Deck 8: Economics: Working, Sharing, Buying

Question 1

According to anthropologists, what social institution is the structured patterns and relationships through which people exchange goods and services?

A) Political systems
B) Holistic systems
C) Kinship systems
D) Economic systems

Answer 1

D

Question 2

What area of anthropology studies the decisions people make about earning a living, what types of work people choose to do, and the creation of value?

A) Political anthropologists
B) Economic anthropologists
C) Biolinguistic anthropologists
D) Deterministic anthropologists

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which type of money is created and guaranteed by a government, such as the American dollar bill?

A) Fiat money
B) Commodity money
C) General purpose money
D) Sphere money

Answer 3

A

Question 4

What does neoclassical economic theory argue?

A) Conflicting interests of two classes are one of the outcomes of capitalism.
B) Symbols and morals are important in the understanding of a society's economy.
C) The daily transactions people actually engage in to get what they need or desire are the "substance" of the economy.
D) People make decisions to allocate resources such as time, labor, and money in order to maximize their personal satisfaction.

Question 5

People make decisions to allocate resources such as time, labor, and money in order to maximize their personal satisfaction.

A) Value
B) Money
C) Currency
D) Market

Question 6

Value is

A) the relative worth of an object.
B) the process of taking possession of an object.
C) the act of using and assigning meaning to a good, service, or relationship.
D) a mass-produced and impersonal good with no meaning or history.

Question 7

According to Marshall Sahlins, when production is organized by families it is

A) the domestic mode of production.
B) capitalism.
C) neoclassical economics.
D) less valued.

Question 8

Consumption is

A) the process of taking possession of an object.
B) the relative worth of an object or service.
C) a mass-produced and impersonal good with no meaning or history.
D) the act of using and assigning meaning to a good, service, or relationship.

Question 9

In Malaysia capitalist entrepreneurship is

A) about economic action.
B) about profit accumulation.
C) usually successful.
D) respectful of Islamic and Malay obligations and values.

Question 10

For anthropologists, owning something is not simply a matter of individual possession or occupation of an object or piece of land, but a matter of interactions between people.

Question 11

Although Russians do use money to buy things, they also rely on bartering when money is scarce.

Question 12

People who live through objects and images not of their own making are consumers.

Question 13

For the better part of the twentieth century, capitalism and socialism/communism existed as complementary forms of economic organization, a positive partnership that dominated global politics during the Cold War.

Question 14

Reciprocity

A) is giving something without the expectation of return, at least not in the near term.
B) is the give-and-take that builds and confirms relationships.
C) occurs when a person gives something, expecting the receiver to return an equivalent gift or favor at some point in the future.
D) is the attempt to get something for nothing, to haggle one's way into a favorable personal outcome.

Question 15

An example of general reciprocity is

A) the Kula.
B) when a parent gives a child a gift.
C) bartering at the market.
D) giving a birthday present.

Question 16

An example of negative reciprocity is

A) the Kula.
B) when a parent gives a child a gift.
C) bartering at the market.
D) giving a birthday present.

Question 17

An example of balanced reciprocity is

A) the Kula.
B) when a parent gives a child a gift.
C) bartering at the market.
D) giving a birthday present.

Question 18

Obligation is a key element of

A) market capitalism.
B) consumption.
C) balanced reciprocity.
D) gift giving.

Question 19

The main reason men of the Malaysian Langkawi fishing community hand over their money to women is that

A) women are better at saving money than men.
B) women are the political leaders.
C) men do not value money.
D) women decontaminate money by using it to sustain the household.

Question 20

Which of the following is not true of economic anthropology?

A) It is skeptical of the idea that there is a universal value for anything.
B) It challenges the notion that economic transactions are the same everywhere.
C) It assumes that free market capitalism will take over the world
D) It encompasses multiple theoretical approaches to explain how economies work.

Question 21

Malinowski's analysis of the Kula cycle is important because it helps explain how Trobriand men get social status.

Question 22

A substantivist perspective on the economic life of a college fraternity would likely focus on the

A) spending the fraternity does on parties.
B) informal exchange of favors and goods among members.
C) exploitation of pledges' labor by full-fledged members.
D) prestige that accrues to members who give a lot of goods and services to other members.

Question 23

A substantivist would be most likely to explain the Kula cycle as

A) an elaborate exercise with little useful benefits to the society.
B) closely tied to important social institutions, such as kin networks, trading ties, and political structure.
C) an opportunity for individuals with keen negotiating skills to get a lot of goods.
D) a way of gaining personal prestige.

Question 24

If you wanted to study how Mayans get what they need to survive today, which theoretical approach would be most valuable? Why?

Question 25

Is cultural economics applicable to a study of an industrial factory? Explain and illustrate your answer.

Question 26

If you had a goal of understanding the economic life of a typical American suburban family, which theoretical approach(es) from economic anthropology would you find most valuable? Explain your answer.

Question 27

Compare and contrast how two theories-formalism and substantivism-would explain how and why people consume prestige goods, like Ferrari automobiles and Gucci bags.

Question 28

How do culture and social relations shape the meaning of money?

Question 29

Are there distinct cultures of capitalism?

Question 30

How are reciprocity and gift-giving related to the economy?

Question 31

How are economic transactions, consumption, and exchanges related to social and individual identities?