BSocSc Bachelor of Social Science Bachelor of Social Science Anthropology 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which theoretical approach in anthropology argues that cultural practices exist to fulfill basic biological and psychological human needs?
- Structural functionalism
- Malinowski's functionalism (Correct answer)
- Cultural evolutionism
- Historical particularism
Correct answer: Malinowski's functionalism
Malinowski's functionalism held that every cultural institution serves to meet fundamental needs such as nutrition, reproduction, safety, and social integration.
Question 2: The 'emic' perspective in anthropological research refers to:
- The researcher's own analytical framework applied to a culture
- The insider's perspective—how members of a culture understand their own practices (Correct answer)
- A quantitative method of coding cultural behaviors
- Cross-cultural comparison using standardized categories
Correct answer: The insider's perspective—how members of a culture understand their own practices
The emic perspective captures meanings and categories as defined by cultural insiders, contrasting with the etic perspective that uses external analytical categories.
Question 3: What does 'cultural capital' mean in the anthropological/sociological sense, following Pierre Bourdieu?
- The total monetary value of a culture's material artifacts
- Non-financial social assets such as education, knowledge, and tastes that confer social advantage (Correct answer)
- The physical infrastructure that supports cultural institutions
- Government funding allocated to cultural preservation programs
Correct answer: Non-financial social assets such as education, knowledge, and tastes that confer social advantage
Bourdieu's cultural capital refers to accumulated knowledge, skills, and dispositions that provide social advantages and reproduce class inequalities.
Question 4: Which of the following best describes 'transhumance' as studied by ecological anthropologists?
- A form of slash-and-burn agriculture in tropical rainforests
- The seasonal movement of pastoralists and their herds between different ecological zones (Correct answer)
- Migration of entire communities in response to warfare
- The ritual movement of sacred objects between villages
Correct answer: The seasonal movement of pastoralists and their herds between different ecological zones
Transhumance is a seasonal migration strategy in which pastoralists move livestock between highland summer pastures and lowland winter pastures.
Question 5: In evolutionary anthropology, what does the 'out of Africa' hypothesis propose?
- Homo sapiens evolved simultaneously in multiple regions of the world
- Modern humans originated in Africa and dispersed from there to populate the rest of the world (Correct answer)
- Early hominins migrated from Asia to Africa before evolving into modern humans
- Neanderthals were the direct ancestors of modern Europeans
Correct answer: Modern humans originated in Africa and dispersed from there to populate the rest of the world
The out of Africa model, supported by genetic and fossil evidence, holds that anatomically modern Homo sapiens evolved in Africa roughly 300,000 years ago and then spread globally.
Question 6: What is the primary focus of 'medical anthropology'?
- Training anthropologists to practice clinical medicine in underserved areas
- Examining how cultural, social, and political factors shape health, illness, and healing (Correct answer)
- Developing pharmaceutical drugs using traditional plant knowledge
- Applying forensic techniques to identify skeletal remains
Correct answer: Examining how cultural, social, and political factors shape health, illness, and healing
Medical anthropology studies the cultural and social dimensions of health and disease, including how illness is defined, experienced, and treated across cultures.
Question 7: What distinguishes 'achieved status' from 'ascribed status' in social anthropology?
- Achieved status is inherited at birth; ascribed status is earned through merit
- Achieved status is earned through individual effort; ascribed status is assigned at birth regardless of effort (Correct answer)
- Achieved status refers to economic class; ascribed status refers to political rank
- There is no meaningful distinction—both terms describe fixed social positions
Correct answer: Achieved status is earned through individual effort; ascribed status is assigned at birth regardless of effort
Ascribed statuses (such as sex, caste, or race) are assigned at birth, while achieved statuses (such as occupation or educational level) are attained through individual action.
BSocSc Bachelor of Social Science Bachelor of Social Science Anthropology 4
Which theoretical approach in anthropology argues that cultural practices exist to fulfill basic biological and psychological human needs?