Deck 4: The Growth of Anthropological Theory

Question 1

Nineteenth century evolutionary theory was developed by:

A) Clifford Geertz.
B) Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict.
C) Ruth Benedict and Franz Boas.
D) Edward Tylor and Lewis Henry Morgan.
E) Marvin Harris and Claude Levi-Strauss.

Answer 1

Edward Tylor and Lewis Henry Morgan.

Question 2

The diffusionists focused their theory on:

A) the principle of evolution as the major explanatory reason for cultural variability.
B) different levels of cultural borrowing to explain cultural diversity.
C) inductive methodology.
D) a general law to explain all aspects of human life.
E) the idea of materialism and technology as the basis of cultural diversity.

Answer 2

different levels of cultural borrowing to explain cultural diversity.

Question 3

Boas trained nearly the entire first generation of American anthropologists,including:

A) Alfred Radcliffe-Brown.
B) Edward Tylor.
C) Ruth Benedict.
D) Marvin Harris.
E) Clifford Geertz.

Answer 3

Ruth Benedict.

Question 4

Morgan proposed that the three stages of savagery were associated with:

A) monumental architecture.
B) food collecting.
C) the domestication of plants and animals.
D) the acquisition of human language
E) the development of early state societies.

Question 5

American historicism was developed by:

A) Melville J. Herskovits.
B) Claude Lévi-Strauss.
C) Ruth Behar.
D) Franz Boas.
E) Bronislaw Malinowski.

Question 6

The notion of dysfunction was proposed by:

A) Merton to refer to stress or imbalance in a cultural system.
B) Radcliffe-Brown to refer to stress or imbalance in a cultural system.
C) Malinowski to refer to unintended or unrecognized functions of culture.
D) Levi-Strauss to refer to unintended or unrecognized functions of culture.
E) Boas to refer to the lack of ethnographic data and theoretical evidence.

Question 7

In nineteenth century evolutionary theory,the stages of __________ were proposed.

A) savagery, barbarism, and civilization
B) primitive, transitional, and modern
C) small-scale, traditional, and complex
D) European, Asiatic, and American
E) none of these choices

Question 8

The functionalist concept of universal function means:

A) that every component of a culture has a use.
B) that social structure is universal.
C) that individual needs are universal.
D) that culture is an integrated whole.
E) that technology is the foundation of society.

Question 9

Psychological anthropology was developed by:

A) psychologists rather than anthropologists.
B) various anthropologists interested in the relationship between personality and employment.
C) students of Boas interested in the question of the relationship of personality and culture.
D) individuals with no interest in the impact of child-rearing on human societies.
E) obstetricians working to improve the lives of women and children.

Question 10

A theory is:

A) a basis for further investigation.
B) an unproven proposition.
C) an educated opinion.
D) a statement about how things are related.
E) a hunch about how things are related.

Question 11

Why was Gerald Murray's applied anthropological project in Haiti considered "unorthodox"?

A) It involved educating Haitian peasants on the value of conservation.
B) The project was grassroots and was run by local Haitians with no external support.
C) It was considered unorthodox because it approached tree-planting as a cash crop.
D) This project occurred during an extreme economic downturn in Haiti.
E) Although Haiti had plenty of trees available, Murray encouraged them to raise the trees for export.

Question 12

Which of the following is not true of evolutionism?

A) It is an ethnocentric theory because evolutionists put their own societies at the top of the ladder.
B) It argues that all cultures pass through the same developmental stages in the same order.
C) This theory proposes that evolution is unidirectional (or unilineal) and leads to progressively better levels of culture.
D) The theory argues that changes in society are caused by changes in culture.
E) Evolutionism takes an inductive approach to analyzing other societies.

Question 13

The school of diffusionism could not explain any of the following except:

A) why some traits diffused when others did not.
B) what conditions bring about diffusion of a cultural item.
C) what determines the rate of cultural diffusion.
D) how cultural contact leads to culture change.
E) where the primary centers of invention were located.

Question 14

What was the source of most of Murray's cultural barriers in his work for reforestation in Haiti?

A) Local people did not value trees.
B) Local farmers had to be convinced that trees were like any other cash crop.
C) Local farmers did not want to convert large areas of farmland into forests.
D) The government did not permit foreigners to directly advise local villagers.
E) Murray did not speak the language.

Question 15

Tylor's and Morgan's theories of evolution presented a ___________ interpretation of human differences.

A) theological
B) biological
C) cultural
D) geographical
E) national

Question 16

Diffusionism and evolutionism had in common:

A) the idea of a deductive approach.
B) the idea of a single center for the invention of culture.
C) the idea of a straight line of cultural evolution that was universal.
D) the same explanation for cultural diversity.
E) the importance of Europe as the center of innovation and change.

Question 17

Murray,in his USAID reforestation project in Haiti,recommended that the local farmers:

A) learn about the ecological need for conserving trees.
B) clear cut trees to open more land for agriculture.
C) open lumber companies and cut out the middleman in commerce.
D) own the trees they grow.
E) grow trees rather than food crops.

Question 18

The two theorists (one in England and one in the U.S.)who gave the greatest importance to fieldwork were:

A) Tylor and Morgan.
B) Boas and Morgan.
C) Malinowski and Radcliffe-Brown.
D) Boas and Malinowski.
E) Mead and Geertz.

Question 19

Anthropological theories in the 21ˢᵗ century are:

A) developed independently of the theories of the earliest anthropologists.
B) merely hypotheses that anthropologists use in the field to help guide them.
C) often built upon what was learned from earlier theories.
D) entirely new concepts due to rapid modernization of the United States.
E) no longer based on the simple ideas of the 18ᵗʰ century theories.

Question 20

Franz Boas argued that the discipline of anthropology needed:

A) the careful collection of empirical data on as many specific cultures as possible.
B) the development of complex theory to guide fieldworkers.
C) theory that clarified how contact with other people was the single most important factor in shaping any society's culture.
D) theory that emphasized the environment as the single factor determining a culture.
E) theory that focused on geography as the major cause of cultural complexity.

Question 21

Cultural materialism:

A) is wedded to the emic approach.
B) emphasizes the etic approach.
C) avoids participant-observation.
D) was created by Ruth Benedict.
E) studies cultures but does not focus on the individual.

Question 22

Leslie White and Julian Steward developed the theory of:

A) ethnoscience.
B) psychological anthropology.
C) neoevolutionism.
D) diffusionism.
E) evolutionism.

Question 23

French structuralism concentrates on:

A) human adaptation to the environment.
B) level of technological achievement.
C) the identification of mental structures that undergird social behavior.
D) the political and economic structures of societies.
E) social roles and institutions.

Question 24

Which statement best describes Feminist Anthropology?

A) It takes an objective/scientific approach to the study of society.
B) It posits that gender should not be considered as a major variable influencing cultural behavior.
C) It strongly embraces a value-free orientation.
D) It seeks to describe and explain the female perspective in cultural life.
E) It is a theory that argues that women and men are equal in all societies and cultures.

Question 25

The primary aim of ethnoscience is to:

A) understand a culture from the point of view of the people themselves.
B) identify the universal rules found in all the societies of the world.
C) describe a culture in terms of the categories of the ethnographer.
D) do a complete ethnoscientific study of every aspect of a culture.
E) to understand how culture changes over time.

Question 26

The theoretical analysis of interaction between culture and environment that argued that particular cultures evolved independently of others is called:

A) multilinear evolution.
B) unilineal evolution.
C) universal evolution.
D) neoevolutionism.
E) solitary evolution.

Question 27

Which of the following anthropologists is not associated with the school of Feminist Anthropology which emerged in the 1960s and 1970s?

A) Annette Weiner
B) Ruth Benedict
C) Louise Lamphere
D) Sherry Ortner
E) Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo

Question 28

Postmodernists emphasize:

A) solitary research by one ethnographer.
B) the rejection of generalizing and developing predictable theories.
C) a close relation to biology that focuses on cultures as a biological necessity.
D) the extreme etic approach.
E) the local people only, disregarding any kind of global effects.

Question 29

In the Cross-Cultural Miscue in your textbook,the word "parallel" is presented from an ethnoscientific point of view. What does the word "parallel" mean to most Japanese?

A) Things that run in tandem side by side.
B) Things that are not in agreement.
C) An approach that creates unity.
D) A particular kind of geometric shape.
E) A form of high bar used in gymnastics.

Question 30

Cultural materialism:

A) holds that material conditions determine human thoughts and behavior.
B) assumes the viewpoint of the native informant.
C) studies only cultural artifacts.
D) is a philosophical system based on qualitative data.
E) is a theory that argues that all cultures change in similar directions.

Question 31

Lévi-Strauss's approach emphasizes the importance of:

A) certain codes, programmed into the human mind, which make it impossible for humans to learn more than one culture.
B) certain codes, programmed into the human mind, which are responsible for shaping cultures.
C) cultural traits which universally have the same function.
D) social roles and institutions within society.
E) universal social roles and institutions.

Question 32

Which of the following is a primary weakness of French Structuralism?

A) It does not focus on interesting cultural questions.
B) There is too much fieldwork associated with this theory and very little application.
C) The theory takes account solely of European cultures and is ethnocentric.
D) Structuralism is too psychological in its approach.
E) It is a theory that cannot be tested empirically.

Question 33

Why are binary oppositions significant to French Structuralism?

A) It is believed to be the primary mode of human thought.
B) Binary oppositions are the most stable way that societies are structured.
C) Dual oppositions are based on dual gender roles (male-female).
D) Structuralist theory argues that it is through opposition that society overcomes ethnocentrism.
E) Binary oppositions are not significant to French Structuralism.

Question 34

Margaret Mead,in her research in Samoa:

A) concluded that the emotional turbulence of adolescents in the United States is culturally rather than biologically based.
B) concluded that there are fixed gender roles regardless of the culture of origin.
C) discovered that adolescence was universally difficult for both children and parents and required intervention from other members of society.
D) demonstrated the importance of genes rather than cultural conditioning.
E) discovered the participant observation fieldwork method that would be used by all anthropologists afterwards.

Question 35

What did the use of participant observation contribute to the New Hope Antipoverty Program?

A) It led to more accurate survey data and allowed the researchers to better understand why people chose to be homeless.
B) Participant observation contributed to the collection of quantitative data.
C) Through participant observation, Gibson and Weisner were able to make lifelong friendships with the individuals in the poverty program.
D) By using participant observation, Gibson and Weisner were better able to understand the quantitative data.
E) By using participant observation, Gibson and Weisner were better able to understand the qualitative data.

Question 36

Ethnoscience,like French structuralism,does all of the following except:

A) draws upon a linguistic model.
B) seeks explanation in the human mind.
C) views human behavior from a logical or rational perspective.
D) uses binary oppositions as a primary means of approaching phenomena.
E) is difficult to test empirically.

Question 37

Why did the researchers in the New Hope Antipoverty program decide to implement qualitative methodology?

A) They did not understand the quantitative data that they were gathering.
B) They found a great deal of variability in the way people in the program made choices.
C) The researchers were anthropologists and had been trained to use qualitative field methods.
D) Qualitative methods were the only kinds of data-gathering that the local people would allow.
E) Use of qualitative methodology was required by the grant agencies involved in this program.

Question 38

Leslie White,in his theory,focused on the harnessing of energy and:

A) the relationship of ideology to environment.
B) the relationship between the structure of the human brain and the development of technology.
C) humans' use of technology to "capture energy."
D) the productive nature of human labor.
E) the expression of human personality.

Question 39

Edward Sapir felt that culture existed:

A) outside of the individual and exerted pressure upon the person.
B) within the community itself and was best witnessed through peer pressure.
C) only at the regional level and that cultural diversity did not exist.
D) within the interactions of individuals.
E) as a material item only.

Question 40

Leslie White argued that the driving force of cultural evolution was:

A) the complexity of language.
B) political complexity.
C) religion.
D) ideological progress.
E) the amount of energy available.

Question 41

Which theory most focuses on the unconscious level?

A) French structuralism
B) American historicism
C) functionalism
D) psychological anthropology
E) postmodernism

Question 42

American Historicism is a deductive theoretical approach.

Question 43

Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict took a Freudian approach to anthropology.

Question 44

Malinowski argued that dysfunction accompanied every society and every cultural group.

Question 45

Boas called for a moratorium on theorizing.

Question 46

Anthropological theory attempts to explain the great cultural diversity in the world.

Question 47

Which theory argues that any culture is partially composed of traits diffused from other cultures?

A) structural functionalism
B) American historicism
C) ethnoscience
D) postmodernism
E) interpretive anthropology

Question 48

The British diffusionists maintained that all cultural features,wherever they may be found,had their origins in Britain.

Question 49

Which theory operates on the assumption that cultures must be described in terms of native categories?

A) French structuralism
B) psychological anthropology
C) functionalism
D) feminist anthropology
E) ethnoscience

Question 50

Tylor and Morgan,as nineteenth-century evolutionists,based their theories on fragmentary data.

Question 51

Structural Functionalism is a theory that focuses on social stratification.

Question 52

Interpretive anthropology is part of which theoretical orientation?

A) neoevolutionsism
B) cultural materialism
C) diffusionism
D) postmodernism
E) ethnoscience

Question 53

Most anthropologists today:

A) utilize evolutionary theory.
B) utilize neoevolutionary theory.
C) use materialist approaches that emphasize technology.
D) focus primarily on ethnoscience.
E) do not tie themselves to a single theoretical orientation

Question 54

Which theory is the most opposed to postmodernism?

A) ethnoscience
B) psychological anthropology
C) feminist anthropology
D) cultural materialism
E) diffusionism

Question 55

What is the primary contribution of interpretive anthropology?

A) Interpretive anthropology has increased awareness of the role of anthropologists.
B) Interpretive anthropology has increased our focus on description and ethnographic detail.
C) Interpretive anthropology has led to a much greater understanding of how cultures change.
D) Interpretive anthropology provides an etic point of view.
E) Interpretive anthropology has not made any new contributions to the field of anthropology.

Question 56

In his applied project in Haiti,Gerald Murray saw the connections between evolutionary theory and tree planting.

Question 57

In the cultural law of C=ET of Leslie White,the variables are:

A) culture, energy, time.
B) culture, energy, technology.
C) culture, evolution, time.
D) child-rearing, equality, territory.
E) culture, evolution, technology.

Question 58

Which theory approaches society like a biological organism with many interconnected parts?

A) American historicism
B) neoevolutionism
C) feminist theory
D) functionalism
E) structural functionalism

Question 59

Postmodern anthropology:

A) is similar to the cultural materialism because it is an empirical approach.
B) is wedded to the etic point of view and is considered an extreme scientific approach.
C) argues that culture should be understood from several perspectives.
D) aims at the construction of laws and generalizations.
E) focuses specifically on the development of technology and its effect on culture.

Question 60

Evolutionary theory is an inductive approach to societies and diversity.

Question 61

Although diffusionism was a very interesting theory that contributed to our understanding of change as a result of culture contact,there were many areas for which it was a weak approach.Name at least four questions that the diffusionist approach could not answer.

Question 62

What is the task of an ethnoscientist?

Question 63

Why did Franz Boas call for a moratorium on theory?

Question 64

French structuralism is based on the study of binary oppositions.

Question 65

Postmodernists emphasize that ethnographies should be written from several voices.

Question 66

Rational choice theory does not take into account emotions or beliefs.

Question 67

Define the term theory.

Question 68

In addition to performing the function of distributing goods within the society,what other areas of Trobriand culture are related to the kula ring?

Question 69

What are the basic premises of the theory of evolutionism?

Question 70

Ethnoscience takes an extreme etic approach to analyzing culture.

Question 71

Interpretive anthropology is an approach headed up by Ward Goodenough.

Question 72

What was Margaret Mead attempting to demonstrate in her research among the Arapesh,Tchambuli,and Mundugumor of New Guinea?

Question 73

What is the significance of binary oppositions in French Structuralism?

Question 74

What three kinds of evolutionary thought did Julian Steward recognize?

Question 75

What three aspects do cultural materialists consider the most important parts of cultural systems?

Question 76

Most anthropologists today are cultural ecologists.

Question 77

Leslie White gave credit to Lewis Henry Morgan and Edward Tylor for their earlier evolutionary theory,arguing that they were essentially correct.

Question 78

Lévi-Strauss' theory maintains that the human mind thinks in binary oppositions.

Question 79

Ethnoscience attempts to describe a culture as it is perceived and categorized by the ethnographer.

Question 80

Franz Boas was the first and leading proponent of cultural ecology.