Sociology Exam 1

According to Emile Durkheim, industrialized societies function via an organic solidarity. What is the basis for organic solidarity?

Interdependence and individual rights.

When the dominant culture succeeds in imposing its values and ideas on all of society this is known as:

Hegemony

A cultural group that exists harmoniously within a larger, dominant culture is called a:

Subculture

What did Max Weber mean when he said that modern people are trapped in an "iron cage"?

Most aspects of life are increasingly controlled by rigid rules and rationalization.

Several cases of children who grew up in extreme social isolation, such as the case of Genie in 1970, suggest that:

Most of our mental capacities, and perhaps even the ability to think, are learned through social interaction.

On any given day, within ten minutes of waking up, you probably depend on more than 100 strangers to provide electricity, water, natural gas, weather forecasts, and other services. According to Durkheim, this interdependence gives rise to:

Organic solidarity

Emile Durkheim suggested that in traditional societies, people were bound together through mechanical solidarity. What was the basis of these sorts of bonds?

Shared traditions and similar experiences

Which of the following groups is most likely to be classified as a counterculture?

Survivalists living in Montana

Max Weber helped lay the groundwork for sociologists who would develop symbolic interactionism as a theory, because he believed that a social scientist should approach the study of human action:

with verstehen (understanding), which emphasizes the need for empathy with individuals' experiences.

In Emile Durkheim's study Suicide, he reported that suicide rates went up when the economy slumped but they also increased when the economy boomed. Which of Durkheim's concepts explains why both positive and negative economic conditions could increase suicide rates?

Anomie: term used to describe the alienation and loss of purpose that result from weaker social bonds and an increased pace of change.

How is a subculture different from a counterculture?

Both are distinct from mainstream culture, but a counterculture actively opposes important aspects of the mainstream.

What did W.E.B. DuBois have in common with Harriet Martineau?

Both were intrigued by America's democratic promise but disappointed in its hypocritical injustices.

Sociologists use which of the following terms to describe a group whose values and norms oppose the dominant culture?

Counterculture

The values, norms, and practices of the most powerful group within a society are called:

Dominant culture

What is the sociological term for signs people make with their bodies?

Gestures

What do sociologists claim is the most significant component of culture?

Language

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that:

Language can structure our perception of reality.

Which term describes a policy of honoring diverse racial, ethnic, religious, linguistic, and national backgrounds?

Multiculturalism

Which of the following statements reflects the best understanding of the nature vs. nurture debate?

Nature and nurture are not opposing forces, but they constantly modify each other as part of a larger interactive process.

Durkheim theorized that the rapidly changing conditions of modern life lead to anomie. What is anomie?

Normlessness, or a loss of connections to the social world.

How is the study of culture different for sociologists than anthropologists?

Sociologists usually study a culture to which they belong

Max Weber believed that as the Industrial Revolution progressed, society became increasingly rationalized. How did he define rationalization?

The application of economic logic to all aspects of social life.

The nature vs. nurture debate helps us understand:

The complex interaction between hereditary traits and social learning.

Which of the following agents of socialization has the most enduring, lifelong impact on the individual?

The family

Why does the family have such a powerful impact as an agent of socialization?

The family is where we begin the socialization process before there are any other competing influences.

The term "socialization" refers to:

The lifelong process by which people learn the norms, values, and beliefs of their culture.

Look at the graphic representation of sociology's family tree. Given that they were both very influential in the classical stage of sociological theory, why are Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim depicted so far apart?

The theoretical schools they founded are very different.

What happens to individuals who are not socialized?

They are devoid of many of the qualities we associate with being human.

Which of the following is true of expressions given off, as defined by Erving Goffman?

They are typically nonverbal, but they are observable in various ways.

Which of the following is true of expressions given, as defined by Erving Goffman?

They are typically verbal and intentional.

Why do ethnocentric people tend to view other cultures as abnormal?

They use their own culture as a standard of judgement.

Which of the following is one of the goals of socialization?

To teach norms, values, and beliefs.

How is culture transmitted and internalized?

We learn values and beliefs slowly and incrementally.

The term "master status" is defined as:

a status that seems to override all other statuses a person may possess.

What is the definition of "culture"?

the entire way of life of a group of people (including both material and symbolic elements) that act as a lens through which one views the world and is passed from generation to generation

Max weber believed that modern industrialized societies were characterized by which of the following institutions?

Bureaucracies

The ability to understand another culture in terms of that culture's own norms and values, without reference to any other culture's standards, is called:

Cultural relativism

Because impression management relies so much on strategies of performance, scholars have called Erving Goffman's ideas:

Dramaturgy (an approach pioneered by Erving Goffman in which social life is analyzed in terms of its similarities to theatrical performance)

Who were the two anthropologists who studies the Hopi of the southwestern United States and concluded that language not only expresses our thoughts but also shapes the way we think?

Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf

The tendency to use your own group's way of doing things as the yardstick for judging others is called:

Ethnocentrism

Which of the following groups is a subculture?

Horseback riders

Erving Goffman theorized social life as a kind of con game in which we work to control the impressions others have of us. What did Goffman call this process?

Impression management