Deck 1: The Sociological Perspective

Question 1

________ believed that positivism, which is the philosophy that knowledge should be based on systematic principles, experiments, and comparisons, could solve social problems.

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

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The critical examination of society ________ social life and ________ individuals to the inconsistencies present in society.

A) obscures / blinds
B) demystifies / sensitizes
C) objectifies / alienates
D) analyzes / liberates

Answer 2

B

Question 3

________ is considered the founder of sociology.

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

Answer 3

A

Question 4

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 their nature social beings.
C) individuals are socially determined.
D) individuals create, sustain, and change the social forms within which they conduct their lives.

Question 5

All of the following support the argument that people are architects of society EXCEPT

A) social groups of all sizes and types (families, peer groups, work groups, etc.) are created by people.
B) interacting people create social structures that become sources of control over them.
C) the continuous interaction of group members act to change the group.
D) people are destined to believe and behave in particular ways.

Question 6

All of the following are recognized as problems with the sociological perspective EXCEPT

A) sociology questions myths, stereotypes, and official dogma.
B) sociology challenges what is ordinarily taken for granted.
C) sociology study is sometimes unpredictable with the behavior of the subjects.
D) sociology uses a scientific approach to study social problems.

Question 7

________ is the study of forces outside us that shape our lives.

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

Question 8

________'s 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 9

A major function of sociology is to identify the __________that affect us so greatly.

A) social facts
B) social relationships
C) social classes
D) social forces

Question 10

________ is the assumption that the social world is human-made-and therefore not sacred.

A) Human agency
B) Collective action
C) Sociological assumption
D) Individual action

Question 11

________ proposed society is held together by belief systems, deviant labels, and the division of labor.

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

Question 12

Key concepts introduced by ________ include social roles, socialization, anomie, deviant behavior, social control, and the social bond.

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

Question 13

The __________is discomforting for many people because an understanding of society's constraints is liberating.

A) psuedo scientific approach
B) unobtrusive perspective
C) sociological perspective
D) sociological imagination

Question 14

The underlying assumption of the _____________ is that things are not as they seem.

A) sociologist
B) biologist
C) psychologist
D) positivist

Question 15

________ sought to establish sociology as a science free of religious arguments.

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

Question 16

A sociological assumption is that the social world is ________ and therefore not sacred.

A) crime-ridden
B) human-made
C) non-efficient
D) non-scientific

Question 17

________ provided the functionalist rationale for sociology by emphasizing social facts, which are external factors that explain human behavior.

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

Question 18

The sociological perspective assumes that an understanding of society's constraints is ________.

A) liberating
B) obvious
C) impossible
D) irrelevant

Question 19

________ devoted his life to analyzing and criticizing the society around him, which he believed created unbearable inequality.

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

Question 20

The ________ perspective challenges taken-for-granted beliefs to the extent that very little is taken at face value and existing social arrangements are questioned.

A) sociological
B) historical
C) positivist
D) non-scientific

Question 21

Prevailing myths and stereotypes are contradicted by ________.

A) scientific evidence
B) personal observations
C) non-scientific analysis
D) common sense

Question 22

________ added to the discipline of sociology the core concepts of power, ideology, charisma, bureaucracy, and social change.

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

Question 23

According to Weber, all of the following are basic structures that shape society EXCEPT

A) the political sphere.
B) the economic sphere.
C) the private sphere.
D) the cultural sphere.

Question 24

All of the following are cited as examples of non-scientific analysis EXCEPT

A) generalizing from personal experiences.
B) making assumptions from a single case.
C) using census data as the basis for their findings.
D) using some authority such as the media or the Bible.

Question 25

________ means to be absolutely free of bias in research.

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

Question 26

________'s work reacted to economic explanations of social change, which he considered narrowly deterministic.

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

Question 27

________ 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 28

In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, which of the following theorists demonstrated how a particular type of religious thought made capitalism possible?

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

Question 29

________ data may be gathered using personal interviews or written questionnaires.

A) Observation
B) Experimental
C) Survey
D) Existing

Question 30

All of the following are examples used by Marx to illustrate inequality of structures in society EXCEPT

A) social stratification.
B) unequal distribution of resources.
C) bias of the law.
D) social solidarity.

Question 31

________ questions are those that look for trends and changes over time.

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

Question 32

________ reasoned the economic system shapes the social structures in society.

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

Question 33

Which of the following describes sociologists who are obligated to study society in a detached and dispassionate manner?

A) scientists
B) non-scientific analysts
C) human agents
D) activists

Question 34

All of the following are characteristics Marx attributed to the owners of capital EXCEPT

A) owners exploit their workers for maximum profit.
B) capitalists use their economic power to keep the less powerful in their place and to benefit unequally.
C) the capitalist class practices scientific integrity and experimental controls to increase worker satisfaction.
D) capitalists determine prevailing ideology, which creates false consciousness and oppresses the working class.

Question 35

According to Marx, the working class adopts ideologies that support the interests of dominant groups, because the workers have ________.

A) false consciousness
B) religious values
C) class consciousness
D) human agency

Question 36

According to Marx, which of the following consequences would occur when the contradictions inherent in capitalism cause the working class to form class-consciousness?

A) social change
B) social standards
C) social determinism
D) social solidarity

Question 37

All of the following are conditions that Marx argued would happen when the working class developed class-consciousness EXCEPT

A) they will recognize the source of their oppression.
B) they will recognize their class interests.
C) they will revolt against the system.
D) they will be able to stop working.

Question 38

Marx examined how the economic system of his day shaped society, which was referred to as ________.

A) capitalism
B) socialism
C) communism
D) feudalism

Question 39

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 40

________ is a set of ideas and concepts that explains a range of human behavior and events.

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

Question 41

________ 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 42

The most significant impact of parents on their children is

A) transmitting religious and political views.
B) transferring the structures and practices of society.
C) transmitting attitudes toward how others should be judged.
D) diminishing the effect of the peer group on the child.

Question 43

According to John Walton, sociology explores which of the following determinants of individual and collective behavior?

A) psychic makeup
B) biological makeup
C) chemical processes
D) interaction processes

Question 44

Which of the following refers to the term coined by Durkheim that refers to the traditions, values, and laws that allow for external explanations rather than biological or psychological explanations?

A) observations
B) social facts
C) surveys
D) experiments

Question 45

According to Peter Berger's understanding of the sociological perspective, all of the following represent the impacts of society EXCEPT

A) it controls our movements and shapes our identity.
B) it stops at the surface of our skin.
C) it bestows an identity on the person.
D) it has structures that penetrate the person's consciousness.

Question 46

________ is recognizing one's own class interests, the forms of class oppression, and understanding who one's oppressors are.

A) Positivism
B) Class consciousness
C) False consciousness
D) Sociological perspective

Question 47

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

A) experimental
B) independent
C) dependent
D) control

Question 48

In the example described above, exposure to Native American history is ________.

A) existing data
B) a dependent variable
C) an intervening variable
D) an independent variable

Question 49

________ refers to the belief that systematic observations, experiments, and comparisons can solve social problems.

A) Positivism
B) Constructionism
C) Charisma
D) Sociological theory

Question 50

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

A) population
B) variable
C) value
D) sample

Question 51

Which of the following groups refer to the subjects in an experiment not exposed to the independent variable?

A) experimental
B) treatment
C) factual
D) control

Question 52

________ refers to the idea that objectivity in research is achieved by completely eliminating bias.

A) Value neutrality
B) Rationality
C) Class consciousness
D) Common sense

Question 53

At the personal level, sociology investigates the causes and consequences of such phenomena as

A) sexism.
B) poverty.
C) identity.
D) pollution.

Question 54

Experiments are used to understand the ________ relationship among variables.

A) love-and-hate
B) cause-and-effect
C) uneasy
D) fragile

Question 55

At the societal level, sociology examines and explains

A) romantic love.
B) crime rates.
C) intercontinental war.
D) interpersonal power.

Question 56

________ is believing in ideas that are not favorable to us but rather in the best interest of the capitalist class.

A) Positivism
B) Class consciousness
C) False consciousness
D) Value neutrality

Question 57

If a social researcher selects a group of students, tests them to determine their level of prejudice against Native Americans, exposes them to Native American history, then retests them to determine whether the level of prejudice has changed, she is using which of the following strategies for collecting information?

A) survey
B) experiment
C) observation
D) existing data

Question 58

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

A) experimental
B) treatment
C) factual
D) control

Question 59

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

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

Question 60

Which of the following is an attitude, behavior, or condition that changes in magnitude and significance from case to case?

A) theory
B) variable
C) constant
D) survey

Question 61

Research and reports of research must reflect__________, not as the researcher might want it to be.

A) reality
B) experimentation
C) survey research
D) interviewing

Question 62

Although genes determine an individual's physiology and potential, the _______ determines how those characteristics will be evaluated.

A) social environment
B) person's attractiveness
C) physical environment
D) individual himself/herself

Question 63

The greater likelihood of a black girl from an affluent home with two parents to become a single teenage mother compared to her white female counterpart is due, in part, to

A) the greater willingness of whites to use abortion.
B) the higher level of poverty among blacks.
C) the lack of access to contraception.
D) the welfare system.

Question 64

The teen out-of-wedlock birthrate in the United States is

A) the lowest in the western world.
B) significantly decreasing.
C) higher in states with lower welfare benefits.
D) accelerated by welfare payments.

Question 65

All of the following are sources of data that yield valid results for sociologists EXCEPT

A) survey research.
B) experiments.
C) observation.
D) common sense.

Question 66

A fundamental problem with the sociological perspective is

A) the absence of data.
B) the need for personal opinion.
C) the difficulty in maintaining objectivity.
D) the excessive amount of theorizing.

Question 67

According to C. Wright Mills, the task of sociology is to realize that

A) social organizations are corrupt and useless.
B) group structures need to be strengthened if they are to survive.
C) individual circumstances are connected to social issues or patterns.
D) the focus needs to be on the individual and his or her problems.

Question 68

The individual's identity is largely determined by his or her social location, such as class, race, and gender.

Question 69

The "subversive" nature of sociology is referring to

A) a questioning of all social arrangements.
B) a disgust for existing government structure.
C) a tendency of human beings to be chaotic.
D) a desire to initiate discontent.

Question 70

All of the following support the assumption that groups are human-made EXCEPT

A) social forms have a momentum that defies change.
B) social organizations are imperfect.
C) the structure of society may be changed through collective action.
D) social organizations consist of passive individuals.

Question 71

All of the following represent bias in the study and analysis of social problems EXCEPT

A) choice of the research problem.
B) the selected perspective to analyze the problem.
C) the solutions proposed to resolve the problem.
D) sociologists avoid expensive research.

Question 72

The use of a single case to draw generalizations may lead to faulty generalizations because

A) the conclusions are too subjective.
B) the stereotypes are avoided.
C) the generalizations are socially determined.
D) the observation is valid but not reliable.

Question 73

Humans' capability to pursue collective action is evidence that humans are social beings.

Question 74

In regard to welfare, government handouts to the poor

A) are significantly greater than the amounts given to the nonpoor.
B) are significantly less than the amounts given to the nonpoor.
C) are encouraging unmarried women to increase their welfare payments by having more children.
D) are an ineffective use of government money.

Question 75

A person's beliefs about what is right or wrong, important or unimportant, beautiful or ugly are strictly a matter of his or her individual decision or preference.

Question 76

Which of the following ways of analyzing social life may lead to faulty generalizations about social phenomena?

A) using conventional wisdom
B) using census tract data
C) using experiment results
D) using a random sample

Question 77

Non-scientific analysis is the sociological way of perceiving and interpreting the social world.

Question 78

All of the following refer to displays of scientific integrity EXCEPT

A) the avoidance of relying on the authority of powerful people.
B) the obligation to report research findings.
C) reliance on undocumented sources.
D) embracing standards of reliability and validity in research.

Question 79

Sociology is the science of society and social behavior.

Question 80

According to Howard Becker, it is impossible to do research

A) uncontaminated by personal and political sympathies.
B) critical of existing social arrangements.
C) requiring existing statistics.
D) involving the use of surveys.