Question 1

A syncretism is a mixture of cultural influences from a series of different cultural traditions.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 2

Based on people's claimed religions, Christianity is the world's largest, with some 2.1 billion adherents.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 3

Besides animism-and sometimes coexisting with it in the same society-there is a view of the supernatural as a domain of raw impersonal power, or force, that people can control under certain conditions. This conception of the supernatural is particularly prominent in Melanesia. Melanesians refer to this force as

Accepted Answer

A)  taboo. 
B)  magic. 
C)  good (or bad) luck. 
D)  The Force. 
E)  mana.

Question 4

What kind of religion is most frequently found in foraging bands?

Accepted Answer

A)  communal 
B)  shamanic 
C)  cargo cult 
D)  monotheistic 
E)  polytheistic

Question 5

Émile Durkheim, an early scholar of religion, stressed what he termed religious effervescence. Anthropologists too have stressed the collective, social, shared, and enacted nature of religion, the emotions it generates, and the meanings it embodies.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 6

Max Weber argued that the spread of capitalism was closely linked to the ethics and values of Catholicism.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 7

According to Bronislaw Malinowski, religion provides people with emotional comfort during problematic times.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 8

Cargo cults, syncretic religions that mix Melanesian and Christian beliefs, are

Accepted Answer

A)  culturally defined activities associated with the transition from one place or stage of life to another. 
B)  a religious response to the expansion of the world capitalist economy, often with political and economic consequences. 
C)  cultural acts that mock the widespread but erroneous belief of European cultural supremacy. 
D)  just like religious fundamentalism in that they are ancient cultural phenomena enjoying a rebirth in current world affairs. 
E)  antimodernist movements that reject anything Western.

Question 9

Which of the following statements about religion is NOT true?

Accepted Answer

A)  The functions of religious beliefs and practices vary with the society. 
B)  Religion is often an instrument of societal change, even revolution. 
C)  Religion serves only to maintain social solidarity; it does not create or maintain societal divisions. 
D)  Political leaders never mix religion with politics. 
E)  Religious fundamentalism is as old as human culture.

Question 10

Which of the following was NOT a reason that the Indian sacred cow is adaptive in Harris's studies?

Accepted Answer

A)  Zebu cattle require less food per animal than do beef cattle. 
B)  Wandering cattle indirectly provide fertilizer for agricultural fields. 
C)  Zebu cattle are frequently slaughtered and their meat distributed on ceremonial occasions. 
D)  Cattle dung provides a cheap source of heating and cooking energy. 
E)  Harris demonstrated that the Indian sacred cows are not adaptive.

Question 11

How do you explain the universality of religion?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How do you explain the universality of...

Question 12

Antimodernism describes the rejection of the modern in favor of what is perceived to be an earlier, purer, better way of life. Fundamentalism describes antimodernist movements in various religions. Ironically,

Accepted Answer

A)  fundamentalist movements have both benefited from and promoted the use of technology for international networking. 
B)  fundamentalists never lead a better way of life, precisely because they reject the benefits of modern life. 
C)  religious fundamentalism is itself a modern phenomenon, based on a strong feeling among its adherents of alienation from the perceived secularism of the surrounding modern culture. 
D)  fundamentalist sentiments depend on recognition of the modern culture. 
E)  religious fundamentalism is an extremely old phenomenon that actually spurred the rise of modernism.

Question 13

Like ethnicity and language, religion is also associated with social divisions within and between societies and nations.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 14

Witch hunts are an example of how religion can be used to limit deviant social behavior by instilling strong motivations to behave properly.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 15

What are induction into the U.S. Marine Corps and the vision quest of certain North American Indian societies examples of?

Accepted Answer

A)  binary opposition 
B)  a generalized exchange 
C)  a structural analysis of religion 
D)  rites of passage 
E)  genetic programming

Question 16

________ magic is based on the belief that whatever is done to an object will affect a person who once had contact with it.

Accepted Answer

A)  Contagious 
B)  Imitative 
C)  Serial 
D)  Sequential 
E)  Simultaneous

Question 17

Shamans are full-time religious practitioners generally found in state-level societies.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 18

On the basis of theories about the origins and functions of religion, what are the functions that organized religion serves in U.S. society? Can religion in the United States be described as embedded in other sociocultural institutions, such as politics? If you have spent most of your life in a different country, feel free to write about religion in that country.

Accepted Answer

The answer of On the basis of theories about the...

Question 19

In Melanesia, mana is an essential sacred life force that resides in people, animals, plants, and objects.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 20

Overall, countries in the Global South tend to be more conservative than countries in the Global North.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Exam 21: Religion

A syncretism is a mixture of cultural influences from a series of different cultural traditions.

Based on people's claimed religions, Christianity is the world's largest, with some 2.1 billion adherents.

What kind of religion is most frequently found in foraging bands?

Émile Durkheim, an early scholar of religion, stressed what he termed religious effervescence. Anthropologists too have stressed the collective, social, shared, and enacted nature of religion, the emotions it generates, and the meanings it embodies.

Max Weber argued that the spread of capitalism was closely linked to the ethics and values of Catholicism.

According to Bronislaw Malinowski, religion provides people with emotional comfort during problematic times.

Cargo cults, syncretic religions that mix Melanesian and Christian beliefs, are

Which of the following statements about religion is NOT true?

Which of the following was NOT a reason that the Indian sacred cow is adaptive in Harris's studies?

How do you explain the universality of religion?

Antimodernism describes the rejection of the modern in favor of what is perceived to be an earlier, purer, better way of life. Fundamentalism describes antimodernist movements in various religions. Ironically,

Like ethnicity and language, religion is also associated with social divisions within and between societies and nations.

Witch hunts are an example of how religion can be used to limit deviant social behavior by instilling strong motivations to behave properly.

What are induction into the U.S. Marine Corps and the vision quest of certain North American Indian societies examples of?

________ magic is based on the belief that whatever is done to an object will affect a person who once had contact with it.

Shamans are full-time religious practitioners generally found in state-level societies.

In Melanesia, mana is an essential sacred life force that resides in people, animals, plants, and objects.

Overall, countries in the Global South tend to be more conservative than countries in the Global North.