CAS AN 101 Chapter 15: Ethnicity and Race
Document Summary
Achieved status - achieved status has been established within anthropology to describe the position within society that an individual can eventually acquire because of their own merit. It is a status, or position, that is earned or chosen, anther than inherited. Ascribed status - ascribed status is the term that anthropologists have developed to describe the social status that an individual is assigned either at birth, or that is assumed on an involuntary basis later in life. This social stays, or role, is neither earned or chosen, as in the case of achieved status, but rather it is assigned irrespective of merit. Assimilation - the process by which an individual or a group from the same language family moves towards another cultural group and eventually begging to resemble that of the new group. Over time, the former individual groups will assimilate into another culture, shedding much of their original cultural identity.
