Cultural Anthropology --
A Problem-Based Approach, 5th Edition

• by Richard H. Robbins
• Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 2009
• ISBN-10: 0495509280
• ISBN-13: 9780495509288
• 368 pages
• Paper Bound
  
  
• About the Author

• New to the 2009 Edition

to top of page / A-Z index

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY: A PROBLEM-BASED APPROACH provides a fresh look at cultural anthopology while challenging students to engage in active learning and critical thinking

With an engaing narrative, author Richard Robbins teaches students to recognize their own cultures as a basis for understanding the cultures of others

This briefer book is organized around problems rather than topics, creating a natural and integrated discussion of such traditional concerns as kinship, caste, gender roles, and religion

These subjects are explored within the context of meaningful questions, such as:

• How can people begin to understand beliefs and behaviors that are different from their own?
  
  
• How do societies give meaning to and justify collective violence?
  
  
• Why are some societies more industrially advanced than others?
  
  
• What can anthropology tell us about attempts to link intelligence and class?
  
  
• and more
  
  

Learn anthropology within a strong active learning environment when you open Robbins' unique Fifth Edition. This brief, cost-effective text presents a variety of questions focused on the most important issues anthropologists study in first of-of-its-kind, problem-based format. You'll find yourself thinking critically about today's world as you read engaging Chapter Openers, complete integrated exercises, and review unique Case Studies in Doing Anthropology at the end of each chapter, now with new locator maps for your convenience.

Robbins's text presents a variety of questions focused on the most important issues anthropologists study in a unique, problem-based format. Within the book's engaging narrative, you'll learn how to analyze your own culture as a basis for understanding the cultures of others. Presentations organized around problems rather than topics, creating a natural discussion of traditional concerns, such as kinship, caste, gender roles, and religion. Meaningful questions integrated throughout further guide you in exploring these subjects.

 

to top of page / A-Z index

Table Of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. Culture and Meaning

• PROBLEM 1: How can people begin to understand beliefs and behaviors that are different from their own?
  
  
  • Question 1.1
    • Why Do Human Beings Differ in Their Beliefs and Behaviors?
      
      
  • Question 1.2
    • How Do People Judge the Beliefs and Behaviors of Others?
      
      
  • Question 1.3
    • Is It Possible to See the World Through the Eyes of Others?
      
      
  • Question 1.4
    • How Can the Meanings That Others Find in Experience Be Interpreted and Described?
      
      
  • Question 1.5
    • What Can Learning About Other Peoples Tell Americans About Themselves?

2. The Meaning of Progress and Development

• PROBLEM 2: How do we explain the transformation of human societies over the past 10,000 years from small-scale, nomadic bands of hunters and gatherers, to large-scale, urban-industrial states?
  
  
  • Question 2.1
    • Why Did Hunter-Gather Societies Switch to Sedentary Agriculture?
      
      
  • Question 2.2
    • Why Are Some Societies More Industrially Advanced Than Others?
      
      
  • Question 2.3
    • Why Don't Poor Countries Modernize and Develop in the Same Way as Wealthy Countries?
      
      
  • Question 2.4
    • How Do Modern Standards of Health and Medical Treatment Compare with Those of Traditional Societies?
      
      
  • Question 2.5
    • Why are Simpler Societies Disappearing?

3. Globalization, Neoliberalism, and the Nation-State

• PROBLEM 3: What is globalization, and what does ithave to do with me?
  
  
  • Question 3.1
    • How Do We Define Happiness and Well-Being?
      
      
  • Question 3.2
    • Where Does the Wealth Needed to Sustain Growth Come From?
      
      
  • Question 3.3
    • What Kind of Economic System is Nessary to Sustain Growth?
      
      
  • Question 3.4
    • What Is the Role of the Nation-State in Sustaining Growth?
      
      
  • Question 3.5
    • What Are the Effects of the Need for Perpetual Growth on Society, and Is It Possible to Redefine What Is Good and Desirable?

4. The Social and Cultural Construction of Reality

• PROBLEM 4: Why do people believe different things, and why are they so certain that their view of the world is correct, and others are wrong?
  
  
  • Question 4.1
    • How Does Language Affect the Meanings People Assign to Experience?
      
      
  • Question 4.2
    • How Does Symbolic Action Reinforce a Particular View of the World?
      
      
  • Question 4.3
    • How Do People Come to Believe What They Do, and How Do They Continue to Hold to Their Beliefs Even if They Seem Contradictory or Ambiguous?
      
      
  • Question 4.4
    • How Does the Way We Live Affect Our Beliefs and Rituals?
      
      
      • "Acting" in Love
      • Love and Class Structure
      • Love and Individualism
      • Romantic Love and the Functioning of Society

      cf., video: Strange Relations

  • Question 4.5
    • How Can People Reorder Their View of the World if It Becomes Unsatisfactory?
      
      
      • Wovoka and the Ghost Dance
      • Mother Ann Lee and the Shakers

        cf., video: The Shakers: I Don't Want to be Remembered as a Chair

5. Patterns of Family Relations

• PROBLEM 5: What do we need to know before we can understand the dynamics of family life in other societies?
  
  
  • Question 5.1
    • What Is The Composition of The Typical Family Group?
      • The Family Composition of the Ju/wasi
      • The Family Composition of the Trobriand Islanders
      • The Family Composition of the Chinese
        
        
  • Question 5.2
    • How are Families Formed, and The Ideal Family Type Maintained?
      • The Family Cycle of the Ju/wasi
      • The Family Cycle of the Trobriand Islanders
      • The Family Cycle of the Chinese
        
        
  • Question 5.3
    • What Are the Roles of Sexuality, Love, and Wealth?
      • Sex, Love,m and Wealth among the Ju/wasi
      • Sex, Love,m and Wealth among the Trobriand Islanders
      • Sex, Love,m and Wealth among the Chinese
        
        
  • Question 5.4
    • What Threatens to Disrupt the Family Unit?
      • Threats to the Ju/wasi
      • Threats to the Trobriand Islanders
      • Threats to the Chinese
        
        

6. The Cultural Construction of Identity

• PROBLEM 6: How do people determine who they are, and how do they communicate who they think they are to others?
  
  
  • Question 6.1
    • How Does the Concept of Personhood Vary from Society to Society?
      
      
  • Question 6.2
    • How Do Societies Distinguish Individuals from One Another?
      
      
  • Question 6.3
    • How Do Individuals Learn Who They Are?
      
      
  • Question 6.4
    • How Do Individuals Communicate Their Identities to One Another?
      
      
  • Question 6.5
    • How Do Individuals Defend Their Identities When They Are Threatened?

7. The Cultural Construction of Social Hierarchy

• PROBLEM 7: Why are modern societies characterized by social, political, and economic inequalities?
  
  
  • Question 7.1
    • How Do Societies Rank People in Social Hierarchies?
      
      
  • Question 7.2
    • Why Do Societies Construct Social Hierarchies?
      
      
  • Question 7.3
    • How Do People Come to Accept Social Hierarchies as Natural?
      
      
  • Question 7.4
    • How Do People Living in Poverty Adapt to Their Condition?
      
      
  • Question 7.5
    • Can a Nonstratified Community Exist Within a Larger Hierarchical Society?

8. The Cultural Construction of Violent Conflict

• PROBLEM 8: How do societies give meaning to and justify collective violence?
  
  
  • Question 8.1
    • How Do Societies Create a Bias in Favor of Collective Violence?
      
      
  • Question 8.2
    • How Do Societies Create a Bias Against Violent Conflict?
      
      
  • Question 8.3
    • What Are the Economic, Political, or Social Differences Between Peaceful and Violent Societies?
      
      
  • Question 8.4
    • What Are the Effects of War on Society?
      
      
  • Question 8.5
    • How Is It Possible to Justify the Construction of Weapons of Mass Destruction?

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

to top of page / A-Z index

• Key research problems on 'culture and meaning,' 'the idea ofprogress,' 'globalization,' 'neoliberalism','the social and cultural construction of reality,' 'family relations,' 'identity,' 'social hierarchy,' and 'conflict' are discussed using a participatory, active-learning approach
  
  
• Robbins includes integrated student exercises and simulations that can be used for written assignments, class discussions, or group work
  
  
• Numerous comparisons of world cultures with American culture encourage students to recognize their own cultural perspectives
  
  
• The Book Companion Website includes password-protected, downloadable classroom resources for instructors, as well as review questions and quizzes for students
  
  
• Key research problems dealing with beliefs, behaviors, family relations, and social constructions include critical thinking questions and open every chapter
  
  
• Integrated students exercises allow you to work individually or in a group to critically evaluate and discuss the pros and cons of cultural beliefs and behaviors seen in the world around you
  
  
• Numerous comparisons of world cultures with American culture encourage you to recognize your own cultural perspectives
  
  
• The Book Companion Website includes review questions and chapter-by-chapter quizzing

to top of page / A-Z index

New to the 2009 Edition

• New chapter on Globalization, neoliberalism and the nation-state, Chapter 3, that presents material on the pros and cons of a globalized world
  
  
• Chapter 2 includes more material on the impact of change on indigenous peoples, while Chapter 4 includes a new case study on anthropology and a career in political consulting
  
  
• End-of-Chapter case studies in applied anthropology will be fewer and richer (including maps), for a more in-depth look at researching a problem
  
  
• This edition is accompanied by rich online resources, such as a Companion Website with interactive exercises and quizzing. You can also purchase access to the Anthropology Resource Center, a dynamic tool for understanding core concepts in anthropology using video clips, interactive exercises, the latest news, and essays on key research being done around the world. To purchase access to the Anthropology Resource Center, visit www.ichapters.com

to top of page / A-Z index

Other Resources

• Text Assignments are Listed by Day

• OnLine Social Science Resource Unit
  
  
  • e.g., JSTORE, etc.
  • WebSearch
    
    
• Wadsworth Learning
  
  
  • Online Resources for the text
    
    
• Anthropology Surfing
  
  
• Surfing Lessons
  
  
• Career Center