ANT100Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Potlatch, Sociolinguistics, Homo Sapiens
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ANT100Y1 Full Course Notes
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What we learn from each other vs. what was programed by our genes. To have culture is programed into our genes however we are not programed towards our specific culture. The program enables culture specific ways of acting, living and thinking: forming procreative relationships, recognizing hierarchy, dealing with violence, sharing and giving, education, speaking. Cultures are significantly different but not infinitely. Human cultures have more in common than not. Like cultures have more in common than not. But specific language and specific cultures are human particulars. Universal (language, culture) are innate, transmitted through genes. Social transmission is much more flexible then genetic transmission: major changes can occur within a generation or two, major changes can occur without changes to us. Specific languages and cultures develop to cope with specific environmental and social contexts (niches) Result: adaption without becoming a new species. Changing while remaining homo sapiens (culture can change the niche itself)
