World Cultures
Pre-Test Questions
Course Introduction
World Cultures explores the diverse customs, beliefs, traditions, and social structures that define societies around the globe. Through the study of art, literature, religion, language, and daily practices, students will gain a deeper understanding of how cultural identity is formed and expressed. The course examines both the unique characteristics and the universal themes that connect humanity, enriching students perspectives on global issues and fostering intercultural awareness and respect.
Recommended Textbook
Cultural Anthropology A Global Perspective 8th Edition by Raymond Scupin
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Chapter 1: Introduction to Anthropology
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Q1) The use of anthropological data to offer practical solutions to problems within a society is called:
A) applied anthropology
B) forensics
C) ethnography
D) participant observation
E) holism
Answer: A
Q2) Archaeologists spend more time digging up garbage than digging up treasure.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) Anthropologist Spencer Wells is the director of the Genoraphic Project which:
A) is making significant contributions to the philosophy of archaeology
B) is conducting ethnographic fieldwork among the Yanomamö Indians of Venezuela
C) is helping to illuminate the migrations of humans throughout the world
D) is using computer technology to do cross-cultural comparisons
Answer: C
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Chapter 2: Human Evolution
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Q1) How was the material culture of Homo sapiens affected by climatic change?
Answer: The material culture of Homo sapiens was significantly affected by climatic change. As the climate shifted, early human populations had to adapt their tools, clothing, and shelter to survive in new environments. For example, during periods of extreme cold, Homo sapiens developed more advanced clothing and shelter to protect themselves from the elements. They also had to adjust their hunting and gathering techniques to find food in changing landscapes.
Additionally, as the climate changed, certain resources may have become scarce or more abundant, leading to shifts in the types of tools and technologies that were used. For example, as certain plant and animal species became less available, Homo sapiens had to develop new ways to obtain food and other resources.
Overall, the material culture of Homo sapiens was deeply intertwined with the natural environment, and as the climate changed, so too did their technology, tools, and way of life. This constant adaptation and innovation allowed early humans to thrive in a variety of environments and eventually spread across the globe.
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Chapter 3: Culture
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Sample Questions
Q1) Symbols are directly associated with concrete physical objects or activities, while signs are arbitrary units of meaning.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) Which of the following is true of symbols?
A) They are rooted deeply in genetic structure.
B) They are different for everyone.
C) They cannot be easily identified.
D) They are arbitrary but meaningful units we use to represent reality.
Answer: D
Q3) An example of a "more" would be:
A) eating with a knife, fork, and spoon
B) not appearing nude in public
C) inviting the neighbors over for a barbecue
D) forgetting to thank the hostess for inviting you
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: The Process of Enculturation: Psychological and Cognitive Anthropology
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Q1) Melford Spiro's research was strongly influenced by the theories of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Humans are considered to have no closed instincts because they:
A) react automatically to loud noises
B) cannot avoid instinctual behavior
C) learn new behaviors easily
D) are always looking for new experiences
Q3) Individualism is valued differently in different cultures.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Do you agree with the theory that humans do not have closed instincts? Why or why not?
Q5) Ruth Benedict argued that cultures could not be classified according to specific "psychological types."
A)True
B)False
Q6) Apart from illegality, what are some of the reasons why people avoid participating in incestuous relationships? Page 6
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Chapter 5: Language
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Q1) Research conducted by Sue Savage-Rumbaugh on Kanzi suggests that this chimpanzee can understand English words and does appear to have a crude command of syntax.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is an example of linguistic relativism because it maintains that the world is experienced differently among different language communities.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Would it be possible to have a culture without a language?
Q4) Anthropologists use the ethnosemantic approach to study how different societies understand and classify everyday objects like animals, plants, and food.
A)True
B)False
Q5) According to Herbert Terrace's research, chimpanzees are highly intelligent animals that can learn many signs, but they cannot understand syntax.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 6: Anthropological Explanations
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Q1) Nineteenth century theories of "unilineal evolution" proposed that:
A) modern humans were descended from ape-like creatures
B) human existence is characterized by continuous progress towards civilization
C) Egypt was the source of all civilizations
D) the Bible was the best reference on the human past
Q2) The neo-evolutionists' perspective differed from the nineteenth-century evolutionists' ideas in a number of ways. The neo-evolutionists:
A) assumed a unilineal direction for society from savagery to barbarism to civilization
B) did not assume that sociocultural evolution toward complexity was always equated with progress
C) were ethnocentric and racist in their approach to understanding cultural evolution and complexity
D) assumed that civilization was the pinnacle of sociocultural development
Q3) Symbolic anthropologists argue that culture can be reduced to genetically-inherited linguistic traits that determine the way people classify and view the natural environment.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 7: Analyzing Sociocultural Systems
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Q1) Demographic anthropologists are interested in demonstrating how cultural systems modify the natural environment.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The __________ of a society consists of the social relationships that organize the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
A) ecology
B) carrying capacity
C) economy
D) enculturation
E) technological loop
Q3) What are the benefits and limitations of conducting cross-cultural research?
Q4) A family is a social group that consists of two or more people related by blood, marriage, or adoption that live together while sharing economic resources and caring for their young.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What is the difference between legitimate and illegitimate political power? Give an example of each.
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Chapter 8: Band Societies
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Q1) The nice thing about studying hunter-gatherer societies is the fact that they have never been in contact with or influenced by other cultures; thus, they are pristine cultural systems that anthropologists find intriguing.
A)True
B)False
Q2) As expected, because of their physical strength and superior endurance, males provide the bulk of the food in all hunter-gatherer societies.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Since hunter-gatherer societies are mobile, the environment does not influence demographic characteristics such as population growth, fertility, and mortality in these band societies.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which of the following would NOT have the effect of lowering fertility?
A) marriage at an older age
B) weaning babies at an older age
C) practicing infanticide
D) an earlier onset of menarche
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Chapter 9: Tribes
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Q1) Are there any reasons why polygyny occurs most frequently in tribal societies? Is polygyny an adaptive strategy, or is it maladaptive?
Q2) Explain the concepts of segmentary lineage system and complementary opposition. Do you see any adaptive significance in this form of political organization?
Q3) Margaret Mead felt that culture (enculturation) can strongly influence gender differences, either minimizing or maximizing the social differences between males and females.
A)True B)False
Q4) Most modern anthropologists have come to the conclusion that matriarchy:
A) has been the most common form of tribal political organization
B) was practiced only among early agricultural societies
C) is not part of the archaeological, historical, and ethnographic record
D) represents the most highly sophisticated form of tribal government
Q5) Anthropologists have found about the same number of matriarchal as patriarchal societies in the world.
A)True B)False
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Chapter 10: Chiefdoms
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Q1) Archaeologist Timothy Earle has challenged the hypothesis by Elman Service that chiefdoms arose through regional symbiosis. Earle suggests that the key factor in the evolution of chiefdoms was the:
A) exchange of limited, high prestige goods among local descent groups
B) development of a lineage organization that controlled access to the land
C) degree of political and economic control that was held over productive resources and labor
D) domestication of animals
E) rise of religious elite that eventually took control of the economy of a region
Q2) A major difference between redistributional and reciprocal economies is that:
A) reciprocal economies are more common in societies with inequalities in social status
B) redistributional economies tend to make certain individuals wealthier than others
C) reciprocal economies always involve the exchange of a recognized form of currency
D) only redistributional economies involve transfers of goods among related villagers
Q3) What role did kinship and descent play in the social structure of a chiefdom?
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Chapter 11: Agricultural States
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Q1) Of the following, which is NOT a stated reason for the collapse of state-level societies?
A) an innate, inevitable aspect of society
B) depletion of key resources
C) human mismanagement
D) climate change
E) people tired of repressive governments
Q2) Bridewealth occurs frequently in horticultural societies, whereas goods and wealth paid by the bride's family to the groom's family is most common in agricultural states. This type of marital exchange is known as the:
A) quick fix
B) dowry
C) groomwealth
D) rombat
E) moiety
Q3) Populations of agrarian civilizations grew rapidly because of:
A) higher birthrates
B) decreased infant mortality
C) declines in the spread of infectious diseases
D) overall increases in the standard of living
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Chapter 12: Industrial States
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Q1) Since social class in the United States is an achieved status, factors such as family background, the economy, and ethnic background do not have any influence on social mobility.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Nationalism is a strong sense of loyalty to nation-states based on shared language, values, and culture.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Is graduation from college a rite of passage in the United States? Using Van Gennep's stages, listed in Chapter 7, discuss graduation.
Q4) Using a specific example, describe what is meant by a multinational corporation. What are the processes by which this multinational corporation can affect the workings of both individual countries and the global economy?
Q5) The "father of modern economics" who wrote The Wealth of Nations was:
A) Raymond Scupin
B) Karl Marx
C) Clifford Geertz
D) Adam Smith
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Chapter 13: Globalization, Culture, and Indigenous Societies
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Q1) Describe some of the changes that have occurred within Ju/'hoansi society as a result of global industrialization. What are some of the ways that the negative effects of industrialization can be reversed?
Q2) Through contact with European traders, the Hawaiian chiefdom was transformed from a political organization based on to one based on .
A) kinship, personal charisma
B) reciprocity, redistribution
C) personal ability, divine right
D) theocracy, military force
Q3) 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
Q4) The term "Second World" is used to refer to:
A) modern, industrialized nation-states
B) what used to be called the Soviet Union and other communist countries
C) undeveloped, nonindustrialized countries
D) traditional, pre-state societies affected by contact with the modern world
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Chapter 14: Globalization in Latin America, africa, and the Caribbean
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Q1) The term encomienda referred to the practice of:
A) granting a conquistador the right to Indian land, tribute, and labor
B) presenting Spanish nobility with native crafts and products
C) marrying into the upper classes of Aztec and Inca society
D) awarding 20 percent of all booty to the Spanish Crown
Q2) 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
Q3) Slavery was made illegal in the United States before it became illegal in Brazil.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The Bantustan homelands in South Africa were created to:
A) return traditional lands to black tribes
B) increase the physical separation of blacks and whites
C) lay the foundations for independent African republics
D) exploit rich mineral deposits and construct factories
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Chapter 15: Globalization in the Middle East and Asia
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Q1) In India, upper-caste families do not bother to raise a large dowry payment.
A)True
B)False
Q2) What is meant by jatis and the jajmani system in India? How does a jajmani economy work? Describe two of the anthropological explanations for the origin and maintenance of jajmani?
Q3) In spite of industrialization, farming communities in Egypt like Kafr el-Elow have rejected Western clothing, housing styles, and manufactured goods.
A)True
B)False
Q4) 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
Q5) 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
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Chapter 16: Race and Ethnicity
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Q1) One of the major lessons anthropology has to teach is, despite cultural or ethnic groups, individuals differ from one another.
A)True
B)False
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) Assimilation between ethnic groups is not dependent on similarities of physical or cultural characteristics.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which of the following is not a pattern of ethnic interaction?
A) segregation
B) ethnic cleansing
C) fratricide
D) genocide
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Chapter 17: Contemporary Global Trends
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Q1) The globalization of the world economy has had relatively little effect on core industrial societies such as the U.S. and Japan.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Since anthropology is primarily a theoretical field, it has little or nothing to offer in terms of helping solve global issues such as overpopulation, deforestation, and agricultural production.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Newly industrializing economies (NICs) in Asia have benefited from investments by multinational corporations.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which of the following countries is characterized by declining rates in both fertility and mortality?
A) Kenya
B) India
C) Mexico
D) Japan
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Chapter 18: Applied Anthropology
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Q1) Early twentieth century anthropologists argued that since there are no universal moral values, each society's values are valid with respect to the specific circumstances and conditions of that society. Hence, no society can claim to be in a superior position in regard to morals or ethics. The view that we cannot impose the values of one society on other societies is called:
A) ethical relativism
B) moral dilemma
C) social morality
D) social ethics
E) racial esteem
Q2) Why do you think the advocacy role in anthropology is so difficult, requiring great sensitivity and complex moral and political judgment? Can you give an example of this type of applied anthropology?
Q3) The word "metaculture" is used by anthropologists to refer to a:
A) culture within a culture, such as the culture of African Americans
B) culture that has become extinct, but about which enough is known to revive it
C) culture that seeks to dominate others, such as the culture of Nazi Germany
D) culture that is worldwide and pluralistic, sharing universal values.
Q4) What is cultural resource management?
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