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Definition
| The process of learning to be a member of a particular cultural group. |
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| Culture and personality theory |
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Definition
| An anthropological perspective that focuses on culture as well as the principle force in shaping the typical personality of a society as well as on the role of personality in the maintenance of cultural institutions. |
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Definition
| A theoretical approach that focuses on the ways in which members of a culture classify their world and holds that anthropology should be the study of cultural systems of classification. |
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Definition
| A theoretical approach that defines culture in terms of the rules and meanings underlying human behavior, rather than behavior itself. |
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Definition
| A field of anthropological research focused on describing the ways in which different cultures classify and understand plants. |
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Definition
| A field of anthropological research devoted to describing the medical systems and practices of different cultures. |
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| A theoretical perspective that holds that all cultures reflect similar deep, underlying patterns and that anthropologists should attempt to decipher these patterns. |
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Definition
| Something that stands for something else. |
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| Interpretive (symbolic) anthropology |
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Definition
| A theoretical approach that emphasizes culture as a system of meaning and proposes that the aim of cultural anthropology is to interpret the meanings that cultural acts have for their participants. |
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Definition
| The anthropological theory that specific cultural institutions function to support the structure of society or serve the needs of individuals in society. |
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| Ecological functionalists |
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Definition
| A theoretical perspective that holds that the ways in which cultural institutions work can best be understood by examining their effects on the environment. |
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Definition
| A theoretical perspective concerned with applying the insights of Marxism to anthropology; neo-Marxists modify Marxist analysis to make it appropriate to the investigation of small-scale, non-Western societies. |
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| An ideal cultural pattern that influences behavior in a society. |
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Definition
| A culturally defined idea for what is true, right, and beautiful. |
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Definition
| A system of perceptions, values, beliefs, and customs that are significantly different from those of a larger, dominant culture within the same society. |
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Definition
| A change in the biological structure or lifeways of an individual or population by which it becomes better fitted to survive and reproduce in its environment. |
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Definition
| The ability of humans to change their behavior in response to a wide range of environmental demands. |
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Definition
| A theoretical approach that regards cultural patterns as adaptive responses to the basic problems of human survival and reproduction. |
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Definition
| A theoretical perspective that holds that the primary task of anthropology is to account for the similarities and differences among cultures and that this can best be done by studying the material constraints to which human existence is subject. |
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Definition
| A theoretical perspective concerned with the historical change of culture from small-scale societies to extremely large-scale societies. |
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Definition
| A theoretical perspective that explores the relationship between human behavior and genetics. |
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Definition
| A new variation on an existing cultural pattern that is subsequently accepted by other members of the society. |
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Definition
| The spread of cultural elements from one culture to another through cultural contact. |
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Definition
| The transformation of adopted cultural traits, resulting in new cultural forms. |
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