Deck 2: Theories of Social Evolution and Development

Question 1

Lenski's main evolutionary stages were societies:

A) hunter-gatherer, horticultural, pastoral, and agrarian
B) hunter-gatherer, horticultural, agrarian, and industrial
C) horticultural, pastoral, agrarian, and industrial
D) hunter-gatherer, agricultural, industrial, and postindustrial

Answer 1

hunter-gatherer, horticultural, agrarian, and industrial

Question 2

Marx and Engels explained that human societies are comprised of two major components These are:

A) societas and civitas
B) religion and philosophy
C) materialism and idealism
D) infrastructure and superstructure

Answer 2

infrastructure and superstructure

Question 3

A key evolutionary concept for Parsons was that of evolutionary universals. These are:

A) social innovations that allow a society to undergo adaptive upgrading
B) social innovations that spread to every single society on earth
C) philosophical breakthroughs
D) features that all societies have but that aid the functioning of only some

Answer 3

social innovations that allow a society to undergo adaptive upgrading

Question 4

Leslie White identifies two major transitions in human history, which are the:

A) Neolithic Revolution and Urban Revolution
B) fall of feudalism and the rise of capitalism
C) Agricultural Revolution and Fuel Revolution
D) development of tools and the rise of agriculture

Question 5

Parsons distinguished three types of societies in social evolution, which were:

A) primitive, intermediate, and modern
B) parallel, convergent, and divergent
C) archaic, modern, and postmodern
D) simple, complex, and doubly complex

Question 6

Sanderson and Alderson believe that the most important part of Marxian evolutionism is its conception of social life:

A) idealist
B) materialist
C) revolutionary
D) Hegelian

Question 7

According to Marx and Engels, the last stage of human history will be:

A) capitalism
B) feudalism
C) socialism
D) slavery

Question 8

The Neolithic Revolution of V. Gordon Childe is associated with which of the following:

A) the emergence of agriculture
B) the move from societas to civitas
C) the invention of the plow
D) the shift from polytheism to monotheism

Question 9

The evolutionary theory of sociologist Talcott Parsons can be considered an) theory:

A) idealist
B) materialist
C) generalist
D) adaptive

Question 10

Lewis Henry Morgan argued that the major mechanism that explains the change from "primitive society" to "civil society" is:

A) the domestication of plants and animals
B) the change from polytheistic to monotheistic religion
C) the development of a phonetic alphabet and writing
D) the move from incoherent homogeneity to coherent heterogeneity

Question 11

The evolutionary theorist Julian Steward placed special emphasis on which of the following as a major causal force in social evolution?

A) technology
B) ecology
C) economics
D) ideology

Question 12

Sanderson and Alderson argue which of the following about Marxian evolutionism?

A) its predictions have failed, but it still provides important insight into social evolution
B) it is the best evolutionary theory we have
C) it is useless and should be discarded
D) none of these

Question 13

According to Erik Olin Wright, evolutionary theories have which of the following characteristics:

A) they organize history into a typology of stages
B) they assume there is a greater chance of societies evolving to a higher stage rather than regressing back to an earlier one
C) they identify mechanisms that explain the movement from one societal stage to another
D) all of these
E) none of these

Question 14

Gerhard Lenski argued that the key driving force of social evolution was:

A) ecology
B) economics
C) technology
D) religion

Question 15

Which of the following do Sanderson and Alderson consider a major flaw in classical evolutionary theorizing:

A) there was not enough emphasis on the ideational or mental aspects of social evolution
B) the classical evolutionists passed off mere descriptions of evolutionary changes as explanations
C) the early evolutionary theories were rather ethnocentric
D) two of these
E) none of these

Question 16

Which classical evolutionist was interested primarily in the ideational or mental aspects of social evolution?

A) Lewis Henry Morgan
B) Herbert Spencer
C) Karl Marx
D) Edward Burnett Tylor

Question 17

By definition, theories of social evolution:

A) explain how and why the "fittest" societies survive and change
B) explain and describe the biological adaptations of individuals and their impact on society
C) explain and describe sequences of long-term social change
D) none of these

Question 18

Steward argued against evolutionism and in favor of evolutionism:

A) multilinear; unilinear
B) parallel; convergent
C) divergent; convergent
D) unilinear; multilinear

Question 19

Sanderson and Alderson argue that Lenski's theory of social evolution:

A) was a very important contribution to sociology when it first emerged
B) overemphasizes technological advancement as the ultimate cause of societal evolution
C) both of these
D) neither of these

Question 20

The classical evolutionist Herbert Spencer assumed which of the following about social evolution:

A) societies evolve in the direction of increasing social differentiation
B) language, myth, and religion are the key evolutionary features of human societies
C) human history is divided into three great stages of technological development
D) none of these

Question 21

According to Harris, the overall process of social evolution is driven by:

A) technological change
B) automatic social differentiation
C) environmental depletion and the intensification of production
D) philosophical change

Question 22

Sanderson's evolutionary materialism contains a modified version of Harris's Principle of Infrastructural Determinism.

Question 23

The evolutionary theories of Edward Burnett Tylor are most noted by their emphasis on the ideational aspects of human society.

Question 24

Sanderson's evolutionary materialism differs from Harris's in which of the following ways?

A) Sanderson emphasizes that at different stages of social evolution different "evolutionary logics" operate
B) Sanderson emphasizes only economic forces, whereas Harris emphasizes mostly ecological and demographic forces
C) Sanderson emphasizes only ecological and demographic forces, whereas Harris emphasizes mostly economic forces

Question 25

According to Karl Marx's theory of social evolution, capitalism is the last stage of human history.

Question 26

Harris is one of the few evolutionists to:

A) be a progressivist
B) be an antiprogressivist or nonprogressivist
C) emphasize growing complexity as the key feature of social evolution
D) emphasize the causal role of ideas rather than technology

Question 27

Karl Marx's approach to social evolution was strongly materialist in nature.

Question 28

Sanderson's evolutionary approach makes which of the following arguments about social adaptations?

A) individuals are the units of adaptation in any society
B) an adaptive social pattern should not necessarily be considered "good" or "morally desirable"
C) a new social adaptation may not benefit all individuals in a society
D) all of these

Question 29

According to Sanderson and Alderson, the strongest evolutionary theories are those that focus on the ideational aspects of human society.

Question 30

A major flaw of early evolutionary theorizing was its rather ethnocentric nature.

Question 31

Evolutionary theories are those that assume that societies have been progressing through a uniform set of stages of development since earliest times.

Question 32

According to Sanderson, parallel evolution occurs when:

A) societies that were once dissimilar evolve in ways that make them more alike
B) societies that were once similar evolve in ways that make them less alike
C) societies evolve along similar lines at similar rates
D) none of these

Question 33

Sanderson and Alderson strongly agree with Marx's predictions concerning the emergence of a future socialist society.

Question 34

Karl Marx argued that human societies are made up of two important components, the infrastructure and superstructure.

Question 35

An important feature of all social evolutionary theories is that they organize history into a typology of stages.

Question 36

The disappearance of many hunter-gatherer societies and Indian tribes is an example of:

A) social continuity
B) social devolution
C) adaptation
D) social extinction

Question 37

The primary purpose of social evolutionary theories is to explain the biologically evolved adaptations that drive human social behavior.

Question 38

Herbert Spencer argued that language, myth, and religion are the most important evolutionary features of human societies.

Question 39

Sanderson argues that social evolution is an) process whereby social patterns are created by humans as rational responses to the problems of existence.

A) idealist
B) adaptive
C) maladaptive
D) materialist

Question 40

Marvin Harris's Principle of Infrastructural Determinism assumes that the conditions the , which in turn conditions the :

A) superstructure; structure; infrastructure
B) economy; politics; religion
C) infrastructure; structure; superstructure
D) technology; economy; ideology

Question 41

Societies evolving in similar ways at similar rates is what is meant by parallel evolution.

Question 42

According to Sanderson and Alderson, the weakest point of the social evolutionary ideas of Talcott Parsons is their excessive materialism.

Question 43

Gerhard Lenski's theories of social evolution are most concerned with the role of technology as an evolutionary force.

Question 44

According to Marvin Harris's Principle of Infrastructural Determinism, the superstructure is causally prior to the structure.

Question 45

What is an evolutionary theoretical strategy? What different sorts of evolutionary strategies exist in the social sciences, and what are their important similarities and differences?

Question 46

Explain the differences between idealist and materialist perspectives in evolutionary theorizing.

Question 47

According to Sanderson and Alderson, all social adaptations made by humans are good and morally desirable.

Question 48

What are the differences between parallel, convergent, and divergent evolution ? What would be some examples of each?

Question 49

Choose two evolutionary theorists from Chapter 2 and compare and contrast their theoretical perspectives.

Question 50

Describe the basic goal of social evolutionary theories and the key characteristics of these theories.

Question 51

Julian Steward was especially concerned with the role technology plays in social evolution.

Question 52

Discuss what Sanderson and Alderson mean when they say that social evolution is an "adaptive" process. Then, explain their argument that individuals are the units of adaptation in human societies.

Question 53

The key difference between Harris's evolutionism, and the evolutionism of Childe, White, and Lenski, is that Harris sees technological change occurring because of environmental depletion, whereas the others see technological change resulting from the gradual accumulation of knowledge.

Question 54

The survival of some preindustrial societies into the modern era is an example of social adaptation.

Question 55

Parsons and Spencer both emphasized social differentiation or increasing complexity as the key dimension of social evolution.

Question 56

Sanderson's evolutionary materialism claims that as societies evolve they function more efficiently. His approach is therefore in agreement with Parsons's concept of "increased adaptive capacity."

Question 57

Sanderson's evolutionary materialism modifies Harris's Principle of Infrastructural Determinism by focusing more heavily on the ideational aspects of human societies.

Question 58

According to V. Gordon Childe, the rise of agriculture was the key features of the Neolithic Revolution.