Deck 3: Cultural Crossroads

Question 1

Which of the following is one of the functions of symbolic culture?

A) It helps people understand hegemony.
B) It provides material signs of values and beliefs.
C) It allows people to communicate.
D) It poses a threat to the larger society.
E) It aids the proliferation of Western media.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Why is it hard to recognize that the values and beliefs of one's own culture are learned rather than innate?

A) We are born with these values and beliefs.
B) We learn values and beliefs slowly and incrementally.
C) It is human nature to accept one's own culture as superior.
D) Values and beliefs are only taught in school.
E) all of the above

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which concept is the tendency to use your own group's way of doing things as the yardstick for judging others?

A) ethnocentrism
B) culture shock
C) cultural relativism
D) self-centeredness
E) dysfunction

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Ruth Behar, in her book The Vulnerable Observer, argues that you can learn about other cultures from her book only "insofar as you are willing to view them from the perspective of an anthropologist who has come to know others by knowing herself and who has come to know herself by knowing others." Behar is trying to:

A) avoid the process of "othering," in which only the unusual is studied.
B) make sure we continue to study the most exceptional and unusual parts of culture.
C) avoid studying the everyday parts of culture.
D) focus on rituals rather than emotional events.
E) look as closely as possible at the many ways in which other cultures are very different from her own.

Question 5

What is the definition of "culture"?

A) Culture includes the habits and lifestyle choices of a group of people.
B) Culture includes customs and rituals, as well as tools and artifacts.
C) Culture shapes and defines who we are.
D) Culture encompasses every aspect of social life.
E) all of the above

Question 6

The article "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" by Horace Miner suggests that:

A) daily routines of personal hygiene can be equated with exotic ritual practices.
B) gathering at shrines dedicated to the human body is an important part of group worship.
C) there are very few similarities between Americans and other people.
D) Americans have fewer ritualistic practices than most other foreign cultures.
E) ethnocentrism helps us to see beyond our own cultural practices.

Question 7

Which of the following is a way to partially suspend one's own ethnocentrism, at least temporarily?

A) adopting cultural relativism
B) mimicking the other culture
C) using norms, values, and beliefs
D) following legal requirements
E) belonging to a subculture

Question 8

The famous anthropologist Margaret Mead said that America is the best place to raise a female child. Her assertion is an example of:

A) preferring high culture to popular culture.
B) ethnocentrism.
C) cultural relativism.
D) racism.
E) participating in culture wars.

Question 9

Although many people feel that expectations for personal space (usually about 18 inches for Americans) are innate, members of many cultures are used to noticeably less personal space than we are, which helps to demonstrate that our expectations for personal space are:

A) the direct result of hormonal differences in the limbic system.
B) usually negotiable and not all that hard to change.
C) a part of our culture and as such are learned rather than innate.
D) impossible to measure accurately.
E) something that is innate, more an instinct than something learned.

Question 10

Which of the following is an example of something that would be part of a person's symbolic culture?

A) Navajo jewelry
B) a knife, a fork, and a spoon
C) imported French wine
D) a Rembrandt painting
E) belonging to a political party

Question 11

Why do ethnocentric people tend to view other cultures as abnormal?

A) Other cultures are extremely different from theirs.
B) They understand other values and beliefs within the proper cultural context.
C) They use their own culture as a standard of judgment.
D) They are practicing cultural relativism.
E) They are part of a counterculture.

Question 12

Which of the following is an example of something that would be a part of a person's or a society's material culture?

A) weapons of war
B) democracy as a political system
C) a belief in a supreme being
D) a preference to have health rather than wealth
E) a belief that the world is flat

Question 13

Designer labels on purses and athletic logos on shirts are both examples of:

A) values.
B) material culture.
C) taboos.
D) counterculture.
E) gestures.

Question 14

Recently, curators at museums have experienced problems with plastic objects, almost all of which disintegrate over time. The Smithsonian collection contains the first-ever plastic toothbrush, which soon will be nothing more than a pile of crumbs, leading many historians to worry that we will lose the history of our:

A) symbolic culture.
B) signs and gestures.
C) linguistic relativity.
D) material culture.
E) hegemony.

Question 15

How is the study of culture different for sociologists than for anthropologists?

A) Sociologists usually study a culture they belong to.
B) Anthropologists only study industrial societies.
C) Sociologists always use surveys.
D) Sociologists never "other" the group they are studying.
E) Anthropologists only study societies from the past.

Question 16

The ability to understand another culture in terms of that culture's own norms and values, without reference to any other cultural standards is called:

A) Marxism.
B) ethnocentrism.
C) cultural relativism.
D) cultural lag.
E) variability.

Question 17

The famous feminist and social theorist Judith Butler has criticized westerners who want to "free" Muslim women from wearing a veil or burqa. Butler believes that liberation from the veil is not the liberation many Americans might assume it is. Butler's critique exemplifies what term or concept?

A) radical feminism
B) high culture
C) polysemy
D) cultural relativism
E) ethnocentrism

Question 18

What do sociologists claim is the most significant component of culture?

A) history
B) logos
C) language
D) multiculturalism
E) technology

Question 19

The article "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" is useful to sociologists because:

A) it presents a striking example of an exotic culture.
B) it challenges people's inability to observe their own cultures.
C) it demonstrates proper fieldwork techniques for studying a different culture.
D) it demonstrates how different other cultures are from American culture.
E) it provides a host of insights into premodern cultures.

Question 20

In many cultures the "squat toilet," where one squats rather than sits, is still the most common type of bathroom facility. Americans are often shocked when they encounter these toilets, seeing them as hopelessly disgusting. This attitude is an example of:

A) ethnocentrism
B) social control
C) economism
D) multiculturalism
E) dominant culture

Question 21

The South Korean linguist Heesook Kim has suggested that the use of titles and honorifics in the Korean language significantly affects people's perception of one another. By forcing speakers to use honorifics, Korean draws attention to social status. He believes that honorifics make everyone who speaks Korean more likely to interpret issues in terms of social status. To which concept is Kim's hypothesis related?

A) the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
B) cultural leveling
C) ethnocentrism
D) social control
E) multiculturalism

Question 22

In the movie Mean Girls, students identified each other using categories like "jock," "cheerleader," "skater," and "nerd." Which theory would argue that such classification systems influence the way you see people?

A) the Protestant ethic
B) cultural relativism
C) subculture theory
D) the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
E) cultural imperialism

Question 23

Who were the two anthropologists who studied the Hopi of the southwestern United States and concluded that language not only expresses our thoughts but also shapes the way we think?

A) Henry McKay and Clifford Shaw
B) Cordell Walker and James Trevett
C) Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf
D) Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin
E) Karl Marx and Max Weber

Question 24

In many Middle Eastern countries, showing someone the bottom of your foot or shoe is considered very rude, so American military personnel stationed in the Middle East are instructed to keep their feet inside helicopters when flying low. Why is this instruction needed?

A) The meaning of gestures is not universal.
B) Soldiers are generally rude and need specific instructions to stop them from offending civilians.
C) Americans speak a different language than Middle Easterners.
D) The sanctions used to achieve social control are very different in America and the Middle East.
E) The U.S. military is firmly committed to an ethnocentric point of view.

Question 25

Which of the following lists norms in order from the most severely enforced to the least?

A) mores, taboos, folkways
B) folkways, taboos, mores
C) taboos, folkways, mores
D) taboos, mores, folkways
E) folkways, mores, taboos

Question 26

Coca-Cola was first marketed in the 1860s as a patent medicine, designed to offer the virtues of cocaine without the vices of alcohol. The new beverage was invigorating and popular; today cocaine is not just banned but widely demonized. This is an example of:

A) structural strain.
B) formerly mainstream practices becoming deviant.
C) the tendency of the United States to become more puritanical.
D) the emergence of a counterculture.
E) conflict between the economically powerful and the rest of society.

Question 27

What is the sociological term for signs people make with their bodies?

A) language
B) gestures
C) material culture
D) linguistic relativity
E) values

Question 28

According to sociologists, what are signs?

A) parts of material culture that help direct traffic
B) ways in which people use their bodies to communicate without words
C) deeply ingrained norms
D) ideas about what is desirable
E) anything designed to meaningfully represent something else

Question 29

Sometimes it's hard for college students to use new forms of technology to communicate with their parents or grandparents. It's very convenient to be able to use an instant message to ask family members a quick question, but they might not know the difference between :-D (laughing) and >:O (yelling), which could lead to serious miscommunication. The problem is that older people may not know the same ____________ as younger people.

A) gestures
B) sociological terminology
C) material culture
D) signs or symbols
E) musicological references

Question 30

Unlike a folkway, a more is closely related to:

A) the core values of a group.
B) high culture.
C) formal norms such as laws.
D) the dominant culture of a group.
E) taste publics and taste cultures.

Question 31

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (also called the principle of linguistic relativity) suggests that:

A) although we have different labels for things, all humans share the same sense of social reality.
B) in social interaction, nonverbal communication is as powerful as language.
C) language can structure our perception of reality.
D) we relate to each other on a symbolic rather than a literal level.
E) our perception of reality can affect the dialect we speak.

Question 32

How are informal norms enforced in everyday settings?

A) multiculturalism
B) folkways
C) sanctions
D) signs
E) culture wars

Question 33

How are informal norms different from formal norms?

A) Informal norms are always followed.
B) Informal norms are legislated by the government.
C) Just thinking about breaking informal norms causes revulsion.
D) Informal norms involve dress and etiquette.
E) Informal norms are implicit and unspoken.

Question 34

What do sociologists call rules and guidelines for behavior that is considered acceptable within a group?

A) laws
B) folkways
C) mores
D) taboos
E) all of the above

Question 35

The widespread use of plastic in American culture is no accident; plastic offers consumers convenience, disposability, and choice. These advantages of plastic are all elements of:

A) communication.
B) the development of the self.
C) symbolic culture.
D) material culture.
E) the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.

Question 36

Which of the following is clearly an example of a taboo in American society?

A) jaywalking
B) divorce
C) bankruptcy
D) incest
E) drunkenness

Question 37

Norms that are not strictly enforced, such as etiquette in the cafeteria and the dress code for class, are referred to as:

A) norms
B) values
C) folkways
D) taboos
E) laws

Question 38

In America, a married man who has several mistresses is violating a ____________, but if he is married to more than one woman at the same time he is violating a ____________.

A) more; law
B) positive sanction; negative sanction
C) law; taboo
D) norm; folkway
E) folkway; sanction

Question 39

In an article titled "Sex, Syntax, and Semantics," Lera Borodinsky argues that your mental representations of inanimate objects like forks and frying pans are heavily dependent on the objects' grammatical gender in your native language. To which theory or concept is her argument related?

A) norms and values
B) countercultures
C) polysemy
D) the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
E) cultural relativism

Question 40

In the article "Turning the Tables: Language and Spatial Reasoning," Peggy Li and Lila Gleitman claim to have debunked the theory that speakers of the Mayan language have a different understanding of space and spatial relations than speakers of other languages. What theory is this article attacking?

A) art worlds
B) technological determinism
C) cultural diffusion
D) cultural imperialism
E) the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Question 41

Which of the following groups is most likely to be classified as a counterculture?

A) survivalists living in Montana
B) New York taxi drivers
C) students belonging to the Middle Eastern Studies Club
D) members of the NAACP (the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
E) members of the American Bar Association

Question 42

Many Americans become very concerned when a restaurant tries to serve them a piece of undercooked beef. Despite the fact that many people in Europe regularly eat raw beef, many Americans express disgust at the idea, which suggests that, in the United States, eating raw beef is a:

A) sanction.
B) folkway.
C) multicultural feeling.
D) taboo.
E) more.

Question 43

Which term describes a policy of honoring diverse racial, ethnic, religious, linguistic, and national backgrounds?

A) cultural imperialism
B) ethnocentrism
C) high culture
D) multiculturalism
E) technological determinism

Question 44

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was an activist organization in the 1960s that protested the Vietnam War, racial injustice, and economic exploitation. For the most part, the organization favored direct action and protest, but a small faction attempted to realize change through conventional politics. This faction was never very popular within the group, most of which opposed traditional organizing and politics and sought a radically new form of social organization. Based on this information, you could say that members of SDS were part of a:

A) counterculture.
B) subculture.
C) ethnocentric group.
D) popular culture organization.
E) movement for cultural diffusion.

Question 45

When the dominant culture succeeds in imposing its values and ideas on all of society, it is known as:

A) hegemony.
B) cultural diffusion.
C) relativism.
D) cultural leveling.
E) polysemy.

Question 46

Countercultural groups like the hippies of the 1960s:

A) actually had a lifestyle similar to others in mainstream society.
B) were considered members of the popular culture.
C) rejected the norms of the dominant culture.
D) were mostly focused on upward mobility.
E) are now seen as a throwback to primitive society.

Question 47

The art historian and social critic John Berger has argued that the suit is the first "uniform of the powerful" designed for stationary life. Suits make manual laborers look ridiculous, yet most of us still want to wear them. Our very acceptance of this fashion standard condemns most people to seeming clumsy, uncouth, and second rate. This is why the suit is the classic example of:

A) hegemony.
B) cultural diversity.
C) ethnocentrism.
D) a subculture.
E) a folkway.

Question 48

It's all too common to see someone driving a car on a busy freeway while cursing and gesturing at another motorist whose poor driving has offended them. Cursing and gesturing are not very nice but are also:

A) subcultures.
B) negative sanctions.
C) positive sanctions.
D) cultural variations.
E) taboos.

Question 49

In 2005 the Northwestern University women's lacrosse team won an NCAA championship and was invited to the White House to receive congratulations from the president. Controversy erupted after their visit, when the official photograph revealed that several team members were wearing flip-flops. Despite the outcry, the athletes took the criticism in stride, talking about it on the Today Show and auctioning the offending footwear for charity. Given the reaction and the team's response, what sort of norm did the athletes break by wearing flip-flops to the White House?

A) a sanction
B) a folkway
C) a more
D) a taboo
E) a negative sanction

Question 50

Antonio Gramsci argued that when the ruling class, without the use of force, persuades the rest of society that its beliefs and values are the only or best values, they have achieved:

A) hegemony.
B) high culture.
C) a culture war.
D) an art world.
E) polysemy.

Question 51

A monetary fine, harsh words, and a raised fist are examples of:

A) negative sanctions.
B) positive feedback.
C) cultural universals.
D) situational norms.
E) multiculturalism.

Question 52

A cultural group that exists harmoniously within a larger, dominant culture is called a:

A) counterculture.
B) cultural spin-off.
C) social group.
D) subdominant culture.
E) subculture.

Question 53

Many colleges and universities require students to take classes on non-Western cultures. Why do these requirements exist?

A) Colleges tend to value multiculturalism.
B) Many students will work in other countries.
C) Many exchange students now study in America, and it's important to give them classes they like.
D) The parents of many new college students are demanding it.
E) Students are fascinated by exotic cultures.

Question 54

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, some people placed signs with crudely painted skeletons holding cell phones near roadways, usually facing freeway ramps. These signs indicated disapproval of using cell phones while driving, a practice some states have now made illegal. As a result of these laws:

A) almost no one violates the norm of not talking on a cell phone while driving.
B) talking on a cell phone when driving is taboo.
C) the norm of not talking on a cell phone while driving is informal.
D) there are no real sanctions that can be used to enforce the norm of not talking on a cell phone while driving.
E) an informal norm has become a law.

Question 55

Marginalized groups in American society-such as street punks, the homeless, and skateboarders-often engage in activities that offend or annoy most people. One of the reasons people get so annoyed is that members of these groups don't seem to care that they're the subjects of disapproval, which is to say:

A) they're engaged in taboo activities.
B) they're part of the dominant culture.
C) they don't belong in the realm of mass or popular culture.
D) they don't seem to care about negative sanctions.
E) they're actively trying to form a new subculture.

Question 56

How is a subculture different from a counterculture?

A) Members of a subculture actively protest and fight to change society, while members of a counterculture drop out of society.
B) Both are distinct from mainstream culture, but only members of a subculture actively oppose important aspects of mainstream culture.
C) Subcultures are always smaller than countercultures.
D) Both are distinct from mainstream culture, but a counterculture actively opposes important aspects of the mainstream.
E) Subcultures are not culturally distinct from the mainstream; they just occupy a particular geographic area.

Question 57

The values, norms, and practices of the most powerful group within a society are called the:

A) cultural leveler.
B) moral holiday.
C) symbolic culture.
D) dominant culture.
E) alternative culture.

Question 58

What kind of norm is so deeply ingrained that the very thought of breaking it brings feelings of disgust or horror?

A) a federal law
B) a taboo
C) a folkway
D) a more
E) a negative sanction

Question 59

Which of the following is NOT a subculture?

A) Cubs fans
B) surfers
C) German Shepherd owners
D) fans of electronic dance music
E) the Ku Klux Klan

Question 60

Sociologists use which of the following terms to describe a group whose values and norms oppose the dominant culture?

A) subculture
B) dominant culture
C) subordinate culture
D) counterculture
E) mixed culture

Question 61

Sociologists claim that culture is the lens through which we perceive and evaluate what is going on around us.

Question 62

Conflict within mainstream society about which values and norms should be upheld is called:

A) culture war.
B) symbolic culture.
C) linguistic relativism.
D) counterculture.
E) hegemony.

Question 63

A culture war is best illustrated by which of the following examples?

A) the presence of an ROTC unit on a college campus.
B) one Democrat and two Republicans serving together as county commissioners.
C) antiabortion advocates demonstrating in front of a family-planning clinic.
D) Christians celebrating Easter, Jews celebrating Passover, and Muslims celebrating Ramadan.
E) the existence of both a football team and a debate team in many high schools.

Question 64

Today it is possible to travel all over the world, especially if you visit major metropolitan areas, without ever having to eat anything but McDonald's. This is an example of:

A) dominant culture.
B) cultural diffusion.
C) cultural leveling.
D) taste publics.
E) hegemony.

Question 65

The view that technology is the single greatest influence on society today is a concept known as:

A) technological diffusion.
B) ethnocentrism.
C) technological relativism.
D) technological determinism.
E) cultural diffusion.

Question 66

Although more and more people are reading newspapers on portable electronic devices (such as Kindles, iPhones, and laptops) there are many ways in which reading on an electronic device is not the same as reading on newsprint. For instance, a sheet of newsprint allows the editors to use space to indicate the relative importance of a story in a way that a small electronic screen does not, which has led many commentators to conclude that:

A) the production of culture is a social phenomenon.
B) the medium is the message.
C) technology creates progress.
D) we are more connected than ever before.
E) cultural diffusion is happening.

Question 67

In the 2008 election, Barack Obama took 53 percent of the vote, while John McCain took 46 percent. However, in the early months of 2009, when his approval ratings were still very high, polls conducted found that a significantly larger number of people claimed to have voted for Obama. Historians report that the percentage of people who remember voting for any president rises and falls with approval ratings. More people seemed to believe that they "should" have voted for Obama, making this belief a part of our:

A) ideal culture.
B) folkways.
C) popular culture.
D) art world.
E) cultural diffusion.

Question 68

What do sociologists call the norms and values people actually follow?

A) ideal culture
B) applied culture
C) material culture
D) symbolic culture
E) real culture

Question 69

Because of their economic strength, Western media companies are powerful enough to impose their products on markets worldwide, a phenomenon known as:

A) cultural stratification.
B) ethnocentrism.
C) cultural relativism.
D) cultural diffusion.
E) cultural imperialism.

Question 70

Although the steam engine is best known as the primary technology of the Industrial Revolution, a steam engine was invented by Hero of Alexandria, a Greek in ancient Rome. However, the engine was only used to open a temple door and not for industrial applications. What does this suggest about technological determinism?

A) It is further evidence for the power of technological determinism to explain cultural change.
B) It shows that technological determinism was just as powerful in antiquity as it is today.
C) It shows that McLuhan was wrong when he argued that the medium is the message.
D) It shows that technological determinism is almost always happening.
E) It shows that there are some circumstances in which technological determinism does not apply.

Question 71

What do sociologists call it when cultures that were once distinct become increasingly similar?

A) cultural imperialism
B) social control
C) ethnocentrism
D) cultural diffusion
E) cultural leveling

Question 72

Sociologists refer to the norms and values people aspire to as:

A) ideal culture.
B) applied culture.
C) normative culture.
D) symbolic culture.
E) real culture.

Question 73

The French social theorist Jean-Francois Lyotard described contemporary culture in this way: "One listens to reggae, watches a Western, eats McDonald's food for lunch and local cuisine for dinner, wears Paris perfume in Tokyo and 'retro' clothes in Hong Kong." He was writing about postmodernism, but what concept can help explain this mishmash of activities?

A) technological determinism
B) interpretive communities
C) counterculture
D) cultural diffusion
E) the social construction of gender

Question 74

During the American occupation of Japan following World War II, the Japanese observed soldiers playing baseball and later adopted it as one of their favorite pastimes. This is an example of:

A) cultural lag.
B) cultural invention.
C) cultural diffusion.
D) cultural adaptation.
E) cultural reformulation.

Question 75

In the article "Jihad vs. McWorld," Benjamin R. Barber points out that "in November of 1991 Switzerland's once insular culture boasted best-seller lists featuring Terminator 2 as the No. 1 movie, Scarlett as the No. 1 book, and Prince's Diamonds and Pearls as the No. 1 record album." Many people worry that the prominence of American culture goes beyond the media and represents the wholesale imposition of American values on other cultures, a process called:

A) culture war.
B) ideal culture.
C) cultural imperialism.
D) cultural acclimatization.
E) counterculture.

Question 76

When Marshall McLuhan said that "the medium is the message," what did he mean?

A) Changes in technology allow us to deliver a much wider variety of cultural content than ever before.
B) The medium through which we deliver our cultural content has the greatest power to change our cultural framework.
C) Television allows for a much more nuanced message to be delivered.
D) The Internet allows individuals to contact others much more easily than they could in the past.
E) Digital technology allows people to manipulate the mass media and create their own content.

Question 77

When an employee is promoted instead of more deserving co-workers because she has a special relationship with her boss, it is an example of:

A) the way culture wars happen.
B) the role of high culture in determining status and rank.
C) the business of culture.
D) the distinction between ideal culture and real culture.
E) cultural diffusion.

Question 78

Clashes over values in the United States, especially as represented by liberals and conservatives in the mass media, have been termed:

A) value contradictions.
B) symbolic disagreements.
C) culture wars.
D) normative conflicts.
E) partisan politics.

Question 79

When Patti Sue took her world tour, she had lunch at McDonald's in Tokyo, ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe in Hong Kong, purchased clothes at Macy's in London, and was entertained at a Disney show featuring Mickey Mouse and Pluto in Paris. This homogenization of cultures around the world is called:

A) reformulation.
B) technological transfer.
C) cultural leveling.
D) cultural lag.
E) cultural diffusion.

Question 80

In 2008 voters in California approved Proposition 8, which made marriage available exclusively to opposite-sex couples. This was one of many battles in the war over gay marriage, which continues to divide the nation as it plays out in the media. The dispute over same-sex marriage is an example of a:

A) norm.
B) culture war.
C) counterculture.
D) radical social movement.
E) reflection of high culture.