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Approaches taken
- interest in culture
- interest in society
they are different ways of seeing the same complex thing
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Social Relations and British Anthropology
- Broinslaw Malinowski
- Radcliffe-Brown
- 1920s-1950s, social organization was a key focus of British Anthropologists
- sought to understand how groups are formed in society and what governs them
- social structure
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Social Structure
social relationships are patterned and predictable
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Broinslaw Malinowski (1884-1842)
- participant observation
- interested in the individual
- functionalism
- other "primitive" societies have institutions: law, complex economics, marriage
- "others" are not slaves to custom, but rational actors
- London School of Economics (trainer)
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Functionalism
- social life -> organized
- functions performed by a custom or institution are not restricted to the official purpose given to them
- powerful but problematic
- always ask "why?"
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What was the function?
- Malinowski: doctrine of needs (individual)
- operation and perpetuation of institutions
- Levi-Straus: give and take. to organize the flow of marriage
- Marx: production. organized to produce the technologies society is dependent upon
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Radcliffe-Brown (1881-1955)
- structural functionalim
- influenced by Durkheim
- student of Malinowski
- understood society as a thing in itself
- interested in social structure: the rules governing relationships within a society
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Institutions
when patters of behaviour and ideology become relatively discrete, enduring, autonomous. (ex. family, marriage, occupations, church, market)
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Total Institutions
when people are cut off from the wider community for a considerable time (ex. military, prisons, boarding schools, communes, psychiatric hospitals, cults, monastery, etc.)
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Modern/Traditional Dichotomy
- Tradition -> Contractstatus -> contract
- blood relations -> common territory
- mechanical solidarity -> organic solidarity
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Max Weber (1864-1920)
- rationalization
- German sociologist and philosopher
- bureaucracy (rules, paperwork, licences, SIN cards)
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Rationalization
- modern institutions are organized around the tasks they perform, not the social relations within them
- explicit rules and procedures, not about custom and meaning
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Rationalization, Modernity and Post-modernity
there are societies that fit in the overlap between any division of traditional and modern
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Are we post-modern?
- information flows instead of production
- relativist rather than positivist
- pluralism is celebrated/sought rather than holism
- trans/-national communities rather than the nation state
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Are we as bound by the iron cage of bureaucracy?
- impersonal institutions
- meritocracy (power based on ability and talent)
- division of labour
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Family/Kinship
- father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, grandparents, cousins, aunts/uncles
- blood relation or adoption
- really good friends (aunt for mom's bff)
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Marriage
a socially approved sexual and economic union between partners
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Starting point of marriage
- not universally tied to the nuclear family scenario (ex. mom, dad, brother and sister)
- not universally tied with faith (ex. sacred union under the eye of god(s))
- not universally between two individuals (or entirely about those individuals)
- often but not always between two members of the opposite sex
- generally talked of as long-term but some form of divorce often exists
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Why is marriage nearly universal?
- gender division of labour
- prolonged infant/child dependency
- sexual competition
- transfer of wealth
- other mammals and birds: postpartum requirements
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Universal Incest Taboo
perhaps the most rigid regulation specifying whom one may/may not marry
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Why the incest taboo?
- Childhood-Familiarity Theory: already know them, broaden your horizons
- Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory: sexual maturity when you're young isn't appropriate
- Family-Disruption Theory: fighting and stuff
- Cooperation Theory: it's good to have relationships with other families
- Inbreeding Theory: unhealthy traits will come up more often
- a cross-cultural study of 87 societies revealed that incest occurred in several...
- unclear if controlled for the social construction of incest
- ethnographies rarely report incest, but it is mentioned
- can occur in socially un-sanctioned ways
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Marital Rights: Edmund Leach, 1955 gives either or both spouses...
- legal father and mother of offspring
- monopoly in the sexuality of other spouse
- rights to labour of the other spouse
- rights over property of the other spouse
- joint fund of property and resources for benefit of children
- socially significant relationship of affinity between spouses and kin
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Bride Price
- gift from groom's family -> bride's family
- brides-wealth
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Bride Service
groom needs to work for bride's family before/after marriage
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Exchange of Females
female family of groom goes to bride's family to do work
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Gift Exchange
equal exchange of gifts
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Dowry
- direct gift
- substantial goods go to the bride's family/bride/couple
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Indirect Dowry
- general gift
- gifts to everyone
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Divorce
- marriages as political alliances between groups are harder to break up than marriages that are more individual affairs
- substantial wedding gift discourages divorce
- replacement marriages (levirate and sororate) help to preserve group alliances
- divorce is more common in matrilineal and matrilocal societies
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Marriage across cultures
- outside industrial societies, marriage is often more a relationship between groups than between individuals
- romantic love can exist, but marriage is a group concern
- people don't just take a spouse; they assume obligations to a group of in-laws
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Arranged Marriages
planned
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Exogamy
- seeking a spouse outside one's group
- forces people to create and maintain a wider social network
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Endogamy
- marriage within the group to which one belongs (1st class marries 1st class)
- most cultures are endogamous units
- classes and ethnic groups within society may be quasi-endogamous
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Cousins
- cannot marry adopted siblings or anyone related lineally (ex. bro, sis, half)
- 1st cousin marriage is ok if you're cross cousins. (mother's brother's son/father's sister's daughter)
- you cannot marry your first cousin if you're parallel cousins. (mom's sister's son/dad's brother's daughter)
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Sororate
- sister
- when the guy marries his dead wife's sister
- purpose is for support, it's an expectation
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Levirate
- brother
- when the girl marries her dead husband's brother
- purpose is for support, it's and expectation
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Polygyny
- men have multiple wives
- sororal polygyny: wives are sisters
- non-sororal polygyny: wives are not sisters
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Polyandry
- woman has multiple husbands
- fraternal polyandry: husbands are brothers
- non-fraternal polyandry: husbands are not brothers
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Family
a social and economic unit consisting minimally of one or more parents (or parent substitutes) and their children
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Importance of Kinship
- relatives have a large impact on how family functions and how individuals fit into a society
- kinship affects things like where we live, how relatives are classified, who you can marry, who you can expect help and support from, how we view the world
- it also affects gender roles, how many children you have, what happens as one ages, what faith/religion you practice
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Consanguineal Kin
- related by blood
- family of orientation
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Affinal Kin
- related by marriage
- family of procreation
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Patrilocal Residence
couple lives with/near the husband's family/parents
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Matrilocal Residence
couple lives with/near the wife's family/parents
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Bilocal Residence
couple alternates living arrangements between the wife's group and the husband's group
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Avunculocal Residence
- the married couple traditionally lives with the man's mother's eldest brother
- (his uncle on his mother's side)
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Neolocal Residence
the couple lives away from both the husband's and wife's parents/family
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Unilineal/Unilateral Descent
- traces members through either the male or female line only
- membership is assigned at birth and varies with the culture
- matrilineal descent: 15% of all cultures, through the female line only. the mother's brother is in charge of the kids. husband's family doesn't matter.
- patrilineal descent: 45% of all cultures, through the male line only. mother's family doesn't matter.
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Ambilineal Descent
- kin is determined according to men OR women
- some people in a society affiliate with their mother's kin group, some with their father's
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Double Descent
affiliation with mothers and fathers line depends on circumstance (ex for some things the father's side, for some things the mother's side)
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Partible Maternity
- a person can have more than one biological mother, through the sharing of blood and/or breast milk
- ex. Nuyoo (text)
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Partible Paternity
- a woman has sex with numerous men leading up to pregnancy to (to reach critical mass of semen)
- has consequences for inheritance, marriage etc.
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Lineage
- tracing of family groups over time through the men/women.
- a set of kin who's members trace descent from a common ancestor through known links
- Patrilineages: through the man
- Matrilineages: through the woman
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Clan
- a set of kin whose members believe themselves to be descended from a common ancestor, but the links back to that ancestor are not specified
- it might be unknown, or relate back to a mythical or spiritual character
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Phratry
unilineal descent group composed of supposedly related clans, though the links can be unspecified
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Moiety
a whole society that is divided into two unlineal descent groups
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Privilege
- a special benefit not available to everyone
- advantages and opportunities given, without having to work hard for them
- advantage gained by birth, social position, effort or concession
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Inequalities
Stratified societies: societies in which there is a permanent hierarchy that accords some members privileged access to wealth, power and prestige
- class
- caste
- race
- ethnicity
- nationality
these categories are all cultural constructs
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Social Inequality
Factors: resources, power, prestige (gaining respect/honour. it's given. ex. Olympians)
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Egalitarian Societies
- Foragers, horticulturalists (ex. !Kung, Inuit)
- does NOT mean all individuals are the same
- status is not transferable or inherited
- equal access to status positions
- prestige is not limited to certain number of positions
- recognition of achievement is not accompanied by privilege
aim is equality
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Rank Societies
- Agriculture or herding societies
- unequal access to prestige or status, but not necessarily to resources
- often head positions are at least partly hereditary (position of chief is common)
- theoretically, reciprocity and generosity even out the privileges of leaders
ex. Kwakiutle on the BC west coast (Boas worked with them)
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Class Societies
- Characterised by groups that have substantially less or more than others (economic access, prestige and power)
- class is a group of people with about the same opportunities in a society
- open class systems: are able to move around in them and change ranks
- closed class systems: you are where you are, cannot change ranks (don't marry outside your class system. caste.
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Categories of Influence
- race
- ethnicity
- nationality
- wealth
- family origin/history
- work
- etc.
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Where does solidarity come from?
a sense of identity with others: kinship, nation, totem, belief
- Durkheim (1858-1917):
- collective effervescence
- organic solidarity
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Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
- Collective Effervescence: enthusiastic ritual expressions of solidarity often set against the other (clans, sports teams... emphasize difference)
- Organic Solidarity: emphasize homogeneity in a space of heterogeneity (ex. flags, anthems, national pride)
- Race: social fact, socially constructed
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Morton Fried, "The Political"
Sociopolitical: exercise of power and regulation of relations among groups and representatives
"Political organization comprises those portions of social organization that specifically relate to the individuals or groups that manage the affairs of public policy or seek to control the appointment or activities of those individuals or groups."
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Political Life/Political Systems
branches of government, political parties, dispute resolution, dispute prevention, resource distribution, police force, military, penal system, nation to nation relations (group/group relations) etc.
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Political Integration
the largest territorial group on whose behalf political activities are organized
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Band Organization
- local groups or community is the largest group that acts as a political unit
- typically small, less than 100 people
- often kin-based
- informal leadership
- food collecting
- egalitarian, equal
- ex. Inuit
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Tribal Organization
- villages, kin-groups based on common descent, no formal government
- some multilocal integration
- small communities
- informal leadership
- extensive agriculture or herding
- egalitarian, equal
- non-intensive food production common
Yanomami: the "Big Man" is equal to the village head. a man with severely limited authority. Pantribal sodalities are groups extending across the whole tribe, spanning several villages
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Chiefdom Organization
- formal structure, integrates more than one community, social relations are based on descent/kinship
- multilocal group
- large communities
- chief has higher rank than others
- extensive/intensive agriculture or herding
- rank society
political and economic systems
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Polynesian Chiefdoms and Chiefly Redistribution
Polynesian chiefdoms: chiefs regulated production, distribution and consumption
- Chiefly redistribution: products moved up the hierarchy to central office, then were distributed during feasts sponsored by the chief
- made products available to entire society
- helped stimulate production beyond basic subsistence
- provided central storehouse for goods
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State Organization
- autonomous, many cultures, centralized government
- multilocal group
- cities and towns
- much specialization among political officials
- intensive agriculture and herding, industrialism
- class and caste societies
- NOT a nation-state
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Naturalizing Discourses
the deliberate representation of particular identities (ex. caste, class, race, ethnicity, and nation) as if they were a result of biology or nature, rather than history or culture, making them appear eternal and unchanging
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Nation-State
an ideal political unit in which national identity and political territory coincide
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Nation-building/Nationalism
the attempt made by government officials to instil a sense of nationality into the citizen of a state
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Some ideological implications...
- nations are entitled to a state
- heterogeneous states could gain in being made into a nation
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Who gets to be in charge?
- Heredity: it's in your genes, descent
- Chosen or general agreement: based on skill, age, experience, charisma
- Can involve accumulation of traits
- Can be competitive
- Force? Need agreement among some (charisma, connections etc.)
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What brings us together or draws us apart?
- social institutions: there needs to be a "we" in order for there to be a "them"
- social solidarity: groups together (ex. hunters)
- kinship: family. who belongs/doesn't belong
- political integration: was in which communities are brought together
- ethnicity: based on shared descent, national origin, language etc.
- race: divides people into categories (ex. phenotype/physical appearance, intelligence, beauty, capacity for ethical behaviour etc.)
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Race vs. Biology
- is NOT biology, it is ASCRIBED to biology
- genetically, more difference within 'races' than between
- physical variation tends to be gradual (continuous variation)
- continues to be redefined, has a history
"Race is a concept that was invented to categorize the perceived biological, cultural and social differences between human groups"
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Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778)
- taxonomy
- an evolutionist
- made the class system of animals and did the same with people
- thought race was unstable and unchanging
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Samuel Morton (1799-1851)
- worked with Native skulls to try and prove intelligence
- Natives are less intelligent, biologically
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Francis Galton (1822-1911)
- developed eugenics -> mandatory sterilizations
- use race to manipulate humans in society
- selective breeding, get rid of the bad, make room for the good
- built upon Darwin's ideas
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Race and Intelligence
- measuring physical features such as skull size (bigger skulls = smarter people)
- intelligence testing: education disparity
- -> WWI: army alpha (written) army beta (oral)
- IQ testing shows that you're good at writing tests. it doesn't actually show if you're smarter than another person
takes cultural traits and integrates them into biology
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The Social Construction of Race
- integrated component of how society views itself:
- language, politics, media
- imbedded in world views, ideologies
- way used to organize societies and peoples, created categories (making sense of the world)
- physical characteristics coupled with mental/emotional capacity
- inequality: race, ethnicity, class, caste, nationality
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Reverse Racism
- NOT A THING
- racism = prejudice + power
- "when you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression."
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