Culture and

Cultural
Anthropology

A. Introduction
Anthropology study of the origins, evolution,
and development of human beings and their
various cultures and societies.
The Fields of General Anthropology
Archaeology (or prehistory)
Physical Anthropology (or biological
anthropology)
Linguistic Anthropology
Cultural Anthropology (Social Anthropology)

Archaeology
This field is devoted to studying the lifeways

of

past

cultures

by

examining

material

remains. Data include stone and bone tools,

skeletal material, remains of buildings, and
refuse such as pot shards and coprolites.

Physical or Biological Anthropology

In seeking to understand human variation,

adaptation,
and
change,
physical
anthropologists study many forms of life,
human and nonhuman, past and present. This
field deals with topics ranging from
evolutionary theory to the human fossil record
and the identification of human skeletal
remains from crime scenes and accidents.

Physical or Biological Anthropology

Genetics,

anatomy, animal and human

behavior, ecology, nutrition, and forensics are
subject areas included in this field. Many
physical anthropologists do research on
animals other than humans in order to
understand human origins or to use them as
models for understanding contemporary
human behavior.

Linguistic Anthropology
Linguistic anthropology is the study of how

language influences social life. It originated

from the endeavor to document endangered
languages, and has grown over the past 100
years to encompass almost any aspect of
language structure and use. It explores how
language shapes communication, forms social
identity and group membership, organizes
large-scale cultural beliefs and ideologies, and
develops a common cultural representation of
natural and social worlds.

B. What is Cultural Anthropology?

It is devoted to studying how cultures differ

from or resemble one another, and why, and

how different cultures influence each other.
Cultural
Anthropology
encompasses
all
aspects of human behavior and beliefs. Its
subject matter includes making a living and
distributing goods and services, reproduction
and group formation, political patterns,
religious systems, forms of communication,
and expressive aspect of culture such as art,
dance, and music.

B1. Distinctive Features of

Cultural Anthropology

Ethnography and Ethnology

Ethnography studies people, ethnic groups
and
other
ethnic
formations,
their
ethnogenesis,
composition,
resettlement,
social welfare characteristics, as well as their
material and spiritual culture.
Ethnographic studies are usually holistic.
Ethnography has connections to genres as
diverse as travel writing, colonial office
reports, the play and the novel.

Michael Fischer learns to use a Gandhian spinning wheel of self-reliance.

Ahmedabad, Gujurat, India, 1984.

Ethnology is the study of a particular topic in

more than one culture using ethnographic

material. Ethnologists have compared such
topics marriage forms, economic practices,
religious beliefs, and childrearing practices in
order to discover patterns of similarity and
variation and possible causes for them.

Cultural Relativism
Cultural relativism is the idea that each

culture must be understood in terms of its

own values and beliefs and not by the
standards of another culture. Cultural
relativism assumes that no culture is better
than any other.

Ethnocentrism is judging other cultures by

the standards of ones own culture rather than

by the standards of that particular culture.
Ethnocentric views have fueled centuries of
efforts at changing other people in the
world, sometimes in the guise of religious
missionizing and sometimes in the form of
colonial domination.

Cultural imperialism happens when one

dominant group claims supremacy over

minority cultures and proceeds to change the
situation in its own interests and at the
expense of the other cultures.

Absolute cultural relativism states that

whatever goes on in a particular culture must

not be questioned or changed because no one
has the right to question any behavior or idea
anywhere.

Valuing and Sustaining

Diversity
Cultural anthropologists regret the decline

and
extinction
of
different
cultures.
Anthropologists contribute to the preservation
of cultural diversity by describing cultures as
they have existed, as they now exist, and as
they change.

Contemporary Debates
Biological Determinism versus Cultural

Constructionism

Biological determinism gives priority to such

biological features as peoples genes and
hormones in explaining human behavior and
ideas.
Cultural constructionism says that human
behavior and ideas are best explained as products
of culturally shaped learning.

Ideationism versus Cultural Materialism

Ideationism is a perspective that focuses on

understanding culture by studying what
people think about, their interpretation of
their lives, and the meanings that are
important to them.
Cultural materialism attempts to learn about
culture by first examining the material aspects
of life: the natural environment and how
people make a living within particular

Infrastructure

Structure

(natural resources,
the economy, and
population)

(social organization,
kinship, and political
organization)

Superstructure
(ideas, values, and
beliefs)

Individual Agency versus Structurism

In individual agency, the individual is

supposed to be able to choose how to behave
and think.
Structurism emphasizes that free choice is
an illusion since choices are structured by
larger forces such as the economy, social and
political organization, and ideological systems.

C. The Concept of Culture

Definitions of Culture:
Culture, or civilization, taken in its broad,
ethnographic sense, is that complex whole
which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals,
law, custom, and any other capabilities and
habits acquired by man as a member of
society.
Sir Edward Burnett Tylor (2 October 1832 2 January 1917)

A culture is the total socially acquired life-

way or life-style of a group of people. It

consists of the patterned repetitive ways of
thinking, feeling, and acting that are
characteristic of the members of a particular
society or segment of society.
Marvin Harris (August 18, 1927 October 25, 2001)

Microculture refers to distinct patterns of

learned and shared behavior and ideas found

in localized regions and particular groups.
Macroculture refers to shared and learned

ways of behaving and thinking that cross local

boundaries, such as a sense of national
culture that some government seek to
promote to enhance unity, or the global
consumer culture that pervades upper-middle
and upper-class groups transnationally.

C1. Characteristics of
Culture
Culture Is Adaptive

Culture Is Not the Same as Nature

Eating
Drinking
Sleeping
Elimination

Culture Is Based on Symbols

Culture Is Learned
Cultures Are Integrated
Cultures Interact and Change

C2. Multiple Cultural

Worlds
Class refers to a category based on peoples

economic position in society usually measured

in terms of income or wealth and exhibited in
terms of lifestyle.
Race refers to bounded groups of people
distinguished by selected biological traits.
Ethnicity refers to a sense of group
affiliation based on a distinct heritage or
worldview as a people.