ANTA02H3 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Cultural Relativism, Endocentric And Exocentric, Sociocultural Anthropology
Document Summary
Sociocultural anthropology: a comparative approach to the study of societies and cultures differences and similarities in the ways that societies are structured and cultural meanings. Implies that no beliefs or behaviours can be rejected: we are left with two untenable positions: The endocentric alternative -> intellectually and methodologically unsatisfactory. Chapter 6: social identity: the view that people have their own and others" positions in society. These learned personal and social affiliations may include gender, sexuality, race, class, nationality and ethnicity. Individuals seek confirmation from others that they occupy the positions: enculturation: the process through which individuals learn an identity. It can encompass parental socialization, the influence of peers, the mass media, government, and other forces: imagined community: a term coined by benedict anderson in 1983. The idea is that the exchange of gifts creates a feeling of obligation, in that the gift must be repaid: kula ring: a system of inter-island gift exchange documented by anthropologist.
