Understanding Culture and Ethics in Anthropology

What is Culture?

• Culture refers to the complete range of learned human behaviors, beliefs, and traditions that are passed down from generation to generation.

Role of Cultural Anthropologists

• The primary obligation of cultural anthropologists is to conduct research that is respectful, reflexive, and ethical.

Ethnocentrism

• Ethnocentrism refers to the tendency to judge other cultures by the standards of one's own culture.

Culture and Personality School of Thought

• This school of thought drew on psychoanalytic theory to explain relationships between childrearing customs and human behaviors.
• Anthropologists Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead focused on the importance of childhood experiences in shaping adult behavior.

Description of Culture

• Culture can be described as a complex system of symbols, values, and norms that are shared by a group of people.

Ethical Research

• The primary role of cultural anthropologists is to conduct research that is respectful, reflexive, and ethical.

Cultural Relativism

• The idea behind Cultural Relativism is that cultural practices and values should be understood and respected within their own cultural context.

Cultural Universals

• Cultural universals are defined as the common practices or characteristics found across all cultures.

Approaches to Anthropology

• Anthropologist Philippe Bourgois uses an ethnographic approach in the article 'Workaday World, Crack Economy', focusing on the daily lives of individuals in a particular context.
• The primary focus of Applied Anthropology is to use anthropological knowledge to solve real-world problems.

Bicultural Approach

• The central idea of the Bicultural Approach is to understand and respect the cultural practices and values of two or more different cultures, often in the context of cultural exchange or conflict.

Explore the concepts of culture and ethics in anthropology through this quiz. Test your knowledge of learned behaviors, shared beliefs, and ethical research practices in cultural anthropology.