1. Religion
1.1. "In Marx's view, religion provides an opiate- a painkiller- to undermine the masses' impulses to resists exploitation and change the social order" (Guest, 583).
1.1.1. Karl Marx believed the working class inadvertently used religion as pain relief from the reality of their daily struggles. Religion was used as an outlet for frustrations and also a beacon for hope that their suffering meant something.
2. Global Economy
2.1. "During the 1980s and 1990s, global financial institutions emphasized structural adjustment loans as a key, though controversial, mechanism to address poverty and development in poorer nations" (Guest, 466).
2.1.1. The structural adjustment loans aimed to stabilize a country's long-term economic development, but they came with a lot of terms and conditions that would essentially put the welfare of the working class in jeopardy for any country that wanted to participate in the loan.
3. Race and Racism
3.1. "Through hypodescent the race of children of mixed marriages is assigned to the lower or subordinate category of the two parents- or, in many cases, the subordinate category of any one of many ancestors" (Guest, 217).
3.1.1. There was a time when hypodescent was used in laws in various states within the U.S. It did not matter how many white features a person expressed; if they had an ancestor that was black, the white person would be legally labeled as colored.
4. Class and Inequality
4.1. "their continuous struggle simply to make ends meet, as well as the creative means used by the bourgeoisie to keep the proletariat divided, works against a unified challenge to the stratification of society" (Guest, 395).
4.1.1. Capitalism's design ensures the working class struggles to survive, leaving no energy to unite against the government or the rich. Division is also fabricated through politics, racism, and sexism.
5. Power and Politics
5.1. "anthropologists have not observed a band, tribe, or chiefdom that has not been influenced by colonialism, the power of the state, and the forces of globalization" (Guest, 536).
5.1.1. Anthropologists formed to study people and their political systems, but European colonial expansion had already transformed societies worldwide through violence and various influences such as colonialism, the slave trade, conquests, military actions, missionary efforts, and global trade, impacting political arrangements from urban areas to rural villages.
6. Sexuality
6.1. "The average bridal gown (mostly made in third world garment shops by women who will never have a white wedding), including alterations, headpiece, and veil, will cost $1,357" (Guest, 325).
6.1.1. In the United States, wedding culture is part of the process that gives structure to what it means to be heterosexual; it's an expression of an understanding of heterosexuality. Beginning in childhood, both girls and boys are prepped for marriage. Girls learn to apply makeup, select a prom dress, and wear high heels. Boys learn to buy flowers, engagement rings, and initiate sex. These practices lead to the big wedding day and the rituals that led up to it continue for a lifetime.
7. Gender
7.1. "Humans are born with biological sex, but we learn to be women and men" (Guest, 275).
7.1.1. Cultural construction of gender describes the way society instills in us, from birth, what it means to be masculine or feminine. A popular example of this are gender reveal parties; specific colors and decorations are assigned depending on the gender of the baby. As impressionable children, we are exposed to what is considered “normal” expressions of gender and adopt these practices ourselves. Our concepts of masculinity and femininity are reinforced in the development of relationships with others by engaging in dating, mating, parenting, and loving. This leads to an establishment of different roles and expectations for the genders.
8. Language
8.1. "When a language is lost, when it is crowded out by more widely used languages, we lose all of the bodies of information and local knowledge that has been developed- perhaps over thousands of years- by that community" (Guest, 139).
8.1.1. Language is the liaison that allows humans to adapt to their particular environments by providing them with a way to share information essential for survival and expression of culture. The loss of a language results in the loss of knowledge about animals, plants, or medicines. It’s a loss of perspective.
9. Culture
9.1. "Current research in physical and cultural anthropology shows that no matter how strong our biological needs or our hormones, odors, and appetites might be, culture and the environment in which we live exert powerful influences on what we think, on how we behave, on the shape and functions of our individual bodies, and even on how humans evolved over time" (Guest, 53).
9.1.1. There are two schools of thought: the first one credits biology and our genes for playing the major role in determining our development, i.e., biology is largely responsible for who we become. The second one credits culture for shaping both our bodies and our lives. The reasoning behind this is that although we have the same biological needs, such as sleeping, eating, and drinking, we don't take care of these needs in the same way; and our unique cultural patterns are to blame.
10. Anthropology in a global age
10.1. "Globalization today is characterized by several key dynamics: time-space compression, flexible accumulation, increasing migration, and uneven development, all of which are happening at in increasingly rapid pace" (Guest, 18).
10.1.1. Globalization is changing the way we adapt to the world. It has changed our perception of time, explained by time-space compression. Advances in communication and transportation have allowed companies to develop and practice offshoring and outsourcing thus creating flexible accumulation. Migration has increased significantly and so has uneven development.