Deck 1: Sociology: Theory and Method

Question 1

In the midst of an economic crisis,when foreclosures have become a common feature in the country in response,Jenna and her family lose their home because her parents can no longer pay the mortgage.Sociologists would likely see this as:

A)a personal trouble
B)the fault of Jenna's father for not providing for the family
C)a socialist economy
D)a public issue
E)a problem for psychologists

Answer 1

D

Question 2

__________ was perhaps most influential in sociology for his studies of bureaucracy.

A)Karl Marx
B)Emma Goldman
C)Émile Durkheim
D)Max Weber
E)Auguste Comte

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Martin believes that society should be looked at like a body,with constituent parts necessary to the functioning of the whole.His ideas probably most closely mirror those of which theorist?

A)Karl Marx
B)Émile Durkheim
C)Harriet Martineau
D)Max Weber
E)W.E.B.Du Bois

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Maria believes that contemporary societies are primarily defined by the rise and maintenance of hierarchical bureaucratic forms of organizing large parts of social life.Her ideas most closely match with those of which theorist?

A)Karl Marx
B)Émile Durkheim
C)Harriet Martineau
D)Max Weber
E)W.E.B.Du Bois

Question 5

__________ believed that class struggles were what led to historical progress and development.

A)Karl Marx
B)Emma Goldman
C)Émile Durkheim
D)Max Weber
E)Auguste Comte

Question 6

In the midst of an economic crisis,when foreclosures have become a common feature in the country in response,Jenna and her family lose their home because her parents can no longer pay the mortgage.Jenna would be using a sociological imagination to think about this if she were to:

A)blame her mother for not working hard enough
B)wonder why her father does not just find a new job
C)consider how it might be strange that we live in a world that allows people to be thrown out of their homes
D)think about ways she can contribute financially to buying their house back
E)ponder how she might find employment to avoid having the same problems her parents are having in a bad economy

Question 7

Karl Marx studied the development of capitalism in Western Europe and the United States.One possible criticism of his research might be that:

A)his perspective was not sufficiently global in outlook
B)he ignored working class experience
C)he did not understand that societies develop through classes in struggle
D)his research was never used with the goal of improving society; instead, he simply tried to describe the world
E)Marx never bothered to really understand the production of goods

Question 8

The German sociologist Max Weber was highly influential in sociology for his studies of:

A)the French Constituent Assembly
B)hunter-gatherer societies
C)bureaucracy
D)human sexuality
E)urban planning

Question 9

According to the text,__________ involve constructing abstract interpretations that can be used to explain a wide variety of situations.

A)empirical answers
B)ideologies
C)theories
D)beliefs
E)views

Question 10

Émile Durkheim believed that for a society to function and persist over time,its specialized institutions must work in harmony with each other and function as an integrated whole.He referred to this as:

A)democratic centralism
B)consensus
C)class consciousness
D)organic solidarity
E)class composition

Question 11

__________ invented the word sociology.

A)Karl Marx
B)Emma Goldman
C)Émile Durkheim
D)Max Weber
E)Auguste Comte

Question 12

According to __________,to become a science,sociology must study social facts,aspects of social life that shape our actions as individuals.

A)Karl Marx
B)Emma Goldman
C)Émile Durkheim
D)Max Weber
E)Auguste Comte

Question 13

The ideas of Karl Marx might be criticized for what?

A)He had no analysis of power imbalances.
B)His focus on class conflict risked minimizing or ignoring other social divisions like those around race and gender.
C)His materialist conception of history relied too much on the ideas people had instead of actual social events.
D)He paid no attention to how society produced and distributed goods.
E)He refused to take economic problems seriously in their own right.

Question 14

Sociologists recognize that "personal" troubles,if occurring in patterned ways,to large numbers of individuals,reflect important __________ or consequences of social structures.

A)public issues
B)individualized problems
C)interest groups
D)social milieus
E)family values

Question 15

Following C.Wright Mills,sociologists refer to breaking free from the immediacy of personal circumstances and putting things in a wider social context as the:

A)accumulation of capital
B)psychologization process
C)emergence theory
D)recognition of self
E)sociological imagination

Question 16

Karl Marx thought that society:

A)was a fully functioning grouping of social equals
B)was primarily divided by social class
C)had reached its historical apex
D)was a reflection of the mind of God
E)could never progress forward

Question 17

When Juan drinks his morning coffee,he thinks about its production in Colombia,its transportation through many countries,the taxes and tariffs applied for international commerce,and the diverse array of social relations behind his drink.According to the text,one might say that Juan is using:

A)an internalized view of things
B)a psycho-pharmacological lens
C)a global perspective
D)a domestic view of labor
E)an individual framework of commodity production

Question 18

When women began entering the workforce in the United States in larger numbers,until eventually it became normal,women's structural place in society was (somewhat)altered.This is an example of:

A)structuration
B)social stasis
C)wages for housework
D)the glass ceiling
E)total feminist success

Question 19

Anita puts forward the idea that under capitalism,working people and the wealthy will struggle,and from this struggle a new kind of society will emerge.Her thoughts most closely mirror those of which theorist?

A)Karl Marx
B)Émile Durkheim
C)Harriet Martineau
D)Max Weber
E)W.E.B.Du Bois

Question 20

__________ refers to how human societies are reconstructed at every moment by the very "building blocks" that compose them-human beings.

A)Evolutionary biology
B)Structuration
C)Social ecology
D)Dramaturgy
E)Metatheory

Question 21

Max argues that African Americans often see themselves through the eyes of "white" society.His ideas most closely match with those of which theorist?

A)Karl Marx
B)Émile Durkheim
C)Harriet Martineau
D)Max Weber
E)W.E.B.Du Bois

Question 22

One possible criticism of functionalism might be:

A)that it is impossible to research large social bodies
B)that it does not take into account society's major institutions
C)that it has an anti-Western bias
D)that societies are just as often in conflict as they are stable
E)that it does not use the human body as a metaphor for society

Question 23

Adherents of __________ counter that there are no longer any "grand narratives," or metanarratives-overall conceptions of history or society-that make any sense.

A)functionalism
B)postmodern theory
C)feminist theory
D)Marxism
E)symbolic interactionism

Question 24

Mohammed believes that studies of human behavior should focus primarily on how we construct meaning together through abstract representations.His position is closest to which theoretical perspective?

A)functionalism
B)Marxism and class conflict
C)symbolic interactionism
D)feminist theory
E)postmodernism

Question 25

Pierre prefers to think of institutions and human activities by analyzing the relationship of each individual part as it relates to the whole.His way of thinking most closely resembles which theoretical perspective?

A)functionalism
B)Marxism and class conflict
C)symbolic interactionism
D)feminist theory
E)postmodernism

Question 26

Sociologists who use __________ as a theoretical perspective argue that women's lives and experiences are central to the study of society.

A)functionalism
B)postmodern theory
C)feminist theory
D)Marxism
E)symbolic interactionism

Question 27

According to the text,George Herbert Mead reasoned that language allows us to become self-conscious beings-aware of our own individuality.This idea forms the basis of the theoretical perspective known as:

A)functionalism
B)postmodern theory
C)feminist theory
D)Marxism
E)symbolic interactionism

Question 28

According to the book,__________ was the first to turn a sociological eye on previously ignored issues such as marriage,children,domestic and religious life,and race relations.

A)Voltarine de Cleyre
B)Gloria Steinem
C)Harriet Martineau
D)Lucy Parsons
E)W.E.B.Du Bois

Question 29

Marissa rejects the idea that we can make historical claims about society progressively developing.Her idea most mirrors which theoretical perspective?

A)functionalism
B)Marxism and class conflict
C)symbolic interactionism
D)feminist theory
E)postmodernism

Question 30

Janice thinks that sociology should be a science used to bring about radical social change,with particular emphasis on power and ideology.Her position most closely aligns with which theoretical perspective?

A)functionalism
B)Marxism and class conflict
C)symbolic interactionism
D)feminist theory
E)postmodernism

Question 31

As a sociological theory,__________ is unique in that it is supposed to also generate a program for radical political change.

A)functionalism
B)postmodern theory
C)feminist theory
D)Marxism
E)symbolic interactionism

Question 32

Maynard believes that women's experiences are central to the study of society.According to the text,his beliefs most closely align with which theoretical perspective?

A)functionalism
B)Marxism and class conflict
C)symbolic interactionism
D)feminist theory
E)postmodernism

Question 33

Max Weber's theoretical contributions might be criticized for:

A)focusing narrowly on the individual
B)not taking into account the role of bureaucracy in modern societies
C)ignoring large social institutions
D)ignoring collective and democratic forms of organization that are common in modern societies
E)focusing too much on the experiences of women

Question 34

We might identify one of the latent functions of public schools as:

A)providing low-cost educational training to the public at large
B)teaching our children the values of our society
C)training kids to obey authority and grow up to become obedient workers
D)teaching the citizenry of the country the basics of subjects such as math and science
E)providing free education to everyone possible

Question 35

Theorists of __________ such as Auguste Comte and Émile Durkheim compared societies to the workings of a human body.

A)functionalism
B)postmodern theory
C)feminist theory
D)Marxism
E)symbolic interactionism

Question 36

The study of everyday behavior in situations of face-to-face interaction is usually called:

A)institutional ethnography
B)microsociology
C)historical/comparative sociology
D)macrosociology
E)Marxist method

Question 37

Chris insists than any decent analysis of our social world must include investigations into the lived experiences of women.Chris's ideas match most closely with those of which theorist?

A)Karl Marx
B)Émile Durkheim
C)Harriet Martineau
D)Max Weber
E)W.E.B.Du Bois

Question 38

Paco has begun using symbolic interaction as a theoretical perspective to think about the role of food in religious ceremonies.What is one possible critique of this approach?

A)One cannot use symbols to study religious phenomena.
B)Individual behaviors do not matter in religious ceremonies.
C)Paco runs the risk of missing out on larger social context by focusing on symbolic communication.
D)Religion involves inner meaning rather than communication between different sets of people.
E)Symbolic interactionism has no way of interpreting religious ritual and life.

Question 39

Latisha believes that sociologists need to look at not only how our institutions were intended to work,but also the unintentional effects of those institutions.According to the book,this is a major part of which theoretical perspective?

A)functionalism
B)Marxism and class conflict
C)symbolic interactionism
D)feminist theory
E)postmodernism

Question 40

__________ coined the term double consciousness to refer to the African American experience.

A)Voltarine de Cleyre
B)Gloria Steinem
C)Harriet Martineau
D)Lucy Parsons
E)W.E.B.Du Bois

Question 41

Abbey studies how people negotiate personal space when they speak to each other in person by closely observing their behaviors.Her studies would best be referred to as:

A)conflict studies
B)microsociology
C)macrosociology
D)survey research
E)gender studies

Question 42

Pedro wonders whether people tend to obey those in positions of authority in intense,high-pressure situations.What kind of research question will he most likely formulate?

A)factual question
B)comparative question
C)developmental question
D)theoretical question
E)nonempirical question

Question 43

Doug notices in his sample studies that marijuana users are much more likely to report using heroin than people who do not use marijuana.He concludes that marijuana must be a "gateway drug"-a drug that leads to the use of harder substances.What's wrong with Doug's conclusion?

A)His sample data do not demonstrate causality; an experimental approach would be better for investigating such a claim.
B)Marijuana users cannot be trusted to report their behavior honestly and accurately.
C)People who do not smoke marijuana are more likely to drink alcohol, so of course they do not use heroin.
D)Marijuana users would actually likely be afraid of needles since they are used to smoking their drug of choice.
E)Doug could never really know without trying marijuana himself and seeing if it leads to heroin use.

Question 44

Sally has come up with an interesting research question about the behaviors of people who have just achieved what they see as major success in their lives.She finds and investigates as much existing literature on the question as she can find.What part of the research process is Sally in?

A)defining the research problem
B)reviewing the evidence
C)working out a design
D)interpreting the results
E)reporting the findings

Question 45

Harpreet wants to research differences in attitudes toward globalization between people from the United States and people from Colombia.She is creating a survey instrument to give to people from both regions.What part of the research process is she in?

A)defining the research problem
B)reviewing the evidence
C)working out a design
D)interpreting the results
E)reporting the findings

Question 46

Michelle has spent the last year among a subculture of "twenty-somethings" who all listen to the same kind of music.She spends time with them,participates in their events,and observes their interactions and behaviors.All the while,she records what she witnesses in her field notebook.What kind of sociological research best describes what Michelle is doing?

A)survey research
B)experimental research
C)ethnography
D)comparative research
E)historical analysis

Question 47

Wesley conducts research that involves meeting with subjects in a controlled setting.He treats some subjects kindly but behaves rudely to others.He notes how the different groups react to his behavior in order to make inferences about how people react to kindness and rudeness in certain situations.His research would best be described as:

A)survey research
B)experimental research
C)ethnography
D)comparative research
E)historical analysis

Question 48

Sarah has been collecting intensive interviews with women who organize in grassroots movements for wages for housework.At the moment,she is looking over the interviews and trying to find common themes within them.What part of the research process is she in?

A)defining the research problem
B)reviewing the evidence
C)working out a design
D)interpreting the results
E)reporting the findings

Question 49

What is the first step of the sociological research process?

A)defining the research problem
B)making the problem precise
C)reviewing the evidence
D)carrying out the research
E)working out a design

Question 50

Jennifer wants to collect rich and varied data about the lives of Native Americans who live on reservations.She wants to be able to not only document their lived reality,but also to describe it as closely as possible as they experience their lives.The best method of research for this kind of study would be:

A)survey research
B)experimental research
C)ethnography
D)comparative research
E)historical analysis

Question 51

In a(n)__________,the sociologist socializes-or works or lives with members of a group,organization,or community and perhaps participates directly in its activities as part of the research process.

A)ethnography
B)historical/comparative study
C)quantitative study
D)psychological method
E)experiment

Question 52

Farhang begins his research knowing he wants to compare and contrast the lives of gay and straight teenagers.After some consideration,he decides that he will focus on the differences in self-esteem between gay and straight teenagers.What part of the research process is Farhang in?

A)defining the research problem
B)reviewing the evidence
C)working out a design
D)interpreting the results
E)reporting the findings

Question 53

Camilo wants to see if people in France react the same way to authority as people in the United States.He will likely develop what kind of research question?

A)factual question
B)comparative question
C)developmental question
D)theoretical question
E)nonempirical question

Question 54

A(n)__________ enables a researcher to test a hypothesis under highly controlled conditions established by the investigator.

A)ethnography
B)historical/comparative study
C)quantitative study
D)psychological method
E)experiment

Question 55

Why is a larger random sample more desirable in survey research?

A)People take big numbers more seriously.
B)The larger a sample gets, the more honest people are when answering the questions.
C)Larger samples, by their nature, include more women and minorities.
D)Small samples cannot be used for any kind of sociological research.
E)Larger samples are more likely to be representative of the population.

Question 56

Florence is interested in researching how men's lives have changed as women have increasingly entered the workforce.What kind of research question will she be formulating?

A)factual question
B)comparative question
C)developmental question
D)theoretical question
E)nonempirical question

Question 57

Elise collects data on homeless people in New York City by widely distributing structured questionnaires.What kind of sociological research best describes what she is doing?

A)survey research
B)experimental research
C)ethnography
D)comparative research
E)historical analysis

Question 58

Hunches about the nature of the problem can sometimes be turned into definite __________-educated guesses about what is going on.

A)answers
B)truth claims
C)hypotheses
D)analyses
E)data

Question 59

Allen participated in religious rituals with members of the Mormon Church for two years.He kept field notes of his experiences,identified major themes within the notes,wrote a paper about his process and results,and submitted the paper to a major research journal.What part of the research process is he in?

A)defining the research problem
B)reviewing the evidence
C)working out a design
D)interpreting the results
E)reporting the findings

Question 60

Jerome looks at how the global economy functions in continental free trade zones.His studies might be described as:

A)conflict studies
B)microsociology
C)macrosociology
D)survey research
E)gender studies

Question 61

__________ is when the research study ends,and the investigator discusses with the subjects their concerns and acknowledges whether strategies such as deception were used.

A)Informed consent
B)Debriefing
C)Sampling
D)Intensive interviewing
E)Ethnography

Question 62

What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of ethnographic fieldwork?

Question 63

How would Karl Marx describe and analyze the contemporary United States?

Question 64

Sociology studies contemporary society and,therefore,does not involve historical research.

Question 65

Laud Humphreys's studies on "tearooms" shows that sociologists:

A)are always completely honest with their research subjects
B)are universally studying society to make it better
C)sometimes use deception in their research
D)are like a new priestly class in contemporary societies
E)primarily use qualitative data

Question 66

Max studies marriage rituals in four different countries to note similarities and differences in the ceremonies.His research would best be described as:

A)survey research
B)experimental research
C)ethnography
D)comparative research
E)historical analysis

Question 67

What is sociology,and how does it differ from psychology?

Question 68

W.E.B.Du Bois and Harriet Martineau are the two neglected founders mentioned in the text.What might this neglect tell us about the history of sociology as a discipline?

Question 69

How is ideology used to justify the actions of the powerful in U.S.society?

Question 70

What are the strengths and limitations of surveys as a research method?

Question 71

What are the manifest and latent functions of public schools in the United States?

Question 72

Alejandra studied the lives of women in the 1968 rebellion in Paris,France,by looking over a wide range of documents available from that time period.Her research would best be described as:

A)survey research
B)experimental research
C)ethnography
D)comparative research
E)historical analysis

Question 73

Use your sociological imagination to think about the social processes that go into writing an essay for a college course.What is involved?

Question 74

What is the difference between microsociology and macrosociology? What are some examples of each?

Question 75

How might a sociologist influenced by symbolic interactionism explain gender in the contemporary United States?