Analyzing Sociocultural Systems MCQs

Analyzing Sociocultural Systems MCQs

The following Analyzing Sociocultural Systems MCQs have been compiled by our experts through research, in order to test your knowledge of the subject of Analyzing Sociocultural Systems. We encourage you to answer these 30 multiple-choice questions to assess your proficiency.
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1: Which of the following best describes the objectives of participant observation?

A.   To uncover absolute truths about human behavior

B.   To change the behaviors of study participants through interventions

C.   To describe and explain connections between cultural variables present in the study population

D.   To advance the interests of the anthropologists’ home community

2: Categories of sociocultural systems including band, tribe, chiefdom, and state, are thought of as “ideal types” in anthropology. What does that mean?

A.   They do not conform to the actual reality, complexity, and diversity of people and cultures in the world.

B.   The study of these types has been perfected over generations of hypothesis testing.

C.   These categories perfectly represent the empirical reality of cultural diversity.

D.   These categories are meaningless abstractions that have no value whatsoever in cross-cultural comparison.

3: In anthropology, the word “tribe” is a general term referring to all forms of pre-industrial society.

A.   True

B.   False

4: Cross-cultural studies allow anthropologists to do which of the following?

A.   Identify a single line of cultural evolutionary progress

B.   Pinpoint the moment that humans gained the capacity for culture

C.   Determine which cultural behaviors are the best

D.   Identify behaviors that are culture specific and those that are universal

5: An anthropologist goes to the field to test the hypothesis that population growth causes increasing frequency of warfare. Which variable is the independent variable?

A.   Frequency of warfare

B.   Population growth

C.   Mortality

D.   Morbidity

6: According to the text, what is the most important asset that a cultural anthropologist has in the field?

A.   A DSLR camera

B.   Language skills

C.   Advanced statistical knowledge

D.   A personal vehicle

7: The Human Terrain System is widely accepted in anthropology as an ethical application of ethnographic research.

A.   True

B.   False

8: Anthropologists must learn to cope with unfamiliar and sometimes unpleasant experiences when entering the field or returning to their home communities. This sometimes severe psychological reaction is commonly referred to as ______.

A.   Reacculturation

B.   Disorientation

C.   Reorientation

D.   Culture shock

9: According to Diamond, which of the following factors inhibited the rise of intensive agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and the Americas?

A.   In these geographic zones, there were few plants and animals that were amenable to domestication.

B.   In these zones, humans lacked the intellectual capacity for intensive agriculture.

C.   These zones have always been fraught with conflict, preventing the development of new agricultural technologies.

D.   Strict rules of egalitarianism and lack of private property prevented investment in agricultural projects.

10: For almost 99% of our human history, people earned a living by engaging in which of the following subsistence strategies?

A.   Intensive agriculture

B.   Pastoralism

C.   Horticulture

D.   Foraging

11: The least complex and, most likely, the oldest form of a political system is known as Band.

A.   True

B.   False

12: Chief is a person who _____ the basic productive factors of the economy and has privileged access to strategic and luxury goods.

A.   Owns

B.   Manages

C.   Controls

D.   All of these

13: Chiefdom is a political system based on kinship that has a _____ leadership, headed by a chief.

A.   Formalized

B.   Centralized

C.   Marginalized

D.   Both a and b

14: _____ is considered a feature of civilization.

A.   Socio political stratification

B.   Long-distance trade

C.   Monumental architecture

D.   All of these

15: The simultaneous antagonism of two variables is known as Correlation.

A.   True

B.   False

16: A severe psychological reaction that results from adjusting to the realities of a society radically different from one’s own is known as_____

A.   Culture Adjustment

B.   Culture Shock

C.   Culture Reaction

D.   Both a and b

17: Dependent Variable is a variable whose value changes in response to changes in the _____ variable.

A.   Dependent

B.   Independent

C.   Confounding

D.   Both a and b

18: A type of social structure that emphasizes equality among different statuses is known as Egalitarian.

A.   True

B.   False

19: Emic Perspective is the study of a culture from an _____ point of view.

A.   Insider’s

B.   Outsider’s

C.   Both

D.   None

20: Etic Perspective is the study of a culture from an _____ point of view.

A.   Insider’s

B.   Outsider’s

C.   Both

D.   None

21: Foraging Society is another classification used for a _____ society.

A.   Hunting

B.   Hitting

C.   Gathering

D.   Hunting and gathering

22: Independent Variable is a causal variable that produces an effect on another variable, the _____ variable.

A.   Dependent

B.   Independent

C.   Confounding

D.   Both a and b

23: A society that uses sophisticated technology based on machinery powered by advanced fuels to produce material goods is known as_____

A.   Modern Society

B.   Technological Society

C.   Industrial Society

D.   Both a and c

24: The use of machines and other sophisticated technology to satisfy the needs of society by transforming raw materials into manufactured goods is known as_____

A.   Materialism

B.   Modernization

C.   Industrialization

D.   Both b and c

25: Intensive Agriculture is the cultivation of crops by preparing permanent fields year after year, often using _____

A.   Irrigation

B.   Fertilizer

C.   Both

D.   None

26: Mercantilism is a system in which the government regulates the economy of a state to ensure_____

A.   Economic growth

B.   A positive balance of trade

C.   The accumulation of wealth

D.   All of these

A.   Economic

B.   Social

C.   Political

D.   All of these

28: A political community that has no clearly defined territorial borders with centralized authority is known as Nation-State.

A.   True

B.   False

29: A society in which the tertiary or service sector of the economy predominates is known as_____

A.   Industrial Society

B.   Pre industrial Society

C.   Post industrial Society

D.   Both a and b

30: Nonstatistical information that tends to be the most important aspect of ethnographic research is known as Qualitative Data.

A.   True

B.   False

31: Quantitative Data is the data that can be expressed as numbers, including _____ data.

A.   Census materials

B.   Dietary information

C.   Income and household-composition

D.   All of these

32: A representative sample of people of various ages or statuses in a society is known as_____

A.   Specific Sample

B.   General Sample

C.   Random Sample

D.   Both b and c

33: State is a form of political system with centralized bureaucratic institutions to establish power and authority over _____ populations in clearly defined territories.

A.   Small

B.   Large

C.   Average

D.   All of these

34: Tribe is a complex society having political institutions that unite _____ groups into a political system.

A.   Horticulturist

B.   Pastoralist

C.   Anthropologist

D.   Both a and b