Exam 5: Separate and Together: Life in Groups

According to Emile Durkheim, all of the social groups to which an individual is connected impose norms, which place limits on the individual's actions.

The definition of what constitutes a group is being transformed as a result of new technology and the Information Revolution. Which of the following is NOT evidence of this?

Which of the following is NOT a group in the sociological sense?

The social rules that govern a specific part of the Internet are called:

In all probability, the sociology professor giving this test would be totally unable to grade a test given in the chemistry department. What aspect of bureaucracy does this illustrate?

What do sociologists call a group that provides standards by which an individual can judge his own accomplishments?

The sociologist Duncan Watts examined the way individuals may change their minds about who to vote for based on the opinions of friends and acquaintances. What concept was Watts studying?

Activists sometimes advocate living "off the grid," which, in its simplest form, means living without buying electricity and water from utility companies. However, they also admit that living off the grid is harder and harder, because there simply isn't enough affordable land in places where it would be feasible to do so. This means that most of America has to:

The statement "I am stardust, I am golden, I am billion-year-old carbon" would be an A-mode response on the Twenty Statements Test, in that the statement describes a person's physical appearance.

What does Ritzer mean by "the McDonaldization of society"?

Proscriptions are norms about what we are supposed to do, whereas prescriptions are norms about what we are not supposed to do.

What do sociologists call patterns of interaction between groups and individuals?

What are leaders called whose personal style makes them more task- or goal-oriented and less concerned with people's feelings?

What is the Twenty Statements Test, why was it developed, and what does it analyze?

Researchers who have replicated Solomon Asch's experiment in recent years have found almost exactly the same results.

Before the Second Gulf War, many in the U.S. government believed that Iraq possessed significant stores of weapons of mass destruction. In part, this belief was supported by CIA intelligence reports that later turned out to be wrong. Some have blamed the intense need for group cohesion and loyalty for driving out anyone who disagreed with the analysis. What is this called?

What percentage of the subjects in the Asch experiments were "independents" who refused to give the wrong answer?

George was getting ready to do his student teaching in a school district where he hopes to be employed after graduation. Over the weekend, some friends tagged George in several wild party pictures that they posted on the social networking site Facebook. On Monday the principal of the school called George, saying that they would not be able to work George into their schedule. What grounds would the principal have for making that decision?

Members of which of the following think of themselves as belonging together while also interacting with each other?

Robert Merton points out that people remember Abraham Lincoln, one of America's great heroes, as frugal, thrifty, and sparing, yet they describe these same traits differently when a member of a racial or ethnic minority possesses them. Merton suggests that a Japanese American might be described as stingy, miserly, and penny pinching. What explains this double standard?