Human Societies and Cultures
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Course Introduction
This course explores the diversity and dynamics of human societies and cultures across the globe, examining how people organize their lives, form social institutions, and create meaning in their environments. Through a comparative lens, students investigate topics such as kinship, religion, politics, economy, and identity, considering both traditional and contemporary case studies. The course emphasizes the processes of cultural change, adaptation, and globalization, fostering an appreciation for cultural diversity and the complex interactions between individuals, communities, and wider social forces.
Recommended Textbook
Cultural Anthropology A Global Perspective 8th Edition by Raymond Scupin
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Introduction to Anthropology
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Q1) One methodology for the study of extraterrestrial cultures that would come from anthropology would be:
A) field studies of planetary geography and geology
B) participant observation to get an "insider's" perspective
C) lab studies of comparative anatomy and physiology
D) interpretations of alien songs and poetry
Answer: B
Q2) Anthropology is said to be "holistic" because it:
A) is concerned with primitive societies
B) makes use of both written and spoken sources
C) combines studies of biological and cultural phenomena
D) studies the mystical aspects of human experience
Answer: C
Q3) All human cultures have a form of "baby talk" that adults use when they are speaking with small children.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 2: Human Evolution
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Q1) The remains of four individuals, one of whom appears to have been surrounded by a bed of flowers, represent the first evidence of intentional burial. They were found at an archaeological site in:
A) England
B) Mexico
C) China
D) Iraq
Answer: D
Q2) The stone tool industry associated with Neandertal populations was called the:
A) Oldowan complex
B) Mousterian tradition
C) Acheulian technology
D) chopper tool system
E) composite tool tradition
Answer: B
Q3) Cro-Magnon people were the first humans to domesticate cattle and sheep.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Culture
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Sample Questions
Q1) It would be fair to say that in a multicultural society such as the United States:
A) there is one common idea about social norms
B) there are conflicting systems of norms and values
C) mores are well-defined and reflected by all
D) the strict enforcement of cultural mores is a government goal
Answer: B
Q2) Ethnicity is based on perceived differences in ancestral origins or descent, and shared history and cultural heritage.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) In order for an item to be cultural, it must be __________.
A) unchanging, fixed, or static
B) learned and commonly shared among individuals
C) independent of environmental influences
D) dependent upon the environment of the society
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: The Process of Enculturation: Psychological and Cognitive Anthropology
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Q1) Fixed, complex, genetically based, unlearned behaviors are referred to as:
A) phobias
B) instincts
C) habits
D) cultures
Q2) After spending nine months in Samoa and working with individuals in three different villages, Margaret Mead concluded that:
A) Samoan society differed little from that of the U.S. in the 1920s
B) many key elements of Samoan culture had diffused from Thailand
C) Franz Boas' theories of cultural relativism had serious flaws
D) becoming an adult was less stressful in Samoa than in the U.S.
Q3) Psychological anthropologists differ from psychologists in that their research focuses on:
A) the behavior of social deviants
B) physiological characteristics of the human brain
C) cross-cultural similarities and differences
D) individuals in their own societies
Q4) Incest avoidance is a universal practice among all known human societies.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 5: Language
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Q1) If an English speaker said to you, "Get out of my face!" you would probably back up and move away from the person speaking to you. From a linguistic point of view, "Get out of my face":
A) consists of fourteen phonemes but only three morphemes
B) is an example of a kinesics message
C) shows that glottochronology and the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis may be more closely related than most linguists think
D) is an example of proxemics in action
E) contains four free morphemes and two bounded morphemes .
Q2) Would it be possible to have a culture without a language?
Q3) If someone came up to you and said, "Oh, you see everything through rose-colored glasses," this might suggest to you that the person speaking agrees with the premises of:
A) Noam Chomsky's Transformational-Generative Grammar Model
B) Derek Bickerton's Creole-Pidgin Theory
C) the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
D) the Linguistic Field Theory
E) glottochronology
Q4) How do animal communication systems differ from human language and communication systems?
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Chapter 6: Anthropological Explanations
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Q1) A major division in anthropology is between:
A) sociobiologists and sociolinguists
B) Marxists and capitalists
C) ethnographers and ethnologists
D) materialists and culturalists
Q2) Marx suggested that all of the major societal and cultural transformations (that is, cultural evolution) seen since the Industrial Revolution are the result of warfare between communist and capitalist nations vying for power and control over land.
A)True
B)False
Q3) According to general evolutionists such as Leslie A. White, since the degree of societal development is measured by the amount of energy harnessed by the sociocultural system, the greater the energy, the more highly evolved the system.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What are some of the criticisms that have been leveled at the cultural ecological approach? Do you think these criticisms are valid? If so, how would you modify the cultural ecological perspective to take into account the criticism?
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Page 8
Chapter 7: Analyzing Sociocultural Systems
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Q1) Religion appears to be a cultural universal, although specific practices and beliefs vary significantly from culture to culture.
A)True
B)False
Q2) A major goal of most anthropological studies of religion is to determine the "truth" or "falsity" of particular religious beliefs so that the truth about the supernatural can be discovered.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Full-time religious specialists who serve in an official capacity as the custodians of sacred knowledge are:
A) shamans
B) myth-holders
C) priests and priestesses
D) ritual retainers
Q4) Demographic anthropologists are interested in demonstrating how cultural systems modify the natural environment.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 8: Band Societies
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Q1) Reciprocity occurs only in egalitarian, non-stratified societies.
A)True
B)False
Q2) In some forager societies, patrilocal residence and cross-cousin marriage combine to create a system called restricted marital exchange. In this system, two groups exchange women. The purpose of this is to:
A) make sure that everyone in the group has a wife or husband
B) limit marriages to close friends and family members
C) foster group solidarity by encouraging kinship alliances
D) make sure that women do what the men want them to do
E) limit population growth and maintain the band well below the carrying capacity of the region
Q3) The Semang of Malaysia, who hunt with blowguns, get most of their meat from:
A) elephants and buffalo
B) kangaroos and the ostrich-like emu
C) fish and other small game
D) monkeys and crocodiles
Q4) What types of things can we learn from studying hunter-gatherer societies that might help us understand and interpret life in industrial societies today?
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Chapter 9: Tribes
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Q1) Slash-and-burn cultivation is found primarily in Arctic and tundra areas where the growing season is short.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The most common form of polyandry is , in which brothers share a wife.
A) risk taking
B) sibling polyandry
C) fraternal polyandry
D) levirate
E) sororal polygyny
Q3) Martin and Voorhies found that since women contribute less to cultivation activities than men, their status is always lower than the men's status.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Polygyny in tribal societies is most closely related to:
A) hunting practices
B) bride service
C) a moiety social structure
D) the practice of warfare
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Chapter 10: Chiefdoms
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Q1) What was the role of supernatural forces in legitimizing the power of the chief? Illustrate your answer with specific concepts from ethnographic case studies.
Q2) In Polynesia, a powerful chief would have been considered by other members of his culture to have more mana than a commoner.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The potlatch feasts of the Northwest Coast societies are usually interpreted as a form of:
A) long-distance barter
B) resource conservation
C) ritualized warfare
D) redistributional exchange
Q4) Briefly compare and contrast the social organization of chiefdom societies with the social organization of your own society or cultural group. You should include such things as family and kin, marriage and residence rules or norms, gender relations, and the role and status of the elderly.
Q5) Explain why many traditional Polynesian societies are characterized as chiefdoms and not tribes or bands.
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Chapter 11: Agricultural States
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Q1) A civilization is a complex society that includes such things as an urban center, extensive food surpluses, a specialized division of labor, a method of record keeping, and monumental architecture.
A)True
B)False
Q2) According to Morton Fried, codified laws reinforce a system of inequity by keeping peasants subordinate while allowing those in power to have access to scarce resources. Service provides a different perspective. What is Service's perspective?
Q3) Unlike forager and tribal societies, the ownership of land in agricultural states became the primary basis for an individual's socioeconomic status.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Discuss the relationships among gender, subsistence, and status in agricultural states. How does the picture that emerges differ from the one for any of the following groups: (1) foragers, (2) tribes, or (3) chiefdoms?
Q5) It has been argued that warfare and conquest were instrumental in the development of agricultural states. Do you agree with this view?
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Page 13
Chapter 12: Industrial States
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Q1) Both Adam Smith and Karl Marx argued that market exchange and competition would lead to lower prices, higher profits, and increased prosperity for all segments of society.
A)True
B)False
Q2) During the latter phase of the demographic transition, birthrates increased while mortality rates increased dramatically.
A)True
B)False
Q3) One of the major consequences of the Industrial Revolution was a dramatic decrease in population.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Divorce rates tend to be lower in industrial societies than in preindustrial societies.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What form does the division of labor take in industrial states? Where do you think the United States falls in this scheme?
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Chapter 13: Globalization, Culture, and Indigenous Societies
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Q1) Approximately one third of Native Americans in the U.S. live in urban areas.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Modernization theory provides a model to explain how would cause social and cultural change.
A) traditionalism
B) dependency
C) the world system
D) industrial capitalism
Q3) A principal criticism of world systems theory is that it tends to overemphasize the importance of:
A) economic factors
B) cultural traditions
C) political institutions
D) religious ideology
Q4) Cargo cults were successful at:
A) mobilizing political resistance against colonial powers
B) driving away Western settlers
C) increasing foreign exports
D) getting importation of soft drinks to Melanesia
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Chapter 14: Globalization in Latin America, africa, and the Caribbean
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Q1) What were the effects of colonialism on the politics of African nations? What are some of the characteristics of African nations today that can be traced directly to the colonial experience?
Q2) The Spanish were able to achieve political domination of Mexico by:
A) capturing Tenochtitlán
B) establishing a trade route to the Pacific
C) conquering the Inca empire
D) converting the Indians to Christianity
Q3) Fazenda and hacienda both refer to large-scale farms established during the Colonial period in Latin America.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Under apartheid in South Africa, the term "coloreds" referred to individuals of mixed descent.
A) Spanish and Portuguese
B) African and European
C) Bantu and Zulu
D) Protestant and Catholic
Page 16
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Chapter 15: Globalization in the Middle East and Asia
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Q1) The term Arab refers to:
A) Iranian revolutionaries
B) all peoples of the Middle East region
C) people who speak Arabic
D) North African nomads
Q2) The colonization of China in the 19<sup>th</sup> century was facilitated by the desire of the government to import Western goods and technology.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Polygynous marriage in Muslim countries is most likely to be practiced by:
A) wealthy individuals
B) poor individuals
C) Christians
D) urban residents
Q4) Most of the problems experienced in the Middle East and Asia today are the result of:
A) traditional village economic systems
B) the legacy of ancient agricultural states
C) the incompatibility of different Eastern religions
D) global industrialization and exploitation by core societies
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Chapter 16: Race and Ethnicity
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Q1) The descendants of German immigrants outnumber all other ethnic groups in the United States.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the following is not a pattern of ethnic interaction?
A) segregation
B) ethnic cleansing
C) fratricide
D) genocide
Q3) What actions did German, Irish, Italian, and Polish immigrants take to overcome racial discrimination in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?
A) violent confrontations
B) joining unions and political parties
C) emphasizing higher education
D) shedding their ethnic identities
Q4) Intermarriage is one example of biological assimilation.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 17: Contemporary Global Trends
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Q1) With the removal of government-controlled price restraints in Russia, the costs of food and other basic commodities went down.
A)True
B)False
Q2) In China, the government penalizes urban couples who have more than one child.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which of the following countries is likely to have the lowest per capita energy consumption?
A) Sudan
B) Japan
C) Mexico
D) Canada
Q4) Demographic-transition theory assumes a close connection between:
A) fertility/mortality rates and socioeconomic development
B) birth control methods and infant mortality
C) sustainable development and foreign investment by multinational corporations
D) advanced, industrial societies and poor, preindustrial societies
Q5) Why is there concern over the loss of biodiversity?
Q6) What are perestroika and glasnost?
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Chapter 18: Applied Anthropology
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Q1) Ethical relativism is the idea that we cannot impose the values of one society on other societies.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the following was NOT among Van Willigen and Channa's recommendations for decreasing the incidence of dowry death in India?
A) strengthening legislation that prohibits the institution of dowry
B) establishing a gender-neutral inheritance law in which women and men receive equal shares
C) passing a requirement for universal marriage registration and licensing
D) working towards the achievement of gender equality in India
Q3) Applied anthropologists often act as consultants for farmers in underdeveloped areas such as rural India.
A)True
B)False
Q4) When an archaeological site is destroyed, it can often be replaced or renewed.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Is there such a thing as universal human rights?
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