Deck 10: Nature of the Group: Arranging Our Families and Organizing Our People

Question 1

Viewing another society's culture from the perspective of one's own cultural systems is:

A) ethnocentrism
B) cultural relativity
C) holism
D) the theory of relativity

Answer 1

ethnocentrism

Question 2

In some baboons, the social center of the troop is made up of:

A) dominant males
B) an individual dominant male with exclusive power
C) a group of related females
D) all the troops members in an egalitarian relationship

Answer 2

a group of related females

Question 3

Perhaps the strongest social and emotional bond in chimpanzees and bonobos is between:

A) mother and infants
B) brothers
C) sisters
D) unrelated females

Answer 3

mother and infants

Question 4

For most societies, social organization is based on:

A) residence location
B) political affiliations
C) wealth and status
D) kinship or kinship-like model

Question 5

Polygyny is found in ________ percent of the world's societies.

A) less than 1
B) 25
C) 75
D) 95

Question 6

Polyandry is found in ________percent of the world's societies.

A) less than 1
B) 25
C) 75
D) 95

Question 7

What percent of the world's societies is strictly monogamous?

A) less than 1
B) 25
C) 75
D) 95

Question 8

Why is polyandry so rare?

A) having more than one husband is illegal in most societies
B) several husbands leads to serious conflicts
C) most religions consider it sinful
D) it confers no reproductive advantage

Question 9

Polygyny is so common because:

A) men like to have multiple wives
B) having more than one wife is a status symbol
C) it confers a reproductive as well as a labor force advantage for the family
D) it eliminates conflicts within the family unit

Question 10

Polyandry tends to be found:

A) only among the most primitive societies
B) among societies with less developed moral systems
C) where land is scare and property is inherited through men
D) in hunting and gathering societies

Question 11

Of descent line systems, which is found in most societies?

A) bilateral
B) patrilineal
C) matrilineal
D) unilineal

Question 12

If you live in a patrilineal society, it means:

A) you live with your father but not your mother
B) descent is through your father's line
C) your father has more power than your mother
D) you have greater emotional feelings for your father

Question 13

In a bilateral society:

A) descent is through both the mother's and father's lines
B) both sexes are equal in all ways
C) individuals take the family names of both parents
D) there is no sexual division of labor

Question 14

Which types of societies usually practice a bilateral descent system?

A) horticultural and agricultural
B) foraging and industrial
C) pastoral and foraging
D) foraging and horticultural

Question 15

What is the advantage of a unilineal system that accounts for its statistical popularity?

A) it prevents incestuous marriages
B) it makes more sense biologically
C) it prevents in-law conflicts
D) it makes social organization based on kinship easier and more efficient

Question 16

There is some correlation between descent system and:

A) political organization
B) subsistence pattern
C) level of cultural complexity
D) degree of civilization

Question 17

Horticultural societies where the women perform most of the farming labor and are the focus of the social structure tend to be:

A) bilateral
B) patrilineal
C) matrilineal
D) unilineal

Question 18

Horticultural societies that confront competition and warfare tend to be:

A) bilateral
B) patrilineal
C) matrilineal
D) unilineal

Question 19

In a kinship diagram, the person whose point of view the diagram shows is called:

A) the cross cousin
B) the parallel cousin
C) Father or Mother, depending upon whether it is patri- or matrilineal
D) EGO

Question 20

Which system of kinship terminology is typical of most Western cultures?

A) Eskimo
B) Hawaiian
C) Omaha
D) Crow

Question 21

Children of your mother's brothers are your:

A) parallel cousins
B) first cousins
C) second cousins
D) cross cousins

Question 22

Children of your father's brothers are your:

A) parallel cousins
B) first cousins
C) second cousins
D) cross cousins

Question 23

In many systems, parallel cousins are called by the same term as EGO's biological siblings. This means that:

A) they are actually the same biologically
B) they all live together under one roof
C) they all fall under the incest taboo
D) they are all in the same descent line

Question 24

The Hawaiin terminology system is noted for:

A) emphasizing the mother's descent line
B) its large number of different kinship categories
C) its association with patrlineality
D) its symmetry and small number of categories

Question 25

The Omaha terminology system is associated with:

A) bilaterality
B) unilineality
C) patrilineality
D) matrilineality

Question 26

When societies get so large that kinship is no longer an adequate basis for social organization, what kind of system takes over?

A) men's associations
B) political organization
C) age sets
D) tribes or chiefdoms

Question 27

Which type of political organization is characterized by small, flexible units with no formal leadership?

A) band
B) tribe
C) chiefdom
D) state

Question 28

A "collection of bands" with informal relationships among the individual units is called a:

A) band
B) tribe
C) chiefdom
D) state

Question 29

A political organization with many units and with leaders for groups of units but with no central authority is called a:

A) band
B) tribe
C) chiefdom
D) state

Question 30

What kind of political organization do the United States and Canada have?

A) band
B) tribe
C) chiefdom
D) state

Question 31

The internal political organization of the Hutterites is closest to a:

A) band
B) tribe
C) chiefdom
D) state

Question 32

Define ethnocentrism. In what ways is it a positive thing? Under what circumstances is it negative?

Question 33

Compare the nature of the social relationships in a troop of baboons and a group of chimpanzees or bonobos.

Question 34

What do we mean when we say that the kinship organization of many societies is a cultural variation on biological themes?

Question 35

Account for the statistical popularity of polygyny among the world's societies.

Question 36

Explain why polyandry is so rare. Under what circumstances do we find it?

Question 37

Why do we find monogamy in the least and most technologically complex types of human societies?

Question 38

About 60% of the world's societies are unilineal. Explain the statistical preference for this descent system.

Question 39

What appears to influence whether a unilineal society is patrilineal or matrilineal?

Question 40

Why do we tend to find bilaterality in foraging and industrial societies?

Question 41

On the board is a diagram of a society's kinship terminology. Is this society most like bilateral, patrilineal, or matrilineal? Which individuals can you definitely say are under the incest taboo relative to EGO?

Question 42

Why do some societies consider parallel cousins as under the incest taboo but cross cousins as marriageable?

Question 43

Under what circumstances did some societies move from kinship as a social organizing principle to political systems?

Question 44

Name and describe the four basic types of political system, giving an example of each.

Question 45

Which type of political system best applies to internal organization of the Hutterites? Explain your choice.

Question 46

Explain why a society with a bilateral system need not also demonstrate equality between the sexes.