IB Anthropology: Social and Cultural Organization

Organisms responses to environmental challenges; humans, like animals, adapt genetically to their surroundings.

the way a society uses technology and social organization to meet their subsistence needs within their environment.

• Foragers do not produce food, but rely on gathering foods and resources, fishing and hunting large and small game.

• Knowledge of the Environment

• Simple tools

• Mobility

• Low population density

• Resource sharing

• Correlations

• Band Organization- Bands are small groups of fewer than a hundred people, all related by kinship or marriage with flexible organization and membership.

• Minimal gendered division of labor

• Few material possessions

• Minimal social stratification

• Herders, or pastoralists, are people whose livelihoods focus on such domesticated animals as cattle, sheep, goats, camels, yak, and reindeer.

• Symbiotic relationship with domesticated animals

• Knowledge of animals and the environment

• Mixed Subsistence

• Mobility

• In pastoral nomadism, the entire group moves with the animals throughout the year to available pastures.
  With transhumance, part of the group moves with the herds between seasonal pastures, but most people stay in the home village.

• Correlations:

• Tribal Organization- Tribes have larger populations and are organized around kinship and marriage ties.

• Increased gendered division of labor

• Increased social stratification

• Horticulture

• Low population density

• Extensive use of land- shifting plots

• Few inputs- Less labor, technology

• Use of fallow period

• Mimics natural processes

• Agriculture

• High population density

• Intensive use of land- permanent plots

• More inputs- Increased labor, technology

• Continuous cultivation

• Intensive manipulation of environmen

Adaptations:

Extensive knowledge of ecosystem, plant ecology and breeding.

Mobility- To maintain soil fertility over time, horticulturalists shift plots every one to three years to allow for fallow (rest)period, of 15-20 years. When practiced in forests, fallow plots regrow into secondary forest, which restores fertility of soil. After several years of fallowing (the duration varies in different societies), the cultivator returns to farm the original plot again. Horticulture is also called shifting or rotational cultivation.

Extensive use of land- requires large amounts of land.

Simple technology- manipulation of ecosystem done with hoes or digging sticks.

Does not use draft animals, irrigation technology, or plows. In forest and grassland environments, fire is used to convert plant and tree biomass into ash, which increases soil fertility. This is known as "slash and burn" or swidden cultivation

Social Correlates: Tribal Organization- Tribes have larger populations and are organized around kinship and marriage ties.

Low population density- usually not more than 150 per square mile.

Increased gendered division of labor- low labor requirements, but men responsible for slashing and burning new plots (or fallowed old plots).

Increased material possessions- able to maintain permanent or semi-permanent settlements.

Increased social stratification- men tend to own the means of production (axes, machetes, hoes).

Intensive use of land- the same plot of land is permanently and continuously cultivated using more intensive manipulation of ecosystems.

Extensive knowledge of ecosystem, plant ecology and breeding. Creates "artificial" ecosystems that are managed by humans.

Complex technology- more intensive manipulation of ecosystem requires more complex technology and means of production.

Increased inputs to provide sunlight, water and soil fertility continuously over time:

Domesticated Animals Many agriculturalists use animals as means of production—for transport, as cultivating machines, and for their manure.

Fertilizer- agriculturalists maintain soil fertility over time by adding fertilizers, such as manure and compost.

Plowing- Loosens soil and brings nutrients to the surface. Requires animal or mechanical traction.

Irrigation While horticulturalists must await the rainy season, agriculturalists can schedule their planting in advance, because they control water.

Terracing- in mountainous areas, agriculture requires terracing to prevent crops and soil from being washed away.

Chiefdom or States, Higher population density, Increased gendered division of labor, Increased material possessions, Increased social stratification

Most people in industrial societies do not directly produce food, even though the food industry is large. Industrial agriculture is patterned after manufacturing, Complex technology, Intensive impact on ecosystems

States- complex forms of social organization that are based on citizenship and occupational specialization.

Higher population density- Supports higher population density and requires more labor.

Increased gendered division of labor- higher labor requirements. Industrial societies are characterized by a complex division of labor. In many industrial societies, women's labor is restricted to the domestic sphere, to provide support for the men, who work in manufacturing. In others, women are encouraged to work in factories, where they can be paid lower wages.

Increased material possessions- industrial economies are based on the constant expansion of consumption of material possessions.

Increased social stratification- access to wealth depends on whether you are an owner of the means of production (factories, machinery). Those who own the means of production, claim the wealth produced as profit, which can be transformed into political power and social prestige. Industrial societies are characterized by high levels of inequality.

relationships between persons based on descent ("blood") or marriage.

kin related through "biology"

kin related through marriage

Culturally established relationship between a child and one or both parents. Based on the biology of human reproduction.

In many societies, descent is the basis for forming corporate groups known as descent groups.

A social group that shares ownership of resources, production activities, decision-making, identity, and residence.

A corporate group whose members are consanguineal kin, descended from a common ancestor.

descent recognized bilaterally through both males and females. Does not create "lines" of kin at all but rather "sides" of families

Does not result in discrete, corporate groups. Instead, they form a kindred, a network made up of related people, recognized from ego's point of view.

"noncorporate”, bilaterally organized group of people who live in a single settlement and who move together for at least part of the year. The camp is a flexible but not random assortment of individuals (page 67)."

Descent group membership based on the links through either the maternal or the paternal line, but not both. Allows for the formation of discrete, corporate groups.

Individuals automatically join the father's descent group, but not the mother's. Creates patrilineages, descent groups formed by descent in the male line.

Individuals automatically join the mother's descent group, but not the father's. Creates matrilineages, descent groups formed by descent in the female line.

a group of individuals who can trace their descent to a common ancestor. Can be either patrilineages or matrilineages. In most societies, descent groups are corporate, sharing resources and property.

a group of individuals who believe they share common ancestor, but can not trace the genealogical connections. Founding ancestor is often a mythological being, such as a totem.

One half of a society, divided into two groups based on unilineal descent. Moieties can either be patrilineal or matrilineal. Moieties are intended to produce a balanced opposition within a society.

an animal, plant or other aspect of the natural world believed to be ancestral to members of a particular group.

At marriage the couple lives with or near the groom's kin. Female affines are strangers and male consanguines form strong bonds since they stay together for life. Females are therefore lower status.

At marriage the couple lives with or near the bride's kin. Male affines are strangers and female consanguines form strong bonds since they stay together for life. Males and females tend to have more equal status.

The total collection of terms of reference for kin and the rules for using them make up the kinship classification system of that society.

Kinship I: Inuit kinship terms with joking (grandparents-grandchildren) and avoidance (parents, parent-in-laws) relationships.

Kinship II: based on sharing names, fictive kinship relations are created with namesake's kin.

Kinship III: the principle of states that elders determine how younger individuals will refer to them.

The institutions, rights, and duties that establish a socially endorsed relationship between individuals, their children, and their descent groups.

Polygamy- one spouse is married to several spouses

Polygyny- one man is married to several women

Polyandry- one woman is married to several men.

ssenior kin exercise control over their children's choice of spouses.

The prohibition of sexual relations between very close kin is a cultural universal.

Exogamy- marriage outside one's group.
Endogamy- marriage within one's group.

Marriage to cross cousin's on either side of family. Creates permanent alliances between two lineages based on exchange of women in marriage.

Arranged marriages: marriages are arranged for children by their parents, who begin to

contemplate their children's marriage partners soon after their babies are born.

Parents whose children are betrothed to each other in early childhood may

exchange gifts for ten years or more before it is time for the children to wed.

Polygamy: Most marriages are monogamous. Polygynous marriages occur, usually with healers, who have slightly higher status due to their healing skills.

intergroup alliance and conflict: Marriage is the major form of alli-

ance formation between groups of Ju/'hoansi, and friendly relationships with

in-laws are crucial to survival. Without either material wealth or inequality to generate conflict, it is usually marriage and sexual relations

that provide the stage on which both conflict and alliance are played out.