Ch. 4 - The Growth of Anthropological Theory

Question 1

The phenomenon whereby subjects in behavioural studies change their performance in response to being observed

Answer 1

Hawthorne Effect

Question 2

An unproven proposition that can provide as a basis for further investigations

Answer 2

Hypothesis

Question 3

Deriving a conclusion by making particular observations

Answer 3

Induction

Question 4

A general statement that explains observations

Answer 4

Theory

Question 5

Predicting and observation by reasoning from a general premise

Answer 5

Deduction

Question 6

The 19th century anthropological theory that cultures evolved from savagery through barbarism to civilization

Answer 6

Evolutionism

Question 7

What famous publication influenced the theory and discussion of evolutionism in anthropology?

Answer 7

Charles Darwin’s “The Theory of Evolution”

Question 8

Late 19th/ early 20th century theory that cultural differences can be explained by the diffusion of cultural traits from one society to another

Answer 8

Diffusionism

Question 9

Where in Canada and who did T.F. McIlwrath study in the early 1920s?

Answer 9

The Nuxalk First Nation of Bella Coola, BC.

Question 10

A 19th century idea that all cultures passed through the same sequence of stages

Answer 10

Unilinear model

Question 11

A theory that so-called savage or primitive cultures had degenerated from more civilized cultures because they had fallen from God’s Grace

Answer 11

Degenerationism

Question 12

This anthropological theory that claims cultures evolved from savagery through barbarism to civilization

Answer 12

Evolutionism

Question 13

Specific elements of culture that evolutionary anthropologists believed had survived from an earlier period

Answer 13

Survivals

Question 14

A concept popular among 19th century anthropologists who assumed that all people, when operating under similar circumstances, will think and behave in similar ways

Answer 14

Psychic Unity

Question 15

This theory proposes that cultural differences can be explained by the diffusion of cultural traits from one society to another

Answer 15

Diffusionism

Question 16

The theory that social institutions are integrated and function to maintain or satisfy the biological needs of the individual

Answer 16

Functionalism

Question 17

A school of cultural anthropology that examines how parts of a culture function for the well-being of the individual

Answer 17

Structural Functionalism

Question 18

The functionalist idea that every part of a culture has a particular function

Answer 18

Universal Functions

Question 19

A principle of functionalism stating that a culture is an integrated whole consisting of a number of interrelated parts

Answer 19

Functional Unity

Question 20

A school of anthropology prominent in the early 20th century that insisted on the collection of ethnographic data before making cross-cultural generalizations

Answer 20

Historical Particularism

Question 21

Who was the main advocate of Historical Particularism?

Answer 21

Franz Boas

Question 22

A 20th century school of cultural anthropology whereby similarities between cultures could be explained by parallel adaptations to similar natural environments

Answer 22

Neo-evolutionism

Question 23

What was the name of Margaret Mead’s first book?

Answer 23

Coming of Age in Samoa; 1928

Question 24

Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict are associated with which anthropological school of thought?

Answer 24

Culture and Personality

Question 25

Which anthropologist concluded and published that “Our own Western conception of masculine and feminine is not genetically based but is rather culturally determined”?

Answer 25

Margaret Mead; in her publication “Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies”

Question 26

The maximum population size an environment can sustain, given the food and water resources and technology available

Answer 26

Carrying capacity

Question 27

The constellation of features most closely related to subsistence activities

Answer 27

Cultural core

Question 28

The mid- 20th century theory whereby specific cultures evolve independently of all others but follow a similar evolution process

Answer 28

Multilinear Evolution

Question 29

This take on reality says that we should focus on the intangible; things like symbols and morals

Answer 29

Idealism

Question 30

Looks at things like human biological nature/the environment, and how these influence people’s ideas and values

Answer 30

Materialism

Question 31

Who was the leading anthropologist associated with Cultural Materialism?

Answer 31

Marvin Harris

Question 32

An anthropological theory that cultural systems are most influenced by such things as natural resources, technology, and human biology

Answer 32

Cultural Materialism

Question 33

A theoretical orientation holding that cultures are the product of unconscious processes of the human mind

Answer 33

French structuralism

Question 34

This person came up with the concept of “binary oppositions”

Answer 34

Claude-Lévi Strauss

Question 35

A mode of thinking based on opposites; such as old vs. young, left vs. right, nature-nurture, etc.

Answer 35

Binary oppositions

Question 36

A theoretical school in anthropology that views the goal of anthropology as the interpretation of symbols

Answer 36

Symbolic Anthropology

Question 37

A theoretical orientation holding that culture is a web of symbols and meaning, and the job of anthropology is to interpret those meanings

Answer 37

Interpretive Anthropology

Question 38

A theoretical approach that seeks to describe and explain cultural life form the perspective of women

Answer 38

Feminist Anthropology

Question 39

A perspective that examines the abstract issues of conflict, ideology, and power

Answer 39

Political Economy

Question 40

The study of power relations among groups, and how they are linked to bio-physical environment at the local, state, national, and international levels

Answer 40

Political Ecology

Question 41

Advocates the switch from cultural generalization and laws to description, interpretation, and the search for meaning

Answer 41

Postmodernist Anthropology

Question 42

The practice of giving accounts of other cultures in the present tense

Answer 42

Ethnographic present

Question 43

Recognition of anthropology’s biases as well as the influence of the anthropologist’s own personal situation and experiences in the production of anthropological knowledge

Answer 43

Reflexive Anthropology

Question 44

Integrating theory with practice; serving as a means to produce new knowledge

Answer 44

Praxis

Question 45

Leslie White and Julian Steward were advocates of which anthropological school/theory?

Answer 45

Neo-evolutionism and Cultural Ecology

Question 46

Clifford Geertz was an advocate of which anthropological theory?

Answer 46

Interpretive Anthropology

Question 47

James Clifford was an advocate of this school on anthropology

Answer 47

Postmodernism

Question 48

Lewis Henry Morgan was an advocate of which major anthropological theory?

Answer 48

Evolutionism

Question 49

Bronislaw Malinowski is most commonly associated with what theory?

Answer 49

Functionalism

Question 50

What theory is Claude-Lévi Strauss most commonly associated with?

Answer 50

French Structuralism

Question 51

Who is most commonly associated with the branch of Symbolic Anthropology?

Answer 51

Victor Turner, Mary Douglas

Question 52

Louis Lamphere was an advocate of which school of anthropology?

Answer 52

Feminist Anthropology

Question 53

Eric Wolf was the main advocate of which theories?

Answer 53

Political Economy/Ecology

Question 54

This anthropologist is most commonly connected to the anthropological branch known as “Historical Particularism”

Answer 54

Franz Boas