Sociology Quiz Study Guide 2019

Anoime

"Normlessness"; the alienation and loss of purpose that result from weaker social bonds and an increased pace of change

What are the four basic principles of social stratification?

1. It is a characteristic of society and not individuals 2. It persists over generations 3. While stratification is universal, different societies use different criteria for ranking members 4. Stratification is sustained through beliefs (ideologists) that are widely shared by members of society

Karl Marx

1818-1883. 19th century philosopher, political economist, sociologist, humanist, political theorist, and revolutionary. Often recognized as the father of communism. Analysis of history led to his belief that communism would replace capitalism as it replaced feudalism. Believed in a classless society.

Men's rights movement

A group that felled that feminism creates disadvantages for men

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 culture and as such are learned, rather than innate

Pluralism

A pattern of inter-group relationships that encourages racial and ethnic variation within a society

Statuses

A position in society that comes with a set of expectations

Culture shock

A sense of disorientation that occurs when one enters a radically new social or cultural environment

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

Feudalism

A system of social stratification based on hereditary nobility who were responsible for and served by a lower stratum of forced laborers called serfs

Dyad

A two-person social group

Bureaucracy

A type of secondary group designed to perform the tasks efficiently

According to Robert Merton's structural strain theory, which of the following individuals would be least likely to be a deviant?

A white college student from a middle class family who's experimenting with drugs while in college and is interested in sports

Which of the following is an example of McDonaldization, as George Ritzer used the term?

A worker says, sometimes I just feel like a robot. You push a button and you go this way. You become a mechanical nut

self-fulfilling prophecy

An assumption, usually defined by a label, that causes itself to come true

Bernard McGrane suggests we should practice using a beginner's mind, the opposite of an expert's mind. Usually it's good to be an expert. Why should we try to think like beginners instead?

An expert's mind is so full of facts and assumptions that it has difficulty learning anything new

Ascribed status

An inborn status, usually difficult or impossible to change

Beginner's mind

Approaching the world without preconceptions in order to see things in a new way (An example of a beginner's mind approach to understanding the unspoken assumptions of our social world is the intentional violation of social norms)

Functionalists

Argue that deviance serves a positive social function by clarifying moral boundaries and promoting social cohesion

What is the name of the social research method that involves an individual observing her own behavior?

Autoethnography

class consciousness

Awareness of one's own social status and that of others

Why should we discard commonsense and lore beliefs in favor of science when trying to understand the physical or social world?

Because, unlike commonsense and lore beliefs, scientific knowledge is based on empirical evidence and is open to refutation and revision

Ethnocentrism

Belief in the superiority of one's nation or ethnic group.

Functionalists

Believe that a gendered division of labor contributes to the stability of society, ensuring that all tasks get done

conflict theorists

Believe that a society's inequalities are reproduced in its definitions of deviance, so that less powerful groups are more likely to be deemed deviant and criminalized

Max Weber

Believed that access to power and prestige are equally important

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

Primary groups

Closely associated with the other members, such as family and friends

In addition to sociology, what are the 5 social sciences?

Communication studies, psychology, geography, history, anthrolopology

Today it is possible to travel all over the world, especially if you visit major metropolitan areas, without ever having to eat anything but McDonalds. This is an example of:

Cultural leveling

Karl Max spent much of his life attempting to describe and understand how capitalism worked. In one particularly vivid passage, he described the turbulence that he saw as inherit in capitalism in this way: "All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his real condition of life and his relations with his kind." What sort of relationships did he think that his readers had with other people?

Economic relationships

Define the terms ethnocentrism and cultural relativism. Give an example of each. Explain why social scientists need to use cultural relativism, or a beginners mind, in their study of groups of people.

Ethnocentrism: Belief in the superiority of one's nation or ethnic group. Cultural relativism: the practice of judging a culture by its own standards Social scientists should use a beginners mind in their studies of people so that means they are Approaching the world without preconceptions in order to see things in a new way

Functionalist theorists

Focus on the ways that race creates social ties and strengthens group bonds Acknowledge that such ties can lead to violence and social conflict between groups

Symbolic interactionists

Focus on the ways that race, class, and gender intersect to produce an individual's identity (See race as an aspect of identity established through interaction)

Conflict Theory

Focuses on the struggle for power and control over scarce resources (early conflict theorists tried to explain race as a result of economic oppression)

McDonaldization

George Ritzer's term describing the spread of bureaucratic rationalization and the accompanying increases in efficiency and dehumanization

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

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

When the dominant culture succeeds in imposing its values and ideas on all of society, it is known as:

Hegemony

Embodied identity

Historically had been used as a basis for discrimination

Thomas Theorem

If people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences

Susie isn't old enough to go to school yet, but she loves to play house. She has a toy stove and pretends to be a mother. Sometimes, when that gets boring, she goes outside, takes a garden hose, and pretends to be a firefighter. George Herbert Mead would say that she is:

In the play stage

According to Erving Goffman, stigmatized individuals who don't believe that they should have to change or conceal their identities to make normal people more comfortable have:

In-group orientation

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

Incest

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

How is institutional discrimination different from individual discrimination?

Institutional discrimination is more systematic and widespread.

What are the five types of social mobility?

Intergenerational, intragenerational, horizontal social, vertical social, structural

Sociologically, why might role exit associated with retirement cause stress and/or sadness for the individual that is retiring?

It is common in society for a person's identity to be tied to a profession; thus, role exit can bring about a sense of loss

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

What makes Roger & Me particularity sociological movie?

It tries to make connections between large-scale social change and individual lives

Secondary groups

Larger, less personal (ex. Football team, usually organized around a specific activity or an accomplishment of a task)

When whites are less than half the population of any given state, it is called a:

Majority-minority state

Symbolic interactionism argues that people act toward things on the basis of their meaning. According to this perspective, how does meaning arise?

Meaning is negotiated through interaction with others

Microsociology

Microsociology: is the level of analysis that studies face-to-face and small-group interactions in order to understand how they affect the larger patterns and institutions of society. (Microsociology focuses on small-scale pieces of society. For example, Pam Fishman analyzed conversations to illustrate differences between male and females)

Income

Money that one earns

Mark Granovetter has argued that people you know are best likely to possess only information that you already have, which is why he argued that, especially for finding employment, it is advantageous to have:

More casual acquaintances who are connected to different social networks

Working class

Mostly "blue collar" or service industry workers who are lease likely to have a college degree. They constitute 30% of the u.s. population

upper middle class

Mostly professionals and managers who enjoy considerable financial stability, they constitute about 14 percent of the U.S. population

Some sociologists use a macrosociological approach, while others take a micro approach. How does this affect the ultimate goal of their research?

No matter what approach is taken, all sociologists attempt to illuminate the connection between the individual and society.

According to labeling theory, why were none of pseudopatients in David Rosenhan's On Being Sane In Insane Places discovered?

Once a person has been labeled mentally ill, it is very hard for anyone to see past the label

Jarod is conducting research on the homeless. For six weeks, he has lived among the homeless "24/7," sleeping on the street or at a shelter, and engaging in the same activities as the population he is studying. By doing so, Jarod has been able to gather a broad understanding of the homeless, their needs, and characteristics. In view of this, Jarod is using ________ as a method of gathering data.

Participant Observation

working poor

Poorly educated workers who work in full-time, temporary, or seasonal jobs but remain below the poverty line. They constitute about 20% of the U.S. population

How does sociology differ from psychology?

Psychology looks at characteristics of individuals in order to explain behavior, while sociology typically explores how characteristics of society and the social structure explain social phenoema

Negative sanctions

Punishments for breaking the norm

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 sociologists like Howard Winant and Michael Omi, what is the relationship between race and class

Race is not a side effect of class; rather it permeates every aspect of daily life

Sex

Refers to an individual's membership in one of two biologically distinct categories-male or female

structural mobility

Refers to changes in the social status of large numbers of people due to institutional or organizational changes in society

culture of poverty

Refers to entrenched attitudes that can develop among poor communities and lead the poor to accept their fate rather than attempt to improve their situation

How are informal norms enforced in everyday settings?

Sanctions

E.O. Wright

Set out in the 1970's to reconcile the debate between Marx and Weber by linking power and prestige to economic factors like occupation and wealth

Sociologists have identified three major systems of social stratification throughout history:

Slavery, caste, social class

What does C. Wright Mills mean when he describes sociology as the "intersection of biography and history"? What is the relationship between personal life and larger social structures described here? Be sure to use specific examples to illustrate your response.

Soc. Imag. -- the awareness of the relationship between personal experience and the larger society. o The sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society. People create history, Biography's are who and what these people are and what they did. History is what went on between people all over the world. History is the evidence of what was done, why it was done and how it turned out.

The condition that often develops in large groups when tasks are neglected, because it is impossible for any one person to receive credit (or blame), is called:

Social loafing

differential association theory

States that we learn to be deviant through our associations with deviant peers

What is the relationship between social class and race, ethnicity, gender, and age in the United States today?

Strictly speaking, social class is determined by socioeconomic status, but there is often overlap between class and these other variables

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

The widespread use of plastic in American culture is no accident; plastic offers consumers convenience; disposability, and choice. These advantages of plastic are all elements of:

Symbolic culture

What is the relationship between the American Dream and the system of social class through which the United States is stratified?

The American dream legitimizes inequality by reinforcing the idea that everyone has the same chance to get ahead

sociological imagination

The awareness of the relationship between personal experience and the larger society.

Feminism

The belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes and the social movements organized around that belief

The Nuremburg Code on research ethics was adopted for which of the following reasons?

The code was adopted in the wake of the horrific and inhumane research conducted by Nazi scientists on concentration camp inmates.

social identity theory

The degree to which they identify with the group

Genocide

The deliberate and systematic extermination of a racial, ethnic, national, or cultural group

First wave

The earliest period of feminist activism and was organized around gaining voting rights for women

feminization of poverty

The economic trend showing that women are likely than men to live in poverty, due in part to the gendered gap in wages, the higher proportion of single mothers compared to single fathers, and the increasing cost of childcare

What are the weaknesses of the everyday actor when it comes to everyday life

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

gender pay gap

The fact that fulltime working women earn only about 77 percent of the money earned by full time working men

A homeless shelter in Illinois held a "sleep out," a protest to alert members of the general public to the dangers of letting funding for homeless shelters drop, forcing shelters to turn away people in need. The organizers of the rally saw their work as particularly important because they suspected that most residents didn't realize just how many poor people existed in their community, a result of what sociologists would call:

The invisibility of poverty

Slavery

The most extreme form of social stratification, based on the legal ownership of people

vertical social mobility

The movement between social classes, which is referred to as upward or downward mobility

The indie rock band the Halo Benders once sang: part environment and part heredity what were born with and what's been fed to me what issue is being referenced in this song?

The nature vs. nurture debate

Which group of people within the hospital were able to tell that the pseudopatients in David Rosenhan's "On Being Sane in Insane Places" were not actually mentally ill?

The other patients

Gender

The physical, behavioral, and personality traits that a group considers normal for its male and female members

Underclass

The poorest Americans who are chronically unemployed and may depend on public or private assistance. They constitute about 5% of the U.S. population

Why was the Tuskegee Study unethical?

The researchers withheld treatment from the African American subjects in order to study the effect of syphilis

Roles

The set of behaviors expected of someone because of his or her status

Prestige

The social honor people are given because of their membership in well-regarded social groups

A graduate student in a sociology department is taking a course on the sociology of the economy. In this class, she learns that, even though she always thought of her family as middle class, her parents' income compared to that of the rest of the country actually qualifies them as upper class. What just happened?

The student moved from being an everyday actor to being a social analyst

social inequalities

The unequal distribution of wealth, power, or prestige among members of a society

Wealth

The value of a persons assets (home, land, stocks, etc.)

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

There is little or no chance of social mobility.

Why are adults not considered to be completely socialized?

There will always be new situations and new roles to learn.

Which of the following is true of expressions given off, as defined by Erving Goffman?

They are typically nonverbal, but they are observable in various ways.

When David Rosenhan designed the experiment that he described in "On Being Sane in Insane Places," he gave very specific instructions to his research assistants to be honest and truthful about everything except to claim they were hearing voices and to give a fake name. Why was it important that they not use their real identity?

They could walk away from their assumed identities, and in so doing walk away from their labels as well.

Sociologists would not consider fans of the rock musician Bruce Springsteen to be a group. Why not?

They won't form any lasting relationships with one another

Sociology sometimes overlaps with other social sciences

True (in order for sociologists to gain a complete understanding of social phenomena, they have to be aware of history, psychology, economics, politics, etc,)

Discrimination

Usually motivated by prejudice and results in the unequal treatment of individuals because of their social group

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

W.I Thomas

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

If you possess a sociological imagination and someone asks you to study unemployment rates in a city of fifty million people where fifteen million are unemployed, what would you conclude?

We should consider the economic and political structures of the society

What criteria does a social class system use to stratify it's members?

Wealth, poverty, power, and prestige

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

Weapons of war

While it is always important to ask clear and unambiguous questions regardless of the method that you use, it is especially important to avoid confusion when conducting surveys. Why?

When using survey research methods, the researcher is usually not present to clarify any misunderstandings

Deviance

a behavior, trait, belief, or other characteristic that violates a norm and causes a negative reaction

Group

a collection of people who share some attribute, identify with one another, and interact with each other

White collar

a description characterizing workers and skilled laborers in technical and lower-management jobs

blue collar

a description characterizing workers who perform manual labor

Caste system

a form of social stratification in which status is determined by one's family history and background and cannot be changed

pro-feminist men's movement

a group that feels that sexism harms both men and women and wants to fundamentally change society's ideas about gender

In-group

a group that one identifies with and feels loyalty toward

Reference group

a group that provides a standard of comparison against which we evaluate ourselves

Upper class

a largely self-sustaining group of the wealthiest people in a class system; in the United States, they constitute about 1 percent of the population and possess most of the wealth of the country

Folkway

a loosely enforced norm involving common customs, practices, or procedures that ensure smooth social interaction and acceptance

socioeconomic status (SES)

a measure of an individual's place within a social class system; often used interchangeably with "class"

male liberationism

a movement that originated in the 1970s to discuss the challenges of masculinity

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

Taboo

a norm ingrained so deeply that even thinking about violating it evokes strong feelings of disgust, horror, or revulsion

More

a norm that carries great moral significance, is closely related to the core values of a cultural group, and often involves severe repercussions for violators

Assimilation

a pattern of relations between ethnic or racial groups in which the minority group is absorbed into the mainstream or dominant group, making society more homogenous

Racism

a set of beliefs about the superiority of one racial or ethnic group; used to justify inequality and often rooted in the assumption that differences between groups are genetic

open system

a social system with ample opportunities to move from one class to another

closed system

a social system with very little opportunity to move from one class to another

Ethnicity

a socially defined category based on common language, religion, nationality, history, or another cultural factor

Race

a socially defined category based on real or perceived biological differences between groups of people

Achieved status

a status earned through individual effort or imposed by others

embodied status

a status generated by physical characteristics

Master status

a status that is always relevant and affects all other statuses we possess

Social class

a system of stratification based on access to resources such as wealth, property, power, and prestige

Crowd

a temporary gathering of people in a public place; members might interact but do not identify with each other and will not remain in contact

Triad

a three-person social group

prejudice

an idea about the characteristics of a group that is applied to all members of that group and is unlikely to change regardless of the evidence against it

absolute deprivation

an objective measure of poverty, defined by the inability to meet minimal standards for food, shelter, clothing, or health care

According to sociologists, what are signs?

anything designed to meaningfully represent something else

What is the term used to describe sociological research intended to solve social problems, like that done by Jane Addams?

applied sociology

Constructionist

approach and see gender as a social construction and acknowledge the possibility that the male-female categories are not the only way of classifying individuals.

Merton's Structural Strain Theory

argues that the tension/strain between socially approved goals and an individuals inability to meet those goals through socially approved means will lead to deviance as individuals reject the goals, the means, or both

legal-rational authority

authority based in laws, rules, and procedures, not in the heredity or personality of any individual leader

charismatic authority

authority based in the perception of remarkable personal qualities in a leader

Essentialists

believe gender roles have a genetic or biological origin and cannot be changed

Sociologists observe society:

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

Your professor is almost certainly an honest, upstanding employee who would never steal from her employer. Or would she? While it seems very unlikely that she would steal money from the school, it seems more likely that she might use the photocopy machine to make personal copies, a practice that could be described as:

cash register honesty

labeling theory

claims that deviance is a consequence of external judgements, or labels, which both modify the individual's self-concept and change the way others respond to the labeled person

Culture wars

clashes within mainstream society over the values and norms that should be upheld

Aggregates

collections of people who share a physical location but do not have lasting social relations

Middle class

composed primarily of "white collar" workers with a broad range of education and incomes; they constitute about 30 percent of the U.S. population

Because laws represent the interests of those in power, crimes committed by the upper classes are typically treated more leniently than crimes committed by the lower classes. This argument is consistent with:

conflict theory

Social ties

connections between individuals

In the United States, what do legislatures, police courts, and prisons make up?

criminal justice system

Pierre Bourdieu

cultural capital

Within a few blocks in midtown Manhattan, you can purchase a bagel with cream cheese, a hot dog, a steak, a polish sausage, or a pizza, as well as chow mein, lamb curry, sushi, lasagna, falafels, chicken couscous, enchiladas, and a host of ethnic specialties. This range of culinary possibilities illustrates the process of ________.

cultural diffusion

If a sociologist wanted to study the social meaning of pizza, he would be hampered by a lifetime of preconceptions and assumptions about pizza. It would be hard for him to think about it objectively because it is so familiar. Which concept describes a process that might help?

culture shock

What do you believe are the major causes of suicide in America today?

depression, death of a loved one, breakup of a relationship, financial loss, serious or terminal illness, being a victim of abuse, substance abuse, etc.

sociological imagination

describe the ability to look at issues from a sociological perspective, a quality of the mind that allows us to understand the relationship between our particular situation in life and what is happening at a social level (When using a sociological perspective, one focuses on the social context in which people live and how that social context has an impact on individuals' lives)

An action or behavior that results in the unequal treatment of an individual because of his membership in a racial or ethnic group is called:

discrimination

individual discrimination

discrimination carried out by one person against another

institutional discrimination

discrimination carried out systematically by institutions (political, economic, educational, and others) that affect all members of a group who come into contact with it

Interactionalists

emphasize how the concept of gender is socially constructed, maintained, and reproduced in our everyday lives

social influence

exerting group control over others' decisions

Sociologists use the concept of "norms" to describe ________.

expectations or rules of behavior that develop from values

Commonsense and science are just two different, but equally valid, ways of knowing about the world.

false

The media generally use the methods of science when examining stories about commonsense and lore beliefs in our society.

false

Which of the following sources of socialization forms the foundation for all other socializing agents?

family

Homphobia

fear and hatred of homosexuals

Out-groups

groups toward which an individual feels opposition, rivalry, or hostility

the everyday actor

has the practical knowledge needed to get through daily life, but not necessarily the scientific or technical knowledge of how things work

Unlike earlier religious traditions, which attempted to determine the ultimate cause or source of reality, Auguste Comte developed positivism in order to

identify laws that describe the behavior of a particular reality

Regardless of which methodology they use, what are all sociologists trying to do?

illuminate the connection between the individual and society

In 1993 six African American Secret Service agents filed a complaint with the Justice Department against Denny's for refusal of service because the restaurant took much longer to serve them than other customers. After they filed the complaint, thousands of other African Americans came forward with similar allegations. What are these allegations evidence of?

institutional discrimination

methodology

involves the process by which one gathers and analyzes data

relative deprivation

is a relative measure of poverty based on the standards of living

Although everyday cultural practices like greeting a friend, giving flowers, or using the thumbs-up sign seem like natural ways of acting, an awareness of how they vary across cultures demonstrates a healthy sociological imagination because:

it reminds us that everyday interactions are connected to larger social structures

Expressive leadership

leadership concerned with maintaining emotional and relational harmony within the group

instrumental leadership

leadership that is task or goal oriented

Racial passing

living as if one is a member of a different racial category

Many Marxist sociologists assume that large-scale economic structures are the most important factors in people's lives. Given this, what sort of sociology would these sociologists tend to prefer?

macrosociology

Minority group

made up of members of a social group that is systematically denied the same access to power and resources available to the dominant groups of a society, but who are not necessarily fewer in number than the dominant group

In 2008 Polish film maker Andrzej Wadja released his film Katyn, about the massacre of 20,000 Polish officers by the Soviet Union during World War II. When asked why he had made this movie, Wadja said he wanted to make a film for "those moviegoers for whom it matters that we are a society and not just an accidental crowd." Wadja believed that it was still possible for people to be bound together on the basis of shared traditions and experiences. In his statement, Wadja was expressing a hope that Poland could still be united by:

mechanical solidarity

Which of the following could NOT be used as a synonym for the term "theory"?

method

Pam Fishman studied conversations between heterosexual couples to determine how power is created and maintained through face-to-face interactions on an everyday basis. Given this information, how would you describe her approach?

microsociological

intergenerational mobility

movement between social classes that occurs from one generation to the next

Suffrage Movement

movement dedicated to achieving women's right to vote

What do you call broad theoretical models of the social or natural world?

paradigms

Anatole Broyard, a literary critic and writer for the New York Times, lived a double life. He had a mixed racial heritage, and while African American friends knew him as African American, white friends and professional acquaintances thought that he was white. After his death, Broyard's daughter tried to write his life story and, as part of the process, organized a family reunion. This was made more difficult by the fact that Broyard's extended family included many who thought of themselves as white, others as black. What does this demonstrate about passing?

passing happens entirely through interaction

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

peer pressure

coercive power

power that is backed by the threat of force

Influential power

power that is supported by persuasion

Even though antimiscegenation laws have been struck down, interracial relationships are still relatively uncommon. Why?

powerful cultural stereotypes discourage them

deviance avowal

process by which an individual self-identifies as deviant and initiates her own labeling process

The Brazilian census has traditionally only had four racial categories: preto, branco, amarelo, and pardo. However, in everyday life, Brazilians have many other racial categories, including moreno, mulato, neguinho, and pretinho. Most of these terms don't have an equivalent in the United States. What does this tell you?

race is a social construct

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

When people attend high school class reunions, they often compare their own personal and professional successes and failures to those of their former classmates. This means that classmates are a(n):

reference group

A graduate student is almost done with his dissertation when he is informed that twenty years ago someone did a very similar project and already demonstrated what he had hoped to be the first to discover. What basic step of the scientific method could have saved him from this problem?

reviewing the literature

A female police officer who struggles with commanding respect from male colleagues while also presenting herself in traditionally feminine ways may be experiencing:

role strain

What metaphor best describes cultures that have embraced multiculturalism and pluralism?

salad bowl

What system of stratification is commonly used in capitalist societies?

social class

Norms

society's expectation and/or behavior

In all probability, the sociology professor giving this test would be totally unable to grade a test given in the chemistry department. What aspect of bureaucracy does this illustrate?

specialization

What are the 6 Characteristics of bureaucracies?

specialization, technical competence, hierarchy, rules and regulations, impersonality, formal written communication

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

struggles over scarce resources and power

social analyst

studies the social world in a systematic, comprehensive, coherent, clear, and consistent manner in the pursuit of scientific knowledge (You are already an everyday actor, but by the end of this course, you should also be a skilled social analyst)

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

such organization is done in patterned ways

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 theoretical perspective shows how large-scale social structures are produced by individuals at the micro level?

symbolic interactionism

Given what you have read about socioeconomic status and life chances, what activity is most likely to take the place of a yoga class for a working class woman?

taking care of her children after work

What historical events convinced August Comte that society needed to be guided by thinkers who understood social laws?

the French Revolution and the instability that followed it

Power

the ability to control the actions of others

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 racial issue does functionalism help to explain?

the assimilation of European ethnic groups into larger society

Which sociological perspective argues that people must respect social norms if any group or society is to survive?

the conflict perspective

high culture

the cultural patterns of a society's elite

social stratification

the division of society into groups arranged in a social hierarchy

internal colonialism

the economic and political domination and subjugation of the minority group by the controlling group within a nation

Population transfer

the forcible removal of a group of people from the territory they have occupied

Social control

the formal and informal mechanisms used to increase conformity to values and norms and thus promote social cohesion

sexual orientation

the inclination to feel sexual desire toward people of a particular gender or toward both genders

Macrosociology

the level of analysis that studies large-scale social structures in order to determine how they affect the lives of groups and individuals. (Macrosociology focuses on large-scale pieces of society. For example, Christine Williams examined males and females in numerous occupations to discover differences in each gender's opportunity for advancement in different careers)

Socialization refers to the:

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

gender role socialization

the lifelong process of learning to be masculine or feminine, primarily through four agents of socialization: families, schools, peers, and the media

Third wave

the most recent period of feminist activity and focuses on issues of diversity and the variety of identities that women can possess

intragenerational mobility

the movement between social classes that occurs over the course of an individual's lifetime

social mobility

the movement of individuals or groups within the hierarchical system of social classes

material culture

the objects associated with a cultural group, such as tools, machines, utensils, buildings, and artwork; any physical object to which we give social meaning

horizontal social mobility

the occupational movement of individuals or groups within a social class

Group dynamics

the patterns of interaction between groups and individuals

Social loafing

the phenomenon in which as more individuals are added to a task, each individual contributes a little less; a source of inefficiency when working in teams

Expressive role

the position of the family member who provides emotional support and nurturing

Instrumental role

the position of the family member who provides the family's material support and is often an authority figure

cultural relativism

the practice of judging a culture by its own standards

social construction

the process by which a concept or practice is created and maintained by participants who collectively agree that it exists

Simon Langlois studied government employment in Quebec. He found that even though the government had made efforts to formalize recruitment, over 40 percent of those surveyed found their jobs through personal contacts. In the majority of those cases, the personal contacts were fairly casual, not close friends. What principle is demonstrated here?

the strength of weak ties

What is sociology?

the systematic study of human society

cultural capital

the tastes, habits, expectations, skills, knowledge, and other cultural assets that help us gain advantages in society

social reproduction

the tendency of social classes to remain relatively stable as class status is passed down from one generation to the next

Homosexuality

the tendency to feel sexual desire toward members of one's own gender

Social network

the web of direct and indirect ties connecting an individual to other people who may also affect the individual

Symbolic interactionist

theories of deviance focus on how interactions shape definitions and meaning of deviance and influence those who engage in deviant behavior

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

they are real in their consequences

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

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

Quantitative research

translates the social world into numbers that can be treated mathematically; this type of research often tries to find cause-and-effect relationships.

Ethics is research is required by international law

true

gender inequality

unequal distribution of opportunities and valuable resources (jobs, income, education, etc.) based on gender

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

using existing sources

Second wave

was the period of feminist activity during the 1960s and 1970s often associated with the issues of women's equal access to employment and education.

Symbolic culture

ways of thinking (beliefs, values, and assumptions) and ways of behaving (norms, interactions, and communication)

Even though a small number of people have been academically trained as sociologists, we all can be described as "natural sociologists" because:

we are all members of society and so have a great deal of background knowledge about how society works

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

when the deviant label is internalized

Qualitative research

works with non-numerical data such as texts, field notes, interview transcripts, photographs, and tape recordings; this type of research often tries to understand how people make sense of their world. (Participant observation, in which the researcher actually takes part in the social world he or she studies, is an example of qualitative research)