Deck 11: The Global Economy

Question 1

What do anthropologists call a cultural adaptation to the environment that enables groups to use available resources to satisfy their needs and thrive?

A) an economy
B) capitalism
C) environmental anthropology
D) civilization

Answer 1

an economy

Question 2

In the United States, what form of economic system is taxation?

A) redistribution
B) balanced reciprocity
C) negative reciprocity
D) market exchange

Answer 2

redistribution

Question 3

Today fewer than 250,000 people make their primary living from food foraging. Where do the remaining food foragers often live?

A) in environments (cold places, forests, islands) where other strategies for food production are not sustainable
B) in remote regions where inhabitants have never had any contact with other societies or civilizations
C) in very poor countries where agriculture is too expensive
D) on plantations where they work for wealthy landlords

Answer 3

in environments (cold places, forests, islands) where other strategies for food production are not sustainable

Question 4

What is the primary difference, from an anthropological perspective, between balanced reciprocity and generalized reciprocity?

A) In generalized reciprocity, the value of what is exchanged is not carefully calculated.
B) Balanced reciprocity occurs only between immediate family members.
C) Generalized reciprocity is a political act.
D) Balanced reciprocity serves to keep families together.

Question 5

Did you get a tax refund last year? If you did, you have experienced redistribution. What would an anthropologist consider this to be?

A) carrying capacity
B) balanced reciprocity
C) a leveling mechanism
D) market exchange

Question 6

When Robin Hood and his band of merry men steal from the rich to give to the poor, giving to the poor is an example of:

A) barter.
B) balanced reciprocity.
C) redistribution.
D) negative reciprocity.

Question 7

The process of "closing a deal" in business often has both parties trying to get the best deal they can. What kind of reciprocity would an anthropologist call this?

A) balanced
B) forced
C) negative
D) generalized

Question 8

Both horticulture and agriculture use plants as a source of food. What is the key difference between them?

A) the use of seeds to start the crops
B) the use of different types of plants
C) the level of intensity needed in the process
D) neither includes any other source of foodstuffs

Question 9

Which primary adaptive strategy includes hunting, fishing, and gathering plants for food?

A) pastoralism
B) primitive agriculture
C) early industrial societies
D) foraging

Question 10

As a child, you may have received a small allowance-a bit of money on a somewhat regular occasion that you could use as you wished. This typically comes from a parent who also works at a regular job to support the family? What would an anthropologist call this?

A) generalized reciprocity
B) redistribution
C) balanced reciprocity
D) gifting

Question 11

Reciprocity-the exchange of goods and services among those of relatively equal status-provides a means to share resources. What other significant function does it serve?

A) It helps maintain social status.
B) It provides for the poor.
C) It counteracts the dangers of large-scale industrial agriculture.
D) It helps build social ties.

Question 12

The problems with industrialized agriculture are discussed in the book and include dangerous chemicals, weather susceptibility, large amounts of energy, and health risks. Taken all together, what might we note about the sorts of global problems that industrialized agriculture helps create?

A) It leads to dramatic increases in poverty worldwide.
B) It is significantly reducing the pollution caused by pre-industrialized agriculture.
C) The problems inherent in industrialized agriculture are increasing the human ecological footprint.
D) The growth of industrial agriculture has created a severe shortage of capital around the world.

Question 13

Which is the primary adaptive strategy that includes hunting, fishing, and gathering plants for food?

A) pastoralism
B) horticulture
C) agriculture
D) foraging

Question 14

Intensive industrialized agriculture is characterized by:

A) egalitarian social relations.
B) social stratification.
C) a very low carrying capacity.
D) slash-and-burn agriculture.

Question 15

How does industrial agriculture compare to simpler subsistence strategies such as hunter-gatherers, pastoralism, horticulture, and low-intensity agriculture?

A) Simpler subsistence strategies are locally limited.
B) Simpler subsistence strategies are cheaper to maintain.
C) Simpler subsistence strategies are more readily subject to environmental changes.
D) Industrial agriculture has a lower carrying capacity because it requires less energy.

Question 16

What are the three adaptive strategies for food production in nonindustrial societies identified by Yehudi Cohen?

A) pastoralism, horticulture, and agriculture
B) foraging, pastoralism, and horticulture
C) pastoralism, agriculture, and industrialism
D) foraging, agriculture, and industrialism

Question 17

Seven million Côte d'Ivoirians earn their living in the cocoa and coffee farming industry. How much of the profits reaped from this industry go to the farmers themselves?

A) Farmers in Côte d'Ivoire receive a significant part of the profits.
B) Farmers in Côte d'Ivoire are included in a profit-sharing plan with Archer Daniels Midland.
C) Farmers in Côte d'Ivoire receive only a tiny fraction of the profits.
D) Farmers in Côte d'Ivoire receive nearly all of the profits.

Question 18

According to the text, what is the country of Côte d'Ivoire best known for?

A) extensive tropical forests
B) banana exports
C) political corruption
D) cocoa exports

Question 19

Which of the following has the greatest carrying capacity?

A) small, local farms
B) groups of food foragers
C) industrial agriculture
D) pastoralists

Question 20

Agriculture is an intensive farming strategy involving permanent cultivation of the land. What is an important characteristic of this process?

A) Agriculture rarely produces a surplus that can be sold.
B) Agriculture uses labor and technology such as irrigation systems and plows.
C) Agriculture is an environmentally low-impact practice.
D) Agriculture uses a slash-and-burn method to clear land.

Question 21

Critics of modernization suggest that underdevelopment is the result of neo-colonialism, and that poor countries today remain underdeveloped because the global economic system is structured to extract and transfer what to developed nations?

A) culture
B) people
C) resources
D) energy

Question 22

Henry Ford is known for refining the assembly line and the Model T. He also adopted an attitude that came to be known as Fordism. What was a central tenet in his system?

A) Workers should earn higher wages and work shorter hours, creating a new pool of consumers with the income and leisure to purchase a car.
B) Workers should earn lower wages and work shorter hours, since they were easily replaced on the assembly line.
C) Workers should be drawn from a pool of immigrant labor, which was cheaper and willing to tolerate the grueling work of an assembly line.
D) Workers could easily tolerate working on an assembly line, so they should be paid lower wages and work longer hours.

Question 23

What major event set the stage for the success of national independence movements?

A) the Haitian revolution
B) World War I
C) the Battle of Algiers
D) World War II

Question 24

The European desire to participate in the world economy of the 1500s led to a frenzied effort among European nations to procure what commodity?

A) silk
B) spices
C) gold and silver
D) slaves

Question 25

Wallerstein's world systems theory divides the nations of the world into:

A) urban centers and geographically isolated areas.
B) core, periphery, and semi-periphery.
C) developed and underdeveloped.
D) modern and traditional regions.

Question 26

What is one caveat of world systems theory?

A) There is not always geographical isolation between core and peripheral areas.
B) Globalization creates geographical isolation between core and periphery.
C) Both core and peripheral nations are developing more rapidly.
D) Semiperipheral nations are major contributors to continued poverty.

Question 27

The Triangle Trade that emerged in the 1500s resulted in an unprecedented level of economic, social, and military activity between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. The expansion of sugar cane plantations in South America and the Caribbean proved unsustainable due to a shortage of what essential commodity?

A) water
B) sugar
C) ships
D) labor

Question 28

Why is Haiti considered a significant former colony?

A) It was the first nation to gain independence from a colonial power.
B) It was the first independent former colony to be ruled by people of African descent.
C) It was an example of a highly profitable colony.
D) Widespread migration from Haiti to Britain occurred after independence.

Question 29

The European Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries relied on colonies for:

A) raw materials, cheap labor, and markets in the colonial territories.
B) cheap immigrant labor to work in European factories.
C) cheaply produced goods manufactured in the colonies.
D) competition to drive innovation.

Question 30

Last week, your roommate washed your dirty mug along with his dishes. Yesterday, he left you exactly one dirty glass of his to wash along with a mildly passive-aggressive note explaining why this was fair. This is an example of:

A) barter.
B) balanced reciprocity.
C) generalized reciprocity.
D) negative reciprocity.

Question 31

Your office has performed the traditional "Secret Santa" exchange for many years. In this event, every office mate brings a gift worth no more than $20 dollars to be anonymously given at the annual holiday party. This an example of:

A) redistribution.
B) balanced reciprocity.
C) generalized reciprocity.
D) negative reciprocity.

Question 32

Market exchange is characterized by:

A) the barter of goods and services at a market.
B) the use of an exchange medium such as US dollars.
C) the exchange of goods and services for other goods or services.
D) the exchange of goods, resources, or services to create a social relationship.

Question 33

Development is frequently considered to be a way to spur economic growth and a path toward what?

A) balanced trade
B) environmental sustainability
C) alleviating poverty and raising living standards
D) financial stability in the global economy

Question 34

The "Triangle Trade" that emerged in the 1500s resulted in the exchange of goods, people, wealth, food, disease and ideas between

A) Europe, the Americas, Asia
B) the Americas, Africa, Asia
C) Africa, Europe, the Americas
D) Europe, Africa, Asia

Question 35

In the late 1400s, China was the world leader in the production and export of goods such as silk, porcelain, tea, fruit, drugs, cotton, weapons, etc., which Europeans desired; however, Europe produced few products of interest to the Chinese. Why did this encourage the European exploration of the Americas?

A) There was a currency surplus in Europe, with vast reserves held by the ruling elite.
B) It created a trade deficit, with Chinese imports vastly exceeding European exports, that caused European nations to seek sources of precious metals.
C) The Europeans hoped the Indians would extend them new lines of credit.
D) It fostered a labor shortage, leading to a strong demand for slave labor.

Question 36

The concept of flexible accumulation describes an overall strategy of multinational corporations to increase profitability. What is one of the keys to the success of this strategy?

A) offshoring
B) local transportation systems
C) a high-cost labor force
D) increasingly expensive manufacturing techniques

Question 37

Your parents have never charged you for groceries and labor for all the meals you consumed at home at their expense. This is an example of:

A) barter.
B) generalized reciprocity.
C) redistribution.
D) negative reciprocity.

Question 38

The pickpocket who stole your phone during your vacation engaged in an act of:

A) barter.
B) generalized reciprocity.
C) redistribution.
D) negative reciprocity.

Question 39

In its critique of modernization, modern world systems analysis argues that the source of raw materials today is ________ nations, the same as it was during the height of colonial expansion.

A) core
B) developed
C) periphery
D) impoverished

Question 40

According to the author, what conditions led to the emergence of dependency theory?

A) African scholars argued that industrialized countries were using the land and rain in East Africa to grow crops for export.
B) Anthropologists observed that inadequate natural resources made former colonies across the globe dependent on help from industrialized nations.
C) Latin American scholars observed that the global economy was structured to extract resources from less developed nations and transfer them to industrialized nations.
D) European scholars argued that flows of migrants from the global north to the global south made Europe dependent on immigrants as a labor source.

Question 41

A man from rural El Salvador came to the U.S. in search of work in the construction industry. He is an example of a:

A) refugee.
B) professional immigrant.
C) labor immigrant.
D) entrepreneurial immigrant.

Question 42

Periphery countries serve primarily as sources of:

A) colonialism.
B) cheap labor and raw materials.
C) industrialization.
D) redistribution.

Question 43

You decide to move to Tokyo, Japan because you were offered the opportunity to make a fantastic salary as an English teacher. This opportunity is an example of a:

A) push.
B) bridge.
C) pull.
D) barrier.

Question 44

Industrialized agriculture is noted in the text as having yielded dramatic increases in the overall food supply of the planet. Yet, in 2015 nearly 3 million children died of malnutrition. What is the primary reason for this discrepancy?

A) Food surpluses often go to wealthy industrialized nations.
B) The types of food produced are not what people in poor regions will consume.
C) Poor people live in very remote regions with no transportation systems to receive food.
D) Poverty and starvation are exclusively caused by political strife and war.

Question 45

The text suggests that "ecological overshoot" is a likely consequence of our current global economy. What exactly does this mean?

A) We have damaged the environment beyond its ability to repair itself.
B) We have exceeded the ability of the planet to provide for our needs.
C) Development planners have not properly accounted for the ecological costs of growth.
D) The free market must pull back from the environmental practices that destroy the planet.

Question 46

According to anthropologists of finance, what is the driving force behind the global expansion of capitalism in the twenty-first century?

A) industrial manufacture
B) labor migration
C) mining
D) the circulation of capital

Question 47

Your dream is to live in Paris. Unfortunately, you do not speak French or have a work visa, so you can only stay 90 days or until you run out of money, whichever comes first. Your language and immigration status are examples of

A) pushes.
B) bridges.
C) pulls.
D) barriers.

Question 48

The position that the free market and free trade rather than the state are the main mechanisms for ensuring economic growth is associated with which theorist?

A) John Keynes
B) Adam Smith
C) Karl Marx
D) Henry Ford

Question 49

Are structural adjustment loans as provided by organizations such as the World Bank consistent with the goals of neoliberalism?

A) No, because organizations such as the World Bank are not promoting free trade.
B) No, because organizations such as the World Bank are actually making poverty worse.
C) Yes, because organizations such as the World Bank are nongovernmental organizations.
D) Yes, because organizations such as the World Bank are government-controlled organizations.

Question 50

Bangladesh's coastal flood plain has been repeatedly inundated with monsoons, flooding, and devastating erosion. How does the nation of Bangladesh illustrate the problems of development and how it relates to environmental challenges?

A) Governments alone cannot change the pattern of environmental destruction.
B) Past programs designed to help poor nations have been failures.
C) Poorer nations suffer the consequences of climate change in ways that developed nations do not.
D) Poor nations are not well equipped to manage economic growth.

Question 51

Neoliberalism is associated with:

A) supporting fair trade to return profits to producers.
B) increased financial regulation to protect consumers from predatory lenders.
C) selling public services like water and public transportation to for-profit companies.
D) increased spending on health and education.

Question 52

How does the author describe the Chinese immigrants who enter the United States through New York as restaurant workers?

A) They have typically learned English before arriving in the United States, so they do not need English classes.
B) They tend to come from larger cities such as Beijing and have experience working in restaurants.
C) They save up for years before making the journey so that they have no debts on arrival.
D) They frequently suffer physical and emotional stress as underpaid employees working long hours.

Question 53

The surviving members of a family were forced to leave their home country when their city was bombed. They were left homeless and were afraid of being killed. This is an example of a:

A) push.
B) bridge.
C) pull.
D) barrier.

Question 54

Currently, the world is consuming natural resources at double the rate required to maintain sustainable levels. What problem does this illustrate about the sustainability of the current global economy?

A) The global population is not evenly distributed.
B) The human ecological footprint is too large.
C) Capitalism must be perfected.
D) Technology is not advancing quick enough.

Question 55

The small town of Togotala, Mali, cannot produce enough food for its population through agriculture due to its harsh climate that brings regular drought and three months of torrential downfall that causes soil erosion. What is true of this town?

A) Merchants send remittances to support their families and community.
B) Togatala does not receive any benefits of a global economy.
C) It lacks a primary school, running water, and health care.
D) It is dependent on development assistant from the Malian government.

Question 56

What argument did Keynes advance about how capitalism works best?

A) Government must reign in the excesses of capitalism and ensure the basic welfare of all citizens.
B) Government must be able to control the free market completely.
C) Free markets must be able to implement the legal structures needed to succeed.
D) All citizens must be able to decide what the free market can and cannot do.

Question 57

Which of these are requirements faced by governments receiving structural adjustment loans under neoliberal economic policies?

A) maintain price supports on essential commodities
B) increase spending on health and educational services
C) implement regulations on banks and financial institutions
D) privatize state-owned enterprises

Question 58

What aspects of Adam Smith's perspective on economic growth do today's neoliberal privatization programs build on?

A) Smith's belief in increased governmental control of the market is in opposition to privatization.
B) Smith argued for unfettered competition in the market and called for government assistance to ensure this result.
C) Smith's belief in laissez-faire-"leave it alone"-economics calls for a free market.
D) Smith supported the idea of colonialism and felt that governments were best suited to implement privatization.

Question 59

How does the Tsukiji fish market demonstrate the nature of a global commodity chain?

A) One can trace the hands through which fish pass in a network that connects previously unconnected people and locations.
B) Merchants in Tokyo opted to sell only local produce to make the market more sustainable.
C) The market has become the largest tourism attraction in Tokyo.
D) It is an example of the low-impact consumption of local resources.

Question 60

Which of the following is a success the global economy has achieved in the past sixty years?

A) Near universal literacy across the globe.
B) Infant mortality rates have dropped by more than 60 percent.
C) A reduction in poverty has meant fewer than one million people across the globe go hungry each day.
D) Life expectancy in the past century has risen by 50 percent to 78 years.

Question 61

Contrast the perspectives of modernization and dependency theories. First, define modernization theory and explain two objectives of economic development projects. Then discuss the criticisms of this approach that have emerged in Latin America. Why did Latin American theorists argue that Latin American nations could not be competitive in the global economic system? What did they suggest that underdeveloped nations should do?

Question 62

What does the author mean by "pushes and pulls"? Give two examples each of potential pushes and pulls.

Question 63

How did European colonialism impact the development of the global economic system? Why was Columbus's voyage to the New World tied to the trade network occurring in the Old World? Explain how the discovery of gold and silver in the New World and colonization facilitated Europe's participation in the Old World trade network.

Question 64

What distinguishes Wallerstein's notions of core, peripheral, and semiperipheral nations? Define each, and explain how they correlate to the concepts of colonial and postcolonial nations. After explaining the role of each in production or exchange networks, explain-using the example of Appalachia from the text-how a peripheral area can exist within a core. Provide a second example of how a core can exist within a periphery. How does the author account for this phenomenon?

Question 65

Are the core and periphery geographically isolated from one another? Give an example of how a peripheral area can exist within a core nation and a second example of how a core area can exist within a periphery nation. How does the author account for this phenomenon?

Question 66

Describe the "foraging" adaptive strategy (i.e. the means of obtaining resources, settlement patterns, and division of labor.) When did humans first use this adaptive strategy? How many humans rely on it today? Where are the primary locations where it is practiced today?

Question 67

In the past several decades, many companies have made effective use of flexible accumulation-the strategy used by transnational corporations to maximize profits. What is one of the reasons that a company like Walmart has grown in both size and profit?

A) It has established itself as a fair employer around the world.
B) It has avoided offshoring until just recently.
C) It has more than 7,000 factories overseas that manufacture products for the company.
D) It has built stores in every nation on the planet.

Question 68

Describe the Old World long-distance trade routes that were precursors to the contemporary global economy. Provide two examples of the commodities exchanged by Arab and Chinese traders. How did these products move from Asia to Europe?

Question 69

Define the term commodity chain. Describe the links in a global commodity chain that originates in Côte d'Ivoire. Give at least 3 examples of how the recent history of this former colony illustrates the complex dynamics of the global economy.

Question 70

What is agricultural production? Where and when was it first seen in the archaeological record? What technologies does this subsistence strategy use? Name three social, political, and demographic features of agricultural societies that are not found in horticultural, pastoral, or foraging lifestyles.

Question 71

Where and when did the Triangle Trade network occur? What were the principal commodities traded in this exchange network. Describe how commodities and people were circulated through this trade network and some of the consequences for the societies involved in the trade.

Question 72

What does the author mean by "bridges and barriers"? Give two examples each of potential bridges and barriers.

Question 73

When did the majority of anticolonial and independence movements occur? Why did they occur then? In your answer, identify three strategies commonly used to gain national independence and explain how external forces often contributed to the quest for independence.