Sociology 101 Exam 1
Children like Anna, who have experienced long periods of isolation, illustrate how
"human nature" is the result of a complex relationship between nature (biology) and nurture (the social environment)
According to data on mass incarceration in the United States, the national cost per prisoner is approximately how much per year?
$20,000
In social research, a hypothesis is:
a proposed relationship between two or more variables
An ordered series of questions intended to elicit information from research respondents is known as
a survey
A married couple and their firstborn child are a type of group known as
a triad
Ultimately we hold people responsible for their behavior precisely because they can exercise choice over what they do. This speaks to the limits of socialization that sociologists refer to as:
agency
According to "Suicide," one of the main social forces leading to suicide is a sense of normlessness that results from drastic changes in society. This normlessness was called:
anomie
Which of the following is Durkheim's term meaning a sense of aimlessness or despair that arises when we can no longer reasonably expect life to be more or less predictable?
anomie
Émile Durkheim defined _____ as a sense of normlessness that results from drastic changes in people's living conditions
anomie
Subcultures:
are hard to definitively define
The first form of mass media was the:
book
Which theory explains how social context and social cues impact the way individuals act, specifically, whether or not local, informal norms allow acts such as vandalizing an abandoned car?
broken windows theory
When one factor is said to influence another factor, we refer to this as
causality
The examples of more and more people bowling and eating alone are used to highlight a more general trend involving:
civic disengagement and a decline social capital
A family is an example of which type of group identified by Cooley?
primary group
Karl Max predicted that conflict between a small number of capitalists and a large number of works, or _______, would result in a Communist Revolution
proletariat
To Marx, conflict between a small number of capitalists and a large number of workers would divide society. He referred to this large number of workers as:
proletariat
A sociologist studying minor children, pregnant women, or inmates must get approval, as these groups are known as:
protected populations
Social research aimed at influencing public policy and society as a whole is referred to as
public sociology
Elizabeth would like to conduct a study to determine how women define spousal abuse and the meanings they attach to their abuse. What research method will Elizabeth most likely use
qualitative
Norm is interested in whether pet owners are more likely than those who do not own pets to have healthier lifestyles (e.g., exercise regularly, drink moderately, refrain from nicotine use). By comparing the numbers he gathers on both groups, Norm will most likely be using what particular research method?
quantitative
Positivist sociologists tend to use which of the following types of measures?
quantitative
The research method that uses information that can be converted to numerical form is
quantitative research
Which of the following methods involves collecting data from written reports or other artifacts in order to discover patterns in behavior/attitudes dating to an earlier time period?
historical methods
Today's assumption that childhood represents a distinct phase in the life course stands in sharp contrast to the notion of children as "little adults" that was popular in preindustrial times. This example highlights
how our notions of childhood are socially constructed
Solomon Asch's experiments on group conformity demonstrate:
how powerful the influence of a group can be on an individual
The O. J. Simpson murder case and Hurricane Katrina are examples of which of the following?
how the media reflects racist ideology
The story of the abused child named Anna teaches lessons about the importance of which of the following influences on human development?
human interaction
A testable statement about the relationship between two or more variables is called
hypothesis
According to George Herbert Mead's stages of development, children learn to recognize an other through:
imitation
Which of the following types of groups are significant in that they distinguish between the relative power to define what are normal versus abnormal types of behavior within the groups?
in-groups and out-groups
Andy hypothesized that the stress created during economic downturns would increase the probability of spousal abuse. Stress would be considered the ______ variable, and spousal abuse would be considered the ______ variable.
independent; dependent
Paula begins to notice there are patterns to where people sit on the bus, and that these patterns differ depending on whether the rider is male or female. Based on these observations, she generates larger ideas (theories) about the behaviors of men and women. This is an example of which kind of research approach?
inductive
Research subjects have a right to know that they are participating in a study and what the study consists of. This is known as
informed consent
Max Weber's emphasis on the subjectivity of understanding human behavior is the foundation of ________ sociology
interpretive
Max Weber's emphasis on the subjectivity of understanding human behavior is the foundation of ____________ sociology.
interpretive
Perhaps the largest division within the discipline of sociology exists between:
interpretive and positivist sociology
Which of the following is the study of social meanings that emphasizes subjectivity in understanding human behavior?
interpretive sociology
A process by which organizations face the same conditions, and ultimately tend to end up like each other, is known as:
isomorphism
Which of the following statements is true regarding the current U.S. incarceration rate?
it is the highest in American History
David Rosenhan (1973) sent some of his students to a psychiatric hospital, saying they were "hearing voices." Each pseudo-patient was admitted and diagnosed with a mental disorder. He was illustrating ____________ theory.
labeling
The characteristics of a formal structure and status differentiation are essential to which of Simmel's types of groups?
large groups
The intended purpose of desegregation of schools in the 1950s was to make education equal for everyone. What was not intended was that many racial minority teachers and principals lost their jobs. This unintended purpose was called a(n) _________ function by functionalist theorist Talcott Parsons
latent
Which type of deviance did Becker study in his research on labeling and deviance?
marijuana use
Everything in our constructed environment, including technology, buildings, furniture, clothing, and books, is part of:
material culture
Which of the following focuses its analyses on face-to-face encounters and interactions?
microsociology
Robert Merton's modern sociological theory focused on attempting to predict how certain social institutions function between micro-sociology and macro-sociology. This is known as:
midrange theory
According to Comte, positivism arose out of a need to make ______ sense of the social order in a time of declining religious authority
moral
According to Simmel, the essential feature of a party is that it is
multifocal
When analyzing U.S. crime rates, your textbook author explains that the best indicator we have of crime is the:
murder rate
What is not a golden rule of ethical conduct in social research?
never debrief
One of the two main categories of culture that includes values, beliefs, norms, and behaviors is known as:
nomaterial culture
Baseball in the United States and cockfighting in Bali are examples of which of the following?
nonmaterial or symbolic culture
The act of abiding by society's norms is known as which of the following?
normative compliance
To definite a term (or variable) in such a way that it can be examined and measure is the process known as
operationalization
If Jose's study measures religiosity by the number of hours people spend in organied religious activities, while Deidra's study measures religiosity by whether people agree or disagree that religion plays an important part in their life, Jose and Deidra:
operationalize their concepts of religion differently
Any social network that is defined by a common purpose and that has a boundary between its members and the rest of the social world is known within sociology as a(n):
organization
The shared beliefs and behaviors within a social group, also called "corporate culture," is known as:
organizational culture
Stigmatized groups, such as gays and lesbians in the United States, are known as:
out-groups
Mitchell Duneier's study of homeless men on New York City's Sixth Avenue involved hanging with his research subjects to collect data. This type of methodology is known as
participant observation
Sandra is doing research on cheating among students at Duke University. The student body at Duke will serve as her
population
Sandra is doing research on cheating among students at Duke University. The student body at Duke will serve as her"
population
Cooley distinguished between two types of groups he called:
primary and secondary groups
According to Merton, a person who rejects both society's defined goals and the means to achieve them, but also wants to change and replace them with others, is know as a(n):
rebel
Marina is a ten-year-old girl who idolizes singers like Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilera. She compares herself to them and imitates them while singing in front of her bedroom mirror. These singers are known as Marina's:
reference group
Which of the following types of groups do people compare themselves to, even if they don't know each other personally?
reference groups
Within organic solidarity, what response to deviance is designed to transform the offender into a productive member of society?
rehabilitative
Culture tends to be
relative
The likelihood that a researcher will obtain the same result using the same measures the next time he or she tests a hypothesis is:
reliability
The more consistent the results given by repeated measurements, the higher the _____ of the measurement procedure (and vice versa)
reliability
A potential shortcoming of survey research is that surveys
rely on people's honesty and willingness to cooperate
If Sandra wants to generalize the findings of her study to another (possibly larger) population, it is important that the people in her study be:
representative of the group(s) she wants to generalize to
According to Merton, a person who completely stops participating in society's drive to achieve its defined goals is a(n):
retreatist
Martine is a sociologist who thinks A is causing B, when in fact, B is causing A. She needs to be careful not to make the mistake known as
reverse causality
Tracy is a woman who rejects the goals defined by society to achieve a big house and lots of money, but she still follows the means and abides by the rules. Merton would classify Tracy as a(n):
ritualist
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have increased among teens in recent years because:
romantic relationships between teenagers are relatively short, so they switch partners frequently
Charles is a sociologist studying a population of gay fathers in the United States. He interviews 200 men in his data collection. These 200 men constitute what researches call a:
sample
Which term best describes what happens when other people label a person and that label affects his or her actions?
secondary deviance
What do symbolic interactionists study?
shared meaning
In the United States, six major companies, including Disney and Time Warner, own what percentage of the media?
slightly more than 90 percent
Sets of dyads held together by ties between the individuals are known as:
social networks
According to Durkheim's normative theory of suicide, the number of rules that guide our daily lives and what we can expect from the world on a day-to-day basis are referred to as:
social regulation
The process by which people internalize the values, beliefs, and norms required to become functioning members of a given society is known as:
socialization
As defined by C. Wright Mills, which of the following "enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within a society"?
sociological imagination
Perhaps the most important outcome of feminist methodology is that:
the focus on women's experiences, in addition to men's experiences, has increased the generalizability of the research
Which of the following is considered an advanced stage of development, according to George Herbert Mead?
the game stage
George H. Mead described how the "self" internalizes the views of society as a whole, transcending the individual and particular situations. He calls this larger society
the generalized other
The final step in Mead's theory of socialization is the development of an internalized sense of the total expectations of others. This is known as:
the generalized other
Positivism is best defined as
the idea that we can scientifically and logically study social institutions and the individuals within them
What is the meaning of the term "white coat effects" in social research?
the impact researchers have on the people/relationships they study
Charles H. Cooley argued that the "self" emerges from how an individual interacts with others and then interprets those interactions. He calls this
the looking glass self
The popular television show Sesame Street was created with the explicit purpose of providing educational opportunities for low-income children. Being that this show was successful, we can argue that:
the media serves as a powerful socializing agent
Saying "hello" when answering the telephone signals the start of an encounter in the first bracket and is known to dramaturgists as:
the opening
C. Wright Mills's term for interlocking directorates is which of the following?
the power elite
The term "six degrees of separation" came out of research undertaken by Stanley Milgram, who wanted to test:
the reach of social networks
What is an advantage of participant observation research?
the researcher can uncover what people do rather than simply what they say they do
In 1941, Time magazine ran an article on how to distinguish between Chinese and Japanese people. These descriptions reflected:
the state of mind of Americans at the time
According to the theory of social solidarity, the division of labor in a society helps to determine
the way social cohesion among individuals is maintained
A classroom would not typically fall under Simmel's classification of a small group because:
there are formal arrangements or roles
Karl Max would argue that the types of social institutions in a society were the result of the economic makeup of that society. Max Weber, however, argued that:
there are multiple influences (e.g., religion) on how social institutions are created
Which of the following is Durkheim's primary explanation for why people commit suicide?
they lack social integration
A friendship group isn't an example of a formal organization because:
they typically don't have formal rules and governing structures
Goffman (1961) called situations where "all aspects of life are conducted in the same place and under the same single authority":
total institutions
According to Simmel, which of the following groups is the most fragile?
dyad
What kind of group ceases to exist if even one member leaves the group?
dyads
The examination of human behavior within a rational actor model is the focus of which of the following "cousins" of sociology?
economics
Sociologists refer to the degree to which ties are reinforced through indirect paths within a social network as:
embeddedness
If a person judges another group by his or her own standards, he or she is being:
ethnocentric
Harold Garfinkel developed an approach to studying human interaction that focused on how people produce (and maintain) a mutually shared social order. This method was called
ethnomethodology
Although there are many agents of socialization, four of the primary ones are:
family, schools, peers, and media
Which type of suicide occurs when a person experiences too much social regulation, according to Durkheim?
fatalistic
A crime such as burglary is also known as which type of deviance?
formal deviance
The extent to which a researcher can claim that his or her findings explain a larger population than was studies is known as
generalizability
Sociology is the study of
group-level dynamics and social structures
Part of what we learn in elementary school is to obey authority, follow the rules, and learn the importance of being on time. Because these values are important to the functioning of the capitalist system, Gramsci would call this
hegemony
The person who is often considered to be the founding practitioner of positivism is
Émile Durkheim
The person who is often considered to be the founding practitioner of positivism is:
Émile Durkheim
What is a good example of the generalized other?
A child is taught to say "bless you" every time someone sneezes in her home. When she is at the grocery store one day, the child says "bless you" to a complete stranger who sneezes in the checkout line
What is an example of ascribed status?
American of Japanese descent
Which feminist sociologist wrote "Sex, Gender, and Society (1972)", which argued that much of what we attribute to biological sex differences can actually be traced to learned behaviors and socialization?
Ann Oakley
Which theorist argued that other people essentially provide us with a "social mirror," and that our interpretations of this mirror affect how we see ourselves?
Charles Horton Cooley
Annette Lareau, author of Unequal Childhoods (2003), makes a compelling case for the existence of different parenting values and practices between working-class and middle-class families. Which of the following statements best summarizes what she found?
Class differences, played out in the daily routines of parenting, have a powerful impact on children's life chances
Erving Goffman used the language of theater to describe how people present themselves in everyday social life. This is known as:
Dramaturgical theory
Concepts such as I, me, and generalized other are part of which theorist's work?
George Herbert Mead
Which of the following is true regarding the applicability of network analysis within sociological research?
It can be used in both micro-level and macro-level studies
What is an example regarding race and the death row population
Justice on death row is not color-blind
Charles Horton Cooley argued that the self merges from how we envision that others perceive us. He called this the ___________.
Looking-glass theory
Which theory uses game playing to understand the development of self?
Mead's role-playing theory
According to research by Kohn and Schooler (1983) and Laureau (2002), parents of different social classes socialize their children differently. Which of the following statements best describes these differences?
Middle-class parents are more likely to stress independence and self-direction; working-class parents are more likely to instill respect for authority
According to Comte, positivism arose out of a need to make ____________ sense of the social order in a time of declining religious authority
Moral
Sociologists who use numbers in their analyses are known as _________, and those who analyze with words are known as _______
Quantitative, qualitative
____________ is/are the information, knowledge of people or things, and connections that help individuals enter preexisting networks or gain power from them.
Social capital
According to data presented in Chapter 5, which of the following is true regarding social capital in the United States today?
Social capital is decreasing
____________ refers to a social position while ____________ designates socially expected behavior.
Status; role
What appears to be the main reason for the success of Amish businesses when compared to other U.S. businesses?
The Amish live by prioritizing the community and its social capital rather than rugged individualism
The Chicago School's Jane Addams founded the first American settlement house, an institution to help the poor by offering aid, educational servies, and more. This house was known as:
The Hull House
A general rule found in research, known as "no cycles of four" within two romantic heterosexual couples, is that people rarely date the ex-partner of their own ex-partner's new boy- or girlfriend. What explanation is given for this finding?
The replaced exes don't want to lose social status and be seen as "leftovers"
One of Max Weber's most important contributions to sociology is _______, which means that sociologists should approach the study of social behavior from the perspective of the people engaging in it
Verstehen
Which of the following applied to Durkheim's theory of anomie to explain crime rates among African Americans after the abolition of slavery in the United States?
W.E.B. DuBois
Who applied Durkheim's theory of anomie to explain crime rates among African Americans after the abolition of slavery in the United States?
W.E.B. DuBois
In contrast to functionalism, which modern sociological theory borrows from Marx's belief that competition, not consensus, is the essential cause of social change?
conflict theory
According to Merton, which of the following describes a person who accepts both the goals defined by society and the means to achieve them?
conformist
Harry's study compared how the posts on Craigslist of "men seeking women" differed from the posts of "women seeking men." What research method was Harry using when he compared how often men and women mentioned particular characteristics (e.g., attractive, sexy, athletic, professional, educated)?
content analysis
The act of turning media against itself, such as the actions of Rockin' Rollen and Adbusters, is called:
culture jamming
If Kate begins her research with a theory, then forms hypotheses and makes some observations, what method is she using?
deductive
A variable that is thought to be influenced by another variable is known as the:
dependent variable
Which theory suggests that "crime results from a rational calculation of the costs and benefits of criminal activity"?
deterrence theory
Which theory developed by Cloward and Ohlin (1960) explains that street crime rises and falls in relation to the availability of legitimate economic opportunities?
differential opportunity theory
In the 1950s, sociologist C. Wright Mills contended that to understand the social world, we nee to notice connections between persona experiences and the influence of the larger society in which we live. He called this the ________.
sociological imagination
All of the statuses that an individual occupies at any given time constitute his or her
status set
Devah Pager (2001) found, in her study of job applications and criminal records, that a negative social label affects people's chance in life. This label is called a ____________ by sociologists.
stimga
What is Merton's theory, which states that we learn society's expected goals and means to achieve them, and when we can't achieve them, we may adapt in a variety of modes?
strain theory
Emma is hoping to secure an internship with an engineering firm this summer. She's talked with friends and family, but they have not been able to provide her with any helpful contacts. Emma runs into her former aerobics instructor, who she hasn't seen in several years, and her instructor offers to put her in contact with an engineering friend of hers. This is an example of what concept?
strength of weak ties
The example of how real estate agents earn money by contractually maintaining or creating distance or contact between potential buyers and sellers highlights which of the following?
structural holes
While they are difficult to define, ____________ are smaller subgroups within a larger dominant society united by sets of concepts, values, symbols, and shared meanings specific to the members of that group.
subcultures
The functionalist paradigm went largely unchallenged in the United States until about the 1950s. C. Wright Mills criticized Talcott Parsons for:
supporting the dominant class structure and the inequalities associated with it
____________ is probably the best method available to the social scientist interested in collecting original data and for describing a population too large to observe directly
survey research
Which main sociological theory takes a more micro or close-up look at the individual to explain deviance?
symbolic interactionism
According to Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment, good people can do terrible things depending on their social surroundings and expectations. He calls this:
the Lucifer effect
In 1973, the governor of New York State enacted legislation mandating increased prison terms for drug possession and sale. These are still in effect and are known as:
the Rockefeller drug laws
According to ____________, the language we speak directly influences and reflects the way we think about and see the world
the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
Class mobility and equal opportunity have their roots in
the U.S. idea of the American Dream
What trend, related to a decline in social capital, did Robert Putnam focus on in his book Bowling Alone?
the declining interest in community-based activities and organizations
When a researcher is successful at measuring what he or she intends to measure, this is called
validity
Sociologists view socialization as a lifelong process that begins:
when a child is born
You and your friend have created a technology start-up. Since its inception, it has become very successful and you've had to hire many employees. At what point will you realize that it has become, in Simmel's terms, a large group?
when formal job titles are created and formal hierarchies between employees emerge
According to impression management, the backstage arena would include:
where we are our "private selves" and where the real story takes place
Which of the following crimes has the most financial impact in the United States today?
white-collar crime
Tax evasion is an example of which of the following types of crimes, as defined by sociologists?
white-collar crimes
As a formal field, sociology is relatively _______ discipline, as discussed in Chapter 1
young
The "Division of Labor in Society" was the first of many sociologial contributions from:
Émile Durkheim
