Deck 1: The Sociological Perspective

Question 1

While a person's genes determine his or her individual physiology and potential, which of the following determines how those characteristics will be evaluated?

A) Social environment
B) Person's attractiveness
C) Physical environment
D) Individual's self-determination

Answer 1

Social environment

Question 2

After the upheaval of events like the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution, people began to believe that

A) religious dogma was the only safety.
B) human beings could solve their social problems.
C) royalty should be obeyed.
D) society could not truly be analyzed rationally.

Answer 2

human beings could solve their social problems.

Question 3

Emile Durkheim provided the rationale for sociology by emphasizing social facts, which are

A) individual experiences.
B) social factors external to the individual.
C) belief systems that bind people together.
D) shared traditions that conflict with individual beliefs.

Answer 3

social factors external to the individual.

Question 4

According to Mills, sociological imagination is stimulated by the ability to view the social world

A) as the product of millennia of research and planning.
B) as inherently sacred.
C) as a zero-sum game.
D) from the perspective of others.

Question 5

Auguste Comte's first name for sociology was _____, which reflected his desire to establish the field as a science, free of religious arguments.

A) social positivism
B) societal athiesm
C) scientific socialism
D) social physics

Question 6

The most significant impact parents can have on their children is by acting as

A) social instructors, teaching religious and political views.
B) cultural agents, passing on the ways of society.
C) cultural watchdogs, transmitting attitudes about how others should be judged.
D) societal boundaries, diminishing the effect of the peer group on the child.

Question 7

One implication of the belief that people create their own societies, which then influence and control them, is that

A) social organizations are imperfect.
B) the ways of other societies should not be questioned.
C) positivist role models are important in any society.
D) non-scientific ways of thinking are as important as scientific ones.

Question 8

Sociological imagination lets us see that the solution to social problems involves a willingness to

A) change individuals directly, rather than change the structure of society.
B) become our best selves, within the context of our society.
C) change the structure of society rather than change people.
D) build the best society by changing the individuals within it.

Question 9

The insights of sociology are important because they

A) can be used to ensure that people comply with societal expectations.
B) explain everything about human nature.
C) help us understand why we behave the way we do.
D) can be used to ensure correct political and social phenomena.

Question 10

The capability of human beings to pursue collective action is evidence of which sociological assumption?

A) Individuals are by nature social beings.
B) Individuals are for the most part socially determined.
C) Individuals create, sustain, and change the social forms within which they conduct their lives.
D) Individuals have sociological imaginations.

Question 11

_____ is the scholarly discipline concerned with the systematic study of human society.

A) Biology
B) Psychology
C) Positivism
D) Sociology

Question 12

._____ refers to the fact that individuals actively shape social life by adapting to, negotiating with, and changing social structures.

A) Sociological imagination
B) Human agency
C) Social determinism
D) Value neutrality

Question 13

Durkheim was interested in _____, the way societies are held together by belief systems, deviant labels, and the division of labor.

A) positivism
B) class conciousness
C) class integration
D) social integration

Question 14

Sociology emerged in Western Europe in the _____ century during the period known as the Enlightment or the Age of Reason.

A) early 17th
B) late 17th
C) early 18th
D) late 18th

Question 15

All of the following are key assumptions of the sociological perspective EXCEPT

A) individuals' psyches are the source of human behavior.
B) individuals are by nature social beings.
C) individuals are socially determined.
D) individuals create, sustain, and change the social forms within which they conduct their lives.

Question 16

_____ is the Enlightenment philosophy that states knowledge should be based on systematic principles, experiments, and comparison.

A) Social physics
B) Social determinism
C) Positivism
D) Value neutrality

Question 17

_____ is considered the founder of sociology, and coined the term "sociology."

A) Auguste Comte
B) Emile Durkheim
C) Karl Marx
D) Max Weber

Question 18

._____ is the assumption that human behavior is explained exclusively by social factors.

A) Positivism
B) Social determinism
C) Value neutrality
D) Sociological imagination

Question 19

One reason for the sociological assumption that individuals are social beings is the

A) biological impulse of human beings.
B) total dependence of human infants on others for survival.
C) historical tendency of people to be in conflict with each other.
D) inability of people to become part of social groups.

Question 20

Whose classic study of suicide (1897) demonstrates how social factors explain individual behavior?

A) Auguste Comte
B) Karl Marx
C) Emile Durkheim
D) Max Weber

Question 21

Which of the following is something that can be changed, such as a characteristic, value, or belief?

A) Theory
B) Variable
C) Constant
D) Survey

Question 22

When a sociologist gathers data on a particular group of people, such as current statistics on income, housing, or education, she must ask which type of questions?

A) Factual
B) Comparative
C) Historical
D) Theoretical

Question 23

The term _____ refers to a set of ideas that explains a range of human behavior and a variety of social and societal events.

A) historical account
B) sociological theory
C) non-scientific analysis
D) positivist approach

Question 24

The control group is defined as

A) research subjects who are exposed to the independent variable.
B) research subjects who are not exposed to the independent variable.
C) the researchers who are in control of the experiment
D) the government agency to which the experimental results must be reported.

Question 25

The independent variable is the one that

A) is influenced by another variable.
B) may influence another variable.
C) is not included in the experiment.
D) applies only to the control group.

Question 26

According to Marx, the working class often exhibits _____, meaning they adopt ideologies that support the interests of the capitalist class of owners rather than their own interests.

A) false consciousness
B) altruism
C) class consciousness
D) human agency

Question 27

A sociologist who is studying the differences between two societies is likely to ask which kind of questions?

A) Factual
Generalizing from personal experiences.
B) Comparative
Making assumptions from a single case.
C) Historical
Using census data as the basis for their findings.
D) Theoretical
Using some authority such as the media or the Bible.

Question 28

Class consciousness, according to Marx, occurs when the working class

A) recognizes their class interests and common oppression, and who their oppressors are.
B) believes in ideas that are not in their own best interest but in the interest of the capitalist class.
C) understands social factors that exist external to individuals.
D) bases their knowledge on systematic observation, experiment, and comparison.

Question 29

Which type of questions look for trends and changes within a society over time?

A) Factual
B) Comparative
C) Historical
D) Theoretical

Question 30

The goal of nonparticipant observation as a research tool is to

A) fully understand a society's behavior by becoming a part of the group.
B) maintain a superior distance in order to judge the society accurately.
C) observe events and social interactions in their natural environment.
D) effect social change from within the society being studied.

Question 31

Which of the following variables is influenced by changes in another variable?

A) Experimental
B) Independent
C) Dependent
D) Control

Question 32

Sociological research depends on reliable scientific data and

A) empathy toward other people.
B) logical reasoning.
C) social change.
D) a charismatic personality.

Question 33

A sociologist who wants to track changes within a particular group of people over time would be likely to use which type of research instrument?

A) Control group
B) Latitude questionnaire
C) Random sample
D) Longitudinal survey

Question 34

Who wrote The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, which demonstrates how the Protestant belief system made capitalism possible?

A) Auguste Comte
B) Max Weber
C) Karl Marx
D) Emile Durkheim

Question 35

Which of the following research methods would a sociologist use to gather data by means of personal interviews or written questionnaires?

A) Observation
B) Experiment
C) Survey
D) Existing data

Question 36

Which of the following refers to a subset of the group to be studied?

A) Population
B) Variable
C) Value
D) Sample

Question 37

To study a religious group, a sociologist might join the group and take part in ceremonies while studying their beliefs. This would be an example of which kind of research?

A) Survey research
B) Indirect experiments
C) Experimental observation
D) Participant observation

Question 38

Which of the following groups consist of subjects exposed to the independent variable?

A) Experimental
B) Treatment
C) Factual
D) Control

Question 39

Which of the following three spheres did Max Weber believe form the basic structure of society?

A) Cultural, political, and familial
B) Economic, cultural, and personal
C) Political, economic, and cultural
D) Political, economic, and organizational

Question 40

Which of the following believed that a society's economic structure shapes its social structures?

A) Auguste Comte
B) Karl Marx
C) Emile Durkheim
D) Max Weber

Question 41

Which of the following describes the task of sociologists to recognize bias so that it does not invalidate their findings?

A) Scientific integrity
B) Sociological theory
C) Non-scientific analysis
D) Positivism

Question 42

A fundamental problem with sociology is that

A) there is only one right answer to any question.
B) all outcomes have already been accurately predicted.
C) people do not always act the way we expect them to.
D) sociologists tend to theorize without data.

Question 43

If a social researcher studying the condition of Native Americans contacts the government and social service agencies for statistics about the various communities being studied, he is taking advantage of

A) existing prejudices.
B) experimental results.
C) participant observation.
D) existing data.

Question 44

Which of the following represents the underlying assumption of the sociologist?

A) Things are not as they seem.
B) Human behavior is individually determined.
C) Prediction is always possible, with the right data.
D)
Society must be fundamentally changed.

Question 45

Which of the following is the kind of question that sociologists ask and that might make people uncomfortable?

A) How many people live in this community?
B) How many children are in each grade in this school?
C) Who benefits under the existing social arrangements, and who does not?
D) How many people should be included in the sample size to obtain reliable results?

Question 46

What is defined as being absolutely free of bias in research?

A) False consciousness
B) Value neutrality
C) Non-scientific analysis
D) Human agency

Question 47

Sociology can be seen as subversive because it

A) questions all social arrangements.
B) seeks to overthrow existing government structures.
C) represents a tendency of human beings to be chaotic.
D) represents a desire to initiate discontent.