acculturate - to transmit the characteristics of one culture to members of another culture.

achieved status -- position that people occupy through their own efforts, activities, and accomplishments.

animism - belief that all objects possess a natural life or vitality or are endowed with indwelling souls and consciousness.

animistic disease theory - explanations of illness that attributes cause to the actions of an angry spirit entity.

ascribed status - a position occupied without choice by an individual, for example, gender and age.

assimilate - to adopt the cultural forms of another culture, abandoning, in the process, one's prior culture.

authority - the right to command or act.

belief - a conviction or persuasion of truth; also, the thing believed.

bilateral descent - a system in which a person relates to close relatives on both the mother's and father's side.

blended family - families formed through combining the children of two or more marriages (or other sexual relationships) that have dissolved through divorce, separation, or death.

caste - a special form of social class in which membership is determined by birth and remains fixed; the group is ranked in a hierarchy of groups in the sytem.

clan - a non-corporate descent group with each member claiming descent from a common, often mythical ancestor.

class - a division of society into groups which are ranked and have an unequal share of power, prestige, and worldly goods.

code switching - shifting from one set of cultural norms to another, including changing language usage and accent, gestures, and expectations of others' behaviors.

community of memory - a community is a group of people who are socially interdependent, who participate together in discussion and decision making, and who share certain practices that both define the community and are nurtured by it. Such a community almost always has a history and so is also a community of memory, defined in part by its past and its memory of its past (Bellah et. al. p. 333).

cross cousins - children of siblings of the opposite sex.

cultural diversity - differences in the way different groups of people normatively behave. Contrasts with diversity between and among individuals.

cultural relativism -- The position that the values and standards of cultures differ and deserve respect. Extreme relativism argues that cultures should be judged solely by their own standards. As used here, cultural relativism does not demand a person to suspend their own moral judgments, but rather to approach others with curiosity and respect.

culture bound - Perceptions and actions that are limited by one's own cultural codes.

deficit model - a description of a given form of social organization (e.g., a family form) that finds it lacking in important qualities, based on the assumption that a specific set of relationships (a normative model) is optimal. Such normative models reflect the values of a particular cultural group and fail to appreciate the norms and values of the group being analyzed.

deity - a god or goddess. Generally understood to be more powerful and knowledgeable than spirits.

diseases of civilization - illnesses caused by the lifestyles associated with modern civilization.

division of labor - work specialization within a society; the division of tasks and/or managerial responsibility.

dysfunctional - not operating as it should. When applied to social relations, the use of this term assumes that norms, roles, and/or actions cause relations to not work as they should.

economic infrastructure - the basic facilities, services, and installations needed for the functioning of a community or society, such as transportation and communications systems, water and power lines, and public institutions including schools, post offices, prisons, and medical facilities.

economic sectors - functional divisions of the economy; includes mining, agriculture, manufacturing, sales, and services.

enculturation - the process by which culture is transmitted from one generation to another in society.

ethnic group - sizable groups of people sharing a common and distinctive racial, national, religious, linguistic, or cultural heritage

ethnocentricsm - Belief in the superiority of one's own ethnic group.

extended family - 1) a large household group, related by ties of descent, marriage, or other durable relationship. As used to refer to Euro-American families, it generally consists of three generations living together: parents, married children, and grandchildren. 2) a set of mutually dependent and obligated kin that extends beyond the nuclear family.

family - a complex concept that entails at least the structure of the kin group, the function of family/kin members to one another, its sentimental or emotional dimensions, and its durability through time.

forced assimilation - use of force by a dominant group to compel a minority to adopt the dominant culture, for example, penalizing or banning the language and customs of an ethnic group.

formal economy - economic activity that is regulated by the State and which is documented in government statistics.

genitor - biological father of child.

genitrix -- biological mother of the child. (note: a child may now have one mother who contributes the genetic materials and another who gestates and gives birth to the child.)

identity - a individual's sense of personhood; the set of behavioral or personal characteristics by which an individual is recognizable as a member of a group.

ideology - those products of consciousness, such as morality, religion, and metaphysics, that purport to explain to people who they are and to justify to themselves the kind of lives they lead.

informal economy - economic activity that is outside of State regulation and accounting. Includes reciprocal exchanges between people, as well as illegal, "off the books" exchanges.

labor force -- the people who work in the formal economy.

liminality - the ambiguous transitional state in a rite of passage in which the person or persons undergoing the ritual are outside their ordinary social position.

lineage - a corporate group who claim descent from a common ancestor and can trace genealogy through known links to that ancestor.

magic - the manipulation of powerful, non-animated invisible forces that cannot be detected using scientific means.

magical beliefs - harnessing power that cannot be verified through scientific means, that can be used to heal or harm.

mater -- socially recognized mother of the child, but not necessarily the genitrix.

matrilineal descent - descent traced through the female line for purposes of group membership.

matrilocal residence -- residence of a couple after marriage in which the married couple lives in the locality associated with the wife's relatives.

metaphor - a form of thought and language or other symbolic representation that asserts a meaningful link between two expressions from different semantic or experiential domains.

monogamy - the taking of a single spouse in marriage.

multicultural: the existence of groups of people with different ethnic backgrounds and cultural traditions that live side by side in a society.

naturalistic beliefs - belief in the inherent cause-effect relationship between objects and actions. May be non-scientific or scientific.

naturalistic disease theories - explanations of illness that attributes cause to natural forces or conditions such as heat, cold, dampness, etc.

neolocal residence - residence of a couple after marriage in which the married couple forms a household in an independent location.

norm - the often unspoken or uncodified rules for behavior particular to a society.

nuclear family - a normally co-residential family unit made up of a heterosexual couple and their children.

parallel cousins - children of siblings of the same sex.

pater - socially recognized father of child, but not necessarily the genitor.

patrilineal descent - descent traced through the male line for purposes of group membership.

patrilocal residence - residence of a couple after marriage in which the married couple lives in the locality associated with the husband's relatives.

personalistic disease theories - disease is believed to be due to th active, purposeful intervention of a human or non-human agent.

polycultural: the incorporation of several cultural traditions into a single lived reality.

polygamy - the marriage custom of a person having more than one spouse.

power - transformative capacity; the ability to transform a given situation.

prestige - power to command admiration; influence deriving from being admired.

priest - a religious practitioner skilled in the practices of religious rituals, which he or she carries out for the belief of the group.

reciprocity - obligatory return of goods, services, and other social relationships.

redemptive process -- the way that individuals fulfill their obligations in relation to the moral imperatives of their community. It guides their judgments about human worth and dignity, and of their assumptions about power (Kenhelm Burridge).

religion - a system of faith and worship.

revitalization movement - social movement of a religious nature with the purpose of a total reformation or renewal of society.

rite of passage - religious ceremony which marks important changes in the status of individuals or age-sets, such as birth, adulthood, marriage, or death.

ritual process - prescribed form of conducting a ceremony.

role - the rights and duties associated with a status or position in society (e.g., parent, supervisor).

scientific disease theories - naturalistic explanations of diseases through using scientific methods.

segmented labor market - a region in which different social groups hold different job categories.

serial monogamy - the taking of more than one spouse in one's lifetime, but dissolving one monogamous marriage before beginning another.

shaman - an individual, part-time religious practitioner who is believed to have the power to travel and/or to contact supernatural forces directly on behalf of individuals or groups.

sin - immoral act in disobedience to a personal God. A transgression of a religious or moral law, especially when deliberate.

social capital -- the ability to obtain goods and services through non-monetary, reciprocal exchanges.

social division of labor - the division of managerial responsibility for accomplishing work.

social functions - the role a cultural element (practice, belief, etc.) plays in maintaining the integrity of a society; how a cultural element operates in interpersonal relationships.

socialization - the process by which humans learn to pattern and adapt their behavior according to the appropriate rules established by their society.

solidarity - a sense of commonality that impels people to be loyal to one another as members of a group.

supernatural disease theories - explanations of illness that attributes cause to supernatural agents.

superstition - a connection posited to exist between an event or action and a specified outcome, for which no causal linkage has been established using scientific methods.

syncretism - the synthesis of a traditional way of life and anew way of life that has been introduced by a different and usually more powerful culture.

technical division of labor - the division of work into discrete technical tasks.

the Great Exchange - the exchange that occurred when the Western and Eastern hemispheres came into sustained relationship. Europeans brought contagious diseases; Americans brought crops and mineral wealth.

unilineal descent - established kinship exclusively through either the mother's or the father's line.

witchcraft and sorcery - the manipulation of spiritual entities or magical properties to cause another person harm or benefits.

world view - the unexpressed but implicit conceptions of a society or an individual of the limits and workings of the mind. The encompassing pictures of reality created by members of cultures.

© Jane Adams 2002