Anthropology Experience What is Anthropology Copyright 2005 Allyn

Anthropology Experience What is Anthropology? Copyright 2005 Allyn & Bacon

Anthropology The study of humankind in all its aspects Holistic Comparative Mindful of Change Focus on Culture Copyright 2005 Allyn & Bacon

Culture A shared set of ideas, beliefs, assumptions and behaviors acquired as a member of society Culture is learned. Cultures is shared. Culture is symbolic. Cultures is tacit. Copyright 2005 Allyn & Bacon

Culture “Culture or civilization. . . is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. ” E. B. Tylor, 1871 “. . . that complex whole which includes all the habits acquired by man as a member of society. ” Ruth Benedict, 1929 “. . . the patterns of behavior and thought learned and shared as characteristic of a societal group. ” Marvin Harris, 1971 Copyright 2005 Allyn & Bacon

Culture “Culture embraces all the manifestations of social habits of a community, the reactions of the individual as affected by the habits of the group in which he lives, and the products of human activity as determined by these habits. ” Franz Boas, 1930 “[Culture] obviously is the integral whole consisting of implements and consumer goods, of constitutional charters for the various social groupings, of human ideas and crafts, beliefs and customs. ” Bronislaw Malinowski, 1944 Copyright 2005 Allyn & Bacon

Culture “Culture means the whole complex of traditional behavior which has been developed by the human race and is successively learned by each generation. ” Margaret Mead, 1937 “. . . a system of symbols and meanings. ” David Schneider, 1976 “A society's culture consists of whatever it is that one has to know or believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members. ” Ward Goodenough Copyright 2005 Allyn & Bacon

Ethnocentrism: Reacting to the world with the ideas, beliefs, and assumptions of your own culture. A natural response May result in negative or positive evaluation of another culture Cultural Relativity: Understanding another culture in accord with the ideas, beliefs, and assumptions of that culture Not easy Results in the ability to describe and explain another culture Copyright 2005 Allyn & Bacon

Anthropology Subfields Cultural Anthropology Study of contemporary cultures through fieldwork Archaeology Study of past cultures by observing their artifacts Copyright 2005 Allyn & Bacon

Anthropology Subfields Biological Anthropology Study of human evolution, human biological variation, human genetics, and primatology Linguistics Describe speech’s physical, psychological, and social dimensions Copyright 2005 Allyn & Bacon

Anthropology Subfields Applied Anthropology Conservation Education World Health Criminal Investigation Government Business Copyright 2005 Allyn & Bacon