ANTH 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Acculturation, Mental Model, Cultural Relativism

• School: UConn
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANTH 1000
• Professor: Jocelyn Linnekin

Document Summary

Anthropology: the study of humans (culture, connection, relationships) Culture: learned behaviors and shared beliefs transmitted through a society. Enculturation: culture you are born into and surrounded with. Acculturation: acquiring other cultures as an outsider. Ethnocentrism: believing that your culture is superior to other cultures. Cultural relativism: understanding other cultures outside of yours. In order for something to be natural, it would need to be found throughout every single cultural group (cultural universals) There are very few behaviors that are shared throughout all human societies. Example: incest is thought to be a universal taboo, but it is actually not, but the specifics are way too particular. Some cultures allow marriage to cousins, or royal incest. Society is not unique to human beings. Society is something with division of labor, members of the society have to fulfill a limited amount of different roles. In primate societies (baboons, apes) people find their sexual hierarchy to be interesting.