Chapter 2

Characteristics of Culture

Multiple Choice

  1. The first clear and comprehensive definition of culture was made by ______.
  1. Franz Boas
  2. Edward B. Tylor
  3. Ralph Linton
  4. Bronislaw Malinowski
  5. Clyde Kluckhohn

Answer: bType: MPage: 26Key 1: oKey 2: n

  1. All of the following are common aspects of culture except ______.
  1. ideas
  2. behavior
  3. genes
  4. perceptions
  5. values

Answer: cType: MPage: 26Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. People share the same culture if they ______.
  1. are dependent on each other for survival
  2. are able to interpret and predict each other’s actions
  3. live in the same territory
  4. behave in an identical manner
  5. all of the above

Answer: bType: MPage: 26Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. Which of the following statements about society and culture is incorrect?
  1. Culture can exist without a society.
  2. Every culture is learned, shared, based on symbols, integrated, and dynamic.
  3. All culture is learned rather than biologically inherited.
  4. A culture is shared by the members of a society.
  5. Although members of a society may share a culture, their behavior is not uniform.

Answer: aType: MPage: 26Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. The process in which culture is transmitted from one generation to the next is called ______.
  1. enculturation
  2. acculturation
  3. diffusion
  4. transmission
  5. adaptation

Answer: aType: MPage: 26Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. The term “gender” refers to ______.
  1. biological differences between males and females
  2. cultural meanings assigned to the biological differences between the sexes
  3. a method of determining sex
  4. the sexual tendency of society
  5. biological meanings assigned to the cultural differences between females and males

Answer: bType: MPage: 28Key 1: oKey 2: n

  1. The cultural definitions of what it means to be a male or female today ______.
  1. are determined by biological differences
  2. are independent of biological differences
  3. stem from biological differences that today are relatively insignificant
  4. developed about 60 million years ago
  5. have no relationship to sex

Answer: cType: MPage: 28Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. Which of the following statements about the relationship between sex and gender is incorrect?
  1. Sex is the same as gender.
  2. Sex refers to physical differences between males and females, whereas gender refers to the cultural meanings assigned to sex.
  3. Sexual differences are biological; gender differences depend on cultural definition.
  4. Gender differences began with human culture, about 2.5 million years ago.
  5. The biological differences between males and females have decreased since 2.5 million years ago.

Answer: aType: MPage: 28Key 1: oKey 2: n

  1. When groups within a society function with their own distinctive standards of behavior, we refer to it as ______.
  1. subcultural variation
  2. social structure
  3. gender differences
  4. cultural materialism
  5. ethnocentrism

Answer: aType: MPage: 29Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. In the movie Witness, a policeman named John Book was able to hide from his corrupt boss by staying with the Amish. He was protected by adopting their mode of dress, by the fact that they had no telephones, and by their being a closely-knit community united by shared values that differed from those of the larger society. The Amish in the United States are an example of a/an ______.
  1. pluralistic society
  2. subculture
  3. integrated culture
  4. world culture
  5. complex society

Answer: bType: MPage: 29Key 1: oKey 2: n

  1. The Amish may be used as an example of subcultural variation because ______.
  1. they are racially different
  2. they share the values of thrift, hard work, independence, and close family ties that Americans respect
  3. they maintain a distinctive way of life that emphasizes agrarian living and loyalty to fellow Amish rather than to the state
  4. they participate in a rite of passage called rumschpringe
  5. all of the above

Answer: cType: MPage: 29Key 1: sKey 2: n

12.What of the following statements is correct?

  1. Subcultural groups always have separate religious affiliations.
  2. Ethnic groups live outside of national borders.
  3. Subcultural groups have biological differences that ethnic groups do not have.
  4. Ethnic groups collectively and publicly identify themselves as distinct.
  5. Subcultural groups collectively and publicly identify themselves as distinct.

Answer: dType: MPage: 29Key 1: oKey 2: n

  1. The process by which culture is transmitted from one generation to the next is called ______.
  1. enculturation
  2. pluralism
  3. adaptation
  4. cultural relativism
  5. subcultural variation

Answer: aType: MPage: 26Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. Which of the following illustrates the fact that culture is learned rather than biologically inherited?
  1. Nonhuman animals eat and drink when they have the urge.
  2. Humans have a biological drive to eat and drink.
  3. Human societies differ in whether their members eat five meals a day or only one, and what types of food and drink are considered appropriate or taboo.
  4. Humans living in desert environments require about two gallons of liquid a day to maintain constant body temperature.
  5. Humans have to learn how to kiss; kissing is not biologically programmed.

Answer: cType: MPage: 26Key 1: oKey 2: n

  1. Biological inheritance is to the ant and bee society as ______is to the human society.
  1. enculturation
  2. adaptation
  3. social structure
  4. ethnocentrism
  5. subcultural variation

Answer: aType: MPage: 28Key 1: oKey 2: n

  1. Which of the following statements is incorrect?
  1. All culture is learned.
  2. All learned behavior is cultural.
  3. Culture is humankind’s “social heredity.”
  4. Culture is not biologically inherited.
  5. Culture is transmitted from one generation to the next through enculturation.

Answer: bType: MPage: 27Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. ______establishes group cohesion and makes it possible for people to consistently satisfy their basic needs.

a. Culture

b. Infrastructure

c. Superstructure

d. Enculturation

e. Social structure

Answer: eType: MPage: 33Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. The most important symbolic aspect of culture is ______.
  1. art
  2. language
  3. religion
  4. money
  5. none of the above

Answer: bType: MPage: 32Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. A society is held together by a shared sense of identity and worldview. This collective body of ideas allows a society to make sense of the world, its challenges and opportunities. It is known as ______.

a. philosophy

b. code ethics

c. superstructure

d. foundation

e. religion

Answer: cType: MPage: 33Key 1: sKey 2: n

20. Culture is an integrated and interrelated whole, which means that ______.

  1. people of all different races get along well together
  2. subcultural variations can be tolerated
  3. if you alter one aspect of a culture, you can drastically affect and possibly even endanger the functioning of the whole
  4. primitive people live in harmony and do not require contact with other cultures, nor do they undergo internal change
  5. Their society maintains a fragile balance that can be destroyed by any contact with an outside influence

Answer: cType: MPage: 33Key 1: oKey 2: n

  1. Among the Kapauku Papuans of New Guinea, the fact that an attempt to eliminate warfare (which would create a balanced sex ratio) would affect the practice of polygyny, which would affect the economy (since women raise pigs, and the more wives a man has the more pigs he can keep), shows that culture is ______.
  1. materialistic
  2. relative
  3. pluralistic
  4. integrated
  5. enculturated

Answer: dType: MPage: 33-34Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. As a/an ______system, cultures respond to motions and actions within and around them.
  1. integrated
  2. symbolic
  3. learned
  4. dynamic
  5. functional

Answer: dType: MPage: 34Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. Analyses of human skeletal remains from the Maya city of Tikal reveal that, on average, ______.
  1. taller individuals were usually of a lower social class than shorter individuals
  2. females interred in less elaborate graves were taller than those in higher class burials
  3. males and females were the same height, regardless of class differences
  4. males interred in less elaborate graves were taller than those from simple graves
  5. males interred in more elaborate graves were taller than those from simple graves

Answer: eType: MPage: 34Key 1: oKey 2: f

  1. According to Bronislaw Malinowski, the nature of an institution is determined by its ______.
  1. structure
  2. function
  3. culture
  4. superstructure
  5. infrastructure

Answer: bType: MPage: 36Key 1: sKey 2: f

  1. The process by which organisms adjust beneficially to their environment, or the characteristics by which they overcome hazards and gain access to the resources they need to survive, is called ______.
  1. culture
  2. biology
  3. social structure
  4. integration
  5. adaptation

Answer: eType: MPage: 35Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. Humans’ major mode of adaptation, which enables them to live effectively in diverse environments, is ______.
  1. sweat glands
  2. culture
  3. specialized teeth
  4. body hair
  5. biology

Answer: bType: MPage: 35Key 1: oKey 2: n

  1. Because humans have culture, they are able to live in which of the following environments?
  1. deserts
  2. mountains
  3. the Arctic
  4. all of the above
  5. none of the above

Answer: dType: MPage: 35Key 1: oKey 2: n

  1. Behavior can be adaptive in the short run but maladaptive in the long run. In the Central Valley in California, vast irrigation projects have created a garden, but salts and chemicals accumulating in the soil will eventually create another desert. This same process occurred in ______.
  1. Mexico
  2. Morocco
  3. ancient Mesopotamia
  4. Great Britain
  5. the Yellow River valley of China

Answer: cType: MPage: 35Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. The ______of culture is/are what a culture must do to satisfy basic needs of its members.
  1. functions
  2. motivations
  3. enculturations
  4. integration
  5. relativism

Answer: aType: MPage: 36Key 1: oKey 2: n

  1. A culture must satisfy basic needs such as ______.
  1. the distribution of necessary goods and services
  2. biological continuity through reproduction, and enculturation of functioning adults
  3. maintenance of order within a society, and between a society and outsiders
  4. motivation to survive
  5. all of the above

Answer: eType: MPage: 36Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. Which of the following statements is correct?
  1. Only some cultures change.
  2. All cultures change at the same rate.
  3. All culture change is disastrous.
  4. Culture change can bring disastrous results.
  5. All of the above.

Answer: dType: MPage: 37Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. Which of the following statements is incorrect?
  1. A society is a union of individuals.
  2. Human survival depends on individuals being able to cooperate.
  3. Individual needs must be sufficiently satisfied to avoid the disruptive consequences of frustration.
  4. Unregulated self-gratification can destroy a society.
  5. All of the above are correct.

Answer: eType: MPage: 38Key 1: oKey 2: n

  1. The belief that one’s own way of life is superior to others is ______.
  1. ethnocentrism
  2. cultural relativism
  3. egocentrism
  4. kulturpride
  5. ethnic-centeredness

Answer: aType: MPage: 39Key 1: oKey 2: n

  1. ______refers to the position that because cultures are unique, each one can be evaluated only according to its own standards and values.
  1. Ethnocentrism
  2. Cultural relativism
  3. Cultural materialism
  4. Adaptation
  5. Pluralism

Answer: bType: MPage: 39Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. Goldschmidt suggests that it is possible to decide which cultures are more successful than others by looking at ______.
  1. which ones survive
  2. which ones last the longest
  3. which ones satisfy the physical and cultural needs of the people
  4. which ones support the most people
  5. which ones are the least emotional

Answer: cType: MPage: 40Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. Because subsistence practices involve tapping into available resources to satisfy a society’s basic needs, this aspect of culture is known as ______.
  1. infrastructure
  2. subculture
  3. social structure
  4. superstructure
  5. acculturation

Answer: aType: MPage: 40Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. In many Native American societies ______.
  1. only males are recognized
  2. more than two genders are recognized
  3. gender is not a designated category
  4. only females are recognized
  5. children are believed to have more than one gender

Answer: bType: MPage: 28Key 1: oKey 2: n

  1. Which of the following is evidence of cultural behavior among non-human animals?
  1. chimpanzees fashion a tool from a twig to hunt for termites
  2. macaques wash sweet potatoes before eating them
  3. a lion pack passes a characteristic behavior pattern to the next generation
  4. a deer freezes in the headlights of a car
  5. All except d

Answer: eType: MPage: 26-27Key 1: oKey 2: n

  1. The sanitary habits of food foraging peoples ______.
  1. leave a lot to be desired
  2. are highly adaptive in the context of foraging and also in the context of sedentism
  3. weren’t very adaptive in the context of foraging, but turn out to be adaptive in the context of sedentism
  4. were highly adaptive in the context of foraging, but are maladaptive in the context of sedentism
  5. are unknown

Answer: dType: MPage: 35Key 1: oKey 2: n

  1. A sign, sound, emblem, or other thing that is arbitrarily linked to something else and represents it in a meaningful way is called ______.
  1. a myth
  2. a symbol
  3. an omen
  4. a subculture
  5. an ethnic group

Answer: bType: MPage: 32Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. The ______are a mountain people of western New Guinea studied in 1955 by the North American anthropologist Leo Pospisil.

a.!Kung San

b.Kaluli

c.Basseri

d.Kapauku

e.Azande

Answer: dType: MPage: 33Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. We now know that any culture that is functioning adequately regards itself as the best, a view reflecting a phenomenon known as ______.
  1. cultural relativism
  2. egoism
  3. nationalism
  4. ethnocentrism
  5. individualism

Answer: dType: MPage: 39Key 1: sKey 2: n

43.The idea that one must suspend judgment on other peoples’ practices in order to understand them in their own cultural terms is called ______.

a.structuralism

b.functionalism

c.structural functionalism

d.cultural relativism

e.relative culturalism

Answer: dType: MPage: 39Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. In regards to the concept of cultural relativism, anthropologist ______emphasized that “...one does not avoid making judgments, but rather postpones them in order to make informed judgments later.”

a.David Maybury-Lewis

b.Daniel Day-Lewis

c.Francis L.K. Shu

d.E.E. Evans-Pritchard

e.A.F.C. Wallace

Answer: aType: MPage: 40Key 1: sKey 2: n

45.As a result of ______work, in 1981, the Apaches were able to move into houses that had been designed with their participation, for their specific needs.

a.Walter Goldschmidt’s

b.George Esber’s

c.David Maybury-Lewis’s

d.Bronislaw Malinowski’s

e.Margaret Mead’s

Answer: bType: MPage: 31Key 1: sKey 2: f

46.As a prelude to social interaction, Apache hosts feel compelled to offer their guests ______.

a.cattle

b.beer

c.food

d.small gifts

e.seats

Answer: cType: MPage: 31Key 1: sKey 2: f

47.The development of irrigation works in ancient Mesopotamia led to its collapse as a civilization about ______years ago.

  1. 11,000
  2. 7,000
  3. 4,000
  4. 1,000
  5. 500

Answer: cType: MPage: 35Key 1: sKey 2: f

  1. The rule-governed relationships that hold a society together, with all their rights, duties, and obligations, are known as its ______.
  1. constitution
  1. social structure
  2. Bill of Rights
  3. laws
  4. senate

Answer: bType: MPage: 33Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. The culture concept was first developed by anthropologists toward the end of the ______century.
  1. fifteenth
  2. nineteenth
  3. twentieth
  4. eighteenth
  5. seventeenth

Answer: bType: MPage: 26Key 1: oKey 2: n

  1. In the United States people are not regarded as adults until the age of 18; in many other cultures, adulthood begins earlier. In many cases, it is not associated so much with age as it is to ______.
  1. passage through certain prescribed rituals
  2. recitation of various religious sayings
  3. biological changes
  1. the acceptance of new obligations
  2. the passing of difficult examinations

Answer:aType: MPage: 29Key 1: oKey 2: n

  1. Malinowski’s Trobriand work was of such high quality that it made ______a scientific enterprise.
  1. surveys
  1. interviewing
  2. questionnaires
  3. videotaping
  4. ethnography

Answer:eType: MPage: 36Key 1: oKey 2: f

  1. Unlike today, when anthropologists are specially trained before conducting fieldwork, ______early in the twentieth century had received no special training.
  1. E.E. Evans-Pritchard
  2. Claude Levi-Strauss
  3. Bronislaw Malinowski
  4. Ruth Benedict
  5. A.F.C. Wallace

Answer:cType: MPage: 36Key 1: sKey 2: f

  1. Cultures must strike a balance between ______.
  1. functions and structures
  2. society and subculture
  3. families’ kinship and individuality
  4. individuals’ needs and desires and those of society

e.environment and geography

Answer: dType: MPage: 38Key 1: sKey 2: n

  1. The tendency for all aspects of a culture to function as an interrelated whole is called ______.
  1. structuralism
  2. functionalism
  3. integration
  4. interactionism
  5. sychronicism

Answer: cType: MPage: 33Key 1: oKey 2: n

55.A society in which two or more ethnic groups or nationalities are politically organized into one territorial state but maintain their cultural differences is called a ______society.

  1. multilinear
  2. multi-cultural
  3. class-based
  4. pluralistic
  5. stratified

Answer: dType: MPage: 30Key 1: sKey 2: n

56.Which of the following are signs that a culture is not adequately satisfying the needs and expectations of those who live by its rules?

  1. high interest rates
  2. low interest rates
  3. high crime rate
  4. high delinquency rate
  5. only c and d

Answer: eType: MPage: 40Key 1: sKey 2: n

57.In the United States, the rise of private militia groups reflects the ______.

  1. balance between the needs of individuals and those of society
  2. frustration of people whose needs are poorly satisfied by the culture
  3. well-being of a group of people
  4. attempt to maintain order in certain areas of the country
  5. attempt to enforce order in rural areas of the country

Answer: bType: MPage: 40Key 1: sKey 2: n

58.Though pastoral nomadic peoples are often blamed for causing environmental degradation, the fault is not theirs. Rather, it lies with ______.

  1. unrestricted development
  2. a tremendous increase in tourism
  3. the ever-burgeoning use of off road vehicles
  4. governments that restrict their movements causing overgrazing
  5. all of the above

Answer: dType: MPage: 37Key 1: sKey 2: n

59.If an anthropologists is studying a culture of the recent past using oral histories, accounts of explorers, missionaries, and traders and also through the analysis of such records as land titles, birth and death records, and other archival materials; that anthropologist is doing ______.

  1. ethnology
  2. biography
  3. autobiography
  4. ethnohistory

e.ethnography

Answer: dType: MPage: 36Key 1: sKey 2: n

60.Which of the following is not an element associated with the barrel model of culture?

  1. interstructure
  2. social structure
  3. infrastructure
  4. superstructure
  5. environment

Answer: aType: MPage: 33Key 1: sKey 2: n

61.Cross-cultural studies show that homicide rates mostly decline following ______.

  1. eradication of culture
  2. the institutionalization of a death penalty
  3. the partial implementation of a death penalty
  4. the abolition of a death penalty
  5. the addition of a death penalty

Answer: dType: MPage: 39Key 1: sKey 2: n

62.As outlined by the Polish-born anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski, which of the following would be considered a fundamental level of needs that must be resolved by all cultures?

  1. A culture must provide for political needs.
  2. A culture must provide for biological needs.
  3. A culture must provide for instrumental needs.
  4. A culture must provide for integrative needs.
  5. All but a.

Answer: eType: MPage: 36Key 1: sKey 2: f