Gender and Age

Sex vs. Gender

"Sex" is classified as the biological differences between men and women, ranging from both genital appearance to secondary sexual characteristics. "Gender" is known as the codified and institutionalized social and cultural practices or behaviors.

Mens Status and Womens Status

Typically, the status given to men carries greater significance in a society due to the value of their respective gendered work. omen!s status is typically diminished, however, due to the perceived trivial nature of their respective roles in a society.

Gendered division of labor

"abor within a society is often divided by gender. #istorically speaking, there has been a tendency to assign the primary breadwinner to the males of a culture, whereas most women are more often than not depicted as tending to the household.

Examples of non-binary gender / T ird Gender

$anith of %man #i&ras of 'ndia Two(spirit person of some )ative *merican groups. +athoey of Thailand

Age Grades
The categorization of individuals according to their respective ages. There are some societies who vertically organize such differences. The ,aktaman of )ew Guinea, for example, has a total of seven age grades. -hildren in their society move on from one grade to the next, signifying a kind of "promotion" of rank. ,y the time they have reached the seventh "grade," they will have been taught everything that their tribe!s culture and mythology.

!ites of "assage #$anGennep% separation& liminality& rein'orporation(

.anGennep, the very first to use this term, said that this served an imperative function in society. Their ceremonies and rituals effectively reinvent the individual as their status changes, and it also reinvigorates a sense of community and solidarity among the observers. /laborating on .anGennep!s theory, .ictor Turner hypothesized that it could be fit into three distinct phases0 Separation, "iminality, and 1eintegration. 2uring separation, the individual or group is set apart from the comfort of their home and is thrust into a new, unknown situation. This leads to the liminal phase, in which the sub&ect3s4 are set in an ambivalent place outside of society. This can be modeled by the +aguru tribe of Tanzania, who do not know how to bury a child immediately following circumcision, as he is neither a boy nor a man. The final stage is reintegration, in which the individual, with a newfound status and set of rights, re(enters in their respective society.

)anguru of Tan*ania
These were the sub&ect of ,eidelman!s extensive study on the 1ites of 5assage. Their culture provided an ideal model for .anGennep!s theory, having very distinctive stages correlating with what he had hypothesized. Their rites of passage entailed a moral education and physical altercations for both genders, albeit to varying degrees. 6or the men, first the boys are led away from the village 3separation4, where they are circumcised, and educated on riddles, songs, and myths from their culture.

Si'+ness and ,ealingT

Et nomedi'ine
The study of health systems across different cultures. * "health system" is what serves the function in society of classifying health problems, preventing further illness from setting in, diagnostics, and healing.

-isease .llness
2isease is a biological health complication that is every bit as ob&ective as it is universal 3bacterial or viral infection, broken bone, etc.4

.llness
The experience of a health problem as understood through a distinct culture.

"aul /armer% 0ulture& "overty& and ,.$ in rural ,aiti

5overty was one of the primary causes of such rampant #'. in rural #aiti. The deforestation and declining agriculture forced people to relocate from rural areas to urban centers(not unlike the 'ndustrial 1evolution. These high concentrations of the lower classes resulted in many affordable, informal unions. "Serial 7onogamy," thus, became the norm, and this resulted in the spreading of #'. across a wider set of networks.

Medi'al "luralism
This is the existence of multiple medical systems within one culture. This seems to be on the rise with globalization.

1ervoso in Death Without Weeping

"o2er and 0lass !elations

0aste System
* symbolic system in 'ndia which is rooted in #indu teachings. 't divides the #indu society into endogamous groups with hereditary membership.

0 ara'teristi's of t e 0aste System There are three distinct characteristics when thinking of the caste system. They are as follows. 8. Separation of marriage and contact. 9. 2ivision of "abor 3each group is assigned a specific profession4. :. There is a set hierarchy, as it ranks groups on a scale, dividing them into high and low castes.

3ati
*n incredibly small endogamous group practicing a traditional occupation with much autonomy.

)arl Marx and So'ial 0lass

*ccording to 7arx, class was divided on the basis of property. The upper classes owned the means of production, and thus domineered the lower classes, who had to sell out their labor power in order to survive.

Max Weber and So'ial 0lass

eber defined this as a combination of several partly independent criteria. hen all of these are amounted together, constitute a person!s rank. *dditionally, he also said that political power and intellectual prestige could be as e;ually as important as material property in a given society.

"ierre 4ourdieu and 0ultural 0lasses

,ourdieu hypothesized a systematic and highly influential theory of "cultural classes." *ccording to him, power was connected with symbols, and the ruling class is that which decides the ranking of symbols and the form of a dominant discourse.

"o2er
This can be defined as the ability of individuals or groups to impose their will upon others and coerce them into doing things against their own desire. 't has many different incarnations, on cultural, social, economic and political levels.

Et ni'ity and !a'e

Et ni' group
* set of people who are united by the beliefs, values, and norms of their shared background. This can be distinguished on the basis of language, religion, history, geography, or "race."

Et ni' identity
This is one of many statuses that people use to identify themselves. 't is variable according to their context, such as geography, and may be more or less central.

!a'e
Though this is much more of a cultural distinction than it is a biological reality, it still carries a great deal of cultural and social significance.

!a'e in 4ra*il
This is a category with much more flexibility than in other countries. There are a total of <= possible races, and they are based primarily on phenotype. That is to say, one!s race is determined according to their physical traits, such as skin color, hair form, facial features, eye color, etc.

Multi'ulturalism
This is the viewpoint that a country should foster as much cultural diversity as possible. Thus, the preservation and practice of different cultural(ethnic traditions is strongly encouraged. The primary conviction, then, is that the society should be more of a "salad" as opposed to a "melting pot."

50ornered by Adrian "iper

Ex' ange

Mar+et Ex' ange

This is a form of exchange that is mediated by currency through a market system. 't is likely to emerge in a capitalist society, due to the fact that the markets are internationally linked. 6inally, it is a transaction which is completely devoid of social ties, and re;uires faith in the system itself.

!edistribution
>nder this system, leaders receive economic contributions from all members of their respective group. They then redistribute them as they see fit, so that they may ade;uately provide for every individual. This re;uires a strong, centralized government. *n example of this system in action is national taxation.

!e'ipro'ity

This is the exchange of goods and services which are of e;ual value. This is the earliest form of exchange, and is primarily found in egalitarian societies. 't can be categorized into three different types0 Generalized, ,alanced, and )egative. Generalized 1eciprocity /xchange with the expectation of an immediate return. Since this is a transaction built on trust, it typically takes place between close kin. * fitting example of this in action would be the dynamic between parents and their children, due to the long and enduring nature of their relationship. ,alanced 1eciprocity This is a form of exchange where a return of e;ual value is expected within a reasonable amount of time. This typically transpires between distant kin, friends, and neighbors. )egative 1eciprocity *n exchange of goods and services where one party strives to gain advantage over another. This dynamic typically plays out between strangers or enemies. *n example of this dynamic would be haggling over prices or even stealing.

Ant ropologi'al vie2 of 5T e Gift.

*ccording to 7arcel 7auss, the critera for a "Gift" entails an absence of a fixed price 3a return gift should not be given at once4, and that gift giving creates webs of vague obligations between large numbers of people. #e supported this conviction by saying that reciprocity is the "glue" of society, due to the fact that it keeps people attached to one another in a variety of ways. 1ecall Sahlin!s famous ;uote0 "6riends make gifts, gifts make friends."

Malino2s+i and 5)ula

7alinowski defines the exchange of "kula" 3the cyclical exchange of two kinds of valuables0 shell necklaces and shell bracelets4 as a transaction with purely symbolic significance.

Ant ropologi'al vie2 of t e e'onomy #systemi' and a'tor'entered(.

Systemic Economy This the definition of "economy" which claims that it is the production, distribution, and consumption of material and non-material valuables in a society.

Actor-Centered Economy The ways in which actors use their available means to maximi e value.