Deck 6: Stratification Without a State: Medieval Iceland

Question 1

Stratification means:

A) there is a ruling class
B) everyone doesn't have equal access to resources
C) there is a state
D) some people are better than others
E) all of the above

Answer 1

B

Question 2

States:

A) keep order in stratified societies
B) maintain differential access to resources
C) have a ruling class
D) don't happen in non-stratified societies
E) all of the above

Answer 2

E

Question 3

Stratified societies without states are:

A) common in the third world
B) common in prehistory
C) unstable
D) impossible
E) sustainable

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The social order of medieval Iceland collapsed because:

A) the working class could not cooperate
B) the culture was too individualistic
C) the religion was pagan
D) the ruling class refused to have a state
E) to provide subject matter for the sagas

Question 5

The first settler in Iceland failed because:

A) he failed to make hay
B) there wasn't enough game and fish
C) he wasn't a citizen of Iceland
D) he was clinically depressed
E) he was Norwegian

Question 6

At the time Iceland was settled, Norway's economy was much like that of:

A) the Lisu
B) the Shan
C) the Trobriand Islanders
D) the EU
E) the Tsembaga

Question 7

At the time Iceland was settled, Norway's kinship system resembled:

A) the Lisu
B) the Shan
C) the Trobriand Islanders
D) the EU
E) the Tsembaga

Question 8

Harald Finehair established the first state in Norway by:

A) force
B) UN recognition
C) negotiation
D) diplomacy
E) faith

Question 9

The first settlers to Iceland brought with them:

A) slavery
B) the concept of ownership
C) chieftains
D) agriculture
E) all of the above

Question 10

The first settlers to Iceland brought with them:

A) kingship
B) a state
C) stratification
D) democracy
E) the free market

Question 11

For subsistence, early Icelanders relied mostly on:

A) hunting
B) fishing
C) the market
D) grain crops
E) sheep and cattle

Question 12

Initially, most agricultural labor in Iceland was provided by:

A) slaves
B) hired workers
C) family members
D) chieftains
E) exchange labor

Question 13

Initially, the limiting factor in agricultural production in Iceland was:

A) the size of the family
B) the amount of land they owned
C) government programs
D) access to labor
E) how much livestock they had

Question 14

The General Assembly in Iceland was:

A) a democratic parliament
B) a form of government
C) a forum for settling disputes
D) a market place
E) a place controlled by lobbyists

Question 15

When you won a case at the assembly in Iceland:

A) the government sent police to enforce the decision
B) the person you won against would automatically concede the case
C) the decision could be appealed to a higher court
D) public opinion would force the loser to abide by the decision
E) you won the right to try to enforce the decision, if you could

Question 16

The early Icelandic social system rested on:

A) democracy
B) law
C) kinship
D) private force
E) justice

Question 17

Slaves in Iceland usually produced:

A) profit for their owners
B) necessary value
C) surplus value
D) market value
E) all of the above

Question 18

It was cheapest for Icelandic landowners to use:

A) slaves
B) machinery
C) hired labor
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 19

Icelandic landowners freed slaves because:

A) it was the right thing to do
B) it was the fair thing to do
C) they were philanthropists
D) there was no advantage to having them
E) of international pressure

Question 20

When hired labor was available to Icelandic landowners, what was the limiting factor on production?

A) the size of the family
B) the amount of land they owned
C) government programs
D) access to labor
E) how much livestock they had

Question 21

If someone in Iceland tried to take your land, you could keep it if you could:

A) call the police
B) take a case to the General Assembly
C) defend your land by force
D) discuss it with them
E) appeal to public opinion

Question 22

Wage labor produced:

A) profit for their owners
B) necessary value
C) surplus value
D) market value
E) all of the above

Question 23

In 1262 Iceland became:

A) an independent state
B) part of a foreign kingdom
C) a member of the EU
D) its own kingdom
E) a democracy

Question 24

The first Europeans in North America were:

A) Spanish
B) English
C) Icelanders
D) Portuguese
E) none of the above

Question 25

The first people to discover North America were from:

A) Iceland
B) Siberia
C) Spain
D) Portugal
E) England

Question 26

Iceland became independent in:

A) 1262
B) 1000
C) 1944
D) 1220
E) 1918

Question 27

The slaves who rebelled in medieval Iceland were:

A) freed
B) sent to Greenland
C) tried and convicted of crimes
D) captured and sold to new owners
E) hunted down and killed

Question 28

Iceland became part of Norway in 1262.

Question 29

Medieval Iceland is an example of a stratified society.

Question 30

The first king of Norway was Gissur.

Question 31

Icelanders came from Norway.

Question 32

Initially the limiting factor on production in Iceland was access to labor.

Question 33

In medieval Iceland, slaves produced surplus value for their owners.

Question 34

When wage labor became available the limiting factor on production was access to land.

Question 35

The medieval Icelandic system was not sustainable but it lasted for about 400 years.

Question 36

Iceland was a colony of Norway and then Denmark for about 600 years.

Question 37

When Erik the Red was outlawed, he went to Newfoundland.

Question 38

The last two chieftains standing in Iceland were Gissur and Snorri.

Question 39

Gissur murdered Snorri.

Question 40

Gissur wrote the Icelandic origin story at the beginning of Anthropology Unbound.

Question 41

Medieval Iceland was fundamentally democratic.

Question 42

Icelanders were always Christian.

Question 43

Slaves became relatively too costly when hired labor became available.

Question 44

The soil that the wind eroded from the highlands of Iceland was forever lost to Iceland.

Question 45

In medieval Iceland the highest authorities were the chieftains.

Question 46

The medieval Icelandic system rested fundamentally on justice.

Question 47

States hold egalitarian and rank societies together.

Question 48

Cooperation and reciprocity are sufficient to hold stratified societies together.

Question 49

List three factors that determined the size of a land claim in medieval Iceland.

Question 50

List two factors that determined the security of the land claim:

Question 51

List five self-intensifying loops in the medieval Icelandic system:

Question 52

Why did Icelanders not settle in North America?

Question 53

Discuss the process by which the competition among chieftains in Iceland became so intense that 36 chieftains became 5 and then 1.

Question 54

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of being a farmer who was a follower of a powerful chieftain.

Question 55

Discuss how well the medieval system served the interests of chieftains, slaves, renters, and wage workers.

Question 56

Discuss why most Icelanders would be glad to see the end of the medieval system.