Deck 3: Culture And Society

Question 1

Professional chefs use terms such as mince,chop,dice,julienne,chiffonade,and so on to describe ways of cutting up food.Social scientists might argue that this is an example of:

A) cultural relativism
B) cultural universals
C) ethnocentrism
D) linguistic relativity hypothesis
E) semiotics

Answer 1

D

Question 2

The physical objects a society creates are known as:

A) values
B) symbols
C) norms
D) material culture
E) cultural universals

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Culture includes all of the following aspects of a group EXCEPT:

A) geographical boundaries
B) language
C) material goods
D) norms
E) values

Answer 3

A

Question 4

features that are found in virtually all societies are called:

A) subcultures
B) multiculturalism
C) ethnocentrism
D) cultural universals
E) cultural relativism

Question 5

Jody's daughter has been preparing for a school spelling bee by studying several hours a day.Jody feels that by encouraging this behavior,she is instilling a sense of competition in her children.Competition is an example of an American:

A) belief
B) ritual
C) signifier
D) symbol
E) value

Question 6

A society is:

A) an abstract ideal about what is good and bad
B) an enduring system of interrelationships that connects individuals
C) global interconnectedness
D) guidelines of behavior for interacting with people from different culture
E) a set of concrete rules of behavior

Question 7

The Sapir-Whorf linguistic relativity hypothesis is important in understanding how:

A) children learn their gender roles in American society
B) family members play a critical role in personality development
C) language shapes our perceptions and ways of thinking
D) people can never learn another language as well as their native tongue
E) world languages develop over time

Question 8

Semiotics is the:

A) analysis of nonverbal cultural meanings
B) study of language
C) study of premodern societies
D) theory of natural selection
E) understanding of culture's role in everyday life

Question 9

Among the Navajo,averting one's eyes is a sign of respect,and direct eye contact is seen as insulting.This is called a:

A) belief
B) cultural universal
C) ideal
D) norm
E) subculture

Question 10

The linguistic relativity hypothesis was developed by:

A) Chomsky
B) Durkheim
C) Einstein
D) Picard and Riker
E) Sapir and Whorf

Question 11

Definite principles or rules of behavior that people are expected to observe are called:

A) values
B) signifiers
C) norms
D) material goods
E) culture

Question 12

The idea that you should not cheat during this exam is an example of a:

A) cultural universal
B) material good
C) norm
D) signifier
E) value

Question 13

A helpful image describing culture is that of a(n):

A) ball and chain
B) iron cage
C) mask
D) paintbrush
E) tool kit

Question 14

Which of the following is an example of the globalization of material culture?

A) American businesses manufacture goods in other countries.
B) Japanese people are embracing individualism.
C) McDonald's restaurants are found around the world.
D) Most people around the world value gender equality.
E) Western-style service approaches are being adopted in Greenland.

Question 15

Marriage is a cultural universal,which means that:

A) marriage always involves a man and a woman, but other norms may differ across societies
B) marriage is present in all societies, but norms related to marriage may differ across societies
C) norms related to marriage are the same in all societies
D) some societies permit polygamous marriage, but it is wrong
E) the increase in divorce in Western societies will spread to other societies

Question 16

The way that a person dresses,holds a knife and fork,and drives a car are examples of:

A) values
B) tools
C) symbols
D) signifiers
E) cultural universals

Question 17

A global culture is emerging due to all of the following EXCEPT:

A) electronic communications
B) global economy
C) international organizations
D) nationalism movements
E) television

Question 18

Values are:

A) physical objects that a society creates
B) modes of behavior shared by all human cultures
C) concrete rules of behavior
D) bargains you find when shopping
E) abstract ideals about what is good and bad

Question 19

A survey of online activities of teenagers in Silicon Valley,California,and Beijing,China,found that:

A) Beijing students spent more time online overall
B) neither group of students spent much time on social networking sites
C) only Silicon Valley students engaged in online social networking
D) Silicon Valley students were more technologically advanced
E) the main online activity of both groups during the week was schoolwork related

Question 20

Which of the following norms is a cultural universal?

A) competition
B) individualism
C) personal space between two people
D) prohibition against incest
E) smiling when you enter an elevator

Question 21

The first archaeological evidence of humanlike culture dates back:

A) 2,000 years
B) 12,000 years
C) 50,000 years
D) 2 million years
E) 6 million years

Question 22

According to your text,the practice of horticulture resulted in all of the following EXCEPT:

A) bigger communities
B) development of nation-states
C) higher levels of inequality than hunting and gathering societies
D) larger amounts of material possessions than earlier societies
E) more reliable food supply

Question 23

There was little difference among members of hunting and gathering societies,and differences in position or rank were based on the:

A) amount and type of food gathered during the growing season
B) gender and age of the community members
C) family size
D) length of time in which a family resided with the community
E) relative wealth of the community members

Question 24

What type of society is best known for its development of large cities,pronounced inequality in wealth and power,rule by kings and emperors,written language,and flourishing art and science?

A) civilized
B) hunting and gathering
C) industrial
D) pastoral
E) postindustrial

Question 25

Most of the traditional civilizations were _______________,developed through conquest and incorporation of other societies.

A) barbarian
B) empires
C) industrial
D) nation-states
E) pastoral

Question 26

for most of their existence as a species,humans lived in what type of societies?

A) agrarian
B) industrial
C) horticultural
D) hunting and gathering
E) pastoral

Question 27

The emergence of machine production,based on the use of inanimate power sources,is known as:

A) agriculture
B) civilization
C) hunting
D) industrialization
E) pastoralism

Question 28

Which of the following best explains why different groups of people created different cultures?

A) Brain size varied across different human groups.
B) People are born with distinctive DNA patterns that vary by location.
C) People learned to adapt to their physical surroundings.
D) Some groups of people are genetically less intelligent than other groups.
E) Western people were more technologically and culturally advanced than others.

Question 29

What type of society is described as having very little inequality,no divisions of rich and poor,few differences in power,emphasis on cooperation rather than competition,participatory decision making,and an elaborate ceremonial life?

A) agrarian
B) industrial
C) horticultural
D) hunting and gathering
E) pastoral

Question 30

Because of the recent so-called cultural turn in sociology,most sociologists now agree that:

A) culture has nothing to do with day-to-day behavior
B) different people have different scripts in any encounter
C) the idea of a script is inapplicable to social analysis
D) they will widely disagree on this point
E) there is one correct interpretation of reality in social encounters

Question 31

In ancient cities,the religious temple was placed in the highest or most central location; in modern cities,skyscrapers occupy that position.What method of analysis allows us to compare symbolic cultural meanings of such physical structures?

A) cultural relativism
B) linguistic relativity
C) multiculturalism
D) semiotics
E) sociobiology

Question 32

Which type of society is known for its rapid pace of discoveries,inventions,and technological innovations; a population densest in cities and working primarily in factories,offices,or shops; a social life that is impersonal with many encounters with strangers; and predominately large-scale organizations?

A) agrarian
B) hunting and gathering
C) industrial
D) pastoral
E) postapocalyptic

Question 33

Which of the following elements of society is NOT associated with industrialization?

A) urbanization
B) rapid technological innovation
C) nation-states
D) large-scale organizations
E) empires

Question 34

_______________ societies relied mainly on domesticated animals,while _______________ societies grew crops for their livelihood.

A) Agrarian; hunting and gathering
B) Gathering; industrial
C) Hunting and gathering; pastoral
D) Industrial; postindustrial
E) Pastoral; agrarian

Question 35

Because of _______________,culture can be created and transmitted across time and space.

A) beliefs
B) cultural universals
C) norms
D) subcultures
E) writing

Question 36

Which type of society saw the advent of the nation-state?

A) agrarian
B) hunting and gathering
C) industrial
D) pastoral
E) postapocalyptic

Question 37

According to sociologist Ann Swidler,we all possess cultural tool kits,which are:

A) the same over the course of an individual's life
B) the same in all societies
C) the same for all members of society
D) independent of the circumstances individuals find themselves in
E) composed of a variety of social scripts that we can draw on

Question 38

Which type of society was the first to be more settled,and as a result,members tended to have more material possessions than earlier societies?

A) agrarian
B) gathering
C) hunting
D) industrial
E) pastoral

Question 39

Early humans fashioned stone tools to hunt and gather for their subsistence.Another important accomplishment is that they figured out a way to manage fire.This reinforces the idea that early humans were:

A) capable of abstract thought
B) individualistic
C) scavengers
D) similar to apes intellectually
E) unable to compensate for physical limitations

Question 40

In which type of society do most people live and work on the land,growing crops for food and to sell?

A) postindustrial
B) pastoral
C) industrial
D) hunting and gathering
E) agrarian

Question 41

The disorientation you might experience if you accidentally took your nieces and nephews to a nude beach to boogie board is called

A) assimilation
B) cultural relativism
C) culture shock
D) ethnocentrism
E) multiculturalism

Question 42

Many Americans were bothered to learn that a shop in Aspen,Colorado,was selling ski boots trimmed with dog fur imported from China,where dogs are eaten.The repulsion Americans felt is an example of the:

A) concern for dog survival around the world
B) cultural relativism of Chinese culture
C) ethnocentrism of American culture
D) internalization of worldwide standards of behavior
E) universal distaste for harming humans' best friend

Question 43

Hip-hop illustrates all of the following points about cultural diversity EXCEPT that:

A) subcultural elements can become normal in another community quickly
B) people can adopt aspects of subcultures that are foreign to them
C) musical subcultures in the United States have virtually disappeared
D) cultural identity is fluid
E) music can appeal to a wide range of listeners, not just the subculture from which it grew

Question 44

The common Japanese expression "the nail that sticks up must be hammered down" is a norm that permeates Japanese culture and supports conformity and equality.Sociologists would say that this is a powerful mechanism of:

A) social control
B) nationalism
C) multiculturalism
D) ethnocentrism
E) deviance

Question 45

Political communities with clearly defined borders (rather than vague frontiers)in which the governments have extensive power over citizens' lives are known as:

A) colonies
B) communes
C) empires
D) nation-states
E) traditional states

Question 46

Conditions in countries in the global south today are largely a result of their:

A) adherence to outdated modes of government
B) historical relationships with Western industrialized societies
C) lack of natural resources
D) refusal to adopt the nation-state as their political system
E) predominant religions

Question 47

Those societies in the global south that have begun to successfully develop industrial systems are known as:

A) civilizations
B) emerging economies
C) more developed countries
D) neo-economies
E) postindustrial economies

Question 48

About one-third of the world's poor and two-thirds of the world's hungry live in:

A) Brazil
B) China
C) Russia
D) South Asia
E) the United States

Question 49

Calling an Amish farmer backward for tilling his fields with a horse and plow is an example of:

A) cultural relativism
B) cultural turn
C) cultural universals
D) ethnocentrism
E) subculture

Question 50

Which of the following is an informal method of social control enacted when a person fails to conform?

A) prison sentence
B) library fine
C) gossip
D) detention
E) arrest

Question 51

Smaller segments of a society with distinct values and norms and their own unique patterns of behavior are called:

A) colonies
B) cultural universals
C) ethnicities
D) nation-states
E) subcultures

Question 52

Trying to understand the underlying cultural and social context of a cultural practice (e.g.,Muslim women wearing full body cloaks,or burqas,in public)before judging it is called:

A) cultural relativism
B) cultural turn
C) cultural universals
D) ethnocentrism
E) sociobiology

Question 53

An example of assimilation would be:

A) a young man who immigrated to the United States from Japan speaks English but also meets weekly with a group of Japanese Americans to watch Japanese films and eat traditional Japanese food
B) a town with a large population of immigrants from Vietnam opens a Vietnamese-American cultural center
C) a group of students at a local college start a club for immigrants from South Korea
D) a family from Mexico moves to the United States and adopts mainstream U.S. cultural practices and at the same time loses many of their Mexican cultural practices
E) after immigrating to the United States, a young woman from China adopts some American cultural practices but at the same time closely identifies with her country of origin

Question 54

Most nations in the global south became independent states only after:

A) they adopted Western religions
B) the Cold War
C) they industrialized
D) the spread of information technology
E) World War II

Question 55

The salad bowl metaphor is used to describe:

A) assimilation
B) cultural relativism
C) ethnocentrism
D) multiculturalism
E) neoculturalism

Question 56

Of countries in the global south undergoing industrialization,where has the rate of economic growth been greatest?

A) Central America
B) East Asia
C) Eastern Europe
D) South America
E) sub-Saharan Africa

Question 57

Judging other cultures by the standards of one's own is known as:

A) assimilation
B) cultural relativism
C) culture shock
D) ethnocentrism
E) multiculturalism

Question 58

A central process shaping the social geography of the modern world was:

A) agriculture
B) colonialism
C) natural selection
D) pastoralism
E) secularism

Question 59

Which of the following groups would NOT be considered a subculture?

A) gang members
B) middle-aged mothers
C) motorcycle collectors
D) students who are members of the marching band
E) vegans, that is, strict vegetarians who do not eat eggs or cheese

Question 60

Based on his/her view of the modern world,which sociological theorist of the nineteenth century would most likely have agreed with the following statement about industrial society: Increased specialization in a growing division of labor will benefit industrial society by increasing the bonds of social cohesion?

A) Max Weber
B) Herbert Spencer
C) Karl Marx
D) Harriet Martineau
E) Emile Durkheim

Question 61

According to your text,the world has become a single social system reinforced by continually growing economic and social ties.Because of this,sociologists understand globalization to:

A) be a negative phenomenon that needs to be stopped
B) encourage the growth of world unity
C) function only as an economic system
D) promote the well-being only of developing countries
E) reorder time and distance in our lives as we are increasingly affected by worldwide events

Question 62

According to sociologists,instincts are:

A) behaviors that evolve over time
B) behaviors that differ across societies
C) biologically fixed patterns in behavior
D) developed as individuals experience stress
E) easily altered

Question 63

Which of the following illustrates how nationalism has arisen in response to globalization?

A) American government decision to cut aid to foreign countries
B) extremist Islamist movements in the Middle East
C) local sourcing of food in American supermarkets
D) refusal of recent immigrants to the United States to assimilate
E) spread of the Internet into previously isolated countries, such as China

Question 64

The resurgence of local cultures is a response to:

A) global poverty
B) increasing globalization
C) lack of Internet access in some areas
D) stricter migration laws
E) worldwide economic crisis

Question 65

It is possible to have a society without a culture.

Question 66

One aspect of Chinese culture that has NOT dramatically changed in the past 30 years is the:

A) class position of Chinese people
B) economic system
C) government censorship of media
D) openness to foreign business
E) state ownership of farms

Question 67

The material goods in a culture influence the way of life of its people in significant ways.

Question 68

The term culture,as used by sociologists,refers only to things such as classical music and art.

Question 69

The variety of products available from around the world on store shelves in American grocery stores indicates the degree to which the world has become:

A) dominated by countries in the global south
B) dominated by Western culture
C) separated into isolated nation-states
D) a single, global social system
E) too dependent on American consumers

Question 70

One of the main factors explaining why Chinese students excel on standardized tests but lag behind in creativity is a cultural tradition emphasizing:

A) cooperation
B) manual labor
C) memorization and rote learning
D) obedience to authority
E) poor work ethic

Question 71

Select the attribute that is NOT associated with the spread of global culture.

A) television
B) religion
C) international organization, such as the United Nations
D) global economy
E) electronic communication

Question 72

Which of the following is an example of an instinct?

A) wearing clothes
B) smiling at strangers
C) sleeping
D) eating three meals a day
E) crying during a sad film

Question 73

Sociobiologists believe that:

A) evolution is a theory that does not apply to humans
B) gender roles in society are completely determined by culture
C) men can outhunt women due to socialization differences
D) reproductive strategy shapes the relations between the sexes
E) social life is rooted in culture, not genes

Question 74

Human behavior and cultural beliefs are:

A) based on instinct
B) the result of natural selection
C) only slightly different in different societies
D) the same everywhere in the world
E) widely variable across societies.

Question 75

Assessing a society by its own cultural standards is known as:

A) sociobiology
B) ethnocentrism
C) cultural universals
D) cultural turn
E) cultural relativism

Question 76

The Internet has sometimes been called an echo chamber.This is illustrated by the:

A) diversity of opinions posted in comments sections of news articles
B) government censorship of the Internet in Saudi Arabia
C) lack of access to computers with Internet connections in poor countries
D) sex differences in Internet use in the United States
E) use of the Internet by extremist groups, such as Al-Qaeda, to recruit members

Question 77

All cultures around the world prohibit sexual relations between some close relatives.

Question 78

All of the following are Western values promoted by the Internet that may contribute to the development of a global culture EXCEPT:

A) consumerism
B) democracy
C) equality of the sexes
D) free speech
E) religious conservatism

Question 79

Which of the following best illustrates the relationship between nature and nurture?

A) In some societies, women grow most of the food; in other societies, men are the primary food-growers.
B) Men are genetically programmed never to ask anyone for directions, whereas women prefer to ask for directions rather than be lost on a highway.
C) Men's interest in having sexual relations with multiple partners is biologically programmed into the Y chromosome.
D) A woman's concern for her newborn is in part influenced by the hormonal changes of pregnancy but, more importantly, by the cultural norms of gender and motherhood.
E) Women are more inclined to try low-carbohydrate diets, but men are more interested in low-fat diets because of the difference in metabolism rates of men and women.

Question 80

According to sociobiologists,_______________ has led to female chastity and male promiscuity.

A) reproductive strategy
B) religious doctrine
C) instinct
D) ethnocentrism
E) the decline of cultural values