

Unit 2 vocab - Societal Institution


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Limited Purpose Money
Forms of money that may be hard to use in many situations...(Aztec used chocolate beans, Yurok Indians used cowrie shells)
belief in multiple gods
someone who denies the existence of god
simplest type of true political organization, composed of a number of bands that share a common culture. (Population of a tribe is more concentrated then one of a band, greater and more assured food supply as well)
Why are decisions necessary?
Members of a society have conflicting needs, wants, and calues
political leader, head of a tribe
Fetish used to ward off evil spirits
Natural division of labor
division of labor by age and sex (most societies consider some tasks as "women's jobs" and others may be "men's jobs"....but these tasks can differ from culture to culture)
when two people are expected to marry
Rites of passage
often mark a person's change from one status to another...child to mark the important transition from childhood to adult status...many cultures engage in important ceremonies...
the study of how societies (individuals, firms, governments) satisfy their unlimited want and needs given a scarcity of resources (oil, land, trees, steel, aluminum, metals, plastic, concrete, marble, clean water, diamonds, gold, industrial diamonds, glass, rubber, TIME)
Second lesson in reciprocity
Never refuse a gift, and never fail to return a gift. If you cannot use it, you can always give it away to someone else - there is no such thing as too much - there are never too many bananas.
based on or tracing descent through the male line
having only one spouse at a time
Market exchange
An exchange system where production for sale is the primary goal and buying and selling takes place under competitive conditions determined by the laws of supply and demand
Popol Vuh
Mayan sacred book
A small group of people, all related to one another who occupy a single area or region. Bands have little or no political organization.
matter-of-fact: concerned with practical matters
Social Control
When an agreement cannot be reached peacefully, people invent some ways to settle differences (keeps the society functioning)
Third lesson in reciprocity
Where reciprocity is a rule and fits are the idiom. You cannot demand a gift, just as you cannot refuse a request.
Scientific Field Work
A method for studying other cultures
Trial by Ordeal
A painful test in which guilt or innocence of someone is determined
Primary Family (nuclear)
the immediate family (husband and wife, their children, and sometimes their parents.
Economic System
a particular set of social institutions which deals with the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services in a particular society
Fetish used to attract good spirits
Dumb Barter
an exchange where no words are exchanged between the traders
based on or tracing descent through the female line
excess: a quantity much larger than is needed
Filial Loyalty
dutiful obedience on the part of children to parents
Cultural Changes
the different ways a culture changes.
(among the Algonquin Indians of North America) supernatural being, the great spirit, pure supernatural power
declared as forbidden
Potlach Ceremony
the host gains high status by burning their acquired wealth at a big feast that their guests are unable to match...such acts let Haida Chiefs gain respect...the haida household is an economic unit that produces, distributes, and consumes surplus goods...the haida consider hard work a virtue and scorn laziness but gain pleasure by watching their years of hard work go up in smoke at potlatch parties...
people who believe they communicate directly with, indeed are often possessed by, the many spirits who populate the everyday world.
The belief that a larger force controls the world and everything.
belief that animals, plants, and trees and other physical objects possess within them an unseen spirit or soul. (practice nature worship)
A term that means that basically represents toughing it our, enduring hardship (Many Japanese regard gaman with pride as a national trait)
Concombre Zombi
the zombie's cucumber
having more than one husband at a time
The zombie's powder
a mixture containing parts of toads, sea worms, lizards, tarantulas, and human bones...poison is rubbed into the victim's skin and eventually his metabolism is lowered to a level almost indistinguishable from death.
Bronislaw Malinowski
Polish - born anthropologist advanced Boa's fieldwork techniques by spending several years living among the Trobriand Islanders of the South Pacific.
Creation story
the story that explains how the world came into being and how their group was founded (mayan story of creation: world was first a huge sea...god of lightning and god of thunder met each other...created the earth...created human to speak their names and worship them....created man successfully from corn meal...corn meal and light are important symbols in Mayan religion...)
refer to jobs that some people do for others
Three reasons families stay together in Japan?
Low expectations, Patience, and shame (a divorce is considered very shameful...)
the equivalent of gifts from parents to newlyweds in our culture (a sum of money or goods paid to the future husband or in some cultures the future wife)
Subsistence societies
societies that produce no surplus beyond a tiny amount.... only produce what they need a little more (Hunters and gatherers produce just enough to survive...produce only what is necessary)
Tualcha Mura
(The Arunta) two fathers make a special agreement concerning their children.
The idea that two acts will, over time, cancel each other out.
The rule that marriages must be to a person outside the family or social group's called exogamy (the Navajo use exogamy to establish friendly ties with neighboring tribes)
Gift Transfer
a type of simple exchange where goods and services that are different but have similar values are exchanged. (Exchange between pygmies and negroes in Africa. Pygmies leave forest products like ivory and honey at a "trading spot". Then, the negroes come and take these goods and leave some of their own such as iron knives, hatchets, and other agricultural products)
Henry Rowe SchoolCraft
Collected the songs and tales of the Plains Indians and was surprised to see that the Indians had a very complicated language and realized they had feelings and emotions just as all people have.
An image, picture, or other representation
Extended Family
refers to relatives other than the primary family
characteristic of a form of social organization in which the male is the family head and title is traced through the male line
Market economy
everyone makes his livelihood by selling something in the market (An economy in which goods and services are exchanged in a free market)
A union of two or more tribes or states
ancient religion of African descent, relies on ancestor worship and speaking with the dead.
(a custom commonly found in nonliterate societies) required a man to marry his brother's widow and assumes responsibility for her children
7-11 husband
A husband that leaves for work at 7 am and returns at 11 pm
Law of supply
As the price of the product rises (falls), the quantity supplied will rise (fall) SUPPLY TO THE SKY
Something used to represent something else
an object regarded as having special powers
Dr. Franz Boa
A german - born physical scientist who developed scientific field work as a method for studying other cultures To study the Northwest coast Indian, he actually lived with them. He found that all cultures no matter how simple they looked were complicated
Five questions Economics is centered around?
Who produces the goods and services people want? Who decides who does what work? Who gets the goods and services that are produces? How are the goods and services actually used?
A society
A group of people that speaks, thinks, and behaves alike in most things.
Edward Tylor
English scholar who first defined culture. (very interested in customs) noted that people practice customs that seem at first to serve no real purpose. He suggested that these were passed down from earlier practices. Their original meaning had changed over time. They then fulfilled a new function or purpose (when a man greeted another man he wanted to know that the other was not carrying a weapon so he shook hands with him)
a go-between that matches up a boy and a girl (Samoan culture)
A system of rules enforced by a set of institutions...(standardized norms that regulate human conduct)
an equal exchange, an exchange of goods and services not involving money...
a foreseeing or foretelling of future events (the act of divining)
Father Sahagun
Catholic priest who made a study of Aztec indians in Mexico. He found that they had a highly developed civilization.
Bride price
a custom were a man pays back a girl's family for taking her from them (essentially buying the bride from her family for a certain sum of money)
a voodoo priest that dealt in black magic
those who practice black magic
General Purpose Money
A type of medium of exchange that makes complex economic systems possible - (all members of society must agree to use it as a basis for exchange, all members of society must agree on its value, it is more useful if it can be broken down into different amounts, it needs to be portable, it has to be durable so it lasts over time)
Law of demand
As the price of a product rises (falls), the quantity demanded of that product falls (rises)DEMAND DESCENDS
residence after marriage in association with the husband's father's relatives.
the living dead
any art that invokes supernatural powers
Ancestor worship
a belief in the spirits of dead ancestors (African tribe Baganda believe in ghost that cannot be seen but can fee, see and understand....believe that the ghost or soul of a dead ancestor remains part of the family....)
Fugu Fish
a species of puffer fish (contains puffer fish poison tetrodotoxin)
the study of the relationship between plants and people.
Medical anthropologists
Physical anthropologists who study problems of health.
Nature worship
(used in animism) a system of religion that worships natural forces and phenomen
Medium of Exchange
Some type of money that can be used in all kinds of trade
belief in a single god
- learn their ceremonial practices from religious studies (ministers, imams, rabbis)
- States that conquer and rule other tribes or states (include more than one culture)
Lewis Henry Morgan
Published a study called the "League of the Iroquois" his work provided much of our knowledge of how the American Indians lived before the arrival of the white man.
required that should a man's wife die, he must marry her unmarried sister (The Levirate and Sororate insure the continuance of the family and kinship bonds established through marriage and insure that after the death of a parent, children will be cared for.
drug used in zombification
Go - betweens
A matchmaker
White magic and black magic
good and bad magic
Law of scarcity
Command economy
A planned economy or directed economy is an economic system in which the state or government manages the economy
First lesson in reciprocity
In a society where food is shared of gifted a part of social life; you may not buy it with money,
THings HUmans use
Margaret Mead
Spent several years in the South Pacific studying the Polynesians of Samoa and some of the various cultures of Melanesia and New Guinea. She reported her work in "Coming of age in Samoa" and "growing up in New Guinea" which described child-rearing practices in both islands. Hers studies threw light on the process of enculturation. She also made a theory of the people of the Manus in the South Pacific and how cultural change affected them (world war 2, military base was established and disrupted the life of the Manus, the Manus wanted to adopt American styles and customs
The zombie's cucumber...a type of plant...(ayurvedic herb of Indian origin that works as a mydriatic (dilate the pupil) and a narcotic)
having more than one spouse at a time
politically organized body up people under a single gov. (centralized authority, has army, economic surplus, produce enough good to support large army and certain specializations)
Opportunity cost
The value of whatever is sacrificed when a decision is made (other meaning: The potential benefit that is foregone from not following the best, financially optimal, alternative course of action.
residence after marriage in association with the wife's mother's relatives.
Imitative Magic
when the magician imitates the results he wishes (the rain dance of the Hopi Indians)
the people who have control of the supernatural power in a society: witch doctor, medicine man/woman
A custom or law permitting marriage only among members within the same social or religious group
having more than one wife at a time
any customary observance or practice
Conspicuous Consumption
Wasteful display of wealth (potlatch ceremonies)
Contagious Magic
When people use something that has been in close contact with whatever they wish to influence (Melanesians fear having their pictures taken because their belief that the picture will give others magic power over them)
Incest Taboo
A basic restriction that forbids people too closely related by blood our marriage to marry each other
Common people
a person who believes in the equality of all people (classless)
Caste system
a rigid status system in the Hindu religion

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