ANT 252 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Enculturation, Historical Particularism, Ecocentrism
16 Sep 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Boas argued against evolutionist approach to culture and against ethnocentrism. Boaz believe it was important to do one"s own field work and get out there and do your own exploring/studying. Like others of his time, he was under the influence of salvage paradigm. His sense of ethics was also at least partly a product of his time and position, but. He agreed that anthropology could take a scientific approach to culture changed over his career. Culture is learned- even if we aren"t always aware of our enculturation. His interpretive theory of culture focused especially on symbolism and meaning. Symbols are objects,meanings, images, etc. that stand for something. Culture is dynamic , always changing even when it seems stable . Culture is part of everyday experience and generally taken for granted as natural. Values: that which is moral and true for a particular group of people . Norms: unwritten rules of everyday life (social sanctions punish those who break norms)
