Intro To Sociology Midterm Study (Modules 1 & 2)

Television is so ever-present in people's lives that today about _____ of U.S. households are "constant television households" in which the television is on almost all the time.

42 percent

Being completely objective while conducting research is probably not possible. Which of these influences a sociologist's research results?

All of these influence the findings.

Which of the following statements is false with regard to beliefs?

Beliefs must be true in order for them to guide human behavior.

A study of how women are depicted in advertisements is an example of what method?

Content analysis

Of the methods listed below, which does not directly study people?

Content analysis

What research method would be most appropriate for a study of cultural changes over long periods of time?

Content analysis

Conflict theorists view culture in which of the following ways?

Controlled by economic monopolies

_____ is an interdisciplinary field that builds on symbolic interactionism and is often critical of classical sociological approaches.

Cultural studies

Which of the following statements about culture shock is false?

Culture shock can only be experienced in a foreign country.

A sociological study explores whether there is any truth to the stereotype that women are bad drivers. Which of the following types of reasoning would be used in this type of study?

Deductive reasoning

Which of the following social theorists coined the term sui generis?

Durkheim

A literature review is not required when a researcher is using primary research.

False

According to disengagement theory, as the elderly disengage, they are dysfunctional for society

False

Americans and western Europeans are the only groups that express ethnocentrism

False

Any type of sociological method may be used to answer any type of research question.

False

C. Wright Mills developed the idea of critical distance

False

Durkheim believed that social cohesion is not possible in societies with complex divisions of labor

False

From a conflict perspective inequality serves a purpose in society by motivating members of society to achieve more.

False

Men and women exhibit the same types of internet usage when it comes to cyberspace interaction

False

Sociology began as a discipline in response to the upheaval of World War I.

False

The Chicago School is characterized by thinkers who are mainly interested in macrosociology

False

Values guide individuals' behavior but have no role in shaping society

False

When one person collects data and a second person uses their data, the second person is using primary data

False

For what types of research questions is oral history particularly useful?

For learning the history of groups that have been ignored or misrepresented

Which of the following is not part of the definition of culture?

Globalization

The invention of subways and trains illustrates which cause of cultural change?

Innovation

How does language influence patterns of social inequality?

Language may reproduce inequalities through stereotypes and assumptions that may be built into what people say.

Which of the following statements about Marx is true?

Marx considered all of society to be shaped by economic forces.

William Foote Whyte's "Street Corner Society" is an example of which method of research?

Participant observation

What is the Hawthorne effect?

Subjects of research altering their behavior if they know they are being studied

Which of the following is not a disadvantage of using surveys to gather data?

Surveys are too subjective in their analyses

If the research conclusions may be generalized to a broader population, what does that mean?

The findings from the sample can be applied to the population.

Which of the following is true about the meanings of symbols?

They depend on the culture in which they appear.

What is the purpose of sociological theory?

To organize and interpret observations

According to Peter Berger, sociologists question actions and ideas that are typically taken for granted

True

All human behavior occurs within a societal context.

True

All social science research begins by developing a research question.

True

C. Wright Mills defined the sociological imagination as the ability to see individual experiences within a larger social context.

True

Conflict theorists argue that the media are most likely to produce programs and products that support the values and interests of the most powerful groups in society

True

Cover t participant observation requires a focus on small groups

True

Culture includes ways of thinking as well as patterns of behavior

True

From a sociological perspective, concerns with styles and personal appearance are the product of social forces

True

Goffmans impression management applies to cyberspace interaction

True

If every time a test is given the results are dramatically different, this is an indication that the test is not reliable

True

Marx was primarily interested in the study of capitalism.

True

Only recently has adolescence been thought of as a separate phase in the life cycle

True

Social Darwinists believed that social arrangements, including poverty and inequality, were natural and inevitable

True

Socialization in the family is not uniform for all because different families emphasize different cultural expectations

True

Sociology as a discipline began due to social changes in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

True

Sociology is a science because it uses the scientific method and strives to be empirical.

True

The early African American and women sociologists, in particular, felt that the study of society should be combined with social activism

True

The focus of the early American sociologists was solving social problems

True

The method best suited for determining cause and effect is the controlled experiment.

True

The more complex the society, the more likely its culture will be internally diverse

True

The psychoanalytic perspective interprets human identity as relatively fixed at an early age in a process greatly influenced by one's family

True

The goal of sociologists is to study controversial topics with an open mind, even if this results in the discovery of "inconvenient" or disturbing information. An example of an inconvenient fact presented in the text is that

a majority of women in prison are mothers.

The emergence of a global culture has resulted in

an increase in the influence of capitalism.

A criticism of _____ is that it understates the cohesion and stability found in society.

conflict theory

According to Max Weber

culture influences other institutions

Sociology is a(n) _____ discipline, meaning conclusions are based on systematic observations.

empirical

Researchers use the term "serendipity" to refer to

findings that are unexpectedly found while analyzing the data for other findings.

When one part of society is not working, it affects the rest of society and causes social problems. This statement reflects the _____ approach.

functionalist

A researcher asks himself whether his results apply only to the people he studied or to the whole world. This researcher is questioning the _____ of his research.

generalizability

People generally follow norms for behavior because they

have learned and internalized the common expectations for behavior

Marx's work was devoted to explaining

how capitalism shaped society.

In the example of the United Nations' human development index, life expectancy and educational attainment are used as _____ for level of well-being, which is a(n) _____.

indicators / concept

When people must respond to a question from a fixed list of possible answers to a question, this

is a closed-ended question

The Enlightenment had an enormous influence on the development of modern sociology. The Enlightenment

is also known as the Age of Reason.

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that:

language provides the category through which social reality is defined

Merton called the unintended consequences of behavior _____ functions.

latent

Robert Merton suggested that human behavior has _____.

manifest functions and latent functions

People stand during the national anthem and are emotionally moved by the display of a cross or the Star of David because

of the significance people bestow on them as cultural symbols.

Research to learn what educational practices work best so as to improve how public schools are run would be an example of _____.

policy research

The orientation that sees society as comprised of the images and words that people use to represent behavior and ideas is called _____.

postmodernism

Conflict theorists see contemporary culture as

produced within institutions that are based on inequality and capitalist principles.

According to Marx, capitalism is based on

profit and private property.

To study the difference in academic achievement between male and female athletes, one might look at rates of graduation among university students involved in sports. This is an example of _____ research.

quantitative

A _____ gives everyone in the population an equal chance of being selected for a study.

random sample

When a researcher is concerned if a measure gives consistent results, s/he is focused on _____.

reliability

At its most basic level, the function of the family is _____.

reproduction

The _____ is the overall logic of the research project, including what observational method will be used

research design

Professor Conway is reading the previous research completed on his research question. Professor Conway is _____.

reviewing the literature

Positivism refers to

scientific observation and description as the highest forms of knowledge.

According to the text, Durkheim's major contribution to the discipline of sociology was the understanding of the

social basis of human behavior

The text emphasizes that _____ is most responsible for a person's chance in life.

social location

According to the text, the interdisciplinary field known as cultural studies builds on the insights of _____.

symbolic interaction

Those behaviors that bring the most serious sanctions are called _____.

taboos

In their day-to- day lives, most people

take the expectations of their culture for granted

The major disadvantage of content analysis as a method is

that it cannot tell us how people respond to the content.

Folkways are

the ordinary customs of different group cultures

Compared to survey research, participant observation creates a greater challenge that

the researcher may be subjective in his or her interpretations.

In Durkheim's view of society, people come to believe what society expects them to believe because

they internalize the existence of society in their minds.

While Marx saw economics as the organizing influence on society, Weber focused on

three dimensions: political, economic, and cultural.

Some argue that many of the recent conflicts in the world are the result of a struggle between the values of a consumer-based, capitalist Western culture and the

traditional values of local communities

A fundamental concept for using one's sociological imagination is the distinction that Mills made between

troubles and issues.

Mass media influences

values, styles, and language.

Sociology first emerged as a discipline in _____.

western Europe

When choosing a research method, the first thing for sociologists to consider is

what sociological question is being investigated.