Deck 11: The Uses of the Constructionist Stance

Question 1

The one thing all social problems have in common,as argued in your text,is that

A)they harm society in some way.
B)they harm individuals in some way.
C)people define them as troubling.
D)someone has recognized the damage they do.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

It is argued in your text that most conversations about social problems

A)involve people who do not know anything about the true causes of the problems.
B)focus on problems that do not have a significant impact on society.
C)assume that problems exist as objective facts.
D)result in conflict and no resolution.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The negotiation of guilty pleas is an example of

A)using a routine to deal with a heavy caseload.
B)efforts to counteract unpopular legislation by finding ways around it.
C)social problems workers who react to low wages by seeking shortcuts.
D)efforts by social problems workers to reclaim power in the face of greater institutional regulation.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The creation and implementation of laws is an area of policymaking where the public tends to

A)have a great deal of knowledge.
B)have little knowledge.
C)know a great deal about a few high-profile cases but little about the large number of less-visible but important actions.
D)know about the important issues but does not follow smaller,less-visible actions.

Question 5

The social problems process tends to be

A)slow and characterized by constant construction and reconstruction.
B)slow and characterized by fairly stable constructions.
C)fast and characterized by constant construction and reconstruction.
D)fast and characterized by fairly stable constructions.

Question 6

It is argued in your text that the book has something unique to offer in that

A)it helps you understand the causes of social problems.
B)it is organized as a series of chapters to summarize information about a problem.
C)it gives you tools that are applicable to helping you understand any problem.
D)other books focus too much on abstract theoretical problems.

Question 7

When subjects critique social policy,they are particularly likely to use __________ as part of their claims.

A)evidence of organizational activity
B)critiques of academic research
C)anecdotal evidence
D)comparisons to other troubling conditions

Question 8

Contemporary legends about malls often remind us that

A)consumerism is bad for us.
B)we should not trust strangers even in seemingly safe circumstances.
C)globalization is making products less safe.
D)the world is becoming less safe over time.

Question 9

__________ can engage in policymaking.

A)Only those with legal authority such as legislators or courts
B)Any person or entity that can establish rules that govern others
C)Only those who have the power to coerce others
D)Any group affiliated with federal,state,or local government

Question 10

The focus of social problems work differs from that of social problems claimsmaking or policymaking in that it tends to be

A)more objective because it involves real people.
B)slower because it requires more activity.
C)narrower because it focuses on practical problems.
D)more difficult because it involves more people.

Question 11

It is argued in your text that fictionalized accounts of social problems work tend to make

A)it seem more difficult than it is.
B)it seem more straightforward and effective than it is.
C)the public more aware of the realities of such work.
D)it seem more complicated than it is.

Question 12

Constructing behaviors that we witness in our personal lives as part of a larger troubling condition is

A)easy because we have such familiarity with people in our immediate environment.
B)dangerous because we tend to stereotype and label people.
C)difficult because we think of people we know as unique individuals rather than part of a larger system.
D)difficult because we are often reluctant to admit that people we know have problems.

Question 13

Each effort to construct a problem must

A)serve the purposes of the person or people creating it.
B)offer a clear and accurate depiction of the situation.
C)be convincing.
D)be one of the six stages discussed in your text.

Question 14

A constructionist approach encourages us to __________ when we see social problems claims.

A)assume that we are being manipulated
B)ask critical questions
C)focus on the opinions of subjects and social problems workers
D)turn to expert claimsmakers first

Question 15

Most legislative reform emerges

A)quickly,in response to one or two high-profile situations.
B)quickly,after advocates catch the attention of the right policymakers.
C)slowly,as a series of incremental legal steps toward change.
D)slowly,as policymakers debate the specific details of one large legal move toward change.

Question 16

The use of a term such as social issues instead of the term social problems would

A)make the condition seem less serious.
B)draw attention away from the causes of the condition.
C)highlight the fact that there is debate surrounding the condition.
D)imply that there is a solution.

Question 17

When it is argued in your text that we must remember the importance of feedback in the social problems process,it means that

A)it is important to ask claimsmakers to explain what they are doing and why if we are to truly understand the construction process.
B)at every stage in the process,reactions to the construction can reshape the way the problem is being constructed.
C)subjects need to have a voice in how problems are constructed.
D)sometimes a construction is so unpopular that it will never make it through the entire process.

Question 18

In the modern world,the relationship between private foundations and the federal government typically involves foundations

A)testing social programs that might later be adopted by the government.
B)operating independently of the government on the basis of the theory that private groups can provide services more effectively.
C)making policy recommendations to the government.
D)relying on the government to make policy recommendations.

Question 19

Understanding the stages in the social problems process is helpful because it allows us to see how

A)some parts of the process operate and reminds us to think about their relationships to one another.
B)construction moves in a linear fashion through each of the stages in a consistent order.
C)each stage is distinct and unchanged by what occurs at other stages.
D)actors at the various stages are isolated from one another.

Question 20

Noting that answering a survey is a social situation reminds us that

A)respondents are likely to be distracted and not think carefully about their answers.
B)respondents might answer on the basis of how they think the researcher wants them to respond.
C)it is important to make the research atmosphere pleasant.
D)having too much diversity can make people feel shy or intimidated.

Question 21

The impact of claimsmaking on the public's perceptions is typically measured using

A)in-depth interviews with leaders.
B)media analysis.
C)public opinion polls.
D)counts of who votes for politicians with particular views.

Question 22

A master frame is

A)the frame that is at the center of a movement.
B)an overarching orientation that is easily adapted to help in framing many different issues.
C)the most dominant claim in any given era.
D)a claim that is so powerfully persuasive that countermovements almost always fail.

Question 23

Which of the following is a position issue?

A)debate over designating a state flower for your state
B)child abuse
C)abortion
D)drunk driving

Question 24

The objectivist definition of harm can be criticized for being

A)so narrow that it excludes many conditions that may really be problems.
B)so broad that it is vague to the point of losing its meaning.
C)so detailed that it is difficult for anyone but experts to understand.
D)so grounded in the social sciences that it cannot be applied to hard science phenomena.

Question 25

When it comes to making claims about immigration,the French media tend to emphasize __________ while the U.S.media tend to emphasize __________.

A)economic issues;cultural issues
B)economic issues;political issues
C)political issues;international issues
D)cultural issues;economic issues

Question 26

Biomedicalization focuses on the

A)large number of human problems caused by infectious disease.
B)potential to trace to genetics many problem behaviors.
C)negative impact of medicalization on our ability to solve social problems.
D)importance of studying biological disorders.

Question 27

The natural history model presented in your text represents the process through which

A)a typical social problems campaign moves.
B)a successful social problems campaign goes.
C)less successful social problems campaigns move.
D)the media attempt to force social problems campaigns to move.

Question 28

Claimsmakers tend to __________ the history of the social condition with which they are concerned.

A)emphasize
B)alter
C)deemphasize
D)misunderstand

Question 29

The polity consists of

A)the group of politicians with the most power.
B)groups in a society with whose interests policymakers are typically concerned.
C)claimsmakers who try to influence political parties.
D)claimsmakers who try to predict the claims to which politicians are likely to respond.

Question 30

Frame amplification relies on __________ to draw supporters.

A)the power of widely held values or beliefs
B)extensive media coverage
C)celebrity endorsements
D)word of mouth
E)all of the above

Question 31

Saying that something is socially constructed means that it is

A)not real.
B)only real because a group of people created it.
C)real only to those who have had experience with it.
D)shaped by people's definitions and understandings of it.

Question 32

Typifying examples are usually

A)examples that attempt to familiarize an audience with the range of manifestations of the problem,from the most extreme to the most mild.
B)extreme examples that try to catch the attention of the audience.
C)examples of the typical occurrence of the problem.
D)examples of what the beginning of a problem usually looks like.

Question 33

The people who promote innovations as part of the process of transmission are called

A)adopters.
B)transmitters.
C)innovators.
D)entrepreneurs.

Question 34

The need to mobilize resources tends to make organizations within the same social movement

A)competitors for scarce resources.
B)natural allies.
C)difficult to tell apart.
D)all of the above

Question 35

The term feedback is used to refer to

A)the fact that each social problem influences the process through which other social problems will progress.
B)the fact that each stage in the social problems process influences the stages both before and after it.
C)the relationship between claimsmakers who are making claims about the same social problem.
D)the way in which social problems workers can disrupt the social problems process by discrediting the claims made by experts.

Question 36

Research questions and answers are typically the most clear-cut in the

A)physical sciences.
B)biological sciences.
C)social sciences.
D)health sciences.

Question 37

Which is not one of the six stages in the natural history model of the social problems process?

A)social problems work
B)media coverage
C)research confirmation
D)policy outcomes

Question 38

Experts are among the most influential claimsmakers because they

A)have political connections that help them gain attention for their claims.
B)are thought to have special knowledge that qualifies them to interpret problems.
C)are favored by the media due to their ability to present claims in an interesting way.
D)know how to effectively organize social movements.
E)all of the above

Question 39

Saying that claims tend to take standard forms means that

A)within a given culture,most claims will tend to have similar elements.
B)within a given culture,there are often rules regarding who can make claims.
C)across all cultures,claims tend to have similar elements.
D)all humans seem to respond to certain types of claims.

Question 40

The motivational frame is also known as

A)naming the problem.
B)warrants.
C)grounds.
D)a typifying example.

Question 41

Think tanks are

A)specialized programs within universities that focus on researching specific social issues.
B)groups of scientists who work together to solve a particular problem.
C)organizations created to provide expertise that will influence others.
D)organizations created to offer objective scientific research to policymakers.

Question 42

How does the knowledge that social problems construction is an interactive process shape the way we should think about the natural history of the social problems model?

Question 43

What is a social constructionist approach useful for,and what are its limitations?

Question 44

Audience segmentation has led to

A)more news programs that target specific audiences.
B)fewer advertising dollars being spent on news programs.
C)audiences that are not loyal to one particular news outlet.
D)more news programs that focus on entertainment rather than on education.

Question 45

When the media engage in agenda setting,they are guided or constrained by

A)the resources available to them.
B)the objective magnitude of events occurring in the world.
C)public officials.
D)all of the above

Question 46

What does it mean to say that social problems are subjective? Do most people who discuss social problems talk about them as subjective? Why or why not?

Question 47

When the media act as primary claimsmakers,the claims tend to be short-lived because

A)the public does not trust the media as much as experts.
B)the media tend to overexpose the issue.
C)the media quickly move on to a fresh topic.
D)claims made by the media often end up being proven false.

Question 48

What does your text mean when it says that social problems are looked at as a process rather than as social conditions?

Question 49

Secondary claims are typically __________ than primary ones.

A)shorter
B)more dramatic
C)less ideological
D)all of the above

Question 50

The term newshole refers to the

A)space or time available to present news.
B)tendency for a great deal of the stories reported on to be ignored.
C)section of the news to which people pay attention.
D)time period in which people pay attention to a given claim.