Question 1

The actions that individuals take, both alone and in groups, in forming and transforming cultural identities are referred to as
A) psychological individualism.
B) dynamic structuralism.
C) free will.
D) agency.
E) volition.

Accepted Answer

The term "agency" refers to the actions that individuals take to shape their own lives and the world around them, based on their own beliefs and desires. This includes the ways in which they form and transform their cultural identities, both individually and in groups. A and E are related concepts, but do not fully capture the idea of agency as it pertains to cultural identity formation. B and C are not directly relevant to the topic of cultural identity formation.

Question 2

Really good key cultural consultants will actually end up recording most of the data needed to write an ethnography.

Accepted Answer

Good key cultural consultants provide valuable insights and information, but an ethnography requires comprehensive data collection, including participant observation, interviews with a wide range of individuals, and analysis of cultural artifacts, which cannot be achieved through a single source.

Question 3

When an ethnographer uses an interview schedule to gather information from the field, this inevitably limits the researcher's capacity to ask and answer truly relevant questions.

Accepted Answer

An interview schedule can guide the ethnographer to ensure important topics are covered, but it does not necessarily limit the capacity to ask relevant questions. Ethnographers can still adapt and ask additional questions as needed.

Question 4

Émile Durkheim's focus on social facts illustrates what assumption shared by many anthropologists?
A) Social fact, just like any other fact, can be studied objectively.
B) Culture is more of an idea in people's heads than a social reality.
C) Culture is primarily a psychological and individual phenomenon.
D) Social phenomena studied by anthropologists require study methods that are different from those used by other social scientists.
E) Psychologists study individuals, but anthropologists study individuals as representative of something more: a collective phenomenon that is more than the sum of its parts.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Émile Durkheim's focus on social facts illustrates...

Question 5

This chapter mentions the work of Wolf and Mintz, both students of Julian Steward, as illustrations of approaches that
A) put human agency at the center of cultural analysis.
B) focus on the study of cultures as closed systems, untouched by regional and even global dynamics.
C) ignore the role of history in shaping culture as we know it.
D) consider the relevance of world-system theory and political economy to anthropology.
E) are just as deterministic as the old evolutionary models, but for different reasons.

Accepted Answer

Wolf and Mintz are known for their work that integrates world-system theory and political economy into anthropology, moving away from viewing cultures as isolated and instead understanding them within a global context.

Question 6

Despite the differences among theoretical paradigms of practitioners as varied as Harris (cultural materialism), White (neoevolutionism), Julian Steward (cultural ecology), and Margaret Mead (configurationalism), all of them have what in common?
A) a strong sense of determinism, leaving very little (if any) room for the exercise of individual human agency
B) a well-founded suspicion in the claims of science
C) an embrace of reflexive anthropology
D) a sense of moral duty to help the people they studied to accelerate their path to civilization
E) a strong concern for the future of anthropological education

Accepted Answer

All these theorists share a deterministic view, emphasizing the influence of environmental, cultural, or material factors over individual human agency.

Question 7

The view that each element of culture, such as the culture trait or trait complex, has its own distinctive history, and that social forms (such as totemism in different societies) that might look similar are not comparable because of their different histories, is known as
A) historical particularism.
B) cultural generalism.
C) the Boasian approach.
D) structural functionalism.
E) comparative functionalism.

Accepted Answer

This view is known as historical particularism, which emphasizes the unique historical development of each culture and rejects the notion of universal cultural stages or patterns. It was popularized by Franz Boas, who argued that each cultural practice must be understood in its own context rather than compared to others.

Question 8

What right do ethnographers have to represent a people or culture to which they don't belong? This question illustrates
A) anthropology's crisis in representation-questions about the role of the ethnographer and the nature of ethnographic authority.
B) the threat that the World Wide Web poses to anthropologists who are less and less needed to write about and publish accounts of cultural diversity.
C) the fact that anthropologists are, after all, colonial agents of the industrialized West.
D) a lack of leadership in the American Anthropological Association.
E) the problem inherent in anthropology's overspecialization.

Accepted Answer

This question highlights a key issue in anthropology, particularly in terms of representations of other cultures and the authority of the ethnographer. It is important to consider the complexities of representation when studying and writing about other cultures, as well as the potential power dynamics at play in these interactions.

Question 9

Pentagon programs, including Project Minerva, draw on social science research to learn about national security threats. Why do social scientists object to the military determining which research projects are worth funding?
A) because the military budget is already overextended
B) because the military has higher ethical standards than anthropologists
C) because scholars favor a peer review system of choosing funded projects
D) because the military might surpass anthropologists in cultural knowledge
E) because government spending has no business overlapping with science

Accepted Answer

Scholars favor a peer review system for funding research projects, as it ensures that projects are evaluated based on their merit and scientific rigor rather than factors such as political agenda or national security interests. They believe that if the military determines which projects are worth funding, it could lead to biased or manipulated research that does not align with the principles of scientific inquiry.

Question 10

The work of which of the following anthropologists illustrated a renewed interest in cultural change and even evolution (although of a very different sort than Tylor and Morgan had in mind)?
A) Ruth Benedict
B) Max Gluckman
C) Victor Turner
D) Julian Steward
E) Margaret Mead

Accepted Answer

Julian Steward is known for his work in cultural ecology, which emphasizes the relationship between culture and the natural environment, and his theory of cultural evolution which focused on the adaptive processes cultures used to respond to their environment. This approach marked a departure from the unilinear evolution ideas of Tylor and Morgan, and demonstrated a renewed interest in cultural change and evolution.

Question 11

More recent approaches in historical anthropology, while sharing an interest in power with world-system theorists, have focused more on
A) the structural causes of colonialism.
B) how anthropological theory can aid NGOs in writing an alternate history of oppressed peoples.
C) the role of colonial bureaucracies in shaping international culture.
D) local agency, the transformative actions of individuals and groups within colonized societies.
E) the state's role in denying some of its citizens a place in history.

Accepted Answer

More recent approaches in historical anthropology have shifted their focus towards local agency and the transformative actions of individuals and groups within colonized societies. This approach considers the ways in which colonized peoples actively resist colonialism and initiate change within their own societies.

Question 12

Which is the key assumption in Claude Lévi-Strauss's structuralism?
A) All myths can be classified as either good or evil.
B) The human propensity to classify phenomena in certain ways is acquired through enculturation.
C) There is a very specific role for human agency in culture, and the structure of cultural patterns determines that role.
D) Cultural patterns determine the human propensity to classify things in certain ways.
E) Human minds have certain universal characteristics that originate in common features of the Homo sapiens brain and lead people everywhere to think similarly regardless of their society or cultural background.

Accepted Answer

Claude Lévi-Strauss's structuralism is based on the key assumption that human minds have certain universal characteristics that originate in common features of the Homo sapiens brain and lead people everywhere to think similarly regardless of their society or cultural background. This assumption is known as universalism and forms the foundation of structuralism, which seeks to identify the underlying structures that govern human thought and behavior. Lévi-Strauss believed that these structures can be discerned by studying the myths, rituals, and symbols that are shared across cultures.

Question 13

Practice theory
A) focuses on how individuals, through their actions and practices, influence and transform the world they live in.
B) was popularized by Margaret Mead in the 1940s.
C) is the only theoretical paradigm to effectively solve the "culture-individual" problem.
D) actually shares the same deterministic assumptions of earlier theoretical paradigms.
E) explains social phenomena only in nonindustrial societies.

Accepted Answer

Practice theory focuses on the agency of individuals and how they shape their world through their actions and practices. It does not share the deterministic assumptions of earlier theoretical paradigms and is not limited to nonindustrial societies. Margaret Mead was influential in bringing anthropological attention to the practices of everyday life, but she did not invent practice theory as a theoretical paradigm. Practice theory also does not claim to have solved the "culture-individual" problem exclusively, but rather proposes a different approach to studying the relationship between culture and individual agency.

Question 14

Radcliffe-Brown advocated that social anthropology be a synchronic rather than a diachronic science; that is, a study
A) of culture in motion (synchronic) rather than as a static entity (diachronic).
B) that compares cultural traits within the same society and not across societies.
C) of societies across time (synchronic) rather than across space (diachronic).
D) of societies as they exist today (synchronic, one at a time) rather than across time (diachronic).
E) of societies as made up of individuals, not as a sum greater than its parts.

Accepted Answer

Radcliffe-Brown argued that social anthropology should be a synchronic science, focusing on studying societies as they exist in the present rather than studying them across time (diachronically). Thus, option D accurately describes his viewpoint.

Question 15

The Human Terrain System seeks to embed anthropologists and other social scientists within military teams in Iraq and Afghanistan. Which of the following is NOT a reason that anthropologists and the AAA Executive Board object to the use of anthropologists in the military?
A) Anthropologists in war zones have an ethical dilemma where their responsibilities to their military units may conflict to their obligations to the local people they study.
B) It is difficult to give informed consent in an active war zone without feeling coerced, thereby compromising "voluntary informed consent" in the AAA Code of Ethics.
C) Anthropologists may not be able to identify themselves as anthropologists, distinct from military personnel.
D) Anthropologists, by the nature of their discipline, are not permitted to interact with any military personnel.
E) The Human Terrain System conflicts with the ethical responsibility of anthropologists to disclose who they are.

Accepted Answer

Option D is incorrect. Anthropologists are not prohibited from interacting with military personnel. In fact, many anthropologists work on military bases and other government agencies. However, anthropologists object to their participation in military operations as it may compromise their ethical obligations as researchers.

Question 16

The characteristic field techniques of the ethnographer are participant observation, the genealogical method, and in-depth interviewing.

Accepted Answer

This is true. These three techniques are commonly used by ethnographers to gather data about a specific culture or community. Participant observation involves the ethnographer actively participating in the culture or community, the genealogical method charts the relationships between members of the culture or community, and in-depth interviewing involves the ethnographer conducting interviews with individuals to gather information about their experiences and perspectives.

Question 17

Which of the following terms refers to the theoretical paradigm that holds that customs (social practices) function to preserve the social structure?
A) the Manchester school
B) synchronic functionalism
C) configurationalism, as illustrated in the works of Benedict and Mead
D) Panglossian structuralism
E) structural functionalism, as illustrated in the work of Radcliffe-Brown and Evans-Pritchard

Accepted Answer

Structural functionalism, as illustrated in the work of Radcliffe-Brown and Evans-Pritchard, is a theoretical paradigm that holds that customs (social practices) function to preserve the social structure.

Question 18

Interpretive anthropologists such as Clifford Geertz approach the study of culture as
A) a diachronic phenomenon.
B) functional puzzles.
C) a system of meaning.
D) underlying sets of rules that must be deciphered through the analysis of cultural patterns.
E) distinct from human psychology.

Accepted Answer

Interpretive anthropologists like Clifford Geertz focus on the study of culture as a system of meaning, emphasizing the importance of symbols, signs, and interpretations in shaping human behavior and social practices. They aim to understand how people make sense of their world, and how these meanings are expressed through various cultural forms, such as language, ritual, and art. This approach is distinct from more functionalist or structuralist perspectives that view culture as a set of rules or norms that dictate behavior or as a system of functional puzzles to be solved.

Question 19

As investigators who illustrated the functionalist approach in anthropology, both Malinowski's and Radcliffe-Brown's ethnographic research focused on
A) myth and ritual and the ways that these aspects of culture created social cohesion.
B) the evolutionary history of present-day cultural patterns.
C) the role of cultural traits and practices in contemporary society.
D) the symbolic value that cultural traits and practices held with members of contemporary society.
E) the role of cultural traits and practices aimed at conflict resolution.

Accepted Answer

Both Malinowski and Radcliffe-Brown focused on how cultural traits and practices functioned to meet the needs of individuals and maintain the stability of society, which aligns with the functionalist approach.

Question 20

Traditionally, ethnographers have tried to understand the whole of a particular culture.

Accepted Answer

Ethnographers have traditionally aimed to understand the entire culture of the group they are studying.

Quiz 3: Method and Theory in Cultural Anthropology

The actions that individuals take, both alone and in groups, in forming and transforming cultural identities are referred to as

Really good key cultural consultants will actually end up recording most of the data needed to write an ethnography.

When an ethnographer uses an interview schedule to gather information from the field, this inevitably limits the researcher's capacity to ask and answer truly relevant questions.

Émile Durkheim's focus on social facts illustrates what assumption shared by many anthropologists?

This chapter mentions the work of Wolf and Mintz, both students of Julian Steward, as illustrations of approaches that

Despite the differences among theoretical paradigms of practitioners as varied as Harris (cultural materialism) , White (neoevolutionism) , Julian Steward (cultural ecology) , and Margaret Mead (configurationalism) , all of them have what in common?

The view that each element of culture, such as the culture trait or trait complex, has its own distinctive history, and that social forms (such as totemism in different societies) that might look similar are not comparable because of their different histories, is known as

What right do ethnographers have to represent a people or culture to which they don't belong? This question illustrates

Pentagon programs, including Project Minerva, draw on social science research to learn about national security threats. Why do social scientists object to the military determining which research projects are worth funding?

The work of which of the following anthropologists illustrated a renewed interest in cultural change and even evolution (although of a very different sort than Tylor and Morgan had in mind) ?

More recent approaches in historical anthropology, while sharing an interest in power with world-system theorists, have focused more on

Which is the key assumption in Claude Lévi-Strauss's structuralism?

Practice theory

Radcliffe-Brown advocated that social anthropology be a synchronic rather than a diachronic science; that is, a study

The Human Terrain System seeks to embed anthropologists and other social scientists within military teams in Iraq and Afghanistan. Which of the following is NOT a reason that anthropologists and the AAA Executive Board object to the use of anthropologists in the military?

The characteristic field techniques of the ethnographer are participant observation, the genealogical method, and in-depth interviewing.

Which of the following terms refers to the theoretical paradigm that holds that customs (social practices) function to preserve the social structure?

Interpretive anthropologists such as Clifford Geertz approach the study of culture as

As investigators who illustrated the functionalist approach in anthropology, both Malinowski's and Radcliffe-Brown's ethnographic research focused on

Traditionally, ethnographers have tried to understand the whole of a particular culture.