SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Use textbook pages 28-31

CULTURAL RELATIVISM – One should not compare two

cultures because each culture has its own internal rules that must
be accepted. Everyone sees other cultures through the lens of
their own culture.

Ethnocentric:

Key Theorist(s):

Example(s) of Research:

FUNCTIONAL THEORY – The idea that every belief, action or

relationship in a culture functions to meet the needs of individuals.
There is the importance of interdependence among all things
within a social system to ensure its long-term survival.

Key Theorist(s):

Example(s) of Research:

CULTURAL MATERIALISM – Materials or conditions within the

environment (climate, food supply, geography) influence how a
culture develops, creating the ideas and ideology of a culture. If
something is not of value to a society’s ability to produce or
reproduce, then it will disappear from society altogether.

Key Theorist(s):

Example(s) of Research:
FEMINIST ANTHROPOLOGY – Looks to ensure the female
voice is heard. Examines how many cultures are dominated by
men, dominated by women, or are egalitarian.

Culturally Constructed:

Key Theorist(s):

Example(s) of Research:

POSTMODERNISM - The belief that it is impossible to have any

‘true’ knowledge about the world. What we ‘know’ about the world
is our own construction, created by society.

Subculture:

Key Theorist(s):

Example(s) of Research:

REFLECT AND RESPOND

⇨ Women in Canada make up half of the population, yet they

make up less than 20% of the elected government. How
would a feminist and a functionalist differ in their
explanations of this statistic?
⇨ What is the essential difference between the approach of
cultural materialists and postmodernists?

⇨ If YOU were an anthropologist studying ethnicity, class, or

gender in YOUR community, how would you conduct your
research (i.e., from the perspective of which school of
thought)?