Discipline of Anthropology - Assignment Example

Discipline of anthropology A). Anthropology is a discipline that endeavors to explore humankind from the beginning tothe current nature of man. Throughout the period of existence, humanity has been characterized by evolutionary changes as well as changes in the geographic space. It pays attention to people’s behavior, which helps describe various cultures across the world. Anthropology relies on both social, biological, physical sciences and humanities in order to construct its knowledge about the behavior of the people. Anthropology keenly focusses on the utilization of the understanding and knowledge drawn from people’s behavior in order to develop solutions that would help deal with problems of humanity. Culture is a key component of anthropology; this is because it provides the way of life that is adopted by people all across the world. In Anthropology, culture helps in drawing a distinction between different communities while laying an understanding of the people’s behaviors (American Anthropological Association 1). Anthropologists endeavors to study humanity and its accompanying traits from the historic times to the present moment. Their main motivation is to try to link the ancient with the present. In addition, they endeavor to have a broad understanding of what we are, and the process that led to the current human cultures. The study of anthropology is also very beneficial in predicting the future. So much curiosity arises from the misunderstanding of human behavior that anthropologists attempts to unravel. In order to understand every specific human behavior, an understanding of the broad spectra of human behavior is very vital. Anthropologists attempt to elucidate individual behaviors within the pool of the human habits and trends. In other words, anthropologists rely on comparative method in drawing an understanding of individual human behavior. Anthropologists study a wide array of fields that are beneficial to linking human history with its current while helping construct a future. Firstly, cultural anthropology deals with the study of patterns of human live across populations. Cultural anthropologists study differences as well as similarities of people within a given community and draw a comparison with other societies. This study gives attention to the people’s racial inclination, nationality, gender, sex and class. In order to understand cultural anthropology clearly, it is paramount that ethnographic studies are used. Secondly, anthropologists are concerned about the study of people’s languages through the study of linguistic anthropology. In this regard, they attempt to address the impact of languages to the social lives the people. The importance of language in anthropological studies is based on the need to construct truth on the social identity of a group of people, their ideologies, and the societal cultural perceptions. In particular, linguistic anthropology is very significant in facilitating an understanding of such aspects such as social change, inequality, and power that is preeminent in a given society. Thirdly, Anthropologists also study archeology; this is the approach that looks at the people’s past based on the material evidence, such as artefacts that provide evidence on the people’s history. Using theoretical paradigms, archeologists use the information obtained to construct meaning of issues such as interactions with the environment, social groupings, subsistence patterns, and ideologies. Finally, there is the biological anthropology; this is a very important aspect of anthropology, that helps in explaining the adaptability of humans to different regions. Anthropologists in this field desire to create an understanding of the interaction between biological and cultural aspects in the human behavior development, causes of diseases and death, and growth. B). Culture Culture has been simply been defined as the people’s way of life, where the way of life traverses across a number of aspects. It involves the colossal amount of all the behaviors, attitudes, practices, and beliefs that are held by a specific group of people, and usually transferred from one generation to another. Culture characterizes a particular group of people making them distinct and different from others; it traverses from the way of eating, dressing, language, religion, social habits, and arts among other diverse components. Culture distinguishes a certain group of people and sets and creates differences with other groups of people. There are many cultural affiliations all across the world today. According to Bogardus (1), culture is “all the ways of doing and thinking of a group.” On the other hand, Sapir (1) has defined culture as “any socially inherited element of the life of man, material and spiritual.” C). Five features that define all cultures While there are many aspects that characterize culture, below are five characteristics that are widely accepted across all cultures: Culture is learnt The beliefs that are entrenched in a person are a product of one’s culture. They obtain these aspects through learning from other members of the community. Whatever a person says, believes, or does is influenced by their culture. It has been indicated that it is not possible to have a genetic transmission of culture, however, through social interactions, one is able to adopt a given culture. The simple things that an individual exhibits such as shaving or combing their hair is an aspect that is not inherent in a person at birth, it is learnt from the environment. This substantively clarifies that culture is not a factor of biological inheritance but a factor of social interaction with other people. The learning of culture by humans is not conditioned, this means that when one is learning a given culture the motivation is not the rewards that are associate with a specific behavior. Culture is based on symbols Many symbols are associated with a certain cultural inclination. These symbols have a given meaning. Often associated with a given culture are important events, language and objects that have a meaning. Language is a very symbolic component of each culture; it is used to characterize cultures since there is a great diversity of cultures across the world. Language is highly flexible, hence its ability to be a symbol of culture. Culture is symbolic since it can keep on changing hence humans have the tendency of changing in behavior either when forced to or at freewill. It is through the symbol of language that people get to learn most of their culture. Culture is shared Culture is not a one-man’s business, it is shared among many individuals. In all cultures across the world, there are specific trends that occur within the culture, these include the beliefs, customs, traditions, morals, art, and ideas among others. The people within a given society share these aspects and anybody who goes against them faces rebellion from the group depending on the magnitude in which the society regards its culture. In order to sustain a given culture, there must be involvement of more than one individual. As long as the society that upholds the culture continues to exist, the culture remains. Though there is a chance for the development of subcultures, there are basic features that continue to be shared with the main culture. The chances of survival for subcultures are very minimal especially if the number of people involved is less. Therefore, it is clear that all cultures are characterized by shared behaviors. Culture is integrated There are many consistencies in a given culture. One cultural aspect is a reflection of the other cultural aspects that are embraced by given society. This means that there is a specific pattern that is adopted across a given culture. The interconnectivity of a given culture can be based on the value systems that are adopted in that culture, this indicates that other aspects of the culture cannot negate the value systems that are widely acceptable across the culture. For example, in a society that upholds certain religious beliefs, the other secular aspects of the community should adhere to the prevailing religious culture. The consistencies in culture are geared towards preventing contradictions and controversies that would otherwise hinder the realization of the societal objectives. Culture is adaptive A general view of culture indicates that they have the capacity to adapt to situations, hence they are dynamic. However, the dynamism of different cultures is highly varied. The stability of cultures are not being ignored but they are not static. The change in a given culture is never spontaneous, it occurs slowly and constantly. Changes in the world such as inventions and technologies have led to cultural changes. The adaptation of culture to various situations is a strategy that helps in human survival; it helps people cope with changing time. However, it is not possible to do completely do away with culture. D). Personal life and culture Culture has shaped me to be what I am today. Courtesy of the cultural inclination of my parents, I was able to adopt certain beliefs, practices, and behaviors that have now become part of me. However, not all provisions of our culture I have adhered to. I have upheld the religious beliefs that were instilled through the effort of the religious leaders and my parents. In addition, I have come to appreciate the institution of marriage. I have also acquired eating and dressing patterns that are recommended by my parents as well as getting to learn from peers and the community at large. 6. A) Disadvantages of an ethnocentric attitude towards things, people, ideas etc that are different Harboring an ethnocentric attitude can be quite disadvantageous for a person especially in the current setup where cultural integration has become predominant. Firstly, the ethnocentric attitude has the capacity to interfere with relations between cultures. The person finds it difficult to interact with people that are of different culture as them. In the modern context, pooling together of resources, ideas, personnel among other aspects is very important for progressive development. therefore, when an individual harbors the ethnocentric attitude, they will be separated from others and denies others an opportunity to appreciate their creativity and other things that they are able to do. While there can be much flourishing courtesy of the multi-racial ideas and opinions, lack of pooling them together for synergy purposes causes a failure. The relationship between cultures are severely affected hence people less constructivism. The second aspect is that ethnocentrism in an individual limits the scope of their friends. Assimilation is a very important aspect, it promotes mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence. Ethnocentrism makes assimilation difficult hence it is a daunting task for an individual to acquire the cultural beliefs of another community. To a large extent, this kills the spirit of embracing diversity hence forcing people to remain inclined to their cultures. An ethnocentric person finds it difficult not only to penetrate other cultures but also to be able to embrace people from other cultures. The result is that there will be a limited scope of acquisition of knowledge and other opportunities. Ethnocentrism brings contributes to making the community members to be highly conserved, a situation that results to backwardness. In essence, the growth of human knowledge is curtailed. An ethnocentric individual is highly judgmental; hence they are not able to visualize the good things that can be done by an individual of a different race. Due to the belief that one’s culture is more important than the rest creates a mindset that others cannot perform a well. This judgmental attitude creates a scenario where the individual is not able to appreciate creativity and progress that is made by others. This can result to redundancy and backwardness since other people are able to collaborate in their own capacities. Before the ethnocentric individual realizes, So much has been achieved without their knowledge. On the other hand, most of the work that requires to be worked on efficiently requires diversity. Therefore, an ethnocentric person misses out on the diversity. b). Culturally Relativistic attitude is more advantageous. Cultural relativism entails the aspect of getting to embrace and appreciate all cultures equally. A cultural relative individual will demonstrate little or no biasness towards other cultures. There is no culture that is perceived to be superior over the others. This means that they are free to interact with people from diverse cultures without having mind-formed opinions or perceptions towards them. The following are the advantages that arise from cultural relativism: Through cultural relativism, there is increased mutual respect for individuals across all races. In addition to respect, people learn to tolerate one another irrespective of the culture. Through this respect and tolerance, individuals are able to engage in a myriad of synergistic activities. Another advantage is that cultural relativism facilitates the adoption of an equal status in the society. In this regard, no single culture is given preeminence over the other hence there occurs no cultural conflict. It acts as an advocate for cross-cultural equality. In addition, intra-cultural unity is fostered since individuals within a culture do not perceive their culture as a less one. In this scenario, the unifying factor is that all the cultures are bound by the same regulations. Furthermore, cultural relativism gives the ground under which an individual from a different culture is able to conform to the requirements of another culture and perfectly fit there. The cultural rules that are provided by a given community gives the guidelines that provide the entry to any individual that feels the urge to be part of that culture. Other major advantages are associated with cultural relativism to the society. Judgments based on racial inclinations reduce or cease courtesy of cultural relativism. People become very flexible and are able to embrace practices that are not theirs. In addition, the aspect of learning from other cultures becomes very easy. This creates a platform for learning of foreign arts, music, literature, as well as the beliefs and practices of other people. Finally, there is appreciation of other culture on the basis that there is no perfect culture while clearing the notion that no culture is rationally standard. Works Cited American Anthropological Association. What is Anthropology? 2014. Web. 19 May, 2014. http://www.aaanet.org/about/whatisanthropology.cfm Characteristics of culture. 2014. Web. 19 May, 2014. http://anthro.palomar.edu/culture/culture_2.htm Saphir, Edward. Cultural anthropology and psychiatry. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. 1932. Web. 19 May, 2014. http://www.brocku.ca/MeadProject/Sapir/Sapir_1932_b.html Read More