sense of solidarity, security, and identity. However, pride in one’s own culture does not necessitate denigration of other cultures.
3. Cultural Relativism. The perspective that a culture must be understood (and perhaps even appreciated and admired) in terms of the values and ideas of that particular culture, and should not be judged by the standards of another
By Lewis K. Thomas
1. Culture. A learned system of beliefs, feelings, behaviors, and rules for living acquired and shared by a group of people. A person’s culture powerfully influences her/his attitudes, perceptions, notions of what is ‘reasonable’ or ‘unreasonable,’ attractive or disgusting, correct or incorrect behavior, etc.
a. Enculturation. The process of ‘learning’ or ‘acquiring’ a cultural system; the process of cultural transmission to infants, children, and other new members, also called socialization.
b. Microculture. A distinct pattern of learned and shared behavior and thinking found within a larger cultural context; examples of microcultures may include ethnic groups, class-based groups, religious groups, institutional cultures, etc. …show more content…
Ethnocentrism. Judging other cultures by the standards of one’s own culture rather than by the standards of that particular culture. From an ethnocentric perspective, that which is culturally familiar is normal, ‘natural,’ true, right, moral, and proper; that which is unfamiliar is bizarre, inexplicable, abnormal, unnatural, inferior, and/or even immoral, savage, or barbaric.
Ethnocentrism can range in severity and destructiveness from simple ignorance that other cultural ways of living even exist, to ethnocide and genocide.
Ethnocentrism is a universal and, when directed inward to one’s own culture, can be positive in that it fosters a sense of solidarity, security, and identity. However, pride in one’s own culture does not necessitate denigration of other cultures.
3. Cultural Relativism. The perspective that a culture must be understood (and perhaps even appreciated and admired) in terms of the values and ideas of that particular culture, and should not be judged by the standards of another