The Evolution of Human Societies

1. What is meant by the term “The Great Paradox”?

2. How is this paradox explained?

3. What process of selection are Lenski and Nolan referring to?

4. What are some of the reasons for the persistence of social and cultural elements in a society?

5. What are the two basic types of social and cultural change?

6. What are the various forms of innovation?

7. What are the causes of innovation?

8. Describe the factors that affect the rate of innovation in a society.

9. What is technology’s role in societal growth and development?

10. What is ideology’s role in societal growth and development?

11. Which differences between societies do the authors consider to be most important in intersocietal selection?

12. Describe the model of the effects of technological advance on the process of intersocietal selection.

13. What trends have occurred in the evolution of the world system of societies?

Types of Human Societies

1. How do Lenski and Nolan classify the primary types of human society (see Table 4.1)?

2. What are the 2 most important basic causes of fundamental differences among human societies?

3. How has the relative percentage of societal types changed throughout history?

4. What were the 4 major eras of human history.

5. Describe some of the differences between the types of societies.

6. What do Lenski and Nolan consider to be the force most responsible for the major differences in human societies?

7. Is Lenski and Nolan’s ecological-evolutionary theory technologically deterministic? Explain.