Sociology Test 1

According to sociologists, human behavior is the product of "free will."

False

The sociological perspective reveals that people's lives are mostly a result of what they decide to do.

False

The sociological perspective helps us assess the truth of the "common sense" beliefs most people take for granted.

True

The early U.S. sociologist who earned the first doctorate ever awarded by Harvard University to a person of color was:

W.E.B. Du Bois

Which U.S. sociologist studied the African American community and served as a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)?

W.E.B. Du Bois

Peter Berger described using the sociological perspective as seeing the __________ in the __________.

general; particular

Learning more about sociology helps us to:

see the opportunities in our lives, see the constraints in our lives, and be more active participants in society.

Which theoretical approach highlights the fact that it is not so much what people do that matters as much as the meaning they attach to their behavior?

symbolic-interaction approach

The structural-functional approach helps us to:

understand what makes society "tick"

The term sociology was coined in 1838 by:

Auguste Comte

Two of sociology's early founders were:

Auguste Comte and Karl Marx

The pioneering sociologist who studied patterns of suicide in Europe was:

Emile Durkheim

What is an accurate criticism of the structural-functional approach?

It ignores inequality that can generate tension and conflict.

Which early sociologist claimed that the important task was not to simply understand society but to change it?

Karl Marx

What might a sociologist say about why an individual chooses a particular person to marry?

This shows that the social world guides human behavior.

Societies throughout the world are increasingly interconnected.

True

According to Comte, during the Middle Ages, most people in Europe thought of society as:

an expression of God's will.

The social-conflict approach might lead a sociologist to highlight:

class differences, gender inequality, racial inequality, etc.

C. Wright Mills pointed out that sociological awareness tends to be more widespread:

in times of social crisis.

By saying that the sociological perspective shows us "the strange in the familiar," the text argues that this point of view:

rejects the familiar idea that people simply decide how to act in favor of the initially strange idea that society shapes our lives.

The chief characteristic of which theoretical approach is its view of society as orderly and stable?

structural-functional approach

Which theoretical approach is closest to that taken by early sociologists Auguste Comte and Emile Durkheim?

structural-functional approach

The basic idea of the symbolic-interaction approach is that society is:

the reality people construct as they interact with one another.

For Karl Marx, the point of studying society was:

to reduce inequality

From a sociological perspective, patterns of childbearing around the world suggest that the number of children born to a woman reflects:

whether she lives in a poor or rich society.