Exam 2: Culture

Which of the following industries has the primary goal of creating a desire for goods and services?

In many European and Latin American cultures, people commonly greet one another with a kiss on the cheek. In the United States, people may be more likely to greet one another with a hug or a handshake. An anthropologist would call these ________ actions.

Cultures are influenced by many different factors, including a constant flow of ideas, goods, and people. What is one of the major ways that people influence culture?

________was an early anthropologist who sought to organize vast quantities of data about the diversity of world cultures that were being accumulated through colonial and missionary enterprises.

What concept, inspired by the work of Charles Darwin, proposes that the diversity of human cultures represent different stages of development, from simple to complex?

You are an anthropologist investigating the ways that malnutrition in pregnant women can affect the genetic development of their children. What field are you engaging with?

Homogenization is just one of the effects of globalization on cultures around the world. Define homogenization and give at least three examples of it. Are there aspects from other cultures that you now see as part of your own culture? If so, please provide at least two examples. Do you think that globalization will indeed cause the homogenization of world cultures in the future? Why or why not?

When studying abroad, Shelby talks about the racial categories in the United States. Her new friends from other countries are surprised and say that racial categories based on expressed differences such as skin color are different in their countries. Shelby remembers from her anthropology class that racial categories are determined by:

Popular American discourse often assigns biology-and usually genes-the primary role in determining who we are. What do anthropologists argue regarding the nature versus nurture debate surrounding who we are and how we behave? What evidence do anthropologists have to substantiate their argument?

Culture is more than a set of ideas or patterns of behavior shared by a group of people. It also includes general mechanisms created by people to promote and maintain their core values. The recent changes in same-sex marriage laws in the United States reflects the influence of which of these types of mechanisms?

Early British anthropological researchers believed they could isolate and scientifically study the structure and specific details of what?

What do anthropologists call the uneven distribution of resources and privileges, often along lines of gender, racial or ethnic group, class, age, family, religion, sexuality, or legal status?

Which of the following is defined as the ability to create consent and agreement within a population, sometimes unconsciously, by shaping what people think is normal, natural, and possible?

Sitting in your anthropology class helps you learn about culture through formal instruction. What informal learning process helps you learn culture from family, friends, and the media?

Clifford Geertz (1926-2006) urged anthropologists to explore culture primarily as:

Former Harvard University president and economist Lawrence Summers commented in a 2005 speech that his school and others similar to it likely had more men in science and math faculties than women because men's brains were better suited for success in these areas. Does Summers's statement reflect a nature or nurture perspective of human experience? Based on what you have read in Chapter 2, what may be some of the reasons why there is a gender discrepancy in science and math faculties in U.S. colleges and universities? What role does culture play in such discrepancies?

Which of the following is one of the four elements that an anthropologist considers in attempting to understand the complex workings of a culture?

Which of the following is defined as the ability or potential to bring about change through action or influence?

Ideas or rules about how people should behave in particular situations or toward certain other people are considered ________.

The culture of consumerism in the United States and globally has intensified, especially during the last 50 years. What constitutes a culture of consumerism and how does it relate to the concept of culture more generally? What are three examples of how the culture of consumerism affects culture in general in the United States? Does it affect other cultures worldwide, and if so, how?