Deck 16: Social Change: Modern and Postmodern Societies

Question 1

Modernity is the product of social changes brought on by the Industrial Revolution.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Social change is usually controversial.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Only a handful of actual mob lynchings in the United States have ever been documented.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

William Ogburn's theory of cultural lag states that nonmaterial culture usually changes faster than material culture.

Question 5

Karl Marx claimed that conflict between classes had the effect of preventing social change.

Question 6

Unlike a mob action, a riot usually has a clear goal.

Question 7

Sociologists claim that collective behavior is generally easy to explain.

Question 8

Kai Erikson claims that, as serious as many disasters are, they usually are over quickly.

Question 9

Social movements need resources, including members, in order to succeed.

Question 10

In global perspective, we see that some societies change, but others do not.

Question 11

All social movements call for basic change to all of society.

Question 12

Culture theory would argue that a photograph or some other symbol often serves as the rallying point for forming a social movement.

Question 13

Mass-society theory claims that social movements are personal as much as political in that they offer people a sense of meaning and purpose.

Question 14

The social damage from a disaster is especially great when a toxic substance is involved.

Question 15

Fads are sometimes called "crazes."

Question 16

A major oil spill from a ship would be an example of a "natural disaster."

Question 17

Genocide-the systematic killing of many people-is an example of an "intentional disaster."

Question 18

To a passing observer, all types of collective behavior appear very much the same.

Question 19

Social change results from invention, discovery, and cultural diffusion.

Question 20

Social movements always form among the people who are the most disadvantaged.

Question 21

According to Emile Durkheim, modern societies are held together by difference, a process he called "organic solidarity."

Question 22

Durkheim considered a rising suicide rate a good indicator that mechanical solidarity was getting stronger.

Question 23

Modernization typically decreases social diversity.

Question 24

While Max Weber linked modern alienation to inequality, Karl Marx linked modern alienation to expanding bureaucracy.

Question 25

Modernization typically reduces the range of personal choice about how to live.

Question 26

Ferdinand Tönnies described Gesellschaft as based on the power of the community over the individual.

Question 27

Max Weber declared modern society to be "disenchanted."

Question 28

Jeans, the type of clothing that became popular with young people in the 1960s, are actually centuries old.

Question 29

Saying that people are "essentially united in spite of all separating factors" is a good way to describe what Tönnies called Gemeinschaft.

Question 30

Mass-society theory argues that the scale of social life is increasingly leaving people feeling lost in a world of vast and impersonal bureaucracies.

Question 31

Max Weber worried that modern societies were prone to a condition he called "anomie."

Question 32

The "coalescence" of a social movement includes its efforts to "go public."

Question 33

Sociologist Peter Berger suggests that the rising popularity of wearing wristwatches is a good indicator that a traditional society is beginning to modernize.

Question 34

Political-economy theory links social movements to opposition to the capitalist economy.

Question 35

According to mass-society theory, the mass media transform people in countless local communities, forming a national culture.

Question 36

Karl Marx considered the defining trait of modern society to be capitalism.

Question 37

Emile Durkheim's concept of mechanical solidarity parallels Tönnies's concept of Gesellschaft.

Question 38

Modernization means that fewer people live in small, traditional communities.

Question 39

Emile Durkheim understood modernization in terms of changes in societal solidarity.

Question 40

Karl Marx was a major architect of mass-society theory.

Question 41

Comparing various social changes, we correctly conclude that

A) all changes are planned.
B) fads have the greatest importance.
C) most changes go completely unnoticed by people.
D) some changes matter more than others.

Question 42

Class-society describes the personal experience of modernity as powerlessness.

Question 43

A criticism of mass-society theory is that it pays too much attention to social inequality.

Question 44

Modern people, claims mass-society theory, tend to develop tradition-directed personalities and hold to conventional ways of life.

Question 45

The class-society theory of modernity is derived largely from the social-conflict approach of Karl Marx.

Question 46

The class-society theory states that modernization has greatly reduced social inequality.

Question 47

The concept of modernity refers to changes in social patterns brought on by which of the following?

A) the fall of the Roman Empire
B) the Enlightenment
C) the Industrial Revolution
D) globalization

Question 48

Today's other-directed people have little interest in fashions and fads.

Question 49

The story of the Kaiapo in Brazil shows that modernization makes people better appreciate their traditions.

Question 50

The theory of postmodernity claims that, in important respects, modernity has failed to live up to its promise.

Question 51

David Riesman's other-directed people are characterized by superficiality, inconsistency, and an openness to change.

Question 52

Sociologists explain that the consequences of social change are

A) always positive.
B) always negative.
C) usually both positive and negative.
D) impossible to assess.

Question 53

Which of the following is a common cause of social change?

A) discovery of existing things
B) diffusion of ideas from one cultural system to another
C) invention of new ideas and things
D) All of these responses are correct.

Question 54

Sociologists point out that

A) some societies change and others do not.
B) social change happens all the time.
C) all social change is good.
D) All of these responses are correct.

Question 55

Difficulty forming a personal identity is a problem of modernity highlighted by mass-society theory.

Question 56

Which of the following concepts refers to changes brought on by the Information Revolution?

A) feudalism
B) tradition
C) modernity
D) postmodernity

Question 57

TheCHAPTER opening story of the inhabitants of a New York apartment who live a century apart demonstrates

A) change over the last century has been dramatic.
B) that, in some ways, life has clearly improved.
C) that, in some ways, life has not improved.
D) All of these are responses correct.

Question 58

The coins we use today were devised in the Middle East centuries ago.This is an example of which of the following?

A) invention
B) discovery
C) diffusion
D) None of the other responses is correct.

Question 59

Social change is almost always

A) controversial.
B) planned.
C) good for everyone in a society.
D) All of these responses are correct.

Question 60

"Postmodernity" refers to societies transformed by the Industrial Revolution.

Question 61

Collective behavior involves action that often

A) is unplanned.
B) involves a large number of people.
C) is controversial.
D) All of these responses are correct.

Question 62

Hula hoops, streaking, and Pokémon cards are all examples of

A) fads.
B) fashion.
C) style.
D) social movements.

Question 63

Which of the following is a good example of a crowd?

A) many people walking on a city street who stop to observe an auto accident
B) many people who are graduates of the same college
C) a few people who gather at a city park every Saturday to play tennis
D) a few people who live in the same college dorm

Question 64

The enormous oil spill by the tanker Exxon Valdez in 1989 is an example of which of the following types of disasters?

A) natural disaster
B) technological disaster
C) intentional disaster
D) All of these responses are correct.

Question 65

The atomic tests near to Utrick Island in 1954 were a disaster for the 159 people who lived there.Kai Erikson explains that this disaster

A) brought the people together in a good way.
B) never really had an ending.
C) was completely fixed by the U.S. government within a few days.
D) showed how it is possible to predict and prepare for disasters.

Question 66

Karl Marx highlighted which of the following in the process of social change?

A) invention
B) ideas
C) class conflict
D) cultural diffusion

Question 67

Because of their intense emotion, mobs

A) can be violent and destructive.
B) tend to last a long time.
C) include people who get to know one another.
D) All of these responses are correct.

Question 68

Max Weber's thesis on the Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism highlighted the importance of which of the following in the process of social change?

A) invention
B) ideas
C) social conflict
D) cultural diffusion

Question 69

Which type of social movement seeks radical change in all of society?

A) alternative social movements
B) redemptive social movements
C) reformative social movements
D) revolutionary social movements

Question 70

A riot differs from a mob in that the riot
a. is not usually violent.
b. typically has little focus or clear goal.
c. involves fewer people.
d. is very rare in U.S. history.

Question 71

Which type of social movement seeks radical social change but only in some people?

A) alternative social movements
B) redemptive social movements
C) reformative social movements
D) revolutionary social movements

Question 72

Demographic change in the United States over the course of the last century includes a trend towards

A) smaller household size.
B) a larger share of elderly people.
C) living in cities.
D) All of these responses are correct.

Question 73

Kai Erikson explains that disasters harm people in a way the public often fails to realize by

A) destroying property.
B) killing people.
C) breaking down people's communities.
D) None of the other responses is correct.

Question 74

Social movements are defined as

A) unlawful activity in the form of rioting.
B) widely dispersed efforts to force people to conform.
C) any formal organization that uses propaganda.
D) organized activity that encourages or discourages social change.

Question 75

Of the various types of social movements, which is least threatening to the status quo?

A) alternative social movements
B) redemptive social movements
C) reformative social movements
D) revolutionary social movements

Question 76

Fashion differs from a fad in that fashion

A) is shorter lived.
B) is less conventional.
C) reflects established cultural values.
D) All of these responses are correct.

Question 77

Hurricane Irene, which devastated parts of New England in 2011, is best thought of as an example of which of the following types of disasters?

A) natural disaster
B) technological disaster
C) intentional disaster
D) All of these responses are correct.

Question 78

Ralph Linton explained that many familiar elements of our culture

A) actually came to us from other cultures.
B) are unique to our own society.
C) were unknown even a few decades ago.
D) were discovered completely by accident.

Question 79

The genocide that took place in the Darfur region of Sudan is an example of which of the following types of disasters?

A) technological disaster
B) natural disaster
C) intentional disaster
D) All of these responses are correct.

Question 80

Moving on has always been an important part of the experience of U.S.society.Remembering the map in the CHAPTER, in which part of the country are there a larger number of households that stay put, where the same people have lived for thirty years or more?

A) Florida
B) the Southwest
C) the West Coast
D) the Great Plains