From Yesterday

1. From Yesterday

2. Why do we need social scientists? • Don’t they tell us what we already know to be true?

3. Why we need social scientists: Intuition • is believing something to be true because a person’s emotions and logic support it  Intuition is not proof of fact – this is why we need social scientists – they prove or disprove what we BELIEVE to be true

4. Why we need social scientists • Question: According to your intuition, would introducing the death penalty into a society decrease the murder rate?

5. Anthro: Comparing Cultures: Kinship • Kinship • family relationship based on what a culture considers to be a family. • The family unit can vary depending on the culture in which the family lives • Brothers/sisters….. Step brothers/step sisters

6. Anthro: Comparing Cultures: Kinship • Anthropologists have concluded that human cultures define the concept of kinship in three ways • Mating(marriage) • Birth (descent) • Nurturance (adoption)

7. Anthro: Comparing Cultures: Patrilineal • Most human species are patrilineal. • Members organize their families through their father’s line • Ex…wife taking husbands name, kids taking dad’s name

8. Anthro: Comparing Cultures: Matrilineal • Some cultures are matrilineal. • Navajo people of American Southwest

9. Skills and Methods used by Anthropologists • Participation-observation • Collection of statistics • Field interviews • Rigorous compilation of detailed notes • Fieldwork on anthropologists is know as “ethnography”:  the scientific study of human races and cultures

10. Anthropological Schools of Thought • School of thought:  when a certain way of interpreting a discipline’s subject matter gains widespread credibility, it is considered to be a ‘school of thought’ • Anthropology Schools of Thought1.  Functionalism2.  Structuralism3.  Culturalism

11. Anthropological Schools of ThoughtFunctionalism • According to functionalists all cultures are set up to deal with the universal problems that human societies face • Connected with trying to meet either physical or psychological needs.

12. Anthropological Schools of ThoughtFunctionalism • Established laws, practices, and customs within a society can be called institutions • At core of functionalism is a belief that society is itself a logical institution that functions in the best interests of the majority • Role of anthropologist is to explain not to judge

13. Anthropological Schools of ThoughtFunctionalism • Some problems with functionalism: • Functionalists present cultures and societies as being more stable than they really are • Downplay the negative results of some practices

14. Anthropological Schools of ThoughtStructuralism • The human mind functions on the principle of binary opposites. • Humans tend to see things in terms of two forces that are opposite each other • Items are not inherently good or bad but could be either depending on the element

15. Anthropological Schools of ThoughtStructuralism • Anthropologists must seek out and explain rules. • Problems • Overemphasize logic and stability in human socities

16. Anthropological Schools of ThoughtStructuralism • Societies wouldn’t die out if they always met the needs of their members

17. Anthropological Schools of ThoughtCultural Materialism • Technological and economic factors are the most important ones in moulding a society • This theory is known as materialism • Determinism- the types of technology and economic methods that are adopted always determine the type of society that develops

18. Anthropological Schools of ThoughtCultural Materialism • Observe cultures in bias eyes Pg 8 # 1-4 Pg 14 # 1-4