CHAPTER 1 1) This chapter begins with a commonly heard opinion: "People are pretty much the same all over the world." Why is this assumption often wrong? How might your consideration of this understanding affect how you would design an anthropological study?
2)
What is culture? How do anthropologists define and study culture?
3) What does holism refer to? Why is the concept central to anthropology? How does this concept relate to the "four-field" approach within the discipline? Have you encountered this concept in any of your other classes?
4) This chapter provides an example of human adaptation to high altitude to illustrate the various forms of cultural and biological adaptation. Can you think of another example that illustrates the broad capacity of humans to adapt both biologically and culturally?
Version 1
1
5) To what does biocultural perspective refer? If you are planning to major in the biological sciences or planning a career as a medical doctor or clinical researcher, how might a minor in anthropology complement your education? If you are thinking of majoring in the humanities, how might a minor in anthropology complement your education?
6) This chapter considers differences and similarities between anthropology and other academic fields such as sociology. What about history?
7)
Anthropology is the study of A) the psychological stages of human development. B) myths in industrial societies. C) the evolution of religion. D) long-term psychological adaptation. E) humans around the world and through time.
Version 1
2
8) Anthropology as a holistic science refers to the study of the whole of the human condition: the past, the present, and the future of_________blank. A) math, physics, and astronomy B) faith and religion across the world C) biology, society, language, and culture D) geography and cartography E) ancient civilizations and archaeological remains
9) As humans organize their lives and adapt to different environments, our abilities to learn, think symbolically, use language, and employ tools and other products A) are shared with other animals capable of organized group life—such as baboons, wolves, and even ants. B) rest on certain features of human biology that make culture itself a biological phenomenon. C) rest on certain features of human biology that make culture, which is not itself biological, possible. D) prove that only fully developed adults have the capacity for culture; children lack the capacity for culture until they mature. E) have made some human groups more cultured than others.
10)
Which of the following statements about culture is false? A) Culture is passed on genetically to future generations. B) Culture guides the beliefs and behavior of the people exposed to it. C) Cultural forces consistently mold and shape human biology and behavior. D) Culture is a key aspect of human adaptability and success. E) Culture is passed on from generation to generation.
Version 1
3
11)
What is the process by which children learn a particular cultural tradition? A) biological adaptation B) ethnology C) enculturation D) ethnography E) acculturation
12) This chapter's description of how humans cope with low oxygen pressure in high altitudes illustrates A) how in matters of life or death, biology is ultimately more important than culture. B) how human plasticity has decreased ever since we embraced a sedentary lifestyle some 10,000 years ago. C) how biological adaptations are effective only when they are genetic. D) human capacities for cultural and biological adaptation, the latter involving both genetic and physiological adaptations. E) the need for anthropologists to pay more attention to human adaptation in extreme environments.
13) The presence of more efficient respiratory systems to extract oxygen from the air among human populations living at high elevations is an example of which form of adaptation? A) short-term physiological adaptation B) long-term physiological adaptation C) cultural adaptation D) symbolic adaptation E) genetic adaptation
Version 1
4
14) Over time, humans have become increasingly dependent on which of the following in order to cope with the range of environments they have occupied in time and space? A) biological means of adaptation, mostly thanks to advanced medical research B) social and cultural means of adaptation C) a holistic and comparative approach to problem-solving D) technological means of adaptation, such as the creation of virtual worlds that allow us to escape from day-to-day reality E) social institutions, such as the state, that coordinate collective action
15) Today's global economy and communications link all contemporary people, directly or indirectly, in the modern world system. People must now cope with forces generated by progressively larger systems—the region, the nation, and the world. For anthropologists studying contemporary forms of adaptation, why might this be a challenge? A) Anthropological research tools do not work in this new modern world system, making their contributions less valuable. B) A more dynamic world system, with greater and faster movements of people across space, speeds up the process of evolution, making the study of genetic adaptations more difficult. C) Since cultures are tied to place, people moving around and connecting across space means the end of culture, and thus the end of anthropology. D) Truly isolated indigenous communities, anthropology's traditional and ongoing study focus, are becoming harder to find. E) According to Marcus and Fischer (1986), "The cultures of world peoples need to be constantly rediscovered as these people reinvent them in changing historical circumstances."
16) The academic discipline of anthropology includes four main subfields. They are sociocultural anthropology, anthropological archaeology, biological anthropology, and _____.
Version 1
5
A) linguistic anthropology B) psychosociological archaeology C) scientific–humanistic studies D) genetical anthropology E) biological archaeology
17)
What are the four subdisciplines of anthropology?
A) genetic anthropology, physical anthropology, psychological anthropology, and anthropology and linguistics B) primatology, ethnology, cultural anthropology, and paleoscatology C) biological anthropology, linguistic anthropology, cultural anthropology, and archaeology D) archaeology, biological anthropology, applied linguistics, and applied anthropology E) medical anthropology, ethnography, ethnology, and cultural anthropology
18)
Anthropologists' early interest in Native North Americans A) is an important historical reason for the development of four-field anthropology in the
U.S. B) was more important than interest in the relation between biology and culture in the development of U.S. four-field anthropology. C) proved early on that culture is a function of race. D) was replaced in the 1930s by the two-field approach. E) is unique to European anthropology.
19)
How are the four subfields of U.S. anthropology unified?
Version 1
6
A) Each subfield studies the human capacity for language. B) Each subfield studies human variation through time and space. C) Each subfield studies human genetic variation through time and space. D) Each subfield studies human biological variability. E) The subfields are really not unified; their grouping into one discipline is a historical accident.
20)
What is one of the most fundamental key assumptions that anthropologists share?
A) Anthropologists cannot agree on what anthropology is, much less share key assumptions. B) A comparative, cross-cultural approach is essential to study the human condition. C) A degree in philosophy is the best way to produce good ethnographies. D) There are no universals, so cross-cultural research is bound to fail. E) We can draw conclusions about human nature by studying a single society.
21)
Cultural anthropologists carry out their fieldwork in A) the ruins of ancient civilizations. B) all kinds of societies. C) typically in the third world nations. D) mostly in formerly colonized countries. E) factories.
22)
Ethnography is the
Version 1
7
A) generalizing aspect of cultural anthropology. B) cross-cultural comparative component of cultural anthropology. C) fieldwork component of cultural anthropology. D) study of biological adaptability. E) preliminary data that sociologists use to develop survey research.
23) Based on his observation that contact between neighboring tribes had existed since humanity’s beginnings and covered enormous areas, Franz Boas argued that A) general anthropologists were wrong to focus too much attention on biology. B) even the earliest foragers engaged in warfare. C) cultures should not be treated as isolated phenomena. D) biology, not culture, was responsible for the vast majority of human diversity. E) language must have originated among the Neandertals.
24) What component of cultural anthropology is comparative and focused on building upon our understanding of how cultural systems work? A) fieldwork B) data collection C) archaeology D) data entry E) ethnology
25) Archaeologists studying sunken ships off the coast of Florida and analyzing the content of modern garbage are examples of how
Version 1
8
A) training in the use of research skills for extreme environments—such as landfills and the deep sea—are worth the time, resources, and risk for the sake of the anthropological knowledge gained. B) Hollywood has popularized archaeology in recent movies, making it a popular college major. C) archaeologists study the culture of historical and even living peoples. D) archaeology is free from having to worry about the impact of its work on people. E) archaeology is going through an identity crisis, with its practitioners questioning the discipline's focus on studying prehistory.
26)
Which of the following best describes biological anthropology? A) the study of language and linguistic diversity B) the study of biological and cultural approaches to a given problem C) the study of biology through soil and decomposing matter D) the study of public health E) the study of human biological diversity
27)
The study of monkeys, apes, and other nonhuman simians is termed_________blank. A) primatology B) paleontology C) ornithology D) osteology E) semiology
28) Which of the following subfields of anthropology studies language in its social and cultural context, throughout the world and over time?
Version 1
9
A) demographical anthropology B) linguistic anthropology C) archaeological anthropology D) palaeoecological anthropology E) symbiological anthropology
29) Which of the following dimensions of anthropology employs anthropological data, perspectives, theory, and methods to identify, assess, and solve contemporary social problems? A) public ethnography B) applied anthropology C) academic anthropology D) social archaeology E) medical anthropology
30)
Applied anthropology A) focuses on preparing emerging academic scholars to improve their grant application
skills. B) is concerned with the relationships between anthropological knowledge and the uses of that knowledge in the world beyond anthropology. C) is a European phenomenon. D) has yet to be recognized by the American Anthropological Association. E) originated at the same time that anthropology's four-field approach became established among early 20th-century U.S. academics.
31) During a massive construction project, a city came across a treasure trove of archeological sites under its streets. It decided to call in an expert to help decide what needed to be saved and how to preserve information about what was not saved. This expert's role is best described to be in the field of
Version 1
10
A) foragers are willingly choosing to change their lifestyles and become a part of the global village. B) human rights are limited. C) more and more foragers have come under the control of nation-states and are now influenced by the forces of globalization. D) foraging communities' identities are being reshaped by their relationships with NGOs. E) the foraging lifestyle has finally become a thing of the past.
15)
Yehudi Cohen's adaptive strategies
A) suggest multidirectional relationships between a society's mean and its mode of production. B) suggest that economic systems are a better way of categorizing societies than relying on cultural patterns. C) have strong predictive powers when analyzed in computer models. D) suggest hypothetical correlations—that is, a causal relation between two or more variables, such as economic and cultural variables. E) suggest an association between the economies of societies and their social features.
16)
Which of the following isnot characteristic of band-organized societies? A) minor contrasts in prestige B) permanent villages C) fewer than 100 people D) an egalitarian social structure E) all related by kinship or marriage
17)
Which of the following are most characteristic of foragers?
Version 1
5
A) a redistributive economy and specialized leadership roles B) territoriality and organized warfare C) high mobility and small groups with flexible affiliations D) permanent villages and full-time priests E) unilineal descent and ancestor worship
18)
Which of the following is a characteristic of most foraging societies? A) social stratification B) large population C) irrigation D) egalitarianism E) sedentism
19)
A horticultural system of cultivation is characterized by A) lack of proper knowledge about plant domestication. B) intensive use of land and human labor. C) periodic cycles of cultivation and fallowing. D) developing almost exclusively in arid areas. E) the use of irrigation and terracing.
20)
What kinds of societies are typically associated with slash-and-burn cultivation? A) nomadic societies B) state-level societies C) hydraulic societies D) foraging societies E) nonindustrial societies
Version 1
6
21)
Which of the following statements about shifting cultivation is true?
A) It is typically associated with the use of draft animals. B) It requires cultivators to change plots of land, with the fallowing durations varying in different societies. C) It requires irrigation. D) It cannot support permanent villages. E) It relies extensively on chemical fertilizers.
22)
Which of the following statements about irrigation isfalse? A) Irrigated fields are labor intensive. B) Irrigation is one of the defining characteristics of foraging societies. C) Irrigated fields typically increase in value through time. D) Irrigation usually enriches the soil. E) The Ifugao of the Philippines used irrigation canals.
23) In which food production system does part of the group's population accompany the herds to distant pastures and the remaining population maintain year-round villages and grow crops? A) modified foraging B) pastoral nomadic C) intensive agriculturalist D) transhumance E) mixed specialization
Version 1
7
24) Because nonindustrial economies can have features of both horticulture and agriculture, it is useful to discuss cultivators as being arranged along a cultivation continuum. Which of the following generally occurs in moving toward the more intensive end of the cultivation continuum? A) increased permanency B) increased egalitarianism C) increased leisure time D) improved overall health status of the population E) longer fallow periods
25)
Which of the following doesnot occur in moving along the cultivation continuum? A) Population density increases. B) Villages are located closer together. C) Land is used more intensively. D) Village size increases. E) Societies become more egalitarian.
26)
What happens as one moves along the cultivation continuum? A) Ceremonies and rituals become less formal. B) More time for leisurely pursuits becomes available. C) The use of communal cookhouses becomes more common. D) There is a heavier reliance on swidden cultivation. E) The use of land and labor intensifies.
27)
Intensive agriculture
Version 1
8
A) is an ecological improvement over sectorial fallowing. B) has significant environmental effects, such as deforestation, water pollution, and reduction of ecological diversity. C) has a significant impact on the environment, but this impact is very localized and can be controlled. D) can actually breed greater ecological diversity. E) is not ecologically destructive when it is done with fuel-efficient machinery.
28) What term refers to the type of pastoral economy in which the entire population moves with their animals throughout the year? A) discretionary pastoralism B) balanced subsistence C) foraging D) transhumance E) pastoral nomadism
29)
What is a mode of production?
A) a postindustrial adaptive strategy, such as commercial agriculture or international mercantilism B) a distinction that is made to determine whether a society is foraging, horticulturalist, or agriculturalist C) the cultural aspect of any given economy, such as changing fashions in the textile and clothing industry D) the land, labor, technology, and capital of production E) the way a society's social relations are organized to produce the labor necessary for generating the society's subsistence and energy needs
30)
What are the means, or factors, of production?
Version 1
9
A) labor forces organized by kinship ties B) a society's major productive resources, such as land, technology, and the available labor supply C) the ways a society organizes production D) synonyms of a society's mode of production E) a society's institutional mechanisms for making sure that everyone is productive
31) Unlike in industrial societies, where economic alienation is common, in nonindustrial societies A) social relations are embedded in all relations except the economic ones. B) alienation is an ascribed status. C) the relations of production, distribution, and consumption are social relations with economic aspects. D) alienation is pervasive. E) alienation is suffered only among the poorer classes.
32)
How are nonindustrial economic systems embedded in society? A) Most nonindustrial economies are managed systems. B) The economic system has little to do with the everyday life of the people. C) People are not aware that they are working toward a goal. D) The economic system cannot easily be separated from other systems, such as kinship. E) Most economic activity takes place far from home.
33) Economic relationships are characteristically embedded in other relationships, such as kinship, in all of the following kinds of societies except
Version 1
10
A) foragers. B) chiefdoms. C) pastoralists. D) horticulturalists. E) industrial.
34) Economic anthropologists have been concerned with two main questions, one focusing on systems of human behavior and the other on the individuals who participate in those systems. The first question is: How are production, distribution, and consumption organized in different societies? Which of the following is the second question? A) What are the best ways to convince individuals in funding agencies of the value of ethnographic knowledge in the realm of economics? B) What has been the impact of globalization at the level of individuals? C) What motivates people in different cultures to produce, distribute or exchange, and consume? D) Why has the myth of the profit-maximizing individual been so pervasive, despite evidence to the contrary? E) What encourages overconsumption in Western economies?
35)
Which of the following statements about peasants is not true?
A) They owe rent to the government. B) They owe rent to landlords. C) They are not part of the world market. D) They all live in state-organized societies. E) They practice small-scale agriculture without modern technology such as chemical fertilizers and tractors.
36)
Who are peasants?
Version 1
11
A) anyone who falls below the poverty line B) anyone who lives in the country C) people who ignore social norms of behavior D) small-scale farmers who own land and sell all their crops to buy necessities E) small-scale farmers with rent fund obligations
37) _________blank occurs when products, such as a portion of the annual harvest, move from the local level to a center, from which they eventually flow back out. A) Redistribution B) Generalized reciprocity C) Balanced reciprocity D) Transhumance E) Negative reciprocity
38)
Which of the following economic principles is generally dominant in industrial society? A) balanced reciprocity B) redistribution C) the market principle D) negative reciprocity E) generalized exchange
39)
Which of the following isnot associated with the market principle?
Version 1
12
A) impersonal economic relations B) industrialism C) the profit motive D) the law of supply and demand E) kin-based generalized reciprocity
40)
Generalized reciprocity A) usually develops after redistribution but before the market principle. B) is the characteristic form of exchange in egalitarian societies. C) disappears with the origin of the state. D) is characterized by the immediate return of the object exchanged. E) is exemplified by silent trade.
41) Which of the following kinds of exchange is characteristic among the members of a family? A) generalized reciprocity B) balanced reciprocity C) negative reciprocity D) redistribution E) None of these answers is correct.
42)
Which of the following statements about potlatching isnot true?
Version 1
13
A) Potlatching is an example of competitive lavish feasting. B) Potlatching is a form of exchange that has long-term adaptive value. C) Potlatching was misinterpreted as a classical case of economically wasteful behavior. D) Potlatching is well documented among Native American communities of the North Pacific Coast of North America. E) Potlatching is a case that proves that the profit-maximizing motive is a human universal.
43) Most contemporary foragers live in remote areas, completely cut off from contact with other modern, agricultural, and industrial communities. ⊚ ⊚
true false
44) Domesticated animals, more specifically their manure and their pulling capabilities, are key components of horticulture. ⊚ ⊚
true false
45) In order to intensify production, agriculturalists frequently build irrigation canals and terraces. ⊚ ⊚
true false
46) Correlations are highly useful for anthropologists studying societies because they are often highly accurate. ⊚ ⊚
Version 1
true false
14