Deck 24: Political Life: Social Order and Disorder

Question 1

Complementary opposition is typical of which kind of group?

A) secret societies
B) age-sets
C) clans
D) segmentary lineages

Answer 1

segmentary lineages

Question 2

Of the following, which is not a power of the state?

A) tax collection
B) drafting men for the military
C) establishing marriage patterns
D) decree and enforce laws

Answer 2

establishing marriage patterns

Question 3

In contrast to tribes, chiefdoms have all of the following except

A) generally denser populations.
B) some formal multi-community authority structure.
C) more nomadic communities.
D) greater economic production.

Answer 3

more nomadic communities.

Question 4

When no regular, effective means of resolving a conflict are available

A) violence is commonly used to settle a dispute.
B) ordeals are arranged for the opposing parties.
C) wars are the common result.
D) men must pick sides and battle until the dispute is resolved.

Question 5

The Nupe king of what is now __________ had ultimate authority over his people by __________ them.

A) Nigeria / adjudicating
B) Ghana / adjudicating
C) Nigeria / taxing
D) Ghana / taxing

Question 6

In discussing political groups, anthropologists generally focus on groups organized on the basis of

A) age.
B) kinship.
C) territory.
D) sex.

Question 7

Of the following, which is a characteristic trait necessary to be the big man of Kumdi?Engamoi of New Guinea?

A) good looking
B) good writer
C) good speaker
D) the father of a several sons

Question 8

Which of the following is not considered a classification of political organization?

A) bands
B) tribes
C) clans
D) states

Question 9

Political life includes all of the following except

A) party politics.
B) the various branches of government.
C) the issuing of parking tickets.
D) the resolution of disputes.

Question 10

Which of the following is not generally characteristic of leaders in a chiefdom?

A) inheritance of the chiefly position
B) high status
C) leader gains position because of personal qualities
D) chiefly position is held permanently

Question 11

__________ are used where political officials lack sufficient power to make and enforce judicial decisions.

A) Resolutions
B) Oaths
C) Courts
D) Conflicts

Question 12

The Karimojong of northeast Uganda use what type of system as the basis of their political organization?

A) age-set
B) ethnic association
C) regional association
D) unisex organization

Question 13

A(n) __________ is a means used to determine guilt or innocence by submitting the accused to dangerous or painful tests believed to be under supernatural control.

A) ritual
B) gauntlet
C) resolution
D) ordeal

Question 14

A __________ is politically autonomous and is comprised of the local group or community.

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

Question 15

Which of the following is not generally an important role of chiefs?

A) coordinating labor
B) collecting taxes
C) supervising religious ceremonies
D) redistributing goods

Question 16

What is the mode of subsistence for chiefdoms?

A) horticulture
B) shifting agriculture
C) food collecting
D) intensive agriculture

Question 17

A society composed of a number of politically autonomous, small and unusually nomadic groups is classified as a

A) band society.
B) tribal society.
C) state society.
D) chiefdom society.

Question 18

Societies with tribal political organization are similar to band societies in their tendency to be

A) caste-based.
B) egalitarian.
C) ranked.
D) open caste-based.

Question 19

What distinguishes tribal from band political organization is

A) the presence of some multilocal, but not usually society-wide, integration.
B) permanent multi-local integration.
C) formal multi-local integration.
D) smaller local groups.

Question 20

Among the Tiv of northern Nigeria, political organization is based on

A) lineage organization.
B) agricultural organization.
C) religious organization.
D) wealth.

Question 21

States, in anthropology, have a centralized government with power including

A) the concept of legitimate force.
B) the ability to collect taxes.
C) draft men for war.
D) all of the above.

Question 22

In band organization it is typically small and the territory it occupies is

A) large, so the population density is low.
B) large, so the population density is high.
C) small, so the population density is low.
D) small, so the population density is high.

Question 23

Although we often refer to a tribe as encompassing an entire society, in actuality

A) it really refers to small family groups.
B) the tribal type of political system does not usually permit the entire society to act as a unit.
C) it varies from society to society.
D) anthropologists are not sure how to define it.

Question 24

Cross-cultural research shows that the higher the level of political organization, the

A) more egalitarian the society.
B) more class distinctions are present in the society.
C) less dense the population.
D) greater the dependence on collected foods.

Question 25

Why is it that small-scale societies and democratic nation-states have high levels of political participation while feudal states and pre-industrial empires do not?

Question 26

State-level societies generally get most of their food from

A) pastoral activities.
B) food collecting.
C) plundering of conquered territories.
D) intensive agriculture.

Question 27

A set of explicit, usually written rules stipulating what is permissible and what is not, is called

A) an oath.
B) codified laws.
C) an ordeal.
D) a ritual.

Question 28

There has been a great deal of growth in the cities in the past 100 years, not because of the birthrate, but because of

A) roads being built in the cities.
B) the taller buildings using less land space.
C) migration from rural areas.
D) airports being built outside the cities.

Question 29

Oaths and ordeals are most likely in

A) complex societies with strong centralized authority.
B) smaller and simpler societies with little formal legal authority.
C) theocratic societies.
D) complex societies where political leaders lack the power to enforce judicial decisions.

Question 30

Warfare in preindustrial societies is most likely

A) in societies suffering from chronic food shortages.
B) in societies smaller than 21,000 people.
C) between nations that are militarily more unequal.
D) where people fear unpredictable natural disasters.

Question 31

What factors have led to the almost complete conversion of the world to the state system in such a short time?

Question 32

A high degree of political participation in society has important consequences because

A) everyone is kept busy and revolutions won't occur.
B) democratically governed states rarely go to war with each other.
C) these societies tend to go to war a lot.
D) none of the above.

Question 33

A chiefdom has formal structure and thus it

A) has very little authority.
B) usually has no one in charge.
C) integrates more than one community into a political unit.
D) all of the above.

Question 34

Conflicts within a society can be resolved by

A) avoidance.
B) community action.
C) mediation.
D) all of the above.

Question 35

Which of the following was not characteristic of the Nupe state?

A) rigid stratification
B) the use of taxation
C) minor disputes were handled by local village councils
D) commoners shared in political authority

Question 36

In societies where the leaders are chosen, we need more research to understand why some kinds of people are chosen over others. Why would this be helpful?

A) because we see differences in the personal qualities of leaders in different societies
B) because we can't see many differences as yet
C) because it had never been researched before
D) because leaders tend to be shorter and younger and it would be good to know why

Question 37

Anthropologist Elman Service suggested that most societies can be classified into four types of political organization which

A) can be seen to be confusing.
B) have no shared characteristics.
C) try to create and maintain social order.
D) do not take into account size of the population.

Question 38

States generally have all of the following except

A) monopoly on the use of physical force to coerce people.
B) complex, centralized political structure.
C) egalitarian distribution of wealth.
D) large bureaucracy.

Question 39

There has been a great deal of research cross-culturally regarding society and political organization. One main concept is

A) the less the importance of agriculture in a society, the larger the population that is unified.
B) political unification can only occur in very small societies.
C) the greater the importance of agriculture in a society, the larger the population that is politically unified.
D) political unification has never been found to be viable.

Question 40

Which form of distribution do anthropologists link to chiefdoms?

A) balanced reciprocity
B) generalized reciprocity
C) commercial exchange
D) redistribution
E) negative reciprocity

Question 41

What are the major differences between raiding and warfare?

Question 42

Why is it that foragers use the avoidance technique to resolve hostilities?

Question 43

What is the relationship between the use of capital punishment by a society and the homicide rate? Can you suggest a reason?

Question 44

What is the function of ceremonial apologies? How is it applied by the Fijians?

Question 45

What types of societies have capital punishment? Why?

Question 46

How do the village courts of Papua New Guinea reflect the merger of values of the former colonial government and earlier New Guinean legal practices?

Question 47

How is the practice of "scalding" related to the concept of ordeal? Why do some societies practice ordeals in their legal-justice system, while others do not?