Correct Answer: C
Explanation:
The author is discussing war, a seemingly uncivilized activity. Yet the author argues that war, at least in premodernized times, and was the necessary result of certain economic and social forces. The use of the term “civilized” is ironic. Under other circumstances, the explanations offered by (A) and (B) might be plausible, but there is nothing in this text to support either of them. (D), too, might under other circumstances be a reason for placing the word in quotation marks, but it does not appear that this author is attempting to affect the reader’s emotions; the passage is too detached and scientific for that. Finally, (E) does articulate one of the author’s objectives, but this is not the reason for putting the one word in quotations. The explanation for that is something more specific than an overall idea of the passage.