Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
Edition: 4
Copyright: 2021
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Introduction to Cultural Anthropology provides a comprehensive introduction to the concepts, methods, and theories used to study human cultures around the world. The book begins by defining anthropology and its subfields, explaining how anthropologists conduct research through participant observation and ethnography while emphasizing ethical practice and cultural relativism. It examines the nature of culture, the history of anthropological thought, and the major theoretical perspectives that have shaped the discipline. Readers are introduced to key topics including economic systems, marriage and kinship, gender, family organization, non-kin associations, personality and culture, religion, art, language, and subsistence strategies.
The book also explores how cultures change and adapt through processes such as diffusion, acculturation, migration, and globalization. Additional chapters examine political and social organization, class and caste systems, medical anthropology, urbanization, and applied anthropology, demonstrating how anthropological perspectives contribute to understanding contemporary social issues. Drawing on examples from societies throughout the world, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology provides students with the foundational knowledge needed to analyze cultural diversity, compare social systems, and understand the ways people organize their lives across different environments and historical contexts.
CHAPTER 1. WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?
AAA CODE OF ETHICS
AAA Statement on Race
HOW DATA IS GATHERED
Participant Observation
Holistic Nature of Anthropology
Looking at the Integrated Whole of Human Experience
SUBFIELDS
Archeology/Prehistory
Physical/Biological Anthropology
Cultural/Social Anthropology
Anthropological Linguistics/Language and Culture
Applied Anthropology
AMERICAN CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY VERSUS BRITISH SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Culture Versus Society
Ethnography
Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism
Ethnology Versus Ethnology
CHAPTER 2. WHAT IS CULTURE?
DEFINITIONS OF CULTURE
High Culture
Culture Is Learned
Culture Is Distinctly Human
Nonhuman Cultures
Social Insects
Herd Animals and Social Carnivores
Nonhuman Primates
Culture Is Shared
HUMAN CULTURE
Various Definitions
Alfred Lewis Kroeber
Leslie White
Some Other Views
Alfred R. Radcliffe-Brown: Does Culture Even Exist?
Culture Versus Cultures
Subcultures
Archeological Cultures
Culture Area Concept
CHAPTER 3. HISTORY OF THEORY
EARLY EVOLUTIONISTS
Shopping for Theory With Marx and Spencer
Edward B. Tyler
Lewis H. Morgan
DIFFUSIONISM
ÉMILE DURKHEIM
MARCEL MAUSS
Prestations
FRANZ BOAS
Ethnographic Present
Atheoretical
Alfred Louis Kroeber
Paul Radin
SIGMUND FREUD
FUNCTIONALISM
Bronislaw Malinowski
STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONALISM
Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown
CONFIGURATIONALISM
LATER EVOLUTIONISM
Leslie White
George Peter Murdock
Julian Steward
STRUCTURALISM
Claude Lévi-Strauss
ETHNOSCIENCE AND COGNITIVE ANTHROPOLOGY
Kenneth Pike
James Spradley
Harold Conklin
SOCIOBIOLOGY
GENDER
CULTURAL MATERIALISM
Marvin Harris
CHAPTER 4. ECONOMICS
RECIPROCITY
REDISTRIBUTION
The Potlatch
MARCEL MAUSS
Prestation
Kula Ring
DIVISIONS OF LABOR BY SEX AND AGE
FREE MARKET EXCHANGE /COMMERCIAL-MONETARY 55 PEASANTS
What is a Peasant?
The Image of Limited Good
Leveling Devices
SLAVERY
Slavery in the Modern World
CHAPTER 5. MALE AND FEMALE: SEX, MARRIAGE, FAMILY, AND KINSHIP
Sally Slocum and Eleanor Leacock
SEX ROLES
Margaret Mead
GENDER, SEX, AND COITUS
WHAT IS SEX?
Sex and Coitus
Chromosomes
Apparent Sex
Berdache, and Contraries
The ‘masculine protest’
Paraphilias
Does Everyone Know?
THE UNIVERSAL INCEST TABOO
Edward Westermark
Living Laboratories
Arthur Wolf in Taiwan
Melford Spiro in Israel
Sigmund Freud
MARRIAGE AND POST-MARITAL RESIDENCE
Marriage
Same Sex Unions
THE ECONOMICS OF MARRIAGE
Bride Price
Bride Service
Exchange of Females
Dowry
Gift Exchange
POST-MARITAL RESIDENCE RULES
Patrilocal
Matrilocal
Avunculocal
Neolocal
Bilocal
KINSHIP
Types of Descent
Matrilineal Descent
Patrilineal Descent
Bilateral Descent
Ambilineal Descent
Double Descent
Unilineal Descent Groups
FAMILY TYPES
Nuclear Family
Extended Family
Stem Family
Terms for Family Members of Different Relationships
WHOM MAY WE MARRY?
KINSHIP SYSTEMS
Eskimo (Inuit)
Hawaiian
Sudanese
Iroquois
Omaha
Crow
CHAPTER 6. NON-KIN GROUPS AND ASSOCIATIONS
NON-VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS
Age Set
Unisex Associations
VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS
Ethnic Associations
Regional Associations
Military Associations
Secret Societies
CHAPTER 7. CULTURE AND PERSONALITY/PSYCHOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Völkerpsychologie
RUTH BENEDICT
MARGARET MEAD
Child Rearing and Sex Roles
RALPH LINTON AND ABRAM KARDINER
Basic/Modal Personality
George Peter Murdock
ENCULTURATION
John and Beatrice Whiting
Six Cultures Study
ANTHONY F. C. WALLACE
Culture-Bound Syndromes
Nature Versus Nurture
CHAPTER 8. THE SUPERNATURAL
DIVINER/ORACLE
RELIGION
Tylor and Animism
Animatism
Sigmund Freud
Émile Durkheim
CONTACTING THE SUPERNATURAL
Part time
Full time
POSSESSION
TRICKSTER FIGURES
ECOLOGICAL REASONS FOR RELIGIOUS PRACTICES
RELIGION AND ETHNICITY: THE MIDDLE EAST
RELIGION AND ETHNICITY: IRELAND
CHAPTER 9. ART
FUNCTIONS OF ART
Early Art
Body Art
Textiles
Sculpture
SEEING VERSUS REPRESENTING
CHAPTER 10. LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
LANGUAGE ORIGINS
Animal Call Systems
HUMAN LANGUAGE
HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS
Indo-European Discovery
DESCRIPTIVE LINGUISTICS
LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Sociolinguistics
CHAPTER 11. SUBSISTENCE TECHNOLOGY
FOOD COLLECTION
THE SAN PEOPLE, BY SHARLOTTE NEELY
FOOD PRODUCTION
PASTORALISM
HORTICULTURE
Shifting Cultivation
Slash and Burn/Swidden
Continuous Cultivation
INTENSIVE AGRICULTURE
Irrigation
Rainfall Agriculture
Neotechnic Ecotypes
Cash Crops
CHAPTER 12. CULTURE CHANGE
ACCULTURATION
RELIGIOUS CHANGE
Revitalization Movements
Ghost Dance
Cargo Cults
Conversion
DIFFUSION
REVOLUTION AND WARFARE
APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY
CHAPTER 13. SOCIAL INTEGRATION
ELMAN SERVICE
Bands
Tribes
Chiefdoms
States
CLASS/CASTE SOCIETY
Caste
India
PEASANTS
What Is a Peasant?
Folk vs. Peasant
CHAPTER 14. MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
DISEASE VERSUS ILLNESS
Culture Bound Syndromes Reprised
TRADITIONAL CURERS
Witch Doctor, Medicine Man, or Shaman?
Curing the Social Group Rather Than the Patient
VARIOUS MEDICAL SYSTEMS
Treatments
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN MEDICINE
MEDICAL DIAGNOSTICS OR ANTHROPOLOGICAL DIAGONOSTICS?
The Case of Kuru
HUMAN IMMUNOVIRUS (HIV)
AGING
Aging Versus Gerontology
A DNA STUDY
CHAPTER 15. URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY
Cities and States
URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY
CULTURE OF POVERTY
Philippe Bourgois
SHANTY TOWNS AND SQUATTER COMMUNITIES
Robert Neuwirth
Nancy Scheper-Hughes
Nell Gabiam
DEREK PARDUE
JEFFREY WITSOE
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION
Caroline Brettell
International Families
Michael J. Simonton has published four books previously, three of which he wrote, and one that is a collection of readings. The current text is his fifth book since earning his PhD in Social Anthropology at the National University of Ireland–Galway, which recently (2022) was renamed Ollscoil na Gaillimhe—University of Galway. He also has published numerous book chapters and encyclopedia entries, often on Celtic subjects. He has conducted longitudinal research into the anthropology aging within the changing social context of Ireland’s western province, Connacht, beginning in 1982 and continuing into the present. He has been on the faculty of five universities over the course of his career. His current fulltime position is Director of Celtic Studies and Lecturer in Anthropology at Northern Kentucky University.