Socio lecture 1

Thursday, January 15, 2015

6:19 PM

Lecture themes

Culture and adaptation

Human universals and divisions
Prejudice : racism and ethnocentrism
Anthropoloigy and imperialism: history
Anthropology vs ethnocentrism ( the belief your own group is superior to
everyone else!)

Readings
Kalmar notes - online
Eller book - download from the library site [its free]
Other readings - download from library site
Office Hours
Wed 130-230
Culture

Share objects values and belifs of specific people

What we learn from each other vs what was "programmed" by our genes
That part of life which doesn't come naturally, it is learned through people.
That said "having culture" is programmed in some way by our genes
Animals have culture too, and primates also have some form of communication
like language
Culture for humans is difference than culture for monkeys
The program results in the existence of universal human ways of acting, living
and thinking
Forming Procreative relationships, Recognizing hierarchy, dealing with violence,
sharing and giving , speaking
There area ls culture-speific ways of doing the things listed above like acting,
living and thinking

 The program results in the existence of universal human ways of acting, living
and thinking
Forming Procreative relationships, Recognizing hierarchy, dealing with violence,
sharing and giving , speaking
There area ls culture-speific ways of doing the things listed above like acting,
living and thinking
A culture
There are different cultures within "human culture" - this usually refers to
differences
In popular lang - culture refers to a group of people (rather than their ways of
acting, liviing and thinking) (focus on ethnic groups) This is not an
anthropological way of speaking. Its how people behave act think
Language

A distinctively human resource and central element of culture, used for :

Communication and cooperation
Language is part of culture
Used for signification ( make meaning) - language creates the world we live in , it
comes through us
Structuring how we see each other
You can never avoid racism and shit
You dont lose accent after 14 unless its a language close to English
Strucutres how we see the world
Words give us a certain way to divide the world into "objects"
Example the word : Love - without the word would we e ver be in love
Our own emotions - the way we understand them is constructed through
lanauge
Lanauge adapts to the natual and social environemtn - Its very adaptive , it
helps us adapt to our social and natural ways

Recap : Universals and didisions - We all share universals in terms of culture but
there are divisons
Language and culture are human universals
But speicific lanauges and speicfic cultures are human particulars
Universlas are "inate" - transmitted through genes - Lanauge and culture are
iniate
But the "a lanauge" a "culture" are transmistted through society
Language and culture allow us to adapt to new situations

iniate
But the "a lanauge" a "culture" are transmistted through society
Language and culture allow us to adapt to new situations
Adaptive Value of social transmission

Social transmission is more flexible than genetic transmission

Major changes can occur within a generation or two
Major change can occur without a change of spicies
Social transmission = we can change quickly

Why the differnces?

Speicific lanauges and cultures develop to cope with speific environmental and
social contexts
Words = "snow","iphone","love" - inuit have many words for snow , why?
Because thats their enviornment
If they didnt have the word for abstract notions like "love" the explanation is
much harder
"love" started in society when people started marrying for "love"
Romeo and juliet is big - in history up until this point parents decided this a lot
Culture : potlatch [ people would come together and start destroying things
lmao - the more you got rid of the better ( blankets) ] , brideswealth / dowery
[ Dowery - women takes wealth with her and gives it to the men, brings it to the
familey - brideswealth is the opposite ]
The whole "men purchase wise" isnt true its a socialtial misunderstanding
Most people never understood potlatch , now some people are brinigng it
back - it is a cultural difference
Culture can change the niche itself - environments shape culture . Culture
shapes environment
Result : Adaptation takes place without becoming a new species
Differnce, conflict and predudice

Within all speicies , groups come into conflict - often over resoruces
In sapiances groups may adapt to diff nices
And or have diff cultures and lanauges
And this may be accompanied by preduices about the other

Prejudice does not come from differnces but from its context - preducie from
differnces but from context

 And or have diff cultures and lanauges

And this may be accompanied by preduices about the other
Prejudice does not come from differnces but from its context - preducie from
differnces but from context
Origions Of anthropology
Modern anthro developed in the "west" to explain the "rest" and its differnces
Context : The age of imperilm (late 19th to mid 20th cen)
The West (North) was becoming dominant all over the world
Anthropology and the non-west
The general public and eatly anthropologist understood the non-west in terms
of four kinds of differnces
Linguistics ( lanauge) [linguistic ant]
Culture [social cultural anthro]
Physical / racial ( what the people looked like - classify into various
catotogorisl [ physical (biological ant.]
The idea that white race was superior
To the above we can add mateiral culture (cultural anthropology and
archeology)
Made today = culturalal anthro
Made before - archeology
This is not how we understood people, its how we described ourselves
Folklore = study of people within the west
Antrhopology - study of people forign
Old time anthro didnt create but fostered prejudice - we say old time because we are
not like this anymore
Language and prejudice
All lanauge have the same general form - Words, sentences, nouns words
But during history lanauges were still ranked in terms of primitive to advances
Indo-european lanauge were considered to be the most "advanced"
Karl wilhelm friedch schelgal (1772 - 1829)
Believed os ranking lanauges ( prim - advanced)
The proof : It was the most adaptive - was spreading all throughout the world
English and fench were forced upon people

Karl wilhelm friedch schelgal (1772 - 1829)

Believed os ranking lanauges ( prim - advanced)
The proof : It was the most adaptive - was spreading all throughout the world
English and fench were forced upon people
Cultures and prejudice
A ( false) evolutionary scheme
"Primitive cultures - suppoedly not changed since beginning of time -
"Savages,Uncivilized" - this is wrong as everyone always changes
"Nomads or barbarians
Agricultural "Civilizations" - china
Modern western civilization - the highest form of culture
Proof -the empires of the west took over the world
Physical Type and preducice
Race : A folk notion , not a scientific notation - the words didnt really cover the
same things they cover today
Sciencetists mat refer as race to refer to an identifial to genetic pool in plants
and animals
Huamn Races are not scientifically but populary defined
Exisits culturally but not biologically
Do races exisit - Culturally they do exisist but not scietifically
Diff humans do look diff

And huamn looks can cooralate to many things - genetic traits, illness
But not consistanely enough to justify notion of "race"
There is more variation (other than skin color) across than within races
The popular deinfition of race are not precise

1 drop rule - Even one drop of african blood - you are african\
Lessons of the one drop rule
Humans differ by appearance, but their classicfication by differnce is not given
by nature
Race and power relations
Racisal classificaitons are made in the context of relations of power within

Race and power relations

Racisal classificaitons are made in the context of relations of power within
society ( white ruled black example)
The black race and white race race were invented along with slavery in the
americas - started soon after columbus discovered america
Whiteness meant freedom , so needed to be protected - it was a privalage
Racial prejudice
19th century
read, red twllow , white
White was the mos tcivilized
Most people dont fall into these categories
Arabs in america : white then brown and middle eastern
Ethocentrism & anthro
Bronislaw malinowski , 1884 - 1942 - e ach culture has its own function and they
respond to speific culture
Franz Boas - father of american anthro 1858 - 1942 - Each culture is a complex of
lanauge culture .. Non is inferior
Cultural Relativism
If we think all cultures are of all equal worth - than do we still judge? If you are a
cultural relativsm - than no you dont judge
But anthropologist do judge cultures by their own values ( sending kids to camp
is wrong etc etc. )
Does respecting other cultures means you do not judge at all