Sociology Exam 2

How do sociologists distinguish a group from a crowd?

A crowd doesn't necessarily feel a shared identity

The slogan "What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas" is an example of:

moral holiday

The refusal of some Christians to accept Islam as a valid religion is a form of ________, while the sincere effort to understand the practice of having multiple wives in some societies is a form of ________.

ethnocentrism; cultural relativism

What kind of leadership style is typically expected of women in contemporary society?

expressive leadership

Which of the following sources of socialization forms the foundations for all other socializing agents?

family

Anthropologists Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf concluded that ________.

language creates ways of thinking and perceiving

Several cases of children who grew up in extreme 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

Sally joined the military this year. When she arrived at boot camp she was immediately greeted with a degradation ceremony and came under total control of the officials. The military is an example of a(n) ___________________________.

total institution

Which of the following would sociologists consider the best definition of deviance?

Violations of social norms

All of the following statements are examples of countercultures, EXCEPT for which one?

Chicago Cubs fans

Stealing avocados, or almost any other agricultural product, is a felony in California if the product is worth more than $100. Supporters of this law believe that it is the only way to protect farms from vagrants and transients who can ruin the viability of small farms. However, if you believe that such laws target homeless people who have little power in society and are simply trying to eat, then you are probably a:

Conflict theorist

Professor Zale bases her self-concept as a professor on the interactions she has with students and the reactions she receives from them during class. In view of this, which process is Professor Zale using?

Cooley's looking-glass self

Anthropologist Ralph Linton said, "The last thing a fish would ever notice would be water." What does this imply about culture?

Culture is taken for granted by members of society who share it.

The idea that individuals learn to be deviant by interacting with others who are already deviant is called:

Differential association

In the United States today, many people are bothered by "double dipping," or dipping food of which you have already taken a bite into a sauce that others are using. Mythbusters examined double dipping and found that the risk of sharing germs is negligible. Is double dipping still deviant?

Double dipping is still deviant whenever it receives a negative reaction

Robert Merton pointed out that we remember Abraham Lincoln, one of America's great heroes, as being frugal, thrifty, and sparing, yet some people might describe these same traits differently when a member of some other racial or ethnic group possesses them. For example, Merton suggested that some white Americans who would describe Lincoln this way might describe an Asian American who has these same qualities as being stingy, miserly, and penny pinching. What explains this double standard?

For these white Americans, Lincoln was a member of their racial in-group, whereas an Asian American would be a member of the out-group.

When a politician is caught cheating on their spouse, there are usually serious consequences and sometimes the politician is forced to resign from their office when constituents loudly express their unhappiness which such behavior. According to Durkheim, what function does this reaction serve?

It helps clarify moral boundaries, reinforcing the idea that marital infidelity is wrong

According to labeling theory, why were none of the pseudopatients in Rosenhan's "On Being Sane in Insane Places" discovered?

Once a person has been labeled "mentally ill," it is very hard for anyone to see past the label

In a Peruvian campaign to improve public health in rural areas, one key challenge was to convince isolated villages to boil their drinking water in order to kill parasites. In a pilot study, this effort largely failed. Government caseworkers lectured the villagers about germ theory, but villagers associated hot foods with illness and didn't like the taste of boiled water. The only families who adopted the new practice were not well integrated into the village and had few connections to their neighbors. What does this example illustrate?

That social ties don't just connect us to others but also influence our behavior

In many Middle Eastern countries, showing someone the bottom of your foot or shoe is considered very rude, so American military personnel stationed in the Middle East are instructed to keep their feet inside helicopters when flying low. Why is this instruction needed?

The meaning of gestures is not universal

At the Back to Nature Nudist Colony, Ernie and Morello take a walk every morning along the beach, totally nude. Within the colony, which statement best describes the behavior of Ernie and Morello?

They are conforming to the folkways of their subculture.

Which of the following statements about secondary groups is true?

They tend to be based on specific roles or activities

Justine desires the best things in life—a fast car, designer clothes, and memberships in exclusive clubs. But rather than work her way through the system, she has discovered she can have all of these things by selling crystal meth. How would Merton classify Justine?

an innovator

Émile Durkheim worried that in an increasingly fragmented modern world, individuals would feel less and less connected to groups, which would lead to:

anomie, or normlessness

Language, beliefs, values, norms, behavior, material objects, and technology that are passed from one generation to the next by members of society describe ________.

culture

One of the most striking contrasts in restaurants is between the demeanor of cooks and that of servers. Servers are paid to be nice, pleasant, and courteous. Cooks on the other had are usually not required to act this way. The part of the server's job that does not apply to the cook is called:

emotion work

The University of California, Santa Barbara, is located near the Pacific Ocean and many students live within walking distance of the beach. Although students feel that it's perfectly normal to wear a bathing suit while at the beach, most of them put on a cover-up or wrap themselves in a towel to make the short walk to their apartments. This is because the beach, unlike the street, is a(n) _____________________________ where wearing nothing but a bathing suit is considered normal and acceptable.

front

When group members withhold their reservations and criticisms for the sake of consensus they are engaging in:

group think

Americans glorify academic progress and material success. However, most students do not graduate with honors and most citizens are not wealthy. This condition characterizes the difference between ________ and ________.

ideal culture; real culture

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

Although gays and lesbians in the United States have had a long history of stigma, there are several different ways in which individuals have chosen to manage that stigma. When gay rights activists chant the slogan, "We're here, we're queer, get used to it," what strategy are they using?

in-group orientation

Tori is 5 years of age. She loves to dress up like Batman and pretend to save Gotham City from Penguin. According to Mead's theory, she is in the _______________ stage.

play

Many sociologists have worried that the modern economy demands both geographic and occupational mobility, which in turn means that industrial and bureaucratic organizations have become the norm. What sort of groups might become less common if people have to move many times in their lives for work?

primary groups

When people attend high school class reunions, they often compare their own personal and professional successes and failures with those of their former classmates. This means that classmates are a(n):

reference group

A female police officer who struggles with commanding respect from male colleagues while also presenting herself in traditionally feminine ways may be experiencing:

role conflict

The sociologist Duncan Watts examined the way people may change their minds about whom to vote for based on the opinions of friends and acquaintances. What concept was Watts studying?

social networks

The ___________________ theory developed by Robert Merton is based on the idea that most people want to attain cultural goals, but not everyone has the legitimate means of achieving them.

strain

In Freud's theory, which part of the personality represents the pleasure-seeking aspect, demanding immediate fulfillment of basic needs such as attention, food, safety, and sex?

the id

Many people, especially young white women, worry about maintaining a tan. Sometimes, if they don't have time to tan naturally, they go to a tanning salon or use chemicals to simulate a tan. In some cultures, this might seem bizarre, which can help us realize that:

the line between beauty and deviance is fluid and changes across place and time

Courtney raises champion sheep, Rufus is a cab driver in New York, and Tomika is a member of the RAW family of professional wrestling. What do Courtney, Rufus, and Tomika have in common?

they are all members of subcultures