Exam 2: Culture

Compare and contrast the various types of cultural change listed at the end of this chapter. In particular, to what extent does each model for change suggest that culture shapes human behavior or is shaped by human behavior?

What are cultural particularities?

The tendency to view one's own culture as superior and to use one's own standards and values in judging others is called

Explain the distinctions among cultural universals, generalities, and particularities, and give examples of each.

Modern means of transportation and communication have facilitated the process of globalization.

What do anthropologists mean when they say culture is shared?

Anthropologist Clifford Geertz defined culture as ideas based on cultural learning and symbols. For anthropologist Leslie White, culture originated when our ancestors acquired the ability to use symbols. What is a symbol? It is

Cultural relativists believe that a culture should be judged only according to the standards and traditions of that culture and not according to the standards of other cultural traditions.

What does it mean to say that culture is all-encompassing?

Cultural particularities are unique to certain cultures, while cultural generalities are common to several (but not all) cultures.

Independent invention occurs when two or more cultures independently come up with similar solutions to a common problem.

Methodological relativism does not preclude making moral judgments or taking action.

What are the different kinds of learning? On which kind(s) of learning is culture based? How is culture transmitted across generations?

Hunting is a distinctive human activity not shared with the apes.

Cultures are integrated, patterned systems in which a change in one part often leads to changes in other parts.

What does it mean to say that humans use culture instrumentally?

The Makah, a tribe that lives near the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the Olympic Peninsula, see themselves as whalers and continue to identify themselves spiritually with whales. Their ongoing struggle to maintain their traditional way of life, which involves whale hunting, demonstrates how

Why does this chapter on culture include a section that describes similarities and differences between humans and apes, our closest relatives?

Anthropologists agree that cultural learning is uniquely elaborated among humans and that all humans have culture. They also accept a doctrine designated in the 19ᵗʰ century as the "psychic unity of man." What does this doctrine mean?

Once an individual has been enculturated, that person must adhere to the cultural rules that govern that culture.