Political Science 6

Module 1
Lesson 2 POLITICAL THINKI NG THRO UGH THE AG ES

How does one en gage in politics? Any person w ho will is may have the capacity to
effect poli tical change by rearranging soc ial power and aut hority. Engaging i n
politi cs means engaging i n efforts t o control the acts of ot hers (K Lawson, 1985).
This lesson wi ll use the histori cal and soci ological method s in d issecting the
forms of participation (ot hers c all it pol itical intervention ) created, uti lized and
devel oped by men i n t he course of ti me to ful fill their potentials for growt h.
If society i s to be conceived as a system of services in which every member
both gives and receives, the government must vital ly consider th is mutual exchange
and arrange for mos t adeq uate s atisfacti on of needs and t h e most harmonious
interchange of services.
Societies, through their governments, must be res pond to t he urgent needs of
the people. I n the fi rst place, society arises out of t he nee ds of men, which can only
be satisfied as they supplement each ot her. The legi timacy and stability of a
particul ar government is to a great extent depende nt on policy ou tputs and programs
to ameliorate the s ocial condition.
Human suffering a nd inj ustice, which have charac terized huma n civilization,
can be e ffectively changed through political action.
The assumpti on is th at soci ety may be made to move in the direction which
men think i s right. The society can be organized differently and that a c hange i n
societal arra ngements could e nable men to adhere somewhere more closely to the
hierarchy of values t h at they feel shoul d be upheld.
Therefore we must be able to distinguish between vari ous types of s oci o-
politi cal systems in order t o sh ow th at some are better t ha n ot hers.
In influencing the political process, how do we assure ourselves that the v oice
of the peopl e will be needed? Wh at are th e theoretical con structs or ideas created
and a da pted th rough the long years of m an’s politi cal experience? What are the
patterns a nd insti tuti ons t o organize an d deci de the col lective life of t he group?

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 On the other hand, what are the diffe rent mechani sms of control which have
been established to t hwart pe ople’s initiative and participation d uring dark times of
tyranny and repre ssion? T hese are t he c ru cial questions which need t o be urgently
addressed in t hi s Less on.
Al l social phenomena happe n because of s ocial actors. On t he level of the
abstract, the indi vidual might have a range of alternatives to ch oose from. But on
the level of the c onc rete, he may non-consciously act within the framework of the
struct ure of t he given society.
How do we explain t h is dil emma or anac hronism? It would seem that man’s
consci ousness may c ont radict or may not ji be wi th his socio- historical reali ty. A
German Philosop her one said that muc h as “men make their own h istory, they do not
make i t j ust as they please. They do not make it under circumstances ch osen by
themselves, but un de r circumstances di rec tly encountered, given and transmitted
from the past.” Ind eed, “the tradition of all the dead generations weighs li ke a
nightmare on t he brain of the living.” For the pa st has en ormous role in shaping
perceptions of t he present and t he fut ure.
But struggling for change is good for t he soul. Anyone c an grasp the
movement of history and realize its transformati ve potential. Since the beginning of
time, individuals and social groups have accepted the challenge. Their story foll ows
– an odyssey of attempts to articulate the col lective conscious ness of t heir ti mes.
Change seen as a vital part of t he n arrati on, seems to c ontain t hread of meaning and
purpose.

Man and His Environ ment: Rooti ng Out Or igi ns

The earth is a produc t of h ot primordial gas (accordi ng to t he contemporary
scientific theory) jus t li ke the whole solar system. It has been scientifi cally
cal culated (from studi es of piled hil ls, vall eys and rocks), t hat the earth has a history
of three t o four bil lion years. When the earth cooled and favora ble conditions were
present , li fe emerged and t he simplest form of organism spa rked i nto exi stence.
There seems to be w ide agreement that humanity sepa rated from the apes
(members of the ord er of prim ates) a b ou t 20 to 30 million years ago. (B. Fagan,

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1980). Anthropologi st (scientist wh o explore the ori gi ns, development a nd cust oms
of men) are incl ined to beli eve that the first indisputable human called Homoerectus
(person who sta nds upright), first appe are d between two-and -a-half to five million
years ago i n the prehistoric epoch call ed the Pleistocene (the age of humanity), the
last of the major geological epochs.
Modern men (t oday’s mongoloid, Caucas oid a nd negroid) are con sidered
members of t he spec ies known in t he sci entific world as h om o sapiens who are
known to have evol ved some 35,000 years a go.
Prehistory re fers to the period whe n ou r history wa s n ot yet based u pon
written sources an d d ocument s. Great climatic changes has be en the back drop of
human pre history. This is the p rimitive stage in man ’s development when in t he
process, he att ained (1) his physical form as a species of t he animal world; and (2) as
a product of c ulture a nd civilization.
The first part of human evolution mai nly involved biological feats of
cumulati ve achievement covering mil lions of years in an effort t o ensure s urvival (J.
Veneraci on, 1987). H e transcended the barriers of physical existence from the
ori gi nal quadrupet al post ure in t he caves, to the a rb oreal (tree-living) ada ptations,
knuckle-walki ng, and eventual ly into the h uman bipedal posture.
The second pa rt of hu man development foc used on cultur al evoluti on spa nning
ten milli on to 10,000 years ago. Technologically, this covers the peri od from stone
stool making (two million years ago), t o the use of fire ( some 400,000 years ago),
mounte d tools (some 40,000 years past) an d the bows and arrow s (between 10,000 to
20,000 years ago). In ec on omic terms it encomp asses the peri od two million years
ago of hunting an d ga thering t o t he period of food production 10,000 years ago.
It was duri ng the metal ages (4,000 – 3 ,000 years ago) t hat writing was
invented an d it is at this point that prehi story (period be fore rise of great
civilization) end and history (systematic written accounts ) be gi ns. The latter is
usual ly peri odized (for stu dy pu rpose) a s a ncient times (3,700 B.C. to 1,000 B.C.),
classical ci vilization (1,000 BC to 500AD ), medieval times (500 AD to 1,500 AD),
renaissance (1300 to 1650), and modern ti mes.

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 In this process call ed civili zation, higher forms of existence a re bound t o be
reali zed among different h uman races w ho descended from a common st ock or
ancest ors an d s ome s pecies. Ad ol f Hitler was ap parently not t oo well informed w hen
he tra gi cally presumed that t here is s uch a thing as su perior or in ferior ra ces.
Man’s progres s the n e ntered a higher level of c ul tural existence – his struggle
for a hum an l ife. So his task in life now pres up poses re finements n ot only i n
material tools but l ikewi se in the non- material consci ousn ess of establishing
institutions t o guarant ee the continuity of his tribe, race or nation.
Man has improved his lot in each s tage of de velopment with each stage making
the succeeding one pos si ble. Each stage, aside from adopt ing the collective
experi ence of t he pa st, a pplied that expe rience with greater e ase and speed. In
some periods, man ha s adva nced m uch m ore rapi dly tha n i n othe rs. (L. Stavrian os,
1963).

Primitive Commun alism

Man’s s hift from food gat hering and hunting (durin g t he Pal eolithic age some
1.7 mil. Years ago) to food p roducin g or a griculture (during the Neolithic age of 5,000
BC) enabled him for the first ti me to settle down permanently in one locality or
village. Composed of a few homes n o larger than 50 (like Jarmo, in prese nt day Iraq),
the pri mi tive village was largel y self-suffi ci ent and socially homoge nous. It di d not
have class lines and di sti nctions. Nor di d t he p rimitive folks try to a ccumulate muc h
wealth.
Al though la nd was ow ned by t he vil lage as a whole (communal) a nd available
to everybody, real property was emergi ng. Our ancestors prestige and stat us during
those times, depen de d not on pers onal ri ches but on t he fulfi l lment of pers onal
obligations.
At fi rst, distribution of goods was s hare and share ali ke insi de each grou p and
ritual exchange s on ceremonial occasions . Barter then look the place of ritual
exchange a nd individuals began to stress t heir claims to what t he y had produced.
Private property came i nto bei ng w ith its inevitable cons equence of
inequalities of wealt h. The peri od simil arly introduced a new concept int o social

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life; work (when man symbolicall y left “paradise” of hap py hu nti ng age t o t ake up
working for his bre ad by the sweat of hi s brow). This developed because of t he
tedious operations a nd long intervals in agricul ture between what you did and what
you got for it.
The primitive village culture gave way t o the city an d river cul ture (a ge of
bronze) in Egypt, Mesopotami a, India and China. The period most significantly
produced t o c ruci al social invention of the c ity, (civis of civilization) and t he poli s of
politi cs (J. Bernal, 1969).
The civitas or (ci ti es) like Jerich o an d the Mohenjo-daro (in West Pakistan),
were different from villages because most city i nhabitant s were not food p roducers
(working an d land), bu t administrators, craft smen, tra ders and l ab orers.
The level of technique of agri culture was raised so th at non -producers can be
mai ntained on its s urplus. Thus central organization (c omp osed of a b ody of
administrators coveri ng a numbe r of vil lages) was required. Surplus provided by the
new efficiency of agriculture went t o t he city and not muc h was left for t he villages
to enjoy.
With the growth in property a nd t he assem blage of hut s and dw elling places,
social classes were formed. The city was c entered around a t em ple or a bi g h ouse
where gods were ins tituted. Priests we re pres umed t o administer the lands and
property of t he god. They were increa si ngly separate d from tribal and village
concerns an d i dentifi ed physi cally with the h ouse of t he god.
These priests from the beginning, ran the c ities and drew the largest share of
their benefits. They were heirs of t he medicine men of t he old stone age (300,000
years BC) an d t he magi c kinds of ea rly agricul tural communities. Although in Egypt ,
the magi c kind remained as Pha raoh, ruler a nd hi gh pri est.
The priest formed the first class of pol itical administrators. Physi cal work
needed to maintain t he organization of the economy was d one by temple s ervants
(builders and carpent ers, potters and weavers, butc hers , bakers and brewers) w ho
tended to bec ome more special ized and gra duall y altogether removed f rom the work
of a gri culture – the forerun ners of today’s workers an d craftsm en. The res ulting
inequalities of power and wealth were mad e permane nt by tr ad e. Speci ali zed traders

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or m erchants (ori gi nally city or royal officials) arose out of t he need for foreign
goods necessitatin g journeys or even armed expeditions.
Taxes were c ollected in kind a nd form i t di stributi on w as made of food an d ra w
materials.

The Slave- O wning System

Most craftsmen were virtually serfs receiving raw materials and food from
their priestly or noble masters an d han dli ng over the finished goods. Propertyless
men sol d thei r lab or for wa ges. T hose in need borrowe d. Th ose with superfluity lent
at exorbitant interest and those w ho c ould not pay were sold as slaves. Slavery was
the earl iest and m ost glaring form of expl oit ation. It made possi bl e the c ul tivation of
large tracts of la nd.
Laws, amon g the earliest written documents, ha d to be evolved to prevent
these tra nsactions leading t o losses t o th e temple or bloodshed. The traditional
sense of what is pe rmissible in vi llage communities can no l onger hold water i n t he
city where there was social inequality. The state , a n ap paratus of force behin d laws,
was required.
The power of t he stat e, though vested n ominal ly in an i ndivi dual, was in fact
dependent on the s upp ort of the whole uppe r classes of p riest and mercha nts
reinforce d by magi strates and soldiers. Their power (getting ot hers to c ompl y “by
creating the p rospect of severe san cti ons for noncom pli ance”) was tempered only by
the fear of p op ul ar re volt.
To exten d the area of the city, confli cts were inevitable leading to wars.
Armies were heavily equi pped and fed from the surplus food st ocks. War c ha nged
the character of gove rnment and state. The priest hea d of sta te, whose principal
functions was origi nally that of a di rect or of agricul ture an d public works became a
war leader – a king.
City states which were originall y i ndepen de nt tended to become emerged into
larger units or empires partl y due t o war an d partl y by a system of alli ances based on
trade. Pe oples (pej oratively call ed barbari ans), in an area hundreds of mi les round
the centers of civilization became opp osit ors t o the city empi res. Strong empires

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played one barbarian tribe against the othe r, whi le weak empires were und ermined
by the i mportation of barbarian slaves an d soldiers. In the e nd, empires were ofte n
completely overthrow n and ruled by barbari an dy nasties which us ually soon acquired
the culture of t he cities.

Transition
In the western section of t he Roman Empire (Britain, France, t he Rhineland,
Spain and Italy), a sys tem government by a class of wealthy slave-owning parti ci pa nts
and provi ncials coll apsed during t he pe riod of t he thi rd t o t he ninth cent uries.
Meanwhile, over t he rest of the Rom an Empire, gre at cities, (suc h a
Al exandri a, Antioc h and Consta ntinople) were left un damaged and an orderly
government – t hough increasingl y becoming restrictive – was mai ntained. The
civilization of Persia, India, a nd Central Asia continued t o flourish and develop.
During the i nterval between the fifth and the ni nth centuries, it is a misnomer
to universal ize the peri od as t he D ark Ages. For t hese were the great peri ods of the
Sassa nian, t he G uptas and t he C halukyas in India; the Ch ora smians in Cent ral Asia;
China under the Wei and t he T’ang dyna sti es. They were al l enjoying a period of
unprecedented econ omic and cultural achievements. Though t heir economic a nd
politi cal structures were si mi larly moul ded by the same early bron ze civilizations that
devel oped t he Helenized and R omanized c ou ntries, they had n ever undergone t he
intense economic and p ol itical struggl es arising out of a money, economy and
slavery. These two institutions first made and t hen destroyed classical civilization.
This class society of the ancient world had no way of getting rid of exploitation s h ort
of a complete bre akdown.
The disintegration of the Roman Empire by the fourt h century marked a
definite era in the history of humanity. It was the largest state in the world during
its time with its e normous mi litary and civil organization an d a s uperb tra de netw ork.
As the Roman, plutocratic (government b y a control ling class of rich men),
slave economy disintegrate d – it left behin d almost everywhere, the seed s of a new
decentral ized economi c and political system.

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The L ords and th e Prelates of t he Mid dle Ages
The economy of the new order was essentially country ba sed, t he unit belong
the estate, villa or m an or w orked by s erfs who were permanen tly attached to the
land but with rights t o compe nsate for thei r heavy duties. They were force d to yiel d
part of t heir p roduce or l ab or to their lords in the form of ren t, taxes a nd feu dal
service. The estates were ow ned ei the r by the descendant s of t h e old city plutoc racy
(in the Ea stern Empire) or by barbarian cl an chi efs (i n territ ori es occu pied by
Germans or Ara bs). By mid-ei ght century, these were t he feudal lords of t he
Byzantine, Islamic, Frankish an d Chinese Empi res.
This transformation to feudalism (which transpired in Ad 550 to 1150)
naturall y di d not occ ur al l at once, it took several hundreds of years. Nor di d it
proceed at t he same speed i n the diffe rent pl aces. Nor w as it limited to the area s of
the old Greek or Roman Empires. As the predominant econ omic mode, it spread as
new land was opened in cultivation in E urope a nd Asi a. By the tent h cent ury
onwa rds, t he suitability of western Eu rop ean climate and soil for dry culti vation
made it superi or to t he Islamic East’s predominantly ari d regi on.
It should be p oi nted out t hat as early as the second century, a parallel
organization to t he St ate was being b ui lt up within the Chri sti an Churc h. Inspectors
were ordained a nd l ater t hey bec ame th e great patriarchs of Jerus al em, Rome,
Constanti nople, Alexa ndria, and Antioc h. Centuries p assed before the bishops of
Rome claimed the primacy as the Holy Father (the Pope, God’s vicor on eart h). By
the thi rd cent ury, al t hough it still i ncluded only a minority of the p opulation , the
Church was t he most powerful, widesprea d, and influe nti al pol itical organization in
the Empire.

The Medieval Feudal Social Order

By the eleventh to the fortieth cent uri es, the feud al system was fully developed i n
Europe, c omplete with i ts political and religious hierarchies. Monarc hic power
emerged as large tracts of l and passed into t he posse ssi on of the Church w hich
became an i mportant mainstay of t he mon archy.

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 The system’s ec on omic basis was the land. The ec on omic unit w as the village
or t own where s cores of men an d w omen (mostly kinsfolk) shared out t he land and
work. T he economy was de pendent on local a gri cultural production, largely
consumed on t he spot , an d on a sc attered handicra ft i ndustry.
The peas ants (serfs) were no lon ger c hattel slaves of classi cal times (bl atantly
sol d li ke meat in the market) for they now enjoyed secure ten ure of cultivati ng their
own land. But on the peasa nts’ backs were superimposed a hierarchy of lords (lay or
church-rel ated) a nd t heir overlords (bish op s and kings ) unde r the nomi nal hea dshi p
of t he emperor a nd t he pope.
Serfs we re obliged t o work t o kee p his l ords a nd themselves alive. It is this
obligation of feudal s ervice – of work exact ed by force or by cust om backed by force
– that c haracte rized the so -called feu dal exploitati on.
Towns were i mportant centers of man ufact uring in Medieval Europe. G uil ds,
which became t he d ominant economic insti tutions , were professional, c raft an d tra de
associati ons that h ad existed as far back as the Roman Empire. Although t hey
zealously regulated the producti on and sale of commoditi es, they were more
concerned with c ons erving the stat us qu o of deman ding from their members a n
orde rl y life based on c hurc h teac hings and c ustom.
Al though agricultural methods were pri mi tive and due t o freq uent wars –
livestock’s were scarc e to such extent t hat peasants often had t o draw the pl oughs
themselves – productive forces un der feudalism attained a highe r level of
devel opment as comp ared with the slave- owning system. U nlike the latter which
concentrate d its res ources in the cities, benefits of feudal ti mes were s omewhat
spread over t he count ryside – giving everywhere a local surplus. The feudal system
was therefore socially and technicall y a more secure base for further progress tha n
was cl assical slave-based plut ocracy.
The manor was the basic economi c instituti o ns of medieval rural life. There
was no central auth ori ty in the middl e ages that c ould have enforced a system of
laws. Political control was fra gmented. T he joint ruling classe s were c ompared of
the religious lords a nd the secular nobi lity.

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 Before it reached its full extent, feudal ism had already begun to decay at the
center. O ther economic forms based on trading a nd urban m anufacturing were
growing up inside t he econ omic system as a result of t he development of crafts and
the steady improvement of a rti san tool s. Local self- sufficiency of feu dal economy
broke down as tend encies to form orga nizations n ot so directly based on land
reasserte d themselves.
By the eleventh a nd t welfth centu ries, tow ns were all established to the exte nt
that t hey were a bl e to emancipate themse lves from the restrict ions of Church and
feudal i nstitutions. In Germany an d Italy (where cent ral government was weakest),
they became vi rtually independent ci ty states. Alth ou gh France and En gland
remained subordinate – it was to royal (King) not to feud al power.
Al though at first composed only of a negligible segment of society, these
towns li ved by exchan ging new man ufact ured good s (made by gui lds of
th
handicraftsmen) for t he surplus prod ucts of feudal economy. By mid- 13 century,
the rich town mercha nts had acquire d a mon op oly position th rough t heir dominance
of t he guilds. They us ed this position i n order to buy c heap an d s ell dear. They were
town oligarchi es (a form of government in which power is vested in a few) w ho were
often in violent oppos ition to each ot her. But t owards t he en d, bega n t o appreciate
the value of cooperat ion for the common expl oitation of l ess- developed territori es.
From t hem ultimately was to come t he bourgeois (burgess) class who was t o usher i n
commodity production for s ale in the m arket rat her t ha n the previous system’s
subsistence economy. Technical changes in manufactu re (factory- ba sed) and
transport were t o lead to the new age of cap italism.
In the realm of p olitical influence, the last two cent uries of t he Middle Ages
were to wi tness a de fini te weakening of the Churc h as a n orga ni zation despi te the
efforts of friars. As t he influence of t owns were risi ng an d the strengt h of t he kings
was growing – t he two were allying themselves against t he c ou ntry nobility.
The final res ul ts of t h ese struggles was t o strengt hen ei ther the feudal kings or
the merchant princes and hi red captains who seized power in Italy. This was to lead
to the establishment of the nati on Stat es of the Renaissa nce (during the 14 t h
century), stil l feudal in essence but centered on the towns.

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 Much of the surpl us a ccumulated by the mercha nts wa s s pent on mansions and
objects of art – pa rtly for pleasure an d partly for prestige.
By the e nd of t he 14 t h ce ntu ry, t he fe ud al system was evidently breaking up.
Traditional ties of the major were bei ng eroded by t he s ubstituti on of the market a nd
the searc h for profits as the organizing princi ple of production. Land began t o re nt
for l ess due to de population res ulting from a seri es of cat astrophes in late 14 t h and
15t h centuries. Among these were the Hund red Years ’ War (1337 -1453) between
France and England an d the Bl ack Deat h pl aq ue (1348-1349).
When the feudal nobil ity tri ed to reinstate the old feudal obli gations in order
to extract more from the peasants, revolts broke out al l over Europe (p articularl y i n
England and G ermany) from the l ate 14t h th rou gh the early 16 t h c enturies. Troops of
the emperor a nd t he n obility slaughtered peasants by tens of th ou sand s.
When the fe ud al Engli sh nobil ity fenced off lands, a large number of te nant s
were force d out of th e countryside a nd int o the ci ti es to support themselves. A new
labor force was c reat ed – one without l an d n or t ools of produc tion – a nd with only
labor power to sell to industries, for the armies and navi es of coloni zation, a nd more
pote ntial cons umers (or buyers of prod ucts).

Capital and Pr ofit Accumulation

Pri ces of manufact ured goods soa red t o in experienced heights i n Europe during t he
16t h century leading t o t he s uffe ring of t he feud al nobi lity and t he workin g cl ass. The
capitalist class was the great beneficiary of the price revolution as larger p rofits
were accumul ated as capi tal (t he materials necessary for p roduction, tra de a nd
commerce, consisting of: t ool s, e quipment , fact ories, raw mate rial s trans port a nd
money).
The essence of the ne wly emerged capi tali st social order is the e xi stence of a
class of ca pitalist who own the capital stock and de rive their profi ts by virtue of their
ownership of this ca pital. These profits a re then plowed back or used t o a ugment the
capital stock, the furt her accum ulation of capi tal l eads to more profits, which l eads
to more accumulati on – and t he system, conti nues in an upw ard s piral.

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 The emergen ce of t he new nations-state s fou nd t he new mona rchs (l ike
England’s Henry VII, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I) drawing on the su pp ort of the middle
class, bourgeois ca pi tali st class, in their efforts t o defe at feu dal rival s and unify the
state under one cent ral power. Thi s unificati on freed t he mercha nts from the feu dal
maze of different rules, regulati on s, law s, weights, and measures and moneys;
consolidated money markets; and provided military protection for c ommercial
ventures. In return, t he monarch rel ied on the capitalist for much- needed s ource of
revenues.

Rise of Political Parties

The s upport of t he middle classes of shi res and borou ghs i n Engla nd was
conc retized in Parliament. In the revolutions in England of 1648 and 1688, the
supremacy of Pa rliament, or of t he b ou rge ois mi ddle cl asses, w as final ly establi shed.
This led to the popularization of p ol itics by transforming i t from the exclusive
province of kin gs and ruling eli tes to a relativel y mass endeavor.
And with these de velopments came the rise of p oli tical parties a nd
interest/press ure groups of m odern times – the core su bj ect -matter of our c ourse.
The rat her long narrati on of poli tical -econ omic events cul led from the
disci plines of history, economics, an d s ociol ogy i s meant t o conte xtualize the various
social forces which made pol itical parties a reali ty in this human drama which we
have been fol lowi ng c al led politi cs.

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Political Science 6
Module 1, Lesson 2

SELF -PRO GRESS CHECK TEST

Direction: Multiple Choice. Write the let ter correspondi ng to the best answer to
each of the following statem ents:

1. Systematic written accounts of events affe cti ng a nation, institu tion, sci ence
or art and u sually con nected with a phi los ophical expl anati on of their causes.
a. Sociology c. Cul ture
b. History d. Economics

2. The pri mary ai m of a ny econ omic system is to

a. Provide a pl an ned ec onomy that promotes maximum economi c growth.
b. Provide for the materi al well -bei ng of all individuals.
c. Provide for a pla nned economy to i ns ure p ol iti cal stability.
d. None of the above.

3. The great movements of bourgeois liberation from the restriction of feu dalism
were
a. The Renaissance
b. Reformation
c. The rebel lions and rev olutions of t he 16 t h , 17 t h an d 18 t h cent uries.
d. Al l of the a bove.

4. It tells where people li ve and why they li ve where they do.

a. Geograp hi c setting c. Religi on
b. Culture d. None of the above

5. A system in which t he political l eaders, the l arge land holders and t he serfs
who w orked the lan d, were linked t o one anothe r by condi tions of mu tual
politi cal and economic depen dence.
a. Capital ism c. Feudali sm
b. Pri miti ve communalism d. none of the above

6. Racial type of peopl e who are ge neral ly found in Europe, the Americas and
North A frica.
a. Mongoloid c. N egroid
b. Caucas oid d. Polynesian

7. An ec on omy in which the government stays out of the w orld of business as

much as possible.
a. Lai ssez fai re c. Renaissance
b. Feudalism d. none of the above

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8. Know n as t he cradle of ci vi lizati on, this part of the gl obe w as the m ost
advanced duri ng earl y times and u nti l now serves as t he cros sroa ds of the
worl d where E urope , Afri ca a nd Asia meet.
a. Europe c. I ndia
b. China d. Middle East

9. Egypt, t he first state of its size in history, ruled through a massive hereditary
bureaucracy res ponsib le for
a. Tax col lection c. admi nisteri ng irrigation
b. Harvest yields d. all of the above

10. The state uses its powers openly to provide the best possible condi tions for
pri vate entrep reneurs to carry on business , thereby ide nti fyi ng t he interest of
the state wi th th at of private busines s.
a. Socialism c. Feudali sm
b. Capital ism d. All of the a bove

11. They are consi dered members of species w here we bel on g, with a recognizably
human skeleton a nd a brain measuring over 1,100 cubic centimeters.
a. Homo sapiens c. Primates
b. Hominids d. Reptiles

12. The strength a nd c ompositi on of political institutions, the stru ggle between
conflicting social groups, the l evel of pol itical oppression – al l represents t he

a. Relationshi p between social and ec onomic variables i n a p oli ty.

b. Relationshi p between economic and political vari ables.
c. Relationshi ps between social and p oli ti cal variables.
d. Al l of the a bove.

13. People in Asia are mainly classified as

a. Polynesian c. Caucas oid
b. Mongoloid d. Negroid

14. Irregular change of leadership an d domestic arrest indicate

a. The need for more political control to provide stability.

b. That p ol itical control of t he polity rests on economic foun dat ions in all
cases.
c. Politi cal i nstabili ty.
d. Al ways a weak economy.

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15. Periods in civilization took their names from
a. The name of thei r gods.
b. Language used.
c. The kinds of food t hey con sumed.
d. Kind of t oo ls use d.

16. This scientist or sc hol ar stu di es the remai ns of past human life and acti vi ti es.
a. Ethn ologi st c. Psychologi st
b. Arch aeologist d. Biologist

17. During ancient civilization, there was an interval between planting and
harvesting t hat provided ti me and surpl us energy for pe ople to st udy t he
possibi lities offered b y nature. T his resul ted in

a. Metallurgy or process of metal smelti ng.

b. Pottery maki ng.
c. Early form of arc hitecture
d. Al l of the a bove.

18. This epoch is important becau se it i s the onl y geologi cal epoch contemporary
with human a cti vity.

a. Plei stocene c. Eocine

b. Paleocine d. none of the above

19. Modern humanity or t hat pe riod when brain an d speech were ful ly developed
can be t raced

a. 10,000 years ago c. 40,000 years ago

b. Two million years ago d. 500,000 years ago

20. Culture or s ociety’s way of life (habit s, i deas and practic es) becomes
civilization when it develops.

a. Writing
b. Formal politi cal organi zation
c. Urban centers a nd s oc ial classes
d. Al l of the a bove

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