Deck 5: Are Human Beings Free: the Power of Society Over Human Thinking and Action

Question 1

What is the relationship between humans and reality?

A)humans respond to their reality instinctively
B)humans never think about the reality of their environment
C)humans work to understand reality
D)thinking and acting have nothing to do with reality

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Why do we tend to take on the culture of the organization within which we exist?

A)It is functional for the group.
B)It is the culture we are most familiar with.
C)We become like those we compare ourselves with, because we seek their affirmation.
D)All of these.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

According to the text, culture is

A)a share perspective.
B)a social organization's unique set of values, beliefs, and rules.
C)a set of taken-for-granted truths and assumptions.
D)all of these

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Sociologists believe that freedom is limited by ______.

A)socialization
B)social patterns
C)social control
D)all of these

Question 5

C.Wright Mills is important to sociologists because his work links social problems to

A)the victims themselves.
B)people who are selfish and violent.
C)the nature of society.
D)our belief system.

Question 6

According to Berger and Luckmann, in Social Construction of Reality,

A)reality does not exist.
B)it is virtually impossible to know what is true about reality.
C)only sociologists are able to discover the truth about reality.
D)there is no such thing as reality.

Question 7

Charon defines action as

A)freedom of movement.
B)movement toward our environment.
C)impossible for the individual.
D)independent of thought.

Question 8

According to the author, there are two aspects of freedom to understand: freedom of thought and freedom of ______.

A)religion
B)action
C)the press
D)speech

Question 9

The author uses the ideas of social rates and social problems to argue that human beings are

A)free.
B)products of social forces.
C)unaware of their own problems.
D)unequal in society.

Question 10

The "social construction of reality" refers to

A)the fact that for humans, reality is created through social interaction.
B)the fact reality is concrete and constant across all groups.
C)the belief that only the wealthy in society can create their own reality.
D)the understanding that the social world and the natural world require different types of understanding.

Question 11

The author emphasizes that for human beings, reality (what exists "out there")

A)is not open to interpretation on our part.
B)almost always is responded to instinctively.
C)is an illusion.
D)is built socially.

Question 12

The author uses the rise of fascism in Germany after World War I as an example of how culture

A)is something people in society are forced to believe.
B)is functional because it can justify a certain political program.
C)is something that only a few people actually believe in.
D)has little impact on society.

Question 13

Which of the following is true about thinking and action?

A)one's thinking may be free, even when action is not
B)one's thinking is only free if one can act on it
C)thinking and action are unrelated concepts
D)thinking is always free, action is not

Question 14

According to Charon, what is the relationship between thinking and freedom?

A)thinking and freedom are unrelated
B)we are most free when we do not think about how our trapped we are in our current situation.
C)acting without thinking is acting without freedom
D)all of these

Question 15

The author states that the most important conclusion he has arrived at concerning freedom is that

A)human beings are free.
B)human beings are not free in any substantial way.
C)it is impossible to determine whether or not human beings can be free.
D)human beings do not want to be free.

Question 16

According to the text, most people

A)are aware that they lack freedom.
B)are completely controlled by others.
C)have absolute control over their own lives.
D)have an exaggerated idea of how much freedom they have.

Question 17

Which of the following is not one of the social controls on our thinking?

A)socialization
B)the social structure
C)language
D)reality

Question 18

According to the author, the sociological dilemma is that sociologists

A)know they should study freedom, but also know it is impossible to study.
B)want to believe humans to be free, but they also understand that social forces shape our lives.
C)recognize the freedom as an important value, but do not believe it has any relationship to sociological study.
D)understand that freedom is a trap with no escape.

Question 19

Joe R.Feagin, in his study of American beliefs about the causes of poverty, found that, in general, Americans

A)blame the victim.
B)see the cause in the distant past.
C)identify social forces as the cause.
D)blame the wealthy class.

Question 20

The author defines freedom as the ability to

A)control one's own life.
B)earn as much as everyone else.
C)practice one's religion.
D)speak one's mind in public.

Question 21

What do sociologists mean when they claim that reality is socially constructed? Give an example.

Question 22

What is the relationship between freedom of thought and freedom of action? Is one possible without the other? Why or why not?

Question 23

Freedom, according to the author, must be understood as

A)absolute and never relative.
B)relative and never absolute.
C)a falsehood.
D)All of these.

Question 24

For sociologists freedom

A)is completely impossible under any circumstances.
B)is absolute; it is a human right.
C)is made possible only because of society.
D)all of these

Question 25

Our actions are directed by

A)how we think about ourselves.
B)the social institutions we participate in.
C)our culture.
D)all of these

Question 26

According to Marx and Mannheim, the powerful create perspectives that are used to justify the status quo.These are termed ______.

A)bureaucracies
B)social constructions
C)ideologies
D)functionalism

Question 27

To the sociologist, the language we learn through socialization

A)controls what we think, since we think through language.
B)has no impact on the ideas and values that we learn.
C)is not as important as the language we develop ourselves later in life.
D)is not important to our thinking.

Question 28

The author emphasizes that in most societies men and women tend to have

A)the same overall perspectives.
B)different perspectives.
C)the same perspectives with different ideas.
D)different perspectives until they marry and begin to share the same perspectives.

Question 29

How does the author answer the question: Are human beings free?

Question 30

Most people believe it is possible for human beings to be

A)passive, rather than active.
B)active, rather than passive.
C)active and passive at the same time.
D)All of these.

Question 31

Institutions are generally meant to

A)free our thinking.
B)free our action.
C)free both our thinking and our action.
D)show us how to act in the world.

Question 32

According to Erving Goffman, whenever people interact they

A)perform and they judge the performances of others, and this goes according to rules that underlie all interaction.
B)are active and free, doing what they want as long as they do not hurt others, and constantly encourage others to do what they want.
C)seek to control others so that the others can be exploited for selfish needs.
D)become a system of equality and mutual respect.

Question 33

How does Charon define freedom?

Question 34

The concepts self and mind were originally developed by

A)Charles Horton Cooley
B)Max Weber
C)George Herbert Mead
D)Karl Marx

Question 35

How does C.Wright Mills encourage us to think about our personal problems? Why?

Question 36

According to the author, freedom is

A)highly limited.
B)possible in an industrial society.
C)only possible in a hunting and gathering society.
D)None of these.

Question 37

According to the author freedom is limited because

A)we have limited imaginations.
B)language and culture shape our thinking.
C)we fall victim to complex ideas.
D)we fail to adhere to our strongly held beliefs.

Question 38

For the sociologist, freedom is possible

A)only because of society.
B)only because of free will.
C)only because of the power of the state.
D)None of these.

Question 39

Which of the following is a way in which socialization takes place?

A)presenting opportunities
B)reinforcing behavior
C)providing role models
D)all of these

Question 40

Social action

A)is never as constrained as thought is.
B)is constrained by culture.
C)is not affected by culture.
D)is free even when thinking is free.

Question 41

Discuss how culture may be understood as restricting freedom.Include each of the three parts of culture.

Question 42

What is a social institution? What effect do institutions have on freedom (both thought and action)?

Question 43

Explain the relationship of social structure to the possibility for freedom.Give three examples of how social structure limits freedom.

Question 44

According to the sociological perspective, what is it about the human being that makes some real freedom possible? Do you agree with this idea? Explain your answer.

Question 45

Explain why freedom is necessary to human society.

Question 46

Describe Mead's concepts of the mind and self.How do these concepts make humans symbolic thinkers?

Question 47

How does socialization function to restrict freedom of thought and action? Be specific.