Practice Test - Kaplan's Critique of the Affluent Society Thesis
Practice test on Kaplan's critique, evidence, and methodological concerns in the indexed Week 2 reading.
5 questions · pass mark 50% · try 5 free
1 What is Kaplan mainly criticizing?
- All anthropological research on hunter-gatherers
- The idea that agriculture existed before foraging
- The evidentiary and conceptual strength of the original affluent society thesis
- The use of ethnography in anthropology
Kaplan targets the strength of the evidence and the broad conceptual claims supporting the affluent society thesis.
2 Which studies does Kaplan identify as especially important to the original formulation of hunter-gatherer affluence?
Select all that apply
- McCarthy and McArthur in Arnhem Land
- Richard Lee's study of the !Kung
- Bronislaw Malinowski's Trobriand research
- Margaret Mead's Samoa study
Kaplan says the original formulation leaned heavily on the Arnhem Land study and Lee's !Kung time-allocation research.
3 Kaplan argues that the affluent society thesis has been rejected by most anthropologists.
- True
- False
Kaplan says the thesis has shown strong staying power and remains widely accepted despite criticism.
4 What newer stereotype does Kaplan say emerged in place of the older negative stereotype?
- The warlike nomad
- The happy-go-lucky affluent hunter-gatherer
- The industrial primitive
- The isolated ecological refugee
Kaplan warns that the old image of misery was replaced by a romanticized image of the carefree affluent forager.
5 Kaplan's critique depends entirely on claiming that hunter-gatherers never had leisure or adequate nutrition.
- True
- False
His critique is broader: he argues against overgeneralization and against treating selective cases as universal proof.