Lecture 6

Cultural change
• “Life was very easy when apple and barriers were just fruits”
• Micro
• Macro
• Urbanization Macro changes :
• Lessele white + Julian stewards
• Class struggle theory  Marxism
• Modernizatuion + world system theor
• Micro changes:
• Diffusion
• Aculturalation
• Cultural barrier
• Modeulatores/ reguklatore
7 factors of socio-cultural change

• Phsycial factors  food, climate change, size of demography, volcanic eruption etc.
• Economic factor  production of agriculture, barbaric civilication,. Industrial revolution ,
intensive, extensive farming
• Ideas or ideology  religion and ideological changes , feminism etc
• Cultural diffusion  how merge and diffusin causes changes
• Scence and technology  electronic media, communicational system changes
• Political factors --? Authoratatrianism , democracy , colonization, imperialism (akbar marriage
to joda Bai)
• Educational factors  education exploitation, literacy and education
• All these factors altogether brings about socio-cultural changes
• Q: how any or each of these factors brings about cultural, socio change?
•
Example: ideas and ideology

• Communism and capitalism were ideologies that ultimately dictated

whole different form of cultures that have individually and
collaboratively lead to urbanization
• Capitalism : taxation, trade, privatization, tariffs, subsideies, freetrade,
e.g.g banking system
• So when these banks opened branches in cities, it directl lead to more
and more urbanization.
• More industries, banks, more cities, more population.
• How perspective in anthropology are helpful in dealing with study globlly trends such as
• Bio-adversity(conflict): franz Vois, alfered koroibre and rooth benedict
• E.g. race based conflict and how to solve it
• Eastern vs western change e.g. skin tune is created in environment
• Global warming  ecological anthropology, how enornment effect the human. Morvin
harris, julian steward and leissele white  evolution via technology, rate of change in
culture is directly propotional to the mergene of technology
• How to solve, with thrdr theories
• Farnz and Bois and rooth benedict  acknowledge all cultures and races ‘ uniqueness
• Cultural relativism, every culture is unique, bio-physical equality
• Historical particulirsm
How applied anthropology can be utilized for solving human
problems ?

• Theories and explantion that explain economic, political, social mindset / philosyphy
• Incest taboo
• Gift exchange
Theories of reciprocity
Dowra system
Colaring system
Gift exchange
Amanism and religion (EB Tylor)
Poverty and population
Theory of Karl Marx, Theory of class struggle, class conflict
Capitalism
Islamic socialization etc.
Religion
• Religion is a belief system and practices of rituals.
• Rituals : if you believe in a specific religion but you don’t follow its
ritual then you are not a true follower. Thus rituals are important
pillars of any religion.
• KarlMarx called religion an Opium
Functions of Religion
• Cosmology: relgion will give you the basic answers, about your life, universe, and life.
• Rationalism: it gives persona chance to rational think, and do critical thinking about your
survial, universal existance and human capibiloties.
• Control& order of society: when we enter a specific religion, we have to accept the
orders of the religion/ contextual of religion.
• Prevailing disorder: religion has fixed penalities punishments in order to prohibit few
practices to overcome and avoid disorder in society.
• Concept od Die: studied by Morton class
• According to people  die is the owner of filed, where people grow crops (name of spirit
) in another way they consider die there God,and some consider them spitits and get
scared of them
• Die is a religion in Thailand.
Characteristics of religion
• Samples and symbolism: religion cannot be complete without them e.g. sandoor in
hindu
• A lot of sybmbols have different stories and underlying meandings associated to them
• Narratives and Myths: sarred naratives combine to form a religion as a whole e.g.
totanism is a religion wholy based on myths about trees.
• Supernatural beings, powers, statusand qulaities:
• In our relgion “God” is considered as a the supranatural being and hispowers are
considered supernatural.
• Exaggeration is almost in every religion which is necessary to create a firm belif in
superanatural powers which ultimately become part of religion.
• Qulaities are sometin that differentiate between natural and superanatural beings. (.e.g
angles, prohets etc)
Status in religion
• Anthropomorphic  spirits can take the hape of humans
• Zumorphic  spirits can take shape of animals
• Anthropocyclic  having thoughts and powers like spirits
• Multiralent  the differential understadings in same religion .
• Issue of interpretion  Same idea containing different meanings, or
presented in different ways by translatory groups.
• Anamitism  belief in impersonal spirit and spiritual force that influnces the
universe
• Mana  powers got by certain beings by reforming certain rituals.
• Buddhism monks  do mediation on the top of mountains
Rituals
• A pattern/ act that involves the manipulation of religious symbols.
Rituals are basically a way to address supernaturals in different religions.
• Different rituals:
• Right of passage: this is a ritual which is associated wuth the transition
from one status to another status.
• Seperation: to remove oe from its status
• Liminal : to cleave old sttaus but further entering into a new pne
• Reincorporation: entering of a participant into a community with a new
status.
• Anti-structure : any behaviour which is socially sanctioned (social taboo) that radically violates
the social norms.
• “frequently found in ritual norms”
• They develop a stage to forgot about their status and talk about the social taboos which
according to them is a blancing of status.
• Example: Namaz in Islam  all rich, poor perform this ritual equally.
• Communitas: a state of perceived solidarity, equality and unity among people, sharing religious
rituals, often characterized by intensive emotions.
• Rights of intensification
• This strgenthen the status of indivual like performance namaz, customs goinf to church etc.
• They reinforce the values and norms of n community and strgethen gorpus identity.
• ExampleL Totenism
James pharase
• Worked on magic, also worked on the concept of birth, according to him we
can understand religion by understading their myths.
• The birth/ rebirth concept is present in almost every religion
• He said that 1st magic came than religion begun.
• Example
• Religious practionals
• Shammins: average member of community, activities performed on special
oceasions
• Visual quistsL e.g. istakhra, chilla,
• preistsL practicing people, e.g. Moulivis, Aalims.
Religion and change
1. Nativism: such movemnts which are used to strengthen religion to store and preserve the
golden age , believed to have existed in the past. Example: farazi movement, tabligee
jamaat, sunni Tehreek, jamat-e-Islami, Hindutawa etc.
2. Vitalism: the religious movemnts that doesn’t have any existing past e.g. bhuttos’s Islamic
socialization , Akbar’s deen-e-Illahi.
3. Messiamnic: focusing on coming. Arrival of an indivual who will usher the utopian world
e.g. Imam Mehdi
4. Milinarian: a movement according to which people who believe that coming catastrophic
change will bring or signal a new world order
5. Syncretism: merging two or more religious rituals and traditions to produce a new religion
or a new concept e.g. humanity
6. Ghosi dance: in North America -19th century, specific dancing tactics considered as rituals.