Richard H. Robbins & Rachel A. Dowty Beech 
Cultural Anthropology [PDF ebook] 
A Problem-Based Approach

Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Chapter 1. Culture and Meaning
Problem 1: How Can People Begin to Understand Beliefs and Behaviors That Are Different From Their Own?
Introduction: The World Behind Everyday Appearances
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?
Case Study in Doing Anthropology #1: Why We Post
Conclusions
References and Suggested Readings
Chapter 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?
Introduction: The Death of a Way of Life
Question 2.1: Why Did Hunter-Gatherer Societies Switch to Sedentary Agriculture?
Question 2.2: Why Are Some Societies More Industrially Advanced Than Others?
Question 2.3: Why Do Poor Countries Not Modernize and Develop in the Same Way as Wealthier 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?
Case Study in Doing Anthropology #2: Searching for the Perfect Diet and Doing Development
Conclusions
References and Suggested Readings
Chapter 3. Debt, Globalization, and the Nation-State
Problem 3: How Does Our Economy Affect Our Way of Life?
Introduction: Debt
Question 3.1: How Is Money Created and Why Must Modern Economies Perpetually Grow?
Question 3.2: Where Does the Wealth Needed to Sustain Growth Come From?
Question 3.3: What Kind of Economic System Is Necessary to Sustain Growth?
Question 3.4: What Is the Role of the Nation-State in Sustaining Growth?
Question 3.5: Why Do Economies Collapse?
Case Study in Doing Anthropology #3: Anthropology and Public Policy
Conclusions
References and Suggested Readings
Chapter 4. The Cultural Construction of Social Hierarchy
Problem 4: Why Are Modern Societies Characterized by Growing Economic Inequalities?
Introduction: Plutocracy
Question 4.1: How Unequal Are We?
Question 4.2: Why Is Social and Economic Inequality Increasing?
Question 4.3: How Do People Come to Accept Social Hierarchies as Natural?
Question 4.4: How Do People Living in Poverty Adapt to Their Condition?
Question 4.5: What Are the Effects of Inequality on Society?
Case Study in Doing Anthropology #4: Health and Human Rights
Conclusions
References and Suggested Readings
Chapter 5. The Social and Cultural Construction of Reality
Problem 5: Why Do People Believe Different Things, and Why Are They So Certain Their View of the World Is Correct and Other Views Are Wrong?
Introduction: The Central Question
Question 5.1: How Does Language Affect the Meanings People Assign to Experience?
Question 5.2: How Does Symbolic Action Reinforce a Particular View of the World?
Question 5.3: 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 5.4: How Can We Account for the Different Meanings People Assign to Experiences?
Question 5.5: How Can People Reorder Their View of the World If It Becomes Unsatisfactory?
Case Study in Doing Anthropology #5: Political Consulting and the Power of Metaphor
Conclusions
References and Suggested Readings
Chapter 6. Patterns of Family Relations
Problem 6: What Do We Need to Know Before We Can Understand the Dynamics of Family Life in Other Societies?
Introduction: Soap Operas and Family Relations
Question 6.1: What Is the Composition of the Typical Family Group?
Question 6.2: How Are Families Formed and Ideal Family Types Maintained?
Question 6.3: What Are the Roles of Sexuality, Love, and Wealth?
Question 6.4: What Threatens to Disrupt the Family Unit?
Case Study in Doing Anthropology #6: Combating HIV/AIDS
Conclusions
References and Suggested Readings
Chapter 7. The Cultural Construction of Identity
Problem 7: How Do People Determine Who They Are, and How Do They Communicate Who They Think They Are to Others?
Introduction: The Importance of Self
Question 7.1: How Does the Concept of Personhood Vary From Society to Society?
Question 7.2: How Do Societies Distinguish Individuals From One Another?
Question 7.3: How Do Individuals Learn Who They Are?
Question 7.4: How Do Individuals Communicate Their Identities to One Another?
Question 7.5: How Do Individuals Defend Their Identities When They Are Threatened?
Case Study in Doing Anthropology #7: Fat Talk
Conclusions
References and Suggested Readings
Chapter 8. The Cultural Construction of Violent Conflict
Problem 8: How Do Societies Give Meaning to and Justify Collective Violence?
Introduction: The Justification of Violent Conflict
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 Societies?
Question 8.5: How Is It Possible to Justify the Creation of Weapons of Mass Destruction?
Case Study in Doing Anthropology #8: The Uses (and Misuses?) of Anthropology for Peace and War
Conclusions
References and Suggested Readings
Glossary
References
Index