Sociology Exam 2 Study Guide

Robert Merton's typology identifies five routes for individuals based on cultural goals and institutionalized means—conformity, ritualism, innovation, retreatism, and rebellion—and all but one is deviance by Merton's definition.

True

Social stratification in one form or another is present in all societies.

True

prejudice

an inflexible attitude about a particular group of people that is rooted in generalizations or stereotypes

Which concept refers to a state of normlessness that is kept in check by group membership?

anomie

What, in broad terms, is the definition of deviance?

any transgression of socially established norms

How did Stanley Milgram test participants' obedience to authority?

he had "experimenters" coax "teachers" into shocking "leaners

What is assimilation?

merging into the larger culture and shedding one's separate identity

The year ___ saw the highest homicide rate in U.S. history, at ____ per 100,000 persons or 24,700 murders. Since then, the number has declined to ___ per 100,000 persons, or 14,164 murders in ____

1991, 9.8, 4.4, 2014

The latest crime statistics in the United States suggest that fifteen- to nineteen-year-olds make up about _______ percent of the population but account for _______ percent of criminal arrests while people sixty-five and older make up more than ________ percent of the population but account for less than _______ percent of arrests.

7, 13, 15, 1

Match each social class to its percentage of the U.S. population.

middle class -30% upper class-1% working poor- 13% upper middle class-14% underclass -12% working (lower-middle) class- 30%

The way that the My Lai massacre ended during the Vietnam War is an example of what?

positive deviance

What is the practice of banks and mortgage lenders identifying high-risk areas (usually low-income or minority neighborhoods) and either refusing mortgages to applicants from those neighborhoods or offering loans at prohibitively high rates?

red-lining

The phrase "keeping up with the Joneses" is an example of what group concept?

reference group

rebel

renounces society's approved goals and means entirely and instead works toward his or her own goals using new means

retreatist:

renounces society's approved goals and means entirely and lives outside the conventional norms altogether

Match the three major systems of social stratification to the correct factors. There may be more than one match for each system.

social class -During the course of a lifetime, individuals can move up or down levels in the strata. -This is a system primarily based on economics. caste -Members must marry within their own group. -Status within the hierarchy is inherited and cannot be changed slavery -This is prohibited by every nation in the world.

What term describes the division of society into groups arranged in a social hierarchy?

social stratification

If researchers find that the Great Recession of 2008 led to large numbers of middle-class people experiencing downward mobility to the lower-middle class, it would be an example of what?

structural mobility

Racism

the belief that Asians are inherently better than whites

prejudice

the belief that all Jewish people are cheap

In terms of annual income for a family of four, what is the poverty line in the United States, as defined by the Department of Health and Human Services?

$24,000

innovator:

accepts society's approved goals but rejects the means to achieve those goals

Which statements correctly describe "the strength of weak ties"?

- Weak ties provide access to valuable information.- Weak ties provide benefits that strong ties do not.

Identify the true and false statements about social media sites according to statistics in the textbook.

-Almost 70 percent of all adults use a social networking site. -More than 30 billion photos have been uploaded to Instagram.

Which ethnic group has the highest percentage of crack-cocaine federal offenders?

black

Melissa is a student studying biology at the University of Michigan. She grew up in Michigan, in a nearby town. Identify each person as being a member of an in-group or out-group for Melissa.

-Her sister who is a student at Michigan State -A current community college student with whom Melissa went to high school -A history major at the University of Michigan

What are the distinguishing features of a symbolic interactionist theory of social deviance?

-a focus on individual psychology rather than on the social dynamics of large populations - a recognition of the impact of assigning labels to behaviors and to people

Which of the following are kinds of conformity produced by social influence and which are not?

-compliance -internalization -identification IS NOT -obedience

Which of the following hypothetical scenarios are examples of social control in the United States?

-parents often reminding their young children not to pick their nose -compulsory schooling laws for high school-aged students

Place each major study of social networks in order of its publication from first to last.

1. Mark Granovetter's "The Strength of Weak Ties" 2. Matt Hoffman and Lisa Torres's article on gender, networks and employment 3. Duncan Watt's Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age 4. Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler's article on networks and sexual health

The differences between a group and a - is whether the members identify with one another and whether interaction is temporary or permanent. A primary group consists of people such as -, whereas a secondary group might consist of people such as -.

1. crowd 2. family members 3. students taking this course

Place each study of deviance in the order it was published from first to last.

1.David Matza 2.Alexander Liazos 3.Jack Katz 4.Leile Rupp and Verta Taylor

Which of the following situations is an example of deviance avowal?

A man admits to his family that he is a smoker, and even if he quits, he will always be a smoker because the addition is lifelong.

situational ethnicity

A woman's grandparents were immigrants from Syria to the United States. She used to live in rural Oklahoma where she worked hard to disguise her ethnic heritage for fear of negative attitudes toward her. She recently moved to Dearborn, Michigan where there is a large population of Arab Americans and she has now begun taking pride in her ethnic heritage

neither symbolic not situational ethnicity

A young man moves with his family to the United States from Ecuador. They continue to participate in traditional Ecuadorian cultural activities at home (food, dress, language, etc.) but also try to assimilate in the community. However, they have no intentions of hiding their heritage from anyone

Match each collection of people to the proper concept.

An aggregate: the audience at a taping of Saturday Night Live A category: all of the people watching Saturday Night Live on television last Saturday A primary group: a group of close friends and family members who get together to watch Saturday Night Live on television each week A secondary group: the cast members of Saturday Night Live

Match the social theorists to their work. applied social interactionist theory to the dynamics of stigma

Erving Goffman

Jennifer's soccer league is quite large. It includes twelve teams, and each team has approximately fifteen members. Jennifer is very popular and has the most ties with individuals throughout the league. Which social network concept best describes Jennifer's situation?

Centrality

Why does the ideology of equal opportunity resonate with most Americans?

Correct Answer -Americans tend to believe that unequal opportunities restrict meritocracy. -We live in a bourgeois society, in which the maximization of profit is the primary business incentive. Incorrect Answer -We tend to believe that the "rules of the game" should be altered to compensate for inequalities resulting from an "uneven playing field." -We have higher standards of equality than other modern capitalist societies.

Match the social theorists to their work. Offered a functionalist theory of the causes of suicide.

Emile Durkheim

Using labeling theory, place in order from first to last the stages by which a student, named Evan, assumes the role of social deviant.

Evan is late for school twice in one week, The school principal publicly calls Evan a truant Evan's teachers and friends start to treat him as a troublemaker Evan comes to think of himself as a rule breaker Evan begins to break school rules on a regular basis

Someone who admits that he has a problem, such as alcoholism, but wants to shake the stigma associated with it and change his life for the better is experiencing tertiary deviance.

False

The term "deviant" refers to a moral, not a social, judgment.

False

Fill in the blanks to complete the passage about power.

Power is the ability to control the actions of others and if legitimated, provides authority. Power can be coercive when it is backed by the threat of force, or influential when it is supported by persuasion.

Match the social theorists to their work. Applied labeling theory to the question of how deviance begins.

Howard S. Becker

A citizen group sends letters to the governor of a southern state and asks her to reconsider stopping the execution of a man on death row convicted of murdering a police officer. The governor declines, stating that the purpose of the criminal justice system is to remove this convicted murderer from society so that everyone else can be protected. What type of justification for punishment is used by the governor?

Incapacitation

Identify each example as either instrumental or expressive leadership.

Instrumental Leadership -The CEO of McDonald's knows that laying off 500 workers will bring discord among other employees but knows they must do so to meet quarterly goals. -Your boss does not care that forcing employees to work through the weekend may hurt morale. The project must be done by Monday. Expressive Leadership -The CEO of Starbucks considers requiring all stores to begin opening at 4:30 a.m. but after considering the undue stress it may add to employees, decides not to implement the change.

An employee at the local Department of Motor Vehicles puts in an eight-hour shift and then goes to a local bar and grill to celebrate a co-worker's birthday. What aspect of bureaucracy does this situation highlight?

Interpersonal interactions help humanize bureauracracies

A researcher discovers that, in the labor market, blacks face discrimination compared to whites, but black men are much more likely to face discrimination than black women. What concept does this highlight?

Intersectionality

How much social mobility is there in the modern United States compared to fifty years ago?

Mobility is about the same in the United States now as it was fifty years ago.

Match each quality to the correct group category based on Robert Merton's theory of group classification

Out-Group: -nitpicking - snobbish In-Group - precise - classy

Identify the following as either a primary group or secondary group.

Primary:- a close-knit group of adult friends who have been together since middle school- a married couple Secondary: - a tailoring shop that makes bespoke (fully custom) suits for men- a professional football team

Symbolic Interactionism

Race and ethnicity are part of our identity as displayed through our presentation of self

Structural Functionalism

Racial and ethnic differences are a necessary part of society. Even racial inequality has functions that help maintain social order

Conflict Theory

Racial and ethnic differences create intergroup conflict; minority and majority groups have different interests and may find themselves at odds as they attempt to secure and protect their interests

Match the social theorists to their work. Developed strain theory as a functionalist account of social deviance.

Robert Merton

Which of the following is an example of positive deviance?

Rosa Parks refusing to give her seat to a white man

In labeling theory, what is the difference between primary deviance and secondary deviance?

Secondary deviance is an eventual effect of primary deviance, where deviance begins.

Which term, coined by Robert Merton, is based on the W. I. Thomas theorem that "if men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences"?

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Which of the following are types of slavery occurring in the world today?

Slavery Occurring Today -human trafficking -sex slavery -serfdom Slavery Not Occurring Today -slavery as punishment for a crime

Choose the term or phrase that best completes the sentence:Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, has a rule that if a team cannot be fed by two pizzas, the team is too large. The "two pizza" rule exemplifies the concept of ____________.

Social loafing

Match the basic principles of social stratification to the appropriate examples.

Social stratification is a characteristic of society -Barack Obama was able to become president of the United States even though African Americans are generally lower status than whites in the United States. Social stratification persists over generations. -Mark Zuckerberg is likely to pass down his wealth to his children. Social stratification is maintained through beliefs that are widely shared by members of society. -The American achievement ideology suggests that people who are not successful did not work hard enough. Different societies use different criteria for ranking their members. -Gender is the most important characteristic of stratification in more traditional societies.

A --- approach suggests that social inequality is a necessary part of society. A--- approach suggests that the poor and rich have different interests and may find themselves at odds as they attempt to secure and protect these interests. A---- approach suggests that we develop everyday class consciousness as a way to distinguish the status of others.

Structural Functionalism conflict theory symbolic interactionism

Choose the term or phrase that best completes the sentence:In her best-selling book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg encourages girls and women to aspire to leadership roles. Sandberg partnered with ____________ to launch the "ban bossy" campaign.

The Girl Scouts

Identify the true and false statements about the trends of college enrollment by income level from 1975 to 2014.

True Statements -A larger percentage of all high school graduates, regardless of income, have been enrolling in college over time. -Approximately the same percentage of middle-income high school graduates enrolled in college in 2014 as in the late 1990s. -The college enrollment gap between low-income and high-income high school grads narrowed from 1975 to 2014. False Statement(s) -The college enrollment gap between low-income and high-income high school grads widened from 1975 to 2014.

Identify the true and false statements about social media engagement and our social connections.

True Statements -Americans are no more or less lonely or detached from one another than they have ever been. -Users of social media are more connected than nonusers.

Identify the following as either white collar crime or hate crime.

White Collar Crime -crime that is policed and typically punished less strenuously than other types of crime -crime that does not involve force -crime that is committed by high social status individuals Hate Crime -crime that deliberately targets victims because of their demographic characteristics

Which of the following is an example of passing?

a college student works hard to change her accent, style of dress, and even purchase a "miracle skin- whitening cream" in attempt to disguise her ethnic origins

racism

a set of beliefs about the claimed superiority of one racial or ethnic group

Discrimination

consistently refusing to rent an apartment to Arab Americans who are financially qualified

Which of the following statements related to race, ethnicity, and the criminal justice system are correct?

correct statements -Blacks are more likely to be murdered than whites -Black men make up a larger percentage of the state and federal prison population than white men -Of the hate crimes attributed to racial discrimination, the majority target blacks incorrect statements -Black men are overrepresented in the prison population while Hispanic men are underrepresented

identify the statements about race that are true.

correct statements -Race is a social construct -There is no race chromosome in our DNA. Incorrect Statements -Race is not real -Race is by definition about differences in physical appearance

What American system does law professor and civil rights attorney Michelle Alexander suggest is a type of caste system in her book The New Jim Crow?

criminal justice

A white man places a rental property he owns on Craigslist to rent it out for the next year. He receives two very promising applications from individuals who both are college educated and hold well-paying jobs. He decides not to rent his house to the first applicant simply because he is Arab American and rents it to the second applicant, who is white. What is this an example of?

discrimination

What is pluralism?

engaged coexistence of distinct racial or ethnic groups

Results from the Twenty Statements Test (TST) over the past sixty years suggest that Americans' self-images have changed very little over time.

false

ritualist

gives up on achieving society's approved goals but accepts the means to achieve those goals

Segregation

involuntary separation of groups by legal or social means, based on race or ethnicity

discrimination

unequal treatment of individuals based on their membership in a social group

Match each occupation to its associated social class.

upper-middle class -professionals and managers middle class -highly skilled blue collar jobs working (lower-middle) class -clerical jobs working poor -seasonal work

Match each label to the correct example of social mobility.

vertical social mobility -A paramedic gets a job as a receptionist. vertical social mobility -A retail store cashier gets a job as a manager. horizontal social mobility -A registered nurse leaves nursing to become a high school teacher.