Intro to Sociology - SYG 2010 - IRSC

How do sociologists distinguish a group from a crowd?

A crowd doesn't necessarily feel a shared identity.

How is a role different from a status?

A role involves behaviors.

How is a sociological definition of religion different from a commonsense, everyday definition?

A sociological definition must be broad enough to encompass all brands of religious experience.

Secondary groups are characterized by which of the following?

A) Secondary groups are often formal or impersonal. B) Secondary groups tend to be based on specific roles or activities. C) Secondary groups sometimes break down into primary groups. -all of the above-

Which of the following is an example of how the hidden curriculum can reinforce inequality?

All of the professors at a college are white and heterosexual.

Which of the following describes how deviance can be explained from the functionalist perspective?

Deviance clarifies moral boundaries and affirms norms.

What does a sociological perspective tell us about education in the United States?

Educational success often has as much to do with social stratification as it does with individual ability.

Which of the following is a major critique of conflict theory?

In focusing on conflict and change, it sometimes ignores the stable and enduring parts of society.

Which of the following statements is NOT true about in-groups?

In-group membership is often temporary.

Which of the following best characterizes microsociology?

It is an approach that examines interactions between individuals and the ways.

Which of the following is a weakness of the sociological approach to everyday life?

It labors to grasp things that everyday actors understand implicitly.

Which of the following is the most serious critique of structural functionalism?

It tends to argue that any social feature that exists must serve a function.

According to Robert Merton, what is the difference between manifest and latent functions?

Manifest functions are intended and obvious.

Which of the following is NOT an advantage of using interviews as a research method?

Respondents always provide honest answers.

Routine Activities Theory is based on the convergence of three things that includes a motivated offender and his or her definitions of an appropriate target and situation. This most closely represents which theoretical perspective?

Symbolic Interaction

According to the structural strain theory of deviance as articulated by Robert Merton, what is one of the principal reasons that people turn to deviant behavior in the United States?

The goal of success is shared by a majority of people, but not everyone has equal means to achieve that goal.

What sort of social mobility is possible in a caste system?

There is little or no chance of social mobility.

Which of the following is true of the upper class in the United States today?

They are a largely self-sustaining group and rarely add new members.

What do schools, churches, and governments all have in common?

They are all social institutions.

What are the positive consequences of racial and ethnic categories?

They create a sense of identity and lead to feelings of solidarity

Why are 527 committees much more important to political campaigns now than they were in the past?

Unlike candidates or political parties, there are no limits on how much money an individual can give to them.

Which of the following is an advantage cited by supporters of school vouchers?

Vouchers give more choices to parents in their children's education.

Which theorist argued that if people "define a situation as real, it is real in its consequences"?

W. I. Thomas

Which one of the following is NOT an element of the looking-glass self?

We determine whether or not other people's evaluations of us are accurate.

How do sociologists define a minority group?

a group whose members suffer from unequal treatment and have limited access to necessary resources

How do sociologists define ethnicity?

a group with a shared ancestry or shared cultural heritage

Which of the following is best suited to avoiding groupthink?

a leader who encourages and rewards the presentation of alternative opinions

How do sociologists define race?

a social category based on real or perceived biological differences

Functionalist theory is very concerned with the ways that structures contribute to the stability of society. What is a structure?

a social institution or patterned interaction that is stable over time and helps meet the needs of society

According to your textbook, what do all religions have in common?

a system of beliefs and rituals that establish a relationship between the sacred and the profane

Appearance, manner, style of dress, race, gender, and age are all elements of:

an individual's personal front.

According to the symbolic interactionist George Herbert Mead, the generalized other is:

an understanding of the rules governing a number of different players in related roles.

According to Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol, how do schools reinforce inequality?

by using local property taxes to fund public schools, trapping poor children in poor schools

What do sociologists call awareness of our own and others' class statuses?

class consciousness

What theory argues that punishments for rule violators are unequally distributed, with those near the top of society subject to more lenient rules and sanctions than those at the bottom?

conflict theory

Unlike sociologists, most people base their knowledge of the world on:

conventional wisdom, background knowledge, and personal experience.

What do sociologists call it when cultures that were once distinct become increasingly similar?

cultural leveling

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

cultural relativism.

What do sociologists call the tendency for individuals to age out of criminal activity?

desistance

The idea that individuals learn to be deviant by interacting with others who are already deviant is called (hint: also known as cultural transmission theory):

differential association theory.

Puerto Rico is a self-governing republic, but is ultimately under the control of the U.S. government. Since 1917 all Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, but are not represented in Congress and cannot cast ballots in presidential elections. In this sense they are:

disenfranchised.

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

dominant culture.

What sort of status would a physical disability be?

embodied status

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

ethnocentrism

Which method of social research might involve shifting between participating in a social situation and being an observer?

ethnography

What do sociologists call it when an individual changes her career but remains within the same social class?

horizontal social mobility

What aspects of stigma are symbolic interactionists interested in?

how people manage their stigmatized identities on an everyday basis

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

incest

Social mobility that occurs over the course of an individual's lifetime is called:

intragenerational mobility.

A closed-ended question is one that:

limits the possible responses.

Abdullah II of Jordan succeeded his father, Hussein bin Talal, as ruler of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1999. This makes his government a:

monarchy.

Which theory of power argues that a variety of organizations and institutions have roughly equal access to the power structure?

pluralism

The methods and tactics of managing a political entity are called:

politics.

If murder is relative to the situation, the motive, the ability of legal representatives to prosecute to a greater or lesser extent, and the interpretation of a jury, then it appears to lack a clear definition. When the reality of murder is under investigation we are engaged in a more ________ analysis of it.

postmodern

Which school of social theory questions reality by arguing that everything is relative, fragmented, temporary, contingent, and ephemeral?

postmodernism

Groups that we use as standards to evaluate ourselves (either positively, in terms of the positions we aspire to achieve, or negatively, in terms of the positions we wish to avoid) are called:

reference groups.

A society that separates church and state is a ____________ society.

secular

What system of stratification is commonly used in capitalist societies?

social class

Designer labels on purses and athletic logos on shirts are both examples of material culture. These labels and logos communicate meaning to other individuals that interpret and evaluate them. Which theoretical paradigm does this most closely represent?

symbolic interaction.

Which of the following theories focuses on how our behaviors are dependent upon the ways we interpret, make sense of, and define ourselves, others, and social situations?

symbolic interactionism

Which social theory focuses on micro-level interactions?

symbolic interactionism

Which of the following is NOT a subculture?

the Ku Klux Klan

What is the sociological imagination?

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

What is the most extreme form of authoritarianism called?

totalitarianism

What sort of social mobility often results from losing a job?

vertical social mobility

Which of the following would sociologists consider the best definition of deviance?

violations of social norms

You're doing a research project on the effects of contemporary media. If your hypothesis is that "watching violence on television causes an increase in violent behavior," then what are your variables?

violence on television and violent behavior

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

weapons of war

What is role conflict?

when one individual has multiple roles affiliated with two more statuses that are in conflict

Under what circumstances does a deviant label lead from primary to secondary deviance?

when the deviant label is internalized

Which of the following is a characteristic of a bureaucracy?

A) formal organization B) a division of labor C) written rules -all of the above-

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

A) laws B) folkways C) mores -all of the above-

How do we decide when to display situational ethnicity?

We do a cost-benefit analysis.

Emile Durkheim worried that, in an increasingly fragmented modern world, individuals would feel less and less connected to groups, which would lead to:

anomie, or normlessness.

What is a political system that denies ordinary people participation or representation in their government called?

authoritarian

What are religions that worship one divine figure called?

monotheistic religions

Which of the following are characterized by long-term, intimate, face-to-face relationships?

primary groups

Socialization refers to the:

process by which people learn the norms, values, and beliefs of their culture (i.e. family, education, religion, peer groups, media).

What is it called when members of a racial minority group intermarry and have children with members of the dominant group until the races are completely mixed?

racial assimilation

Sociologists refer to the webs of direct and indirect ties connecting individuals to others who influence them as:

social networks.

Organizations formed expressly to raise and spend money in order to influence elected officials are called:

special interest groups.

Sociologists often point out that systems of stratification in the United States systematically favor white men. Sometimes people contest this, pointing to wealthy and powerful black women like Oprah Winfrey or Toni Morrison. A valid counterpoint to this argument is that:

stratification is a characteristic of a society, rather than a reflection of individual differences.

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

structural functionalism

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

struggles over scarce resources and power.

How does Chapter 4 define the self?

the experience of a real identity, distinct from other people

Which of the following is an important aspect of symbolic interactionism?

the idea that society is produced and reproduced by individuals interacting with each other, especially through language

What is the scientific method or approach?

the standard procedure for acquiring and verifying empirical knowledge

According to conflict theory, what is the real source of racism?

the struggle for power and control

What term did the sociologist George Ritzer use to describe the spread of rationalization and bureaucratic ways of operating into everyday life?

McDonaldization

Kenneth Gergen coined the term "the saturated self" to describe a self produced through exposure to more and more points of view and sources of information. In this way, the self is also similar to nothing more than a pile of conflicting myths and stories and most closely represents which theoretical paradigm?

Postmodernism

There are no clear boundaries or definitions for anything especially because reality is nothing more than what we make of it. This most closely represents which of the following theoretical perspectives?

Postmodernism

How is prejudice different from discrimination?

Prejudice is an attitude; discrimination is an action.

What does the sociologist Randall Collins argue is the true function of schools?

They reproduce the class structure, making sure that most people grow up to have a socioeconomic status similar to their parents.

How is Max Weber's idea of social class different from Karl Marx's?

Weber believed that wealth, power, and prestige could all affect a person's social class.

A society where social mobility is highly restricted through formal or informal rules, like those of a caste system, is called:

a closed system.

Attending religious services would be an example of:

extrinsic religiosity.

The belief that Asians are genetically predisposed to be more intelligent than Europeans is an example of:

prejudice.

A set of beliefs about the superiority of one racial or ethnic group compared to another that is used to justify inequality is:

racism.

Unlike a folkway, a more is closely related to:

the core or moral values of a group.

According to C. Wright Mills, who rules America?

the power elite