The Essence Of Anthropology Ch. 12

Front 1

cultural adaptation

Back 1

A complex of ideas, activities and techonologies that enable people to survive and even thrive

Front 2

ecosystem

Back 2

A system, or a functioning whole, composed of both the natural environment and all the organisms living within it

Front 3

cultural ecology

Back 3

the dynamic interaction of specific cultures with their natural environments

Front 4

cultural evolution

Back 4

Culture change over time (not to be confused with progress)

Front 5

progress

Back 5

The ethnocentric notion that humans are moving forward to a higher more advanced stage in their development toward perfection

Front 6

convergent evolution

Back 6

In cultural evolution, the development of similar cultural adaptations to similar environmental conditions by different peoples with different ancestral cultures.

Front 7

parallel evolution

Back 7

In cultural evolution, the development of similar cultural adaptations to similar environmental conditions by peoples whose ancestral cultures were already somewhat alike

Front 8

food foraging

Back 8

Hunting, fishing and gathering wild plant foods

Front 9

carrying capacity

Back 9

The number of people that the available resources can support at a given level of food getting techiniques

Front 10

Neolithic revolution

Back 10

Domestication of plants and animals by peoples with stone-based technologies, beginning about 10,000 years ago and leading to radical transformations in cultural systems.

Front 11

transhumance

Back 11

A subsitence stategy in which people move their grazing animals from wither pastures in low steppe lands to summer pastures on high plateaus

Front 12

swidden farming

Back 12

Also known as slash-and-burn. an extensive form of horticulture in which the natural vegetation is cut the slash is subsequently burned, and crops are then planted among the ashes

Front 13

economic system

Back 13

an organizational arrangement for producing, distributing, and consuming goods

Front 14

technology

Back 14

tools and other material equipment, together with the knowledge of how to make and use them

Front 15

recipocity

Back 15

The exchange of goods and services, of approximately equal value, between two parties.

Front 16

generalized reciprocity

Back 16

A mode of exchange in which the value of the gift is not calculated, nor is the time of repayment specified

Front 17

balanced reciprocity

Back 17

a mode of exchange in which the giving and the receiving are specific as to the value of the goods and the time of their delivery

Front 18

negative reciprocity

Back 18

a form of exchange in which the aim is to get something for as little as possible. neither fair nor balanced, it may involve hard bargaining, manipulation, outright cheating and even theft

Front 19

Kula ring

Back 19

a form of balanced reciprocity that reinforces social relations among the seafaring Trobriand people and other Melanesians

Front 20

redistribution

Back 20

a form of exchange in which goods flow into a central place, where they are sorted, counted, and reallocated

Front 21

conspicuous consumption

Back 21

the display of wealth for social prestige

Front 22

potlatch

Back 22

on the northwest coast of North America a ceremonial event in which a village chief publicly gives away stock-piled food and other goods that signify wealth

Front 23

prestige economy

Back 23

Creation of a surplus for the expess purpose of gaining prestige through a public display of wealth that is given away as gifts

Front 24

leveling mechanism

Back 24

a cultural obligation compelling prosperous members of a community to give away goods, host public feasts, provide free service, or otherwise demonstrate generosity so that no one permanently accululates signigicantly more wealth than anyone else

Front 25

market exchange

Back 25

the buying and selling of goods and services, with prices set by rules of supply and demand

Front 26

money

Back 26

anything used to make payments for other things (goods or labor) as well as to measure their value; may be special purpose or multipurpose.

Front 27

informal economy

Back 27

Network of proucing and circulting marketable commodities, labor and services that for various reasons escape government control