ANTA02H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Emic And Etic, Transsexual, Menstruation
Document Summary
Cultural constructionism human behaviour and ideas are best explained as the result of culturally-shaped learning. Biological determinism biological features such as genes or hormones are used to explain behaviour and ideas. A social construct is a concept or practice that is seen as natural, common-sense, essential, timeless, or god-given but which is really an invention, an artifact of a particular culture. We create social constructs through our choices; in doing so, we reinforce our own worldview. Sex refers to biological categories (male and female) determined by genital, chromosomal, and hormonal differences. Gender refers to patterns of culturally constructed and learned behaviour and ideas attributed to men and women. Early anthropologists ignored gender ; assumed men"s lives were the cultural norm. But, a cross-cultural perspective challenges the idea that gender is natural because gender is variable cross-culturally. Gender and sex do not correlate naturally , but culturally. The sambia of papua new guinea (right of passage)
