Compare two theories of what divides a society
Three steps, the way the exam actually works: work through the lab, write down your own observations, then answer a 8-point free response. What you recorded goes to the grader with your writing, so a conclusion that does not follow from your own evidence will cost you the point — exactly as it would with a real reader.
Predict before you look
- Two thinkers can agree that a society is divided and disagree completely about the axis of division. Name the two axes you expect from a 1787 constitutional argument and an 1848 revolutionary pamphlet.
- Before reading, decide what each author would have to believe about human nature for their proposed remedy to work.
Nothing to submit here — these are to think through, so the prediction below is an informed one rather than a guess.
Commit to an answer now. It is not graded and being wrong costs nothing — the point is to have something specific to reconcile against once you have the data.
Answer every prediction to unlock the lab. A sentence is enough.
Run the investigation
Predictions first
The procedure and the simulation unlock once you have committed above. Observing before predicting is how a wrong intuition survives a lab intact.
Record what you found
This is your reading of the source, not ours. The grader sees them, so your conclusions have to follow from what you actually recorded.
| Year of Federalist No. 10 | |
|---|---|
| Year of The Communist Manifesto | |
| Years between them | years |
| Madison's axis of division, in a phrase | |
| The Manifesto's axis of division, in a phrase | |
| Madison's proposed remedy | |
| The Manifesto's proposed remedy | |
| Which author treats division as eliminable, and which does not |
Answer the free response
You have two documents 61 years apart, each explaining what divides a society. (a) State each author's axis of division and quote the language that establishes it. (b) State each proposed remedy, and explain what each author must assume about whether division can be removed. (c) Explain how the historical situation of each document — a constitutional ratification debate and the eve of the 1848 revolutions — shaped the answer each gave. (d) Both documents were written in industrializing societies but 61 years apart. Explain which of the two better describes the society you have studied in this unit, and defend the choice with specific evidence.
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