Deck 17: Contemporary Global Trends

Question 1

The United States, Japan, and Western Europe are now in Phase 2 of the demographic transition model.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

With the removal of government-controlled price restraints in Russia, the costs of food and other basic commodities went down.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The globalization of the world economy has had relatively little effect on core industrial societies such as the U.S. and Japan.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Anthropological research has shown that the Green Revolution has caused a number of unintended problems, such as widening the gap between the rich and the poor by displacing many small farmers and creating a landless peasant class.

Question 5

Western Samoans have received huge social and monetary benefits from multinational corporations wanting to exploit forests.

Question 6

Thomas Malthus predicted that populations would grow much slower than the production of food and other resources needed to sustain the population.

Question 7

According to the demographic transition model, populations go through three stages of change in fertility and mortality rates.

Question 8

Since anthropology is primarily a theoretical field, it has little or nothing to offer in terms of helping solve global issues such as overpopulation, deforestation, and agricultural production.

Question 9

The success of the Green Revolution in northern India cannot serve as a model for the implementation of this process in other areas of the world because this area was too isolated, small, and atypical of most rural areas in the Third World.

Question 10

Separatist conflicts between various linguistic, ethnic, tribal, and religious groups in Bosnia, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere are of no concern to peoples in the western, industrialized nations because these are local conflicts that have no global implications.

Question 11

The term "Green Revolution" refers to the increased use of to increase food production in Third World countries.

A) traditional, organic farming methods that avoid the use of pesticides
B) intensive human labor for planting, weeding, and harvesting
C) renewable tree- and root-crop products of the tropical rain forests
D) mechanized agriculture, genetic engineering, and artificial hybrid crops

Question 12

Biodiversity is the genetic and biological variation within and among different species of plants and animals.

Question 13

Anthropologists can probably aid in humankind's understanding of its existence in the global village by making a concerted effort to comprehend the historical and sociocultural incentives and roots that contribute to ethnic conflicts.

Question 14

The term "global village" refers to:

A) the United Nations
B) instantaneous communication through mass media and interconnected economic networks
C) a colonization strategy for other planets, to be implemented in the distant future
D) a traditional settlement strategy found especially in West Africa

Question 15

A major factor that has influenced the emergence of the global economic network is the multinational corporation.

Question 16

The Green Revolution has been successful in every part of the world where it has been implemented.

Question 17

Newly industrializing economies (NICs) in Asia have benefited from investments by multinational corporations.

Question 18

Female infanticide has been virtually eliminated in China due to the one-child policy.

Question 19

In China, the government penalizes urban couples who have more than one child.

Question 20

It appears - from today's perspective - that global changes wrought by multinational corporations have had negative consequences for some of the developing countries.
Multiple Choice Questions

Question 21

The populations of Germany and Japan are both:

A) doubling every 23 years
B) increasing at a rate of 2% a year
C) stable and unchanging
D) decreasing

Question 22

In the 1970s, a group of scientists known as the Club of Rome got together to assess global trends and predict the future of the world and the people on it. Using a neo-Malthusian perspective and computer models, they predicted:

A) There will be an infinite supply of natural resources for hundreds of years to come because biotechnology will make land more productive, and humans will invent new ways of doing things.
B) The world, as we know it, will end abruptly in 2048 because of the greenhouse effect, coupled with a nuclear winter.
C) Current global trends in population growth, energy consumption, and environmental pollution will exhaust the world's natural resources within the next 100 years.
D) Biodiversity will increase, slowly smothering the world and all its occupants.

Question 23

Which of the following countries is characterized by declining rates in both fertility and mortality?

A) Kenya
B) India
C) Mexico
D) Japan

Question 24

Anthropological research may help assess global issues such as population growth, environmental destruction, and technological change by providing a more cautious and analytical approach. This is because anthropology:

A) relies upon the concept of ethical relativism, and it can make major value judgments that other disciplines are incapable of handling or making
B) uses the holistic approach; it has always been concerned with precisely those aspects of human interaction with the environment that are becoming widely recognized by scientists studying global changes in the environment
C) has been almost impulsive when studying cultural change and innovation, causing anthropologists to be very liberal and impetuous in their recommendations concerning changes in the relationship between human cultures and the physical environment

Question 25

Perestroika and glasnost are terms that refer to:

A) the power of the masses and religious ideology
B) military readiness and nationalistic sentiment
C) increasing capitalism and freedom of expression
D) totalitarianism and intolerance for ideas critical of the government

Question 26

A British clergyman and economist named -------predicted that populations would grow at a very rapid rate (exponential rate) and the production of food and other vital resources would increase at a much slower rate. As a result, human populations would be subjected to a variety of checks on population growth such as warfare, famine, and disease.

A) Charles Darwin
B) E.O. Wilson
C) Julian Simon
D) Thomas Malthus
E) Mikhail Gorbachev

Question 27

Dependency theorists suggest that multinational corporations are just a new form of neocolonialism aimed at supplying the Western world with natural resources and cheap labor. These corporations, rather than helping the populace, actually intensify many of the problems of Third World countries by:

A) making it possible to get cheap food and adequate housing
B) creating benefits for a wealthy elite and a small middle class while allowing the vast majority of the population to remain in poverty
C) establishing a strong lower class that eventually overthrows the ruling elite in the country
D) showing the people all of the riches, modern conveniences, and lifestyles that the majority of the population cannot ever possess

Question 28

Julian Simon has challenged the Doomsday Model since he believes the problems of pollution and environmental stress will ultimately be solved because:

A) Space aliens will not allow the human race to become extinct.
B) World population will decrease due to epidemic diseases like AIDS.
C) Human creativity and science will provide the key to solving all problems.
D) Human populations cannot exceed the Earth's carrying capacity.

Question 29

Because of human activities and growth, it is estimated that at least one species becomes extinct every day. In fact, biologist E.O. Wilson thinks, with the expansion of industrialism, mechanized agriculture, and deforestation, as many as one-fourth of the world's plant families will become extinct by the end of the next century. The loss of this------- is a major concern for many individuals since we, as humans, are dependent upon these living organisms for our own survival (for food and medicinal applications).

A) biodiversity
B) doubling time
C) green space
D) greenhouse
E) perestroika

Question 30

The one-child policy in China has been:

A) effective at reducing the birthrate
B) useless at reversing trends of runaway population growth
C) most accepted in agricultural areas
D) accepted without protest by both urban and rural populations

Question 31

Ethnographic research aimed at examining the Green Revolution, which is the spread of mechanized agriculture, has found that:

A) This revolution is proceeding smoothly in many Third World countries, providing much needed food for the lower classes, especially the small farmers.
B) These innovations have created a number of unintended social and economic problems, such as widening the gap between the rich and poor because wealthy farmers buy out smaller farmers, creating a class of landless peasants.
C) Many of the genetically engineered plants and animals do not survive and reproduce in different climates and geographical locations, creating problems of waste disposal of excess carcasses and erosion/soil degradation when plants die en masse.
D) Individuals in cultures other than the West have found that the mechanization of agriculture leaves them with too much free-time; as a result, crime, spouse abuse, and drug addiction increase exponentially.

Question 32

Anthropologist Marvin Harris has suggested that the entire fabric of society in the former Soviet Union was undermined by:

A) Marxist theories of social organization
B) influence from the cultures of the U.S. and Europe
C) widespread racial prejudice and ethnic conflict
D) deficiencies in economic infrastructure

Question 33

Demographic-transition theory assumes a close connection between:

A) fertility/mortality rates and socioeconomic development
B) birth control methods and infant mortality
C) sustainable development and foreign investment by multinational corporations
D) advanced, industrial societies and poor, preindustrial societies

Question 34

Many scientists argue that the increased levels of carbon dioxide that are produced by the burning of fossil fuels and the tropical rainforest will create a(n) , in which the carbon dioxide will trap the heat from the sun and prevent it from radiating back into space.

A) ultraviolet leach
B) greenhouse effect
C) biotechnological loop
D) circular biome cycle
E) biodiversity transition cycle

Question 35

Between 1980 and 1990, the annual growth rate in China fell from to 1.4 percent.

A) 5.3
B) 4.4
C) 2.0
D) 2.4

Question 36

If a population is simply replacing itself, we say that the population has achieved:

A) a demographic stalemate
B) its doubling time
C) zero population growth
D) its ultimate potential and size
E) phase two of the demographic transition

Question 37

According to ethnographic research conducted by Murray Leaf, the Green Revolution has been successfully implemented in:

A) Mexico City, Mexico
B) Shahidpur, India
C) Rio de Janiero, Brazil
D) Western Samoa
E) Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan

Question 38

During stage one of the demographic transition, both fertility and mortality are high, resulting in minimal population growth. In stage two, fertility continues to be high, but mortality rates decline, as a result of which the population:

A) remains rather stable in size
B) tends to increase in size rapidly
C) ceases to grow and starts to decline
D) usually goes extinct within a few generations

Question 39

A population has reached zero population growth (ZPG) when, on average, there is/are children born to each woman.

A) 4.3
B) 1
C) 2.1
D) 0

Question 40

Which of the following countries is likely to have the lowest per capita energy consumption?

A) Sudan
B) Japan
C) Mexico
D) Canada

Question 41

What are perestroika and glasnost?

Question 42

What is the Doomsday Model (neo-Malthusian approach)? Has this view been challenged by anyone? If so, on what grounds?

Question 43

Make a list of all the ethnic (separatist) conflicts that are occurring across the world today. How many confrontations were you able to find? Do you think this type of dissension will continue to emerge, or can different ethnic groups learn to live in peace with one another?

Question 44

Can an anthropologist make a difference in the changing world of today, or is the world in need of engineers and technicians who can invent new ways to solve problems? That is, how can the anthropological perspective be used to examine global issues such as overpopulation, deforestation, global warming, and the loss of biodiversity?

Question 45

Why is there concern over the loss of biodiversity?

Question 46

What is the demographic transition theory? Do you think this model applies to all cultures in the world?

Question 47

Anthropologist Katherine Verdery, who carried out ethnographic work in Romania, identified all BUT the following as a dilemma currently facing this post-socialist nation:

A) gender inequality reemerging
B) black markets and organized crime
C) manipulation of legal and political apparatus by former socialist bureaucrats to gain personal economic opportunities
D) religious institutions working in opposition to capitalist enterprises Essay Questions

Question 48

What types of contributions can anthropologists make by studying ethnic conflict and separatism? What perspective can anthropologists take in this endeavor?

Question 49

Both Japan and the United States have become "postindustrial" societies. This term refers to the fact that:

A) Large segments of their economies are devoted to providing services, rather than manufacturing goods.
B) Their economies developed largely as a result of weapons manufacture during World War II.
C) In each country, the working class has achieved a high standard of living.
D) Each was affected by the Industrial Revolution.

Question 50

What is the global economy? What types of changes have occurred in the world recently that are related to the globalization of the world economy?

Question 51

British biologist Matt Ridley argues that technology will solve most of our environmental problems over time. What are some of the things happening now on the technological front that give hope for that proposition?

Question 52

What types of unanticipated problems has the implementation of the Green Revolution caused in areas where it was introduced? Are there any success stories, or is the verdict all negative?

Question 53

The collapse of the former Soviet Union was characterized by:

A) declaration of independence by non-Russian republics
B) "federalism" and increased solidarity of the states that had been joined to create the Union
C) the spread of Communism throughout Eastern Europe
D) the disappearance of perestroika and glasnost

Question 54

Since Mao Zedong's death, China's leaders have:

A) outlawed students from gaining degrees in the United States
B) abolished the commune system
C) relied on Communist party cadres to instill egalitarian ideals
D) endorsed and attained political reforms

Question 55

Give an example from the text of how multinational corporations that exploit the natural resources of a developing society have maximized their profits but not enhanced the local economy in the long term.

Question 56

If the world economy becomes completely integrated, will the nations of the world become similar in terms of cultural values, ideals, and mores? Will there be a world culture and world government?