Student's
should use information from the Sanderson, Lenski, and Diamond texts, as well as
the presentations and your own outside readings in answering these
questions. Note in your answers any important differences among these authors in
dealing with these issues. Most important, demonstrate to your audience that you
have indeed mastered the course material by integrating various perspectives
into your own coherent answer.
Why did many sociocultural systems adapt through pastoralism rather
than horticulture?
Discuss the structure and function of the distribution/economic
system of simple horticultural societies. How is this related to other parts
of the sociocultural system?
Discuss the function of the population/settlement system of simple
horticultural societies. How is this related to other parts of the
sociocultural system?
Discuss the function of the division of labor of simple
horticultural societies. How is this related to other parts of the
sociocultural system?
What is the cultural materialist explanation for the rise of the
state?
Assess the power and interests of elites in simple horticultural
societies.
Distinguish between simple and advanced horticultural societies.
Assess the power and interests of elites in advanced horticultural
societies.
Discuss the structure and function of the distribution/economic
system of pastoral societies. How is this related to other parts of the
sociocultural system?
Discuss the structure and function of the population/settlement
system of pastoral societies. How is this related to other parts of the
sociocultural system?
Discuss the function of the division of labor of pastoral societies.
How is this related to other parts of the sociocultural system?
Assess the power and interests of elites in pastoral societies.
What technological innovations set agrarian societies apart from
horticultural societies?
Discuss the structure and function of the distribution/economic
system of advanced agrarian societies. How is this related to other parts of
the sociocultural system?
Discuss the function of the division of labor in advanced agrarian
societies. How is this related to other parts of the sociocultural system?
Assess the power and interests of elites in advanced agrarian
societies.
Outline the general trends of sociocultural evolution (using
cultural materialism framework) up to the industrial revolution.
What is the driving force (the engine) behind sociocultural
evolution?
Outline the phases of the industrial revolution.
According to the materialists, what are the causes of the initial
industrial revolution? What are the causes of the continuing revolution?
How does world-systems theory account for the industrial revolution?
What are the relationships between food production and disease?
Give an example of social autocatalysis. How about technological
autocatalysis?
Why is the Fertile Crescent no longer fertile?
Compare and contrast the role of invention and social contact in the
social evolutionary process.
What are the infrastructural causes of the initial industrial
revolution?
What factors promote an invention’s acceptance by a society?
What are Kleptocrats? How do they maintain their popular support?
Discuss the similarities and differences in Diamond's view of social
evolution and that of cultural materialism (Harris), ecological-evolutionary
theory (Lenski), or Sanderson’s evolutionary materialism.
What are core, peripheral, and semiperipheral societies? How are
they related?
Compare and contrast the two types of world-systems.
Briefly describe the modern capitalist world-system.
How does Sanderson explain the transition from feudalism to
Capitalism? How does this differ from Lenski’s view?
What is a hegemon? How does world-systems theory account for their
rise and fall?
Compare and contrast Lenski’s ecological-evolutionary theory with
Harris’s cultural materialism? Evaluate the efficacy of each.
