Free Social Change and Development MCQs with Answers
175 Social Change and Development MCQs from Sociology, each with the correct answer and a written explanation of why it is correct. Free and unlimited, with no account needed.
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175 questions · page 8 of 18
71. Which of the following describes a central change in contemporary life that has been identified by futurists ?
- A. The United States is being restructured from an agrarian to an industrial society
- B. Modern societies are increasingly shifting from a national to a global economy
- C. High tech industries are becoming energy-and materials-intensive
- D. all of the above
Explanation: Futurists identify globalization as a major contemporary shift, with economic activity increasingly organized across national borders rather than within a single national economy. The other choices describe either an earlier historical transition or a false claim about high-tech industries.
Correct answer: Modern societies are increasingly shifting from a national to a global economy72. Among the approaches that seek to explain the causes of social movements which one states that revolutions are most likely to take place when a prolonged period of social and economic betterment is followed by a period of sharp reversal ?
- A. the resource mobilization approach
- B. the deprivation approaches
- C. the capitalist collapse approach
- D. none of the above
Explanation: The relative deprivation approach argues that revolution can follow a sudden gap between rising expectations and worsening conditions, known as a revolution of rising expectations or a sharp reversal. Resource mobilization instead emphasizes organization, leadership, and access to resources.
Correct answer: the deprivation approaches73. ________ is the process by which a society moves from traditional to industrial social and economic arrangements?
- A. Development
- B. Evolution
- C. Modernization
- D. Social change
Explanation: Modernization specifically describes the transition from traditional arrangements to modern industrial, urban and bureaucratic ones. Development is broader, while social change includes any significant transformation in society.
Correct answer: Modernization74. Marx saw conflict between ________ as the primary source of social change ?
- A. classes
- B. ethnic groups
- C. nations
- D. religions
Explanation: Marx viewed class conflict, especially between the bourgeoisie and proletariat, as the central force driving historical social change. Ethnic, national and religious conflicts are not the foundation of his primary model.
Correct answer: classes75. Cultural lag________________?
- A. refers to new forms of social disintegration
- B. is the adjustment gap between material and nonmaterial culture?
- C. occurs when the dominant group forces change upon the subordinate group which lags behind
- D. is society's way of avoiding the social problems that ensue from social change
Explanation: Cultural lag is the gap created when material culture changes faster than nonmaterial culture, such as laws, values and norms. It is associated with William F. Ogburn's explanation of adjustment problems during social change.
Correct answer: is the adjustment gap between material and nonmaterial culture?76. Which of the following is an accurate statement regarding evolutionary perspectives on social change ?
- A. Lenski argues that evolution depends largely on changes in a society's level of technology and made of economic production
- B. Social Darwinists like Spencer see evolution as inevitably leading to the downfall of society
- C. Contemporary approaches take a unilinear view of evolution and assume all change equals progress
- D. Parsons suggested that societies tend become simpler over time
Explanation: Gerhard Lenski linked evolutionary change mainly to technological development and the resulting changes in economic production. The other statements reverse or oversimplify evolutionary perspectives: Spencer saw evolution as progress, while contemporary theories reject a single inevitable path.
Correct answer: Lenski argues that evolution depends largely on changes in a society's level of technology and made of economic production77. _________ refers to the fundamental alterations in the patterns of culture structure and social behavior over time ?
- A. cultural lag
- B. diffusion
- C. social change
- D. modernization
Explanation: Social change means fundamental, lasting alterations in cultural patterns, social structures and behaviour over time. Cultural lag is only the adjustment gap that may result from such change.
Correct answer: social change78. Deviant is an agent of___________?
- A. Change
- B. no change
- C. neutrality
- D. None of these
Explanation: Deviance can challenge accepted norms and expose weaknesses in existing institutions, making the deviant an agent of social change. It is not necessarily associated with neutrality or no change.
Correct answer: Change79. Functionalists accept "Change" as a _____________?
- A. Function
- B. Constant
- C. Change
- D. None of these
Explanation: Functionalists generally view change as a constant feature of society, although they emphasize gradual adjustment that helps restore social equilibrium. Therefore, it is not treated as abnormal by definition.
Correct answer: Constant80. According to Marxian view each stage contained within itself the seeds of_____________?
- A. progress
- B. it's won destruction
- C. next stage
- D. both b and c
Explanation: In Marx's dialectical view, each historical stage contains contradictions that produce its own destruction and prepare the next stage. Both statements in options b and c are therefore correct.
Correct answer: both b and c