Social and Cultural Anthropology Test Bank
Course Introduction
Social and Cultural Anthropology explores the diverse ways in which people live, interact, and make sense of their world across different societies. This course examines key concepts such as kinship, religion, politics, economy, and identity, providing students with a comparative perspective on human societies and cultures. Through ethnographic case studies and theoretical frameworks, students develop an understanding of cultural variation, social organization, and the global issues facing communities today, fostering critical thinking about culture, power, and social change.
Recommended Textbook
Cultural Anthropology A Global Perspective 8th Edition by Raymond Scupin
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1138 Verified Questions
1138 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Introduction to Anthropology
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61 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) __________ linguistics, which focuses on the comparison and classification of different languages to reveal historical links, can often be used to confirm inferences derived from archaeological or paleoanthropological research on ancient population movements.
A) Historical
B) Socio-
C) Structural
D) Evolutionary
E) Ethnological
Answer: A
Q2) Archaeologists spend more time digging up garbage than digging up treasure.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) Physical anthropologists focus their research in two areas: human evolution and human variation.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Human Evolution
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Sample Questions
Q1) The first hominid to take advantage of the controlled usage of fire was:
A) Homo sapiens
B) Australopithecus afarensis
C) Homo erectus
D) Homo habilis
E) Australopithecus boisei
Answer: C
Q2) During the _______________ stage of evolution, hominids became efficient hunters, were probably able to engage in cooperative activities, migrated out of Africa, and their brains increased in size (range 775-1225 cc).
A) Homo sapiens
B) Australopithecus
C) Homo habilis
D) Homo erectus
E) Neandertal
Answer: D
Q3) "Lucy" is an early hominid known scientifically as Australopithecus afarensis.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 3: Culture
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Sample Questions
Q1) The term "ideology" refers to:
A) signs and symbols used to communicate particular ideas
B) beliefs and values supporting the interests of a group
C) specific expressions of material culture
D) a faulty or misguided worldview
Answer: B
Q2) One example of an ideology would be:
A) capitalism
B) Egyptian hieroglyphs
C) Navajo sand paintings
D) the Big Bang theory
Answer: A
Q3) Norms are a society's laws and constitution.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q4) Culture consists of both material and nonmaterial components.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 4: The Process of Enculturation: Psychological and Cognitive Anthropology
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to Piaget, humans demonstrate the ability to use symbols from the time they are born.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The Egyptians, Hawaiians, and Incas practiced brother-sister marriages in the royal line for generations without any harmful, long-term genetic consequences.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Fixed, complex, genetically based, unlearned behaviors are referred to as:
A) phobias
B) instincts
C) habits
D) cultures
Q4) Incest avoidance is a universal practice among all known human societies.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Are there differences between Eastern and Western societies with regard to the ways individuals perceive themselves relative to society? What is the evidence for your interpretation?
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Chapter 5: Language
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Sample Questions
Q1) If everyone in the United States woke up one morning and started to speak in a "non-gender biased" manner (that is, eliminated every word that differentiated males from females, such as fireman, policeman, mankind, etc.), would social reality in the U.S. change? If it would, how do you think it would change? If not, why not? Would there be less or more stereotyping of the sexes and sex roles?
Q2) One goal of anthropological linguistics is to determine the number of phonemes (phonetic structure) that exist in different languages. This goal is accomplished by employing the use of:
A) minimal pairs
B) phone taps
C) maximal differences
D) syntax units
Q3) Does language influence social perceptions? In answering this question, examine conscious attempts to change what is perceived by many to be "gender-biased" language (terms such as fireman, policeman, Mrs., Miss, freshman, mankind). Also, do you think these attempts to change language will suc?ceed, or are English speakers too set in their ways to change?
Q4) Could Neandertals speak in the same way as anatomically modern human beings?
Q5) Would it be possible to have a culture without a language?
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Chapter 6: Anthropological Explanations
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Sample Questions
Q1) The opposite of cultural relativism is:
A) biological relativism
B) ethnocentrism
C) societal demagoguery
D) biological realism
E) historical particularism
Q2) 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
Q3) 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?
Q4) Compare and contrast the perspectives of the neo-evolutionists, cultural ecologists, cultural materialists, and Marxists. Are these theoretical views similar in any manner, or are they mutually exclusive and contradictory in nature?
Q5) How would a cultural materialist explain why Muslims don't eat pork?
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Chapter 7: Analyzing Sociocultural Systems
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Sample Questions
Q1) In order to understand population change and distribution, demographic anthropologists usually focus on what three major variables in a population?
A) resources, capital, and technology
B) fertility, mortality, and migration
C) language, race, and culture
D) climate, geography, and altitude
E) social organization, technology, and ideology
Q2) It has been argued by anthropologists such as Leslie White and Julian Steward that technology, as opposed to values, emotions, or social organization, is the basic and primary source of sociocultural change.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Shamans are full-time religious practitioners who serve in an official capacity as the custodians of sacred knowledge.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Both sex and gender are biologically determined.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 8: Band Societies
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Sample Questions
Q1) The phrase "original affluent society" refers to:
A) the earliest foragers, who lived in rich environments
B) the notion that hunter-gatherers spend little time working
C) the ancient Egyptian civilization
D) the concept of the "noble savage"
Q2) In most forager societies, once an individual has ceased to be of economic value, they are simply left to die as the band moves on to a new location.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What form of reciprocity would you expect to be the LEAST common among !Kung San, Mbuti, and Inuit groups?
A) balanced reciprocity
B) generalized reciprocity
C) negative reciprocity
D) unbalanced reciprocity
Q4) The attempt to get something for nothing is called negative reciprocity.
A)True
B)False
Q5) If you were a hunter-gatherer, where would you prefer to live and why?
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Chapter 9: Tribes
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Sample Questions
Q1) Deborah Gewertz, who has re-examined Mead's interpretations of the Tchambuli (Chambri), arrived at the conclusion that:
A) Chambri women are among the most aggressive in all human societies.
B) Mead's interpretations failed to take specific historical circumstances into account.
C) Chambri men were submissive due to frequent defeats in warfare.
D) Cultural values do not influence gender roles.
Q2) Anthropologists use the term "pastoralists" to refer to peoples who:
A) live in sedentary villages and rely principally on farming
B) are highly mobile, gathering wild plant foods from forest clearings
C) rely primarily on herd animals, such as caribou, cattle, sheep, or goats
D) subsist by slash-and-burn cultivation of forest lands
Q3) A clan is a special kind of descent group whose members are defined by:
A) relationships to a male figure, known through myths and legends
B) common descent from unknown or sacred beings, such as special animals or plants
C) their long-term occupation of a specific geographical location
D) relationships to a specific extended family
Q4) Describe the relationship among gender, subsistence, and female status in matrilineal societies.
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Chapter 10: Chiefdoms
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Sample Questions
Q1) Rules of endogamy in Hawaiian chiefdoms actually resulted in sibling marriages.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Unlike the political organization of tribes and bands, chiefdom political structures were well-defined, corporate entities.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Compare and contrast the theories presented by Elman Service and Timothy Earle on the evolution of chiefdoms. What are the key points on which Earle differs? Given your understanding of chiefdoms, which theory do you prefer and why?
Q4) Describe the social structure of chiefdoms. What were the specific social rankings and how were these determined?
Q5) The ancient chiefs of Hawaii often sought to legitimize their authority through ritual human sacrifice.
A)True
B)False
Q6) 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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Sample Questions
Q1) In ancient agricultural states, religion sanctified and legitimized the authority of political leaders.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism are considered religions because their spiritual messages apply to all of humanity rather than just their own cultural history and legacy.
A) ecclesiastical
B) animistic
C) universalistic
D) volatile
E) restrained
Q3) How does the dowry differ from bridewealth? What are some of the functions of a dowry?
Q4) The term "civilization" usually implies societies with a complex division of labor, with economic roles other than those pertaining to food production.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 12: Industrial States
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Q1) Capitalism is an economic system in which natural resources and the means of producing and distributing goods and services are privately owned and controlled.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Unlike bands, tribes, or chiefdoms that are affected by the environment, industrial states have developed such complex, modern systems that they tend to be exempt from environmental influences and can operate free of environmental constraints.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Nationalism is a strong sense of loyalty to nation-states based on shared language, values, and culture.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Since Japan is such a homogeneous society, there is less need for litigation than in the United States.
A)True
B)False
Q5) How does industrialization affect the family, kinship, marriage, and divorce?
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Chapter 13: Globalization, Culture, and Indigenous Societies
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Sample Questions
Q1) Dependency theory identifies multinational corporations based in industrialized capitalist societies as:
A) advocates of increased economic and military aid
B) designers of global education programs stressing free market entrepreneurship
C) purveyors of a new imperialism, called neoimperialism
D) promoters of centralization of economic and political decision making
Q2) Conflict between the Iroquois and other indigenous tribal groups in the 1600s was NOT due to:
A) the introduction of guns and ammunition by the French
B) dependence on European goods
C) depletion of beavers and other fur-bearing animals vital to trade
D) ancient traditions of blood revenge and glory on the warpath
Q3) The displacement of Native Americans from their tribal lands in the U.S. in order to make the land available to white settlers was:
A) accompanied mostly by outlaws and hired guns
B) a formal policy of the United States government
C) a myth invented by radical Indian activists
D) undertaken mostly by foreign immigrants
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15
Chapter 14: Globalization in Latin America, africa, and the Caribbean
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Sample Questions
Q1) The typical Yoruba household consists of a man, his wife, and their unmarried children.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Slavery was practiced in African chiefdoms before the arrival of Europeans.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Apartheid is a system in which social and political rights are based on an individual's physical characteristics.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The most significant factor in Latin American demographic change after the arrival of Europeans was a dramatic increase in:
A) fertility
B) mortality
C) employment
D) life expectancy
Q5) What is the status of women in African societies? What are some of the differences in women's roles within urban and rural settings?
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Chapter 15: Globalization in the Middle East and Asia
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Sample Questions
Q1) Unless financially or physically impaired, every Muslim is required to marry.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The more materialist interpretation of the caste system attributes its origin to:
A) heredity
B) widespread social consensus
C) religious mythology
D) economic and political conditions
Q3) Mohandas Gandhi was the leader of an unsuccessful, violent rebellion against the Dutch colonial rule in Indochina.
A)True
B)False
Q4) In the Arab world, the hamula is:
A) an idealized, patrilineal descent group
B) a traditional village
C) a group of nomads who travel together
D) an Islamic rite of passage
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Chapter 16: Race and Ethnicity
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Sample Questions
Q1) An ethnic group may be distinguished by all but one of the following criteria:
A) language
B) religion
C) biology
D) shared historical past
Q2) 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
Q3) Compare the experiences of the German and Irish immigrants to the United States in the nineteenth century with immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe in the early twentieth century.
Q4) The confusion between the concepts of "race" and "culture" has been a fundamental misconception in the Western worldview.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 17: Contemporary Global Trends
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Sample Questions
Q1) 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
Q2) What is the global economy? What types of changes have occurred in the world recently that are related to the globalization of the world economy?
Q3) Julian Simon has challenged the Doomsday Model since he believes the problems of pollution and environmental stress will ultimately be solved because:
A) Space aliens will not allow the human race to become extinct.
B) World population will decrease due to epidemic diseases like AIDS.
C) Human creativity and science will provide the key to solving all problems.
D) Human populations cannot exceed the Earth's carrying capacity.
Q4) What types of contributions can anthropologists make by studying ethnic conflict and separatism? What perspective can anthropologists take in this endeavor?
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) Do you think it is possible to adopt a humanitarian standard that would be accepted by everyone in the world? What might this view entail?
Q2) When patients in Thailand used a combination of ritual, magic, and modern scientific medicine to treat an illness, Louis Golomb referred to this behavior as:
A) the multi-mix cure
B) being maladaptive and potentially dangerous
C) therapeutic pluralism
D) the multiple treatment scenario
Q3) 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
Q4) When an archaeological site is destroyed, it can often be replaced or renewed.
A)True
B)False
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