Question 1

What factors are responsible for the variable development of political regulation and authority structures among pastoralists?

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Question 2

To what extent can modern foragers serve as the basis for reconstructions of social, political, and economic organization among ancient hunter-gatherer bands? Justify your answer.

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Question 3

How do anthropologists distinguish between a chiefdom and a state? Is this a useful distinction? Is it always easy to make such a distinction?

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Question 4

What are the three dimensions of social stratification as defined by Weber? What is the basis of each dimension? How does stratification differ from status systems in nonstate societies?

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Question 5

Which one of the following reasons for the conflict in Darfur, Sudan, is most clearly related to issues of making a living as discussed in Chapter 6?

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The rivalry between agriculturalists and pastoralist groups due to drought-related land and water scarcity directly relates to issues of making a living, as it involves competition for essential resources necessary for both farming and herding livelihoods.

Question 6

Which of the following was not true of the Botswana government's relocation of the foraging Basarwa San from their ancestral territory?

Accepted Answer

The government actually sealed the main well which was a critical water source for the San, making survival in the Kalahari Desert even more difficult for those who wished to return to their ancestral lands.

Question 7

Which of the following actions or situations that one might see in America most nearly resembles the competitive feasting called potlatch, which converts wealth into prestige?

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Potlatch involves the distribution of wealth to gain prestige, similar to the publicized donation by celebrities to gain social status or approval.

Question 8

Discuss the major differences between industrial and nonindustrial modes of production.

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Question 9

Anthropologists often say that nonindustrial economies are embedded in society. What is meant by this?

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Question 10

How does economic specialization in industrial nations differ from specialization in nonindustrial societies?

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Question 11

Do people in all societies maximize? What do they maximize? Do anthropologists believe that maximization is a cultural universal? What do you think? Explain your answer.

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Question 12

Are reciprocity, redistribution, and the market principle mutually exclusive in any given society? Give examples, including contemporary North America in your answer.

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Question 13

How is a rent fund different from a subsistence fund? Cite examples to illustrate your argument.

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Question 14

Contrast generalized, balanced, and negative reciprocity. How does negative reciprocity differ from the market principle?

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Question 15

Is the contrast between horticulture and agriculture one of degree or of kind? Cite ethnographic evidence to support your answer.

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Question 16

What is an adaptive strategy? Identify the five adaptive strategies in Cohen's typology of societies. Discuss how Cohen links economy and social features.

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Question 17

Of the 841 languages once spoken on the island of Papua New Guinea, many are now endangered and some have no living speakers. This is most consistent with which of the following?

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The correct answer is E because the passage states that the number of languages spoken in the world has been cut in half over the past 500 years, which is consistent with the statement that many languages in Papua New Guinea are now endangered and some have no living speakers.

Question 18

What term did anthropologist Edward T. Hall coin to refer to the study of spatial relations between people?

Accepted Answer

Edward T. Hall coined the term "proxemics" to refer to the study of how people use space in communication and how different cultures handle and perceive space.

Question 19

Sue Savage-Rumbaugh reported that Kanzi, an 8-year-old bonobo, a great ape similar to a chimpanzee but genetically and behaviorally closer to humans, learned to use symbols to communicate with a grammatical complexity similar to that of

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Kanzi, the bonobo, demonstrated the ability to use symbols with a grammatical complexity comparable to that of a 2-year-old human child, showcasing significant linguistic capabilities.

Question 20

What are the three key characteristics of human language? Discuss whether call systems and ASL-using nonhuman primates display these characteristics.

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Quiz 1: Culture