GLST 290 COMPLETE LATEST
CHAPTER 11 BASED QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS
Cultural ecology - ANS-✅An anthropological theory that teaches that culture can be understood in
terms of how people adapt to and interact with the natural environment
Cultural Marxism - ANS-✅A postmodern theory that draws on Karl Marx's concepts of power,
inequality, and class struggle to understand cultural change
Cultural materialism - ANS-✅A theory that understands culture as driven by the material, ecological,
and economic adaptations humans make
Cultural traits - ANS-✅Cultural artifacts or activities
Diffusionism - ANS-✅An early anthropological theory stating that cultural traits spread from more
advanced to less advanced societies
Falsification - ANS-✅The view that scientific theories cannot be proven, only falsified
Feminist theory - ANS-✅A contemporary theory that highlights the importance of gender as an analytic
concept and the importance of including women's presence in cultural analysis
Functionalism - ANS-✅An early anthropological theory that says culture develops in response to human
needs
Historical particularism - ANS-✅An early anthropological theory that argues that each culture is a
unique representation of its history and context
Idiographic explanation - ANS-✅A rich description of a particular case
Naturalism - ANS-✅A belief that all that exists are the natural phenomena that can be touched, seen, or
otherwise physically experienced
Nomothetic explanation - ANS-✅A generalization, a natural law that predicts and explains culture
change and human behavior
Perspectivalism - ANS-✅An anthropological theory that highlights the positionality of knowledge; that
is, knowledge is generated by a knower who is positioned in a particular place and time and who reflects
a specific and limited perspective
Positivism - ANS-✅An approach to anthropology that involves seeking universal, nomothetic
explanations based on empirical evidence
Postmodern theory - ANS-✅An umbrella term for theories built on the premise that positivist or so-
called objective views of human phenomena are inherently limited, and that they are therefore not
unbiased in the ways proponents believe them to be
Reflexivity - ANS-✅The inclusion of the anthropologist's perspective and experience in ethnographic
writing
Sociobiology - ANS-✅An anthropological theory that teaches that culture is rooted in the human drive
for evolutionary advantage and genetic survival
Structural-functionalism - ANS-✅An early anthropological theory that says the functions of particular
beliefs or behaviors may be understood in terms of their support of social order and cohesion
Structuralism - ANS-✅An anthropological theory that teaches that human biology, specifically brain
structure, drives culture
Symbolic anthropology - ANS-✅An approach to anthropology that views culture as a system of symbols
that people create, alter, and share with each other
Theory - ANS-✅A formal description of some phenomenon in the world that explains how that thing
works
CHAPTER 11 BASED QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS
Cultural ecology - ANS-✅An anthropological theory that teaches that culture can be understood in
terms of how people adapt to and interact with the natural environment
Cultural Marxism - ANS-✅A postmodern theory that draws on Karl Marx's concepts of power,
inequality, and class struggle to understand cultural change
Cultural materialism - ANS-✅A theory that understands culture as driven by the material, ecological,
and economic adaptations humans make
Cultural traits - ANS-✅Cultural artifacts or activities
Diffusionism - ANS-✅An early anthropological theory stating that cultural traits spread from more
advanced to less advanced societies
Falsification - ANS-✅The view that scientific theories cannot be proven, only falsified
Feminist theory - ANS-✅A contemporary theory that highlights the importance of gender as an analytic
concept and the importance of including women's presence in cultural analysis
Functionalism - ANS-✅An early anthropological theory that says culture develops in response to human
needs
Historical particularism - ANS-✅An early anthropological theory that argues that each culture is a
unique representation of its history and context
Idiographic explanation - ANS-✅A rich description of a particular case
Naturalism - ANS-✅A belief that all that exists are the natural phenomena that can be touched, seen, or
otherwise physically experienced
Nomothetic explanation - ANS-✅A generalization, a natural law that predicts and explains culture
change and human behavior
Perspectivalism - ANS-✅An anthropological theory that highlights the positionality of knowledge; that
is, knowledge is generated by a knower who is positioned in a particular place and time and who reflects
a specific and limited perspective
Positivism - ANS-✅An approach to anthropology that involves seeking universal, nomothetic
explanations based on empirical evidence
Postmodern theory - ANS-✅An umbrella term for theories built on the premise that positivist or so-
called objective views of human phenomena are inherently limited, and that they are therefore not
unbiased in the ways proponents believe them to be
Reflexivity - ANS-✅The inclusion of the anthropologist's perspective and experience in ethnographic
writing
Sociobiology - ANS-✅An anthropological theory that teaches that culture is rooted in the human drive
for evolutionary advantage and genetic survival
Structural-functionalism - ANS-✅An early anthropological theory that says the functions of particular
beliefs or behaviors may be understood in terms of their support of social order and cohesion
Structuralism - ANS-✅An anthropological theory that teaches that human biology, specifically brain
structure, drives culture
Symbolic anthropology - ANS-✅An approach to anthropology that views culture as a system of symbols
that people create, alter, and share with each other
Theory - ANS-✅A formal description of some phenomenon in the world that explains how that thing
works
