Skip to ContentGo to accessibility pageKeyboard shortcuts menu
OpenStax Logo
Introduction to Anthropology

Key Terms

Introduction to AnthropologyKey Terms
Menu
Table of contents
  1. Preface
  2. 1 What Is Anthropology?
    1. Introduction
    2. 1.1 The Study of Humanity, or "Anthropology Is Vast"
    3. 1.2 The Four-Field Approach: Four Approaches within the Guiding Narrative
    4. 1.3 Overcoming Ethnocentrism
    5. 1.4 Western Bias in Our Assumptions about Humanity
    6. 1.5 Holism, Anthropology’s Distinctive Approach
    7. 1.6 Cross-Cultural Comparison and Cultural Relativism
    8. 1.7 Reaching for an Insider’s Point of View
    9. Key Terms
    10. Summary
    11. Critical Thinking Questions
    12. Bibliography
  3. 2 Methods: Cultural and Archaeological
    1. Introduction
    2. 2.1 Archaeological Research Methods
    3. 2.2 Conservation and Naturalism
    4. 2.3 Ethnography and Ethnology
    5. 2.4 Participant Observation and Interviewing
    6. 2.5 Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis
    7. 2.6 Collections
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary
    10. Critical Thinking Questions
    11. Bibliography
  4. 3 Culture Concept Theory: Theories of Cultural Change
    1. Introduction
    2. 3.1 The Homeyness of Culture
    3. 3.2 The Winkiness of Culture
    4. 3.3 The Elements of Culture
    5. 3.4 The Aggregates of Culture
    6. 3.5 Modes of Cultural Analysis
    7. 3.6 The Paradoxes of Culture
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary
    10. Critical Thinking Questions
    11. Bibliography
  5. 4 Biological Evolution and Early Human Evidence
    1. Introduction
    2. 4.1 What Is Biological Anthropology?
    3. 4.2 What’s in a Name? The Science of Taxonomy
    4. 4.3 It’s All in the Genes! The Foundation of Evolution
    5. 4.4 Evolution in Action: Past and Present
    6. 4.5 What Is a Primate?
    7. 4.6 Origin of and Classification of Primates
    8. 4.7 Our Ancient Past: The Earliest Hominins
    9. Key Terms
    10. Summary
    11. Critical Thinking Questions
    12. Bibliography
  6. 5 The Genus Homo and the Emergence of Us
    1. Introduction
    2. 5.1 Defining the Genus Homo
    3. 5.2 Tools and Brains: Homo habilis, Homo ergaster, and Homo erectus
    4. 5.3 The Emergence of Us: The Archaic Homo
    5. 5.4 Tracking Genomes: Our Human Story Unfolds
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. Critical Thinking Questions
    9. Bibliography
  7. 6 Language and Communication
    1. Introduction
    2. 6.1 The Emergence and Development of Language
    3. 6.2 Language and the Mind
    4. 6.3 Language, Community, and Culture
    5. 6.4 Performativity and Ritual
    6. 6.5 Language and Power
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary
    9. Critical Thinking Questions
    10. Bibliography
  8. 7 Work, Life, and Value: Economic Anthropology
    1. Introduction
    2. 7.1 Economies: Two Ways to Study Them
    3. 7.2 Modes of Subsistence
    4. 7.3 Gathering and Hunting
    5. 7.4 Pastoralism
    6. 7.5 Plant Cultivation: Horticulture and Agriculture
    7. 7.6 Exchange, Value, and Consumption
    8. 7.7 Industrialism and Postmodernity
    9. Key Terms
    10. Summary
    11. Critical Thinking Questions
    12. Bibliography
  9. 8 Authority, Decisions, and Power: Political Anthropology
    1. Introduction
    2. 8.1 Colonialism and the Categorization of Political Systems
    3. 8.2 Acephalous Societies: Bands and Tribes
    4. 8.3 Centralized Societies: Chiefdoms and States
    5. 8.4 Modern Nation-States
    6. 8.5 Resistance, Revolution, and Social Movements
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary
    9. Critical Thinking Questions
    10. Bibliography
  10. 9 Social Inequalities
    1. Introduction
    2. 9.1 Theories of Inequity and Inequality
    3. 9.2 Systems of Inequality
    4. 9.3 Intersections of Inequality
    5. 9.4 Studying In: Addressing Inequities within Anthropology
    6. Key Terms
    7. Critical Thinking Questions
    8. Bibliography
  11. 10 The Global Impact of Human Migration
    1. Introduction
    2. 10.1 Peopling of the World
    3. 10.2 Early Global Movements and Cultural Hybridity
    4. 10.3 Peasantry and Urbanization
    5. 10.4 Inequality along the Margins
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. Critical Thinking Questions
    9. Bibliography
  12. 11 Forming Family through Kinship
    1. Introduction
    2. 11.1 What Is Kinship?
    3. 11.2 Defining Family and Household
    4. 11.3 Reckoning Kinship across Cultures
    5. 11.4 Marriage and Families across Cultures
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. Critical Thinking Questions
    9. Bibliography
  13. 12 Gender and Sexuality
    1. Introduction
    2. 12.1 Sex, Gender, and Sexuality in Anthropology
    3. 12.2 Performing Gender Categories
    4. 12.3 The Power of Gender: Patriarchy and Matriarchy
    5. 12.4 Sexuality and Queer Anthropology
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. Critical Thinking Questions
    9. Bibliography
  14. 13 Religion and Culture
    1. Introduction
    2. 13.1 What Is Religion?
    3. 13.2 Symbolic and Sacred Space
    4. 13.3 Myth and Religious Doctrine
    5. 13.4 Rituals of Transition and Conformity
    6. 13.5 Other Forms of Religious Practice
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary
    9. Critical Thinking Questions
    10. Bibliography
  15. 14 Anthropology of Food
    1. Introduction
    2. 14.1 Food as a Material Artifact
    3. 14.2 A Biocultural Approach to Food
    4. 14.3 Food and Cultural Identity
    5. 14.4 The Globalization of Food
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. Critical Thinking Questions
    9. Bibliography
  16. 15 Anthropology of Media
    1. Introduction
    2. 15.1 Putting the Mass into Media
    3. 15.2 Putting Culture into Media Studies
    4. 15.3 Visual Anthropology and Ethnographic Film
    5. 15.4 Photography, Representation, and Memory
    6. 15.5 News Media, the Public Sphere, and Nationalism
    7. 15.6 Community, Development, and Broadcast Media
    8. 15.7 Broadcasting Modernity and National Identity
    9. 15.8 Digital Media, New Socialities
    10. Key Terms
    11. Summary
    12. Critical Thinking Questions
    13. Bibliography
  17. 16 Art, Music, and Sport
    1. Introduction
    2. 16.1 Anthropology of the Arts
    3. 16.2 Anthropology of Music
    4. 16.3 An Anthropological View of Sport throughout Time
    5. 16.4 Anthropology, Representation, and Performance
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. Critical Thinking Questions
    9. Bibliography
  18. 17 Medical Anthropology
    1. Introduction
    2. 17.1 What Is Medical Anthropology?
    3. 17.2 Ethnomedicine
    4. 17.3 Theories and Methods
    5. 17.4 Applied Medical Anthropology
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. Critical Thinking Questions
    9. Bibliography
  19. 18 Human-Animal Relationship
    1. Introduction
    2. 18.1 Humans and Animals
    3. 18.2 Animals and Subsistence
    4. 18.3 Symbolism and Meaning of Animals
    5. 18.4 Pet-Keeping
    6. 18.5 Animal Industries and the Animal Trade
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary
    9. Critical Thinking Questions
    10. Bibliography
  20. 19 Indigenous Anthropology
    1. Introduction
    2. 19.1 Indigenous Peoples
    3. 19.2 Colonization and Anthropology
    4. 19.3 Indigenous Agency and Rights
    5. 19.4 Applied and Public Anthropology and Indigenous Peoples
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. Critical Thinking Questions
    9. Bibliography
  21. 20 Anthropology on the Ground
    1. Introduction
    2. 20.1 Our Challenging World Today
    3. 20.2 Why Anthropology Matters
    4. 20.3 What Anthropologists Can Do
    5. Key Terms
    6. Summary
    7. Critical Thinking Questions
    8. Bibliography
  22. Index
affinal tie
a contractual relationship by marriage or mutual agreement that is depicted as a double line on the kinship chart.
ambilineal descent
tracing an individual’s kinship through a single gendered line, with each family choosing either the mother’s or father’s descent line.
ambilocal residence
a postmarital residence pattern in which the couple chooses one lineage for their offspring, either the mother’s or the father’s; associated with ambilineal descent.
avunculocal residence
a postmarital residence pattern where a newly married couple resides with the groom’s mother’s brother; associated with patrilineal descent.
bifurcate merging kinship
a broader chart of EGO family relation that connects kinships by merging EGO’s parents’ same-sex siblings and their offspring into the immediate family (creating parallel cousins) and bifurcating, or cutting off, EGO’s parents’ opposite-sex siblings and their offspring (creating cross cousins); also called Iroquois kinship.
bilateral descent
tracing an individual’s kinship through both the mother’s and father’s lines.
blended families
a family in which there is more than one origin family for the members.
bride service
a transfer of wealth from the groom’s to the bride’s family through labor, usually the contracted labor of the groom, either before or after the marriage.
bride wealth
the transfer of material and symbolic value from the groom’s to the bride’s family in order to legitimize the marriage contract.
clans
a tribal social division in which a group of lineages have a presumed and symbolic kinship.
cognatic descent
a kinship structure that follows descent through both men and women, although it may vary by family.
collateral kin
EGO’s siblings and their offspring.
compadrazgo
a form of godparent relationship introduced originally as a social institution within the Catholic Church and later adapted as popular Catholicism in Latin America in which godparents are named for a Catholic child or young person during rituals such as baptism, confirmation, and marriage.
consanguineal tie
a biological (bloodline) connection between individuals that is indicated by a single line on a kinship chart; it is considered to be a permanent tie that cannot be broken.
cross cousin
EGO’s cousins through their parents’ opposite-sex siblings.
descent
individuals who are believed to be connected by blood or who have an enduring kindship bond across generations.
dowry
material value carried by the bride into her own marriage to provide her with symbolic leverage within her husband’s lineage.
EGO
the starting point for the kinship chart; used to read relationships as alignments between EGO and other individuals.
extended family
two or more family units functioning as a single integrated family; may involve two or more generations.
family
two or more people in an adaptable social and economic alliance that involves kinship, whether perceived through blood, marriage, or other permanent or semipermanent arrangement.
family of orientation
the family unit in which EGO was raised and nurtured as a child and adolescent.
family of procreation
the family that EGO produces, usually as a result of marriage.
fictive kin
a kinship tie that is socially interpreted to be by blood or marriage and that is based on intentional relationships, such as adoption, godparenthood, or intimate personal ties.
fraternal polyandry
a form of marriage in which biological brothers marry a single wife.
generational kinship
a kinship system in which the terms of reference are for gender and generation only, creating large units of immediate family; also called Hawaiian kinship.
ghost marriage
a marriage between one or two deceased individuals in order to create an alliance between lineages.
household
a group of individuals who live within the same residence and share socioeconomic needs associated with production and consumption.
incest taboo
a prohibition against sexual relations that is universal between parents and their offspring and sometimes extends to other relations considered too close for sexual relationships.
kindred
the sum of kinship relationships that is defined through EGO.
kinship
a web of relationships in which people consider themselves related to each other in a social and biological way.
levirate
a remarriage obligation in which the surviving widow (wife) must marry her deceased husband’s brother; the levirate occurred within polygynous societies.
lineage
a continuous line of descent from an original ancestor.
lineal kinship
a form of kinship reckoning that highlights the creation of a nuclear family; also called Eskimo kinship.
marriage
the formation of a new, socially sanctioned family as it is defined across cultures and societies.
marriage compensation
the transfer of some form of wealth from one family to another to legitimize the marriage as a creation of a new social and economic household.
matrilineal (uterine) descent
the descent of both males and females traced solely through the female ancestors.
matrilocal residence
a postmarital residence pattern in which the newly married couple establishes their new household with or near the bride’s mother or the bride’s mother’s relatives; also called uxorilocal residence.
moieties
the social division of a tribe into two halves.
monogamy
the formally sanctioned union of two adults.
neolocal residence
a postmarital residence pattern in which the newly married couple establishes an independent household not connected to either spouse’s family.
nuclear family
a family composed of two parents and their immediate offspring.
parallel cousin
EGO’s brothers and sisters through their parents’ same-sex siblings.
patrilineal (agnatic) descent
the descent of both males and females traced solely through male ancestors.
patrilocal residence
a postmarital residence pattern in which a newly married couple establishes their new household with or near the groom’s father or the groom’s father’s relatives; also called virilocal residence.
polyandry
is the marriage of one wife and more than one husband.
polygamy
the formally sanctioned union of more than two adults at the same time.
polygyny
the marriage of one man to more than one woman.
postmarital residence rules
the social rules that determine where a newly married couple will reside following marriage.
remarriage obligations
responsibilities to replace a deceased spouse with a new spouse from the same lineage in order to maintain the stability of the family unit.
serial monogamy
a form of monogamy in which two adults have a series of marriages over a lifetime.
sociocultural construction
a concept that is defined according to social criteria (not biological) and varies across cultures.
sororate
a remarriage obligation in which the surviving widower (husband) must marry his deceased wife’s sister or another female relative from her family.
terms of address
the terms (words) we use to speak directly to our kin.
terms of reference
the terms (words) that are used to refer to our kin.
unilineal descent
tracing an individual’s kinship through a single gendered line, either male or female, as a collective social rule for all families within a society.
PreviousNext
Order a print copy

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Citation/Attribution

Want to cite, share, or modify this book? This book uses the Creative Commons Attribution License and you must attribute OpenStax.

Attribution information
  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a print format, then you must include on every physical page the following attribution:
    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/introduction-anthropology/pages/1-introduction
  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a digital format, then you must include on every digital page view the following attribution:
    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/introduction-anthropology/pages/1-introduction
Citation information

© Jun 13, 2022 OpenStax. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License . The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.