SOCIOLOGY 270 Questions

Any system that distributes scarce resources on an unequal basis according to race or ethnicity is called:

Ethnic stratification or ethnic inequality

Wealth, income, and power are:

Examples of scarce resources

The treatment of Chicanos in the U.S. was unique from that of blacks and Indians in that they were:

Exploited for both their labor and land

When prejudice arises from personality needs, many social psychologists feel that the best remedy is:

Individual or Group Therapy

Which of the following is an advantage of required college courses in intergroup relations?

It may avoid the problem of self-selection

According to conflict theorists stratification exists because

It serves the interests of the dominant group

Which of the following is NOT generally a sociological approach to explaining majority-minority relations?

Studying Ancient Artifacts

Marx and his followers, see a subordinate group's acceptance of an ideology that goes against its own self-interest as false consciousness.

True

Order theory believes that social arrangements exist because they perform some function for society.

True

Persuasive communication can be defined as any communication-written, oral, audiovisual, or whatever-that is specifically intended to influence attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors.

True

The plantation system's need for cheap, dependable labor is one reason why slavery developed into the form it did in the United States.

True

The rigid competitive system of race relations is marked by extensive open conflict.

True

While whites are more likely to see prejudice in terms of individual behavior, blacks are more likely to see prejudice in terms of institutional behavior.

True

White Americans are more likely to be supportive of equal rights for women (of all races) than of equal rights for black (men and women).

True

When one group migrates into an area where another group is present and conquers and subordinates that indigenous group it is called:

Colonization

Conflict theorists:

Argue that poverty is the cause of the family structure in poor families

When the group into which one is born, totally determines one's opportunities throughout life, this status is called:

Ascribed

The process whereby minorities are integrated into the system and become culturally similar to the majority group is called:

Assimilation

When whites, who generally deny the existence of black disadvantage, are pressed to account for whatever disadvantage blacks experience, they usually maintain that _________ mainly responsible.

Blacks themselves are

The paternalistic systems of Indian reservations and slave plantations differed in that:

Blacks were exploited for their labor while Indians were exploited for their land

Approaches to social problems that are sociological focus on:

Collectivities of people: groups and societies

Which of the following is an assumption of the conflict perspective?

Competing interest groups often have unequal power

A sociologist argues that the only thing that will work to effectively combat racism is to make fundamental changes in the institutions that are the source of racism. The sociologist is working from the:

Conflict Perspective

Under the right conditions, contact can be an important force for reducing prejudice. Which of the following is one important condition that must be met in order for contact to be effective?

Contact must be more than superficial

If a person is prejudiced mainly as a result of social learning or pressure for conformity what would be the best way to change that prejudice?

Education and change in environment

What is the main difference between persuasion and education?

Education does not attempt to change people's attitudes

The order (functionalist) perspective developed largely from the theories of:

Emile Durkheim

Research exploring the intergroup contact hypothesis has sought to identify the conditions under which contact is likely to reduce prejudice. Which of the following is an essential condition?

Equal status between the minority and majority members

A recent study found that those people who are least likely to stereotype minorities as lazy were the most likely to be opposed to welfare programs.

False

Conflict theory sees society as tending toward equilibrium and stability.

False

Culture of poverty theory places the blame for poverty on the social structure of a society.

False

Most of the white respondents to Gallup polls as recently as 1997, express a desire to live in all white neighborhoods.

False

Persuasive communication is effective when prejudice is meeting some personality need.

False

Racist beliefs about blacks were very strong before the advent of slavery in the United States.

False

Studies have shown that people living in integrated housing projects are more prejudiced even though they interact more regularly with persons of the opposite race than people who live in racially segregated housing projects.

False

The number of single-parent families is decreasing for all racial groups.

False

We live in a culture that encourages frank discussions about sex and contraception with teens.

False

According to Marx and his followers, the pattern of a subordinate group's acceptance of an ideology that goes against its own self-interest is called:

False Consciousness

The pattern of race relations in the United States today is best characterized as:

Fluid Competitive

The race system under which formalized discrimination has been largely eliminated—perhaps even outlawed is:

Fluid Competitive

A sociologist states that a group is disadvantaged because its members lack the necessary skills to perform jobs, which are rewarded by society. The sociologist is operating from the:

Functionalist Perspective

Chicano farm workers experiences in this country have often seemed a mix of paternalistic and rigid competitive race relations. They experience all of the following EXCEPT:

Guaranteed the right to organize by the Federal government

The effectiveness of persuasive communication in reducing prejudice depends upon all of the following except one. Which is NOT true?

How well the speaker can "shame" the listeners into admitting guilt

A central assumption of Marxist theory is that the distribution of wealth by and large determines other aspects of society, such as the political system and the culture, including social norms, values, and beliefs, which Marx called:

Ideology

The Moynihan Report focused on the high percentage of single-parent households as a factor in the poverty rates in black families, however recent research shows that:

In every type of family, African Americans and Hispanics have significantly lower incomes than whites

The paternalistic system characteristically occurs:

In rural; agricultural societies

A problem with the use of education to reduce prejudice, in terms of self-selection is that at the college level people who take courses in majority-minority relations or related topics are probably:

Less prejudiced than others to begin with

Which theory maintains that inequality is based mainly on class and considers racism to be a mechanism used by the wealthy to prevent the working class from recognizing its own interests?

Marxist Theory

Conflict theorists argue that economic stratification cannot act as an incentive to get people to work hard and acquire more training or skills because

Much social inequality is inherited rather than earned

In general, functionalist sociologists tend to be most concerned about majority-minority relations because:

Of their potential for serious disruption of society

In general, those who see black family structure as a major cause of poverty operate largely from the:

Order Perspective

In a _____________ system of race relations it is frequently claimed that members of the subordinate group are childlike and helpless, so that dominant group members are doing them a great favor by providing them with shelter and work and teaching the ways of civilization.

Paternalistic

When people of different races carry different job titles and get paid different amounts but do similar kinds of work, they are most likely living under which system of race relations?

Rigid Competitive

Which of the following is NOT one of the possible ways of reducing racial and ethnic prejudice?

Shock Therapy

People assigned to integrated settings in public housing and to integrated troop units and military barracks

Showed reductions in prejudice or became less prejudiced than comparable people in segregated settings

Exercises that set up a situation in which people experience discrimination and learn about the feelings that result from being discriminated against, and that point out the irrationality of prejudice and discrimination are called:

Simulation Exercises

This form of prejudice appears to be based on the belief that blacks are getting unfair advantages that violate basic American norms such as individualism and self-reliance. A key element of this form of prejudice appears to be denial of the presence of racial inequality in society. What is this called?

Symbolic Racism

This form of prejudice appears to be based on the belief that blacks are getting unfair advantages that violate basic American norms such as individualism and self-reliance. A key element of this form of prejudice appears to be denial of the presence of racial inequality in society. What is this called?

Symbolic racism

Which of the following may limit the potential of intergroup-relations when used in educational settings?

Teachers, like other people, are sometimes prejudiced

What is the perspective called that is based on the premise that society is made up of groups with conflicting self-interests?

The Conflict Perspective

An American Indian protest campaign in the 1970s referred to itself as ________________, a fitting description of Indian-white relations from before the Revolutionary War until the end of the nineteenth century.

The Trail of Broken Treaties

Slavery in the south changed drastically within two or three generations from its earliest introduction in the United States. Slaves became property and therefore had no legal rights and became a status from which one could not escape. This was due to:

The economic predominance of the plantation system and its need for labor

New Mexico's Hispanic population had a very different experience than Hispanics in other parts of the Southwest. Even today there is a large and powerful Hispanic elite in the state. This is due to:

The fact that Hispanics were the majority in the region and continued to have significant wealth and a larger number were able to maintain control of their land

According to Marx what one has to own or control to produce things of economic value is called:

The means of production

The rate of theft is high in a department store and a clerk has been warned that it must stop or the clerk could lose his job. The boss has also told the clerk that Mexican Americans are likely to shoplift and are probably responsible for most of the thefts in the store. So the clerk follows Mexican Americans around the store. This behavior is best explained by

The role expectation of the boss

The Moynihan Report concluded that:

The structure of the black family was the most important cause of black poverty

According to Merton's typology of prejudice and discrimination which type of person is prejudiced but does not discriminate?

The timid bigot

The main difference between paternalistic and competitive race relations is:

There is visible race conflict and competition in competitive race systems

The city of Boston experienced intense conflict and a number of violent incidents during the implementation of a school desegregation plan in the 1970s. Which of the following is a characteristic of neighborhoods where the conflict was most intense?

There was intense job competition with the other race

The belief that blacks were innately inferior to whites developed around the time that slavery became institutionalized. Research suggests that:

These beliefs developed as a result of the institutionalization of slavery for whites to rationalize what they were doing to blacks

In trying to figure out how important prejudice is as a cause of discriminatory behavior, La Pierce (1934), traveled around the United States with a Chinese couple. Later he sent questionnaires to the establishments they had visited asking if they would serve Chinese guests. What was the response of most of the businesses?

They said they would not serve Chinese Guests

Sherif and his colleagues divided a group of boys attending scout camp into two groups and then placed the groups in difficult and frustrating situations. Eventually the two groups became very hostile toward each other. How did the experimenters get the hostility between the two groups to dissipate?

They set up a situation where the two groups were interdependent and had to cooperate

Adorno found that prejudice is a generalized attitude

True

Anti-Semitism refers to prejudice against Jews.

True

Attitudes do not always determine behavior.

True

Critics of culture of poverty theory point out that it is akin to "blaming the victim."

True

Education about intergroup relations is most effective in reducing prejudice when it minimizes the stress associated with admitting previous error.

True

Even those who sought to help Indian people ended up exercising social control over them instead.

True

Guest-workers in Germany, such as people from Turkey, became the target of ethnic conflict when the German economy worsened.

True

In every type of family, blacks and Hispanics have much lower incomes than whites.

True

In the sociological view, individual attitudes are relatively unimportant in shaping patterns of intergroup relations.

True

Canadians generally honored their treaties with Indians, gave them better land for their reservations, and moved them less often as compared to the United States. The reason for this was:

White pressure for land in the United States was much greater

According to Adorno, which of the following is part of the process by which prejudiced persons develop personality needs for projection and scapegoating? a. Inability to release frustration against authority figures who are the source of the frustration b. Aggression is taken out against those who are high in the individual's ranking system c. Very lax child rearing practices d. Being taught in childhood to question authority

a

Rather than focus on the personality needs of the individual, social scientists who study social learning and conformity as causes of prejudice usually look at: a. The social environment b. Mental illness c. Child rearing practices d. Characteristics of the out-group

a

The text focuses on three general theories to explain the causes of prejudice. These theories view prejudice as based on: a. Personality needs; social learning and conformity; and social structure and economic position b. Personality needs; cultural relativism; and social structure and economic position c. Personal preference; social learning and conformity; and social structure and economic position. d. Personality needs; social learning and conformity; and strong interest in hate groups

a

Which of the following is a characteristic Adorno believed is associated with authoritarian personality? a. Superstitious and stereotypical thinking b. Critic Criticall of authority c. Supportive of people who do not conform to authority d. Loose adherence to conventional values

a

Adorno and his associates concluded all of the following about prejudice EXCEPT: a. Prejudice is an attitude or set of attitudes that tends to be generalized to a wide variety of out-groups rather than a specific response based on negative experiences with members of a particular out-group. b. If a person is prejudiced against one out-group, he or she is usually not prejudiced against other out-groups c. Conservatism and prejudice are not always linked. d. There is a personality type (authoritarian personality) that tends to be associated with prejudice.

b

Adorno did his original studies on prejudice in the 1940s. What are the findings of research done more recently? a. Prejudice has nearly disappeared b. Today's studies continue to show the same patterns c. Prejudice is no longer able to be generalized d. Conservatism is now clearly linked to prejudice

b

Which of the following did Asch (1956) find in his studies of conformity? a. Most people fail to conform even under a great deal of pressure b. Most people tend to conform to gain or keep the acceptance of others c. Confederates can mess up a research paper d. Most people will stick up for what they believe to be true even under extreme pressure to do otherwise

b

Why are positive stereotypes a mixed blessing to groups to which they are applied? a. They encourage members of the group to be themselves b. They lead to development in minority communities c. They justify more negative stereotypes d. They free minorities from stereotypical expectations

b

Which theory says that we want to believe our behavior is consistent with our attitudes? a. Psychoanalysis b. Authoritarian personality theory c. The contact hypothesis d. Cognitive dissonance theory

d

A problem with the use of education to reduce prejudice, in terms of self-selection is that at the college level people who take courses in majority-minority relations or related topics are probably: a. More prejudiced than others to begin with b. Smarter than those who do not take such courses c. Less prejudiced than others to begin with d. More ignorant than those who do not take such courses

c

If someone minimizes, avoids, or denies undesirable characteristics in himself/herself by exaggerating those same characteristics in others, they are engaging in: a. Scapegoating b. Discrimination c. Projection d. Racism

c

What is the difference between cognitive and affective prejudice? a. Cognitive is what people like or dislike, while affective is how people are inclined to behave b. Cognitive is what people like or dislike, while affective is what people believe is true c. Affective is what people like or dislike, while cognitive is what people believe is true d. Affective is what people like or dislike, while cognitive is how people are inclined to behave

c

One's position in society's ranking system as represented particularly by such criteria as income, education, and occupation is called: a. Class b. Stratification c. Prestige d. Socioeconomic status

d

Prejudice is learned through all of the following socialization processes EXCEPT: a. Internalization b. Reward and punishment c. Modeling d. Socioeconomic status

d

The tendency to think of or react to everyone in the same category (ex. black, Chinese, female or gay) in a more or less fixed way, based on the category is called: a. Negativity b. Symbolic racism c. Ignorance d. Overcategorization

d