BSocSc Bachelor of Social Science Bachelor of Social Science Anthropology 4

Question 1

Which theoretical approach in anthropology argues that cultural practices exist to fulfill basic biological and psychological human needs?

Accepted Answer

Malinowski's functionalism

Answer

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:

Accepted Answer

The insider's perspective—how members of a culture understand their own practices

Answer

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?

Accepted Answer

Non-financial social assets such as education, knowledge, and tastes that confer social advantage

Answer

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?

Accepted Answer

The seasonal movement of pastoralists and their herds between different ecological zones

Answer

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?

Accepted Answer

Modern humans originated in Africa and dispersed from there to populate the rest of the world

Answer

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.

BSocSc Bachelor of Social Science Practice Test

BSocSc Bachelor of Social Science Practice Test

BSocSc Bachelor of Social Science Bachelor of Social Science Anthropology 4