Anthropology and Contemporary Human Problems Study Guide
Anthro 201-Intro to Social Anthropology
Prof. Ward, Fall 2013
Study Questions: Anthropology & Contemporary Human Problems 6th Edition by John H. Bodley
Chapter 1: Anthropological Perspectives on Contemporary Human Problems
1. Who is Franz Boas? What does this quote mean? What problems confront us today?
2. What do we mean by ‘progress’? Is human cultural evolution progress?
3. What human system of adaptation do we live in today?
4. What changes in our society have dramatically intensified the problems created by earlier developments?
5. What does Bodley mean by “reduced the resilience of both human and natural systems”?
6. What was the 2010 UN estimate of the number of people living in ‘multidimensional poverty,’ formerly ‘abject poverty’? What is ‘multidimensional poverty’?
7. What did the World Wildlife Fund for Nature estimate?
8. What is a major cause of global warming?
9. According to Bodley, what has become a ‘mega-problem’ in human societies?
10. What does Bodley mean by “these are social-organizational and cultural-perception problems that will not be solved by further technological intensification”?
11. How did tribal people organize their cultural worlds?
12. What is the crucial point of this small-scale society?
13. What do we need to do in order to restore social and environmental sustainability?
Nature and the Scope of the Problem
14. Given human nature, what will individuals do to advance their self-interest?
15. What and when were the major technological innovations created that made the material infrastructure of the 20th century possible?
16. What innovations have occurred since that time?
17. How long did the Paleolithic era last, and what was the form of human adaptation to the environment?
18. How does Bodley define ‘culture’? (page 4)
19. What is the focus of ‘humanization’? What are the requirements of humanization?
20. What two cultural processes superseded humanization?
21.
Prof. Ward, Fall 2013
Study Questions: Anthropology & Contemporary Human Problems 6th Edition by John H. Bodley
Chapter 1: Anthropological Perspectives on Contemporary Human Problems
1. Who is Franz Boas? What does this quote mean? What problems confront us today?
2. What do we mean by ‘progress’? Is human cultural evolution progress?
3. What human system of adaptation do we live in today?
4. What changes in our society have dramatically intensified the problems created by earlier developments?
5. What does Bodley mean by “reduced the resilience of both human and natural systems”?
6. What was the 2010 UN estimate of the number of people living in ‘multidimensional poverty,’ formerly ‘abject poverty’? What is ‘multidimensional poverty’?
7. What did the World Wildlife Fund for Nature estimate?
8. What is a major cause of global warming?
9. According to Bodley, what has become a ‘mega-problem’ in human societies?
10. What does Bodley mean by “these are social-organizational and cultural-perception problems that will not be solved by further technological intensification”?
11. How did tribal people organize their cultural worlds?
12. What is the crucial point of this small-scale society?
13. What do we need to do in order to restore social and environmental sustainability?
Nature and the Scope of the Problem
14. Given human nature, what will individuals do to advance their self-interest?
15. What and when were the major technological innovations created that made the material infrastructure of the 20th century possible?
16. What innovations have occurred since that time?
17. How long did the Paleolithic era last, and what was the form of human adaptation to the environment?
18. How does Bodley define ‘culture’? (page 4)
19. What is the focus of ‘humanization’? What are the requirements of humanization?
20. What two cultural processes superseded humanization?
21.