Deck 3: Culture and Media

Question 1

One of the two main categories of culture that includes values,beliefs,norms,and behaviors is known as:

A) subculture.
B) counterculture.
C) nonmaterial culture.
D) material culture.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Why did industrialization change European culture so dramatically in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries?

A) It consolidated the power of the landed nobility and peasants suffered.
B) Expensive, handcrafted goods were now mass-produced and new social classes emerged.
C) European dominance was now challenged by economic competitors from around the world.
D) Workers moved to suburban enclaves, which changed the way that schools and social lives were organized.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Galileo's discovery that the earth revolved around the sun rather than standing at the center of the universe is an example of:

A) cultural relativism.
B) emoticons.
C) the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
D) a shifting ideology.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which of the following defines culture?

A) behavior
B) genetics
C) the natural environment
D) the weather

Question 5

An example of material culture is:

A) values.
B) money.
C) norms.
D) behavior.

Question 6

An element of nonmaterial culture known as ____________ is a system of concepts and relationships sometimes used to understand cause and effect.

A) high art
B) ideology
C) cultural relativism
D) concentric framing

Question 7

During the 1800s,culture was defined by Matthew Arnold as an ideal,something that is opposed to the real world in which we live.Sociologists today define culture as:

A) the sum total of beliefs, behaviors, and practices that humans create to adapt to the environment around them.
B) only the nonmaterial aspects of people's lives, like values and norms.
C) only the material aspects of people's lives, those things created by humans to adapt to the environment around them.
D) a system of concepts and relationships that explains cause and effect.

Question 8

Everything in our constructed environment,including technology,buildings,furniture,clothing,and books,is part of our:

A) subculture.
B) counterculture.
C) nonmaterial culture.
D) material culture.

Question 9

Which of the following is true regarding the value of high versus low culture?

A) High culture is much more valuable than low culture.
B) Low culture is much more valuable than high culture.
C) It is difficult to debate the worth of high and low culture.
D) Popular culture is preferred over both high and low culture.

Question 10

Ideologies are:

A) systems that change only when massive revolutions take place in particular societies.
B) systems that remain constant over time.
C) often brought into question when certain aspects of that ideology are challenged.
D) no longer existent in modern societies.

Question 11

Acronyms and emoticons such as LOL,;-),and LMAO demonstrate that:

A) language, like other ideas, is universally understood.
B) kids will do anything to keep secrets from their parents.
C) language is the direct result of technological and cultural constraints.
D) technology itself can generate ideas and concepts.

Question 12

The word culture derives from the Latin word colere,which means:

A) a cult.
B) an ideology.
C) to cultivate.
D) a plan of action.

Question 13

Margaret Mead wrote Coming of Age in Samoa (1928),where she found that women in Samoa engaged in and enjoyed casual sex before they were married.This finding challenged America's:

A) culture.
B) material culture.
C) cultural scripts.
D) ethnocentrism.

Question 14

Low culture,such as hip-hop music,is also known as:

A) counterculture.
B) pop culture.
C) cultural scripts.
D) cultural relativism.

Question 15

While they are difficult to define,____________ are smaller subgroups within a larger dominant society united by sets of concepts,values,symbols,and shared meanings specific to the members of that group.

A) high cultures
B) low cultures
C) minicultures
D) subcultures

Question 16

Culture tends to be:

A) stable.
B) relative.
C) concrete.
D) natural.

Question 17

Which of the following was a poet and cultural critic who defined culture as the pursuit of perfection and broad knowledge of the world,in contrast to narrow self-centeredness and material gain?

A) Matthew Arnold
B) Émile Durkheim
C) Dalton Conley
D) Karl Marx

Question 18

According to ____________,the language we speak directly influences and reflects the way we think about and see the world.

A) the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
B) the high-low culture debate
C) Marxist ideology
D) the law of averages

Question 19

An example of nonmaterial culture is:

A) money.
B) books.
C) values.
D) cars.

Question 20

The study of culture tells us that:

A) the way "our" culture lives tends to be the most efficient.
B) there are many ways to view the same symbol.
C) most foreign cultures are primitive.
D) most cultures don't understand the meaning of morals.

Question 21

Although some criticize rap music for its violent lyrics,many rappers defend it by saying it emerges directly from their experiences.Those rappers who make these claims are invoking:

A) anarcha-indigenism.
B) a defense mechanism.
C) reflection theory.
D) functionalism.

Question 22

When your friend returns from a study abroad,he reports back to you on the very different foods that people in his host country ate.He explains that to them it's normal,that people in different cultures do things differently,and that he learned not to make value judgments.This is known as:

A) cultural con games.
B) high culture.
C) counterculture.
D) cultural relativism.

Question 23

Stanley Lieberson,a sociology professor at Harvard,studied culture using first names.He found that names:

A) reflect cultural trends of specific times.
B) that are racially coded don't affect discrimination.
C) tend to remain gender-specific across history.
D) involved gender but not race.

Question 24

Subcultures:

A) can be easily differentiated from the dominant culture.
B) don't exist in cultures in which everybody is the same.
C) are hard to definitively define.
D) exist only in cultures where power between classes exists.

Question 25

Gendered behaviors,such as wearing dresses and high heels,are examples of learned behaviors that are not natural or universal,and are known as:

A) subcultures.
B) cultural scripts.
C) material culture.
D) counterculture.

Question 26

If you are a member of a subculture,like the goth subculture,you can be sure that the meaning of certain words and the behavior of the members:

A) can be different within the group.
B) will remain consistent across the group.
C) will differ greatly from the dominant culture.
D) will remain consistent for several years and then change across the groups.

Question 27

Karl Marx asserted that culture:

A) is a reflection of the means of production of a particular time.
B) creates the way we survive in a particular environment.
C) is nonexistent in socialist societies.
D) exists only in capitalist societies.

Question 28

Goth culture tends to exist:

A) only in the United Kingdom.
B) only in the United States.
C) cross-culturally.
D) no more; it died out in the 1990s.

Question 29

If ____________ are abstract cultural beliefs,then ____________ are how they are put into play.

A) values; norms
B) norms; values
C) subcultures; countercultures
D) countercultures; subcultures

Question 30

Until Europeans came into contact with non-Westerners,they tended to see their culture as:

A) needing change.
B) fluid, based on the social class distinctions.
C) inferior to non-Western cultures.
D) the only way to live.

Question 31

Ruth Benedict,in her Patterns of Culture (1934),coined the term cultural relativism,which means:

A) creating culture that is similar to other cultures.
B) that groups will become more similar as they mature.
C) taking into account the differences across cultures without passing judgment or assigning value.
D) individuals will ignore the behavior of others if it is not consistent with the values of their own group.

Question 32

You take a trip to Alaska and find that Inuit families sleep together naked to stay warm.You find this practice disgusting and can't understand why they don't consider this incestuous.You are being:

A) magnanimous.
B) ethnocentric.
C) culturally relativistic.
D) accepting.

Question 33

Class mobility and equal opportunity have their roots in:

A) the feudal system in England, 600 years ago.
B) China from the 1700s.
C) the USSR of the 1950s.
D) the U.S. idea of the American Dream.

Question 34

The United States has laws that prohibit cockfighting.People in Bali might say that people in the United States are:

A) culturally advanced.
B) more moral.
C) ethnocentric.
D) from high culture.

Question 35

Reflection theory is limited because it:

A) fails to take into account why some cultural products have staying power and others fall by the wayside.
B) looks only at American culture.
C) tends to state that culture has no impact on society.
D) is limited to a specific time in history.

Question 36

The experience of internalizing a culture's norms,values,and the like,is known as:

A) socialization.
B) ideology.
C) hegemony.
D) reflection.

Question 37

If a person judges another group by his or her own standards,he or she is being:

A) culturally relative.
B) realistic.
C) symbolic.
D) ethnocentric.

Question 38

Stanley Lieberson's research on first names in the United States found that:

A) it is more common for names to cross from men to women over time than vice versa.
B) it is more common for names to cross from women to men over time than vice versa.
C) with the exception of a few androgynous names, names don't cross between boys and girls over time.
D) children's names do not follow any noticeable patterns over time.

Question 39

The various musical genres and the groups inspired by them,such as post-punk music and the goths,are examples of which of the following?

A) high cultures
B) subcultures
C) socialization
D) emoticons

Question 40

Norms are to ____________ as values are to ____________.

A) attitudes; behavior
B) behavior; attitudes
C) consistency; change
D) change; consistency

Question 41

The first interracial kiss in a film took place in:

A) 1890.
B) 1920.
C) 1945.
D) 1967.

Question 42

A group of protestors blocking the entrance to the campus administration building refuse to leave.When the police begin spraying them with tear gas,Gramsci would say that the police are practicing:

A) socialization.
B) hegemony.
C) domination.
D) rebellion.

Question 43

Which of the following is part of the "three general principles" of the movie industry's Production Code?

A) No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence, the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil, or sin.
B) Female homosexual characters may be portrayed, but only as objects of male desire and never actively involved in a same-sex romantic relationship.
C) Language such as the seven words you can never say on television shall not be broadcast before 11:00 P.M.
D) The market shall determine standards of decency. If customers become unwilling to patronize film and live performances that they deem inappropriate, such performances will be unable to continue.

Question 44

What is Jean Kilbourne's critique of an advertisement that shows a pair of women's legs with brand new,expensive shoes on them popping out of a trash can?

A) It demonstrates how consumerism makes it too easy to throw away functional items that aren't fashionable.
B) It promotes, even implicitly, violence against women.
C) It is a sexist strategy to promote recycling.
D) The legs are white, and the ad reflects the relative neglect of nonwhites in the media.

Question 45

How was Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty a response to feminist critiques of the media's messages to girls and women?

A) It embraced those critiques and was among the first to feature women with cellulite and frizzy hair.
B) It rejected the critiques and was among the first to airbrush their models and create unattainable images of beauty.
C) It showed women in a variety of occupations, thus rejecting feminist arguments that women should aspire to only predominantly male positions.
D) It created unrealistic images of beauty in order to sell Dove products.

Question 46

Since the Production/Hays Code was abolished in 1967,racism and sexism have:

A) generally remained the same in the media.
B) completely disappeared in the media.
C) disappeared in the media in the northern and western United States but are still evident in the South.
D) disappeared in the South but are still evident in other parts of the United States.

Question 47

Jean Kilbourne's college lectures and film,Killing Us Softly (1979),examine which of the following issues?

A) racism in the media
B) gun violence in the media
C) homophobia in the media
D) sexism in the media

Question 48

The first form of mass media was the:

A) television.
B) book.
C) silent film.
D) billboard.

Question 49

Deliberate,long-term media campaigns such as Smokey the Bear,which began in 1944 and is still with us today,are examples of ads used by nonprofit organizations to educate the public.They are commonly known as:

A) messages to the masses.
B) mass-media services.
C) public service announcements.
D) fireside chats.

Question 50

Antonio Gramsci coined the term hegemony to mean that a dominant group wins "consent" of the masses through "moral and intellectual leadership." His thoughts are closely related to:

A) Auguste Comte.
B) Karl Marx.
C) Herbert Gans.
D) Dalton Conley.

Question 51

Many Americans fear school shootings and terrorist attacks.This is due to the:

A) actual increase of both of these in the recent past.
B) exaggerated frequency of the reports of these rarely occurring events.
C) decrease of media attention when these events take place.
D) inability to see and hear up-to-date news when these events take place.

Question 52

According to the textbook,____________ played a large role in fueling the civil rights and antiwar movements.

A) the written word
B) the Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
C) television
D) talkie movies

Question 53

According to Herbert Gans,what determines the content of news stories?

A) journalistic standards, including "the facts, just the facts"
B) market forces and what the public wants to see
C) powerful corporate boards
D) the time and space constraints inherent in various media

Question 54

You see an advertisement on television for a new burger at McDonald's.The next day,you are riding by McDonald's and decide to drive in and give it a try.This would be called a:

A) long-term deliberate media effect.
B) short-term unintended media effect.
C) long-term unintended media effect.
D) short-term deliberate media effect.

Question 55

Research questions such as why fairy tales often begin with a mother's death are an example of the analysis of media content stemming from Gramsci's work and known as:

A) the functional analysis.
B) psychoanalysis.
C) meta-analysis.
D) textual analysis.

Question 56

According to data presented in Chapter 3,by 1964,____________ percent of U.S.households had a television set.

A) 25
B) 50
C) 78
D) 92

Question 57

Part of what we learn in elementary school is to obey authority,follow the rules,and learn the importance of being on time.Because these values are important to the functioning of the capitalist system,Gramsci would call this:

A) hegemony.
B) discrimination.
C) the American way.
D) dominance.

Question 58

In 1941,Time magazine ran an article on how to distinguish between Chinese and Japanese people.These descriptions reflected:

A) true biological differences in the two groups.
B) the state of mind of many Americans at the time.
C) true depictions of Chinese but not of Japanese.
D) true depictions of Japanese but not of Chinese.

Question 59

The O.J.Simpson murder case and Hurricane Katrina are examples of which of the following?

A) two recent U.S. natural disasters
B) how the media reflects racist ideology
C) Gramsci's concept of hegemony
D) cultural scripts in news media

Question 60

Gramsci's concept for the historical process in which a dominant group exercises moral and intellectual leadership by voluntarily receiving the approval and consent of the masses is known as:

A) socialization.
B) hegemony.
C) domination.
D) rebellion.

Question 61

Compare and contrast the definitions of high culture and low culture.Give two examples of each to make your point.

Question 62

Discuss the research on naming that you read for class.To what extent do gender and race seem to matter?

Question 63

Explain reflection theory and offer examples of it.

Question 64

Most broadcasting companies are privately owned in the United States and are supported financially by advertising.This means they are likely to reflect the biases of their owners and backers.Knowing that the press is not free suggests that there is a:

A) political economy of the media.
B) liberal media.
C) media controlled by antitrust laws.
D) cooperative economy.

Question 65

The belief that happiness and fulfillment can be achieved through the acquisition of material possessions is known as:

A) consumerism.
B) asceticism.
C) buyerism.
D) being a shopaholic.

Question 66

One major concern with restricted ownership of major media outlets is that:

A) fewer entertainment options will be available.
B) the incentives for quality media programs will be reduced as competition declines.
C) fewer people will be able to consume media products, threatening the industry's viability.
D) de facto censorship may occur because it becomes easier to suppress messages that media owners don't support.

Question 67

When studying culture,it is important to remain culturally relative.Who defined this concept and what does it mean? When might cultural relativism be difficult to utilize?

Question 68

Why do you think culture (material and nonmaterial)differs from one location to another? Why do you feel that there are changes within a culture across time? In other words,how and why do ideologies change?

Question 69

What is consumerism and how does it influence U.S.culture?

Question 70

What are media and how do they affect our values and norms in the United States?

Question 71

In the United States,six major companies,including Disney and Time Warner,own slightly more than ____________ percent of the media.

A) 30
B) 60
C) 75
D) 90

Question 72

Reflect on the various definitions of culture discussed in Chapter 3.Which one makes the most sense to you? Define cultural icon and give one example of a cultural icon in the United States.

Question 73

Media centralization refers to:

A) the fact that, as digital devices become more common, fewer and fewer people who can afford all of them are granted access to the media.
B) the movement of the media production industry to California in the mid-twentieth century.
C) the fact that fewer and fewer groups own more and more of the media.
D) the role of the computing cloud in making data and information increasingly accessible from remote locations.

Question 74

According to research,because low-income parents cannot give their children every toy and gadget they want,they engage in:

A) symbolic deprivation.
B) deferred gratification.
C) symbolic indulgence.
D) symbolic consumerism.

Question 75

Which of the following has been found to be disproportionately more common in lower-income schools and advertises in U.S.high schools in exchange for providing televisions,video equipment,and satellite dishes?

A) MTV
B) ESPN
C) Channel One
D) Food Network

Question 76

Legitimate advertisers tend to view culture jamming as:

A) a boost to sales of their products.
B) negative.
C) another way to increase competition.
D) a way to bring attention to the positive aspects of their products.

Question 77

The act of turning media against itself,such as the actions of Rockin' Rollen and Adbusters,is called:

A) culture jamming.
B) hegemony.
C) domination.
D) reflection theory.

Question 78

Assume that the media both reflects and works to produce the culture it represents.Using your reading,class lecture material,and personal experiences,explain the tension between structure and agency.

Question 79

Define subcultures and discuss two examples of a subculture,one that you belong to and practice and another that you do not.

Question 80

Define ideology and discuss one specific example of how it can be either supported or disproved.