CHAPTER 10 NOTES

Anthropology Essential Ideas/Terms

Chapter Essential Ideas

1. Despite strong individual differences, members of a society share a common culture.

2. The size of the group within culture is shared can vary from a few to millions.

3. Culture is LEARNED. 4. Anthropologists seek to discover the

customs and ranges of acceptable behavior that constitute culture.

5. Every society develops a series of ideal cultural patterns the represent what MOST members believe to be correct behavior.

Continued…

6. Culture acts as a restraint on individual behavior-keeping individuals “in line”.

7. Culture is generally adaptive to the conditions of its physical and social environment.

8. Culture traits may be neutral, positive or negative.

9. Culture is always changing. 10. Each generation adds to the

collective culture.

Adaptive

Describing the ability to react to change; in a network, adaptability allows the network to function despite changes in the environment

Cultural Relativism

the principle that an individual human's beliefs and activities should be understood in terms of his or her own culture

Culture

the knowledge and values shared by a society

a set of learned beliefs, values and behaviors the way of life shared by the members of a society.

Ethnocentric

centered on a specific ethnic group, usually one's own

Ethnocentrism

belief in the superiority of one's own ethnic group

Maladaptive

Coping or responding in a damaging way, such as a maladaptive response to fear of speaking by always avoiding speaking situations

Norms

A culturally established rule prescribing appropriate social behavior

Random Sample

sample in which every element in the population has an equal chance of being selected

Society

an extended social group having a distinctive cultural and economic organization

Subculture

a social group within a national culture that has distinctive patterns of behavior and beliefs