Question

How is it possible that every man has a very good chance of obtaining a wife?

• A. Because the number of female births is double that of males
• B. Because every man has the right to choose any one for marriage
• C. Because there is biological equilibrium between male and female births
• D. Because every woman has the right to choose any male as her mate
• A. Because he was a bachelor
• B. Because he was a widower after child marriage
• C. Because he was an orphan
• D. Because he was hated by one of the family members
• A. Erotic
• B. Social status
• C. Hedonistic
• D. Economic
• A. Some members prefer to be celibate
• B. The securing of two, three or four wives by one or two important persons in a band
• C. Women do not want to marry them because of their poverty
• D. Their parents forced them to be celibate
• A. Young bachelors
• B. Married lay men
• C. All men both married and unmarried
• D. Headman

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Concept:
Demographic anthropology and kinship theory evaluate sex ratios at birth and their impact on marriage systems and spousal availability.
Natural primary sex ratios maintain an approximately equal proportion between males and females in human populations.
This question asks for the demographic foundation cited in the text that gives every man a chance to obtain a wife.

Step 1: Locating Direct Passage Evidence:
The opening sentences of the text state:
"There is a biological equilibrium between male and female births. Consequently, every male should have a very good chance of obtaining a wife."

Step 2: Evaluating the Options:
1. Option (C) is correct: The text explicitly explains that the biological equilibrium (roughly $1:1$ sex ratio) between male and female births naturally affords every man an equal demographic probability of finding a spouse.
2. Options (A, B, D): These statements are factually incorrect and unsupported by the passage.

Step 3: Final Answer:
The biological equilibrium between male and female births provides every man a good chance of obtaining a wife.
Therefore, Option (C) is the correct answer.

Answer 2

Concept:
In foraging societies with strict gender divisions of labor, marriage functions as an essential economic survival alliance between food-gathering females and hunting males.
Unmarried individuals often suffer severe economic deprivation and marginalization due to the lack of a complementary domestic food-sharing partner.
This question asks why the young man observed in the Brazilian village was neglected and treated poorly.

Step 1: Locating Textual Reference in the Passage:
The passage narrates:
"When the family meals began, he would go hungry unless a female relative set a little food at his side. The reason for this treatment was 'He is a bachelor.'"'

Step 2: Anthropological Context:
Among the Nambikwara, women's gathering provides the primary stable daily caloric intake.
A bachelor has no wife to gather fruits, roots, and vegetables for him; consequently, following unsuccessful hunting expeditions, he is left without guaranteed food and is treated with dejection solely because of his unmarried bachelor status.

Step 3: Final Answer:
The young man was ill-treated because he was a bachelor.
Thus, Option (A) is the correct answer.

Answer 3

Concept:
In structural and economic anthropology (prominently articulated by Claude Lévi-Strauss in The Elementary Structures of Kinship and Tristes Tropiques, the source of this passage), marriage is fundamentally an economic partnership rather than merely a romantic or erotic union.
This question asks for the primary function and importance of marriage highlighted by the author.

Step 1: Locating Textual Evidence in the Passage:
The author explicitly writes:
"In primitive societies, marriage is of an entirely different importance, not erotic, but economic."

Step 2: Explaining the Economic Dimension of Marriage:
In simple foraging societies, survival depends entirely on the complementary sexual division of labor—men hunt game and fish, while women collect plant foods and cook.
Neither sex can sustain complete domestic self-sufficiency alone.
Thus, marriage is an indispensable economic institution securing daily food distribution and mutual survival.

Step 3: Final Answer:
According to the author, the primary importance of marriage in primitive societies is economic.
Therefore, Option (D) is the correct choice.

Answer 4

Concept:
Polygyny practiced in small, demographically balanced bands artificially creates an acute structural shortage of available marriageable females.
When powerful leaders monopolize multiple wives, other males in the group are left without spouses, forcing them into involuntary celibacy.
This question asks what causes certain band members to remain celibate according to the passage.

Step 1: Locating Textual Evidence in the Passage:
The passage states:
"The securing of two, three or four wives by one or two important persons in a band of less than twenty people compels their companions to be celibate. This privilege by itself is sufficient to upset the natural equilibrium of the sexes."

Step 2: Evaluating the Options:
1. Option (B) is correct: Monopolization of multiple women by one or two high-status individuals (e.g., the headman) depletes the pool of marriageable women in a small band, forcing other men into celibacy.
2. Options (A, C, D): Celibacy in this society is not a voluntary ascetic preference, nor the result of parental force or monetary poverty.

Step 3: Final Answer:
Band members are compelled to be celibate because important persons secure two, three, or four wives for themselves.
Thus, Option (B) is the correct choice.

Answer 5

Concept:
In political and kinship anthropology, leadership in acephalous or band societies is often sustained through specific socio-cultural privileges.
Among certain South American indigenous bands, the institution of chieftainship is uniquely reinforced through permitted polygyny.
This question asks who among the Nambikwara is sanctioned to practice polygamy according to the passage.

Step 1: Locating Textual Evidence in the Passage:
The text explicitly states:
"The Nambikwara, semi-nomads of western Brazil, who live by collecting and gathering, sanction polygamy for their headmen."

Step 2: Anthropological Context:
Claude Lévi-Strauss observed among the Nambikwara that while the general population practiced monogamy, the village headman was granted the exclusive privilege of polygyny (multiple wives).
Having multiple wives provided the chief with extra female gathering labor and domestic assistance needed to fulfill his political obligations of hospitality, gift-giving, and band leadership.

Step 3: Final Answer:
The Nambikwara sanction polygamy specifically for their headman.
Therefore, Option (D) is the correct answer.