Deck 1: What Is Sociology

Question 1

When cultures come into contact with each other:

A)A shared understanding of difference results only in worldly appreciation
B)Parochial movements such as the ethnocentric 'One Nation' always result
C)Global in-mixing results in the world becoming a single homogeneous entity
D)Commonsense notions of culture tied exclusively to ethnicity become problematised

Answer 1

D

Question 2

In short paragraphs,cite at least five reasons that sociologists should seek to constantly question their own assumptions when considering the social world.

Answer 2

Student response could include: the changing nature of society; the changing nature of people; the theoretical perspective the researcher applies; the researcher's natural biases; and the influence of history.

Question 3

The critical domain of the sociological imagination requires us to continuously check between the theories we are using and which of the following?

A)Meanings,events,processes and structures in the social world
B)What people say or think about an event that has already happened
C)The history of capitalism in Europe
D)The political and economic structures of society

Answer 3

A

Question 4

What does investigating human societies as a whole help us to understand?

A)How societies are researched
B)How we might differ from other human societies
C)The concepts of class and gender
D)The methodologies of social sciences

Question 5

Which of the following is not one of Anthony Giddens' three kinds of sociological imagination that enrich our understanding of social structure?

A)Historical
B)Religious
C)Critical
D)Cultural

Question 6

What are the four areas of interest in sociology?

A)Macro,micro,tradition,and change
B)Systemic,individual,their interrelationship,and societal change
C)Systemic,individual,research,and issues
D)Gender,class,race,and ethnicity

Question 7

Briefly brainstorm a list of the ways that sociology,anthropology and psychology are similar and different as disciplinary approaches.

Question 8

The history of European nations such as Britain and France establishing colonies around the world helps explain inequality for the marker of ___________.

A)Race
B)Class
C)Gender
D)Age

Question 9

All of the following descriptions of the discipline of sociology are correct EXCEPT:

A)Contemporary sociologists aim to avoid being part of the objects they study and advocate scientific neutrality
B)C)Wright Mills' sociological imagination argues that how objects appear depends on the perspective of the observer
C)Reflexivity refers to the concept and practice of researchers working to minimise their own subjective biases
D)Contemporary sociologists no longer perceive humans as objects in the same way as Auguste Comte's positivist perspective

Question 10

Why are both the macro and the micro experiences of society important in sociology?

A)Personal experiences are shaped at the micro level
B)The macro features of society determine social experience
C)Big and small issues are important in sociology
D)Systems characterise broad features of society that impact on individuals differently

Question 11

Which of the following best describes the impact of cultural globalisation on language?

A)The number of languages is increasing,with more technical terms than ever before
B)The number of languages globally is declining,and predicted to continue to decline with English being the dominant language
C)The number of languages has remained stable,with some minority cultures using new technologies to record previously undocumented languages
D)The number of languages globally is declining,and is predicted to remain stable,with Spanish being the dominant language

Question 12

Michel Foucault:

A)Understood historical discourses as a means for understanding the present
B)Showed how past societies maintain the status quo reproducing its social conditions
C)Argued that the sociological imagination is distinct from the historical domain
D)Proposed that the purpose of history is to socially analyse the past

Question 13

Which sociologist proposes the unique methodological approach of using the 'sociological imagination'?

A)C)Wright Mills
B)Auguste Comte
C)Max Weber
D)Anthony Giddens

Question 14

Choose one example of a social issue,such as unemployment,and consider in what ways it can be understood according to the sociological imagination.

Question 15

Thinking about capitalism as a systemic social formation explains ____________ inequalities.

A)Gender
B)Ethnicity
C)Class
D)Sexual orientation

Question 16

What does investigating the nature of inequality in our society help us to understand?

A)The proportion of income for each person
B)What makes people walk to work
C)The arbitrary differences in society
D)The divisions that influence social power

Question 17

In less than 500 words,describe an example from your own experience where systemic concepts of race,gender,class or sexuality have produced inequality.

Question 18

Make a list of the markers of division that influence equality in human societies and explain how each impacts on your power in Australian society.

Question 19

Choose an example of a minority culture or a subculture to explore which dominant ideology it runs counter to.State clearly in what ways this occurs,considering sociological factors such as age,gender,socioeconomic status and so on,in order to develop a detailed understanding.

Question 20

The markers of: class; gender; race; ethnicity,age and sexuality are important in gaining a general sociological understanding of which of the following?

A)Power and inequality
B)Colonialism and imperialism
C)Work and unemployment
D)The micro and the macro

Question 21

What does Pierre Bourdieu argue is the starting point for understanding social life?

A)Structure
B)Agency
C)Practice
D)Bureaucracy

Question 22

In what ways does sociology influence policy and social reform?

A)The certainty that underpins sociological research
B)Empirical knowledge of society
C)Using the imagination to study society
D)Researching society from different political perspectives

Question 23

'Understanding this complexification of the life-world has become an urgent task' .Discuss.

Question 24

The management of social issues by identifying dysfunction and improving social services is known as an _________________ approach to sociology.

A)Active
B)Empirical
C)Instrumental
D)Imaginative

Question 25

Which of the following is not one of the four kinds of sociological imagination?

A)Political
B)Critical
C)Anthropological
D)Comparative