Deck 1: Sociology and the Real World

Question 1

Sociology can be defined as the systematic and scientific study of human society and social behavior from ________ to ________.

A) large-scale institutions; individual interactions
B) practical knowledge; scientific knowledge
C) individual interactions; small groups
D) economics; political science

Answer 1

A

Question 2

What is a weakness of the sociological approach?

A) It accepts many things as true that cannot be verified or confirmed.
B) It attempts to grasp things that everyday actors understand implicitly.
C) It is a practical approach rather than a scientific approach.
D) It requires one to travel in order to experience culture shock.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

You have just begun studying unemployment rates in a city with fifty million people, of which fifteen million are unemployed. If you are using your sociological imagination, what is your first consideration?

A) the economic and political structures of the society
B) the work ethic of the average citizen
C) the intelligence level of the workers who have lost their jobs
D) how much the people who are unemployed want to work

Answer 3

A

Question 4

What is one of the weaknesses of being an everyday actor when it comes to understanding everyday life?

A) being forced to see everything from the perspective of a stranger
B) struggling to grasp even simple, common occurrences
C) only seeing things from a historical perspective
D) making assumptions and failing to investigate or verify those assumptions

Question 5

There is a close relationship between sociology and the other social sciences. Why does sociology still exist as a separate discipline given how much overlap there is between these fields?

A) All the other social sciences are more specialized, but sociology is a field that considers a huge intellectual territory.
B) Sociology does not use historical context, which other social sciences do.
C) Sociology departments are an academic tradition and would be difficult to disband.
D) Political science and economics are more politically conservative, and sociology provides a liberal counterbalance.

Question 6

Why is it beneficial for sociologists to experience culture shock?

A) It makes us unable to function even in simple, everyday ways.
B) It requires us to travel, which helps us grow as human beings.
C) It shows us that people in foreign cultures have a way of life that seems strange to us.
D) It makes us realize we lack an understanding of our surroundings so we can perceive what is right in front of us.

Question 7

What is a key difference between anthropology and sociology?

A) Anthropology is concerned with on-the-ground interaction among people, whereas sociology is only about hard numbers and data.
B) Anthropology is focused on historical societies, whereas sociology is focused on present-day societies.
C) Anthropology largely concentrates on traditional, small, or indigenous cultures, whereas sociology is interested in societies at all levels of development.
D) Anthropology is prescriptive, whereas sociology is descriptive.

Question 8

A researcher spends years conducting fieldwork with an indigenous tribe in Papua New Guinea and has a difficult time reacclimating to Western society when he returns to it. He uses the experience of returning home to view his own society from an outsider's perspective and learn something new about it. Which sociological concept best exemplifies the experience of this researcher?

A) expert's mind
B) beginner's mind
C) culture shock
D) microsociology

Question 9

What practice did Bernard McGrane suggest that individuals adopt to better understand the world around them?

A) beginner's mind
B) expert's mind
C) the sociological perspective
D) reciped, or practical, knowledge

Question 10

Regardless of their various approaches to social phenomena, what are all sociologists aiming to accomplish with their work?

A) illuminating the connection between the individual and society
B) explaining why poverty and inequality still exist
C) comparing the present with the past
D) understanding how our society is different from other societies

Question 11

How do sociologists study the way in which people, as part of groups, organize their lives and social interactions to produce a real and meaningful world?

A) They are interested in all aspects of human psychology.
B) People organize their lives in patterned ways.
C) Sociology understands the importance of human psychology.
D) We often assign characteristics to an entire group based on experience with a single group member.

Question 12

Why did C. Wright Mills think that it is important for everyone, even people who will never take a sociology class, to develop a sociological imagination?

A) It will help create more jobs for sociologists.
B) Many people are unaware of the connections between their own lives and the larger course of history.
C) The sociological perspective is innately understood by nearly everyone, but we rarely acknowledge it.
D) It will encourage growth in the field of microsociology.

Question 13

What is the sociological imagination?

A) a characteristic of society that ensures people remain ignorant of the connections between their lives and social change
B) a particular way of understanding the criminal mind, such as that of a serial killer
C) the ability to understand the interplay between the self and larger social forces
D) the sociological approach that assumes individual decisions and interactions are independent of larger social institutions

Question 14

Many everyday cultural practices such as greeting a friend, giving someone flowers, or using a thumbs-up seem like natural ways of acting. Why does having an awareness of how these practices vary across cultures demonstrate a healthy sociological imagination?

A) It reminds us that everyday interactions are connected to larger societies and norms.
B) It helps us economically when we do business in different countries.
C) It lets us understand how immigrants perceive America when they move here.
D) It shows us that cultures are not as different as we sometimes think they are.

Question 15

C. Wright Mills was critical of social science and worked to connect the academic side of sociology to more tangible social debates of the time. Mills was convinced that sociology had something to offer everyone, not just academics. For these reasons, which term best describes C. Wright Mills?

A) microsociologist
B) macrosociologist
C) conflict theorist
D) public intellectual

Question 16

According to C. Wright Mills, what is one quality of mind that all great sociologists possess?

A) open-mindedness
B) sociological imagination
C) praxis
D) attention to detail

Question 17

How do sociologists observe society?

A) by studying the various parts of a society and the ways they interact and influence one another
B) by studying society as if it were a concrete object, in the same way a geologist studies rocks
C) by comparing the past and present, with a focus on the past
D) by studying the relationship between individuals and society, specializing in internal states of mind

Question 18

What makes sociology exceptional among the social sciences?

A) Society is always changing.
B) Sociologists are trained to be everyday actors.
C) There is no disagreement among sociologists about how to define the discipline.
D) Sociology encompasses a huge intellectual territory, making it more comprehensive.

Question 19

A reality television show called Wife Swap exchanged the mothers from two very different families and filmed the result as the participants were exposed to radically different ways of life. Although the television network was simply trying to be entertaining, the show also demonstrates the sociological principle of

A) the sociological imagination.
B) globalization.
C) quantitative methods.
D) culture shock.

Question 20

Who must the social analyst take the perspective of in order to verify that which the everyday actor might just accept or assume to be true?

A) social worker
B) native
C) stranger
D) insider

Question 21

Researcher Pam Fishman studied the conversations of heterosexual couples to determine how power is created and maintained through everyday, face-to-face interactions. How would you describe her approach?

A) macrosociological
B) historical
C) microsociological
D) comparative

Question 22

Researcher Christine Williams looked at patterns of occupational sex segregation by examining the ways large-scale social structures create the constraints within which individuals live their lives. Her work would be characterized as what kind of sociology?

A) microsociology
B) symbolic interactionist
C) Chicago School
D) macrosociology

Question 23

Macrosociology and microsociology approach the study of society from different perspectives. How does the discipline of sociology deal with these two very different approaches?

A) Most sociologists are macrosociologists; microsociologists are only a small minority.
B) These two perspectives are on a continuum, and sociologists can adopt the perspective most useful for a particular problem.
C) Although the field is fairly evenly split between these two perspectives, almost every sociologist feels strongly that their perspective is the correct one.
D) Microsociology used to dominate the field, but more recently macrosociology has become the dominant perspective.

Question 24

The divorce rate has steadily increased over time, and now more than a quarter of all marriages end within the first four years. What sort of factors would C. Wright Mills suggest investigating to explain this increase?

A) religious
B) personal
C) structural
D) psychological

Question 25

You are looking over the courses that are offered at your school, and you see a class called "The Sociology of Media and Popular Culture." You don't think you need this course because you listen to lots of music, watch a wide variety of television shows, and often go to the movies. What would a sociologist tell you?

A) You are a specialist in mass media.
B) You should try to watch media from other cultures to really understand popular culture.
C) You should take classes in film studies instead.
D) You only have "reciped," or practical, knowledge.

Question 26

The phrase "the survival of the fittest" is credited to whom?

A) Charles Darwin
B) Karl Marx
C) Émile Durkheim
D) Herbert Spencer

Question 27

Why might Karl Marx and Émile Durkheim be placed far apart on sociology's family tree?

A) Marx's work is no longer considered very important.
B) Durkheim was more of a psychologist than a sociologist.
C) The theoretical approaches they founded are very different.
D) Durkheim was French, whereas Marx was German.

Question 28

What historical events convinced Auguste Comte that society needed to be guided by thinkers who understood social laws?

A) the American Civil War and the battle over slavery
B) globalization and the rise of international trade and commerce
C) the French Revolution and the instability that followed it
D) the age of exploration and the expansion of European powers into Africa

Question 29

Metaphorically, what part of sociology is most like a zoom lens on a camera?

A) qualitative research
B) microsociology
C) quantitative research
D) macrosociology

Question 30

What ideas did Harriet Martineau support that were radical for her time?

A) the liberation of French colonies in Africa
B) international communism and socialism
C) labor unions and the abolition of slavery
D) the French Revolution and the abolition of the monarchy

Question 31

Which social theorist sought to bring the scientific method to the discipline of sociology?

A) Harriet Martineau
B) Émile Durkheim
C) Auguste Comte
D) Karl Marx

Question 32

What was probably Harriet Martineau's MOST important contribution to the development of sociology as a discipline?

A) her theory of alienation
B) her translation of the work of Auguste Comte into English
C) her work on an early theory of symbolic interactionism
D) her struggle for women's rights

Question 33

A paradigm is

A) an abstract proposition that explains the social world and makes predictions about the future.
B) a set of assumptions, theories, and perspectives that makes up a way of understanding social reality.
C) the theory that sense perceptions are the only valid source of knowledge.
D) the application of the theory of evolution and the notion of "survival of the fittest" to the study of society.

Question 34

Many Marxist sociologists assume that large-scale economic structures are the most important factors in shaping people's lives. This assumption is an example of

A) microsociology.
B) macrosociology.
C) rationalization.
D) symbolic interactionism.

Question 35

What could you determine about Pam Fishman if you didn't know anything about her except that she studied conversation patterns?

A) She is a conflict theorist.
B) She is a macrosociologist.
C) She is a structural functionalist.
D) She is a microsociologist.

Question 36

The theory of positivism contrasted earlier religious traditions that attempted to determine the ultimate cause or source of reality. Why did Auguste Comte develop it?

A) to explain how class conflict led to social change
B) to argue that symbolic interactions between individuals were the basis for social life
C) to justify a particular kind of social system based on hierarchy and privilege
D) to identify laws, such as those in mathematics and physics, that describe the behavior of a particular reality

Question 37

Microsociology is an approach that

A) examines interactions between individuals and how those interactions reflect larger societal patterns.
B) examines institutional interactions that occur over time.
C) quantifies data about social structures so they can be analyzed statistically.
D) focuses exclusively on gender and power as they manifest themselves socially.

Question 38

Is the microsociological or macrosociological perspective more useful in analyzing social phenomena?

A) The macrosociological perspective is more useful because it explains how large-scale social institutions influence individuals.
B) The microsociological perspective is more useful because it explains how individuals shape and create large-scale social institutions.
C) Both are useful, and any study that uses only one or the other will be unable to explain anything useful about society.
D) Both are useful in different ways because they each provide different types of information about the same object of study.

Question 39

Macrosociology is an approach that

A) relates to the way large social institutions are created through individual interactions.
B) examines large-scale social structures to see how they affect individual lives.
C) focuses on creating a beginner's mind, in contrast to microsociology, which uses an expert's mind.
D) focuses on creating scientific knowledge of the world rather than practical knowledge, in contrast to microsociology, which focuses on creating practical knowledge.

Question 40

________ is the economic system that emerged during the Industrial Revolution.

A) Communism
B) Humanitarianism
C) Globalization
D) Capitalism

Question 41

Émile Durkheim's study on suicide found that not only did suicide rates increase when the economy slumped; they also increased when the economy boomed. Which of Durkheim's concepts explains why both positive and negative economic conditions could increase suicide rates?

A) alienation
B) anomie
C) mechanical solidarity
D) organic solidarity

Question 42

If someone makes money exclusively by selling their own labor, then they must be a member of what social group?

A) bureaucrats
B) proletariat
C) bourgeoisie
D) capitalists

Question 43

Karl Marx believed the lower classes, in order to end their oppression, needed to develop

A) a critical theory of gender.
B) a stronger sense of verstehen.
C) class consciousness.
D) false consciousness.

Question 44

After studying the indigenous peoples of Australia, ________ concluded that any form of religion is united in its definition of what is considered to be ________ and ________.

A) Talcott Parsons; manifest functions; latent functions
B) Émile Durkheim; sacred; profane
C) Karl Max; manifest functions; latent functions
D) Robert Merton; sacred; profane

Question 45

On any given day, you probably depend on many strangers to provide electricity, water, natural gas, weather forecasts, and other services. According to Émile Durkheim, this interdependence gives rise to

A) mechanical solidarity.
B) class consciousness.
C) organic solidarity.
D) pragmatism.

Question 46

According to Émile Durkheim, what is the basis for the bonds created through organic solidarity in industrialized societies?

A) religion and tradition
B) shared experiences and similar beliefs
C) globalization, mass communications, and technology
D) difference, interdependence, and individual rights

Question 47

According to Karl Marx, class consciousness is developed

A) by a Eurocentric party leading a violent revolution.
B) through a religious awakening.
C) by achieving perfect industrial production so that most workers are unemployed.
D) by the lower classes recognizing how society works and challenging those in power.

Question 48

What term did Karl Marx use to describe the fact that most of the population accepts inequality even when it does not benefit them personally?

A) class consciousness
B) existentialism
C) ethnomethodology
D) false consciousness

Question 49

According to Marx, the primary tool for the oppression of the lower social classes in modern society is

A) increasing power of the police state.
B) religious authorities.
C) aristocracy.
D) industrial capitalism.

Question 50

What was the most important factor in social life according to Karl Marx?

A) race or ethnicity
B) religious beliefs
C) relationship to the means of production
D) level of education

Question 51

According to the theoretical position developed by Karl Marx, what is the catalyst for social change?

A) conflict between social groups
B) exploration beyond the boundaries of a given society
C) development of technology
D) shared moral values

Question 52

According to Émile Durkheim, what was the basis for the bonds created through mechanical solidarity in traditional societies?

A) interdependence and a division of labor
B) shared traditions and similar experiences
C) a strong ruler who exercised absolute control over the population
D) anomie

Question 53

The ________ of white supremacy in the United States was a system of beliefs and attitudes that maintained the status quo of slavery and segregation.

A) praxis
B) antithesis
C) false consciousness
D) ideology

Question 54

According to Karl Marx, a belief in heaven as a reward for earthly suffering serves the interests of the ruling class by

A) keeping the lower classes from demanding better treatment in this life.
B) distracting the lower classes with fantastic spectacles.
C) using the church as a means to extract economic resources from the poor.
D) keeping working class individuals busy with religious activities and no time to organize.

Question 55

The Egg McMuffin is a vastly more efficient version of eggs Benedict. Egg McMuffins are cheaper, ready almost instantly at drive-through windows, and can be eaten with one hand while driving. However, they do not improve on the taste of or experience eating eggs Benedict. Max Weber might have described the Egg McMuffin as the ________ of breakfast.

A) iron cage
B) alienation
C) praxis
D) rationalization

Question 56

In 2007, the richest 1% of the American population owned 35% of the country's wealth, and the bottom 80% of the population owned 14%. Karl Marx would call this

A) alienation.
B) bourgeoisie.
C) social inequality.
D) organic solidarity.

Question 57

Karl Marx thought intellectuals should engage in praxis, which meant that they should

A) constantly practice and develop the craft of social analysis.
B) not just theorize about the world but change it.
C) evaluate ideas based on their usefulness in everyday life.
D) analyze and give meaning to every action.

Question 58

Why did Durkheim, in The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, argue that religion was a powerful source of social solidarity?

A) Religion established authorities who had control over entire societies.
B) Different religions were constantly appearing and disappearing.
C) There were many arguments about which religion represented the truth.
D) Religion reinforced collective bonds and cultivated shared moral values.

Question 59

Durkheim theorized that the rapidly changing conditions of modern life lead to anomie. What is anomie?

A) normlessness or a loss of connections to the social world
B) anger and disillusionment with progress
C) the transfer of destructive urges to socially useful activities
D) a kind of social solidarity based on interdependence

Question 60

What was Marx criticizing when he said that religion is "the opiate of the masses"?

A) the way religion defines what is sacred and what is profane
B) the way religion increases anomie among the working class
C) the use of religion by the ruling class to oppress the working class
D) the way individuals use religion to support their actions

Question 61

Jane Addams was an early advocate of applied sociology. This means that she did not just do research but that she also

A) reported illegal activities to the proper authorities.
B) examined the historical origins of the phenomena she researched.
C) addressed social problems through activity in the communities she researched.
D) compared the communities she studied to communities from other cultures.

Question 62

How was Harriet Martineau similar to W.E.B. DuBois?

A) Both made careers of studying race and racism.
B) Both were from the American South.
C) Both saw symbolic interactionism as the most promising aspect of social theory.
D) Both were intrigued by America's democratic promise, but disappointed in its hypocritical injustices.

Question 63

Critical race theory is associated with which of the major theoretical perspectives or schools of thought in sociology?

A) structural functionalism
B) conflict theory
C) functional theory
D) symbolic interactionism

Question 64

What is the term used to describe sociological research that is intended to solve social problems, such as the research done by Jane Addams?

A) practical sociology
B) postmodern sociology
C) moral sociology
D) applied sociology

Question 65

Which of the following theories views society as a whole unit made up of interrelated parts that work together?

A) structural functionalism
B) conflict theory
C) symbolic interactionism
D) postmodernism

Question 66

Which of the following is a latent function of the U.S. educational system?

A) teaching reading and writing
B) keeping children out of trouble while parents are at work
C) preparing a modern workforce to use technology
D) teaching new immigrants about American values and history

Question 67

What school of social theory believes that society is a stable system of structures that contribute to the equilibrium of the whole?

A) symbolic interactionism
B) dramaturgy
C) structural functionalism
D) conflict theory

Question 68

Which of the following theories focuses on how our behaviors are dependent on the ways we interpret, make sense of, and define ourselves, others, and social situations?

A) conflict theory
B) symbolic interactionism
C) pragmatism
D) structural functionalism

Question 69

In his Theses on Feuerbach, Karl Marx argued that "the philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point is to change it." What Marxist principle is defined by this quote?

A) verstehen
B) rationalization
C) praxis
D) conflict

Question 70

The application of economic logic to all human activity is known as

A) Weberian theory.
B) critical theory.
C) class consciousness.
D) social Darwinism.

Question 71

Why is the term "queer" used to describe queer theory?

A) It emphasizes that some people are born with a fixed orientation and cannot change it.
B) It emphasizes the importance of difference and rejects a single gay or lesbian identity.
C) It is an easily definable category.
D) It has a long history of use within the gay and lesbian community.

Question 72

What do feminist theory and conflict theory have in common?

A) They both see the economy as central to the functioning of society.
B) They both seek to not only understand inequality but also to remedy it.
C) They both see gender as the most important aspect of social identity.
D) They both developed at about the same time.

Question 73

Max Weber helped lay the groundwork for sociologists who would develop symbolic interactionism as a theory because he believed that a social scientist should approach the study of human action

A) through a theoretical lens that emphasizes disenchantment and bureaucracy.
B) from a value-free point of view.
C) with verstehen (understanding), which emphasizes empathy with individuals' experiences.
D) through psychoanalysis and the work of Sigmund Freud.

Question 74

Although she made contributions to sociology, Jane Addams is perhaps best remembered for her embrace of praxis, which means that she

A) was a pragmatist.
B) acted on her intellectual convictions in practical ways.
C) applied dialectics to her understanding of history.
D) embraced conflict theory.

Question 75

Max Weber believed that society became increasingly rationalized as the Industrial Revolution progressed. How did he define rationalization?

A) an increasing number of rules that limit personal freedom
B) an increasing emphasis on verstehen, or the attempt to understand others' experiences
C) the application of psychology to the economy to understand how to increase productivity
D) the application of economic logic to all aspects of social life

Question 76

Max Weber believed that modern industrialized societies were characterized by which of the following institutions?

A) churches
B) central governments
C) bureaucracies
D) prisons

Question 77

According to Robert Merton, manifest functions

A) usually have something to do with social conflict and change.
B) are intended and obvious.
C) are designed to alleviate inequality.
D) are designed to critique the social system that produced them.

Question 78

Structural functionalist theory is concerned with the ways in which structures contribute to the stability of society. What is a structure?

A) a social institution that is stable over time and helps meet the needs of society
B) any aspect of society that generates conflict or change
C) a class hierarchy
D) an informal agreement between people over a wide geographical area

Question 79

The most significant criticism of structural functionalism is that it

A) tends to argue that intellectuals should act on what they believe.
B) overemphasizes the importance of the economy.
C) fails to provide a universal social theory.
D) tends to argue that any social feature that exists must serve a function.

Question 80

What did Max Weber mean when he said that modern people are trapped in an "iron cage"?

A) Most aspects of life are increasingly controlled by rigid rules and rationalization.
B) More and more people live under totalitarian dictators and therefore lose their basic rights and freedoms.
C) Increasingly, modern society has more laws and it uses them to put more people in prison.
D) The conditions of modern life create a psychic prison that leaves most people discontent with civilization.