Deck 8: Band Societies

Question 1

Because of the strict marriage and post-marital residence rules found in hunter-gatherer societies, it is very difficult to obtain a divorce.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Band organization among foragers is very rigid and unchanging since individuals must remain band members for life.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Most band societies practice a form of post-marital residence that is termed patrilocality or patrilocal residence.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Since cooking fires had to be fueled with expensive oil made from blubber, Eskimos ate much of their meat raw.

Question 5

The nice thing about studying hunter-gatherer societies is the fact that they have never been in contact with or influenced by other cultures; thus, they are pristine cultural systems that anthropologists find intriguing.

Question 6

A form of exchange in which the time of repayment and the value are not calculated is called generalized reciprocity.

Question 7

Reciprocity occurs only in egalitarian, non-stratified societies.

Question 8

Bride service occurs when an eligible woman offers her domestic services to her future or potential husband's family in exchange for allowing her to marry their son.

Question 9

All forager groups have a concept of private land ownership similar to that found in Western societies.

Question 10

A cross cousin is the offspring of one's father's sister or one's mother's brother.

Question 11

Hunting and gathering societies have always existed in marginal environments.

Question 12

As expected, because of their physical strength and superior endurance, males provide the bulk of the food in all hunter-gatherer societies.

Question 13

Australian aborigines relied heavily on the bow and arrow for hunting.

Question 14

The attempt to get something for nothing is called negative reciprocity.

Question 15

Anthropological research has shown that biological rather than cultural factors are responsible for the rapid growth and incredibly high fertility rates of forager populations.

Question 16

An ideal marriage partner in a forager group is often a parallel cousin, the offspring of one's father's sister or one's mother's brother.

Question 17

Infanticide is how young children, especially infants, learn about their own culture.

Question 18

!Kung San women were often able to gather enough food from wild sources in one or two days to feed their children for an entire week.

Question 19

By studying contemporary foragers (hunter-gatherers) anthropologists can gain a better understanding of life during the Paleolithic period.

Question 20

Since hunter-gatherer societies are mobile, the environment does not influence demographic characteristics such as population growth, fertility, and mortality in these band societies.

Question 21

The main characteristic shared by all hunting and gathering societies, past and present, is:

A) poor nutrition
B) existence in a marginal habitat
C) use of the bow and arrow
D) mobility

Question 22

In the traditional society of the Mbuti pygmies of the Ituri rainforest, hunting is undertaken by:

A) the older men of the village
B) men, youths, women, and children
C) boys who have undergone sacred puberty rites
D) adult women of the hunting clans

Question 23

Dreamtime for the Australian Aborigines is a fundamental, complex concept that includes the past, present, and future where spirits come to the earth and act as intermediaries between the world and the everyday lives of the people.

Question 24

Chiefs of bands are usually males who are elected by majority vote, and who rule, as most chiefs do, by coercion and intimidation.

Question 25

Social control in forager societies is maintained by a standing police force that wields so much power that most individuals simply do not even think about committing a crime.

Question 26

Food production, as a subsistence pattern, developed about:

A) 1 million years ago
B) 100,000 to 120,000 years ago
C) 10,000 to 12,000 years ago
D) 1,000 to 2,000 years ago

Question 27

Most of the diet of the !Kung San comes from:

A) meat from hunting
B) nuts, berries, fruits, and roots
C) fish and shellfish
D) agricultural products

Question 28

In foraging societies, the band is the fundamental element of social organization, as well as the basic political unit.

Question 29

The belief that spirits inhabit all inorganic and organic matter is called dualism.

Question 30

The Semang of Malaysia, who hunt with blowguns, get most of their meat from:

A) elephants and buffalo
B) kangaroos and the ostrich-like emu
C) fish and other small game
D) monkeys and crocodiles

Question 31

In contrast to Paleolithic hunting-and-gathering societies, contemporary band societies exist only in:

A) marginal environments
B) rich environments
C) tropical forests
D) deserts and savannas

Question 32

"Fission" and "fusion" in hunting and gathering societies refer to:

A) hazards of contacts with the industrialized world
B) cyclical change in population density relative to resources
C) decision-making processes used by tribal leaders
D) the dynamics of wild plant resources

Question 33

Sadly, foragers do not have any music or art since their days are mainly taken up in subsistence activities, politics, and religion.
Multiple Choice Questions

Question 34

Since older individuals in foraging societies cannot participate in hunting and gathering activities as readily as they did when they were younger, they are considered of little use and quickly lose status and prestige.

Question 35

Marginal environments often sustain hunting and gathering societies where agricultural societies cannot exist because:

A) the resource and energy demands of agricultural societies are low
B) foraging societies have lower resource and energy requirements
C) marginal environments have always sustained large populations of fora?gers
D) most agricultural societies have become industrialized

Question 36

A foraging society depends on for food.

A) the cultivation of plants
B) the herding of animals
C) primitive agriculture
D) wild resources

Question 37

The term "hunter and gatherer" evokes for anthropologists a society:

A) whose economic, social, and political unit is the band
B) that exists as a large, sedentary community
C) that is organized as a tribe with a powerful chief
D) that subsists on domesticated plants and animals

Question 38

As in U.S. politics, there is much prestige, wealth, and power associated with being a bandleader in a forager society.

Question 39

In most forager societies, once an individual has ceased to be of economic value, they are simply left to die as the band moves on to a new location.

Question 40

Anthropologist Richard Lee has estimated that the traditional !Kung San spent between days each week finding food.

A) 2 to 3
B) 4 to 5
C) 5 to 6
D) 6 to 7

Question 41

The principal technology used for obtaining plant foods by tropical foragers is the:

A) boomerang
B) blowgun and darts
C) polished stone axe
D) digging stick

Question 42

In some forager societies, patrilocal residence and cross-cousin marriage combine to create a system called restricted marital exchange. In this system, two groups exchange women. The purpose of this is to:

A) make sure that everyone in the group has a wife or husband
B) limit marriages to close friends and family members
C) foster group solidarity by encouraging kinship alliances
D) make sure that women do what the men want them to do
E) limit population growth and maintain the band well below the carrying capacity of the region

Question 43

Which of the following would NOT have the effect of lowering fertility?

A) marriage at an older age
B) weaning babies at an older age
C) practicing infanticide
D) an earlier onset of menarche

Question 44

Negative reciprocity most likely occurs between:

A) friends in modern, westernized societies
B) people of the opposite sex
C) people who differ in age and status
D) close kin
E) strangers and enemies

Question 45

The most likely reason why hunter-gatherer technology is limited to simple tools made of stone, wood, and bone is because foraging peoples:

A) lack the basic intelligence necessary to make anything more complex
B) are too busy looking for food to spend time on more advanced tools
C) have not acquired knowledge of more sophisticated technologies
D) substitute profound knowledge of their environment for complex tools

Question 46

The two basic elements of social organization for foraging groups are the:

A) clan and tribe
B) nuclear family and band
C) troop and horde
D) throng and band
E) ensemble and group

Question 47

Conflict resolution in forager societies:

A) usually involves a formal court style setting where the accused, placed on trial, must defend himself or herself without the help of other members of the group
B) is based on informal sanctions because there are generally no formal government institutions or political authority available
C) is handled by simply banishing the disputing parties from the band forever
D) is unnecessary since there are no recorded examples of disputes or conflicts in these band societies

Question 48

The phrase "original affluent society" refers to:

A) the earliest foragers, who lived in rich environments
B) the notion that hunter-gatherers spend little time working
C) the ancient Egyptian civilization
D) the concept of the "noble savage"

Question 49

A typical form of post-marital residence found in forager groups, in which the newly married couple resides with the husband's father, is known as:

A) "build your own house" residence
B) patrilocal residence
C) matrilocal residence
D) husbilocal residence
E) father-in-law residence

Question 50

A common form of generalized reciprocity in our society is:

A) common acceptance of the value of the dollar
B) communal use of public restrooms
C) a salary increase accompanying a job promotion
D) getting and giving birthday presents

Question 51

What form of reciprocity would you expect to be the LEAST common among !Kung San, Mbuti, and Inuit groups?

A) balanced reciprocity
B) generalized reciprocity
C) negative reciprocity
D) unbalanced reciprocity

Question 52

Leaders of band societies:

A) rule by edict
B) often have to resort to the use of power and coercion to accomplish goals
C) lead by persuasion, example, and personal influence
D) are similar to communist dictators, in that they have absolute power over the people
E) rule by trickery and deceit and by withholding key resources

Question 53

It has been suggested that, in forager societies, the more concentrated and predictable the resources:

A) the less likely the group will be egalitarian in nature
B) the least amount of reciprocity will occur
C) the more pronounced the conceptions of private ownership and exclusive rights to territories
D) the more likely it will be that negative reciprocity will occur when individuals meet

Question 54

Hunting and gathering societies will sometimes resort to infanticide in order to:

A) engage in more frequent intercourse
B) supplement scarce hunting resources
C) reduce the effects of anticipated food shortages
D) make sacrifices to tribal gods

Question 55

The !Kung San term hxaro refers to:

A) a system for circulating material possessions among individuals
B) a complex ritual performed by young boys before their first hunt
C) trade with their agricultural neighbors
D) a type of root obtained in the spring with pointed digging sticks

Question 56

Christopher Boehm has hypothesized that the lack of political domination and power in band level societies is due to what he calls "reverse dominance." Reverse dominance ensures that the whole group will prevent a single individual from being politically dominant or exercising undue coercive powers. Reverse dominance is practiced through criticism, ridicule, disobedience, and outright abandonment or deposition of the dominating leader. This reverse political process:

A) causes bands to be unstable political units that often fission without warning
B) reinforces patterns of egalitarianism intrinsic to band level societies
C) makes it impossible for a band leader to make any changes that might benefit the group, making band societies static and unchanging cultural entities
D) makes it extremely difficult for these bands to find anyone who will assume a leadership role, and bands are often without leaders for years

Question 57

A principal criticism of the theory that hunter-gatherers work fewer hours than agriculturalists is that:

A) It was based on the Western definition of work as the quest for food.
B) It took into account labor expended in tool making, cooking, and healing.
C) It was based mostly on archaeological evidence.
D) It neglected to take relations of reciprocity into account.

Question 58

Since band societies are egalitarian, the leaders of bands:

A) must lead by personal influence and persuasion rather than coercion
B) must lead by strictly obeying the rules and laws set down by the band council
C) must use force and physical threats to achieve political power
D) usually employ and maintain a military or police force that enforces the customs and laws
E) must lead by intimidation, coercion, and deception

Question 59

If you discovered a society in which males and females participated equally in political decisions, where females were treated with the same respect as males, and where there was little evidence of male domination or maltreatment of women, you would probably be in a/an culture.

A) amorphous
B) egalitarian
C) hierarchical
D) anarchical
E) patrilineal

Question 60

The produced the most extensive material culture found among hunting and gathering societies.

A) !Kung San
B) Eskimo
C) Shoshone
D) Mbuti

Question 61

Is private ownership of land a universal concept that applies to all societies across the world? How much variation in "ownership" is found among forager groups?

Question 62

How are the elderly treated in foraging societies? Is there any variation, or are the old considered to be useless entities that cannot hunt or gather? How are the elderly treated in the society you grew up in?

Question 63

What do you perceive as some of the basic differences between your religious beliefs and those of foragers outlined in the text? Are there any similarities, or are the beliefs too disparate?

Question 64

What types of economic exchange would you expect to find in hunter-gatherer societies? Are the individuals in foraging societies naturally altruistic, magnanimous, and generous, or are they no nobler than other peoples?

Question 65

Evaluate the hypothesis that suggests, in societies where female contributions to the food supply are less critical or less valued than the male's contribution, female status is lower.

Question 66

If the art forms found among foragers reflect the spiritual aspects of their culture, then:

A) the most common subjects of artistic expression are plants and animals
B) most of their art is abstract in nature
C) their art work never involves living creatures, only ghosts and spirit beings
D) their only artists are also the shamans for the group

Question 67

How can the study of contemporary foragers provide us with an understanding of Paleolithic lifestyles?

Question 68

Matrilocal residence:

A) occurs when motherless children live together in order to survive
B) requires a man to reside with his wife's parents
C) is the most common form of living arrangement found among foragers
D) requires sisters to live in the same household

Question 69

Divorce:

A) does not occur in forager societies because couples are never formally married
B) is very difficult to accomplish in hunting-gathering societies
C) is easily accomplished in hunting-gathering societies
D) is not allowed in any forager society because it is too disruptive to family life Essay Questions

Question 70

The belief that spirits reside within all inorganic and organic materials is called:

A) superstition
B) animism
C) dream-wishing
D) irrational behavior
E) dualism

Question 71

What types of things can we learn from studying hunter-gatherer societies that might help us understand and interpret life in industrial societies today?

Question 72

Are gender roles strongly related to the division of labor in forager societies, or does flexibility exist?

Question 73

Would you rather be involved in warfare as a member of a forager society or as a member of an industrial nation? Why?

Question 74

Are hunter-gatherers (foragers) the "original affluent society" or "leisured society," or did they, and do they, lead short, brutal, hard lives on the brink of starvation?

Question 75

If you were a hunter-gatherer, where would you prefer to live and why?