Question 1

In an ethnographic field study of political systems in northern Mozambique,Nicholas Kottak found that avoiding shame can be an effective control against breaking social norms.This example of how shame can be a powerful social sanction

Accepted Answer

A)  is unique among ethnographic cases illustrating the variety of sociopolitical systems that exist in the world today. 
B)  is often a key component of the formal processes of social control. 
C)  is evidence that shame is a cultural universal. 
D)  is an indication that women tend to suffer from the consequences of shame more than men do. 
E)  joins the work of many other anthropologists that cite the importance of informal processes of social control, including gossip and stigma.

Question 2

According to Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault,it is easier and more effective to dominate people in their minds than to try to control their bodies.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 3

Noting that chiefdoms created the megalithic cultures of Europe,such as the one that built Stonehenge,Kottak reminds us that

Accepted Answer

A)  chiefdoms that failed to become states did not have enough stone. 
B)  chiefdoms and states can fall as well as rise. 
C)  all chiefdoms end up becoming states. 
D)  all powerful chiefdoms required elaborate stonework to be recognized by competing groups. 
E)  chiefdoms have been among the rarest forms of social organization throughout human history.

Question 4

In the Igbo women's war,women used song,dance,noise,and "in-your-face" behavior to attempt to subvert formal authority,but women did not gain any greater influence.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 5

Contrast two of the following as political regulators:

Accepted Answer

A) sodalities based on age and gender; 
B) village headmen; 
C) village councils; 
D) big men; and 
E) pantribal sodalities.

Question 6

Anthropologist Susan Kent notes a tendency to stereotype foragers,to treat them as all alike.They used to be stereotyped as isolated,primitive survivors of the Stone Age.Another common,more recent,stereotype of foragers sees them as

Accepted Answer

A)  peaceful individuals in touch with their inner selves. 
B)  culturally deprived people forced by states, colonialism, or world events into marginalized environments. 
C)  ideal humans with the perfect diet and rhythm of life. 
D)  not isolated at all but living in nation-states and an interlinked world. 
E)  primitive survivors not of the Stone Age but of the Bronze Age.

Question 7

According to Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault,

Accepted Answer

A)  it is easier and more effective to dominate people in their minds than to try to control their bodies. 
B)  if state institutions such as prisons and schools are able to control people's bodies, their minds will follow. 
C)  anthropologists have no business studying the process of how the dominant ideology becomes internalized, since this is the job of psychologists and political scientists. 
D)  overt violence is critical in order for a state to succeed in dominating its population. 
E)  anatomically modern humans have a long way to go in the process of evolution, since they are so easily tricked into believing that forms of state control are both natural and good.

Question 8

What is an age set?

Accepted Answer

A)  a village council 
B)  a pantribal sodality that represents a certain level of achievement in the society, much like the stages of an undergraduate's progress through college 
C)  all men and women related by virtue of patrilineal descent from a human apical ancestor 
D)  all men and women related by virtue of matrilineal descent from a nonhuman apical ancestor 
E)  a group uniting men born during a certain span of time in some pastoral African societies

Question 9

Since bands lack formalized law,they have no way of settling disputes.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 10

Modern foragers are not Stone Age relics,living fossils,lost tribes,or noble savages.Still,to the extent that foraging has been the basis of their subsistence,contemporary and recent hunter-gatherers

Accepted Answer

A)  are the closest we can come to studying true human nature. 
B)  illustrate links between foraging economies and the emergence of social stratification. 
C)  suggest that the most basic motive driving human survival is the need for power. 
D)  can illustrate links between foraging economies and other aspects of society and culture, such as their sociopolitical organization. 
E)  illustrate the social precursors to hegemony.

Question 11

The Qashqai and Basseri peoples are examples of nomadic foragers who live in modern-day Iran.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 12

The presence and acceptance of which of the following is one of the key distinguishing features of a state?

Accepted Answer

A)  gender differences in terms of access to resources 
B)  generosity, even at the fiscal level 
C)  rapport between the elites and commoners 
D)  stratification 
E)  the authority of charismatic leaders

Question 13

With the rise of states,kinship's role in society continued to grow and dominate daily activities.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 14

Modern hunter-gatherers should not be seen as representative of Stone Age peoples,all of whom were also foragers.Why?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Modern hunter-gatherers should not be seen as...

Question 15

The Yanomami of Venezuela and Brazil have descent groups,which span more than one village and are

Accepted Answer

A)  matrilineal and primarily dependent on foraging. 
B)  typically led by a female leader. 
C)  lacking gender stratification. 
D)  purely horticulturalists. 
E)  patrilineal and exogamous in nature.

Question 16

How do chiefdoms differ from states?

Accepted Answer

A)  Chiefdoms are based on differential access. 
B)  Chiefdoms lack socioeconomic stratification and stratum endogamy. 
C)  Chiefdoms lack ascribed statuses. 
D)  Chiefdoms have permanent political regulation. 
E)  Chiefdoms have full-time religious specialists.

Question 17

The Inuit song battle is

Accepted Answer

A)  sometimes the occasion for a "treacherous feast." 
B)  a widespread feature of tribal society. 
C)  a ritualized means of designating hunting lands. 
D)  a means of resolving disputes so as to forestall open conflict. 
E)  used to initiate colonial strategies.

Question 18

Which of the following statements about nonstate societies is true?

Accepted Answer

A)  Warfare is conducted by professional armies. 
B)  Political institutions are maintained totally separate from economic institutions. 
C)  Social control is maintained mostly through physical coercion. 
D)  Economic, political, and religious activities are often embedded in one another. 
E)  All political power is based on religion.

Question 19

A fiscal system includes the judges,laws,and courts that resolve conflicts.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 20

Why is it important to remember that the chiefdom and the state,like many categories used by social scientists,are ideal types?

Accepted Answer

A)  They distinguish political and sociopolitical analyses among social scientists. 
B)  They are useless in sociopolitical analysis. 
C)  They represent social goals that politicians should strive to achieve. 
D)  They are labels that make social contrasts seem sharper than they really are. 
E)  They ensure that the field of anthropology remains more scientific.

Exam 17: Political Systems

In an ethnographic field study of political systems in northern Mozambique,Nicholas Kottak found that avoiding shame can be an effective control against breaking social norms.This example of how shame can be a powerful social sanction

According to Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault,it is easier and more effective to dominate people in their minds than to try to control their bodies.

Noting that chiefdoms created the megalithic cultures of Europe,such as the one that built Stonehenge,Kottak reminds us that

In the Igbo women's war,women used song,dance,noise,and "in-your-face" behavior to attempt to subvert formal authority,but women did not gain any greater influence.

Contrast two of the following as political regulators:

Anthropologist Susan Kent notes a tendency to stereotype foragers,to treat them as all alike.They used to be stereotyped as isolated,primitive survivors of the Stone Age.Another common,more recent,stereotype of foragers sees them as

According to Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault,

What is an age set?

Since bands lack formalized law,they have no way of settling disputes.

Modern foragers are not Stone Age relics,living fossils,lost tribes,or noble savages.Still,to the extent that foraging has been the basis of their subsistence,contemporary and recent hunter-gatherers

The Qashqai and Basseri peoples are examples of nomadic foragers who live in modern-day Iran.

The presence and acceptance of which of the following is one of the key distinguishing features of a state?

With the rise of states,kinship's role in society continued to grow and dominate daily activities.

Modern hunter-gatherers should not be seen as representative of Stone Age peoples,all of whom were also foragers.Why?

The Yanomami of Venezuela and Brazil have descent groups,which span more than one village and are

How do chiefdoms differ from states?

The Inuit song battle is

Which of the following statements about nonstate societies is true?

A fiscal system includes the judges,laws,and courts that resolve conflicts.

Why is it important to remember that the chiefdom and the state,like many categories used by social scientists,are ideal types?