Deck 16: Social Change: Modern and Postmodern Societies

Question 1

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

Answer 1

True

Question 2

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

Answer 2

False

Question 3

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

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Social change is usually controversial.

Question 5

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

Question 6

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

Question 7

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

Question 8

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

Question 9

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 10

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

Question 11

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

Question 12

Max Weber declared modern society to be "disenchanted."

Question 13

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

Question 14

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

Question 15

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

Question 16

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

Question 17

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

Question 18

Modernization typically decreases social diversity.

Question 19

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

Question 20

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

Question 21

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

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

Question 22

The CHAPTER 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 responses are correct.

Question 23

Looking at the United States over the last several decades,some indicators of quality of life are up,some are down,and some have changed very little.

Question 24

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

Question 25

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

Question 26

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

Question 27

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 28

Social change is almost always

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

Question 29

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

Question 30

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

Question 31

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

Question 32

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

Question 33

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

Question 34

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 35

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

Question 36

Sociologists explain that the consequences of social change are

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

Question 37

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

Question 38

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

Question 39

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 are correct.

Question 40

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

Question 41

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 42

Ferdinand Tönnies described modernity as the loss of

A)Gemeinschaft.
B)Gesellschaft.
C)social diversity.
D)personal choice.

Question 43

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 44

Moving on has always been an important part of the experience in U.S.society.Recalling the residence stability map from thisCHAPTER: In which part of the country are there a larger number of households that haven't moved-where the same people have lived for thirty years or more?

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

Question 45

For Tönnies,the essence of Gesellschaft is

A)faith in established tradition.
B)self-interest.
C)kinship.
D)neighborhood and friendship.

Question 46

Max Weber defined modernity in terms of which of the following concepts?

A)capitalism
B)specialization
C)self-interest
D)rationalization

Question 47

Max Weber saw which of the following as evidence of modernization?

A)the rise of capitalism
B)the rise of science
C)the spread of bureaucracy
D)All of these responses are correct.

Question 48

Which of the following thinkers was,on balance,MOST critical of modern society?

A)Max Weber
B)Emile Durkheim
C)Peter Berger
D)None of these people was critical of modern society.

Question 49

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

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

Question 50

Peter Berger describes modernization in terms of several important changes.Read the responses below and select the one that is NOT a trait that Berger links to modernity.

A)the decline of large cities
B)the expansion of personal choice
C)increasing social diversity
D)a future orientation and growing awareness of time

Question 51

For Weber,preindustrial societies are characterized by a focus on

A)personal choice.
B)tradition.
C)productive specialization.
D)rationality.

Question 52

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

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

Question 53

Emile Durkheim claimed that the defining trait of modernity was

A)faith in established tradition.
B)kinship.
C)common beliefs.
D)an increasing division of labor.

Question 54

Durkheim's concept of organic solidarity is roughly the same as Tönnies's concept of

A)Gemeinschaft.
B)Gesellschaft.
C)blasé urbanite.
D)specialization.

Question 55

Modernity is the concept used for the social patterns that began to change the world about when?

A)1492
B)1600
C)the 1750s
D)the 1920s

Question 56

Durkheim's greatest concern about modern societies focused on

A)a rise of anomie.
B)increasing personal choice.
C)increasing productive specialization.
D)increasing personal privacy.

Question 57

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 58

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 59

Mass-society theory offers a criticism of modern society as having

A)become less and less affluent.
B)pushed minorities to the margins.
C)become an impersonal mass of socially rootless people.
D)All of these responses are correct.

Question 60

A criticism of Tönnies's thinking about modernity is that he

A)saw modernity as entirely positive.
B)claimed modern people are business-like in their relationships.
C)overlooked the fact that strong social ties still exist in modern society.
D)did not see the Industrial Revolution as making much difference in social patterns.

Question 61

Applying mass-society theory,you would claim that the biggest micro-level problem facing individuals in modern society is

A)poverty.
B)too much tradition.
C)powerlessness.
D)establishing a clear personal identity.

Question 62

Following class-society theory,the key problem of living in a modern society is

A)economic uncertainty and a feeling of powerlessness.
B)too much personal freedom.
C)difficulty building a clear personal identity.
D)too much rationality.

Question 63

David Riesman described other-directed social character as which of the following?

A)openness to the latest trends and fashions
B)rigid conformity to established ways of life
C)being highly individualistic
D)All of these responses are correct.

Question 64

Following mass-society theory,the key problem of living in a modern society is

A)finding any personal freedom.
B)dealing with persistent poverty.
C)gaining a sense of power.
D)building a confident personal identity in a quickly changing and morally relativistic world.

Question 65

The Kaiapo of Brazil's rain forest and the Hog Hammock community off the coast of Georgia show us that

A)"progress" is typically good.
B)social change is usually good for everyone.
C)people do not have to change if they do not want to.
D)people sometimes lose their cultural foundation as a result of materialism.

Question 66

The class-society approach to modernity focuses on which of the following?

A)marked social stratification
B)productive specialization
C)loss of traditional community
D)rationality

Question 67

In the United States,our culture makes us think that modernity always involves which of the following?

A)progress
B)inequality
C)tradition
D)celebrating the past

Question 68

David Riesman described tradition-directed social character as which of the following?

A)eagerness to adopt the latest fashions and fads
B)rigid conformity to established ways of living
C)being highly individualistic
D)All of these responses are correct.

Question 69

If you were following the class-society approach,which factor would you focus on as shaping modern society the MOST?

A)rationality
B)interdependency
C)capitalism
D)anomie

Question 70

Read the following four statements about modern society.One statement would NOT likely be made by someone who thinks we live in a "mass society." Which statement is it?

A)There are more poor people than in the past.
B)Kinship ties are weaker than in the past.
C)Religious beliefs play a smaller role in society.
D)People experience moral uncertainty about how to live.

Question 71

To say that modern society has a "mass scale" means that many fewer people

A)live in small communities.
B)have a strong sense of cultural heritage.
C)are very sure about what is right and wrong.
D)All of these responses are correct.

Question 72

A mass society is one that

A)has expanding bureaucracy.
B)is affluent in terms of economic production.
C)has lost much of its traditional social ties.
D)All of these responses are correct.

Question 73

What did Herbert Marcuse have to say about science?

A)Science is the key to modern affluence.
B)Science is not new to modern societies;it has existed for centuries.
C)Science helps to cause the world's problems.
D)Science is only one dimension of "rationality."

Question 74

Karl Marx understood modernity in terms of which of the following?

A)the rise of rationality
B)increasing productive specialization
C)the rise of the capitalist economic system
D)the loss of traditional community

Question 75

Individuals experience modern mass societies in terms of

A)pronounced moral relativism.
B)little personal choice.
C)too little privacy.
D)powerlessness.

Question 76

The problem mass-society theory sees with the expansion of bureaucracy and the state is that

A)people in local communities have little control over their lives.
B)government is not very efficient.
C)there is an increase in social inequality.
D)people feel the need for more personal freedom.

Question 77

Read the four statements below.They are all correct EXCEPT:

A)Members of traditional societies conform;members of modern societies do not.
B)Members of modern societies conform;members of traditional societies do not.
C)Members of both traditional and modern societies conform,but to different degrees and for different reasons.
D)Members of neither traditional nor modern societies conform.

Question 78

Herbert Marcuse challenged Max Weber by claiming that modern societies

A)are much too rational.
B)are irrational because they fail to meet most people's needs.
C)have made great strides in reducing inequality.
D)have little effect on the individual.

Question 79

A number of sociologists contributed to a mass-society theory of modernity.Which of the following sociologists is NOT one of them?

A)Emile Durkheim
B)Karl Marx
C)Ferdinand Tönnies
D)Max Weber

Question 80

The class-society theory of modernity is based on the ideas of which of the following sociologists?

A)Emile Durkheim
B)Karl Marx
C)Max Weber
D)Ferdinand Tönnies