In this chapter, students will learn:

• what anthropologists mean by culture
• the usefulness of using the approach of cultural relativism over ethnocentrism
• how to evaluate whether cultural practices are adaptive or maladaptive
• the functions of culture
• how raising children and cultural practices are connected
• how anthropologists study culture in the field and ensure they are acting ethically
• the applicability of anthropological research to solving problems

Introduction: Studying Culture

Humans are born with the capacity to learn culture based on experience. Culture is not inherited as part of our DNA or other biology. Ethnographers learn about culture by participating in people’s lives and learning their behavior.

What Are the Parts of Culture?

Culture is the shared understandings that guide our behavior. It is made up of three parts: what we think, what we do, and what we have. Culture has four additional characteristics: it is learned, based on symbols, holistic, and shared. Society refers to a group of people who share culture, and members may have many or few identity markers in common. Culture is passed down through enculturation.

Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism

An ethnocentric approach to cultural differences judges people to be abnormal or wrong because they are different. On the other hand, a culturally relative approach recognizes that all cultures are valid and complex, and they may only be evaluated in their own cultural context. Anthropologists take the latter approach.

Cultural Adaptation and Maladaptation

Cultural adaptation largely drives change among human groups. Not all change is beneficial, however. Maladaptive practices lead to long-term harm to people or to the culture.

The Functions of Culture

Culture should support its members’ health, longevity, distribution of goods and services, order, and continued enculturation.

Child Rearing

Different types of child rearing develop different sets of values and cultural norms. Dependence training supports extended family households and the pooling of resources. Independence training supports nuclear families and an urban lifestyle.

Fieldwork Methods and Ethics

Ethnographers study culture in field settings, with the intent to produce an ethnography. They use a variety of methods, but primarily participant observation, in order to interact with informants. It is essential that the ethnographer act ethically towards their informants, in alignment with the American Anthropological Association’s Code of Ethics.

Applied Anthropology

Applied anthropologists work with communities to solve real-world problems. Because it can lead to social change, ethnography has the power to make a positive difference in the world.

1. What makes anthropologists’ study of culture different than that of other fields?

2. What are the components of culture?

3. What are the differences between an ethnocentric and a culturally relative approach to culture?

4. What are the criteria for adaptive aspects of culture?

5. How do different child-rearing practices affect the development of personality and culture?

6. How should anthropologists in the field (whether face-to-face or virtually) ensure they are acting ethically?

7. How can anthropological understandings and perspectives help solve real-world problems?

1. What aspects of your culture might be seen as maladaptive? Use the criteria in Table 2.1 to make your assessment.

2. If you received funding for a year of fieldwork, what community of people would you choose to study and what would be the focus of your research?

3. Many students feel caught between their parents’ and grandparents’ view of the world through dependence training and their own view of North American independence training. Is this true for you or someone you know? How might you explain the differences?

4. What problems in your community might benefit from the actions and work of an applied anthropologist?

applied anthropology (page 43): a field of anthropology in which the researcher uses knowledge of anthropological methods, theory, and perspectives to solve human problems

biological adaptation (page 34): a physical adaptation that allows an organism to survive better in its environment

cognitive (page 27): having to do with thought or perception

community (page 29): people who live, work, and play together; or people who share cultural values and norms but may not share a physical location

cultural adaptation (page 34): a belief or behavior that allows an organism with culture (especially humans) to better thrive in their environment

cultural relativism (page 33): the idea that all cultures are equally valid, and that every culture can only be understood in its own context

dependence training (page 36): set of child-rearing practices that supports compliance to the family unit over individual needs

emic (page 27): an insider’s view; the perspective of the subject

enculturation (page 31): the process by which culture is passed from generation to generation

entomophagy (page 33): the practice of eating insects for food

ethnicity (page 29): a term used to describe the heritage, geographic origin, language, and other features of a person

ethnocentrism (page 32): the idea that our own customs are normal while others’ customs are strange, wrong, or disgusting

ethnographer (page 27): a cultural anthropologist who studies a group of people in a field setting

ethnographic research (page 27): the process of studying culture, undertaken in a field setting

ethnography (page 27): the written or visual product of ethnographic (field) research

etic (page 27) an outsider’s view; an objective explanation

heterogeneous (page 30): sharing few identity markers

homogeneous (page 29): sharing similar identity markers

ideal behavior (page 39): how people believe they behave or would like to behave; the norms of a society

identity markers (page 29): cultural characteristics of a person, such as ethnicity, socio-economic class, religious beliefs, age, gender, and interests

independence training (page 37): the set of child-rearing practices that foster a child’s self-reliance

informants (page 41): study subjects of an anthropologist; also referred to variously as collaborators, field subjects, or associates

judgment sample (page 29): (page 41): a method of choosing informants based on their knowledge or skills

key informant (page 41): a person with whom the ethnographer spends a great amount of time because of the person’s knowledge, skills, or insight

lingo (page 40): special vocabulary shared by a group of people

maladaptive (page 34): leading to harm or death; not productive for a culture’s survival in the long run

participant observation (page 38): a research method used in anthropology in which an ethnographer lives with a group of people and observes their regular activities

participatory action research (PAR) (page 46): an applied anthropological method of field research and implementation of solutions; relies on close collaboration with the target community

praxis (page 45): the use of a learned skill or application of an idea

random sample (page 41): a method of choosing informants randomly

real behavior (page 39): how people actually behave as observed by an ethnographer in the field

snowball sample (page 41): a method of finding informants through association with previous informants

society (page 29): people who share a large number of social or cultural connections; in the animal world, a group of animals born with instincts that cause them to occupy a particular place in the group hierarchy

subculture (page 29): a group of people within a culture who are connected by similar identity markers; this may include ethnic heritage or interests

symbol (page 28): something that stands for something else with little or no natural relationship to its referent; a type of sign

Cultural Anthropology Tutorials by Dr. Dennis O’Neil, Palomar College
www.anthro.palomar.edu

The Society for Cultural Anthropology (SCA)
www.culanth.org

National Association for the Practice of Anthropology (NAPA)
www.practicinganthropology.org

Society for Applied Anthropology (SFAA)
www.sfaa.net

AAA Handbook on Ethical Issues in Anthropology; Cases and Solutions
www.aaanet.org

The Culture Concept chapter in Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (OER textbook)
www.perspectives.americananthro.org

US National Park Service Cultural Anthropology Program
www.nps.org

Doing Ethnography

Agar, M. (1996). The professional stranger (2nd ed.). San Diego: Academic Press.

Bowen, E.S. (1964). Return to laughter. New York: Anchor.

Campbell Galman, S. (2018). Shane, the lone ethnographer: A beginner’s guide to ethnography (2nd ed.). Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.

Rubin, H., & Rubin, I. (2004). Qualitative interviewing: The art of hearing data. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Schensul, J., & LeCompte, M. (2012). Essential ethnographic methods: A mixed methods approach (2nd ed.) The Ethnographer’s Toolkit, Book 3. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.

Cultural Relativism and Ethnocentrism

Miner, H. (1956). Body ritual among the Nacirema. American Anthropologist, 58(3),503-7

Ethics in Anthropology

Borofsky, R. (2005). Yanomami: The fierce controversy and what we can learn from it. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Fluehr-Loban, C. (2013). Ethics and anthropology: Ideas and practice. Lanham: Altamira Press.

Applied Anthropology

Ervin, A. (2005). Applied anthropology: Tools and perspectives for contemporary practice. London: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon

Nolan, R. (2013). A Handbook of practicing anthropology. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.

Van Willingen, J. (1993). Applied anthropology: An introduction (2nd ed.). South Hadley: Bergin & Garvey.

1. Consider your own culture. Describe three aspects of it (one for each of the three basic parts) and explain why each fulfills its relative category?

• Cognitive: What we think. For example, a proverb or saying, such as “A stitch in time saves nine.” This would illustrate a culture’s norms and practices (sewing) and values (better to prevent something than deal with the larger fallout). We relate to one another through these kinds of sayings.
• Behavioral: What we do. For example, a handshake. This builds on how we think people should act and what actions are appropriate in given circumstances. A handshake might guide your behavior in the proper way when you are meeting someone new.
• Artifacts: What we have. For example, a newspaper. This item is portable and is something people can make, alter, or use. You can read it, or be an author in it, or do the crossword, or even turn it into a paper plane!

See page27 of your text.

2. Explain why studying a single instance of an aspect of a culture, such as a wedding ceremony, does not give a comprehensive understanding of the culture overall?

This answer requires a good understanding of the four characteristics of culture. It should focus on the significance of a holistic perspective when trying to understand something as complex as culture; it should also focus on varying symbols and how they are learned and shared.

• Marriage and weddings are not innate human behaviors; they are learned behavior, so in order to understand how and why they occur, one needs to address issues beyond those that can be explored in a single example.
• Weddings contain a great number of symbolic practices, such as the exchange of rings or other gifts, the wearing of traditional or formal clothing, and the decorating of the ceremonial site. Studying a single example of this would not represent the multitude of ways that weddings can take place, even within a single culture.
• Marriage practices are often shared processes, though a single wedding might not necessarily represent this (imagine the opposite of whatever you consider to be a stereotypical wedding). Thus, drawing conclusions about a culture from a single occurrence could present a very different picture than the reality.
• Finally, culture is holistic. Studying a wedding will provide great data, but without context, it does not contribute to an overall understanding of a culture. All aspects of society are linked, and so this kind of critical thinking is needed when understanding how, why, and when a wedding occurs

See pages 27-29 of your text.

3. Justify how neighbourhoods in (1) Toronto and (2) Canada overall can each be considered a cultural group or a community?

This answer should draw on the distinction between homogeneous and heterogeneous groups, while demonstrating an understanding of how communities and groups are formed.

• Depending on what kind of neighborhood you choose to use, the Toronto group could be a community or group based on geographical and everyday experiential aspects, or focused on identity markers such as ethnicity, religion, and age. This group could be understood as homogeneous or heterogeneous, depending on which characteristics you choose
• Canada overall is heterogeneous, being comprised of many different peoples and groups. However, it retains an overall sense of national identity (e.g., an identity marker) that is based on a common set of understandings usually learned through enculturation. Taking the example even further, an expat group living outside Canada but in the same neighborhood could combine these aspects, demonstrating the multiple ways in which groups and communities are formed and reinforced.

See pages 29-30 of your text.

4. What is the difference between ethnocentrism and cultural relativism? How can enculturation intensify both of these perspectives?

This answer should mainly focus on clearly defining all three terms, but also demonstrate comprehension of how they work in reality (applying enculturation to both ideas).

• The central notion of ethnocentrism is that our own customs are normal while the customs of others are strange, wrong, or even disgusting. Ethnocentrism allows people to feel superior to others by denigrating differences in their behavior, ideas, or values.
• The idea that all cultures are equally valid and can be understood and interpreted only in their own contexts is cultural relativism.
• Because enculturation is the way in which culture is transmitted from one generation to the next (including knowledge and understandings), both ethnocentric attitudes and cultural relativistic perspectives have the potential to be intensified, depending on what kind of things are reinforced by your cultural “teachers” (whether through parents, friends, community values, etc.).

See pages 32-34 of your text.

5. Assess the adaptiveness of a culture that prioritizes artificial tanning as a practice. In any society, the culture should provide for the basic needs of the group. Specifically, aspects of culture (beliefs and behaviors) should serve to support the health and well-being of members and the survival of the culture itself.

• Cultural adaptations include all the ways that humans use cultural knowledge to better adapt and succeed in their surroundings. Any behavior that leads to a decrease in well-being of the members of a culture or to the culture itself is not adaptive. These practices are known as maladaptive since they may lead to harmful results.
• If aspects of a culture are adaptive, they should support the health and well-being of its members. If maladaptive, they may lead to ill effects for the people or the longevity of the culture itself.
• Artificial tanning can be considered a maladaptive practice, since it is understood to greatly increase the risk of cancer. This does not mean that tanning does not also serve other purposes (perhaps in this culture it helps people feel attractive or healthy), but it does mean that the impact of tanning on the culture includes negative consequences.
• Your answer should contain or develop some of the questions used to assess cultural adaptations, as provided by the text on page 35.

See pages 34-36 of your text.