What is culture in anthropology?
Culture is learned and shared knowledge, practices, meanings, and material things people use to organize life and interpret the world.
Study 1 Culture and Cultural Variation with 12 free online flashcards. Review key terms, definitions, and concepts with this interactive flashcard deck.
What is culture in anthropology?
Culture is learned and shared knowledge, practices, meanings, and material things people use to organize life and interpret the world.
How do people acquire culture?
Culture is learned through social interaction rather than inherited biologically, and it is continually made and remade as people interact.
What are cultural values?
Values are ideas about what is good, important, or desirable, such as fairness, independence, or respect for elders.
How can values, norms, and symbols work together?
Values, norms, and symbols can reinforce one another: valuing respect may encourage greeting norms, while a greeting gesture can symbolize respect.
What does cultural variation mean?
Cultural variation is difference in learned meanings and practices across people, groups, places, and historical periods.
Where can cultural variation occur?
Cultural variation occurs both between societies and within a society; people may participate differently according to age, occupation, religion, or community membership.
Must individuals accept every practice they share with a group?
People can share some cultural practices while questioning or rejecting others.
Why doesn't a cultural pattern predict every member's behavior?
A cultural pattern is a shared resource people interpret, negotiate, and sometimes contest; it does not predict what every member will do.
How can cultural practices both persist and change?
Cultural practices can persist while changing through learning, innovation, interaction, and historical events.
What is ethnography?
Ethnography is sustained research that may combine participant observation, interviews, and other forms of evidence.
What do researchers do in participant observation?
In participant observation, researchers spend time with people and, where appropriate, take part in everyday activities.
What different insights can interviews and observation provide?
Interviews can explain what participants think practices mean, while observation shows how practices unfold in particular settings.
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