Deck 3: Preindustrial Societies: Hunter-Gatherers and Horticulturalists

Question 1

The division of labor in hunter-gatherer societies is based principally on:

A) occupational specialization
B) religious and political specialization
C) age and sex specialization
D) class specialization

Answer 1

age and sex specialization

Question 2

Marshall Sahlins has characterized hunter-gatherers as the "original affluent society." Sanderson and Alderson believes that Sahlins's characterization is:

A) basically correct
B) largely incorrect
C) a highly speculative idea with no real evidence either for or against it
D) probably correct, but of little significance nonetheless

Answer 2

basically correct

Question 3

Most of what we know about the standard of living and work patterns of hunter- gatherers is based on studies of contemporary groups. Sanderson and Alderson suggest that this fact:

A) invalidates Sahlins's "original affluent society" thesis
B) means that Sahlins's thesis has no applicability to prehistoric hunter-gatherers
C) enhances the plausibility of Sahlins's thesis because most prehistoric hunter- gatherers would have existed in much more favorable environments than recent hunter-gatherers
D) none of these

Answer 3

enhances the plausibility of Sahlins's thesis because most prehistoric hunter- gatherers would have existed in much more favorable environments than recent hunter-gatherers

Question 4

The adoption of agriculture occurred first in:

A) Southwest Asia
B) Europe
C) Africa
D) Central America

Question 5

The archaeological record indicates that societies resting upon hunting and gathering were the only form of society until about years ago:

A) 35,000
B) 3,000
C) 110,000
D) 10,000

Question 6

According to Sanderson and Alderson, hunter-gatherers usually:

A) must work much harder than the members of all other types of societies
B) work less and enjoy more leisure time than the members of other types of societies
C) work about the same amount as the members of other societies
D) work slightly harder than the members of other societies

Question 7

Prevailing achaeological opinion regarding the Neolithic Revolution holds that it:

A) developed first in the Old World and spread from there to the New World
B) developed first in the New World and spread from there to the Old World
C) originated in Europe and spread from there to Asia and the New World
D) occurred independently in both the Old and New Worlds

Question 8

Simple hunter-gatherers do not ; complex hunter-gatherers do :

A) use bows and arrows
B) fish
C) use nets in hunting
D) store food

Question 9

The !Kung San studied by Richard Lee utilize which of the following types of subsistence technology?

A) hunting and gathering
B) simple horticulture
C) intensive horticulture
D) pastoralism

Question 10

Studies of contemporary hunter-gatherers generally show that:

A) they readily abandon foraging in favor of agriculture when agricultural techniques become known to them
B) they have great difficulty learning the essentials of agricultural production
C) they know the essentials of agricultural methods but generally strongly resist using these methods
D) none of the above

Question 11

Robert Kelly's study of the workload of hunter-gatherer societies around the world indicates that:

A) Marshall Sahlins's claim that hunter-gatherers constitute the "original affluent society" is false
B) hunter-gatherers generally work much more than members of modern industrial societies
C) only members of elite groups in such societies enjoy the affluence that Sahlins describes
D) hunter-gatherers spend on average about 3.8 hours a day on foraging activities

Question 12

Intensive horticulturalists typically produce:

A) a larger economic surplus than simple horticulturalists
B) an economic surplus roughly equivalent to that produced by simple horticulturalists
C) no economic surplus
D) an economic surplus roughly equivalent to that produced by peasants in agrarian societies

Question 13

Sanderson and Alderson argue that recent empirical studies designed to test Sahlins's "original affluent society" thesis:

A) cast serious doubt on it
B) perhaps qualify it, but do not overturn it
C) prove that prehistoric hunter-gatherers lived in a kind of society that can be described as a true paradise
D) are methodologically sound, but theoretically flawed

Question 14

The production of an economic surplus by hunter-gatherers occurs:

A) frequently, but the lack of appropriate preservation technology means that much of the surplus spoils
B) rarely, because the natural environment is incapable of allowing it to be generated
C) frequently, as is obvious from the existence of large storehouses commonly found in hunter-gatherer villages
D) rarely, because of a lack of any real need for it

Question 15

Humans have subsisted entirely by hunting and gathering for percent of their history:

A) 99
B) 50
C) 25
D) 15

Question 16

Carol Ember's study of 181 contemporary hunter-gatherer societies indicates that:

A) gathering is about as important a subsistence activity as hunting and fishing combined
B) while hunting is more prestigious, gathering contributes the bulk of the calories in most hunter-gatherer societies
C) hunting including fishing) is the dominant subsistence activity in most cases
D) when the care of domesticated animals is included under the heading of gathering, gathering is the dominant subsistence activity in most hunter-gatherer societies

Question 17

The technological distinction between horticulture and agriculture is based on:

A) the use of plows and animal energy for plowing
B) metal tools
C) metal hoes rather than digging sticks
D) the practice of irrigation

Question 18

Most simple horticulturalists practice a form of cultivation known as:

A) terracing
B) sharecropping
C) pastoralism
D) slash-and-burn

Question 19

Compared to simple horticulturalists, intensive horticultural societies:

A) have higher population densities and shorter fallowing periods for previously cultivated garden land
B) frequently use plows and draft animals
C) always have a more sophisticated set of tools
D) have never been found outside Africa

Question 20

Agriculture was independently adopted in which of the following areas of the New World?

A) Mesoamerica
B) South America
C) North America
D) none of the above
E) all of the above

Question 21

Big-man and other pure redistributive systems, along with systems of balanced and generalized reciprocity, are notable for their:

A) tendency to generate extreme inequalities
B) success as global distribution systems
C) strong reliance upon slave labor
D) lack of any genuinely exploitative features

Question 22

The institution of "bigmanship" associated with many simple horticultural societies functions to:

A) increase economic production and redistribute economic resources
B) exploit the worst-off members of society
C) maintain a system of economic inequality
D) none of these

Question 23

Generalized reciprocity among hunter-gatherers seems to arise from:

A) human nature in the absence of corrupting social influences
B) the fact that it maximizes everyone's interests under conditions of marked resource variation
C) the religious values common to such groups
D) none of these

Question 24

Lineage ownership differs from primitive communism in that:

A) it is a form of private property
B) in the former the ownership and use of valuable resources is restricted by kinship group membership
C) members of a lineage do not have equal access to the forces of production
D) none of the above

Question 25

Marx's notion that the earliest forms of human society were organized around a kind of primitive communism:

A) has clearly been falsified by the findings of modern anthropologists
B) is very close to the mark
C) is an idea that has seldom been considered one way or the other by modern
Social scientists
D) despite its possible accuracy, is an idea with dangerous political overtones

Question 26

In evolutionary perspective stratification generally originates with the development of:

A) intensive horticultural societies
B) agrarian societies
C) industrial societies
D) simple horticultural societies

Question 27

Ancient Hawaii as it existed at the time of first European contact was:

A) stratified, but with definite limitations placed on the power and privilege of dominant groups
B) extremely stratified
C) unstratified, and therefore based only on inequality
D) a rank society

Question 28

Hunter-gatherers:

A) are usually stratified
B) are never stratified
C) have social inequalities but usually lack stratification

Question 29

Situations of family ownership and ownership of personal property among hunter- gatherers:

A) suggest that the idea of "primitive communism" must be significantly revised
B) are unknown to contemporary social scientists
C) suggest that exploitation is found in all societies
D) do not, in practice, constitute genuine private ownership of and control over the forces of production

Question 30

Intensive horticultural societies generally have economies based on:

A) reciprocity
B) surplus expropriation
C) pure redistribution
D) partial redistribution

Question 31

Paramount ownership is most often found in:

A) hunter-gatherer societies
B) simple horticultural societies
C) intensive horticultural societies
D) agrarian societies

Question 32

The quest for high status on the part of aspiring Melanesian big men:

A) enhances economic productivity
B) increases the circulation of goods
C) leads to an increase in the consumption of goods
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 33

According to Michael Harner, the evolution of chiefly redistributive systems out of big-man redistributive systems occurred because of:

A) competition over increasingly scarce land
B) the development of the idea of property rights
C) a shortage of labor
D) chronic warfare

Question 34

Social stratification exists when:

A) a division of labor beyond age and sex distinctions has emerged
B) capitalism and industrialism begin
C) societies evolve to the agrarian level of technology
D) societies display hereditary social groups distinguished by unequal levels of power and privilege

Question 35

A variation on primitive communism in which land is owned and cultivated collectively by kinship groups is known as:

A) lineage ownership
B) paramount ownership
C) familial ownership
D) seigneurial ownership

Question 36

Generalized reciprocity:

A) does not occur in all societies
B) is in evidence when "please" and "thank you" are commonly heard
C) constitutes the very essence of economic life among intensive horticulturalists
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 37

The stratification system is still associated with a strong "redistributive ethic" in societies:

A) simple horticultural
B) intensive horticultural
C) pastoral
D) agrarian
E) industrial

Question 38

What Fried calls a rank society:

A) is one that elaborates sharp status distinctions in the absence of stratification
B) is the first type of stratified society
C) has distinctions of wealth but no status distinctions
D) is mainly characteristic of hunter-gatherers

Question 39

"Bigmanship" is associated most closely with:

A) reciprocity
B) pure distribution
C) partial redistribution
D) surplus expropriation

Question 40

In hunter-gatherer societies where reciprocity is at the center of economic life:

A) sharing and generosity are socially compulsory habits
B) individuals spend much time calculating the results of economic exchanges to make sure they always end up equal
C) selfishness is tolerated only in band leaders
D) selfish behavior never exists because the institutions of society completely prevent it

Question 41

Persons of prestige and influence in hunter-gatherer societies:

A) are typically accorded a number of special privileges not available to others
B) are considered no more than "firsts among equals"
C) typically pass their prestige and influence on to their children
D) typically accumulate large stores of goods

Question 42

Which of the following were intensive horticultural societies?

A) ancient Hawaii
B) the Kpelle of Africa
C) both of these
D) neither of these

Question 43

The type of political organization frequently associated with intensive horticultural societies is known as a:

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

Question 44

The political structure of bands:

A) is built around the headman's role as an economic intensifier
B) grants headmen and their families considerable privilege
C) is a loosely organized pattern of highly informal leadership
D) is built around the sacred authority of the headman

Question 45

Chiefs are distinct from tribal leaders in that they:

A) are expected to be generous and benevolent
B) are related to the common people by kinship
C) play a major role in settling disputes
D) do not have to depend on the voluntary compliance of their followers

Question 46

Agriculture originated in the Middle East some 10,000 years ago and spread from there to China, Southeast Asia, and the New World.

Question 47

The most common explanation for the pervasive sharing so common in hunter-gatherer societies is:

A) it is a strategy of variance reduction under conditions in which there is a lot of resource fluctuation
B) it is "human nature" - the earliest humans had not yet learned anything about selfishness and hoarding
C) it has no known explanation - social scientists are still mystified by it

Question 48

A major difference between tribes and chiefdoms is that:

A) tribes are larger
B) tribes are based on power, chiefdoms on authority
C) tribes lack political centralization
D) chiefdoms are at an earlier stage of political evolution

Question 49

Tribes are notable for their character:

A) despotic
B) segmentary
C) centralized
D) integrated

Question 50

Simple horticultural societies typically exhibit greater inequalities than hunter- gatherers. These are primarily heightened inequalities of:

A) privilege
B) prestige
C) power
D) influence

Question 51

Social conflicts in band and tribal societies:

A) are often based on struggle for control over productive resources
B) are seldom of a highly personalized nature
C) are rarely seen
D) none of these

Question 52

Hunter-gatherers who store food are distinct from those who do not in that:

A) those who store food tend to have stratification
B) those who do not store food tend to exhibit greater gender inequality
C) those who store food tend to exhibit greater inequalities based on age
D) those who do not store food tend to exhibit greater inequalities based on personal characteristics

Question 53

To be certain there will be no food shortages, hunter-gatherers regularly maintain economic surpluses.

Question 54

Which of the following normally makes its first appearance in the evolutionary record in intensive horticultural societies?

A) a group of persons exhibiting distinctive patterns of consumption, dress, and ornamentation
B) economic organization and political leadership carried out through the actions of big men
C) a wealthy and powerful landowning nobility oppressing and exploiting a large peasantry
D) none of these

Question 55

Political leadership in hunter-gatherer societies rests on:

A) headmanship in which each local headman has much power or authority
B) headmanship in which each local headman has little real power or authority
C) headmanship usually accompanied by "headwomanship"
D) chieftainship in which powerful chiefs exercise dominance

Question 56

Bands and tribes:

A) commonly lack formalized legal and political mechanisms for maintaining order and settling disputes
B) frequently threaten to collapse into anarchy and chaos
C) do not have political systems
D) are often characterized by political centralization

Question 57

Carol Ember has shown that gathering is clearly the dominant subsistence activity in hunter-gatherer societies, and on this basis she argues that they should be renamed "gatherer-hunter" societies.

Question 58

Sanderson and Alderson suggest that hunter-gatherer societies are generally egalitarian in the sense that:

A) strong emphasis is placed on overall social equality
B) inequalities of privilege are reduced through redistribution
C) members of the same age cohort are accorded equal prestige and influence
D) a strict equality of result exists

Question 59

The egalitarianism that generally prevails among hunter-gatherers should be seen as:

A) a natural phenomenon that results from the absence of motivations toward status and wealth seeking
B) an adaptive response to temporal and spatial variations in food supply
C) an adaptive response to high levels of population density and the development of an economic surplus
D) must be constantly policed
E) two of these

Question 60

Intensive horticultural societies commonly have three main social strata, which are:

A) chiefs, subchiefs, and commoners
B) "big men," their retainers, and their followers
C) landowners, retainers, and peasants
D) nobles, merchants, and expendables

Question 61

Most slash-and-burn simple horticulturalists maintain relatively short fallow periods i.e., no longer than 10 years) on previously cultivated garden land.

Question 62

When lineages own land in common, the right to the use of land is granted only by the lineage itself as a corporate body.

Question 63

Redistribution differs from reciprocity in that the former is a less formalized process.

Question 64

Hunter-gatherers frequently establish permanent settlements.

Question 65

Simple horticulturalists typically produce more food per unit of land than do hunter- gatherers.

Question 66

The practice of generalized reciprocity should be seen as a special case of the phenomenon known as "enlightened self-interest."

Question 67

Marx's notion that the earliest societies lived according to a kind of primitive communism seems essentially correct.

Question 68

Intensive horticulturalists differ from simple horticulturalists mainly in having a more comprehensive and sophisticated tool kit.

Question 69

Some social scientists have suggested that an important distinction needs to be made between two types of hunter-gatherer societies, those who store food and those
who do not.

Question 70

The transition to the first communities depending for their living upon cultivation began about 10,000 years ago.

Question 71

Although most hunters and gatherers lead a relatively leisured existence, their diets are rarely nutritionally adequate.

Question 72

Cultivators in the New World domesticated essentially the same plants and animals as Old World cultivators.

Question 73

All intensive horticulturalists make use of the hoe.

Question 74

The ownership of property always implies its complete control.

Question 75

Hunter-gatherers seldom display selfishness because they have yet to be exposed to the corrupting influences of private property.

Question 76

Hunter-gatherers only came to understand how to domesticate plants and animals about 10,000-12,000 years ago.

Question 77

As described by Elman Service, Tahitian horticulture is considerably more sophisticated than that practiced by the Yanomama.

Question 78

According to Sanderson and Alderson, paramount ownership rights are to a certain degree fictitious.

Question 79

Hunter-gatherers could benefit greatly from the actions of "big men" if only they were aware of their existence.

Question 80

Balanced reciprocity occurs when individuals are obligated to provide equivalent and often immediate repayment to others.