Deck 17: Social Change

Question 1

Social change can result from ________, which is the adoption of an innovation by a society that did not create it.

Answer 1

diffusion

Question 2

Auguste Comte, the first person to call himself a sociologist, identified three stages that he believed all societies go through: the ________, metaphysical, and scientific or positive stages.

Answer 2

theological

Question 3

Proponents of the social approach to change called ________ maintain that material (usually economic) factors are the engine of change, while non-material phenomena are considered much less important influences.

Answer 3

historical materialism

Question 4

The ________, as defined by Weber, refers to the organization that has a monopoly on the legitimate use of force.

Question 5

For Durkheim there was always the possibility that ________ solidarity, a solidarity based on the complementarity or interdependence of occupational positions, would hold modern societies together and lead to social progress.

Question 6

________ coined the term "survival of the fittest" and popularized the term "evolution."

A) Charles Darwin
B) Herbert Spencer
C) Karl Marx
D) Nolan Lenski
E) None of the above

Question 7

Sociologists use the term ________ to describe the process of adaptation, where parts of a culture catch up with other parts.

Question 8

Herbert Spencer argued that human species ________ from small disjointed, undifferentiated groups of people into larger entities composed of heterogeneous, interdependent parts in a manner analogous to the way in which biological organisms develop from single cells into complex organic systems.

Question 9

________, which means "society" or "association" describes the social situation that Tönnies believed characterizes large cities once capitalist development has taken place.

Question 10

An important change in farming societies following the invention of the plough was:

A) Calvinism
B) feudalism
C) structured religious organizations
D) decline in the status of women
E) monogamous marriages

Question 11

Fukuyama, a functionalist thinker, coined the term ________ to describe a number of significant social changes that became evident in the mid-1960s and radically transformed Western industrialized countries in the decades that followed..

Question 12

The ecological-evolutionary theory maintains that a society is profoundly influenced by its ________ technology.

Question 13

The American and French Revolutions, inspired in part by ________ philosophies, challenged the right of hereditary monarchs to rule over their subjects and championed a belief in social equality.

Question 14

Revolution is said to arise primarily through ________ conflict.

Question 15

________ is the control or exploitation of one society by another, usually by conquest.

Question 16

Some of the foundations of modern thinking can be traced to the developments of the eighteenth century. This was the century of ________ wherein many of the doctrines of the agrarian age were challenged, especially those relating to the forms of domination prevalent at the time.

A) Imperialism
B) Skepticism
C) Revolution
D) Evolution
E) Enlightenment

Question 17

According to the ________ theory of modernization, the reason why some countries have become wealthy and others have not is because the state thwarted development in the latter.

Question 18

According to the text, the advent of metal weapons contributed to what kind of domination?

A) indigenous
B) forager
C) feudalism
D) imperialism
E) monarchy

Question 19

All BUT which one of the following statements is true for farming societies?

A) often had a sustained economic surplus
B) shared key resources among the entire group
C) early farming societies exhibited the beginning of social stratification in material possessions
D) religious beliefs and ideologies were used to reinforce state legitimacy
E) women maintained their high status in horticultural farming societies

Question 20

________ societies were the first to create a sustained economic surplus, which in turn gave rise to the issue of who would have access to the surplus, an issue that remains with us today.

Question 21

The term referring to the old agrarian social setting in which people lived in small communities or villages close to their kin and friends, knew their neighbours well, and generally felt a sense of belonging and interdependence is:

A) Gesellschaft
B) Gemeinschaft
C) organic solidarity
D) pre-modern solidarity
E) none of the above

Question 22

Describe how the conflict and functionalist theories each explain how social change has come about. As a sociologist, what types of questions should you ask when thinking about a change in any society? Can these theories be applied together?

Question 23

What was the Enlightenment, and how did it help usher in the modern era?

Question 24

The ________ approach to social change, which maintains that change often has its origins in social conflict of some kind, is a fruitful perspective for understanding change in Canadian society.

A) war
B) conquest
C) conflict
D) independent
E) absolute

Question 25

Marx and Engels stated that "two hostile camps", ________ and ________ would be present in modern capitalist societies:

A) the polarized poor; the polarized rich
B) capitalists; socialist
C) the white collar; the blue collar
D) the bourgeoisie; the proletariat
E) the aristocracy; the proletariat

Question 26

Which of the following statements regarding postmaterialism is NOT true?

A) emphasizes self-expression
B) emphasizes participation in decision-making
C) postmaterialists tend to feel economically secure
D) postmaterialists tend to feel physically secure
E) rejects material well-being

Question 27

How does historical materialism attempt to explain social change?

Question 28

How does the state theory of modernization explain social change?

Question 29

The theory which maintains that societies are profoundly influenced by their bio-physical and social environments, and that the characteristics of a society are strongly affected by its subsistence technology, is referred to as:

A) patriotic-evolutionary
B) resurgence-evolutionary
C) ecological-evolutionary
D) contemporary-evolutionary
E) biological-evolutionary

Question 30

The condition in which there are formalized procedures that give individual actors a measure of predictability in the outcomes of their actions is known as:

A) rationalization
B) expansion
C) communication
D) dialectics
E) deception

Question 31

Which of the following statements describing the differences between horticultural and hunting and gathering societies is NOT true?

A) horticultural societies had larger populations
B) hunting and gathering societies had less material possessions
C) horticultural societies had greater social stratification
D) hunting and gathering societies had a greater propensity to engage in warfare
E) horticultural societies were more likely to be matrilineal

Question 32

Social change resulting from the adoption of an innovation by a society that did not create it, is known as:

A) evolution
B) mutation
C) diffusion
D) migration
E) social drift

Question 33

The approach which Marx and Engels take is ________; that is, for every thesis there is, built into it, its own antithesis or transformation.

A) revolutionary
B) reconstituted
C) dialectical
D) capitalist
E) fluid

Question 34

Biological evolution produces an increasing number of highly differentiated life forms while social evolution results in:

A) extinction
B) fewer, more similar societies
C) subsistence societies
D) supplemental regimes
E) matrilineal societies

Question 35

Which of the following statements regarding Marx and Engels explanation of 'culture' as applied to the social change approach of historical materialism is NOT true?

A) culture is less important than material factors in influencing social change
B) culture was used to justify the wealth and power enjoyed by the dominant classes
C) capitalist culture viewed material wealth as the divine right of kings and the aristocracy
D) capitalist culture is uncritical of how the rich acquire their wealth
E) capitalist culture views the poor as incompetent or lazy

Question 36

According to Fukuyama, a number of significant social changes have occurred in advanced capitalist societies since the 1960s. One constellation of these changes has been called the:

A) Time Warp
B) Postmodern transition
C) Deconstructionist model
D) Enlightenment transition
E) Great Disruption

Question 37

The development of each aspect of society is explained in terms of the function it fulfills, in particular how it enhances the society's survival potential. Spencer argued that the form of ________ a particular society favours will be one that maximizes the likelihood that the society will survive.

A) marriage
B) religion
C) language
D) government
E) weaponry

Question 38

Describe the differences and similarities between Spencer's evolutionary theory of social change compared to Marx and Engels' historical materialism theory of social change. Include criticisms that have been presented for each of these theories.

Question 39

Innis's ________ thesis argued that the economic, political, and cultural formation of Canada was shaped by its geography and the natural resources and raw material, available for export.

A) manufacturing
B) natural
C) staples
D) resource
E) raw materials

Question 40

The state theory of modernization maintains:

A) that changes in the economies and technologies contributed to growing individualism
B) to gain the favour of urban classes, monarchs became less controlling and confiscatory towards them
C) there are formalized procedures that give individuals a measure of predictability in the outcomes of their actions
D) the reason why some countries became wealthy, industrialized nations and others have not is because the state thwarted development in the latter
E) women's enhanced financial independence has contributed to the increase in pregnancies to unwed parents

Question 41

Weber maintains capitalism would not have developed when and as it did had the necessary cultural characteristics not been present. These cultural attributes, he suggested, were provided by Calvinism.

Question 42

Social change can result from diffusion, which is the adoption of an innovation by a society that did not create it.

Question 43

In the 1930s Herbert Spencer presented a theory of societal evolution based on the biological theory of evolution that had been popularized by Charles Darwin.

Question 44

Ecological evolutionary theory maintains that societies are influenced by their biophysical and social environments in important ways.

Question 45

Sociologists use the term structural lag or cultural lag to describe the process of adaptation, where parts of a culture catch up with other parts.

Question 46

Revolution is said to arise primarily through class conflict.

Question 47

Gesellschaft, which means community, refers to the old agrarian social setting in which people lived in small communities or villages.

Question 48

How does dependency theory differ from World Systems theory in terms of its explanation of world poverty?

Question 49

Fukuyama believed that the "disruption" characterized in the theory of the "Great Disruption" was only temporary because social and moral life is cyclical.

Question 50

The American and French Revolutions, inspired in part by Imperialist philosophies, challenged the right of hereditary monarchs to rule over their subjects and championed a belief in social equality.

Question 51

Imperialism is the control or exploitation of one society by another, usually by conquest.

Question 52

The vast majority of human societies that ever existed have been able to change and eventually have become the modern societies of today. It is rare that a given society becomes extinct.

Question 53

For Durkheim there was always the possibility that mechanical solidarity, a solidarity based on the complementarity or interdependence of occupational positions, would hold modern societies together and lead to social progress.

Question 54

Innis' staples theory argued that the economic, political, and cultural formation of Canada was shaped by its geography and the natural resources and raw materials or "staples" available for export.

Question 55

Bureaucracy, as defined by Weber, refers to the organization that has a monopoly on the legitimate use of force.

Question 56

Farming societies were the first to create a sustained economic surplus, which in turn gave rise to the issue of who would have access to the surplus, an issue that remains with us today.