In chapter two the author is explaining what the characteristics of culture are and the other essentials that go along with it. It also explains the different types of theories in anthropology. How can this chapter on these theories and characteristics be understood? The first theory explained in this chapter is the Anthropological Theory which is a set of propositions about which aspects of culture. I think this means that there is an order where the aspects in culture can be expressed in different ways, and that you don’t have to do things the same way every time. One characteristic of culture is, Cultures are made up of learned behaviors. It is believed that almost every aspect of our lives is layered with learning. I believe this is true because I believe that everyone learns something new every day. In life there are so many things that happen in the world and you read or hear about and maybe that information could stick to you a certain way that really makes you think. Another theory is cultural and personality theory which is all cultures involve the use of language and symbols to classify, organize, and understand their world. I think everyone should try to learn another language because of how diverse everything is becoming now a days. For instance if you go to Florida and talk to most of the people there may speak Spanish. Some states it may seem like they speak a different language there just because people are changing their culture. As the chapter continues the next characteristics of culture is, cultures are patterned and integrated; cultures can be described like living organisms. I’m not really sure what I think about this characteristic I still don’t understand what it is try to address. One thing I thought was important was ecological functionalism which comes with a theoretical approach that holds that the wars in which cultural institutions work can best be understood by examining their effects on the environment. The fourth characteristic of culture is cultures are shared by members of a group. The norms for this cultural are shared ideas. I believe when ideas are shared to others it could help them make something of theirs better or help them get started with what they are doing. Postmodernism focused on issues of power and violence. I think this could be the government, police, the president that could be having issues at times to settle violence and the issues could be someone of power not doing their job and it causing issues. Another characteristic of culture that cultures are adaptive. This would be the process of which an individual or pollution becomes better suited to survive and reproduce in its environment. I believe this is true and it happens often, an example of this would be if you found a new job and left the place you were at before will show being adaptive. The last characteristic of culture that we went over as a class is cultures are all subject to change. I think this could go right along with “adaptive cultures.” I feel like every culture changes every day even if it keeps going back and forth from the same thing it is still enduring a change. It could be an innovation, a new variation on an existing cultural pattern that is accepted, and diffusion. The spread of cultures are elements from one cultural to another through cultural contract. Throughout this chapter I felt like this section was more understandable and was easier to relate to. I believe that now that I have read this chapter that I understand what these characteristics and theories mean and how they go together with everyday life. The six different cultural characteristics in some shape or form go together and you can relate these topics with each other.