The Samoan community living in Los Angeles has successfully used the matai system
to deal with modern urban problems.
The term indigenous people gained legitimacy within international law with the
creation in 1982 of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations.
Biological anthropologists study only human bones.
Colonialism often erected boundaries that corresponded poorly with preexisting cultural
divisions.
Biological races have been scientifically discredited not just among humans but also
among all living species.
The biological degeneration explanation for the incest taboo has won over supporters
because of universal concerns about biology.
Although agriculture is much more productive per acre than horticulture, horticulture is
more reliable and dependable in the long run.
Band- and tribal-level societies actively promote craft and task specialization.
Physical features cluster into discrete genetic units.
Acculturation is the process by which people lose the culture they learned as children.
Native American berdaches were permitted to marry men.
Academic and applied anthropology have a symbiotic relationship, as theory aids
practice and application fuels theory.
Cultural values, social forces, and the media influence international sports success.
President Eisenhower etched a lasting image of tennis as a Republican sport, despite the
fact that Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama also play the game.
Cultural forces are indigenized when native traditions are presented to and appreciated
by the former colonialists, who acknowledge these forces as indigenous or native.
The domestic system is the economic system in which an organizer-entrepreneur
supplies the raw materials to workers in their homes and collects the finished products
from them.
During World War II, the U.S. government recruited anthropologists to study Japanese
and German cultures. This chapter uses this example to illustrate the dangers of the old
anthropology.
Anthropologists study only non-Western cultures.
All art is objectively beautiful.
Scientists prefer the term climate change to global warming. Climate change points out
that, beyond rising temperatures, there have been changes in sea levels, precipitation,
storms, and ecosystem effects.
Pantribal sodalities function to integrate the community by providing a series of
important nonkin relationships.
The spread of environmentalism may expose radically different notions about the rights
and values of plants and animals versus humans. Fortunately, it is clear to everyone that
certain animal rights trump other rights.
Expressive culture refers to the components of a culture that are expressed publicly, as
opposed to the private aspects of culture that are hidden from anthropologists.
Humans can adapt to their surroundings through both biological and cultural means.
With the baby boom and the increase in industrialization, women have contributed more
and more to the workplace while receiving pay equal to that of their male coworkers.
Phonology is the study of speech sounds.
Between 1970 and 2012 the number of divorced Americans increased sixfold.
The role of natural selection in producing variation in human skin color illustrates the
explanatory approach to explaining human biological diversity.
Archaeologists study only prehistoric communities.
“Readers” of a text make their own interpretations and derive their own feelings from it.
“Readers” of media messages constantly produce their own meanings.
When an ethnographer uses an interview schedule to gather information from the field,
the researcher’s capacity to ask and answer truly relevant questions is inevitably limited.
Theories must be proved correct before they can be accepted.
The United States originally started out as a peripheral nation, but by 1900 it had
asserted itself as a member of the industrialized core.
Identities are not fixed; they are fluid and multiple. People seize on particular,
sometimes competing, self-labels and identities, depending on context.
Which of the following statements about sociolinguists is NOT true?
A.They are concerned more with performance than with competence.
B.They look at society and at language.
C.They are concerned with linguistic change.
D.They focus on surface structure.
E.They are more interested in the rules that govern language than the actual use of
language in everyday life.
Which of the following statements about enculturation is NOT true?
A.It occurs through a process of conscious and unconscious learning.
B.It results in internalization of a cultural tradition.
C.It may involve direct teaching.
D.It is the exchange of cultural features that results when two or more groups come into
consistent firsthand contact.
E.It is the process by which culture is learned and transmitted across generations.
In an example of applied anthropology’s contribution to improving education, this
chapter describes a study of Puerto Rican seventh graders in a Midwestern U.S. urban
school (Hill-Burnett, 1978). What did anthropologists discover in this study?
A.Puerto Rican students came from a background that placed less value on education
than did that of white students.
B.The parents of Puerto Rican students did not value achievement.
C.The Puerto Rican subjects benefited from the English-as-a-foreign-language
program.
D.Puerto Ricans do not benefit from bilingual education.
E.The Puerto Rican students’ education was being affected by their teachers’
misconceptions.
What is the name of the postmarital residence pattern in which the married couple is
expected to establish their own home?
A.neolocality
B.patrilocality
C.matrilocality
D.ambilocality
E.uxorilocality
According to Karen Tice, what issue has become paramount in the teaching of applied
anthropology?
A.ethics
B.theory
C.application
D.economics
E.scholarship
What term refers to the tendency to view less developed countries as more alike than
they are?
A.cultural relativism
B.ethnobias
C.overinnovation
D.underdifferentiation
E.intervention philosophy
An ascribed status is a status that
A.people have little or no choice about occupying.
B.you choose for yourself.
C.you earn, as when a successful law student becomes a lawyer.
D.has a position of dominance in society; for example, that of a king.
E.is based on standardized test scores.
Intersex, a group of conditions involving discrepancy between external genitals and
internal genitals, can have a variety of chromosomal causes that create a sex-gender
difference. Which of the following chromosomal anomalies identifies a person with the
chromosomes of a woman and female internal anatomy, but with male external
genitals?
A.XY Intersex person
B.True Gonadal Intersex person
C.Klinefelter’s syndrome (XXY configuration)
D.XX Intersex person
E.Turner syndrome
In North America, the relatively high incidence of expanded family households in the
lower class is
A.the reason why the families of lower-class urbanites are dysfunctional.
B.an important strategy the urban poor use to adapt to poverty.
C.maladaptive, since poor families should be smaller in order to cut down on expenses.
D.caused by bifurcate merging, a practice brought to the United States by Irish
immigrants during the early part of the 20th century.
E.the result of enduring cultural ties to Europe.
Understanding kinship systems is an important part of anthropology because
A.it provides an objective, universal perspective on how people are related to one
another.
B.kinship ties are important to the people anthropologists study; they are a key
component of people’s everyday social relations.
C.their study is part of the anthropological tradition established by the field’s pioneers.
D.kinship ties are what triggered the split between the hominin line and the rest of the
primates and is thus the defining aspect of our humanity.
E.it is the only aspect of anthropological study that the general public cares about.
Despite the differences among theoretical paradigms of practitioners as varied as Harris
(cultural materialism), White (neoevolutionism), Steward (cultural ecology), and Mead
(configurationalism), all of them have what in common?
A.a strong sense of determinism, leaving very little (if any) room for the exercise of
individual human agency
B.a well-founded suspicion of the claims of science
C.an embrace of reflexive anthropology
D.a sense of moral duty to help the people they studied to accelerate their path to
civilization
E.a strong concern for the future of anthropological education
A “world-rejecting religion” is one that
A.concerns itself with a higher realm of spirituality.
B.rejects worldly goods and popular culture.
C.is polytheistic or monotheistic, and is led by a shaman.
D.has been rejected by the world.
E.focuses on a higher realm of reality.
Which of the following is an example of independent invention, the process by which
people in different societies have innovated and changed in similar but independent
ways?
A.acculturation
B.culture
C.globalization
D.agriculture
E.language
The lexicon of a language is
A.a dictionary containing all of its morphemes and their meanings.
B.its degree of complexity.
C.the set of rules that govern the written but not spoken language.
D.its symbolic and poetic value.
E.the range of speech sounds.
Linguistic anthropologists also are interested in investigating the structure of language
and how it varies across time and space. What is the study of the forms in which sounds
combine to form words?
A.phonology
B.syntax
C.morphology
D.lexicon
E.grammar
What term refers to one of two descent groups in a given population?
A.levirate
B.sororate
C.moiety
D.patriline
E.matriline
The last 30 years have seen a dramatic shift in the conditions of indigenous peoples in
Latin America, where the drive by indigenous peoples for self-identification has
emphasized all of the following EXCEPT
A.political reforms involving a restructuring of the state.
B.their cultural distinctiveness.
C.an implicit call for excluding strangers.
D.limited self government.
E.sustainable development and political representation.
What are both induction into the U.S. Marine Corps and the vision quest of certain
North American Indian societies examples of?
A.binary opposition
B.a generalized exchange
C.a structural analysis of religion
D.rites of passage
E.genetic programming
Anthropologist Clifford Geertz defined culture as ideas based on cultural learning and
symbols. For anthropologist Leslie White, culture originated when our ancestors
acquired the ability to use symbols. What is a symbol?
A.a distinctive or unique cultural trait, pattern, or integration that can be translated into
other cultures
B.any element within a culture that distinguishes it from other cultures, precisely
because it is difficult to translate
C.something verbal or nonverbal, within a particular language or culture, that comes to
stand for something else, with no necessary or natural connection to the thing for which
it stands
D.a linguistic sign within a particular language that comes to stand for something else
in another language
E.something verbal or nonverbal with a non-arbitrary association with what it
symbolizes
Which of the following statements is true regarding the relationship between art and
religion?
A.All non-Western art is produced anonymously for religious purposes.
B.Art is produced for religious purposes as well as for its aesthetic value.
C.All of the greatest accomplishments in Western art have been commissioned by
formal religions.
D.Since nonstate societies lack permanent buildings dedicated to art (museums) or
religion (temples, churches), there is no link between art and religion in these societies.
E.Western art is divorced from religion.
What are phonemes?
A.the rules by which deep structure is translated into surface structure
B.regional differences in dialect
C.syntactical structures that distinguish passive constructions from active ones
D.the minimal sound contrasts that distinguish meaning in a language
E.electromagnetic signals that carry messages between speakers in a telephone
conversation
Which of the following does NOT belong to ego’s matrilineage?
A.FM
B.B
C.ZS
D.MB
E.M
This chapter offers a brief overview of kinship-related demographic changes in the
United States and Canada. How have kinship arrangements changed? How do these
changes relate to other cultural changes? Do you find any of the current trends
surprising? If so, why?
Answer:Answers will vary
A lobola, a substantial marital gift from the husband and his kin to the wife and her kin
among the BaThonga of Mozambique, is
A.a form of bride theft.
B.only given for elopements.
C.the same as a dowry.
D.widespread in patrilineal societies.
E.widespread in matrilineal societies.
Which of the following statements about the concept of race in Brazil is NOT true?
A.Racial classification in Brazil is built around the concept of hypodescent.
B.There are more than 500 different terms used to describe phenotypes.
C.The large number of racial categories in Brazil does not easily lend itself to
socioeconomic discrimination based on race.
D.The perception of biological races is influenced not just by their physical phenotype
but by how one dresses and behaves.
E.A person’s race can change from day to day.
Which of the following is a reason why dark skin color is adaptive?
A.dietary adaptation
B.admission of UV rays
C.reducing the frequency of rickets
D.preventing the destruction of folate
E.malarial resistance
What do anthropologists mean when they say culture is shared?
A.Culture is an attribute of particular individuals.
B.Culture is an attribute of individuals as members of groups.
C.Culture is what ensures that all people raised in the same society have the same
opinions.
D.Culture is universally regarded as more important than the concept of the individual.
E.Passive enculturation is accomplished by more than one person.
________ refers to the changes that result when groups come into continuous firsthand
contact.
A.Acculturation
B.Hegemony
C.Enculturation
D.Diffusion
E.Colonialism
This chapter’s description of how humans cope with low oxygen pressure in high
altitudes illustrates
A.human capacities for cultural and biological adaptation, the latter involving both
genetic and physiological adaptations.
B.how biological adaptations are effective only when they are genetic.
C.how human plasticity has decreased ever since we embraced a sedentary lifestyle
some 10,000 years ago.
D.how in matters of life or death, biology is ultimately more important than culture.
E.the need for anthropologists to pay more attention to human adaptation in extreme
environments.
In Japan, the burakumin
A.are perceived as pure Japanese, even if one of their parents is not Japanese.
B.are stigmatized despite being genetically indistinguishable from other Japanese.
C.are the cream of Japan’s racial categories, having the purest blood.
D.no longer face discrimination.
E.constitute a numerical majority in Japan.
When does copula deletion (absence of the verb “to be”) occur in AAVE?
A.where SE has contractions
B.randomly
C.in the past tense
D.in the future tense
E.in SE, not AAVE
Applied anthropology
A.originated at the same time that anthropology’s four-field approach became
established among early twentieth-century U.S. academics.
B.has yet to be recognized by the American Anthropological Association.
C.encompasses any use of the knowledge and/or techniques of its four subfields to
identify, assess, and solve practical problems.
D.focuses on preparing emerging academic scholars to improve their grant application
skills.
E.is a European phenomenon.
An anthropologist has just arrived at a new field site and feels overwhelmed with a
creepy, profound feeling of alienation, of being without some of the most ordinary,
trivial (and therefore basic) cues of his culture of origin. What term best describes what
he is experiencing?
A.culture shock
B.diachrony
C.synchrony
D.configurationalism
E.agency paralysis
Which of the following statements about bifurcate merging kinship terminologies is
NOT true?
A.They generally are found in societies with unilineal descent.
B.They use the same term to describe F and FB and the same term for M and MZ.
C.They generally are found in societies with unilocal residence patterns.
D.They often are found in association with the kinship distinction between parallel and
cross cousins.
E.They use the same term to describe MB and FB.
What factors are responsible for the variable development of political regulation and
authority structures among pastoralists?
Answer:Answers will vary
What is the relationship between theory and practice in anthropology? Do you agree
that applied anthropology should be recognized as a separate subsection of
anthropology?
Answer:Answers will vary
What is an “imagined community?” Social roles such as ethnicity and nationality are
important to this conceptexplain how.
Answer:Answers will vary
How has the community of Newtok, Alaska, been affected by global climate change?
What are some of the challenges this community faces in the near future as they try to
rebuild?
Answer:Answers will vary
How have recent movements regarding the politics of identity with regard to indigenous
peoples varied around the world?
Answer:Answers will vary
Discuss some of the social functions of levirate and sororate marriage, and identify the
sociocultural context of these customs.
Answer:Answers will vary
According to some estimates, the world’s linguistic diversity has been cut in half in the
past 500 years, and half the remaining languages are predicted to disappear during this
century. Why does this matter? Isn’t this just a natural result of globalization, something
we should actually celebrate because it makes communication among diverse groups
much easier?
Answer:Answers will vary
What factors influence the production and appreciation of art? Do artists work in a
cultural vacuum of pure personal self-expression? What role does society play?
Answer:Answers will vary
What is the genealogical method, and why did it develop in anthropology?
Answer:Answers will vary
Why do differences in skin pigmentation exist around the world? What adaptive
advantages do different skin colors confer?
Answer:Answers will vary
What are the differences between shame and guilt? Why is it important for
anthropologists interested in understanding sociopolitical organization to pay attention
to people’s concerns with shame or guilt in the communities they study?
Answer:Answers will vary
Much religious and ritual behavior is adaptive. Can you think of cases in which it is
not? What does it mean for religion to be maladaptive?
Answer:Answers will vary
What does biocultural perspective refer to? 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?
Answer:Answers will vary
What does it mean to say that there are levels of culture? What are they? How do
cultural traits extend to a broader geographic area?
Answer:Answers will vary
Support or refute this statement: By rejecting the race concept, anthropologists are
ignoring obvious human biological variation.
Answer:Answers will vary
How would you explain the near universality of the incest taboo? You may draw on one
or more explanations.
Answer:Answers will vary
In some systems of kinship terminology, lineal and collateral relatives are grouped
together under the same kinship terms, and in others they are not. In terms of the
sociocultural setting in which these terminologies exist, discuss reasons for the
differences.
Answer:Answers will vary
What are the major differences between the Brazilian and U.S. systems of racial
classification?
Answer:Answers will vary