ANTHRO 3
Culture and Society
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour; fieldwork. Required as preparation for both bachelor's degrees. Introduction to study of culture and society in comparative perspective. Examples from societies around world to illustrate basic principles of formation, structure, and distribution of human institutions. Of special concern is contribution and knowledge that cultural diversity makes toward understanding problems of modern world. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2025 - I am an incoming freshman, and this was my first quarter along with two other classes. I have never taken or even heard of anthropology, and this class is not easy, in the sense that you will get a free A. You have to read the 9 research papers, about 1-2 per week depending on breaks / midterms, etc. and two books, about 150 pages of useful text in each. The lectures are not recorded, and Professor Throop mainly has big ideas that he puts on the presentation, and explains more in depth in his dialogue (for instance, the concept of 'karma', or certain anthropologists). It is your responsibility to write down the notes adequately enough to study, because that is the only thing you will have to base your test knowledge off of. I learned that sitting near the front of the class had me concentrate better and memorize the information easier, that way I did not need to go back and review again after until before the exams. Make sure you attend all lectures, or have two people you can ask for their notes in case you miss one (I missed a few classes and this came in clutch). There is a midterm and final study guide containing the main ideas the exams will go over, but I fully memorized and read through both, and a lot of concepts did not appear in the tests. To be honest, you don't have to read both books, just the first few chapters, and have an in-depth understanding of the text and message trying to be conveyed (ex: concepts of suffering, social stratification). The tests are very fair and build off of the lectures and readings. The language the questions and answers are made up of are hard to understand, but that's to be expected from English-structured classes like anthropology. I would highly suggest not just reviewing the study guide's concepts, but also specific concepts mentioned in lectures. Professor Throop loves to ask questions similar to "As mentioned in lecture, Professor Throop introduces up the idea of ____ which relates to ___". There are two projects: one on ethnographic writing, which is basically just observing people and writing down what you learned / how it relates to the concepts in class, and another one with an interview conducted with a classmate and again correlating it to concepts and readings from class. If you write these well, genuinely try your best and provide time for them, you will get an A in this class. I don't think either writing took me more than a few hours to complete from start to finish. From literally every person that I talked to throughout this class, not a single one read all the readings or books, and instead did an AI summary of it. What you put in is what you give out. The expectation of everyone here is to do your best and not find the easy way out. Overall, I enjoyed this class a lot, and learned a lot of new ideas and a different way of thinking because of it. If you are going to take it, come in with an open mind and give it your best.
Fall 2025 - I am an incoming freshman, and this was my first quarter along with two other classes. I have never taken or even heard of anthropology, and this class is not easy, in the sense that you will get a free A. You have to read the 9 research papers, about 1-2 per week depending on breaks / midterms, etc. and two books, about 150 pages of useful text in each. The lectures are not recorded, and Professor Throop mainly has big ideas that he puts on the presentation, and explains more in depth in his dialogue (for instance, the concept of 'karma', or certain anthropologists). It is your responsibility to write down the notes adequately enough to study, because that is the only thing you will have to base your test knowledge off of. I learned that sitting near the front of the class had me concentrate better and memorize the information easier, that way I did not need to go back and review again after until before the exams. Make sure you attend all lectures, or have two people you can ask for their notes in case you miss one (I missed a few classes and this came in clutch). There is a midterm and final study guide containing the main ideas the exams will go over, but I fully memorized and read through both, and a lot of concepts did not appear in the tests. To be honest, you don't have to read both books, just the first few chapters, and have an in-depth understanding of the text and message trying to be conveyed (ex: concepts of suffering, social stratification). The tests are very fair and build off of the lectures and readings. The language the questions and answers are made up of are hard to understand, but that's to be expected from English-structured classes like anthropology. I would highly suggest not just reviewing the study guide's concepts, but also specific concepts mentioned in lectures. Professor Throop loves to ask questions similar to "As mentioned in lecture, Professor Throop introduces up the idea of ____ which relates to ___". There are two projects: one on ethnographic writing, which is basically just observing people and writing down what you learned / how it relates to the concepts in class, and another one with an interview conducted with a classmate and again correlating it to concepts and readings from class. If you write these well, genuinely try your best and provide time for them, you will get an A in this class. I don't think either writing took me more than a few hours to complete from start to finish. From literally every person that I talked to throughout this class, not a single one read all the readings or books, and instead did an AI summary of it. What you put in is what you give out. The expectation of everyone here is to do your best and not find the easy way out. Overall, I enjoyed this class a lot, and learned a lot of new ideas and a different way of thinking because of it. If you are going to take it, come in with an open mind and give it your best.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2021 - Professor Yan is a good professor. He speaks very slowly so his speaking is very clear. However, lectures can feel long and boring because of this especially for someone like me who is not super interested in this subject. The readings were sometimes long and uninteresting to me but they were manageable. Towards the end of the quarter I stopped reading all of them because well they were long and I was lazy. I recommend you read most of them so you can have something to talk about in discussion. Otherwise you will have a very boring and awkward time in zoom discussion meetings. Also, Professor Yan did not make us purchase a textbook which I always appreciate. The midterms and final were straightforward and there was a lot of information to pull from in the readings. There is a one page writing assignment every week and you are required to attend discussion for participation points. It's a slow paced class and an easy GE that does give you an appreciation for anthropology.
Winter 2021 - Professor Yan is a good professor. He speaks very slowly so his speaking is very clear. However, lectures can feel long and boring because of this especially for someone like me who is not super interested in this subject. The readings were sometimes long and uninteresting to me but they were manageable. Towards the end of the quarter I stopped reading all of them because well they were long and I was lazy. I recommend you read most of them so you can have something to talk about in discussion. Otherwise you will have a very boring and awkward time in zoom discussion meetings. Also, Professor Yan did not make us purchase a textbook which I always appreciate. The midterms and final were straightforward and there was a lot of information to pull from in the readings. There is a one page writing assignment every week and you are required to attend discussion for participation points. It's a slow paced class and an easy GE that does give you an appreciation for anthropology.
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