This document discusses several key aspects of religion and cultural diversity. It defines religion and explores its origins and functions in society. Some key points include: - Religion is a cultural universal that involves belief in supernatural forces and typically includes worship. It provides explanations, social bonding, comfort, and social control. - Major world religions discussed include Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and various indigenous beliefs. - Religion performs important social and cultural roles like rites of passage, pilgrimages, and providing explanations for the natural world. While its importance has been questioned, religion remains a significant part of human societies.

1. Cultural Anthropology
Chapter 13
Stratification:
“Race” and Ethnicity
© 2011 W. W. Norton Co., Inc.
Race and ethnicity are complicated
• Is the child of a biracial couple (black and
white) black or white? Mixed?
• Is Judaism a religion or an ethnicity? Both?
• Race and ethnicity are terms used every day but
rarely explored.
3
Introduction to Sociology: Race and
Ethnicity
4
□ This woman is
not real.
□ She was
created by a
computer from
a mix of
several races.

2. © 2011 W. W. Norton Co., Inc.
Defining race
• Race refers to an externally imposed system of
social categorization and stratification.
• No true biological races exist; rather, human
groups must be placed on a continuum.
• Typically, race refers to some set of physical
characteristics granted importance by a society.
• Race is socially constructed.
6
© 2011 W. W. Norton Co., Inc.
Defining ethnicity
• Ethnicity refers to the distinct cultural norms
and values of a social group.
• Characteristics of ethnic groups include (to
varying degrees):
– Shared history
– Religion and culture
– Kin or ancestry
– Sense of shared destiny
– Language
4
© 2011 W. W. Norton Co., Inc.
Racism
• Racism is a form of prejudice and/or
discrimination based on physical differences.
• There are many layers of racism
– Individual consciousness and behavior
– Ideologies of supremacy
– Institutional racism
8
Ethnicity
▪ Perceived differences in culture, national
origin, and historical experience by which
groups of people are distinguished from others
in the same social environment.
– Ethnic identity - The sense of self one experiences as a member of
an ethnic group.

3. Ethnic Conflict
▪ Extreme ethnic conflict is a product of
contemporary economic, political, and social
conditions.
▪ Ethnic violence, as described for the former
Yugoslavia, suggests that political
manipulation of cultural differences, not
ethnicity per se, is at the root of interethnic
violence.
U.S. Cultural Diversity
▪ From the 1880s through the 1920s, restrictive
and racist immigration laws gave preference
to immigration from European countries.
▪ In 1965, changes in American immigration
laws led to increasing immigration from a wide
diversity of nations and “races.”
© 2011 W. W. Norton Co., Inc.
14
65.9%
WHITE
(NON-HISPANIC)
198,420,355 people
15.1%
HISPANIC
OR LATINO
45,432,158 people
12.1%
AFRICAN
AMERICAN
36,397,922 people
4.3%
ASIAN
13,000,306 people
1.6%
TWO OR
MORE RACES
4,794,461 people
0.7%
AMERICAN
INDIAN AND
ALASKA NATIVE
2,041,269 people
0.1%
NATIVE HAWAIIAN
AND OTHER
PACIFIC ISLANDER
413,294 people
0.2%
SOME OTHER RACE
737,938 people
Note: This map is not geographically representative of population distribution.
SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of the Census 2008b.
Essentials Of Sociology,
3rd Edition
Copyright © 2011
W.W. Norton & Company
Racial and Ethnic Populations
Models of Adaptation
▪ Assimilation model
▪ Melting pot model
▪ Mosaic Model

4. Assimilation Model
▪ Immigrants should abandon traditions
and become absorbed in American
culture.
▪ Resulted in the building of urban
Settlement Houses, designed to teach
immigrants “American” ways.
Melting Pot Model
▪ Immigrants will melt together into a new
American culture.
▪ By the late 1950s, it was clear that the melting
pot theory had only limited application.
Mosaic Model
▪ Cultural diversity is a positive aspect of
American national identity.
▪ Arose in response to the swell of immigration
in the past 25 years.
Figure 10.3 Median Household Income by Race, 1980– 2008. Essentials Of Sociology, 3rd Edition
Copyright © 2011 W.W. Norton & Company

5. Introduction to Sociology: Race and
Ethnicity
17
Number of Executions and Race of
Prisoners Executed, 1976–2009
Introduction to Sociology: Race and
Ethnicity
18
Americans without Health Insurance
by Race, 2007
Introduction to Sociology: Race and
Ethnicity
19
U.S. Infant Mortality Rate, 2005
Introduction to Sociology: Race and
Ethnicity
20
Educational
Attainment Based on
Race, 2007

6. 21
GENOCIDE
Nazis:
(1933-1945)
Jews, Gypsies,
gays & lesbians,
communists,
mentally ill
KILLED: @11
MILLION
Turks:
Armenians in
WWI
(1914-1918)
KILLED:@2
MILLION
MASS
MURDER
Slave Trade
(U.S. & many
W. European
countries):
@1600-1850
KILLED:@20
MILLION
Turks
Armenians,
1890s
KILLED
300-400,000
ETHNIC
CLEANSING
U.S. & Native
Americans
Pop. of NAs reduced
from about 2million to
500,000 over 300
years.
-- mass murder
-- starvation
-- war
-- forced removals
-- disease
Yugoslavia
Serbs in Bosnia
(1980s,1990s) --
terror, expulsion, and
thousands found in
mass graves
DISCRIMINATION
!
History of many non-
Northern European
groups in U.S.
-- Irish, Italians, eastern
Europeans, Jews,
African-Americans,
Latinos, Asians, etc.
Women around the
world
Hindu Caste system
examples of genocide, mass murder, ethnic cleansing and discrimination
22
Mass Murder and Genocide in the 20th Century
from R. J. Rummel, http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills
TOTALITARIAN REGIMES
USSR, 1917-1987 62,000,000
Chinese Communists, 1923-1987 39,000,000
Nazi Germany, 1933-1945 21,000,000
!
AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES
Chinese Nationalists, 1928-1949 10,000,000
Japan, 1936-1945 6,000,000
Turkey, 1909-1923 2,600,000
Cambodia, 1975-1980 2,000,000
!
!
Note: These numbers are best guesstimates. In most cases, because of denials,
secrecy, and coverups, it is impossible to know the exact number with
precision.
23
Mass Killing is common in Africa
Congo
4 million deaths since 1998, prompted by endless fighting between armed gangs/
warlords.
!
Sudan (Darfur)
800,000 dead since 2002, in tribal/religious warfare/genocide
!
Uganda
Idi Amin (dictator) killed 400,000 of his own people in the 1970s and 1980s. (Last
King of Scotland)
Since 2002, another 100,000 dead from rebellion in North.
!
Nigerian Civil War (1970s)
400,000 dead
!
Rwanda (1990s)
800,000 dead (about half from gov’t-sponsored genocide)
(Hotel Rwanda)
Ethnic majority groups in the Balkans
•

7. The Balkans was once part of the Roman Empire and many people there are still
Christian
(Catholic or Orthodox)
•
Because the Balkans sits at a cultural crossroads, there are many ethnic groups in the area.
This has caused tension making the region a SHATTERBELT.
(Bosnia is about the size of Wyoming)
2. Ethnic
divisions
CROATIA BOSNIA SERBIA KOSOVO
ETHNIC
MAJORITY
CROATS MUSLIMS SERBS ALBANIAN
ETHNIC
MINORITY
SERBS CROATS/
SERBS
MUSLIMS/
CROATS
SERBS
WRITING
SYSTEM
LATIN/ROMAN
(You are using it
now)
LATIN/
ROMAN
CYRILLIC/
RUSSIAN
LATIN/
ROMAN
HISTORICAL
ALLY
AUSTRIA/
GERMANY
OTTOMAN
TURKS
RUSSIA ALBANIANS
RELIGION CHRISTIAN/
CATHOLIC
ISLAM CHRISTIAN/
ORTHODOX
CHRISTIAN/
MUSLIM

8. Migrating populations, 1990-2000
2000: 175 million; >4x increase from 1975 ; 2050: 230 million; internal
migrants are three times that number
Population Action International 1994, IOM 2003

9. Chapter 14
Religion
Religion . . .
. . . is a cultural universal that
involves a belief in the
supernatural , and typically
includes the worship of a force or
forces.
!
. . . . involves faith, which cannot
be empirically demonstrated.

10. A Human Universal
▪ Religion dates back to the beginnings of the
human species.
▪ No religion is more evolved than another.
▪ E. B. Tylor,one of the founders of
anthropology, saw religion as beginning with
animism, animism, the notion that all objects,
living and non-living are imbued with spirits.
Functions of Religion in Society
1. Explains aspects of the physical and social
environment.
2. Helps people understand the world.
3. Preserves the social order.
4. Includes practices aimed at ensuring
success.
Religious Symbols
▪ Religious symbols are multivalent, they include many
different and sometimes contradictory meanings into a
single word, idea, or object.
– The Christian cross.
• The cross means life, death, love, sacrifice,
identity, history, power, weakness, wealth,
poverty, and much more besides.
• Because it carries so many meanings, it has
enormous emotional and intellectual power for
Christians.
God
▪ A named spirit who is believed to have created
or to control some aspect of the world.
▪ Gods understood as the creator of the world
and as the ultimate power in it are present in
only about half of all societies.
▪ In about 1/3 of these societies, such gods are
distant and withdrawn, having little interest in
people, and prayer to them is unnecessary.

11. God
▪ Religions may be polytheistic (many gods) or
monotheistic (one god).
▪ Polytheistic religions - many gods may be different
aspects of one god.
– In India, there are millions of gods; yet all Indians
understand that in some way they are all aspects
of one divine essence.
▪ Monotheistic religions - one god may have several
aspects.
– In Roman Catholicism: God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit are all part of a
single, unitary god.
Theories on Origins
and Functions of Religion (cont.)
• RELIGION BINDS PEOPLE TOGETHER
• Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) - French
• People who share strong religious beliefs are
bound together socially with a sense of
belonging. (congregation).
Theories on Origins
and Functions of Religion (cont.)
• EXPLANATORY FUNCTIONS
• Tylor and others
• Religion is a source of explanations about the
world.
• It answers the BIG
questions that are
beyond the reach of
science.
Theories on Origins
and Functions of Religion (cont.)
• RELIGION GIVES COMFORT TO BELIEVERS
• Faith that the forces unseen are more
important that those seen.
• Faith that the will of God is most important,
and whatever happens will be “for the best”
• Faith that there will be eternal rewards in the
next world.

12. Theories on Origins
and Functions of Religion (cont.)
• RELIGION HELPS WITH SOCIAL CONTROL.
• It teaches right from wrong (morality), and the
consequences of sinning (breaking the rules).
• The term animism (from Latin anima or
soul), commonly refers to belief systems
that attribute souls to animals, plants,
natural phenomena, and geographic
features, in addition to humans.
Animism – the earliest form of religion?
Other forms of religion
• Monotheism
-Christianity
-Islam
-Judiasm
!
Major tenet –
salvation and heaven
Other forms of religion
• Polytheism
- Hinduism
Major tenet - reincarnation

13. Rites of Passage: The Ceremonial Marking
Of A Transition To Another Life Stage.
• Bar Mitzvah
• Bat Mitzvah
• Quinceana
In U.S., there are secular rites of passage
marking the gradual change to adulthood.
• They include:
A Religious Pilgrimage: “Pilgrims” Visit
Significant Religious Sites to Demonstrate
Their Dedication
• Mecca for Muslims
A Religious Pilgrimage: “Pilgrims” Visit
Significant Religious Sites to
Demonstrate Their Dedication (cont.)
• Jerusalem and the Wailing Wall for Jews

14. A Religious Pilgrimage: “Pilgrims” Visit
Significant Religious Sites to
Demonstrate Their Dedication (cont.)
• Bethlehem and Calvary for Christians
Voudou (Voodoo) is a form of magic
• It originated in Africa, then spread to Haiti and
New Orleans
Navajo Healing: a Quest for
Harmony
• It is a combination of animism and magic using
dry painting (sand) and a
complex ritual to heal.
Wicca :
Modern nature worship and witchcraft
• There is a belief in a God or gods (many
variations).
• Rituals are performs, spells may be cast.

15. Baseball Magic (cont.)
• Can’t mention “no hitters” to anyone during
the game or pitcher will be jinxed.
Baseball Magic: the quirks of Turk
Wendell
A 2008 attempt to “hex” the Yankees during
construction of the new Yankee Stadium.
To tie up the subject of religion
into a neat bow, what can we say?
• It is a cultural universal. We can assume that
means that all societies find a need for it.
!
• Religion does perform a number of functions
(explanatory, comfort, social).
!
• Tylor thought that as science expanded, religion
would diminish until it disappeared completely.
He was presuming that it ONLY had the
explanatory function. Science has grown, but
religion remains.

16. Classification of Religions
■Monotheism --- belief in a
single deity
■Polytheism ----- belief in
many gods
!
■Universalizing Religions --
faiths that claim to apply
to all humans and seek to
transmit this to all lands
Judaism
■Belief in a single god
■Foundation of Christianity
and Islam
■Identified with a single
ethnic group
■Emerged about 3000 to
3500 years ago
■Dispersed throughout the
world by 500 ad.
■1948 creation of the
Jewish state, Israel
Christianity
■Origin in the life and
teachings of Jesus,
■began as a cult
"The Way“
!
■Promise of salvation to all,
not just a chosen people
■Mission: conversion of
the world, the hope it
provides led to rapid
growth
Islam
■ Islam = submission
■ Muslim = one who
submits
■ Qua’ran unchanged
since 650 b.c.
■ Unifying language of
Arabic
■ Standard & regulation
of faith leaves no
room for interpretation

17. Five Pillars of Faith
■ There is no god but Allah, and
Muhammad is his Prophet
■ A Muslim must pray five times
daily, facing Mecca
■ A Muslim must give alms to the
poor.
■ A Muslim must fast during
daylight hours in the month of
Ramadan
■ A holy visit to Mecca must be
undertaken by every Muslim who
can afford it during lifetime
Dome of the Rock
Mecca — Ka’ ba

18. The “Black Stone” Hinduism
■Forces of nature are
personified as gods &
goddesses
■150,000 gods
!
■Hindu pantheon
■Brahma --- the Creator
■Vishnu --- the Preserver
■Shiva --- the Destroyer
Key Concepts
■Dharma
■One’s social duty
!
!
■Karma
■Result of acting
against one’s dharma
Buddhism
■300 million followers
■Siddhartha Guatama --- 563 b.c.
■Buddha = Enlightened One
!
■Four Noble Truths
■All living beings suffer
■Suffering comes from desire to
live
■Goal of life is to escape
suffering and endless cycle of
rebirth --- Nirvana
■Nirvana is attained through
Eightfold Path

19. Eight-fold Path Confucius – Kung Fu tzu
■Troubles of society could be fixed, if
man would submit to political and
social order
!
■Five Types of Human Relationships
■father and son (loving / reverential)
■elder brother and younger brother
(gentle / respectful)
■husband and wife (good / listening)
■older friend and younger friend
(considerate / deferential)
■ruler and subject (benevolent /
loyal)
Taoism – Lao zi
■Opposite of Confucian
stress on world of man
■All nature follows the Tao
= “the Way”
■Relativity of all things
and dependence of
one thing on its
opposite
■Yin & Yang
Baseball Magic
• The use of Rally Caps -
“bottom of the 9th, one run down, two out”

20. MAGIC
• The belief that supernatural forces can be
controlled by the human shaman / magician.
• It involves using specific incantations or other
rituals, that, if followed properly, will guarantee
the desired outcome. (In religion, practitioners
beseech the supernatural, but accept whatever
outcome is desired by the supernatural. God can
say “NO”.)
• Magic involves arrogance, religion uses reverence.
An American Secular Pilgrimage
• If one is part of a TRUE American family, where
MUST that family make a pilgrimage sometime
before the children leave home for good?
Chapter 15
Creative Expression:
Anthropology and the Arts
Art
▪ Universal means of expressing the
identity of a culture.
▪ Evidence of art appears early in the
human fossil record.
▪ There is no known culture without art.

21. Functions of Art
▪ Communication with and control over
nature and the supernatural.
▪ Display of cultural themes.
▪ Cultural and social integration.
▪ Express cultural identity and history.
Visual Art
○ Visual art may be representational
(imitating closely the forms of nature) or
abstract (drawing from natural forms but
representing only their basic patterns or
arrangements).
Rock Art
○ Paintings, engravings, and carvings
on the walls of caves and rocky
shelters or outcrops is a hallmark of
early modern human populations.
○ The first true expression of artistic
behavior in the human species.
Iconic Images
○ These images depicted in rock art are
thought the be culturally specific
people, animals, and monsters that
might be seen in the deepest stages of
trance. Also known as iconic images.
○ Trances might have been drug
induced.

22. Tattooing
• In parts of Polynesia,
full-body tattooing is
considered a
significant form of art.
Art and Government
• This bronze head of
Lenin, the largest in the
world, located in the city
of Ulan-Ude, Russia, is a
piece of art commissioned
by the communist
government to evoke
positive feelings about
one of its founders.

24. Ethnomusicology
• Ethnomusicologists
would be interested in
studying both the
music of this
Ukrainian andura
player and how that
music reflects the
wider culture of which
it is a part.

25. Utility and Art
• Art comes in many
forms, some
utilitarian, others not.
• Here a man weaves a
rug in Rajasthan,
India.
Music
Verbal Art
• Myths are stories of our search for significance,
meaning, and truth.
• Legends are told as if they were true, but often
are only partially true or not at all true. They
attempt to explain the establishment of local
customs, the movement of populations from one
land to another, or the traits of folk heroes.
• Folktales have no particular basis in history and
exist largely for the purpose of entertainment.
Film

26. Chapter 16
Culture Change in the Modern
World
CULTURE CHANGE
RECOGNIZING THE INEVITABLE
World Population
▪ Two thousand years ago there were only
about 250 million people in the world.
▪ By 1750, this had tripled to 750 million.
World Population
▪ In 1800, there were 1 billion people in the
world; by 1930, there were 2 billion.
▪ By the summer of 2005 it stood at about 6.4
billion.
▪ World population continues to increase at the
rate of about 1 billion people a decade.

27. World Resource Use
▪ 1,000 years ago, the majority of the world’s
population consumed at similar levels,
although substantial differences in wealth
existed.
▪ Today, about 1/5 of the Earth’s population
takes home 64% of the world’s income.
World Resource Use
▪ The net worth of the 358 richest people in the world is
equal to the combined income of the world’s poorest
2.3 billion people.
▪ The average person in an industrialized nation
consumes:
– 3 times as much fresh water
– 10 times as much energy
– 19 times as much aluminum
as someone in a developing nation.

28. Europeans in 1400
▪ Devised oceangoing vessels.
▪ Were masters of cathedral and castle
construction.
▪ Experienced much war, plague, and
economic depression.
Developments Aiding Expansion
▪ Rise of a banking and merchant class.
▪ Growing population.
▪ New ship design that was better at
sailing into the wind.
▪ Diseases carried by Europeans to native
populations.

29. Culture Is Dynamic
• One of the qualities of culture is that it always changes.
• Change cannot be totally stopped, even by those who resist it.
Amish changes in
transportation
and
communication –
slow buggy sign,
buggy lights, and
an Amish phone
house.
Culture Change takes place in
both Material and Non-material Culture.
• Material culture change includes changes in
technology, such as forms of transportation.
• Europe to New World – 1492 – 30 days
!
!
!
!
!
• Paris to New York - 2000 – Concorde jet – 3
hours
Trans-Atlantic Crossing 2007:
Space Shuttle – 10 minutes

30. Culture changes takes place
primarily through one of two ways:
!
1 - Independent Invention
(a.k.a Innovation)
!
2 - Diffusion
Giants of Invention include:
Leonardo
DaVinci
Thomas
Edison
To the pedestrian American Indians of the
1500s, Spanish horses were a perfect addition
to nomadic hunting and gathering cultures.
Although the King of Denmark thought tobacco was a vile
plant, the practice of smoking spread outward from the New
World.

31. WESTERNIZATION
• (A.K.A. modernization) It is the process of non-
industrial Third World countries adopting the
qualities of Western industrialized societies.
!
• Traits include:
– Capitalism
– Democracy
– Industrialization
– Emphasis on nuclear families
– Emphasis on time
Is change always good? NO
Is change ever good? YES
• For many Democrats anticipating the 2008
presidential election, “CHANGE” really just means,
“Anybody but W.”
Forced Labor
▪ In the 15th century, Europeans practiced
slavery on a larger scale than any people
before them.
▪ Non-Europeans exported over 7 million slaves
to the Islamic world between 650 and 1600.
▪ At the end of the 19th century approximately
11 million slaves were exported to the
Americas.
ENDITMOVEMENT.COM

32. Slavery occurs where one person exercises the ‘right’ of ownership over a person.2
(League of Nations)
They are held against their will often under the threat of violence. Physical, emotional and mental abuse is often
part of their enslavement.3
(IJM)
Slavery still exists. It is estimated that there are anything between 10 million and 27 million slaves in the world today.4
(ILO and freetheslaves.net)
The reason for this broad range is that those people being counted are largely a ‘hidden’ population.5
(CNN Freedom Project)
It is estimated that human trafficking alone generates annual profits of around $32 billion.6
(ILO)
The majority of trafficking victims are between 18 and 24 years of age.7
(UN.GIFT)
In 1850, the cost of a slave (in today’s dollars) was $40,000, the avg. price of a slave today is $90.8
(Free the Slaves)
The victims most vulnerable are women and children. Children in particular are sold, bonded, trafficked, subjected to commercial sexual
exploitation, recruited into armed conflicts and forced to work as domestic workers.9
(antislavery.org)
Several factors contribute to the persistence of slavery practices despite it being illegal in most countries, most significantly, poverty, the lack
of enforcement of anti-slavery laws, and crime and corruption, including at the state level.10
(Free the Slaves)
Slavery has various forms today including human trafficking, forced labour, descent-based slavery, bonded labour and child labour.11
(antislavery.
org)
Other less known forms of slavery include domestic servitude, forced marriage and those traded for the purpose of organ removal.12
(United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
2 ENDITMOVEMENT.COM
Slavery occurs when one person completely controls another person, using violence or the threat of violence to
maintain that control, exploits them economically, pays them nothing and they cannot walk away.1
(CNN Freedom Project)
THE DEFINITION OF SLAVERY.
THE SLAVERY “INDUSTRY” RAKES IN AN ESTIMATED
$
32 BILLION DOLLARS EACH YEAR.
SLAVERY FACTS
Cultural Anthropology