Final Exam Boiiii

Question 1

Fundamentally, marriage is

Answer 1

a socially approved sexual and economic union…usually between a woman and a man… intended to be permanent…and also involving obligations to the care of future children.

Question 2

What are some exceptions to the basic definition of marriage?

Answer 2

Same sex marriage

Divorce

Question 3

Why is female-male marriage virtually universal among all societies?

Answer 3

Humans can have babies all of the time. It effectively does the job of communicating who the baby is, and protecting and supporting that baby, if the father and the mother of the baby are married. It increases the chances of survival for the baby.

Question 4

How might the helplessness of all human babies play a role in this?

Answer 4

Marriage increases the chances of survival for the baby

Question 5

How do couples go about gaining social approval for their marriage?

Answer 5

Religious community and/or state or government approve of marriage through ceremonies such as a wedding.

Religious ceremony to give social recognition to the community (wedding)

Civil ceremony at city hall

Question 6

Ceremonies vs. other social signals

Answer 6

Other social signals include cohabitation

Wedding ring

Name change

Question 7

Economics of Marriage

Answer 7

Most societies involve explicit economic transactions before or after marriage.

In our society, they buy a ring, or buy a house.

Bride price / bride wealth is the most common form of exchange.

Question 8

What are other less common forms of economic exchange involved in marriage?

Answer 8

They include in this order:

Bride service - groom works for the bride’s family

Indirect dowry -given to brides father inseat of bride

Gift exchange

Dowry - brides family to the bride, groom, or couple

Exchange of females.

Question 9

What is the most basic marriage restriction universal to all societies?

Answer 9

Incest. You cannot marry inside your nuclear family. It is universal.

Question 10

What role does biology play in maintaining this universal taboo?

Answer 10

Can cause biological and social problems

Question 11

What are some other important factors societies use to determine who marries whom?

Answer 11

Economics

Class

Question 12

Arranged Marriages

Answer 12

part economics, part culture.

Still extremely important in some societies (not ours).

In arranged marriages, divorce is far less common.

In India, arranged marriages typically involves castes, like endogamy, where you only marry someone within your caste.

Question 13

Exogamy

Answer 13

basic rule of who you’re allowed to marry: outside of the group

Question 14

Endogamy

Answer 14

basic you marry inside the group, like inside a religion

Question 15

Monogamy

Answer 15

Two People get married (Most Common)

Question 16

Polygyny

Answer 16

Man marrying more than one wife (2nd most common)

Question 17

Polyandry

Answer 17

Woman marries more than one man (3rd most)

Question 18

Matrifocal

Answer 18

Mother heads the family, father plays a less important role

Question 19

What is religion?

Answer 19

“any set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices pertaining to supernatural power, whether that power be forces, gods, spirits, ghosts, or demons.”

Question 20

Universal Definition of Religion

Answer 20

Belief in supernatural power

Question 21

So given this anthropological definition of religion, what is a common element of all religious ideologies?

Answer 21

Supernatural power
or
“powers believed to be not human or not subject to [or above/superior to] the laws of nature.”

Question 22

Why not simply refer to this kind of power as “the supernatural”?

Answer 22

Because with that you are implying that the supernatural and jesus are the same thing. There is differences between religion. Look this answer up in the book.

Question 23

How long as religion been around for? How long has marriage been around for?

Answer 23

60,000 years

Religion is another pattern of culture that is universal to all societies in the present (as is marriage), with signs of religious belief going back at least 60,000 years as indicated by how some humans were buried at this time.

Question 24

What are some of the basic needs that religion may help different societies to satisfy?

Answer 24

The need to understand

The need to deal with anxiety and uncertainty

The need for community
Morality

Protection from the unknown

Question 25

What are the types of supernatural forces and beings found in different societies?

Answer 25

Impersonal supernatural forces can be divided into those containing a positive force (mana) which are therefore to be touched (The cross) and those things which are not to be touched or which are considered (taboo). In the forest people, menstrual blood has a positive force, because it is associated with life. Among the villagers, it is taboo.

Question 26

Supernatural beings include above all

Answer 26

1. gods, which are often anthropomorphized, or personified in the image of a person 2. spirits (non-human supernatural beings or entities usually considered less powerful than gods) 3. ghosts (once human supernatural beings) 4. ancestor spirits (also ghosts, but specifically of dead relatives) .

Question 27

How can the character of supernatural beings differ from society to society?

Answer 27

What about their structure or hierarchy – in other words, how many supernatural beings are there (different kinds?) and, what is their relationship to one another? So, what is the difference between Monotheism (one god) and polytheism(many god)? - Ancient Rome (Zeus, Athena). Many gods. Remember that these terms do not merely refer to the number of supernatural beings in a religion, but refer primarily to their hierarchy or relationship to one another.

Question 28

How powerful are the supernatural beings of a particular society?

Answer 28

Each society is different

Question 29

In other words, to what degree are they believed to intervene, are able to intervene, or are interested in intervening in human affairs?

Answer 29

In ancient Greece, they could intervene. Gods were recognized as powerful but they didn’t really care about people that much.

Question 30

What are the 2 basic different ways societies and their religions deal with life after death?

Answer 30

In Christianity, there is a huge huge emphasis on afterlife, like heaven. In Hindu, you are reincarnated, but not an afterlife like heaven. Some religions don’t even mention the afterlife. Focus is on this life.

Question 31

How does the way in which a society gets its food influence how it judges where you go after death?

Answer 31

If a society gets its food through agriculture, it is usually a judgmental society.

Question 32

What are the 2 basic ways members of different societies interact with what they consider the supernatural?

Answer 32

(Asking) Prayer – doesn’t involve influence | (Telling) Magic – what I do will directly influence the supernatural to do what I want it to do

Question 33

Are magic and prayer equally religious in nature? In other words, are they both parts of different religious belief systems? What does the title of chapter 15 suggest however?

Answer 33

Religion is belief in a higher power, and so is magic, so they are both equally religious in nature due to their beliefs in a higher power. Magic is a form of religious beliefs because you believe you can influence supernatural through magic just like prayer does for religion. Chapter 15’s title suggests otherwise.

Question 34

How does this (religion vs. magic) compare to scripture vs. myth?

Answer 34

Popularly, myth is assumed as not true | Scripture is assumed as true.

Question 35

What attitude (that we discussed earlier in the course) influences which words are used to describe belief in supernatural beings and forces of a particular society (influencing whether or not the term “religion” is used to describe all such beliefs and related practices)?

Answer 35

Ethnocentrism

Question 36

What do sorcery and witchcraft have in common as they are most often understood in different societies?

Answer 36

Associated with evil. Anthropologically, they both share commonality in that they are used with the intention to do harm.

Question 37

How are sorcery and witchcraft often differentiated?

Answer 37

Sorcery involves materials, objects, and medicines to invoke supernatural harm, Whereas witchcraft tends to achieve such harm through thought and intention alone.

Question 38

According to this distinction, how would you categorize “the evil eye” - a source of supernatural harm feared in many different societies from eastern Europe to the Middle East?

Answer 38

Witchcraft, yet it is more complicated than that. Generally has to do with entities or beings that are considered vulnerable, like babies.

Question 39

What different types of part time or full time religious practitioners are there in different societies?

Answer 39

Shaman – usually (but not always) male part-time specialist with high standing (prestige), often involved in healing Sorcerers and witches Mediums – usually female part-time practitioners who are asked to heal and divine while believed to be possessed by spirits (see divination) Priests – usually male full-time specialists who have high status and officiate at public events. How do people usually become priests in most societies? Divination - (Related to mediums) is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a querent should proceed by reading signs, events, or omens, or through alleged contact with a supernatural agency. Ex. Palm reading, Groundhog Day, praying to an oracle in 300

Question 40

Shaman

Answer 40

usually (but not always) male part-time specialist with high standing (prestige), often involved in healing

Question 41

Mediums

Answer 41

usually female part-time practitioners who are asked to heal and divine while believed to be possessed by spirits (see divination)

Question 42

Priests

Answer 42

usually male full-time specialists who have high status and officiate at public events. How do people usually become priests in most societies?

Question 43

Divination

Answer 43

- (Related to mediums) is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a querent should proceed by reading signs, events, or omens, or through alleged contact with a supernatural agency. Ex. Palm reading, Groundhog Day, praying to an oracle in 300

Question 44

From a functionalist perspective, is religion always adaptive?

Answer 44

No. The crusades

Question 45

Is it always adaptive for instance to not eat certain foods according to the religion of a particular society?

Answer 45

It is adaptive because it provides a sense of security. Life or is unknown, and due to religion, it provides security against the unknown. Also adaptive because of community.

Question 46

What is marriage? (Universal Definition)

Answer 46

Sexual and economic union that is socially recognized

Question 47

What is kinship?

Answer 47

Marital residence(where a couple lives after marriage) is a primary indicator or predictor of the types of kin groups (the structure of kinship) in a society and how people refer to/classify their kin (relatives). Way in which society keeps track of it’s family ties 375 million kidreds in the united states

Question 48

What different types or patterns of marital residence emerge from a society’s marital rules and restrictions of exogamy/endogamy?

Answer 48

Anthropologists have identified 5 patterns, 4 of which involve living with or near kin.

Question 49

Patrilocal residence

Answer 49

Son stays and daughter leaves. Married couple lives with or near husband's parents Patrilocal residence is by far the most common.

Question 50

Matrilocal residence

Answer 50

Daughter Stays and son leaves. Couple lives with or near wife's parents

Question 51

Bilocal residence

Answer 51

Either stays/leaves

Question 52

Unilineal Kinship

Answer 52

that is based on rules of descent/ancestry, that therefore leads to clear kin groups Most societies are organized in this way. One line. Unilineal kinship is the most common, even though it’s not the one we see every day.

Question 53

Bilateral Kinship

Answer 53

Bilateral kinship, that does not follow rules of descent, and therefore does not lead to clear kin groups. (America)

Question 54

How do these two patterns of unilineal kinship differ?

Answer 54

Patrilineal are defined by the father’s line. So when you’re born, you only belong to your father’s family, not your mother’s family. The most common form of unilineal kinship. In Matrilineal decent, the mother’s brother has authority over you (he’s the most senior male in the group.)

Question 55

What is Ambilineal descent?

Answer 55

Ambilineality is a system containing both unilineal descent groups, namely patrilineal and matrilineal, in which one belongs to one's father's and/or mother's descent group, or lineage. In traditional ambilineal cultures such as those listed below, the individual has the option of choosing their own lineage.

Question 56

Why does bilateral kinship have special significance for us?

Answer 56

It’s our form of kinship, it is what is dominant in the United States

Question 57

What does the term “bilateral” imply?

Answer 57

Does not have distinct kin groups | Implies people who you choose to be tied to

Question 58

What is a kindred?

Answer 58

It’s who cares for us. It is our family of choice

Question 59

Variations in decent systems:

Answer 59

``` Lineages – Clans - Phratries Moieties Combinations. ```

Question 60

Functions of descent groups:

Answer 60

``` Regulation of marriage Economics Politics Religion. Dowry Bride’s family gives a gift to the groom’s family (5th most common) ```

Question 61

When we say something is “political”, what are we talking about?

Answer 61

Power – the means to get what people need or want (which involves getting people to do what is needed or wanted, often by a society’s leadership in a stratified society)

Question 62

Society needs order to be able to function. So power, and therefore politics, is used to try to maintain order and reduce disorder.

Answer 62

This can be done in a number of ways.

Question 63

Power is used in every society to establish and maintain order.

Answer 63

So politics is universal. It is used in every society on the planet because every society needs order.

Question 64

Power is used to maintain order through:

Answer 64

Laws

Question 65

What makes a society’s politics cultural?

Answer 65

(A) How a society is politically organized (B) how the members of a society participate in that organization, and (C) how they use their power to resolve conflict between and within different political organizations.

Question 66

Are generally strongly influenced by

Answer 66

(1) how the society gets its food, (2) how the society exchanges goods and services (economics), and (3) how (to what degree) access to the society’s resources is different for different groups (stratification).

Question 67

How is the political life/culture of people organized differently from society to society?

Answer 67

``` Each territorially defined or bounded society varies or is ordered in a different way depending directly on 2 things. What are they? 1. its level or degree of political integration – the largest political group on whose behalf political activities are organized 2. the level or degree to which political authority (power) is centralized or concentrated in the integrated group (degree of political centralization or concentration of power in the group – whether power is distributed evenly/in an equal/egalitarian manner at one end of the political spectrum/continuum or power is centralized/concentrated in the hands of an individual or sub-group – class of people with differential access to advantages, such as power – at the other end of the political continuum) ```

Question 68

What are the different points on this continuum of political organization (identified by Elman Service to help us categorize different societies according to the way they organize their political lives/cultures)?

Answer 68

``` Start with the 2 extreme points along this continuum, and then identify the 2 other intermediate points of political integration and concentration of power. Points or Types of Political Organization along the Continuum of Degrees of Integration and Concentration of Power: 1. Band a. They don’t have a leader 2. Tribe a. Includes more than one group 3. Chiefdom 4. State ```

Question 69

First, what is its highest level of political integration?

Answer 69

Dictatorship

Question 70

Which point along the continuum of political organization is now most common?

Answer 70

States

Question 71

Where are the Forest people? What do they call themselves?

Answer 71

Congo, Central Africa. Iteri? Rainforest | Call themselves the BaMbuti

Question 72

In other words, if you go to the Ituri rain forest region of the Congo river basin in central Africa, how can you tell if a person you meet is a person of the forest (not just literally in the forest region)?

Answer 72

Their culture

Question 73

Based on your reading of Colin Turnbull’s ethnography of the BaMbuti of the Ituri rain forest, what is their relationship with the people of the village?

Answer 73

People of the village are afraid of the forest, afraid of the unknown. They associate negative supernatural powers to the forest and feel they are not protected. People of the village grow their food.

Question 74

In other words, what do the BaMbuti have to do with the villagers?

Answer 74

Economics

Question 75

What is the nkumbi?

Answer 75

Villagers own this ritual, but the forest people go as well. Right of passage into manhood. Forest people participate for trade considerations and to be accepted amongst the village

Question 76

What is more important to the BaMbuti ritual behavior (following rituals precisely and regularly) or one’s thoughts and feelings?

Answer 76

Feelings

Question 77

What is the elima?

Answer 77

For both cultures, it’s a right of passage for girls. Starts at the arrival of the girl’s first period. For boys, ROP goes by age.

Question 78

What functions does the molimo serve?

Answer 78

It makes the forest happy. Want to keep the villagers out of the forest, so they pretend the molimo is a huge beast/demon, so they sing the songs of the molimo to frighten the villagers.

Question 79

Forest people are

Answer 79

An egalitarian society. Women have more say than they would in any other society.

Question 80

Neolocal residence

Answer 80

Both son and daughter leave, married couples live apart from the relatives of both spouses

Question 81

Lineage

Answer 81

set of kin whose members trace decent through a common ancestor

Question 82

Clan

Answer 82

Set of kin whose members believe themselves to be from a common ancestor, but the links are not specified.

Question 83

Phraties

Answer 83

Unilineal descent group composed of supposedly related clans or sibs

Question 84

Moieties

Answer 84

When a whole society is divided into two unilineal descent groups. (half)

Question 85

Band

Answer 85

Fairly small nomadic groups of people, less than 100 people | hunter gatherer. egalitarian

Question 86

State

Answer 86

Autonomous political unit, encompassing many communities, centralized government with the power to collect taxes, draft laws

Question 87

Tribe

Answer 87

Egalitarian, food producers with higher pop density more sedentary.

Question 88

Chiefdom

Answer 88

Formal authority structures Perm lifestyle Social rankings