ANTH 100 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Anomie, Governmentality, Biopower

• School: UBC Okanagan, UBC OK
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANTH 100
• Professor: Hugode Burgo

Document Summary

The patterning of human interdependence in a given society through the actions and decisions of its members. What distinguishes the differences in ways of making a living - who did what. The search for the laws of social organization. The most important controversial debate is about laws and social organization is the argument that social relations in any society are ultimately arbitrary. There is no way to reduce the complexities of human societies to a single underlying cause. Ex) the adaptive flexibility of the human brain and body would be impossible if our behaviour were under rigid genetic control. Human choice (choosing how to sustain) is equally important in the domain of social organization. Humans must chose which part of the material world to depend on. The ability to chose implies the ability to transform a given situation - the ability to choose implies power. Power: transformative capacity; the ability to transform a given situation.