McMichael, Development and Social Change 5e – Instructor Materials
Development and Social Change Test Bank
What follows are examples of questions for instructors to pose to students to help them make
the connections necessary to following the text, and its interpretation of the world of
development. Five questions for each chapter will focus on the chapter’s content, cumulative
understanding across chapters and how specific cases illuminate general, or global, trends
Chapter 10. Rethinking Development
1. What are the principles of de-growth economics and how does it challenge dominant
conceptions of development? How is the idea of de-growth featured in the sustainability
project? Explain how some social movements exemplify, or put into practice, the ideas
of degrowth (give at least two examples).
2. How does the idea of Buen Vivir reformulate the meaning and practice of development?
In what ways and how does the slow food movement’s critique of fast food resemble the
reformulation of development values as expressed in the idea of Buen Vivir?
3. In what ways and why might the practice of ‘reclaiming the commons’ be a central
feature of a de-growth development paradigm?
4. What is the Transition Town movement’s vision of the future? How would this vision
translate into development practice and policies? From the perspective of a transition
town paradigm, how would you measure development?
5. In what ways is climate change altering the premises of development theory and practice?
What are some of the ways that social movements are proactively building alternative
forms of production, consumption, and distribution to address climate change?
6. How does the incorporation of subjective experiences into development indicators signal
a shift in the valuation of development? What are some of these values and how are they
shaped by social and ecological concerns for the future?
7. What is the “pluriverse” world view and how does it differ from the “one world”
ontology of globalization? What are the tenets of these two paradigms and how would
you characterize their competing visions of the future? Provide examples of each
paradigm in practice.