Contemporary Social Issues
Test Bank
Course Introduction
This course offers an in-depth exploration of significant social issues affecting modern societies, such as inequality, discrimination, poverty, family dynamics, crime, and environmental challenges. Students will analyze the causes and consequences of these issues, assess the effectiveness of policy responses, and develop a critical understanding of how social, economic, political, and cultural factors intersect in shaping contemporary social problems. Through case studies, discussions, and research projects, students are encouraged to engage thoughtfully with current debates and consider possible solutions for building more inclusive and equitable communities.
Recommended Textbook
Cultural Anthropology A Toolkit for a Global Age 2nd Edition by Kenneth J. Guest
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17 Chapters
1134 Verified Questions
1134 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Anthropology in a Global Age
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66 Verified Questions
66 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The sequencing of mitochondrial DNA to trace changes in human ancestors over time involves which specialization of anthropology?
A) prehistoric archaeology
B) forensic anthropology
C) paleoanthropology
D) historic archaeology
Answer: C
Q2) What kind of researchers work to record languages that are disappearing by finding the last speakers and making recordings and dictionaries to preserve them for the future?
A) descriptive linguists
B) historic linguists
C) cultural anthropologists
D) sociolinguists
Answer: A
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Chapter 2: Culture
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70 Verified Questions
70 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) About fifteen years ago, Walmart opened a store in Germany. Ten years later, it pulled out of the country. As the text shows, some corporations, like McDonalds, have succeeded in other countries. What do critics fear that the expansion of these stores will do?
A) cosmopolitanize
B) monopolize
C) dominate
D) homogenize
Answer: D
Q2) Franz Boas (1858-1942) rejected unilineal cultural evolution, instead suggesting that different cultures arise as the result of very different causes, and will vary widely. What do we call his approach?
A) structural functionalism
B) cultural interpretivism
C) historical particularism
D) unilineal cultural evolution
Answer: C
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Fieldwork and Ethnography
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63 Verified Questions
63 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A multisited ethnography might be used to understand the nature of an urban legend by visiting many different countries and conducting interviews with participants. How might an anthropologist seeking a similar answer but lacking the resources to move about easily manage to conduct a multisited ethnography?
A) careful library research
B) cell phone transcripts
C) the Internet
D) tourist accounts
Answer: C
Q2) When we utilize many anthropological studies to examine activities, trends, and patterns of power across cultures, it is called ethnology. What do we rely on to make ethnology successful?
A) transformation
B) social network analysis
C) mapping
D) comparison
Answer: D
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Chapter 4: Language
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62 Verified Questions
62 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What does the term language continuum refer to?
A) It is a nonstandard variation of a language that is particular to a specific region.
B) This is the study of the development of language over time, including its changes and variations.
C) It is the alternating back-and-forth between more than one linguistic variant, depending on the context.
D) This is the idea that variation in languages appears gradually over distance between places.
Q2) According to the textbook, what is happening to human languages worldwide?
A) Outside the United States, languages are being lost.
B) Languages are being lost at the rate of three per day.
C) New languages are being created at a rate faster than they are being lost.
D) Languages are being lost at the rate of one every ten days.
Q3) How is the "border" between languages established?
A) It is established through mutual intelligibility.
B) Language borders are officially set by the United Nations.
C) Language borders are established through political means.
D) Local governments make decisions about where a language "starts" and "stops."
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Chapter 5: Human Origins
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Sample Questions
Q1) What are the differences between absolute dating techniques and relative dating techniques?
Q2) What is one type of cultural adaptation to ultraviolet radiation?
A) vitamin D fortified milk
B) tanning
C) sweating
D) increased heart rate
Q3) Discuss sickle cell anemia as an example of natural selection at work in the human population.
Q4) What is significant about the fetal origins hypothesis?
A) Prenatal stress has a dramatic impact on health.
B) Prenatal health is determined by paternal health.
C) All early human evolution can be understood through the analysis of the fetus.
D) Prenatal gene structures evolved from very primitive hominids.
Q5) When did modern Homo sapiens first enter Australia?
A) 400,000 yBP
B) 40,000 yBP
C) 24,000 yBP
D) 14,000 yBP
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Chapter 6: Race and Racism
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70 Verified Questions
70 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In Living with Racism: The Black Middle-Class Experience (1994), sociologist Joe Feagin and psychologist Melvin Sikes write about middle-class African Americans who, despite their class status, continue to face racial discrimination. This study is an example of ________.
A) intersectionality
B) color-blind racism
C) phrenology
D) individual racism
Q2) What is the one term we might expect to see, but do not, in the variations of names given to different racial categories in the Dominican Republic?
A) fair
B) black
C) coffee
D) dark
Q3) Explain how and why the "one drop of blood rule" was traditionally used to determine race in American culture.
Q4) How does the U.S. census, taken every ten years since 1790, provide a window into the changing conception of "race"?
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Chapter 7: Ethnicity and Nationalism
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Sample Questions
Q1) As part of a territorial conflict in Bosnia, ethnic Croats expelled, imprisoned, or killed the Muslim people with whom they had lived peacefully for more than 500 years. What concept does this illustrate?
A) ethnic cleansing
B) patriotism
C) fascism
D) expulsion
Q2) A man from Cuba and a man from Peru both move to the United States. Although they did not identify with one another while living in their countries of origin, they both come to identify themselves as members of the same group ("Hispanic") within the United States. This example illustrates:
A) ethnic variation.
B) flexible nationalism.
C) national identification.
D) situational negotiation of identity.
Q3) In the text, the author notes that the French national soccer team imploded at the 2010 World Cup because one of the team's stars questioned if some members of the team were actually French. They have to be citizens of France to play on the team. Explain why this became an issue for the French team.
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Page 9
Chapter 8: Gender
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67 Verified Questions
67 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is/are considered a secondary sexual characteristic?
A) genitalia
B) testes
C) pitch of voice
D) ovaries
Q2) Johann Sebastian Bach, renowned for his huge repertoire of musical compositions in the sixteenth century, was also, as a boy, an outstanding singer in the soprano range until he was about sixteen. What is the change in voice a characteristic of?
A) childhood
B) sexual dimorphism
C) gender
D) cultural constructions
Q3) The notion of appropriate male behavior in Mexico is changing, in part because more women are entering the paid workforce. Thinking like an anthropologist, consider how you would structure your fieldwork to explore this phenomenon. Be scientific and explain whether your research will be qualitative or quantitative and why, how you will prepare, what your hypothesis will be, and what strategies you will use.
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Chapter 9: Sexuality
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62 Verified Questions
62 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Using historical and cross-cultural examples provided in the text, evaluate the anthropological approach to sexuality. What do historical and cross-cultural cases of sexuality tell us about sexual norms? Did you learn anything in this chapter about sexuality that you had previously taken for granted? If so, what did you learn? If not, provide an example of something discussed in the chapter that you think someone might be surprised to learn.
Q2) How do the 'yan daudu in Nigeria see homosexual behavior?
A) It is both incompatible with marrying women and with their Muslim faith.
B) It is compatible with both marrying women and their Muslim faith.
C) It is incompatible with marrying women but is compatible with their Muslim faith.
D) It is compatible with marrying women but is incompatible with their Muslim faith.
Q3) Why do the "salary men" of white-collar Japan go to hostess bars?
A) to find suitable companions for the evening
B) to build and strengthen office relationships and corporate culture
C) to relieve their sexual tensions
D) to enjoy banter about women's breasts
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Chapter 10: Kinship, Family, and Marriage
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72 Verified Questions
72 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Anthropologists have clearly demonstrated that kinship is not solely given at birth via biological connections or through marriage alliances but can be acquired through other means. What are three other ways in which kinship can be acquired? What are the benefits of being able to acquire kinship outside of biological relations and marriage? Provide at least two examples of alternate forms of acquiring kinship in the United States and in your own home community.
Q2) Based on early accounts, many early anthropologists assumed descent groups would be key to understanding how cultures outside of Europe and North America were organized. Why might this have been the case?
A) Their own extensive fieldwork had already established this as true.
B) The narratives of travelers from other parts of the world reflected this idea.
C) Most European and North American cultures are not organized around descent groups, so early anthropologists assumed the opposite would be true elsewhere.
D) The inability of early anthropologists to speak local languages resulted in confusion about relationships.
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Chapter 11: Class and Inequality
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68 Verified Questions
68 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In a populous market town where a small number of merchants and landholders have accumulated wealth, extreme stratification arises. What is the most likely explanation for this?
A) Wealth is often the accumulation of fixed assets, not cash.
B) Wealth is often acquired by those who have great skill with money.
C) The absence of legal controls allowed a small subset of the population to control the market.
D) The absence of central banks prevented the redistribution of wealth.
Q2) The dramatic increases in debt and student loan costs have helped perpetuate what aspect of life in U.S. society?
A) the housing crisis
B) access to quality education
C) the culture of consumption
D) maintaining a good credit rating
Q3) What is a significant defining characteristic of a ranked society?
A) Wealth is inherited but prestige and status are determined by individual merit.
B) Wealth is redistributed according to each person's status and prestige.
C) Wealth, prestige, and status are equal among all members of the group.
D) Wealth is not stratified but prestige and status are.
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Page 13
Chapter 12: The Global Economy
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Sample Questions
Q1) After World War II, the United States was strongly influenced by Fordism. There was unprecedented industrial growth, with government stepping in to regulate some aspects of corporate behavior. What was the tax structure imposed on the country at that time and what side effect did it have?
A) A high marginal rate was imposed on the very wealthy, which helped moderate inequality.
B) A low marginal rate was imposed on the very wealthy, which helped moderate inequality.
C) The very wealthy were given tax exemptions that allowed employment to flourish.
D) The very wealthy were given tax exemptions that created high unemployment.
Q2) Discuss where and when agricultural production is first seen in the historical record. What technologies does this subsistence strategy entail? Identify and explain changes that occur with the transition to the agricultural subsistence strategy. Provide three examples of social, political, and demographic changes in societies practicing agriculture with food production that are not seen in horticultural, pastoral, or foraging lifestyles.
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Chapter 13: Migration
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62 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What happened in the United States in 1965 that shifted patterns of immigration?
A) The United States passed the National Origins Act.
B) The immigration from Eastern Europe and Italy reached its peak.
C) The policy of restricting immigrants with quotas by nationality ended.
D) A fence along the U.S.-Mexico border was completed.
Q2) The largest group of foreign-born people living in the United States in 2013 was from where?
A) South Korea
B) China
C) India
D) Mexico
Q3) With which of the following groups do we often associate the idea of remittances?
A) only labor immigrants
B) only professional immigrants
C) only entrepreneurial immigrants
D) all types of immigrants
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Chapter 14: Politics and Power
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70 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Small, kin-based groups that hunt and gather over a particular territory and constantly break up and re-form in response to conflicts are referred to as what?
A) bands
B) chiefdoms
C) movements
D) tribes
Q2) Michelle organizes a protest at her university, telling her peers that they have the power to challenge values and structures of power. What is Michelle referring to?
A) agency
B) authority
C) individuality
D) hegemony
Q3) Describe militarization and its effects on a society. How does it relate to the construction of war and soldiers?
Q4) In a brief essay, compare and contrast the concept of power, in general, with state power, and give an example of each.
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Chapter 15: Religion
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Sample Questions
Q1) In his work with the Azande people, E. E. Evans-Pritchard found that which of the following individuals are formally taught the knowledge of rituals and medicines and use that knowledge to thwart the work of a witch?
A) shamans
B) women
C) witch doctors
D) parents
Q2) A megachurch refers to a large, often evangelical or Protestant church that employs business practices, showmanship, rock music, and spectacle to attract congregations. Many megachurches televise their sermons, reaching audiences too far away to attend in person. These churches reveal how technology and marketing, as well as the larger force of ________ , are changing religion today.
A) democratization
B) globalization
C) proselytization
D) secularization
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Chapter 16: Health, Illness, and the Body
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69 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) When studying the health care provided at Alpha Hospital in New York City, anthropologist Khiara Bridges documented health-care professionals referring to black women as "primitive" and stating that black women were better able to withstand pain than white women. Where did these attitudes stem from?
A) an oral tradition within the medical profession featuring stories and folklore about black women's bodies
B) the formal education health-care professionals received
C) conflicts between physicians of color and white patients
D) information that was the result of Medicaid policies and directives
Q2) According to the text, Mayan women of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula typically gave birth in a hammock. What else usually happened during the birth event?
A) Doctors and nurses carefully monitored the progress.
B) Midwives monitored the progress.
C) Family life continued as it usually did.
D) Midwives ensured that family members were not present to disturb the mother.
Q3) What is biomedicine, and how do the practitioners view and treat diseases? Discuss two criticisms that anthropologists have about the European biases in the model.
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Page 18
Chapter 17: Art and Media
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is one of the crucial aspects of the anthropological approach to understanding art?
A) reconsidering Western art in a non-Western context
B) ignoring the "social life" of art as it moves beyond local borders
C) displaying art with detailed reference to its original context
D) supporting the ways in which museums display anthropological art
Q2) According to the text, what is one of the reasons for the production of rara festivals?
A) to develop a dynamic economy, where locals make money by selling tourist art
B) to support locals' desire to become involved in the global art market through dance and song
C) to facilitate protests about historical social inequality and political repression
D) to let go of daily stress and have a party
Q3) What does the complexity of cave art suggest?
A) The paintings may have been used in storytelling or for record keeping.
B) Early humans did not yet have advanced cognitive skills needed to create true art.
C) Early humans had limited knowledge of the technology required to create art.
D) The type of paint used for painting was simple watercolors.
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