Deck 13: Culture Change: Theories and Processes

Question 1

To say that a culture operates as a system means that:

A) cultural systems never change
B) when one part of the system changes all other parts change
C) when one part of the system changes some other parts have to change as well
D) changes never take place randomly within a cultural system

Answer 1

when one part of the system changes some other parts have to change as well

Question 2

Which of the following was invented, as opposed to discovered?

A) the radioactive properties of uranium
B) the laws of relativity
C) the nature of a nuclear chain reaction
D) the atomic bomb

Answer 2

the atomic bomb

Question 3

Ways of making and using fire is an example of:

A) a discovery
B) inventions
C) diffusion
D) revolution

Answer 3

inventions

Question 4

The wheel was invented in the ancient New World but was only used for children's toys because:

A) the people were not advanced enough to expand their discovery
B) the technological skills and knowledge were not present for more complex uses
C) there were no other practical uses for the wheel where it was invented
D) the people had nothing to transport that warranted wheeled vehicles

Question 5

Only about ______ percent of a society's cultural inventory, on average, is invented within that society.

A) 90%
B) 50%
C) 25%
D) 10%

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT true of the process of diffusion?

A) it accounts for most a society's cultural inventory
B) diffused items are usually modified to fit the receiving society's culture
C) some potentially borrowed items are rejected by the receiving society
D) the U.S. is unique in that most of our cultural items were invented here

Question 7

Syncretism is:

A) when aspects of a culture all change together
B) a synonym for a West Indian religious tradition
C) the blending of new religious practices with traditional ones
D) following newly created religious beliefs

Question 8

Acculturation is:

A) the process where young people learn the cultural norms of their society
B) voluntary culture change generated from within a society
C) the violent forcing of one society's culture upon another
D) a rapid, extensive diffusion of cultural items from a dominant culture

Question 9

The cargo cults of the South Pacific are examples of:

A) diffusion
B) acculturation
C) revolution
D) invention

Question 10

Revolution:

A) is always violent
B) is seldom violent
C) is usually instigated by the young
D) always involves changes from within a society

Question 11

The process of change that may be thought of as rapid diffusion under the influence of a more dominant society is:

A) revolution
B) cultural borrowing
C) acculturation
D) stimulus diffusion

Question 12

The process of change that may be thought of a rapid invention is:

A) revolution
B) cultural borrowing
C) acculturation
D) stimulus diffusion

Question 13

When knowledge of a cultural trait in one society motivates the contrivance of a similar trait it is called:

A) revolution
B) stimulus diffusion
C) acculturation
D) invention

Question 14

The school of thought that proposed that all societies pass through the same series of cultural stages is called:

A) classical or unilineal evolutionism
B) diffusionism
C) Kulturkreise
D) cultural materialism

Question 15

Which is NOT a reason why the school of classical or unilineal evolutionism has been discounted?

A) it placed too much emphasis on independent invention
B) it relied on a predetermined scheme into which new data were forced
C) it ignored that fact that some societies never change
D) it was ethnocentric

Question 16

Edward B. Tyler and Lewis Henry Morgan are associated with:

A) classical or unilineal evolutionism
B) diffusionism
C) Kulturkreise
D) cultural materialism

Question 17

In classical or unilineal evolutionism the stage of civilization is characterized by the presence of:

A) fire
B) pottery
C) writing
D) metallurgy

Question 18

In classical or unilineal evolutionism the stage of barbarism is characterized by the presence of:

A) fire
B) the bow and arrow
C) phonetic alphabets
D) domestication and pottery

Question 19

The diffusionist school of thought:

A) emphasized the diffusion of cultural items among all societies
B) discounted diffusion as an important process of culture change
C) proposed that important cultural items arose in one or a few societies
D) proposed that all important cultural items first arose in Greece

Question 20

One group of the diffusionist school thought all important complex cultural items first arose in:

A) Greece
B) Rome
C) China
D) Egypt

Question 21

The Kulturkreise school felt that important cultural innovations:

A) first arose in Germany
B) spread in widening circles from several cultural centers
C) dismisses the idea of less advanced cultures
D) explains less advanced cultures as those pushed to marginal areas

Question 22

Franz Boas is associated with what school of anthropological theory?

A) Kulturkreise
B) diffusionist
C) historical particularism
D) unilineal evolutionism

Question 23

Which was NOT a focus of the historical particularism school of thought?

A) importance of field work and data collection
B) holism and cultural relativity
C) search of general laws of cultural evolution
D) importance of the relationship between culture and environment

Question 24

The process of invention is analogous to what process of biological evolution?

A) natural selection
B) mutation
C) gene flow
D) genetic drift

Question 25

The process of diffusion is analogous to what process of biological evolution?

A) natural selection
B) mutation
C) gene flow
D) genetic drift

Question 26

Distinguish between discovery and invention, giving an example of how the two processes are related.

Question 27

Explain how discoveries are selected by a given cultural system. Give an example not discussed in the text.

Question 28

Why is there such an emphasis on diffusion as a process of culture change? Aren't invention and discovery more important?

Question 29

What is syncretism? Give an example not discussed in the text.

Question 30

Describe acculturation. Give one example each of forced and voluntary acculturation.

Question 31

Describe the process of revolution. Give one example each of violent and peaceful revolution.

Question 32

Acculturation may be thought of as "rapid diffusion" and revolution as "rapid invention." Explain.

Question 33

Briefly describe the unilineal or classical evolutionist school of thought. What are the basic problems with this model?

Question 34

Briefly describe the diffusionist school of thought. What are the basic problems with this model?

Question 35

What is the Kulturkreise school of thought? How did it account for less technologically advanced societies?

Question 36

Describe the school of thought known as historical particularism. What contributions did it make to modern anthropology?

Question 37

How is culture change analogous to biological evolution? What important limitations are there to this analogy?

Question 38

In what way is anthropology both a science and a humanistic endeavor?