Deck 17: Contemporary Global Trends

Question 1

Thomas Malthus predicted that populations would grow much slower than the production of food and other resources needed to sustain the population.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

A major factor that has influenced the emergence of the global economic network is the multinational corporation.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Biodiversity is the genetic and biological variation within and among different species of plants and animals.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Anthropologists can probably aid in humankind's understanding of its existence in the global village by making a concerted effort to comprehend the historical and sociocultural incentives and roots that contribute to ethnic conflicts.

Question 5

The United States, Japan, and Western Europe are now in Phase 2 of the demographic-transition model.

Question 6

Rates of global poverty are in decline, despite a continuation of economic inequalities.

Question 7

Separatist conflicts among various linguistic, ethnic, tribal, and religious groups in the former Soviet Union, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere are of no concern to peoples in the Western, industrialized nations because they are local conflicts that have no global implications.

Question 8

Since anthropology is primarily a theoretical field, it has little or nothing to offer in terms of helping solve global issues such as overpopulation, deforestation, and agricultural pollution.

Question 9

The Green Revolution has been beneficial to small farmers in every part of the world where it has been implemented.

Question 10

The success of the Green Revolution at Shahidpur in northern India cannot serve as a model for the implementation of this process in other areas of the world because this village was too isolated, small, and atypical of most rural areas in the Third World.

Question 11

Western Samoans have received huge social and monetary benefits from multinational corporations wanting to exploit forests.

Question 12

In China, the government penalizes urban couples who have more than one child.

Question 13

With the removal of government-controlled price restraints in Russia, the costs of food and other basic commodities went down.

Question 14

It appears-from today's perspective-that global changes wrought by multinational corporations have had negative consequences for some developing countries.

Question 15

Female infanticide has been virtually eliminated in China due to the one-child policy.

Question 16

According to the demographic-transition model, populations go through three stages of change in fertility and mortality rates.

Question 17

Switching from draft animals to tractors results is having a positive effect on the world's energy use.

Question 18

Anthropological research has shown that the Green Revolution has caused a number of unintended problems, such as widening the gap between the rich and the poor by displacing many small farmers and creating a landless peasant class.

Question 19

The globalization of the world economy has had relatively little effect on core industrial societies such as the United States and Japan.

Question 20

Newly industrializing economies (NICs) in Asia have benefited from investments by multinational corporations.

Question 21

What does the term "global village" refer to?

A) the United Nations
B) the world's interconnectedness through media and economic networks
C) a colonization strategy for other planets, to be implemented in the distant future
D) a traditional settlement strategy found especially in West Africa

Question 22

According to ethnographic research conducted by Murray Leaf, where has the Green Revolution been successfully implemented?

A) Mexico City, Mexico
B) Shahidpur, India
C) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
D) Western Samoa

Question 23

The term "Green Revolution" refers to the increased use of __________ to increase food production in Third World countries.

A) traditional, organic farming methods that avoid the use of pesticides
B) intensive human labor for planting, weeding, and harvesting
C) renewable tree- and root-crop products of the tropical rainforests
D) mechanized agriculture, genetic engineering, and artificial hybrid crops

Question 24

What have anthropologists found is responsible for higher rates of greenhouse gas emissions cross-culturally?

A) horticultural methods that burn fields in order to return nutrients to the soil
B) status competition and conspicuous consumption in highly industrialized and postindustrial societies
C) increases in migrant labor patterns that require people to travel across international borders
D) a failure to respond to drought conditions throughout equatorial regions in Africa, Asia, and South America

Question 25

During Phase 1 of the demographic transition both fertility and mortality are high, resulting in minimal population growth. In Phase 2 fertility continues to be high, but mortality rates decline, as a result of which the population __________.

A) remains rather stable in size
B) tends to increase in size rapidly
C) ceases to grow and starts to decline
D) usually goes extinct within a few generations

Question 26

Which of the following countries is likely to have the lowest per capita energy consumption?

A) Sudan
B) Japan
C) Mexico
D) Canada

Question 27

The populations of Germany and Japan are both __________.

A) doubling every 23 years
B) increasing at a rate of 2 percent a year
C) stable and unchanging
D) decreasing

Question 28

A British clergyman and economist named __________ predicted that populations would grow at a very rapid rate (exponential rate) and that the production of food and other vital resources would increase at a much slower rate. As a result, human populations would be subjected to a variety of checks on population growth such as warfare, famine, and disease.

A) Charles Darwin
B) E.O. Wilson
C) Julian Simon
D) Thomas Malthus

Question 29

What has ethnographic research aimed at examining the Green Revolution found?

A) This revolution is proceeding smoothly in many Third World countries, providing much needed food for the lower classes, especially the small farmers.
B) The innovations have created a number of unintended social and economic problems, such as widening the gap between the rich and the poor.
C) Many of the genetically engineered plants and animals do not survive and reproduce in different climates and geographical locations.
D) Individuals in cultures other than the West have found that the mechanization of agriculture leaves them with too much free time, and as a result crime and drug addiction increase exponentially.

Question 30

Julian Simon has challenged the doomsday model because he believes that the problems of pollution and environmental stress will ultimately be solved because __________.

A) nature always achieves homeostasis
B) the world population will decrease due to epidemic diseases such as AIDS
C) human creativity and science will provide the key to solving the problems
D) human populations cannot exceed the Earth's carrying capacity

Question 31

Because of human activities and growth, it is estimated that at least one species becomes extinct every day. In fact, biologist

A) biodiversity
B) green space
C) greenhouse
D) perestroika
E) O. Wilson thinks that with the expansion of industrialism, mechanized agriculture, and deforestation as many as one-fourth of the world's plant families will become extinct by the end of this century. The loss of this __________ is a major concern for many individuals since we, as humans, are dependent upon these living organisms for our own survival (for food and medicinal applications).

Question 32

Between 1980 and 1990, the annual growth rate in China fell from __________ percent to 1.4 percent.

A) 5.3
B) 4.4
C) 2.0
D) 2.4

Question 33

Dependency theorists suggest that multinational corporations are just a new form of neocolonialism that is aimed at supplying the Western world with natural resources and cheap labor. These corporations, rather than helping the populace, actually intensify many of the problems of Third World countries by __________.

A) making it impossible to get cheap food and adequate housing
B) creating benefits for a wealthy elite and a small middle class while allowing the vast majority of the population to remain in poverty
C) establishing a strong lower class that eventually overthrows the ruling elite in the country
D) flaunting all of the modern conveniences that the majority of people cannot afford

Question 34

The one-child policy in China has been __________.

A) effective at reducing the birth rate
B) useless at reversing trends of runaway population growth
C) most accepted in agricultural areas
D) accepted without protest by both urban and rural populations

Question 35

In the 1970s a group of scientists known as the Club of Rome got together to assess global trends and predict the future of the world and the people on it. Using a neo-Malthusian perspective and computer models, they predicted which of the following?

A) There will be an infinite supply of natural resources for hundreds of years to come because biotechnology will make land more productive, and humans will invent new ways of doing things.
B) The world, as we know it, will end abruptly in 2048 because of the greenhouse effect, coupled with a nuclear winter.
C) Current global trends in population growth, energy consumption, and environmental pollution will exhaust the world's natural resources within the next 100 years.
D) Biodiversity will increase, slowly smothering the world and all its occupants.

Question 36

Many scientists argue that the increased levels of carbon dioxide that are produced by the burning of fossil fuels and the tropical rainforest will create a(n) __________ in which the carbon dioxide will trap the heat from the sun and prevent it from radiating back into space.

A) ultraviolet leach
B) greenhouse effect
C) biotechnological loop
D) circular biome cycle

Question 37

A population has reached zero population growth (ZPG) when, on average, there is/are __________ children born to each woman.

A) 4.3
B) one
C) 2.1
D) zero

Question 38

Demographic-transition theory assumes a close connection between which of the following?

A) fertility/mortality rates and socioeconomic development
B) birth control methods and infant mortality
C) sustainable development and foreign investment by multinational corporations
D) advanced, industrial societies and poor, preindustrial societies

Question 39

Based on the demographic-transition model, which of the following countries would be experiencing declining rates in both fertility and mortality?

A) Kenya
B) India
C) Mexico
D) Japan

Question 40

If a population is simply replacing itself, we say that the population has achieved what?

A) a demographic stalemate
B) zero population growth
C) its ultimate potential and size
D) Phase 2 of the demographic transition

Question 41

Give an example from the text of how multinational corporations that exploit the natural resources of a developing society have maximized their profits but not enhanced the local economy in the long term. Explain what happened.

Question 42

What are the advantages of biodiversity? What role are humans playing in the threat to biodiversity? Describe the roles anthropologists could play in preserving biodiversity.

Question 43

The "sustainability model" is concerned with which of the following?

A) protecting indigenous cultures around the world
B) developing resource management strategies that do not degrade the environment
C) promoting local entrepreneurship in developing nations
D) teaching people how to grow their own food

Question 44

What types of unanticipated problems has the implementation of the Green Revolution caused in areas where it was introduced? Are there any success stories, or have all the outcomes been negative?

Question 45

Anthropologists working in Northeast Brazil found that farmers __________.

A) have adopted high-tech agricultural techniques with great success
B) preferred periods of drought because they received some government assistance
C) were well aware that their agricultural practices were detrimental to the environment
D) refused to participate in government programs that resembled colonial patron-client relationships

Question 46

Since Mao Zedong's death, China's leaders have done which of the following?

A) outlawed students from gaining degrees in the United States
B) abolished the commune system
C) relied on Communist Party cadres to instill egalitarian ideals
D) endorsed and attained political reforms

Question 47

Which of the following was a problem with the Potlatch Corporation in Western Samoa?

A) It did not have the backing of a multinational corporation.
B) It charged too much to lease land.
C) It shifted jobs from one sector to another rather than creating new jobs.
D) It was unable to find a local market for its products.

Question 48

Anthropologist Marvin Harris has suggested that the entire fabric of society in the former Soviet Union was undermined by which of the following?

A) Marxist theories of social organization
B) influence from the cultures of the United States and Europe
C) widespread racial prejudice and ethnic conflict
D) deficiencies in economic infrastructure

Question 49

Both Japan and the United States have become "postindustrial" societies. To what does the term "postindustrial" refer?

A) Large segments of their economies are devoted to providing services rather than manufacturing goods.
B) Their economies developed largely as a result of weapons manufacture during World War II.
C) In each country, the working class has achieved a higher standard of living than ever before.
D) Each was affected by the Industrial Revolution.

Question 50

If the world economy becomes completely integrated, will the nations of the world become similar in terms of cultural values, ideals, and mores? Will there be a world culture and world government?

Question 51

What is the doomsday model, or the neo-Malthusian approach? Has this view been challenged by anyone? If so, on what grounds?

Question 52

The introduction of genetically modified crops to rural areas in Africa is likely to result in __________.

A) replacing small farmers with machines
B) increased incomes for local farmers
C) greater biodiversity
D) more affordable food worldwide

Question 53

The collapse of the former Soviet Union was characterized by which of the following?

A) a declaration of independence by non-Russian republics
B) "federalism" and increased solidarity of the states that had been joined to create the Union
C) the spread of communism throughout Eastern Europe
D) the disappearance of perestroika and glasnost

Question 54

To what do perestroika and glasnost refer?

A) the power of the masses and religious ideology
B) military readiness and nationalistic sentiment
C) reentry into a capitalist economy and freedom to express political opposition
D) totalitarianism and intolerance for ideas that are critical of the government

Question 55

What is the demographic-transition theory? Do you think that this model applies to all cultures in the world? Why or why not?

Question 56

How can the anthropological perspective be used to examine global issues such as overpopulation, deforestation, global warming, and the loss of biodiversity? Draw on examples from the text to support your argument.

Question 57

Anthropologist Katherine Verdery, who carried out ethnographic work in Romania, found which of the following?

A) Women are returning to roles associated with the older, patriarchal system.
B) Black markets and organized crime have all but been eliminated.
C) People have transitioned well to capitalist concepts of time and industrial work rhythms.
D) Religious institutions are working in opposition to capitalist enterprises.

Question 58

What types of contributions can anthropologists make by studying ethnic conflict and separatism? What perspective can anthropologists take in this endeavor?

Question 59

British biologist Matt Ridley argues that technology will solve most of our environmental problems over time. How will recent technological innovations affect people living in different sociocultural regions?

Question 60

What is the global economy? What types of changes have occurred in the world recently that are related to the globalization of the world economy?