Deck 10: Religion and Education

Question 1

Following confession at church, Edna is given a small cup of grape juice to sip from. What would Durkheim consider her juice to be an example of?

A) a ritual
B) the profane
C) the sacred
D) a totem

Answer 1

C

Question 2

What term would Durkheim use to describe what people are in touch with when they transcend everyday life in a sharing of experiences and values with a larger group of people?

A) the collective unconscious
B) false consciousness
C) collective conscience
D) totem creation

Answer 2

C

Question 3

According to the text, what are the content and intensity of our religious beliefs, and the form and frequency of our religious practices, influenced by?

A) our level of personality development
B) our gender
C) our place in the structure of society
D) the structure of the human brain

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following occurs when collective celebrations are at their peak?

A) social integration declines
B) religiosity stays the same
C) suicide rates drop
D) personal anxiety is at its highest

Question 5

Every year, Yusuf and his friends get together to watch the NBA finals, the annual North American professional basketball championship. What term did Durkheim use to describe the sense of being a part of something bigger than we are that these kinds of events generate?

A) collective unconscious
B) anomie
C) the profane
D) collective effervescence

Question 6

What did Durkheim call the religious or transcendent world?

A) ritualistic indifference
B) the sacred
C) the collective conscience
D) collective effervescence

Question 7

According to Durkheim, what is the main effect of rituals, and of religion as a whole?

A) ritualization of the profane
B) reinforcement of social solidarity
C) creation of a collective unconscious
D) establishment of the primacy of the collective unconscious

Question 8

According to the psychologist William James, religion originates in people's need to do which of the following?

A) be intensely sociable
B) be charitable
C) keep busy performing good works
D) find meaning and purpose

Question 9

How did Durkheim define the collective conscience?

A) the values and sentiments of any individual in a given society
B) the primary aspect of religious phenomena that sociologists study
C) the primary aspect of religious phenomena that psychologists study
D) the common sentiments and values that people share as a result of living together

Question 10

According to the textbook, which of the following terms would Durkheim use to describe the Stanley Cup playoffs?

A) a sacred event
B) a solidarity celebration
C) a gladiatorial combat
D) a profane spectacle

Question 11

Father Benoit blesses the baptismal water before the baptism of the Sillettis' newborn son. In Durkheimian terms, what is Father Benoit doing?

A) performing a ritual
B) redeeming the profane
C) enveloping the sacred
D) creating a totem

Question 12

What would Durkheim consider a wooden cross to be?

A) a ritual
B) a profane item
C) a totem
D) a collective effervescence

Question 13

Which of the following questions would sociologists of religion be most interested in discussing?

A) Is creationism true?
B) What is the nature of God?
C) Are Canadian youth religious today?
D) How valuable is evolutionary theory?

Question 14

Research demonstrates that, just prior to major national sporting events, the male suicide rate decreases for those days. From a Durkheimian perspective, why does this temporary decrease happen?

A) because these events increase social solidarity
B) because these events can increase the importance of totems
C) because these events can decrease false consciousness
D) because these events can decrease collective apathy

Question 15

According to the textbook, which of the following influences has taken over most of the socializing role once performed by religion?

A) political institutions
B) educational institutions
C) popular culture
D) mass media

Question 16

Damien drinks a glass of red wine every night after he finishes his dinner. What would Durkheim consider his wine to be an example of?

A) a ritual
B) the profane
C) the sacred
D) a totem

Question 17

Durkheim's analysis of religion is part which of the following sociological theories?

A) symbolic interactionism
B) functionalism
C) ethnomethodology
D) conflict theory

Question 18

According to Durkheim, when people transcend or rise above their everyday lives and experience the sharing of values with some larger collective, which of the following are they in touch with?

A) the collective conscience
B) the transcendental conscience
C) the collective unconscious
D) the transcendental profane

Question 19

What did Durkheim call the everyday world?

A) collective conscience
B) the sacred
C) collective effervescence
D) the profane

Question 20

Why are sociologists uninterested in the religious claims of various religions?

A) These issues are unimportant.
B) These are psychological issues.
C) These issues have no "truths" within them.
D) These issues are not scientifically testable.

Question 21

Darius points out to his friends that every major religion has been involved in wars. Which theory is contradicted by this fact?

A) functionalism
B) postmodernism
C) feminism
D) Marxism

Question 22

What term is commonly used for the view that religious institutions, actions, and consciousness are on the decline?

A) the demystification thesis
B) the rationalization thesis
C) the profanity thesis
D) the secularization thesis

Question 23

Feminists and conflict theorists say that the functionalist account of religion ignores which of the following facts?

A) Religion loses meaning for many devoted followers.
B) Religion becomes dominant in government and educational institutions.
C) Religion often reinforces social inequality.
D) Religion becomes too dogmatic.

Question 24

What term is used in Weber's study of religion for the fact that, in the growth of any one religion, there is a transformation of divine enlightenment into a permanent feature of everyday life?

A) secularization of charisma
B) routinization of charisma
C) realization of charisma
D) disenchantment of charisma

Question 25

According to Weber, which of the following occurred where the Protestant ethic took root and where economic conditions were favourable?

A) socialism became more popular
B) religious revivals swept the scene
C) early capitalism grew robustly
D) churches proliferated in urban areas

Question 26

Which of the following people advocated the practice of working diligently and living simply?

A) Benjamin Franklin and John Wesley
B) Thomas Hobbes and Karl Marx
C) Max Weber and John Wesley
D) Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

Question 27

Which of the following theoretical frameworks is adopted in the account of religion in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism?

A) conflict theory
B) functionalism
C) postmodernism
D) symbolic interactionism

Question 28

The persecution of witches in medieval and pre-modern Europe was partly an effort to do which of the following?

A) ensure the predominance of the monarchy in society
B) ensure the predominance of secular institutions in society
C) eliminate opposition to alternative religious viewpoints
D) eliminate competition and establish a Christian monopoly

Question 29

Which of the following is true of all the major world religions?

A) They have promoted gender equality.
B) They have promoted gender equality, but have practised age discrimination.
C) They have been gender-neutral.
D) They have placed women in subordinate positions.

Question 30

In a class discussion of the sociology of religion, Chloe claimed that, as far as she can tell, all religions are more or less just mechanisms designed to allow the powerful groups in society to maintain their privileges by convincing the weak and oppressed to conform to existing values and traditions that favour those very elites. Of the following, whose views does she come closest to holding?

A) Karl Marx
B) Max Weber
C) Emile Durkheim
D) William James

Question 31

Which of the following provides historical evidence on the basis of which Weber's Protestant ethic argument has been challenged?

A) The level of social solidarity was a major cause of capitalism.
B) Capitalism also originated in foraging societies.
C) The formation of capitalism had nothing to do with religion.
D) Capitalism and Catholicism often grew together.

Question 32

Weber remarked on how, by the end of the 1900s, the world had turned away from religious authority and towards science and other forms of rationalism. The world, he wrote, had become disenchanted. These observations formed the basis of which of the following theses?

A) the rationalization thesis
B) the demystification thesis
C) the secularization thesis
D) the profanity thesis

Question 33

What does the expression "religion is the opium of the people" mean?

A) Once people are committed to a religion, they cannot escape.
B) The satisfaction derived from participation in religion is intense.
C) The real effect of religion is due to the euphoric feeling it produces.
D) Religion calms people into accepting their fate on earth.

Question 34

Which of the following sociologists said that religion is the "opium of the people"?

A) Parsons
B) Durkheim
C) Marx
D) Weber

Question 35

Tim believes in one true God and that justice, religious observance, righteousness, and not cheating people in acts of commerce are highly important. According to the textbook, what religion does Tim subscribe to?

A) Buddhism
B) Christianity
C) Hinduism
D) Judaism

Question 36

What did Weber call the idea that people can reduce their religious doubts and be assured of a state of grace by working diligently and living simply?

A) the spirit of capitalism
B) the ethic of socialism
C) the Puritan thesis
D) the Protestant ethic

Question 37

Which sociologist, in a book called The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, stressed how religion can contribute to social change?

A) Parsons
B) Marx
C) Durkheim
D) Weber

Question 38

As material conditions improved for people living in medieval and early modern Europe, what happened to popular belief in magic, astrology, and witchcraft?

A) It increased as a means for making sense of life.
B) It was eradicated by the Inquisition.
C) It gradually lost ground as a force in people's lives.
D) It came to coexist with Christian beliefs.

Question 39

In Canadian history, who of the following is said to be the "father of socialized medicine"?

A) Tommy Douglas
B) Pierre Trudeau
C) Steven Lewis
D) Lester Pearson

Question 40

For Weber, who or what led the social changes that prompted the development of capitalism?

A) the merchant republics of Italy
B) John Calvin, leader of what became known as the Protestant ethic
C) Catholic France during its renaissance
D) Karl Marx, when he wrote the Communist Manifesto

Question 41

How do sociologists generally categorize religious groups?

A) churches, sects, or cults
B) secularized or non-secularized
C) monotheistic, polytheistic, or pantheistic
D) modern or primitive

Question 42

Once upon a time, religious bodies used to run most schools and colleges; now, mainly non-religious authorities run them. Which of the following theories purports to explain this?

A) the revised secularization thesis
B) the profanization thesis
C) the desecularization thesis
D) the theory of civil religion

Question 43

Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter, wrote, "To win the war on terrorism, one must ... set two goals: first destroy the terrorists, and second, begin a political effort that focuses on the conditions that brought about the emergence of terrorism." These words are based on a sociological understanding that fundamentalism, like any religion, is which of the following?

A) the expression of the awe of mortality
B) the routinization of religious fervour
C) powerfully influenced by the social context in which it emerges
D) the product of the sociological imagination

Question 44

Sociologists have observed the differentiation of secular institutions from religious institutions in a number of highly developed countries. Which of the following has been an effect of this new phenomenon?

A) People look to religion for moral guidance more often than they used to.
B) Many people are forced to observe a strict interpretation of their religious beliefs.
C) Religion has been made applicable only to the spiritual part of most people's lives.
D) People look less and less to religion for guidance in responding to personal dilemmas.

Question 45

Islam in Saudi Arabia, Roman Catholicism in Ireland, and Buddhism in South Korea are all examples of which of the following?

A) a sect
B) a cult
C) an ecclesia
D) a church

Question 46

Lutheran is to Hutterite as denomination is to which of the following?

A) sect
B) church
C) ecclesia
D) religion

Question 47

The example of extremist Kozo Okamoto has revealed that religious fundamentalism often provides a convenient vehicle for enhancing the appeal and legitimizing extremism. Which of the following less obvious aspects of religious fundamentalism does this example illustrate?

A) that it can serve to provide a foundation for the solidarity of political groups
B) that it is a Marxist doctrine
C) that it is an anti-Marxist doctrine
D) that the religious dimensions of fundamentalism are independent of political ideologies

Question 48

Peter Vasilevich Verigin emigrated from Russia to Canada in 1902, joining his religious community of Russian Doukhobors in Saskatchewan. He re-assumed leadership at that time and led 6000 Doukhobors west to British Columbia in 1908. What type of organization was Verigin the leader of?

A) a sect
B) a cult
C) an ecclesia
D) a church

Question 49

Christianity and Islam both demonstrate a low tolerance for other religions and both are examples of which of the following?

A) sects
B) denominations
C) ecclesia
D) cults

Question 50

Joseph and his neighbours receive a flyer advertising a community hockey game sponsored by a local church. He and the others are invited to play hockey and afterwards attend a service. What does this invitation reflect?

A) the secularization thesis
B) the revised secularization thesis
C) the market model of religion
D) the community affiliation model of religion

Question 51

During and since the 1990s, religious fundamentalist movements have become dominant political forces in many countries. Which of the following lists includes only countries where this has occurred?

A) South Africa, Bolivia, and Mexico
B) Canada, Mexico, and Denmark
C) Britain, France, and Italy
D) India, Israel, and Iran

Question 52

What is the textbook's definition of ecclesia?

A) less bureaucratic religious organizations led by a charismatic leader
B) state-supported churches with low tolerance for other religions
C) bureaucratic religious organizations that accommodate mainstream life and culture
D) pluralist institutions that tolerate different streams of belief and practice

Question 53

What is the textbook's definition of a sect?

A) a bureaucratic religious organization that accommodates mainstream life and culture
B) a less bureaucratic religious organization led by a charismatic leader
C) a pluralist institution that tolerates different streams of belief and practice
D) a state-supported church with low tolerance for other religions

Question 54

Paolo, a university student, grew up as a member of a family that attended a Christian fundamentalist church. Still committed to Christianity, he finds that the teachings and practices of his parents' particular kind of religion don't suit him, and is looking to find a church that is pluralistic, encourages diversity of opinion, and is tolerant and loving of all people. What do sociologists call this kind of subgroup of a religious tradition?

A) ecclesia
B) hybrids
C) denominations
D) parishes

Question 55

Suzanne sees herself as a spiritual person. Raised in a largely non-religious family, at the university she now attends, she became friends with a group of Buddhists, and has come to enjoy their chanting. In addition to Buddhist chanting, she also finds comfort in a number of different religious practices. Since the 1990s, sociologists have noticed that many people have adopted Suzanne's approach to religion, and now feel free and choose whichever beliefs and practices best suit them from any number of religious traditions. What is the name that has been given to the sociological explanation of this new phenomenon?

A) the profanity thesis
B) the revised secularization thesis
C) Durkheim's theory of anomie
D) Bellah's religion and capitalism

Question 56

What do sociologists call religious groups that interpret their holy writings literally, seek to establish a direct, personal relationship with their god or gods, and are quite intolerant of other religious beliefs?

A) fundamentalists
B) cultists
C) ecclesia
D) denominations

Question 57

What is the textbook's definition of a denomination?

A) a less bureaucratic religious organization led by a charismatic leader
B) a state-supported church with low tolerance for other religions
C) a bureaucratic religious organization that accommodates mainstream life and culture
D) a pluralist institution that tolerates different streams of belief and practice

Question 58

Raina has examined the history of religion in Europe and North America and noticed a trend where belief in the supernatural or religion as an explanation for phenomena was gradually replaced by science as an explanation. Which of the following concepts best summarizes Raina's observations?

A) the Protestant ethic
B) the deconstruction movement
C) religious fundamentalism
D) the secularization thesis

Question 59

What doctrine did the Catholic Church use to contest right-wing governments in Latin America?

A) the real presence
B) liberation theology
C) transubstantiation
D) free-the-masses theology

Question 60

Which of the following political views do religious fundamentalists tend to hold?

A) egalitarian
B) liberal
C) socialist
D) conservative

Question 61

Why is education often a highly contested issue?

A) because it has power to shape the future through how and what pupils are taught
B) because it teaches pupils attitudes, preferences, and behaviours in line with separatism
C) because it demonstrates how many pupils are educated to take on leadership roles in the future
D) because it sorts pupils into three political streams: conservative, liberal, and social democratic

Question 62

The loss of religion's pervasive authority over all aspects of life, the intensification of religious belief and practice, and the adoption of religion as a vehicle for political expression are all trends that show the world is which of the following?

A) increasingly diverse in religion
B) more religious than ever
C) neither more religious nor more secular, but more polarized
D) not yet evolved to the ultimate balance of religion and politics

Question 63

Members of a certain type of religious organization choose to isolate themselves from society and typically follow very specific rules about attire, diet, prayer, and contact with outsiders. What do we call these religious organizations?

A) cults
B) denominations
C) ecclesiae
D) churches

Question 64

Which of the following theorists hold the perspective that educational attainment is dependent on an individual's talents and efforts, and that schools sort students by merit?

A) symbolic interactionists
B) functionalists
C) conflict theorists
D) feminists

Question 65

Which of the following have functionalists identified as one of the functions fulfilled by education?

A) the development of community centres in neighbourhood schools
B) the provision of a convenient and secure place for children to be while their parents are at work
C) the provision of a "meet market" for postsecondary students
D) the socialization of children

Question 66

Which of the following is the largest religious group in Canada?

A) Protestant
B) Jewish
C) Muslim
D) Catholic

Question 67

Sects are often led by people who claim to be inspired by supernatural powers. What is more, the members of these sects believe that their leaders have the powers they claim. What is the term used by sociologists for this type of leadership?

A) charismatic leaders
B) humanitarians
C) gods or goddesses
D) transcendental leaders

Question 68

There are religious organizations that are characterized by the members choosing to separate themselves from society and frequently follow strictly enforced rules concerning dress, diet, prayer, and intimate contact with outsiders. What do sociologists call these organizations?

A) ecclesia
B) sects
C) denominations
D) cults

Question 69

Which of the following is more characteristic of a sect than a church?

A) Members are generally from all classes.
B) Worship is formal, removed from direct experience, and orderly.
C) Salvation is granted by God and administered by the organization.
D) Leaders and members tend to be intolerant of other religions.

Question 70

Muslim subgroups sometimes do not recognize each other as Muslim and sometimes come into violent conflict with each other. The Sunni and Shia of Iraq are examples. Which of the following would they appropriately be called?

A) denominations
B) churches
C) ecclesia
D) sects

Question 71

Countries such as Denmark that have a low level of social inequality tend to have which of the following?

A) the lowest level of church attendance
B) immigration policies that restrict those of non-mainstream religions
C) a high number of religious holidays
D) heavy involvement of religion in political affairs

Question 72

According to the textbook, to whom do sect-like groups generally appeal?

A) the immigrant minorities
B) the less affluent and marginalized
C) university and college students
D) those who are committed to their spirituality

Question 73

What type of religious organization in the United States today recruits nearly all its members from among the college-educated, and seeks converts almost exclusively on college campuses?

A) ecclesia
B) cults
C) churches
D) sects

Question 74

According to research reported in the textbook, if Alain lives in Belgium, a rich country with relatively low levels of social inequality, and Peter lives in Singapore, a rich country with relatively high levels of social inequality, which of the following is most likely to be true about Alain and Peter?

A) Alain is more likely to attend church regularly than Peter.
B) Peter is more likely to attend church regularly than Alain.
C) They probably both attend church, since people in rich countries are very likely to attend church.
D) We have no way of knowing since the research shows that inequality and wealth have no correlation with church attendance.

Question 75

Masoud is a very devout Muslim, praying five times per day, fasting during Ramadan, and making his pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. In sociological terms, what do these practices indicate?

A) his level of spirituality
B) his level of religiosity
C) his level of spiritual awareness
D) his level of activity

Question 76

What term is used for the number of years of school a person completes?

A) educational achievement
B) educational attainment
C) mass schooling
D) professionalization

Question 77

Mark has recently begun to attend the religious services of a group. He was initially put off by the number of rules that the members of the group had to follow in order to join, but kept coming back because the leader of the group exerted a powerful influence on him. She was an extraordinarily inspiring speaker. In a very short while, Peter came to be convinced that she truly understood the world, and that she even had special powers that normal people don't have. What do sociologists call this kind of religious figure?

A) sectarian
B) authoritarian
C) charismatic
D) magical

Question 78

Pierre and Philip are adult brothers who now live in different cities. Although they were both raised as devout Catholics, Pierre has become a bit disillusioned with the Catholic Church. Although he certainly still considers himself a believer, and indeed he still goes to Church, unlike his brother Philip, the strength of his belief and the intensity of his emotional commitment to his faith are not as strong as they used to be. What do sociologists call the difference in the intensity of their commitment?

A) a difference in religiosity
B) sectarian intensification
C) adult disillusionment
D) a difference in faith threshold

Question 79

What type of religious organization tends to recruit like-minded members mainly from lower classes and marginal groups, and promote worship that is highly emotional and based less on abstract principles than immediate personal experience?

A) cults
B) denominations
C) sects
D) ecclesia

Question 80

What term is used for religious organizations that form by breaking away from churches as a result of disagreements about church doctrine?

A) sects
B) ecclesia
C) cults
D) denominations