Deck 6: Groups, Networks, and Organizations

Question 1

Pierre is a sociology student researching gender and job searching. Based on sociological research, he expects to find that women's networks are __________ than men's.

A) weaker
B) more familial
C) more consistent
D) more social

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Based on the findings from the Stanley Milgram obedience study, what would sociologists predict about people's relationship to authority?

A) People will follow an authority figure's orders regardless of the pain they might be inflicting on others.
B) People will organize and establish their own rules, eliminating the expert.
C) People will establish relationships among themselves, creating an in-group and an out-group.
D) No one will obey orders that have negative consequences for other people.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Based on the results of Solomon Asch's experiment, what would sociologists predict about human behavior? The Asch Task
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A) Primary groups are the most influential groups in our lives.
B) People hesitated before speaking out against group conformity.
C) Many people are willing to discount their own perceptions rather than go against group consensus.
D) When a person answered last, that person did not feel the need to conform or bow to group pressure.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following is an example of a primary group?

A) everyone shopping at a grocery store on a given day
B) the entire group of Walmart employees
C) U.S. citizens
D) a high school girl's clique

Question 5

Which of the following is a social aggregate?

A) a couple who have been living together for less than one year
B) middle-class Asian American women
C) people waiting at Terminal C for Flight 181
D) your family

Question 6

Dr. Patel wants to study the smallest social group, so she develops a study based on:

A) individuals
B) dyads
C) triads
D) families

Question 7

You might want to be part of a secondary group to:

A) accomplish a specific goal, such as graduating from college
B) have a sense of closeness and camaraderie
C) associate with people who care about you and your future
D) experience intimacy

Question 8

Based on Stanley Milgram's study of authority and obedience, what would sociologists predict about the behavior of ordinary people in extraordinary situations? In general, people will:

A) conform to the expectations that they have for themselves
B) resist authority
C) obey those in positions of power
D) exclude others

Question 9

At Jaime's high school, the "jocks" made fun of the drama club members. This increased the bonding and sense of loyalty among the jocks; therefore, we could consider the jocks a(n):

A) out-group
B) in-group
C) dyad
D) social aggregate

Question 10

When three best friends-José, Martin, and George-get together every Friday night, José usually decides what the group will do. However, one night when José said he wanted to go bowling, Martin and George told José that they had decided the group was going to the movies. Martin and George have formed a:

A) transformative leadership
B) negative alliance
C) dyad coalition
D) revolutionary coalition

Question 11

The rich and varied group life of societies reflects:

A) how we conform to the wishes of transformative leaders
B) our need to congregate and belong
C) how we resist governments
D) our natural tendency to exclude others

Question 12

A sociologist studies group formation among first-graders. He studies Mr. Hartman's classroom, which is next door to Ms. Alexander's classroom. The sociologist notices the presence of an out-group when Mr. Hartman's first-graders say:

A) "We're the smartest students!"
B) "First-graders rule!"
C) "Mr. Hartman is the best teacher!"
D) "Ms. Alexander's students are the worst!"

Question 13

The most important reason why dyads are fragile social groups is because:

A) if one person leaves, the group disappears
B) one member can brainwash another
C) they keep individuals from forming other relationships
D) the relationships are too intense

Question 14

As people in modern societies, what do we depend on to take care of everything from how we are born, to our daily supply of running water, and even to the way we die?

A) nature
B) organizations
C) the spiritual world
D) tradition

Question 15

Reference groups provide us with:

A) the ability to be concerned with accomplishing a task
B) the strict conformity to rigid organizational structures
C) the impersonal anonymity of modern life
D) a standard for judging one's attitudes and behaviors

Question 16

Which of the following is a social group?

A) members of a local ski club
B) everyone in your sociology class who has brown hair
C) people waiting at Terminal C for Flight 181
D) passengers on Flight 181

Question 17

When studying social groups, sociologists expect to see that:

A) larger groups are more intimate than small groups because everyone must look after everyone else
B) larger groups are less intimate than small groups but more stable
C) dyads are the most stable and enduring of all social groups
D) triads are more intimate than dyads because members are working to keep the group together

Question 18

What happens to group dynamics as the number of people in the group increases?

A) The possible number of relationships increases.
B) The stability of the group tends to decrease.
C) People tend to favor triads over dyads.
D) A hierarchy tends to emerge.

Question 19

A large group of people that engages in concerted collective actions to achieve specific objectives is called a(n):

A) oligarchy
B) organization
C) primary group
D) peer group

Question 20

People sharing a common characteristic-such as gender, occupation, or ethnicity-but not necessarily interacting with each other or in the same location are called a social:

A) triad
B) group
C) aggregate
D) category

Question 21

Information about our lives is gathered by all types of organizations. This might be called a ________ society.

A) Big Brother
B) surveillance
C) social network
D) bureaucratic

Question 22

The music market study conducted by Matthew Salganik, Peter Dodds, and Duncan Watts demonstrated that group influence shapes:

A) how we think about others' musical choices
B) our personal taste and decisions regarding music
C) how music companies limit our music choices
D) how the Internet has hurt small bands

Question 23

According to Michel Foucault, organizations "efficiently distribute bodies" and activities through the use of:

A) bureaucratic organization
B) timetables
C) the clan model
D) the hierarchy of authority

Question 24

In research by John Meyer and Brian Rowan, what aspects of a bureaucracy were often found to be ceremonial or ritual, serving mainly to justify the way things are really done?

A) formal procedures
B) informal procedures
C) the work of low-level employees
D) office gossip

Question 25

According to Max Weber, all large organizations tend to be:

A) bureaucracies
B) large collections of dyads
C) in-groups
D) social aggregates

Question 26

If Michel Foucault were to observe this workplace interaction, he would say that the person with the clipboard is ____________ the assembly line worker. [img]

A) bureaucratizing
B) supervising
C) controlling
D) surveilling

Question 27

Suki is planning a study of food deserts. Where will she most likely find good places to research?

A) rural neighborhoods, where people are more likely to favor sweet foods
B) big cities, since it takes longer to commute to the grocery store
C) poor, inner-city neighborhoods, which tend to have fewer grocery stores and health food outlets
D) affluent suburbs, where residents think grocery stores threaten the aesthetic of the neighborhood

Question 28

In Max Weber's view, why did bureaucracies develop in the modern world?

A) because monarchies could no longer control populations
B) because they are the best way to administer large social systems
C) to weaken agriculture-based economies
D) because as the population grew, primary groups could not sustain themselves

Question 29

Regarding bureaucracies, Max Weber concluded that the closer they were to the ideal type, the more they would become:

A) ineffective in achieving their objectives
B) effective in achieving their objectives
C) loose and informal
D) cruel to their members

Question 30

Michel Foucault showed that the physical architecture occupied by an organization reflects its:

A) openness to outsiders
B) degree of friendliness
C) system of authority
D) willingness to change

Question 31

According to Weber's analysis of organizations, the relations between people as stated in the rules of an organization are:

A) formal
B) bureaucratic
C) small-group
D) informal

Question 32

If you were trying to remedy the "digital divide," you might:

A) fund a program that would bring Internet access to a community that lacks it
B) teach older people how to use the Internet effectively
C) offer a conflict resolution seminar to people who have broken relationships because of their online behavior
D) encourage multilingualism so more people can communicate with each other online

Question 33

Luigi is a sociology student who has read Max Weber's theories of organizations, and accordingly, Luigi pictures bureaucracies as:

A) machines operating according to rational rules
B) organisms responding to evolutionary pressures
C) social aggregates operating in response to strong leadership
D) two hands clasping each other out of affection

Question 34

Ursula is a college student studying how McDonaldization is present on her campus. She identifies McDonaldization as present in:

A) the efficient, depersonalized, electronic class registration process
B) her social clique's desire to dress similarly to one another
C) the unhealthy foods served in the college café
D) students' use of slang and casual language in college papers

Question 35

According to Michel Foucault, timetables:

A) efficiently distribute paychecks
B) regulate activities across space and time
C) allow workers to organize against their managers
D) allow managers to monitor the behavior of employees when they are not working

Question 36

The "McDonaldization" of society refers to the:

A) obesity epidemic in American society
B) growing scale of bureaucratic organization as a means of controlling society
C) increased uniformity and rationality of society due to fast-food-restaurant operating principles
D) phenomenal success of McDonald's restaurants as a model for bureaucracies and governmental organizations

Question 37

An employee submits a request for her light to be repaired, and her request spends two years in committee process. Meanwhile, her light still doesn't work. According to Peter Blau's research, what is this employee likely to do?

A) leave the organization
B) continue to wait
C) ask a friendly colleague to help her fix the light
D) submit a protest about the process and eventually reform the system

Question 38

The word bureaucracy, as coined by de Gournay, literally means:

A) alienation of workers
B) the rule of officials
C) rule by the few
D) architecture and furniture

Question 39

Recent sociological studies on the relationship between social networks and health outcomes such as obesity demonstrate that:

A) people develop their ideas about acceptable behavior by looking at those in their social networks
B) health outcomes such as obesity are purely biological
C) health outcomes such as obesity are purely social
D) people develop their ideas about what is acceptable behavior from television

Question 40

The first systematic interpretation of modern organizations was developed by:

A) Émile Durkheim
B) Karl Marx
C) Max Weber
D) Michel Foucault

Question 41

MATCHING
a. A simple collection of people who happen to be together in a particular place but do not significantly interact or identify with one another
b. Sets of informal and formal social ties that link people to each other
c. Groups that are characterized by intense emotional ties: face-to-face interaction; intimacy; and a strong, enduring sense of commitment
d. A collection of people who regularly interact with one another on the basis of shared expectations concerning behavior and who share a sense of common identity
e. People who share a common characteristic (such as gender or occupation) but do not necessarily interact or identify with one another
f. Groups characterized by large size and by impersonal, fleeting relationships
Social aggregate

Question 42

Name one way that the influence of organizations over our lives today is not entirely beneficial. Explain your answer in one or two sentences.

Question 43

What powerful force today is changing the face of many organizations, enabling them to avoid layoffs by allowing workers to telecommute or work from home as independent contractors?

A) information technology
B) bureaucracy
C) surveillance
D) decentralization

Question 44

What is disintegrating in the globalized economy according to Manuel Castells?

A) traditional bureaucracy
B) networks
C) large corporations
D) social relationships

Question 45

Strategic alliances formed among the largest corporations for the purposes of planning production and managing problems are known as:

A) network enterprises
B) enterprise webs
C) the World Wide Web
D) corporate socialism

Question 46

Stanley Milgram's research on conforming to authority and group consensus was prompted by the predominant philosophical question concerning Nazi Germany: How could ordinary churchgoing citizens go along with-and even participate in-the mass extermination of Jews, Romanies (Gypsies), gays and lesbians, intellectuals, and others?

Question 47

Oligarchy means:

A) rule by the few
B) corporate resistance
C) specialization and expertise in bureaucracy
D) bureaucracy

Question 48

MATCHING
a. A simple collection of people who happen to be together in a particular place but do not significantly interact or identify with one another
b. Sets of informal and formal social ties that link people to each other
c. Groups that are characterized by intense emotional ties: face-to-face interaction; intimacy; and a strong, enduring sense of commitment
d. A collection of people who regularly interact with one another on the basis of shared expectations concerning behavior and who share a sense of common identity
e. People who share a common characteristic (such as gender or occupation) but do not necessarily interact or identify with one another
f. Groups characterized by large size and by impersonal, fleeting relationships
Social category

Question 49

MATCHING
a. A simple collection of people who happen to be together in a particular place but do not significantly interact or identify with one another
b. Sets of informal and formal social ties that link people to each other
c. Groups that are characterized by intense emotional ties: face-to-face interaction; intimacy; and a strong, enduring sense of commitment
d. A collection of people who regularly interact with one another on the basis of shared expectations concerning behavior and who share a sense of common identity
e. People who share a common characteristic (such as gender or occupation) but do not necessarily interact or identify with one another
f. Groups characterized by large size and by impersonal, fleeting relationships
Secondary group

Question 50

MATCHING
a. A simple collection of people who happen to be together in a particular place but do not significantly interact or identify with one another
b. Sets of informal and formal social ties that link people to each other
c. Groups that are characterized by intense emotional ties: face-to-face interaction; intimacy; and a strong, enduring sense of commitment
d. A collection of people who regularly interact with one another on the basis of shared expectations concerning behavior and who share a sense of common identity
e. People who share a common characteristic (such as gender or occupation) but do not necessarily interact or identify with one another
f. Groups characterized by large size and by impersonal, fleeting relationships
Network

Question 51

MATCHING
a. A simple collection of people who happen to be together in a particular place but do not significantly interact or identify with one another
b. Sets of informal and formal social ties that link people to each other
c. Groups that are characterized by intense emotional ties: face-to-face interaction; intimacy; and a strong, enduring sense of commitment
d. A collection of people who regularly interact with one another on the basis of shared expectations concerning behavior and who share a sense of common identity
e. People who share a common characteristic (such as gender or occupation) but do not necessarily interact or identify with one another
f. Groups characterized by large size and by impersonal, fleeting relationships
Primary group

Question 52

What distinguishes a social group from a social aggregate? Give an example of each.
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Question 53

MATCHING
a. A simple collection of people who happen to be together in a particular place but do not significantly interact or identify with one another
b. Sets of informal and formal social ties that link people to each other
c. Groups that are characterized by intense emotional ties: face-to-face interaction; intimacy; and a strong, enduring sense of commitment
d. A collection of people who regularly interact with one another on the basis of shared expectations concerning behavior and who share a sense of common identity
e. People who share a common characteristic (such as gender or occupation) but do not necessarily interact or identify with one another
f. Groups characterized by large size and by impersonal, fleeting relationships
Social group

Question 54

Which of the following goals is commonly difficult to reach in a traditional bureaucratic organization?

A) efficiency
B) rationality
C) organization
D) innovation

Question 55

If a researcher were to follow Manuel Castells's predictions, the researcher would study ____________ as key features of organizations in our global, informational economy.

A) information industries, such as higher education
B) networks
C) low-rung corporate workers
D) elite workers

Question 56

The digital divide is demonstrated in that about _____ percent of the population of North America has access to the Internet while about ______ percent of the population of Africa has access.

A) 100; 0
B) 50; 5
C) 90; 30
D) 40; 10

Question 57

Name one type of alliance in triads, and briefly describe an example of this alliance.

Question 58

Dr. Mack uses Robert Michels's theory to study power and organizations. Dr. Mack looks for power concentrated at the top, which Michels calls:

A) bureaucratic organization
B) the iron law of oligarchy
C) the bureaucratic concentration of power
D) surveillance society

Question 59

According to Manuel Castells, organizations and businesses are more likely to succeed if they compete against all other businesses and organizations.

Question 60

Name and briefly describe how sociologists see one of the chief functions of advertising.

Question 61

Compare the dynamics of dyads, triads, and larger groups. In which groups are the relationships more intense? Which are more stable? Why?

Question 62

Choose one type of organization (for example, a school, workplace, or store), and briefly describe how surveillance occurs there. Do you think this surveillance is mostly helpful or mostly unhelpful? Why?

Question 63

What is one way that the emergence of communication and information technology influences organizational structure? Explain your answer in one or two sentences.

Question 64

A new college graduate is searching for a job. What advice would a sociologist give this person regarding the development of weak ties and the value of weak ties?

Question 65

Compare the research findings of Solomon Asch and Stanley Milgram regarding conformity. Why did the subjects respond the way they did in each of these studies?
The Asch Task
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Question 66

Do you agree with George Ritzer's argument that society is in the process of McDonaldization? Why or why not? Be sure to identify the four guiding principles of McDonaldization.
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Ritzer argues that more and more sectors of American society, such as this IKEA store, are adopting the principles of the fast-food industry.

Question 67

What differentiates formal relations and informal relations in an organization?

Question 68

List and briefly explain two characteristics of Weber's "ideal type" of bureaucracy. Give an example of how these characteristics are present or absent at your university.

Question 69

What is one way that the architecture of your classroom allows for instructors to surveil students? Explain your answer in one or two sentences.

Question 70

Discuss how social networks facilitate the reproduction of existing inequalities. Pay particular attention to the position of women, lower socioeconomic classes, and minorities in networks. Be sure to discuss the impact of the Internet on these issues.