Anthropology Chapter 10

1. Understanding kinship systems is an important part of anthropology because A. it provides an objective, universal perspective on how people are related to one another. B. kinship ties are important to the people anthropologists study; they are a key component of people's everyday social relations. C. the study of kinship is part of the anthropological tradition established by the field's pioneers. D. kinship ties are what triggered the split between the hominin line and the rest of the primates and is thus the defining aspect of our humanity. E. it is the only aspect of anthropological study that the general public cares about.

2. Which term refers to the family in which a child is raised? A. family of procreation B. family of orientation C. family of nucleation D. genealogical family E. family of kin

3. Traditionally, in some areas of the former Yugoslavia, several nuclear families were embedded in an extended family household called a zadruga. Among the Nayar in southern India, it was typical for people to live in matrilineal extended family compounds called tarawads. Descriptions of these two culturally specific cases highlight how A. children who grow up in stable kin groups are better off than those who don't. B. the nuclear family is the only stable kin group arrangement. C. nuclear families are extremely rare in terms of living arrangements. D. extended family households are an adaptive strategy to dealing with extreme poverty. E. there are many alternatives to the nuclear family.

4. What is the name of the postmarital residence pattern in which the married couple is expected to establish their own home? A. neolocality B. patrilocality C. matrilocality D. ambilocality E. uxorilocality

5. What is the most common system of kinship classification used in the United States? A. bifurcate merging B. lineal C. bifurcate collateral D. generational E. patrilineal

6. In North America, the relatively high incidence of expanded family households in the lower class is A. the reason the families of lower-class urbanites are dysfunctional. B. an important strategy used by the urban poor to adapt to poverty. C. maladaptive, since poor families should be smaller in order to cut down on expenses. D. caused by bifurcate merging, a practice brought to the United States by Irish immigrants during the early part of the 20th century. E. the result of enduring cultural ties to Europe.

7. Although the nuclear family remains a cultural ideal for many Americans, nuclear families accounted for barely 20 percent of American households in 2015. In fact, other domestic arrangements outnumber the traditional U.S. household five to one. All of the following are among the reasons for this trend EXCEPT that A. women are increasingly joining men in the workforce. B. job demands compete with romantic attachments. C. divorce rates have risen. D. it is increasingly economically feasible for women to delay marriage and yet live away from their family of orientation. E. contrary to expectations, the importance of kinship is growing in contemporary nations.

8. In Arembepe, Brazil, a degree of community solidarity was promoted by the myth that everyone was kin. However, social solidarity was actually much less developed in Arembepe than in societies with clans and lineages. Why? A. Intense social solidarity requires not a myth but a biologically grounded genealogy that shows people's actual relatedness. B. Arembepeiros who became successful were bound by social obligation to share their wealth. This powerful leveling mechanism worked against social solidarity. C. In societies with clans and lineages, social solidarity is much more developed, because they have more elaborate kinship rituals than Arembepeiros do. D. Intense social solidarity is possible only in societies having homogeneous ancestry. In Arembepe, high ethnic diversity weakens kinship ties. E. Intense social solidarity demands that some people be excluded. By asserting they were all related—that is, by excluding no one—Arembepeiros were actually weakening kinship's potential strength in creating and maintaining group solidarity.

9. Contemporary North American adults usually define their families as consisting of their husbands or wives and their children. In contrast, when middle-class Brazilians talk about their families, they mean their parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and on, down to their children. They rarely mention the spouse. Which of the following is among the reasons for this stark cultural contrast? A. Brazilians readily incorporate strangers into their social worlds. B. North Americans value independence over their family. C. North Americans have more choices about where they can live, and they have chosen to live away from their relatives. D. Brazilians live in a less mobile society and so stay in closer contact with their relatives, including members of their extended family, than do North Americans. E. Brazilians have purely economic relationships with their spouses.

10. What are the two basic social units of foraging societies? A. the band and the clan B. the lineage and the nuclear family C. the extended family and the clan D. the nuclear family and the band E. the band and the extended family

11. A unilineal descent group whose members demonstrate their common descent from an apical ancestor is a(n) A. clan. B. lineage. C. extended family. D. family of procreation. E. family of orientation.

12. What term refers to the kind of descent in which people choose the descent group that they join? A. neolineal B. patrilineal C. ambilineal D. matrilineal E. bilineal

13. What postmarital residence rule is most often found in societies with lineal kinship terminologies? A. ambilocal B. neolocal C. patrilocal D. matrilocal E. bilocal

14. Anthropologists are interested in kinship calculation, which is A. the position from which one views an egocentric genealogy. B. the rules people use to determine their ethnic affiliation to a group. C. the process by which people choose their postmarital residence. D. the system by which people in a society reckon their kin relationships. E. people's emic perspective on family values.

15. What does it mean that kinship, like race, is culturally constructed? A. The educational system is failing to educate people about real, biologically-based human relatedness. B. Like race, kinship is a social fiction, with no real social consequence. C. It is a phenomenon separated from other real aspects of society, such as economics and politics. D. Studies of kinship tell us little about people's actual experiences, only about what they think those experiences are like. E. Some genealogical kin are considered to be relatives whereas others are not, and the rules underlying such considerations vary across cultures.

16. The Barí of Venezuela recognize multiple fathers, even though biologically there can be only one actual genitor. This example shows A. that women have a better understanding of biological processes than do men. B. that like race and gender, kinship is culturally constructed. C. cultures' explanations for biological processes vary because the access and quality of educational systems vary as well. D. how, as in the United States, having more than one father is detrimental to a child's development and adjustment in society. E. that multiple (partible) paternity is a common and beneficial biological fact.

17. What does ego represent in a depiction of a kinship system? A. the sense of distinct individuality that is present in any society B. the emotional attachment felt by the people who use the system C. the point of reference used to determine which kin terms go where D. the boundary between one's kin group and outsiders E. a gender-free way of reckoning kinship

18. What kind of kinship is most common in the contemporary United States? A. matrilateral kinship B. bilateral kinship C. patrilateral kinship D. collateral kinship E. generational kinship

19. Anthropologists distinguish between kin terms and genealogical kin types. What is the difference? A. Kin terms refers to the actual genealogical relationship; genealogical kin types are the words used for different relatives in a particular culture. B. The difference is only a methodological one—in practice, they are the same thing. C. Kin terms are the words used for different relatives in a particular language, but genealogical kin types refers to the actual genealogical relationship. D. Kin terms are the words used for socially constructed relationships, whereas genealogical kin types refers to relatives. E. Kin terms are the terms used for different relatives from the ego's perspective, whereas genealogical kin types refers to objective relatives from no perspective in particular.

20. In what kind of kinship calculation are kin ties traced equally through males and females? A. bilineal B. bifurcate merging C. bifurcate collateral D. bilateral E. biluminous

21. Kinship terminology is a classification system, a taxonomy or typology. More generally, a taxonomic system A. is based on how people perceive similarities and differences in the things being classified. B. is accurate only when based on Western science. C. is based on categories given by nature. D. usually changes with every generation. E. applies best to nonliving things.

22. What makes up ego's nuclear family of orientation? A. parents and siblings B. spouse and offspring C. extended family D. lineal kin E. collateral kin

23. A lineal kinship terminology A. is generally found in societies with patrilineal descent rules. B. uses two terms to identify ego's parents' siblings: one term for both FZ and MZ and another term for both FB and MB. C. is often found in association with the distinction between parallel and cross cousins. D. stresses relationships with collaterals. E. uses the same term to refer to M and MZ.

24. Which of the following kin types is NOT ego's lineal relative? A. M B. B C. MM D. F E. FF

25. In a lineal system of kinship terminology, which of the following pairs would be referred to by the same term? A. M and FZ B. M and MZ C. FB and MB D. FB and FZ E. F and FB

26. Which of the following does NOT belong to ego's matrilineage? A. FM B. B C. ZS D. MB E. M

27. In a bifurcate merging kinship terminology, what is merged? A. same-sex siblings of each parent B. members of the family of orientation and those of the family of procreation C. affinal relatives and collateral relatives D. affinal relatives and lineal relatives E. lineal relatives and offspring

28. In a bifurcate merging kinship system, which of the following would be referred to by the same term? A. F and MB B. M and MZ C. MB and FB D. FZ and MZ E. JR and BJ

29. Which of the following statements about bifurcate merging kinship terminologies is NOT true? A. They generally are found in societies with unilineal descent. B. They use the same term to describe F and FB and the same term for M and MZ. C. They generally are found in societies with unilocal residence patterns. D. They are often found in societies with descent groups. E. They use the same term to describe MB and FB.

30. Like bifurcate merging kinship terminology, generational kinship terminology A. is common in North America. B. makes sense only from the perspective of ego. C. illustrates the complicated ways in which adults confuse their children about the realities of biology. D. uses the same term for parents and their siblings, but lumping is more complete (there are only two terms for the parental generation). E. uses the same term for parents and grandparents, so there is less lumping than in the bifurcate merging kinship system.

31. According to genealogical kin types used by anthropologists to study kinship relations, what kind of relative is ego's mother's brother? A. lineal relative B. affinal relative C. collateral relative D. nuclear family member E. member of the P2 generation

True or False 32. Like race, kinship is a cultural construction, in that it exhibits considerable cultural diversity.

True or False 33. Your family of procreation is the one into which you were born.

True or False 34. Although nuclear families are found in many societies around the world, this phenomenon is not a cultural universal.

True or False 35. The higher proportion of expanded family households among poorer Americans has been explained as an adaptation to poverty.

True or False 36. After reaching an all-time low for the 20th century in the 1970s, the nuclear family is now making a rebound, accounting for a greater number of U.S. households each year.

True or False 37. Recent census data reveal that more U.S. women are now living without a husband than with one.

True or False 38. Industrialization increases mobility, which plays a major role in the disappearance of extended families in the United States.

True or False 39. Comparing notions of family between the United States and Brazil, the extended family still plays a central role for most Brazilians.

True or False 40. A descent group consists only of a married couple and their children.

True or False 41. With patrilineal descent, someone takes his or her father's last name but recognizes descent through both parents.

True or False 42. In unilineal descent, one's ancestry is traced through only one line of descent.

True or False 43. Members of a clan say they are descended from a common apical ancestor.

True or False 44. Neolocal postmarital residence rules require newly married couples to establish their own residence.

True or False 45. U.S. kinship calculation is bilateral, traced equally through males and females; for example, father and mother.

True or False 46. Outside North America, Western Europe, and the European-derived cultures of Latin America, neolocal residence isn't all that common.

True or False 47. A nuclear family includes ego, ego's parents, and ego's grandparents.

True or False 48. The most common postmarital residence rule is matrilocality, in which the married couple moves in with the husband's family.

True or False 49. With unilineal descent, one's lineage affiliation is ascribed at birth, but with ambilineal descent, lineage affiliation is more fluid, because each member chooses his or her own descent group.

True or False 50. Members of a clan do not try to demonstrate specific genealogical links; rather, they just stipulate their common ancestry and descent.

True or False 51. A bifurcate merging kinship terminology distinguishes between collateral and lineal relatives.

True or False 52. Between 1970 and 2015 the number of divorced Americans increased sixfold.