Key Terms
- cultural appropriation
- claiming or using elements of another culture in an inappropriate way.
- cultural ecology
- how humans develop culture as an adaptation to various environments.
- cultural evolutionism
- the study of the origins of human cultural forms and how those forms have changed over long periods of time.
- cultural frames
- patterned, shared ways of interpreting situations.
- cultural materialism
- an evolutionary approach that identifies technology and economic factors as fundamental aspects of culture, molding other features of culture such as family life, religion, and politics.
- cultural practices
- routine or habitual forms of behavior.
- cultural role
- a conventionalized position in a particular context or situation.
- culture
- the whole way of life of a society, combining material objects, technologies, social relationships, everyday practices, deeply held values, and shared ideas.
- diffusion
- in an anthropological context, the spread of material objects, practices, and ideas among cultures in complex relations of trade, migration, and conquest.
- friction
- occurs when two or more elements of culture come into conflict, resulting in alteration or replacement of those elements.
- functionalism
- a form of analysis that focuses on the contemporary purposes of culture.
- historical particularism
- an approach to cultural change that describes the combination of internal and external factors that shapes the unique historical trajectory of each culture.
- ideology
- a model that depicts how a social realm operates or should operate. An ideology identifies the entities, roles, behaviors, relationships, and processes in a particular realm as well as the rationality behind the whole system.
- innovation
- the slight alteration of an existing element of culture, such as a new style of dress or dance.
- intellectual property
- material and nonmaterial products of an individual or group that are protected by national and international laws and cannot be used for profit by others without attribution or compensation.
- invention
- the independent creation of a new element of culture, such as a new technology, religion, or political form.
- material culture
- objects made or used by humans, such as buildings, tools, clothing, household items, and art.
- norm
- the cultural expectations, including behaviors and attributes, that are associated with a cultural role.
- ontological anthropology
- an approach that explores how culture constructs our social and natural realities, what we consider real, and how we act on those assumptions. Reaching beyond human realities, ontological anthropology also attempts to include nonhuman perspectives, relationships, and forms of communication.
- ontology
- the study of the nature of existence.
- rite of passage
- a ritual that moves a person or group of people from one social category to another, often more highly valued one. Examples of rites of passage include naming ceremonies, initiations, weddings, and funerals.
- ritual
- repeated, patterned action conventionally associated with a particular meaning, often incorporating symbolic objects and actions.
- social structure
- the organizational framework for a particular realm of culture, such as the family, the economy, or the political system. Social structures combine material culture with practices and ideas.
- structural functionalism
- a form of analysis that describes how various aspects of culture fit together and contribute to the integrated whole of culture.
- structuralism
- the study of culture as a system of symbolic categories embedded in the myths, religion, kinship, and other realms of a culture.
- symbol
- an object, image, or gesture conventionally associated with a particular meaning.
- technology
- specialized knowledge or skills required to produce objects of material culture.
- unilineal evolution
- the idea that all cultures pass through a single set of developmental stages.
- values
- cultural notions about what is good, true, correct, appropriate, or beautiful.
- worldview
- a very broad ideology that shapes how the members of a culture generally view the world and their place in it. Worldviews tend to span several realms, including religion, economics, and politics.