Question 1

In the 19th century, E. B. Tylor suggested that all societies progressed through three evolutionary stages: savagery, barbarism, and civilization.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 2

Symbolic anthropologists argue that culture can be reduced to genetically-inherited linguistic traits that determine the way people classify and view the natural environment.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 3

What are some of the criticisms that have been leveled at the cultural ecological approach? Do you think these criticisms are valid? If so, how would you modify the cultural ecological perspective to take into account the criticism?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What are some of the criticisms that...

Question 4

What are some of the weaknesses in the theory that there was only one "hearth" for the development of civilization?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What are some of the weaknesses in...

Question 5

L. H. Morgan was primarily interested in the evolution of:

Accepted Answer

A)  the brain 
B)  language 
C)  political systems 
D)  the family

Question 6

As anthropology emerged from the intellectual atmosphere of the Enlightenment, early anthropologists were interested in explaining the similarities and differences among the diverse cultures of the world. E. B. Tylor attempted to answer the question of why societies were at different or similar levels of evolution and development by the explanation of:

Accepted Answer

A)  spontaneous generation 
B)  unilineal evolution 
C)  diffusionism 
D)  historical particularism 
E)  functionalism

Question 7

Marx suggested that all of the major societal and cultural transformations (that is, cultural evolution) seen since the Industrial Revolution are the result of warfare between communist and capitalist nations vying for power and control over land.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 8

E. B. Tylor and other eighteenth-century thinkers asserted that "primitives" around the world would eventually evolve through the stages of barbarism to become civilized like Europeans, but these "primitives" would need assistance from the civilized world to reach this ultimate, ideal stage. This perception that Western society is the center of the civilized world and non-Western societies are inherently inferior is called:

Accepted Answer

A)  logical negativism 
B)  logical positivism 
C)  ethnocentrism 
D)  functionalism 
E)  devolution

Question 9

Franz Boas called for an end to "armchair anthropology," insisting that scholars must do rigorous, scientifically based fieldwork to collect basic ethnographic data.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 10

Grafton Eliot Smith and William Perry, major figures associated with the school of British diffusionism in the early 20th century, proposed that:

Accepted Answer

A)  Each culture has a key personality type. 
B)  A culture can only be interpreted in the context of its own historical development. 
C)  Culture's principal function is establishing institutions to guide behavior. 
D)  All aspects of civilization are derived from the culture of ancient Egypt.

Question 11

Edward B. Tylor, who published a major book entitled Primitive Culture in 1871, is recognized as the first:

Accepted Answer

A)  scholar appointed to an academic position in anthropology 
B)  person to formulate laws of human behavior 
C)  scientist to suggest a scenario for human evolution 
D)  anthropologist to live with primitive peoples in order to study them

Question 12

Nineteenth century theories of "unilineal evolution" proposed that:

Accepted Answer

A)  modern humans were descended from ape-like creatures 
B)  human existence is characterized by continuous progress towards civilization 
C)  Egypt was the source of all civilizations 
D)  the Bible was the best reference on the human past

Question 13

According to Franz Boas, in order to conduct a historical particularist study of a society, one must adopt the notion of , or the belief that each society should be understood in terms of its own cultural practices and values.

Accepted Answer

A)  particular evolution 
B)  cultural relativism 
C)  lagged diffusionism 
D)  functionalism 
E)  neo-evolutionism

Question 14

The British and German schools of cultural diffusion are considered to be obsolete as a means of understanding societal development because of their ethnocentric perspectives.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 15

The research strategy that focuses on technology, environment, and economic factors as key determinants in sociocultural evolution while dividing the sociocultural system into "infrastructure," "structure," and "superstructure" is called:

Accepted Answer

A)  economic determinism 
B)  cultural materialism 
C)  structuralism 
D)  techno-evolution 
E)  cultural ecology

Question 16

Unilineal evolution is the view that all societies evolve in a single direction called "progress" toward complexity and civilization.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 17

The study of culture through interpretation of the meaning of values, beliefs, and symbols of a society is a theoretical orientation called anthropology.

Accepted Answer

A)  symbolic 
B)  sociobiological 
C)  sedentary 
D)  systemic 
E)  sessile

Question 18

Lewis Henry Morgan believed in a hierarchical evolution of society from "savagery" to "civilization," but, unlike E.B. Tylor, Morgan emphasized the evolution of the family and kinship terms.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 19

How would a cultural materialist explain why Muslims don't eat pork?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How would a cultural materialist explain why...

Question 20

The neo-evolutionists' perspective differed from the nineteenth-century evolutionists' ideas in a number of ways. The neo-evolutionists:

Accepted Answer

A)  assumed a unilineal direction for society from savagery to barbarism to civilization 
B)  did not assume that sociocultural evolution toward complexity was always equated with progress 
C)  were ethnocentric and racist in their approach to understanding cultural evolution and complexity 
D)  assumed that civilization was the pinnacle of sociocultural development

Exam 6: Anthropological Explanations

In the 19th century, E. B. Tylor suggested that all societies progressed through three evolutionary stages: savagery, barbarism, and civilization.

Symbolic anthropologists argue that culture can be reduced to genetically-inherited linguistic traits that determine the way people classify and view the natural environment.

What are some of the criticisms that have been leveled at the cultural ecological approach? Do you think these criticisms are valid? If so, how would you modify the cultural ecological perspective to take into account the criticism?

What are some of the weaknesses in the theory that there was only one "hearth" for the development of civilization?

L. H. Morgan was primarily interested in the evolution of:

Marx suggested that all of the major societal and cultural transformations (that is, cultural evolution) seen since the Industrial Revolution are the result of warfare between communist and capitalist nations vying for power and control over land.

Franz Boas called for an end to "armchair anthropology," insisting that scholars must do rigorous, scientifically based fieldwork to collect basic ethnographic data.

Grafton Eliot Smith and William Perry, major figures associated with the school of British diffusionism in the early 20th century, proposed that:

Edward B. Tylor, who published a major book entitled Primitive Culture in 1871, is recognized as the first:

Nineteenth century theories of "unilineal evolution" proposed that:

According to Franz Boas, in order to conduct a historical particularist study of a society, one must adopt the notion of , or the belief that each society should be understood in terms of its own cultural practices and values.

The British and German schools of cultural diffusion are considered to be obsolete as a means of understanding societal development because of their ethnocentric perspectives.

The research strategy that focuses on technology, environment, and economic factors as key determinants in sociocultural evolution while dividing the sociocultural system into "infrastructure," "structure," and "superstructure" is called:

Unilineal evolution is the view that all societies evolve in a single direction called "progress" toward complexity and civilization.

The study of culture through interpretation of the meaning of values, beliefs, and symbols of a society is a theoretical orientation called anthropology.

Lewis Henry Morgan believed in a hierarchical evolution of society from "savagery" to "civilization," but, unlike E.B. Tylor, Morgan emphasized the evolution of the family and kinship terms.

How would a cultural materialist explain why Muslims don't eat pork?

The neo-evolutionists' perspective differed from the nineteenth-century evolutionists' ideas in a number of ways. The neo-evolutionists: