ANTH 1102 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Practice Theory, Enculturation, Ethnocentrism
19 Feb 2018
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Document Summary
Culture is the complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, moral, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. Symbols have no natural connection to what they represent. Enculturation is the process by which a child learns his or her culture. All human populations have equivalent capacities for culture. Culture encompasses features that sometimes are considered trivial or unworthy of serious study. Hominins is used for the group that leads to humans but not chimps and gorillas. Certain biological, psychological, social, and cultural features are universal. Some are generalities, common to several but not all groups. Some traits are particularities, unique to certain traditions. Cultures are integrated and patterned differently and display tremendous variation and diversity. Ideal culture consists of what people say they should do an what they say they do. Real culture refers to their actual behavior as observed by the anthropologist.
