Social Problems: Test 1 (chapters 1,2,3,&6)
Which of the following scenarios best describes a basic income grant program?
In Country D everyone gets $10,000 per year from the government. If they want to have more money, they must work for it. At a certain income level the government stops paying the person and that person instead begins to pay taxes.
Which of the following policies is a conservative policy maker most likely to strongly support?
In order to decrease levels of poverty, it is necessary to encourage parents to marry. Children raised by two-parent families are less likely to be poor.
_________ refers to a situation in which a person does not have enough to meet her or his basic everyday needs.
Poverty
Which of the following theorists was an advocate of "middle-range theory"?
Robert Merton
stories we tell in many forms despite changes.
ideology
In the second half of the nineteenth century, which of the following factors contributed most to the change from marital choices controlled by one's parents to marriages in which young people chose their own mates?
industrialization and urbanization
violence or abuse between people who are or were in a committed romantic relationship.
intimate partner violence
The social gradient of age/divorce says: the younger you are the ___ likely to get a divorce.
more
Most common form of child abuse is ___.
neglect
Researchers have begun a new study that measures how well lowering class size helps disadvantaged students stay in school and graduate. This study is an example of which of the following concepts?
policy evaluation
refers to families living below some threshold that makes everyday life difficult, including acquiring food, having a place to live, and acquiring other basic necessities of life that most people take for granted.
poverty
Employed mothers are more likely than employed fathers to take on unpaid domestic work duties in addition to the responsibilities associated with their paid work. Sociologists refer to this as an unequal __________.
second shift
the influence of society on the individual.
social contexts
rules we obey if we want to fit into society and community to successfully interact. (Durkheim)
social forces/facts
Middle-range theories seek to explain specific aspects of social problems, while grand theories typically seek to explain __________.
universal features of societies
Social changes of family:
- 1967 Loving vs. Virginia - 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) - 2015 Obergefell vs. Hodges
Most known for establishing Hull House in Chicago, one of the most famous settlement houses of the early twentieth century, primarily thought of as a social worker who developed ideas about how to address social problems from her practical experiences at Hull House.
Jane Addams
Which of the following scenarios best illustrates the relationship between social contexts and social problems?
Jenna is raising three children on her own. She lives in a community where there is no affordable childcare and very little public transportation, so she has been unable to get a job. This situation has contributed to the family living in poverty.
What theorist thinks individual behavior is foundation for social order; thinks society is shaped by individual's actions?
Max Weber (1864-1920)
Which of the following is an accurate statement about the impact of norms and institutions on society?
Norms and institutions that are meant to help minimize social problems may actually cause unintended harm.
1. minimal division of labor (DOL), shared world view. 2. extensive DOL, more dependence, so complex integration can be difficult.
1. mechanical solidarity 2. organic solidarity (Durkheim)
Durkheim says social solidarity is a problem because of what two things?
1. punish norm violations 2. punish according to the sacred
Mississippi has adopted two statewide preventions for violence:
1. the Safe Date Curriculum 2. Green Dot bystander
Approximately __________ percent of the U.S. economy is devoted to social spending programs, not including criminal justice expenditures.
25
economic system assumes individuals are motivated by higher financial rewards.
Capitalist society
Types of Typology of Social Action: (Weber)
- instrumental rationality: gaining reward. - value rationality: belief in value. - traditional motives: belief in traditions. - effectual motives: emotions.
1.lack of resources necessary for well-being (food and water, housing, sanitation, education, healthcare; basic needs) 2.lack of material and economic resources compared with some other population.
1. absolute poverty 2. relative poverty
Stages of Constructivist Approach:
1. claim-making 2. media attention 3. public reaction 4. policymaking 5. implementation, evaluation, further debate***
Top 5 institutions:
1. family 2. politics 3. education 4. economics 5. religion
Which of the following statements about social problems is true?
Although it may seem more difficult to put a person on the moon than to solve a social problem, many problems in physics and mathematics are simpler to isolate and solve than are social problems such as unemployment or poverty.
Given what you have learned about poverty in the United States, which of the following statements best describes why there are more poor people in the United States than in other rich countries in Western Europe, Canada, and Australia?
Although the United States does provide some public benefits for the poor, it provides fewer resources for job training, health care, cash assistance, and unemployment insurance than do other advanced industrial countries.
Which of the following is an accurate statement about conflict theory and structural functionalism?
Conflict theory emerged as a critique of structural functionalism.
a theory of knowledge that examines the development of jointly constructed understandings of the world that form the basis for shared assumptions about reality. The theory centers on the notion that meanings are developed in coordination with others rather than separately within each individual.
Constructionist approach
Which of the following scenarios best describes the concept of "relative poverty"?
Country A determines who is poor based on median income. Those earning less than half the median income are considered to be poor.
Which of the following is an accurate description of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)?
DOMA allowed states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages granted under the laws of other states.
__________ refers to the efforts of governments to address social problems based in part on the findings of social scientific research.
Evidence-based policymaking
income inequality, cumulative proportion of the population/ cumulative proportion of income received. 0 = complete income equality. 1 = complete income inequality
Gini coefficient
Which of the following statements best describes an individual explanation for why one Wes Moore ended up remaining in poverty and going to prison?
He did not learn from his mistakes, which led to a life of crime that landed him in prison.
In the twenty-first century, in which of the following societies would we expect there to be the highest level of inequality?
In Country B it is often but not always the case that children born into poor families stay poor when they become adults.
Which of the following scenarios best describes inequality?
In Country C, there are yellow and green people. Yellow people are allowed to go to college but green people are not. As a result, yellow people earn more money and are wealthier than green people.
Samantha excelled early in her life. She came from a family with two professional, highly educated parents who provided her with an excellent education and a comfortable life. But once she got to college, she started hanging out with a group of students who partied all the time. She became pregnant and had to drop out of school. Her parents refused to support her further, and she had to go on food stamps and live in public housing. Which of the following statements best explains Samantha's life?
In the beginning, structural factors help to explain why she excelled. After college, individual factors help to explain why she became poor.
opportunities exist; not everyone is willing to be able to seize them; governmental policies discourage working; decline in two parent family has impact.
Individual
In what way is the official poverty line in the United States problematic?
It does not adjust for differences in the cost of living across different locations.
Which of the following statements seems to be true of many social problems?
It is possible for social scientists, media commentators, and government officials to agree on the facts of a social problem but disagree about the solution.
Which of the following people is engaged in a study that involves understanding the claims-making process surrounding a social problem?
Linda is doing a historical study to better understand how domestic violence came to be seen as a social problem. She finds that in the past, it was considered reasonable for a man to hit his wife. This began to change as more women organized to argue that men should not hit their wives under any circumstances.
Which of the following is true of intimate partner violence?
Many women who are victims of such violence will not report it to the police or other authorities.
Economic system is the defining element of society. - always an economic surplus. - goods distribution isn't equal. Economic equality. Classes: groups with similar economic interest. Tension between classes creates conflict: - Bourgeoisie (own the means of product) - Proletariat (no capital; the have nots) Class struggle emerges from capitalism: - Exploitation - Domination
Marx (1818-1883)
describes a simplistic approach to social problems where social problems are (1) exclusively the societal conditions that are most harmful to society as a whole. (2) easily identified, usually with data (3) inherent, that is, having to do with foundations of a society.
Objectivist Approach
Which of the following statements regarding the number of parents living at home and child well-being is accurate?
On average, children fare better in two-parent homes than in one-parent homes, but this difference declines substantially after taking into account a family's financial resources.
Which of the following statements accurately characterizes the number of hours men and women devote to housework?
On average, women still do significantly more housework than men.
Which of the following statements best describes why a sociological imagination is important for understanding society?
Only when we develop the sociological imagination can we start to see how larger issues in society relate to personal problems.
Which of the following is an accurate statement about marriage among people of child-bearing age today?
People with a college degree are more likely to be in a stable marriage than those without a college degree.
With which of the following statements would a critical race theorist most strongly agree?
Racism does not always involve individual beliefs; sometimes racism is built into institutions.
the process by which a social problem is formed, through conscious action by individuals and groups who try to get other to pay attention to the issue.
Social Construction
Which of the following best describes the conflict theory perspective?
Social and economic inequalities persist because powerful individuals and groups work to protect their advantages.
Which of the following is the best definition of social solidarity?
Social solidarity refers to the degree to which a society is held together by shared morals and connections between individuals.
Sociologists can ask a broad array of questions. Which of the following best identifies what these sociological questions all have in common?
Sociological questions consider how social contexts matter.
Which of the following is a true statement about the way the U.S. Census defines "family"?
The census definition requires that a "family" be related by legal or blood ties. This definition is problematic because it excludes some family types.
Which of the following is a true statement about the divorce rate in the United States?
The divorce rate began to increase in the late 1960s, when the option of no-fault divorce became available.
What term refers to the lack of resources that leads to hunger and physical deprivation?
absolute poverty
Between the 1980s and 2007, the top 1 percent of families in the United States saw their share of all income __________.
almost triple
The relationship between two variables that change together is called a(n) __________.
association
a group of two or more people related by blood, marriage, or adoption.
family
Weber, Mills, and Goffman =
feminism and symbolic interactionism
Which of the following theories criticized early social theory for ignoring women and their position in society?
feminist social theory
social theories that place gender relations and male domination at the center of their conceptualization of societies.
feminist social theory
Which of the following family practices do the authors of this chapter argue provides children with the most financial stability and emotional support?
following a flexible approach to breadwinning and caretaking
Durkheim =
functionalism
how income, wealth, and valued resources are distributed across population.
inequality
A complex term used to stand for structured and enduring practices of human life that are built around well-established rules and norms or centered in important organizations like the government, legal courts, churches, schools, or the military. (provide a framework for daily life)
institutions
Max Weber argued that in order to understand the motivations for behavior, we need to look at how they __________ the world.
interpret
The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage; a theoretical approach based on such a premise. (It takes into account people's overlapping identities and experiences in order to understand the complexity of prejudices they face.)
intersectionality
Which of the following concepts refers to the interlocking nature of inequality, or how gender inequalities are formed in relation to inequalities based on race, class, and sexuality?
intersectionality
linkages among inequalities create disadvantaged groups with social hierarchies.
intersectionality
A __________ is the social links and boundaries, defined by biology and social custom, that establish who is related to whom.
kinship system
Middle class = Working class =
m= concerted cultivation w= natural growth
= child abuse including neglect.
maltreatment
Contrary to dominant theories at the time, W. E. B. Du Bois argued that racial inequality was __________.
manufactured by American society
Which of the following social factors increase the risk of divorce?
marrying before age 20; having less than a college education; job loss
The basic rules of society that help us know what is and what is not appropriate to do in any situation. (written and unwritten rules of behavior)
norms
individuals and families in the top 1 percent of income and/or wealth—and everyone else (the "99 percent").
one percent
A social group or social network that is unified by a common institutional structure, such as a government agency, a school, a business firm, the military, a religion and many others.
organization
Sociologists who study the impact of stigmatizing labels on an individual's sense of self-concept find that those who are labeled as "deviant" are more likely to commit crimes than those who are not labeled as such. This is an example of the power of:
self-fulfilling prophecies
When feminist social theorist Simone de Beauvoir wrote that "One is not born but becomes a woman," she was pointing to a difference between an individual's __________ and __________.
sex; gender
degree to which in a given society, an individuals family, or group, social status can change throughout the course of their life through a system of social hierarchy or stratification.
social mobility
Social theorists working in the tradition of __________ theorized that social change happens much like the theory of __________.
structural functionalism; evolution
Durkheim is a...
structural-functionalism
Sociologist Jane Addam's conception of democracy and the good society that emphasized the importance of knowing one another-- through contact and experience-- as a way of increasing the potential for caring and empathetic moral actions among people.
sympathetic knowledge
Social theories are __________.
systematic ideas that help to explain the relationship between individuals and society
Who pays the highest tax rate in a properly functioning progressive tax system?
the Upper Class
net value of all assets owned by an individual or family, including the value of their home. (greatest inequality lies here) (all of assets minus debts)
wealth
All major social theories seek to provide answers to three general questions: What is the nature of the individual; what holds societies together; and __________?
what are the circumstances or conditions that cause societies to change
Andy and Isaac were born into the same middle-class family. Andy graduated from high school with average grades and decided two years after graduation to attend a technical school. Along the way he worked in various food-service jobs and at age 25 was working full-time as a short-order cook in a diner earning (with overtime) about $31,000 a year. Isaac graduated from the same high school a year later, in the top tier of his class. After graduation he attended a large university, and by age 25 had earned a master's degree and had started working for a startup in the high-tech field earning $35,000 a year. From this scenario, we can confidently predict that these siblings __________.
will have very different labor market experiences in their future lives
Talcott Parsons proposed the idea that social control is what holds societies together. Who was the other theorist who focused much of his attention on the question of what holds societies together?
Émile Durkheim
Wright/ Wallerstein =
Neo-marxism
Types of poverty:
absolute and relative
__________ is a term that denotes the people one feels close to, relies on, and provides support for as if they were family members.
"Fictive kin"
Jennifer is a new student in sociology. She is having trouble in her theory class because none of the theories she is learning about seem to say the same things about society. What might a more experienced student say to Jennifer to help her understand why this is the case?
"Sociology has multiple and competing theories and most sociologists draw on more than one at a time to make sense of their research."
Given two people earning $10 per hour, one person earning $15 per hour, and two people earning $20 per hour, what is the median pay rate being earned per hour for these five people?
$15 per hour
to be in the top one percent nationally, a family needs an income of ___.
$389,436
Census Bureau Median HH income 2017 =
$61,372
Legal marriage in the United States:
- Monogamy - Serial monogamy
Social factors of divorce:
- age - education - income and employment - religion - race
Weber thought status groups:
- different from social class. - group struggles create stratification/inequality. - social closure attempts to block opportunities.
Categories of social contexts:
- family - community - education - organizations - country - historical period
Approximately __ in __ women report partner violence, and __ in __ men.
1 in 4 women; 1 in 7 men
Johnson and Ferraro (2003) identified the following four patterns of partner violence:
1. Common couple violence 2. Intimate terrorism 3. Violent resistance 4. Mutual violent control
Components of Social Problem:
1. Objective element: awareness of social conditions through life experiences and reports 2. Subjective element: belief that a social condition is harmful to society or a segment of society and that it should be changed
Feminism has three contributes:
1. Patriarchy- domination and oppression of women. 2. Gender vs. Sex- we know gender; people tell us their sex. 3. social construction of gender; women as other.
1. more than one spouse. 2. more than one husband. 3. more than one wife. 4. married to more than one person.
1. Polygamy 2. Polygyny 3. Polyandry 4. Bigamy
Which of the following best describes how people commonly develop stereotypes?
A person perceives that a group is distinct because it exhibits a certain characteristic, then assumes that an individual from that group must have that characteristic.
Sociologist C. Wright Mills suggested that the sociological imagination is a concept that lets us think systematically about the relationship between the personal and the social. Using your sociological imagination, how might the personal problem of unemployment be tied to greater social issues?
A person will face unemployment if a recession results in fewer available job openings for job seekers.
Which of the following best illustrates the idea of "public sociology"?
A researcher writes several newspaper articles on the importance of preschool for low- income students.
Which of the following statements describes a constructionist approach to social problems?
A social problem can be created by people who want to spur action on a particular issue.
Which of the following scenarios best illustrates Jane Addams's theory about the importance of sympathetic knowledge?
After spending some time with the poor, Andy began to understand that many were victims of unfair circumstances.
Which of the following is a true statement about a society with perfect social immobility?
All children will end up with the same social class and income as their parents.
Which of the following is a true statement about parents' responses to the conflict between family needs and work pressures?
Both parents now spend more time with their children than their counterparts did several decades ago.
What is the sociological imagination according to Mills?
C. Wright Mills believed the sociological imagination is an awareness of the relationship between individuals and social forces that shape our lives. GOAL: grasping the intersection between self and society, and understanding the social era in which we are living.
Which of the following statements illustrates the claims-making stage of a social problem?
Concerned parents are beginning to argue that social media is causing their children to become anxious and depressed.
Which of the following children is most likely to grow up to be a poor adult?
Dina was born into a single-parent family and she has a mother who did not graduate from high school. Her mother works off and on, but rarely has a steady job. Dina goes to a school that is underfunded and has a high dropout rate.
- vary overtime by country. - product of social forces. - risk factors vary - higher education, fewer - no fault laws, more - less affluent countries, fewer.
Divorce
Religion: - worship and society - worship provides collective effervescence. (collective effervescence is untied and rejuvenated by the sacred)
Durkheim
Edward is introduced to Jessah and intends to kiss her cheek in greeting. Inadvertently he ends up kissing her on the lips. Both Edward and Jessah laugh and feel embarrassed by the mistake. Which of the following conclusions can be drawn based on this scenario?
Edward's mistake was a violation of social norms.
What theorist portrays - social forces/facts - social solidarity
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
Which of the following courses of action would the United States take to reduce poverty if it were to follow the best practices of other advanced industrial countries?
Expand tax credits that supplement the wages of low-income workers; provide free universal health care; expand funding for job training and unemployment insurance.
Which of the following most closely summarizes the objectivist approach to understanding how social problems are identified?
Experts claim that being single as an adult is a social problem because research shows that single adults have a lower life expectancy than married adults and are less well-adjusted overall.
the value of all final goods and services produced over period of time measure of economic activity.
GDP (gross domestic product)
United States is high in ___ and in the middle for __.
GDP; Gini coefficient
Based on decades of research, which of the following conclusions can be drawn about the general well-being of children whose mothers work outside the home?
Generally speaking, children are not harmed when their mothers work outside the home.
a social system in which individuals get ahead and earn rewards based on their individual efforts and abilities.
Meritocracy
Randy's teachers generally assume that he is not very smart. Randy can tell that his teachers do not think he is capable of doing well, which lowers his motivation to work hard. He begins falling behind and scoring low on exams. This scenario illustrates which of the following?
Merton's concept of the self-fulfilling prophecy
Marx's Model of Society:
Mode of production = forces of production and social relations of production.
an updated form of Marxism, contends that the capitalist state could, and indeed often has, forced powerful economic classes to make "concessions" to the working class.
Neo-Marxists
Several well-known factors have led to an increase in inequality in advanced industrial countries. Which of the following policies best addresses these factors in ways that would help those who are at the bottom of the economic system?
Provide free or very low-cost access to college, raise the minimum wage, and provide incentives for businesses to bring jobs back to the United States.
Which of the following scenarios best illustrates the policymaking stage of a social problem?
School districts have created several different proposals that would allow transgender students to use bathrooms that take into account their gender identity.
Which of the following observations about a condition becoming a social problem challenges the objectivist approach to understanding how social problems emerge?
Scientists and other experts conducted research about a particular issue, and then issued a press release to alert the public to a problem; however, the issue failed to get much widespread attention until nearly 30 years later.
How can poverty affect the neurobiology of children?
Stressors associated with living in poverty can hinder development.
a theory of society in which individuals, groups, and the institutions of any society are guided by an overarching social system.
Structural-Functionalism
Which of the following statements provides a structural explanation for why some families stay poor across generations?
Such families live in poor neighborhoods and their children are denied access to high-quality education.
Who came up with structural functionalism?
Talcott Parson
Which of the following statements uses the sociological imagination to make sense of teenage pregnancy?
Teenage pregnancy is often more common in poorer communities where young women and men lack access to sexual education and contraceptives.
Which of the following scenarios depicts a problem that can only be addressed by dealing with issues at a societal level?
Tens of thousands of coal miners have been laid off over the past several decades in the United States, due in large part to coal companies moving operations because they can mine coal more cheaply in other parts of the world.
Adam was born into a poor white family in Chicago. When he grows up, he wants to be a doctor. How does the educational system affect the social mobility of a person like Adam?
The educational system tends to preserve privileged access for some, making success more difficult for those without economic privilege.
Which of the following statements is true of debt in the United States?
The United States is more unequal than comparable advanced industrial countries and also has the highest household debt. This may be because non-rich households try to keep up with the lifestyles of wealthy households.
Which of the following is a true statement about the relationship between economic inequality and health in most societies?
The higher the overall level of economic inequality in a society, the worse the health of the society as a whole.
Which of the following is an accurate statement about the "traditional family"?
The homemaker-breadwinner family is thought of as traditional, but has been relatively rare in human history.
Which of the following is true about how neo-Marxists view the welfare state?
The rise of the welfare state has helped capitalism to survive even though capitalism itself is often not in the interests of ordinary workers.
Corinne is writing a sociological theory paper. Which of the following topics would she choose if she wants to deal with one of the three themes addressed by the major sociological theories?
What do societies have in common when they transition from monarchical to democratic rule?
Which of the following describes the most common financial situation after the divorce of a heterosexual couple?
The woman earned less than the man before the divorce and ends up in a worse financial position than the man after the divorce.
Which of the following is a true statement about wealth and income inequality in the United States?
There is much more inequality in wealth between different groups than there is inequality in income.
Which of the following questions is a middle-range theorist most likely to ask?
What role do teachers play in the achievement of their students?
Which of the following statements represents the research findings of the effects on children who are reared by same-sex couples?
Whether the measure is cognitive, social, or sexual development, the experience of being reared by a same-sex couple has no detrimental effects on children.
He developed a theory of how *racism—the assumption that members of a racial group are inherently inferior to other races—prevented blacks from achieving at the same level as whites.
W.E.B. Du Bois
The dominant theories about race in ___ time claimed that European whites and blacks were biologically endowed differently, especially in terms of intelligence, capacity for hard work, and ability to be good citizens.
W.E.B. Du Bois
Which of the following best describes the "welfare state"?
a collection of policies designed by a government to decrease the negative effects of social problems
Define social problem:
a social condition that a segment of society views as harmful to members of society and in need of remedy.
a web of social relationships linking people to one another is known as:
a social network
physical/mental injury, sexual abuse, negligent treatment, or maltreatment of a child younger than age 18 by a person who is responsible for the child's welfare.
child abuse
Which of the following terms refers to the idea that groups that are treated differently by the economic system are inevitably going to be in conflict with one another?
class struggle
People once sought out potential marriage partners based on __________, but contemporary adults are more likely to stress the importance of __________.
complementary gender roles and financial stability; love and mutual respect
Middle-class parents typically engage in a form of intensive parenting that sociologist Annette Lareau refers to as __________.
concerted cultivation
Marx =
conflict perspective (marxism)
a type of social theory that emerged out of dissatisfaction with structural functionalism and held that all societies are characterized by conflicts that arise from the uneven distribution of power and wealth between groups.
conflict theory
groups of people who share connections in one way or another; make up society; individuals have a place within them.
social networks
holds together society. - mechanical and organic (Durkheim)
social solidarity
We learn social forces through ____. (Durkheim)
socialization
imagining everything and everyone as existing in relation to past, present, and future; the ability to see the connections between our personal lives and the social historical world in which we live.
sociological imagination
a kinship system of all relatives living together, or recognized as a social unit, including adopted people.
sociology family
What are beliefs about members of a group that are usually false, or at least exaggerated, but are the basis of assumptions commonly made about individual members of the group?
stereotypes
distributions of opportunities and resources allow some people a better chance; poverty creates barriers; social and economic forces explain poverty.
structural
