ANTH 103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Hypodescent, Biological Anthropology, Antonio Gramsci
16 Oct 2017
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Document Summary
September 18th, 2017: language is at once arbitrary and systematic, this is a characteristic of other aspects of culture. Implies that people who speak different languages as their mother tongue have different thought processes. Language diversity and stratification: code-switching and style shifts, index differences in context and differences among social groups, linked to in-group" norms and expectations, not always easy to violate" these. Social stratification: the relative positions of speech communities, social groups, identities within a social system, uneven distribution of resources and privileges. In terms of utility (for communicating) or in terms of complexity as a symbolic system, no one style of speech is absolutely better or more refined. Cultural capital: within a given cultural/linguistic system, certain styles of language and certain forms of behavior can be seen as a sort of resource, cultural capital suggests a certain standard or norm. But the economic metaphor suggests that everyone has equal access to the norm.
