Deck 1: Sociology: Perspective, theory, and Method

Question 1

Ancient philosophers,including Plato,were primarily interested in imagining the "ideal" society rather than studying society as it really is.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

A global perspective has little in common with a sociological perspective.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Studying other societies is a good way to learn about our own way of life.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Using the sociological perspective,we would conclude that people's lives are mostly a result of what they decide to do.

Question 5

Durkheim documented that categories of people with weaker social ties have lower suicide rates.

Question 6

Sociology is defined as the systematic study of human society.

Question 7

In the United States,men have a higher suicide rate than women.

Question 8

Sociological research may be interesting,but it is of little use in shaping public policy,including legislation.

Question 9

In the United States,African Americans have a higher suicide rate than whites.

Question 10

The sociological perspective helps us assess the truth of the "common sense" beliefs we tend to take for granted.

Question 11

The term "sociology" was coined by Emile Durkheim in 1898.

Question 12

C.Wright Mills claimed that,most of the time,people must learn to take responsibility for their own problems.

Question 13

U.S.sociologist C.Wright Mills argued that times of social crisis foster widespread sociological thinking.

Question 14

Sociologists focus only on unusual patterns of behavior.

Question 15

Sociology is useful training for any job that involves working with people.

Question 16

The last of Comte's three stages is the metaphysical stage,in which people know the world in terms of God's will.

Question 17

Auguste Comte was a positivist who believed that there were laws of society in the same way that there are laws of physics that describe the operation of the natural world.

Question 18

People with lower social standing are usually more likely to see the world from a sociological perspective than people who are well off.

Question 19

Societies around the world are more interconnected than ever before.

Question 20

According to sociologists,human behavior reflects our personal "free will."

Question 21

Both Jane Addams and Harriet Martineau are remembered today because they were married to important sociologists.

Question 22

"Stacking" in sports is the pattern by which people of one racial category disproportionately play in favored positions.

Question 23

W.E.B.Du Bois translated the writings of Auguste Comte from French into English.

Question 24

The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes believed that society reflected the basic goodness of human nature.

Question 25

According to Robert K.Merton,social patterns are always good and have the same effect on all members of a society.

Question 26

The structural-functional,social-conflict,and symbolic-interaction approaches are three basic theoretical approaches in sociology.

Question 27

The focus of the symbolic-interaction approach is how society is divided by class,race,and gender.

Question 28

In the United States,secondary schools place students in college preparatory tracks that partially reflect the social background of their families.

Question 29

Like the gender-conflict approach,the race-conflict approach is concerned with social inequality.

Question 30

Feminism and the gender-conflict approach highlight ways in which women are unequal to men.

Question 31

Social-exchange analysis is one micro-level approach to understanding social interaction.

Question 32

To say that a social pattern is "dysfunctional" means that it has more than one function for the operation of society.

Question 33

The symbolic-interaction approach is a micro-level orientation.

Question 34

The manifest functions of our society's reliance on personal automobiles include tens of thousands of deaths each year in traffic accidents.

Question 35

Keeping young people out of the labor market is one latent function of higher education.

Question 36

The goal of the structural-functional approach is no so much to understand how society operates as it is to reduce social inequality.

Question 37

Both Karl Marx and W.E.B.Du Bois carried out their work following the structural-functional approach.

Question 38

The sociologist recognizes that there are various kinds of "truth."

Question 39

The meaning people find in competitive sports would be one focus of a symbolic-interaction approach.

Question 40

Sociological research shows that all categories of people have had the same opportunities to participate in sports.

Question 41

Which discipline defines itself as "the systematic study of human society"?

A)sociology
B)psychology
C)economics
D)history

Question 42

The mean is always a better statistical measure than the mode or the median.

Question 43

Empirical evidence is nothing more than what people in a society agree is true.

Question 44

Peter Berger describes using the sociological perspective as seeing the ______ in the _______.

A)good;worst tragedies
B)new;old
C)specific;general
D)general;particular

Question 45

Gender blindness is the problem of failing to consider the importance of gender in sociological research.

Question 46

What does the statement idea that "the social world guides our actions and life choices just as the seasons influence activities and choice of clothing" describe?

A)the basis of what philosophy calls "free will"
B)the essential wisdom of the discipline of sociology
C)the fact that people everywhere have "common sense"
D)the fact that people from countries all around the world make mostly identical choices about how to live

Question 47

Critical sociology studies society and tries to bring about social change.

Question 48

A variable that causes change in another variable is called the "dependent variable."

Question 49

A false correlation between two variables caused by a third factor is described as a "spurious" correlation.

Question 50

A positivist approach assumes that an objective reality exists "out there."

Question 51

Reliability refers to the quality of consistency in measurement.

Question 52

When two variables are statistically related,a cause-and-effect relationship exists.

Question 53

To identify cause-and-effect relationships,it is usually necessary to exercise experimental control of variables.

Question 54

Validity refers to actually measuring what you want to measure.

Question 55

A variable that is changed by another variable is called the "independent variable."

Question 56

Participant observation is a research method by which researchers stand back from a setting,watch from a distance,and then carefully record the behavior of others.

Question 57

A survey is a research method in which subjects respond to a series of statements or questions.

Question 58

Empirical evidence refers to what we can verify with our senses.

Question 59

A researcher who assumes that the man was the head of the household and his wife simply took care of the kids is demonstrating a gender-based research error called "double standards."

Question 60

Interpretive sociology considers subjective feelings to be a source of bias.

Question 61

Learning more sociology can help you to do all of the following EXCEPT

A)assess the truth of "common sense"
B)assess the opportunities and constraints in our lives
C)be more active participants in society
D)see how individuals guide their own lives through "free will"

Question 62

The pioneering sociologist who studied patterns of suicide in Europe was

A)Robert K.Merton.
B)Auguste Comte.
C)Emile Durkheim.
D)Karl Marx.

Question 63

About 1.4 million immigrants enter the United States each year and many (including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gloria Estefan)have become well known.These facts support the conclusion that

A)the United States and other of the world's nations are increasingly interconnected.
B)other nations have little effects on life in rich countries such as the United States.
C)people around the world share little in terms of their ways of life.
D)sociology does not have to pay attention to nations other than the United States.

Question 64

Sociologist Lenore Weitzman carried out research showing that women who divorce typically

A)remarry within one year.
B)claim they are happier than before.
C)suffer a significant loss of income.
D)have a happier sex life.

Question 65

Following the thinking of C.Wright Mills,we would expect the sociological imagination to be more widespread in a population

A)during times of peace and prosperity.
B)among the very rich.
C)among very religious people.
D)during times of social crisis.

Question 66

According to Emile Durkheim,people with a higher suicide rate typically have

A)more clinical depression.
B)less money,power,and other resources.
C)a lower level of social integration.
D)greater self-esteem.

Question 67

Which of the following statements BEST illustrates the career advantage a person gains by studying sociology?

A)A researcher discovers a new and effective vaccine.
B)A person in retail sales knows how to exceed the monthly sales target.
C)A police officer understands which categories of people are at high risk of becoming crime victims.
D)A financial services worker devises a new type of hedge fund.

Question 68

The concept "sociology" was coined in 1838 by

A)Karl Marx.
B)Herbert Spencer.
C)Adam Smith.
D)Auguste Comte.

Question 69

Which of the following historical changes is among the factors that stimulated the development of sociology as a discipline?

A)the founding of the Roman Catholic Church
B)the rise of the industrial economy and growth of cities
C)the power of tradition
D)a belief that our future is defined by "fate"

Question 70

Read the following four statements about social patterns we find in the world as a whole.Which statement is FALSE?

A)The world is now home to 7 billion people.
B)A majority of the world's people live in Asia.
C)People in the United States make up one-third of the global population.
D)A majority of the world's people have completed a college degree.

Question 71

In the United States today,the suicide rate is highest for which of the following?

A)white males
B)African American males
C)white females
D)African American females

Question 72

Which of the following categories contains countries in which average income is typical for the world as a whole and in which people are as likely to live in a rural area as in an urban area?

A)low-income nations
B)middle-income nations
C)high-income nations
D)None of the other responses is correct.

Question 73

Sarah is spending a summer living in another country where people have a way of life that differs from her own.A sociologist might expect that this experience would lead her to

A)end up with a greater understanding of both a new way of life and her own way of life.
B)accept what people in the United States call "common sense."
C)assume that people's lives simply reflect the choices they make.
D)gradually understand less and less about her own way of life.

Question 74

The CHAPTER's sociological analysis of childbearing around the world suggests that the number of children born to a woman reflects

A)only her personal preference for family size.
B)how many children she can afford.
C)whether she lives in a poor or a rich society.
D)simply the desires of her husband.

Question 75

If marginality encourages sociological thinking,we would expect people in which category listed below to make the most use of the sociological perspective?

A)the wealthy
B)disabled persons or people who are a racial minority
C)politicians
D)the middle class

Question 76

Making use of the sociological perspective encourages

A)challenging commonly held beliefs.
B)accepting commonly-held wisdom.
C)the belief that society is mysterious.
D)people to be happy with their lives as they are.

Question 77

We would expect the sociological perspective to be MOST likely to develop in a place that was

A)very traditional.
B)experiencing major social changes.
C)very poor.
D)small and socially isolated.

Question 78

Sociologists use the term "social marginality" to refer to

A)people who have little understanding of sociology.
B)people who have special social skills.
C)people who are defined by others as an "outsider."
D)people who are especially sensitive about their family background.

Question 79

Examples of people applying their knowledge of sociology at work include people in

A)law enforcement,understanding which categories of people are at high risk of becoming victims of crime.
B)medicine,understanding patterns of health in a community.
C)business,dealing with different categories of people.
D)All of the these responses are correct.

Question 80

By stating that the sociological perspective shows us "the strange in the familiar," the text argues that sociologists

A)focus on the bizarre elements of society.
B)reject the familiar idea that people simply decide how to act in favor of the initially strange idea that society shapes our lives.
C)believe that people often behave in strange ways.
D)believe that even people who are most familiar to us have some very strange habits.