1. Gender
1.1. Sex & Gender
1.1.1. "To help explore the relationship between the biological and cultural aspects of being men and women, anthropologists distinguish between sex and gender. Sex, from an anthropological viewpoint, refers to the observable physical differences between male and female human beings, especially the biological differences related to human reproduction. Gender is composed of the expectations of thought and behavior that each culture assigns to people of different sexes." (Guest 536)
1.1.1.1. There is a nuance when comparing the terms of sex and gender as they can somewhat be interchangeable. However, from an anthropological perspective, the two are slightly different with sex being observable physical attributes and gender as a concept conjured up by cultural influences.
1.2. Culture & Gender
1.2.1. "Family, friends, the media, doctors, educational institutions, religious communities, sports, and law all enculturate us with a sense of gender that becomes normative and seems natural. For example, parents “do gender” with their children. They assign them boy or girl names; dress them in gendered clothing, colors, and jewelry; and give them the “right” haircuts. Parents even speak to their children in gendered tones of voice. As we see gender being performed all around us, we learn to perform it in our turn. In these ways gender is taught, learned, performed, and policed." (Guest 539)
1.2.1.1. Culture dictates the influence by which gender is relevant within the society. For example, males have their own cultural and societal roles associated as do the females, and this is escalated with accepted cultural "norms".
1.3. Gender & Power
1.3.1. "Women, constrained by their role in reproduction, were confined to the private, or domestic, sphere—including the home, family, and childbearing. Men tended to dominate the public sphere—politics, economic exchange, and religious ritual. Because wealth and social status accrued to activities in the public sphere, men gained and maintained more power, privilege, and prestige than women did. Some scholars speculated that these patterns were rooted in the human evolutionary past—a proposition we will challenge later in this chapter. Others suggested that they might derive from men’s superior physical strength." (Guest 567)
1.3.1.1. Men and women are essentially already born with their assigned "power status" as men and women are treated and expected to grow up in their respective circle of principles. A soft example is the idea of the housewife and working man.
1.4. Globalization & Gender
1.4.1. "Beginning in the 1980s, anthropologists turned their attention to the impact of globalization on women and gender dynamics in local economies. Flexible accumulation—relocation of the production process both through offshoring factories and outsourcing jobs—has spurred increasing migration of women from rural areas to work in urban, coastal, export-oriented factories established by foreign corporations searching for cheap labor, low taxes, and few environmental regulations. As both local and national economies have continued to undergo rapid transitions, these women have had to negotiate between traditional gender expectations and the pressure to engage in wage labor to support themselves and their families."(Guest 597)
1.4.1.1. Women are now moving away from the traditional values adhered on them by cultural standards. Now, as more opportunities shift and open, women are starting to fulfill the roles that their counterparts had once filled.
2. Introduction To Anthropology
2.1. What is Anthropology?
2.1.1. "Anthropology maintains a commitment to studying both the people and the larger structures of power around them.These include families, governments, economic systems, educational institutions,militaries, the media,and religions, as well as ideas of race,ethnicity, gender, class, and sexuality." (Guest 81)
2.1.1.1. Anthropology is the commitment to comprehensively examine what makes us human; it analyzes the development of cultures and socieities all around the globe through extensive analytical concepts.
2.2. Different Approaches to Anthropology
2.2.1. "One of the unique characteristics of anthropology in the United States is that it has developed four “lenses” for examining humanity. Constituting the four- field approach, these interrelated fields are biological anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and cultural anthropology. Taken together, these represent a holistic approach for examining the complexity of human origins and human culture, past and present." (Guest 86)
2.2.1.1. Utilizling the four method approach, anthropologists in the United States are able to analyze differing cultures around the globe and comprehend them using criterias that allow them to be studied in various different ways.
2.3. Globalization
2.3.1. "Globalization today is c haracterized by several key dynamics: time-space compression, flexible accumulation, increasing migration, and uneven development, all of which are happening at an accelerating pace. These dynamics are reshaping the ways humans adapt to the natural world, and the ways the natural world is adapting to us." (Guest 102)
2.3.1.1. Globalization is essentially the rapid growth in which different cultures and socieities have come into contact with one another; this can be seen through currency, immigrants, trade, and knowledge.
3. Culture
3.1. What Is Culture
3.1.1. "Culture is our guide for understanding and interacting with the people and the world around us. It includes shared norms, values, symbols, mental maps of reality, and material objects, as well as structures of power— including the media, education, religion, and politics—in which our understanding of the world is shaped and negotiated." (Guest 137)
3.1.1.1. It is essentially the accepted "norm" within a society. It is the music, language, religion,politics, etc. It establishes the standard that people live their lives the way they do.
3.2. Culture & Power
3.2.1. "One key to understanding the relationship between culture and power is to recognize that a culture is more than a set of ideas or patterns of behavior shared among a collection of individuals. A culture also includes the powerful institutions that these people create to promote and maintain their core values." (Guest 168)
3.2.1.1. The relationship between culture and power is quite intertwined in the sense that together, they promote hegemony for the dominant culture. When a specific culture dominates, it is easier to maintain control and influence what the "norm" is; therefore, it ostracizing outside influences.
3.3. Culture & Biology
3.3.1. "But 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 have evolved over time." (Guest 182)
3.3.1.1. The dichotomy of culture and biology is evident through what the established norms are. This can be evident through diets, certain foods, behaviors, and differing cultural patterns.
3.4. Globalization & Culture
3.4.1. "Today’s flows of globalization are intensifying the exchange and diffusion of people, ideas, and goods, creating more interaction and engagement among cultures. Let’s consider three key interrelated effects of globalization on local cultures: homogenization, the global flows of culture through migration, and increased cosmopolitanism." (Guest 194)
3.4.1.1. With globalization comes the nearly effortless ability to be submerged and exposed to differing cultures all over the globe; this is evident through food, music, clothes, media, religion, and language. You don't have to travel to Vietnam to get Vietnamese food anymore. You simply just need to find a local Vietnamese restaurant nearby.
4. Ethnicity & Nationalism
4.1. What Is Ethnicity?
4.1.1. "Ethnicity is one of the most powerful identities that humans develop: it is a sense of connection to a group of people whom we believe share a common history, culture, and (sometimes) ancestry, and who are distinct from others outside the group." (Guest 469)
4.1.1.1. Defined by a sense of identity and fellowship, ethnicity is a sense of belonging to a certain group of people and culture
4.2. What Is Nationalism?
4.2.1. "Nationalism emerges when a sense of ethnic community combines with a desire to create and maintain a nation-state in a location where that sense of common destiny can be lived out."(Guest 496)
4.2.1.1. A mutualistic sense of pride of a certain ethnic group where they seek to promote their hegemony in aspects of culture, mission, and interests.
5. Language
5.1. What Is Human Language
5.1.1. "Human language is a system of communication that uses symbols—such as words, sounds, and gestures—organized according to certain rules, to convey information. These symbols have deep historical and cultural meaning, and human language is remarkably flexible and creative, rapidly adapting to changes in human life and the environment." (Guest 305)
5.1.1.1. Although, species from different spectrums can communicate in their own ways, we as a species have developed a fundamental system that, in order to communicate properly, we have to adhere to such as grammar, phonemes, and morphemes.
5.2. Language & Power
5.2.1. "Human languages vary widely in spoken and written form and in accent, pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. Yet, from the perspective of linguistic anthropology, all languages serve as effective communication tools for the people who speak them." (Guest 334)
5.2.1.1. The relationship between language and power is tied directly with the notion that a certain way of speaking is more superior. This can be seen in "prestige language," in which a variation of the language is perceived with the notions of superiority and wealth.
5.3. Language & Globalization
5.3.1. "As people move, elements of vocabulary and grammar are loaned to and imposed on populations that come into contact. Languages are full of loanwords that have been adopted from others. The encounter of linguistic communities occurs with increasing rapidity in the contemporary era of globalization." (Guest 349)
5.3.1.1. With globalization comes the melting pot of different languages in regions where the standard language is conflicted with the foreign one. In other words, as people emigrate and immigrate, languages are exchanged and either flourish or become dormant as the one becomes the dominant one over the other.
6. Sexuality
6.1. What Is Sexuality
6.1.1. "For the purposes of this chapter, we will define sexuality from two key perspectives. First, sexuality is the complex range of desires, beliefs, and behaviors that are related to erotic physical contact, intimacy, and pleasure. Second, sexuality is the cultural arena within which people debate ideas of what kinds of physical desires and behaviors are morally right, appropriate, and “natural” and use those ideas to create unequal access to status, power, privileges, and resources." (Guest 619)
6.1.1.1. The term sexuality cannot be attached to one definite definition. Instead, it is analyzed through personal preferences as well as cultural constructs such as heterosexual, homosexual, and transgender.
6.2. Sexuality & Culture
6.2.1. "Culture shapes what people think is natural, normal, and even possible. Parents, family, friends, doctors, religious communities, sex education classes, the media, and many other individual and institutional actors all play a role in shaping the way we imagine and express our sexuality and what those expressions mean to others. Thus culture both guides and limits, encourages and thwarts our sexual desires and imaginations." (Guest 625)
6.2.1.1. Culture and sexuality are somewhat intertwined as what is considered the "norm" regulates our perspectives on different kinds of sexualities and the perceived characterisitics attached to each one.
6.3. Sexuality & Power
6.3.1. "These aspects include marriage and divorce; monogamy and polygamy; age of consent; definition of incest; reproductive rights; the rights of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender persons; pornography; and prostitution. A consideration of “who is allowed to do what with whom and when” exposes the intersections of sexuality and power in a culture. Attention to intersectionality—the way systems of power interconnect to affect individual lives and group experiences—offers a fundamental shift in the way social scientists study inequality and stratification, including the way we think about sexuality." (Guest 647)
6.3.1.1. Hegemony over sexuality influences the cultural "norms" associated with things such as relationships, gender identification, and different types of sexualities,whether in a positive or negative light.
7. Religion
7.1. What Is Religion?
7.1.1. "As a working definition, we might then say that a religion is a set of beliefs and rituals based on a vision of how the world ought to be and how life ought to be lived, often, though not always, focused on a supernatural power and lived out in community." (Guest 1202)
7.1.1.1. Religion can be described as the personal connection between individuals and their choice of faith of holy faith. Moreover, their way of life is dictated by dogma and belief in something bigger than themselves.
7.2. Religion and Ritual
7.2.1. "Rituals embody the beliefs, passions, and sense of solidarity of a group of people. They make beliefs come alive. When performed repeatedly over years and generations, rituals, as Durkheim suggested, create a sense of continuity and belonging that defines a group and regenerates its sense of solidarity, history, purpose, and meaning." (Guest 1215)
7.2.1.1. Rituals essentially become rites of passage in some ways as they escalate that personal connection with the individual and their practicing faith. By undergoing a ritual, one is manifesting the beliefs physically and spiritually.
7.3. Religion & Power
7.3.1. "Asad states that scholars of religion must beware the power of universal definitions to obscure local realities. They must carefully examine local expressions of religion, how those expressions developed over time, and what has given those expressions the power and authority to be so meaningful to believers." (Guest 1251)
7.3.1.1. Religion and power can be a double-edged sword as anyone can utilize religion and interpret it in their own way. Therefore, granting them sanctimonious status.
7.4. Globalization & Religion
7.4.1. "Increasing immigration sometimes means that whole communities—their beliefs, religious architecture, religious leaders, and even their gods—relocate across national boundaries. Travel is broadening the encounters of people of different faiths. At the same time, information about religion is more widely available, and communication technologies enable religious institutions to transform their strategies for cultivating and educating participants. Cities, especially those serving as immigrant gateways, are generally the focal point of this increasing encounter. It is here that new immigrants revitalize older religious institutions and construct new ones, often establishing deep ties to home and sophisticated networks of transnational exchange." (Guest 1267)
7.4.1.1. Alongside trade goods and such, religion has also been conversed and traded throughout all the trade networks in the world. Globalization has made it easier for faiths of all kinds to reach anyone who would care to partake.
8. Global Economy & Class & Equality
8.1. What Is An Economy
8.1.1. "At the most basic level, an economy is a cultural adaptation to the environment—a set of ideas, activities, and technologies that enables a group of humans to use the available land, resources, and labor to satisfy their basic needs and, if organized well, to thrive. Thus, an economic system is a pattern of relations and institutions that humans construct to help collectively meet the needs of the community." (Guest 869)
8.1.1.1. An economy is essentially the monetary wheel of trade of resources within a community
8.2. Distribution & Exchange
8.2.1. "All cultures have developed patterns for the distribution and exchange of goods and information produced by their members. In fact, the exchange of goods and ideas appears to be central to the workings of culture, establishing patterns of interaction and obligation among people. Anthropologists recognize three main patterns of exchange: market exchange, reciprocity, and redistribution. All are embedded in the everyday workings of almost every cultural group." (Guest 878)
8.2.1.1. The basis of an economy, distribution and exchange involve the process of giving and trading resources in an economy
8.3. What Is Class
8.3.1. "By class we refer to a system of power based on wealth, income, and status that creates an unequal distribution of the society’s resources—usually moving wealth steadily upward into the hands of an elite. Systems of class stratify individuals’ life chances and affect their possibilities for upward social mobility." (Guest 775)
8.3.1.1. Class refers to a person's system of power on the basis of wealth, income, and status.
8.4. How Are Class and Inequality Constructed in the United States?
8.4.1. "In fact, in the United States one’s life chances are heavily influenced by the class position of one’s family, the financial and cultural resources passed from generation to generation." (Guest 799)
8.4.1.1. Factors of class heavily influences an individuals upbringing in the United States regarding financial and cultural resources.
9. Race & Racism
9.1. What is racism?
9.1.1. "Individuals’ thoughts and actions and institutional patterns and policies that create or reproduce unequal access to power, privilege, resources, and opportunities based on imagined differences among groups." (Guest 387)
9.1.1.1. Racism is essentially the thoughts and actions of individuals based on the premise of predetermined notions of superiority over one another.
9.2. Do biologically separate races exist?
9.2.1. "However, anthropologists see race very differently. Contemporary studies of human genetics reveal no biologically distinct human groups. We can state this with certainty despite centuries of scientific effort to prove the existence of distinct biological races, and despite widespread popular belief that different races exist. In fact, humans are almost identical, sharing more than 99.9 percent of our DNA. The small differences that do exist are not distributed in any way that would correspond with popular or scientific notions of separate races. Race is not fixed in nature..." (Guest 388)
9.2.1.1. Biologically, there is no real difference that separates race since we all identify as humans. However, there are nuances that can be applied to differentiate groups of people.
9.3. How Is Race Constructed in the United States?
9.3.1. "Race is perhaps the most significant means used to mark difference in U.S. culture. References to it can be found on census forms, school applications, and birth certificates, as well as in the media and casual conversation. Race is also a key framework that shapes the allocation of power, privilege, rewards, and status, and it infuses all of our political, economic, religious, recreational, educational, and cultural institutions." (Guest 414)
9.3.1.1. It is ubiquitous as race is applied to almost every facet of a person's identification within society.