AN101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Cultural Relativism, Historical Particularism, Participant Observation
Document Summary
Economic system dominated by supply and demand market designed to create capital and profit, state, corporate and private. Historic cultural/economic domination of people by larger, wealthier powers. Holistic term that emphasizes centrality of material interest (economy) in organization of society and the use of power (politics) to protect and enhance that interest. Women(cid:495)s experience vs. men(cid:495)s (cid:494)applied colonialism(cid:495) but Evolutionary typologies (19th century explanations of human diversity: concept borrowed from darwin(cid:495)s biological model. Unilineal cultural evolution-all cultures progress over time. Distinction between centralized (hierarchical) and uncentralized (egalitarian or equal) political systems. Divisions not so clear cut in reality, ideal types are often mixed. Uncentralized: band (hunter gatherers, lowest population density, tribe (some food production, larger numbers, leaders) Centralized: chiefdom (food production, big, ranked leaders, state (agro-industrial, stratified, multicultural, huge) Looks at relationships b/t social structures & social (cid:498)functions(cid:499)/reasons behind cultural arrangements. North american attempt to do without typologies in making sense of cultural variation, environment & technology-adaptation.
