Deck 1: The Study of Sociology

Question 1

Sociology as an Individual Pastime
Berger believes that sociology:

A) is a scientific practice that is only successful if the sociologists are passionate about doing it
B) is a waste of money if it does not make people's lives better
C) must use statistics to be credible
D) is invaluable as a tool to make the world a better place

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Sociology as an Individual Pastime
Berger writes about several images people have of sociologists. Which is NOT one of them?

A) sociologist as scientist with a sense of inferiority about the quality of his or her science
B) sociologist as statistician
C) sociologist as celebrity, often appearing on television to give an opinion of news events and social problems
D) sociologist as solver of society's problems

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Personal Experiences and Public Issues (from The Sociological Imagination)
Mills calls society's organization and methods of operating:

A) an iron cage
B) mechanisms of control
C) social structure
D) sociality
3) What Makes Sociology Different? (from The Rules of Sociological Method) ÉMILE DURKHEIM

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Sociology as an Individual Pastime
Sociologists make an effort to do many things. Which of the following is NOT one of them?

A) understand and appreciate what is socially deviant as well as what is socially acceptable
B) question the things everyone takes for granted
C) compare social practices in their own society with those in other societies
D) discover potential threats to their country's security and communicate these to the government
E) discover or uncover information that provides new insight into what people think they know
2) Personal Experiences and Public Issues (from The Sociological Imagination)
C) WRIGHT MILLS

Question 5

What Makes Sociology Different? (from The Rules of Sociological Method) ÉMILE DURKHEIM
According to Durkheim, a social fact is:

A) a statistic about a country, state, city, or other organization
B) any social construction created by people
C) as compulsory to individuals as the law or legal decisions reached by a court
D) a characteristic or fact about society, rather than about individuals

Question 6

Personal Experiences and Public Issues (from The Sociological Imagination)
The major distinction or comparison Mills uses throughout his essay is:

A) civilization (modern society) and primitives (premodern society)
B) justice (laws) and fairness (tradition)
C) individuals (biography) and society (history)
D) happiness (emotions) and contentment (understanding)

Question 7

Personal Experiences and Public Issues (from The Sociological Imagination)
"The __________ requires us, above all, to think ourselves away from the familiar routine of our daily lives in order to look at things anew," write Anthony Giddens and Mitchell Duneier

A) sociological imagination
B) Protestant ethic
C) research process
D) universal perspective

Question 8

What Makes Sociology Different? (from The Rules of Sociological Method) ÉMILE DURKHEIM
Based on Durkheim's argument, one could conclude that individuals:

A) have a natural inclination to fight and make war rather than seek peaceful solutions
B) have little choice but to conform to society's demands
C) are largely responsible for their own actions-good and bad
D) have basic animal instincts which compel them to keep in close contact with one another, form families, towns, and organizations, and pursue collaborative leisure activities
4) The Stranger GEORG SIMMEL

Question 9

The Stranger GEORG SIMMEL
Georg Simmel's essay "The Stranger":

A) describes the fictional character in Albert Camus's novel The Stranger
B) examines the relationship between persons immersed in a situation and someone who is present but not involved in the situation
C) explains the attraction of movies, especially Westerns, where a hero (a stranger) comes to town, solves the town's problem, then leaves
D) explores the roles of group solidarity and community integration in the evolution of society

Question 10

Sociology as an Individual Pastime
When we talk about sociological methods we are referring to:

A) a particular way sociologists act in public settings, as opposed to in their personal lives
B) the processes by which sociologists gather and analyze data
C) a teaching technique that raises questions rather than providing answers
D) the scholarly writing done by sociologists

Question 11

Personal Experiences and Public Issues (from The Sociological Imagination)
A significant reason for the importance of sociological understanding is that:

A) the rate of social change has increased and threatens to disorient people
B) terrorism can now strike anyone, anywhere in the world
C) we are rapidly becoming a global village
D) children are no longer learning most of what they need to know from their parents

Question 12

The Stranger GEORG SIMMEL
What characterizes the stranger, according to Simmel?

A) The stranger is judged more harshly than other members of the group
B) The stranger is either physically different from those in the group or displays distinct cultural features, such as an accent or way of dressing
C) The stranger has something others want and is careful to withhold it until he or she gains acceptance by the group's members
D) The stranger may receive confidential information withheld from other members of the group

Question 13

What Makes Sociology Different? (from The Rules of Sociological Method) ÉMILE DURKHEIM
Émile Durkheim is:
A) a former Catholic priest who became a sociologist after he retired from the priesthood

A) the pseudonym of Helen Gable, a novelist who often writes about social problems
B) a Spanish politician whose commentaries on Spanish TV have made him very popular
C) a 19th-century French sociologist who was one of the pioneers of the sociological discipline

Question 14

Sociology as an Individual Pastime
The sociologist Berger describes is a person who is:

A) committed to changing the world
B) easy to get along with and much admired
C) curious about everything people do
D) unlikely to vote, but knows a lot about voters and voting behavior

Question 15

Personal Experiences and Public Issues (from The Sociological Imagination)
In The Sociological Imagination, C. Wright Mills argues that personal troubles:

A) are sometimes best handled by telling a person what he or she wants to hear
B) are of concern to psychologists rather than sociologists
C) are better dealt with if we understand the social context in which they occur and recognize them as social issues that many others face as well
D) are exaggerated when people watch a significant amount of television

Question 16

Sociology as an Individual Pastime
According to Peter Berger (Invitation to Sociology), the discipline of sociology is defined by:

A) its use of statistics to test hypotheses
B) the good works and improved living conditions that come from higher education
C) its effort to understand society in a scientific way
D) its respect for others' privacy, and its avoidance of personal matters

Question 17

Personal Experiences and Public Issues (from The Sociological Imagination)
Mills talks about unemployment, war, marriage, and the city in order to show that:

A) people can choose to be depressed about the state of the world or be optimistic and hopeful
B) modern society is much more complex than premodern societies
C) human nature is the prime cause of both happiness and unhappiness
D) what happens to individuals and what they do is strongly influenced by their social situation

Question 18

The Stranger GEORG SIMMEL
Which term can best be applied to the stranger?

A) objective (able to see the facts for what they are)
B) subservient (to those who belong to the group and can offer admittance)
C) unusual (especially in terms of cultural practices and beliefs)
D) untrustworthy (does not follow the usual rules of society)
E) heroic (chooses to do what is right rather than what is expected)

Question 19

What Makes Sociology Different? (from The Rules of Sociological Method) ÉMILE DURKHEIM
Social facts have what characteristics, according to Durkheim?

A) they are external to the individual, they constrain, and they coerce
B) they are rational and logical, having been created in open debate and with scientific proof
C) they are historical and make up our historical memory
D) they can only be expressed as part of language-written and oral

Question 20

What Makes Sociology Different? (from The Rules of Sociological Method) ÉMILE DURKHEIM
Probably the best synonyms for social facts are:

A) history and biography
B) the individual and the group
C) society and culture
D) reason and emotion

Question 21

Public Sociologies: Contradictions, Dilemmas, and Possibilities MICHAEL BURAWOY
Which is NOT one of the three versions of sociology Burawoy discusses?

A) professional sociology
B) public sociology
C) policy sociology
D) predictive sociology

Question 22

The My Lai Massacre: A Crime of Obedience? (from Crimes of Obedience: Toward a Social Psychology of Authority and Responsibility) HERBERT
Who carried out the My Lai massacre?

A) No one really knows
B) American soldiers
C) Hired mercenaries from around the world-a kind of global army for hire
D) Ordinary civilians who armed themselves with knives, garden tools, and hunting weapons
E) Child soldiers-orphans from several years of civil war

Question 23

Public Sociologies: Contradictions, Dilemmas, and Possibilities MICHAEL BURAWOY
By "public sociology" Burawoy means:

A) using sociological teaching and research to address the moral and political concerns of non- sociologists
B) making sociological research available to anyone interested in its findings
C) sociology that is read and practiced by people not professionally trained as sociologists
D) everyday or pop sociology, generally focusing on popular culture, styles, and fads

Question 24

Racism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study ALLAN M. BRANDT
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was an attempt to:

A) prevent the transmission of syphilis among college-age women
B) find out the long-term effects of syphilis when it is left untreated
C) develop ethical guidelines for doing research on animals
D) show that men and women need different types of medical treatment

Question 25

Telling the Truth about Damned Lies and Statistics JOEL BEST
Best encourages us to approach statistics:

A) with the assumption that those who use them intend to deceive us
B) critically, by evaluating their quality and claims
C) casually, by never taking them too seriously
D) cynically-most statistics are both wrong and irrelevant, and cannot be trusted
7) Public Sociologies: Contradictions, Dilemmas, and Possibilities MICHAEL BURAWOY

Question 26

Public Sociologies: Contradictions, Dilemmas, and Possibilities MICHAEL BURAWOY
Unlike the academic disciplines of economics and political science, sociology's most distinct object of interest and support is:

A) large, often multinational corporations
B) families and peer groups
C) minorities, women, and other groups facing discrimination
D) civil society
8) Racism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study ALLAN M. BRANDT

Question 27

The My Lai Massacre: A Crime of Obedience? (from Crimes of Obedience: Toward a Social Psychology of Authority and Responsibility) HERBERT
Kelman and Hamilton call the killings at My Lai:

A) state terrorism
B) a protective reaction strike
C) collateral damage
D) a sanctioned massacre
E) a soft target

Question 28

The My Lai Massacre: A Crime of Obedience? (from Crimes of Obedience: Toward a Social Psychology of Authority and Responsibility) HERBERT
Kelman and Hamilton's explanation of the My Lai massacre primarily implicates:

A) the social conditions, training, and system of (non)control of the killers
B) the irresponsible behavior of the persons who were injured and killed
C) the psychology of people who have lost all hope in life
D) the mass media that shows thousands of images of violence and often glorifies killing

Question 29

The My Lai Massacre: A Crime of Obedience? (from Crimes of Obedience: Toward a Social Psychology of Authority and Responsibility) HERBERT
Kelman and Hamilton explain why so many people are willing to plot, participate in, and condone mass killings by emphasizing all of the following EXCEPT:

A) authorization-ceding responsibility because one received instruction "from above"
B) anger and the desire for revenge, both of which result from and inflame moral outrage
C) routinization-the "normalization" of the behaviors required to carry out an immoral act
D) dehumanization-regarding the object of attack as less than human or without value
6) Telling the Truth About Damned Lies and Statistics JOEL BEST

Question 30

The My Lai Massacre: A Crime of Obedience? (from Crimes of Obedience: Toward a Social Psychology of Authority and Responsibility) HERBERT
How many of those accused of the massacre were convicted after they had been tried in court?

A) several hundred
B) one
C) everyone involved, but the number has remained a government secret
D) no one; the victims were either dead or too afraid to testify against their attackers

Question 31

Racism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study ALLAN M. BRANDT
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was carried out:
A) by private doctors and pharmaceutical companies

A) over a forty-year period, from the 1930s into the 1970s
B) in several poor countries in Africa and Southeast Asia
B) with the full understanding by all the research subjects participating in the project that it had potential risks as well as benefits
C) All of the above are features of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study

Question 32

The My Lai Massacre: A Crime of Obedience? (from Crimes of Obedience: Toward a Social Psychology of Authority and Responsibility) HERBERT
While the killing, destruction, and rape seemed disorganized and spontaneous, Kelman and Hamilton attribute much of the My Lai massacre to:

A) the leadership of one man, Lt. William Calley
B) the killers' desire to cover up what they had done, leaving no witnesses to the crime
C) the psychological training the killers had received, encouraging trainees to block out their emotions and feelings of responsibility when confronting enemy soldiers
D) the killers' belief that they would themselves die if they did not execute the people in their custody

Question 33

Racism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study ALLAN M. BRANDT
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was, for the control group, a study of:

A) the long-term effects of untreated syphilis
B) the effectiveness of penicillin in the treatment of syphilis
C) medical practices that could save money and still be effective
D) deviant behavior

Question 34

The My Lai Massacre: A Crime of Obedience? (from Crimes of Obedience: Toward a Social Psychology of Authority and Responsibility) HERBERT
The My Lai massacre occurred:

A) when Saddam Hussein, Iraq's president, invaded Kuwait
B) during World War II
C) when the Rwandan Hutus were at war with their fellow countrymen, the Tutsis
D) during the Vietnam War

Question 35

Telling the Truth about Damned Lies and Statistics JOEL BEST
The statistic on children's deaths, used by the graduate student in Best's article:

A) was ridiculous; if true, by 1980 more than a billion children would have been killed each year
B) greatly underestimated the actual number of deaths of children caused by unsafe toys
C) was based on a study paid for by food manufacturers
D) was accurate, but reported out of context and therefore could have been misinterpreted

Question 36

Public Sociologies: Contradictions, Dilemmas, and Possibilities MICHAEL BURAWOY
Michael Burawoy's view, based on opinion surveys, is that sociologists today are:

A) more liberal than sociologists were forty years ago
B) more liberal than the general U.S. public
C) interested in using their research and teaching to solve social problems
D) all of the above

Question 37

Public Sociologies: Contradictions, Dilemmas, and Possibilities MICHAEL BURAWOY
Public sociology, according to Burawoy, is most often found in:

A) two-year community colleges
B) state colleges
C) elite colleges
D) PhD-granting research universities

Question 38

The Stranger GEORG SIMMEL
Simmel's essay describes:

A) the social process of exclusion and avoidance of things and people different from the cultural norm
B) the stages of acquaintanceship: awareness, identification, exploration, normalization, inclusion, and attachment
C) the seemingly contradictory nature of a social type or character who can be both near and remote, different and similar, a part of the group yet apart from it
D) the way we detach ourselves from situations and events that threaten our sense of self-i.e. the ability to avoid being drawn into problematic scenes by acting as if we are invisible
5) The My Lai Massacre: A Crime of Obedience? (from Crimes of Obedience: Toward a Social Psychology of Authority and Responsibility) HERBERT C. KELMAN and V. LEE HAMILTON

Question 39

The My Lai Massacre: A Crime of Obedience? (from Crimes of Obedience: Toward a Social Psychology of Authority and Responsibility) HERBERT
Kelman and Hamilton's analysis invokes the sociological dimensions of:

A) culture shock and linguistic misunderstanding
B) regionality and demographic shift
C) the target and the context of the violence
D) status and stratification

Question 40

Telling the Truth about Damned Lies and Statistics JOEL BEST
Best concludes that:

A) we are better off trusting our own opinions than believing statistics, no matter how good the research that gathers and analyzes these statistics
B) policies and planning should be voted on, not decided by experts who rely on statistics
C) although statistics can be wrong or misused, we still need good statistics
D) all statistics are inherently flawed because they can never recommend the right decision or the best course of action

Question 41

Racism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study ALLAN M. BRANDT
The most problematic aspect of the study, according to Brandt, was that the participants:

A) did not have health insurance and so many of them lost their homes and life savings
B) were not only given the impression that they were receiving effective treatment, but were systematically prevented from receiving proper treatment
C) provided inaccurate and sometimes dishonest information about their medical history and conditions
D) accepted the money for medical treatment but used it for other purposes, such as home repairs and recreation

Question 42

Racism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study ALLAN M. BRANDT
Brandt argues that ______ was at the heart of the study.

A) scientific zeal
B) sexism
C) an overly optimistic faith in modern medicine
D) homophobia
E) racism

Question 43

Racism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study ALLAN M. BRANDT
The medical and scientific community seemed to maintain what attitude with respect to the study's subjects and their (ill) health?

A) a humanitarian and compassionate morality
B) a version of Darwinian evolutionism
C) a belief that medical practitioners must make decisions about who will receive care and who won't
D) a belief that all problems can be solved with technology