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![]() ![]() ![]() Ken Guest, explaining why, in his opinion, cultural anthropology may be the ‘most important’ class students will or can take in their educational careers.The structural functional approach to understanding the family is a sociological perspective that views the family as a social institution that performs essential functions for society as a whole. Take a moment to watch or listen to this short clip of anthropology professor, Dr. Because anthropology is a ‘holistic’ study of humans (i.e., biological, cultural, and social) this interconnected approach helps us to understand each other, and hopefully, to live together in peace and harmony (definition: agreement )one day. The goal of anthropology is to understand the human condition - what happened in the past, what’s happening now, and what might happen in the future. Your ‘big ideas’ have begun to capture why studying different cultures of today and yesterday is important. (You may want to elaborate on a peer’s bubble, too!) To help us start thinking about that question, let’s take a metacognitive (definition: awareness and understanding )moment to reflect on your learning so far.Īt this point, what have you learned about anthropology that you think is important to remember? Write your ‘big idea’ in a bubble and share it with your teacher and peers by adding it to the class Mind Map. Now that you’re familiar with those words, watch or listen to this video to learn about Structuralism as an anthropological school of thought:Ī very significant question remains - why should we study other cultural systems today, as well as those from other times? When something manifests, it presents itself. Manifestation refers to an event, action, or object that clearly shows or embodies something. That is, understanding how the two sides relate to each other. Reconciliation is the action of making one view or belief compatible with another. For example, do you know what 'reconciliation' and 'manifestation' mean? The next video clip that you’ll watch or listen to contains different keywords. Knowing what the keywords mean will help you to understand the material better. However, Functionalists believe that all societies are normal and logical (definition: reasonable )because they are composed of the different social institutions that work together to meet the needs of the majority of the people. ![]() Some cultures may seem ‘different’ to the outsider looking in and observing them (think about the ‘Nacerima’ culture!). Functionalists study how these institutions function socially by asking certain questions such as these: 'What is the purpose of these social institutions?', 'How are they run?', 'How are decisions made?' and, 'How do they work together?'įor example, Functionalists would say that the medical element of culture (e.g., doctors, traditional healers, shaman) exists to help people deal with well-being issues and physical needs, and the legal (law) element of culture reinforces the behaviours that are culturally defined as acceptable. ![]() Schools of Thought in Anthropology Functionalismįunctionalists believe that different social institutions (i.e., family, school, peers, religion) in society (and culture) all work together to provide a stable environment in which people can live. Let’s take a look at a few specific examples. Just like psychology and sociology, anthropology can also be divided into different schools of thought. If you reach back into the psychology and sociology units that you studied, you might remember that each discipline can be divided into specific schools of thought. Two questions will guide this activity: 'How can the different schools of thought in anthropology be used to understand people and how they interact in different cultural systems?' and, 'Why is it important to study cultural systems and archeological remains from different times and places?' ![]()
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