1. How Anthropologists Conduct
Their Work

2. Participant Observation
• When Anth. live for
extended periods with
the cultural group they
are studying.
– This is known as
participant –
observation.
• Believe they will be
totally accepted if they
live and participate in
village life.

3. Ethnography
• Anthropological field work - the scientific
study of human races and cultures.
•Includes:
–Taking /
compiling
detailed field
notes.
–Conducting
field interviews.
–Collecting
statistics.

4. Ethnocentrism
• Try to avoid
ethnocentrism – the
learned belief that
your own culture is
superior to others.
– judging another
culture according to
your own cultural
values.

5. Kinship is a cultural concept
• – a family relationship
based on what a culture
considers a family to be.
• Defined by:
– Mating (marriage)
– Birth (descent)
– Nurturance (adoption)
• WHY DOES THIS
MATTER?

6. Fictive kinship
• The practice of
acknowledging as
kin people who are
not biologically
related (ex.
godparents).

7. What is Social Change?
• Refers to changes in the
way society is organized,
and in the beliefs / practices
of the people who live in it.
• Further defined depending
on particular focus of the
social science disciple.

8. The Anthropological Questions
• Regard cultures as
constantly changing
organisms.
– Believe most cultural
change is gradual;
sudden changes
usually only occur if
destroyed by another
culture.

9. The Majority World
- Main focus area of
Anthropologists
- 180 nations of the
world are developing
countries (little or no
industry, most people
survive by farming the
land).

10. Sources of
Cultural Change
• Three main sources of
cultural change
1. Invention – New products,
ideas, and social patterns
that affect the way people
live.
2. Discovery – Finding
something new that was
previously unknown to a
culture.
3. Diffusion – Spreading of
ideas, methods, and tools
from one culture to
another.

11. Enculturation
• Process by which members of a culture
learn and internalize shared ideas, values,
and beliefs.

12. Classification of Cultures
Various aspects
of culture can be
classified as
follows:
1. Physical
Environment.
2. Level of
Technology
3. Social
Organization
4. Systems of
Symbols