Socio-Cultural Anthropology Midterm Exam

How did the Age of Enlightenment plant seeds for many academic disciplines including anthropology?

Ordinary people could learn the truth through observation and experience.

How did the Age of Enlightenment plant seeds for many academic disciplines including anthropology?

Sociopolitical anthropology

Henry Morgans argument that all societies progress through the same stages of development (savagery barbarism civilization) is an example of what type of thinking?

Ethnocentric

In her book Never in Anger: Portrait of an Eskimo Family Jean Briggs argues that

anger and strong negative emotions are not expressed among families that live together in small iglus amid harsh environmental conditions.

What does the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis propose?

The language you speak allows you to think about some things and not others.

Instead of studying social groups that differ from their own to where are cultural anthropologists increasingly turning their focus?

Their own societies and subgroups within them

The study of human origins evolution and variation is known as

Ancient human relatives

Anthropologist Bob Myers argues that

all of the answer choices are correct.

A cultural anthropologist studying the meaning of marriage in a small village in India might consider local gender norms existing family networks laws regarding marriage religious rules and economic factors. This is an example of

holism.

In cultural anthropology the term belief refers to

all mental aspects of culture.

What is the term for the process of participant-observation fieldwork in cultural anthropology?

Ethnography

To which of the following does ethnography NOT refer?

Novels written by cultural anthropologists

What is ethnocentrism?

It is the belief that ones own culture is better than others.

Which subfield of anthropology aims to solve specific practical problems in collaboration with governmental non-profit and community organizations?

Applied anthropology

Which of the following does NOT describe culture?

It is the genetic range of a society or subgroup.

What term is used to refer to the immersive long-term research that cultural anthropologists undertake?

Participant-observation fieldwork

Who was Zhang Qian?

Immersive fieldwork

Cultural relativism argues that we should seek to

understand another persons beliefs and behaviors from the perspective of their culture rather than our own.

In English we say: I love you. In Spanish there are many ways of conveying different types of love such as te quiero te amo and te adoro. These differences are an example of

how language may influence our views of the world.

Widely known as the founder of American anthropology Franz Boas insisted that

while cultures differ they are not superior to nor inferior than one another.

Personalistic ethno-etiologies view disease as the result of

all of the answer choices are correct.

One of the unintended health consequences of the rise of antibiotic use in low-income (developing) nations is that

One of the unintended health consequences of the rise of antibiotic use in low-income (developing) nations is that

In medical anthropology __________ is a medical condition that can be objectively identified while __________ is the subjective or personal experience of feeling unwell.

Disease; illness

According to the course text anorexia is referred to as a culture-bound syndrome because

it is an illness recognized only within a specific culture (or in areas that have been influenced by that culture).

Cultural explanations about the underlying causes of health problems is referred to in medical anthropology as

ethno-etiology.

When an ill person describes the origin of their suffering as coming from a fright or shock they are using which type of ethno-etiology?

Emotionalistic

When an injured person blames their accident on a curse directed at them they are using which type of ethno-etiology?

Personalistic

While Western biomedicine is based on science and rigorous testing it is also true that

all of the answer choices are correct.

Zoonotic diseases are diseases that

can be passed between humans and animals.

Obesity is considered to be a disease of civilization meaning

it did not exist in early human populations.

What major contributor(s) to human disease became problematic once agricultural communities became densely populated?

Problems disposing of waste and difficulty accessing clean water

The comparative study of cultural ideas about wellness illness and healing is called

ethnomedicine

Western biomedicine tends to conceive of the body as a kind of biological machine. When parts of the machine are damaged defective or out of balance the preferred therapeutic responses are most often

chemical or surgical interventions.

The discipline that investigates human health and health care systems in comparative perspective considering a wide-range of bio-cultural dynamics that affect the well-being of human populations is referred to as

medical anthropology.

A response to treatment that occurs because the person receiving the treatment believes it will work not because the treatment itself is effective is referred to as a

placebo effect

The rapid changes in human lifestyles from small foraging groups to crowded technologically-advanced societies shows that

human lifestyles are biocultural or products of interactions between biology and culture.

The approach in which disease is thought to be the result of natural forces such as cold heat wind dampness and above all by an upset in the balance of the basic body elements is a

naturalistic ethno-etiology.

Traditional Chinese Medicine understands the body to contain a life force that when blocked causes illness. This force is called

Qi

The approach that considers health to be the absence of disease or dysfunction and that disease can be identified as one of the following: a pathogen malfunction of the bodys processes or a physiological disorder is the

emotionalistic

Which of the following best describes the relationship between cultural relativism and ethnocentrism?

Cultural relativism emphasizes understanding from an insiders view and ethnocentrism judges other cultures from an outsiders view.

In anthropology the process of learning culture as it is transmitted by others is called

enculturation

Why do the authors of this chapter decide to talk to a patron of a coffee shop?

The authors are interested to know how non-anthropologists define culture.

How does a fable become a tradition within a culture?

By being retold and accepted by others in the community

That complex whole which includes knowledge belief art law morals custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society is Tylors definition of

culture

Margaret Meads book Coming of Age in Samoa (1925) was an important contribution to the nature-nurture debate arguing that teenagers experience less stress in Samoa than in the United States. Her fieldwork provided evidence that

learned cultural roles are more important than biology in most types of behavior.

The theory of functionalism as used by Malinowski understood that cultural traditions developed as a result of

the need to regulate specific human needs such as food safety reproduction and livelihood.

The authors mention many reasons for telling stories within a society. They identify all of the following reasons EXCEPT

keeping members glued to storytelling devices such as televisions.

Nineteenth century anthropologists identified three stages of cultural evolution which were called (in this order of development)

savagery barbarism and civilization.

The theory of structural-functionalism as used by Radcliffe-Brown believed that social structures

functioned to maintain social stability over time.

The principle that a culture must be understood on its own terms rather than compared to an outsiders standard is called

Cultural Relativism

North American anthropologists stress the importance of holism or

considering the entire context of a society including its history.

Going native means that an anthropologist

participates more fully in local life than an observer potentially becoming romantically involved with Native people

One of the main differences between the anthropology that developed in the 19th and early 20th centuries in North America and Europe was that

European anthropology focused more on social institutions (such as family or political organizations) and how they interact with culture.

How do anthropologists understand the concept of The Other?

It is a term that describes people whose customs beliefs or behaviors are different from ones own; an outsider or stranger.

What aspects of culture did Bob the coffee shop patron identify in his definition of culture?

Language and changing cultural values

What is armchair anthropology?

An approach that uses the stories and experiences of others to measure other cultures from ones own (superior) vantage point

The idea that ones own group is better than any other is called

ethnocentrism

In Patterns of Culture (1934) Ruth Benedict wrote about how culture shapes a regions personality traits.

true

Clifford Geertz a post-modern anthropologist stressed the importance of

language as a means of transmitting symbolic knowledge in public contexts.

Which of the following anthropologists is widely considered to be one of the founders of modern North American anthropology with its focus on fieldwork and cultural relativism?

Franz boas

Franz Boas

the social class in which they were raised.

How does the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé show religious syncretism?

Traditional gods of Candomblé the orixás are combined with Catholic divine beings such as saints

Traditional gods of Candomblé the orixás are combined with Catholic divine beings such as saints

Urban Anthropology.

During the height of the European colonial period European nations ruled more than ________ of the world.

85%

The adaptation of global ideas into locally palatable forms is referred to as

glocalization

After one man traveled to the US from Liberia with the Ebola virus in 2014 many Americans debated whether full travel bans should be instituted to and from countries with confirmed cases of Ebola. This is not only an example of how globalization can potentially create a public health disaster but also highlights which social aspect of intensified globalization?

Xenophobic attitudes and racial prejudice

Globalization within a consumerist economy enables individuals

all of the answer choices are correct.

The intensification of globalization has led many to use others as scapegoats in an attempt to reassert their own values and way of life. These efforts are often referred to as __________ by social scientists.

re-entrenchment

At the turn of the 20th century the landowning elite began to lose control in Latin America when

Latin American peasants migrated from the countryside into the cities and European immigrants arrived

Based on evidence from anthropological studies which of the following results is most likely to come from the introduction of modern goods into traditional communities?

The community incorporates new things into their pre-existing practices without completely trading old ideas for new ones.

The combination of different beliefs - even those that seem contradictory - into a new harmonious whole is called

syncretism.

A study focusing on the extraction of water from land in Fiji by a North American company that sells the water and gains its profits in the U.S. is best situated primarily within the

financescape

The idea of the ethnoscape focuses on __________ that flow(s) across borders.

people

The worlds eight richest humans now control as much wealth as the bottom __________ of the entire worlds population.

50%

The intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa is the definition of

globalization

In Globalization studies, the fact that McDonald's offers local favorites in its branches across the world, such as a McAloo Tikki potato patty in India, is an example of

glocalization

A study focusing on the spread of religious doctrine by missionaries would be interested primarily in the

ideoscape

What are some of the problems that have resulted for quinoa farmers of Bolivia now that quinoa is a valued commodity in the global market?

all of the answer choices are correct

Contemporary globalization is said to have begun at least in terms of economics as coinciding with

the end of WWII and Bretton Woods Conference which led to the creation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.

How was the U.S. economic strategy in Latin America different from Great Britains?

U.S. companies went to Latin America to directly control the means of production whereas Great Britain had imported goods from Latin America.

Although fair trade practices are appealing to conscious consumers why do some farmers get left behind by fair trade?

Certain well-situated farmers with more social or cultural capital will have more access to the benefits of fair trade than poorer farmers.

What was the result of the privatization of water in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba as mandated by the World Bank and IMF loans?

It was disastrous due to rapid population growth and a scarcity of water.

According to Lingenfelter which sport is analogous to a social structure with a high group and low grid orientation?

volleyball

(blank) is a cultural value emphasizing group goals and personal relationships.

collectivism

(blank) is a cultural value emphasizing assertiveness and achievement.

Competetive

Mary Douglas (1970) classified competing values along two primary orientations. Which are they?

Group & Grid

According to Lingenfelter which sport is analogous to a social structure with a low group and high grid orientation?

Baseball

According to Lingenfelter which sport is analogous to a social structure with a low group and low grid orientation?

golf

On the intercultural development continuum (blank) describes a person who misses differences in cultures by avoiding or showing disinterest to other cultures.

Denial

Mary Douglas (1970) suggested that people in a society tend to avoid social harm or risk by functioning according to the values and structures of that society.

True

Understanding the different ways in which social groups have been socialized to handle conflict and adjusting ones behavior accordingly is a good example of (blank).

Intercultural Competence

(blank) is a cultural value emphasizing planning and predictability.

High Uncertainty Avoidance

(blank) is a cultural value emphasizing indirect communication such as tone and context.

High Context

(blank) is a cultural value emphasizing explicit communication through words.

low context

According to Lingenfelter which sport is analogous to a social structure with a high group and high grid orientation?

soccer

(blank) is a cultural value emphasizing caring for many obligations comfortability with interruptions and combining work and personal life spheres.

Polychronic

(blank) is a cultural value emphasizing punctuality doing one thing at a time and separating work and personal life spheres.

Monochronic

On the intercultural development continuum (blank) describes a person who bridges across differences by shifting cultural perspectives and behavior.

Adaptation

On the intercultural development continuum (blank) describes a person who deemphasizes differences by highlighting similarities between cultures without trying to understand the deeper differences that exist.

minimization

(blank) is a country that tends toward a low group and low grid orientation.

us