Sociology 101 Midterm (2nd Set)

How does Chapter 4 define the self?

"the experience of a real identity, distinct from other people"

W.I. Thomas famously argued that "if men define situations as real, then":

"they are real in their consequences."

Robert Merton's structural strain theory sees deviance as the result of a person's position in a social structure. What do you think that Jack Katz, author of Seductions of Crime, would say about structural strain theory?

A focus on social position misses the emotional appeal that a deviant act has for an individual.

Although many people feel that expectations for personal space (usually about 18 inches for Americans) are innate, members of many cultures are used to noticeably less personal space than we are, which helps to demonstrate that our expectations for personal space are:

A part of our culture and as such are learned, rather than innate

What does it mean for a sociologist to control for a variable?

All factors except for the independent variable are taken into account.

A research team is curious about the relationship between diet and exercise habits and academic performance among American college students. In order to get their data the researchers randomly select 17 colleges by pulling names out of a hat and travel to campuses, where they stand in prominent public places and ask for volunteers until they have 10 people from each campus willing to be interviewed. What is the researchers' target population?

American college students

Sociology can be approached from either a microsociological or a macrosociological perspective. Which is more useful?

Both are useful in different ways, because they each provide different types of information about the same object of study.

What is the link between feminist theory and conflict theory?

Both seek not only to understand inequality, but also to remedy it.

When Patti took her world tour, she had lunch at McDonald's in Tokyo, ate dinner at Hard Rock Café in Hong Kong, purchased clothes at Macy's in London, and was entertained at a Disney show featuring Mickey Mouse and Pluto in Paris. This homogenization of cultures around the world is called:

Cultural leveling

In many cultures the "squat toilet", where one squats rather than sits, is still the most common type of bathroom facility. Americans are often shocked when they encounter these toilets, seeing them as hopelessly disgusting. This attitude is an example of :

Ethnocentrism

Why do social scientists who use interviews rarely speak with large numbers of people for a project?

Face-to-face interviewing is a very time consuming process

When we use the sociological perspective to examine events like school shootings, what are we trying to do?

Give a broader context for understanding people in terms of their situation.

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.

David has developed the hypothesis that the stress felt by unemployed men increases the probability of spousal abuse. Stress would be considered the ___________ variable and spousal abuse would be considered the ___________ variable.

Independent, dependent

Individuals today are more likely to identify themselves through personal characteristics than through group membership or affiliation. Why is this cause for concern to some sociologists?

Individuals who identify themselves through personal characteristics might care less about the common good.

Which of the following is NOT a disadvantage of using interviews to conduct social research?

Interviewees are allowed to speak in their own words.

When a politician is caught cheating on his spouse, there are usually serious consequences, and sometimes the politician is forced to resign from his office when his constituents loudly express their unhappiness with such behavior. According to Emile Durkheim, what function does this reaction serve?

It helps to clarify moral boundaries, reinforcing the idea that marital infidelity is wrong.

Which of the following is NOT a feature of scientific knowledge?

It is nontechnical and recipe-like.

The everyday actor approaches the social world with a "recipe," or practical knowledge, which allows him to do everyday things. What are the limitations of this sort of practical knowledge?

It is not necessarily as clear, coherent, or consistent as it could be.

Although the steam engine is best known as the primary technology of the Industrial Revolution, a steam engine was invented by Hero of Alexandria, a Greek in ancient Rome. However, the engine was only used to open a temple door and not for industrial applications. What does this suggest about technological determinism?

It shows that there are some circumstances where technological determinism does not apply.

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

Manifest functions are intended and obvious.

George was getting ready to do his student teaching in a school district where he hopes to be employed after graduation. Over the weekend, some friends tagged George in several wild party pictures that they posted on the social networking site, Facebook. On Monday the principal of the school called George, saying that they would not be able to work George into their schedule. What grounds would the principal have for making that decision?

Pictures of actions such as drinking and smoking are considered "red flags" by potential employers.

Sociologists who study gender report that the amount that women make, compared to men doing the same job, is around 78 cents on the dollar. Finding this figure required researchers to gather data from a large number of men and women and compare average salaries. What sort of research is this?

Quantitative

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

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

When high schools want to ask students about sensitive subjects like drug use or sexual health, they often use surveys, rather than a more direct form of communication like interviews. Why?

Surveys allow students to answer the questions in private and assure the confidentiality of their responses.

What are the weaknesses of the everyday actor (compared to the social analyst) when it comes to understanding everyday life?

The everyday actor makes assumptions and glosses over many things the social analyst strives to understand systematically

According to the sociological explanation of emotions, which of the following would be true of grief?

The experience of grief is universal, but expressions of grief are cultural

In many Middle Eastern countries, showing someone the bottom of your foot or shoe is considered to be very rude, so American military personnel stationed in the Middle East had to be instructed to keep their feet inside helicopters when flying low. Why is this instruction needed?

The meaning of gestures is not universal

If an upper-middle-class white college student is sentenced to rehab for the same drug crime that a lower-class black man is sentenced to jail for committing, what might a conflict theorist conclude about deviance?

The rules are applied unequally, and those with power or influence are punished much less harshly.

According to Jack Katz in Seductions of Crime, why might teenagers shoplift?

They want the thrill of getting away with breaking the rules.

Most of the time people use psychological rather than sociological arguments to explain why the world is the way it is and why things happen to us. Why?

We have insufficiently developed our sociological imagination.

Social networks can influence people through contagion. What does that mean?

When people are connected to a social network, what happens in that network is more likely to affect them.

C. Wright Mills argued that not only do "people often feel that their private lives are a series of traps" but also "they are often quite correct" in this feeling. However, he does not feel that we are ultimately helpless. Why not?

While larger social forces influence individual lives, there are many ways in which we can affect society as well.

Wright Mills argued that not only do "people often feel that their private lives are a series of traps," but also that "they are often quite correct" in this feeling. However, he does not feel that we are ultimately helpless. Why not?

While larger social forces influence individual lives, there are many ways in which we can affect society as well.

It is expected that you will forget many or even most of the facts that you learn in an introductory sociology class. What is the most important element of the course to not forget?

a new way of looking at and thinking about the social world

A simple random sample is defined as:

a sample in which every member of the population has a chance of being included.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, some people placed signs with crudely painted skeletons holding cell phones near roadways, usually facing freeway ramps. These signs indicated disapproval of using cell phones while driving, a practice that some states have now made illegal. As a result of these laws:

an informal norm has become a law

Sociologists observe society:

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

What kind of power is exhibited by a police officer who pulls over a suspect after a high-speed pursuit?

coercive power

What does Erving Goffman call it when we help someone save face by preventing them from realizing that they've done something embarrassing?

cooling the mark out

Because of their economic strength, western media companies are powerful enough to impose their products on markets worldwide, a phenomenon known as:

cultural imperialism.

Activists sometimes advocate living "off the grid," which, in its simplest form, means living without buying electricity and water from utility companies. However they also admit that living off the grid is harder and harder, as there simply isn't enough affordable land in places where it would be feasible to do so, which means that most of America has to:

deal with bureaucracies.

The parents of a deviant child often want to find some way to excuse their offspring's behavior, and it's common to hear them say, "He just fell in with a bad crowd." Which symbolic interactionist theory of deviance does this explanation most closely resemble?

differential association

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

dominant culture.

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

ethnocentrism

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

folkways

Members of which of the following think of themselves as belonging together while also interacting with each other?

group

The Solomon Asch experiment, in which a group of subjects were asked to compare the lengths of lines, demonstrated that:

groups have great power to induce conformity.

Which sociological theory suggests that our connection to members of society leads us to conform systematically to society's norms?

interactionist theory

According to Emile Durkheim, industrialized societies display organic solidarity. What is the basis for organic solidarity?

interdependence and individual rights

Which of the following is a latent function of the educational system in the United States?

keeping children out of trouble while parents are at work

Socialization refers to the:

lifelong process by which people learn the norms, values, and beliefs of their culture

Durkheim theorized that the rapidly changing conditions of modern life lead to anomie. What is anomie?

normlessness, or a loss of social connections

What does Howard Becker call individuals who specifically choose to embrace a deviant identity?

outsiders

When individuals are members of groups, they are influenced by other members. What do sociologists call this?

peer pressure

A high school decides that its band needs to wear uniforms. In order to be more efficient, the school only buys uniforms in three sizes and forces students to pick the size that comes closest to fitting. What process described in Chapter 5 is this an example of?

rationalization

Which of the following is NOT one of the four predominant agents of socialization in contemporary American society?

religion

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

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

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

struggles over scarce resources and power.

When an individual can internalize the expectations of other specific people, she has learned to:

take the role of the particular or significant other.

What is the sociological imagination?

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

How do sociologists define the self?

the experience of a real identity, distinct from other people

What is religiosity?

the extent of a person's commitment to a religion

What do sociologists call the idea that all individuals act like mirrors to one another?

the looking-glass self

Although branding is no longer used as a form of punishment in the United States, some subcultures have adopted it as a form of body art. This demonstrates that:

what is considered deviant changes over time.

Max Weber helped lay the groundwork for sociologists who would develop symbolic interactionism as a theory, because he believed that a social scientist should approach the study of human action:

with verstehen (understanding), which emphasizes the need for empathy with actors' experiences