Sociology Final

Sociologists observe society:

a. by studying the various parts of a society and the ways they interact and influence each other.

11.According to the theoretical position developed by Karl Marx, what is the engine of social change?

a. conflict between social groups

36.What is the tendency to use your own group's way of doing things as the yardstick for judging others called?

a. ethnocentrism

21.According to the scientific method, what are the steps in research, and in what order should they be completed?

a. form a hypothesis, define variables, predict outcomes, collect data, analyze data

49.Antonio Gramsci argued that when the ruling class, without the use of force, persuades the rest of society that its beliefs and values are the only or best values, they have achieved:

a. hegemony.

27.After researchers conduct a series of interviews, they usually transcribe the responses. The transcription process is fairly time consuming, but it is valuable in part because it allows researchers to:

a. look for patterns in their data.

15.Which social theory focuses on micro-level interactions?

a. symbolic interactionism

3.The social sciences are all those disciplines that study:

a. the human, or social, world.

39.Which of the following is an example of something that would be a part of a person's or a society's material culture?

a. weapons of war

20.Lili is conducting a sociological research study on the underground music scene. She has just finished collecting data for the study. What is the next step that Lili should take in the sociological research or approach or method?

b. Analyze data.

Which of the following best characterizes microsociology?

b. It is an approach that examines interactions between individuals and the ways those interactions reflect larger patterns within a society.

34.What can an institutional review board do if it has reservations about the safety or ethics of a research project?

b. It may stop the project from going forward, at least until changes have been made.

5.Which of the following statements best describes the approach taken by macrosociologists?

b. Macrosociology directly examines large-scale social structures in order to see how they affect individual lives.

47. What kind of norm is so deeply ingrained that the very thought of breaking it brings feelings of disgust or horror?

b. a taboo

2.Sociology can be defined as the systematic and scientific study of human society and social behavior. Given this definition, what level of social structure might sociologists examine?

b. almost any level—from interactions between two people to large-scale institutions

33.If a researcher allows his own values and opinions to affect his analysis, she/ he is guilty of:

b. bias.

41.What is the sociological term for signs that people make with their bodies?

b. gestures

9.According to Chapter 1, what was probably Harriet Martineau's most important contribution to the development of sociology as a discipline?

b. her translation of the work of Auguste Comte into English

16.Which school of social theory argues that everything is relative, fragmented, temporary, contingent, and ephemeral?

b. postmodernism

18.Before beginning a research project, what will a good researcher always do?

b. review the literature in order to become familiar with earlier research that relates to his topic

31.What is the primary goal of comparative and historical research methods?

b. to understand relationships between parts of society in different times and different places

28.Why are respondents often more comfortable addressing sensitive subjects on surveys than in other research contexts?

c. They can answer in private.

38.The ability to understand another culture in terms of its own norms and values, without reference to any other cultural standards is called:

c. cultural relativism.

24.The analysis of documents, such as medical records, photographs, diaries, letters, newspapers, and song lyrics, uses which of the following types of data?

c. existing sources

45.Norms that are not strictly enforced, such as etiquette in the cafeteria and the dress code for class, are referred to as:

c. folkways.

22.In the 1980s, many politicians argued that listening to heavy metal music led teenagers to commit suicide. While you might find this belief silly, it is a(n):

c. hypothesis

23.If you observe a group in order to determine its norms, values, rules, and meanings, then what kind of research are you doing?

c. qualitative research

14.Conflict theorists believe that arguments over values and beliefs have their roots in:

c. struggles over scarce resources and power.

7.Together and in groups people organize their lives and their social interactions to produce a real and meaningful world. Sociologists can study this because:

c. such organization is done in patterned ways.

19.Jai is conducting a sociological research study on differences in interactions between similar and dissimilar co-workers. After reviewing the literature, he developed a hypothesis that interactions between co-workers who are more similar will be more positive and he has operationalized study variables. What is the next step that Jai should take in the sociological research or approach or method?

d. Choose a research design or method.

17.According to queer theorists, how should we think about sexual identity?

d. Sexual identity is fluid and can change over an individual's lifetime.

37.The famous feminist and social theorist Judith Butler has criticized westerners who want to "free" Muslim women from wearing a veil or burqa. Butler believes that liberation from the veil is not the liberation that many Americans might assume it is. Butler's critique exemplifies what term or concept?

d. cultural relativism

48.The values, norms, and practices of the most powerful group within a society are called the:

d. dominant culture.

32.Which research method most closely resembles the scientific method?

d. experimental research

43.Which of the following is clearly an example of a taboo in American society?

d. incest

26.Sociologists who administer interviews can only gather data from a limited number of people because:

d. interviews are too time consuming.

13.What school of social theory believes that society is a stable system of structures, each of which contributes to the equilibrium of the whole?

d. structural functionalism

46.Which of the following lists norms in order from the most severely enforced to the least?

d. taboos, mores, folkways

42.In the movie Mean Girls, students identified each other using categories like "jock," "cheerleader," "skater," and "nerd." Which theory would argue that such classification systems influence the way that you see people?

d. the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

6.What is the sociological imagination?

d. the ability to understand the connections between biography and history, or the interplay of the self and the world

12.Max Weber believed that, as the Industrial Revolution progressed, society became increasingly rationalized. How did he define rationalization?

d. the application of economic logic to all aspects of social life

25.Ethnographers using participant observation must always be aware of reflexivity, which occurs because:

d. the presence of ethnographers may alter the behavior of the people they are observing.

29.When do sociologists most often use statistical tools to analyze their data?

d. when they use experiments and surveys

10.Who coined the phrase "the survival of the fittest"?

e. Herbert Spencer

35.What is the definition of "culture"?

e. all of the above

44.What do sociologists call rules and guidelines for behavior that is considered acceptable within a group?

e. all of the above

40.According to sociologists, what are signs?

e. anything designed to meaningfully represent something else

50.A cultural group that exists harmoniously within a larger, dominant culture is called a:

e. subculture

30.If a researcher uses a social networking site like Facebook to obtain data, they are:

e. using existing sources.

8.Sociology allows you to see the world in a new light. Does this mean you have to reevaluate old opinions?

e. yes

53.Culture shock is almost never useful in helping sociologists to see that even what is most familiar to us can be bizarre.

false

54.Cultural relativism and ethnocentrism are extremely similar concepts.

false

56.Although languages differ considerably from one culture to another, the meanings of gestures are commonly understood in the same way by people throughout the world.

false

61.You are about to do a series of interviews about drug abuse and academic performance. In order to make people feel more comfortable, you tell them that these interviews are about student satisfaction with the university and have them sign a form showing that they've willingly agreed to participate. You have the informed consent of your research subjects.

false

63.The "beginner's mind," a concept borrowed from the Zen Buddhist tradition, is the opposite of the sociological perspective.

false

64.There is only one correct theoretical explanation for any particular social phenomenon.

false

51.Sociologists claim that culture is the lens through which we perceive and evaluate what is going on around us.

true

52.Even when sociologists study their own cultures, they often still engage in the process of "othering" the people that they study.

true

55.Gestures, language, values, norms, sanctions, folkways, and mores are all examples of symbolic culture.

true

57.Thomas Kuhn, a philosopher of science, argues that truth is relative, in that it is dependent on the paradigm through which one understands the world.

true

58.Polls and surveys do not just reflect popular opinion; they can also be used to shape and change attitudes and beliefs.

true

59.Market research is probably the most common use of sociological methods for nonacademic purposes.

true

60.Survey data is often less valid than that produced by other methods because respondents are not always honest when answering questionnaires.

true

62.Sociologists try to follow steps of the scientific method or approach to gather new empirical data that can change and deepen our understanding of human social life.

true

65.Social theory is Eurocentric and privileges Western thought.

true

66.Conflict theory uses a dynamic model of historical change that presents change as constant, ongoing, and inevitable.

true

67.Queer theory argues that no category of sexual identity is fundamentally deviant or normal.

true

68. Emile Durkheim believed that even the most individualistic actions had social origins.

true