SOSA 1002 FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE
Social Identity - Answers - each of us occupies a variety of positions in society and each
of us has a set of rights and duties with respect to others occupying other,
complementary positions. Each of us constitutes a unique set of social identities, but the
number of identities and the rights and duties they entail are finite
Cultural Construction - Answers - - Ideas about the world and people in it that seem
quite obvious and ordinary to the members of a culture are in fact products of specific
social, historical, political traditions and differ from one culture to another. Culturally
constructed concepts are also reinforced in the individual through their frequent - even
constant - use in daily life. At the same time, these concepts function within social and
political regimes so that they naturalize things like hierarchies and exploitation
- they also naturalize generalizations, for instance, that "Americans are highly
individualist and self-centered", "Canadians are tolerant and nice"
Agency - Answers - - the capacity of individuals to exert an influence on their social and
cultural and natural worlds and so change how they operate
- the capacity of individuals, or social groups, to affect their own life chances and those
of others to play a role in the formation of the social and socio natural realities in which
they participate
- agency can be used to "reify" naturalized cultural constructions or to interrupt and
displace them
Marriage - Answers - - In many societies, marriage is an alliance between two kin
groups, achieved by the ceremonial union of two people, one from each kin group, and
therefore very important for creating societal coherence
- a familiar and common form of marriage is the legal or otherwise socially recognized
union of two people to live together and, often to have children
Kinship - Answers - - a basic principle of organizing individuals into social groups, roles
and categories, based on parentage and marriage
- forms of kin organization are present in every human society
- determines: who they marry, how courtship is done, where to live, how to raise
children, which land to cultivate, which property to inherit, who to turn to for help,
provides a sense of belonging and identity, how to behave with respect to others
- also has political and economic aspects. Actors models of kinship relations can be
seen as their insights into the workings of society (i.e. a model and explanation of
dynamics and relationships. Kinship is important in understanding how societies are
organized and how they worked.
3 Modes of Kin Reckoning - Answers - - consanguinity: kin relations based on blood
line, i.e. genetic inheritance
- affinity: kin relations based on marital links
, - fictive and chosen kin: kin ties based on neither consanguinal nor affinal links, and
often relations based on chosen kin, declared relations through close familial or
household relations (e.g. one may have an "aunt" who is so close to the children of the
family as to have been granted that term, even though she is neither related by blood or
marriage)
- most kinship systems in the world consist of varying blends of consanguinal, affinal,
fictive, and chosen kin relations. Understanding of "family" in the present draws upon
understanding of descent through any and all of these forms of kin reckoning
Brideprice, Bridewealth - Answers - Conventionally, a transfer of wealth from the males
group to the females; payment of which provided the brides kin with compensation for
the loss of her productive capacity and which also affirms the husbands kins rights over
the children of that marriage.
Residence Patterns - Answers - The social practice related to marriage where one or
both partners and their immediate kin take up residence in proximity to one or the other
of their respective kin groups (e.g. matrlocality refers to residing with the kin group of
the married woman) (patrolicality and bilocality)
Descent Patterns - Answers - May be based on cross-generational lines of shared blood
(biological paternity and maternity) or on cross-generational shared domestic, child-
rearing situation, or based on descent from a common ancestor (lineage, clans), which
may be followed either only through paternal (patrilineal) lines or only maternal
(matrilineal) lines of descent (or both, bilateral descent) or traced through committed ties
to a non-blood kinship group (marriage, adoption). In some societies, some descent
patterns (even within a common kin group) are more recognized than others, often
based soley on how active the social relationships are.
Patrilineality - Answers - Descent is reckoned through the male line
Matrilineality - Answers - descent is reckoned through the female
Monogamy - Answers - an exclusive union of one man and one woman
Polygyny - Answers - Where a man has more than one wife - often with reproductive
intention. This may contribute to population growth and rapid dissipation of land
resources among heirs. As one variation on this, lesbian polgyny may or may not have
reproductive intention.
Polyandry - Answers - Where a woman has more than one husband (is less common
than Polygyny) - tends to slow population growth and conserve heritable resources,
such as land
Relational Economy - Answers - The Natooas Sundance Circle is a relational economy
of persons, things, and shadows
Social Identity - Answers - each of us occupies a variety of positions in society and each
of us has a set of rights and duties with respect to others occupying other,
complementary positions. Each of us constitutes a unique set of social identities, but the
number of identities and the rights and duties they entail are finite
Cultural Construction - Answers - - Ideas about the world and people in it that seem
quite obvious and ordinary to the members of a culture are in fact products of specific
social, historical, political traditions and differ from one culture to another. Culturally
constructed concepts are also reinforced in the individual through their frequent - even
constant - use in daily life. At the same time, these concepts function within social and
political regimes so that they naturalize things like hierarchies and exploitation
- they also naturalize generalizations, for instance, that "Americans are highly
individualist and self-centered", "Canadians are tolerant and nice"
Agency - Answers - - the capacity of individuals to exert an influence on their social and
cultural and natural worlds and so change how they operate
- the capacity of individuals, or social groups, to affect their own life chances and those
of others to play a role in the formation of the social and socio natural realities in which
they participate
- agency can be used to "reify" naturalized cultural constructions or to interrupt and
displace them
Marriage - Answers - - In many societies, marriage is an alliance between two kin
groups, achieved by the ceremonial union of two people, one from each kin group, and
therefore very important for creating societal coherence
- a familiar and common form of marriage is the legal or otherwise socially recognized
union of two people to live together and, often to have children
Kinship - Answers - - a basic principle of organizing individuals into social groups, roles
and categories, based on parentage and marriage
- forms of kin organization are present in every human society
- determines: who they marry, how courtship is done, where to live, how to raise
children, which land to cultivate, which property to inherit, who to turn to for help,
provides a sense of belonging and identity, how to behave with respect to others
- also has political and economic aspects. Actors models of kinship relations can be
seen as their insights into the workings of society (i.e. a model and explanation of
dynamics and relationships. Kinship is important in understanding how societies are
organized and how they worked.
3 Modes of Kin Reckoning - Answers - - consanguinity: kin relations based on blood
line, i.e. genetic inheritance
- affinity: kin relations based on marital links
, - fictive and chosen kin: kin ties based on neither consanguinal nor affinal links, and
often relations based on chosen kin, declared relations through close familial or
household relations (e.g. one may have an "aunt" who is so close to the children of the
family as to have been granted that term, even though she is neither related by blood or
marriage)
- most kinship systems in the world consist of varying blends of consanguinal, affinal,
fictive, and chosen kin relations. Understanding of "family" in the present draws upon
understanding of descent through any and all of these forms of kin reckoning
Brideprice, Bridewealth - Answers - Conventionally, a transfer of wealth from the males
group to the females; payment of which provided the brides kin with compensation for
the loss of her productive capacity and which also affirms the husbands kins rights over
the children of that marriage.
Residence Patterns - Answers - The social practice related to marriage where one or
both partners and their immediate kin take up residence in proximity to one or the other
of their respective kin groups (e.g. matrlocality refers to residing with the kin group of
the married woman) (patrolicality and bilocality)
Descent Patterns - Answers - May be based on cross-generational lines of shared blood
(biological paternity and maternity) or on cross-generational shared domestic, child-
rearing situation, or based on descent from a common ancestor (lineage, clans), which
may be followed either only through paternal (patrilineal) lines or only maternal
(matrilineal) lines of descent (or both, bilateral descent) or traced through committed ties
to a non-blood kinship group (marriage, adoption). In some societies, some descent
patterns (even within a common kin group) are more recognized than others, often
based soley on how active the social relationships are.
Patrilineality - Answers - Descent is reckoned through the male line
Matrilineality - Answers - descent is reckoned through the female
Monogamy - Answers - an exclusive union of one man and one woman
Polygyny - Answers - Where a man has more than one wife - often with reproductive
intention. This may contribute to population growth and rapid dissipation of land
resources among heirs. As one variation on this, lesbian polgyny may or may not have
reproductive intention.
Polyandry - Answers - Where a woman has more than one husband (is less common
than Polygyny) - tends to slow population growth and conserve heritable resources,
such as land
Relational Economy - Answers - The Natooas Sundance Circle is a relational economy
of persons, things, and shadows
