Although the incest taboo is a cultural universal, cultures define incest differently. For example, in many cultures it is incestuous to marry parallel cousins but not cross cousins. What is the difference?
A. The children of two brothers or two sisters are parallel cousins. The children of a brother and a sister are cross cousins.
B. Parallel cousins are socially recognized relatives, but cross cousins are true biological cousins.
C. The children of a brother and a sister are parallel cousins. The children of two brothers or two sisters are cross cousins.
D. Parallel cousins are true biological cousins, whereas cross cousins are simply socially recognized relatives.
E. There is no symbolic difference between the two, only a biological difference.
Question 2
Why does exogamy, the practice of seeking a husband or wife outside one's own kin group, have adaptive value outside of biological concerns?
A. It increases the likelihood that disadvantageous alleles will find phenotypic expression and thus be eliminated from the population.
B. It creates new social ties and alliances, providing access to more resources and social networks.
C. It impedes peaceful relations among social groups and therefore promotes population expansion.
D. It was an important causal factor in the origin of social stratification.
E. Exogamy is not adaptive; it is just a cultural construction.
One of the cultural privileges of being white in the United States is less suspicion of wrongdoing.
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