chapter 1 sociology

the pioneering sociologist who studies patterns of suicide in Europe was

Emile Durkheim

a statement that explains how and why specific facts are related is called

a theory

Which of the following statements reflects a social-exchange analysis?

people typically seek mates who offer as much as they do

Which of the following BEST describes the focus of the structural-functional approach?

the consequences of social patterns for the operation of society

If we state that children raised in single-parent families are at high risk of being single parents themselves, we have constructed a_____ of family life.

theory

The major goal of sociology's pioneers, including Auguste Comte and Emile Durkheim, was ________

to discover how society actually operates

Looking at the operation of U.S. schools, the social-conflict approach might lead a sociologist to conclude that

tracking provides some students with far better schooling than others

The ideal of objectivity means that a researcher must

try to adopt a stance of personal neutrality toward the outcome of the research.

examples of people applying their knowledge of sociology at work include

-law enforcement, understanding which categories of people are at high risk of becoming victims of crime. -medicine, understanding patterns of health in a community. -business, dealing with different categories of people.

Which of the following examples illustrates a micro-level focus?

2 people on an airplane getting to know one another

Which of the following statements BEST illustrates the career advantage a person gains by studying sociology?

A police officer understands which categories of people are at high risk of becoming crime victims.

W. E. B. Du Bois described African Americans as having a "double consciousness" because

African Americans are American citizens who have a second identity based on skin color

The concept "sociology" was coined in 1838 by

Auguste Comte

identify the three sociologists who played a part in the development of sociology's structural functional approach

Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim

Digby Baltzell's study, Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia, showed that a very high number of "top achievers" listed in the Dictionary of American Biography came from

Massachusetts

Which of the following founding sociologists urged sociologists to understand a social setting from the point of view of the people in it?

Max Weber

Read the following four statements about social patterns we find in the world as a whole. Which statement is FALSE?

People in the United States make up one-third of the global population.

Who was the U.S. sociologist who distinguished between the manifest functions and the latent functions of social patterns?

Robert Merton

Imagine that you were going to measure the age of a number of respondents taking part in a survey. As you record the data, you are using the concept "age" as

a variable

critical sociology can best be described as an _______ approach

activist

Three campus roommates are talking about why they are in college. A sociological view of going to college highlights the effect of

age, class, and our place in history, because these are all ways in which society guides college attendance

Making use of the sociological perspective encourages

challenging commonly held beliefs

If marginality encourages sociological thinking, we would expect people in which category listed below to make the most use of the sociological perspective?

disabled persons or people who are a racial minority

If you have been criticized for "androcentricity" in your research, you are being criticized for

doing the research from a male perspective

Which of the following statements is based on a symbolic-interaction analysis of sports?

each player understands the game a little differently

Sarah is spending a summer living in another country where people have a way of life that differs from her own. A sociologist might expect that this experience would lead her to

end up with a greater understanding of both a new way of life and her own way of life.

E. Digby Baltzell's historical study, Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia, illustrates which research method?

existing sources

interpretive sociology is sociology that

focuses on the meaning people attach to behavior

"A statement of a possible relationship between two or more variables" is the definition of which concept?

hypothesis

C. Wright Mills claimed that the "sociological imagination" transformed

personal problems into public issues

The "framework for building theory that sees society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and change" is the

social conflict approach

Which concept is used to describe relatively stable patterns of social behavior?

social structure

We would expect the sociological perspective to be MOST likely to develop in a place that was

experiencing many social changes

To evaluate a theory using evidence, sociologists

gather data or facts

Peter Berger describes using the sociological perspective as seeing the ______ in the _______.

general, particular

Lois Benjamin's investigation of racism may be criticized because

her sample may not be representative of all African Americans

Because there is more social isolation in rural areas of the United States than in urban areas, we would expect suicide rates to be

higher in rural areas

Sociology differs from the older discipline of philosophy by focusing on

how society actually operates

Which of the following would be the focus of a social-conflict analysis of sports?

how sports reflect social inequality

A sociologist using the gender-conflict approach might state that

in many ways, men are in positions of power over women.

A theory states that increasing a person's formal higher education results in increased earnings over the individual's lifetime. In this theory, "higher education" is the

independent variable

Sociologists use the term "empirical evidence" to refer to

information we can verify with out senses

which of the following is an accurate criticism of the structural functional approach?

it ignores inequality that can generate tension and conflict

if you were trying to measure the social class or various people, you would have to keep in mind that

it is necessary to specify exactly what you are measuring

A researcher doing participant observation may often "break in" to a setting more easily with the help of a

key informant

Building social relationships and creating jobs are two of the ____ of sports.

latent functions

Unrecognized and unintended consequences of a social pattern are called

latent functions

Using the symbolic-interaction approach, sports becomes

less a system than an ongoing process

Looking at the United States, high suicide rates are typical of areas in which people

live spread apart in low density areas

According to Emile Durkheim, people with a higher suicide rate typically have

lower social integration

The recognized and intended consequences of a social pattern are referred to as

mainfest functions

Robert Merton explained that what is functional for one category of a society's population

may be dysfunctional for another category

Thomas Hobbes's idea that society reflects a selfish human nature illustrates the thinking common at which of Comte's historical stages?

metaphysical stage

Which of the following categories contains countries in which average income is typical for the world as a whole and in which people are as likely to live in a rural area as in an urban area?

middle income nations

what is the term for the value that occurs most often in a series of numbers

mode

Which of the following is true about cause-and-effect relationships in the social world?

most patterns of behavior are caused by many factors

which of the following is a criticism of the structural-functional approach

not critical of inequalities based on social class, race, ethnicity, gender

Looking at the operation of U.S. schools guided by the social-conflict approach might lead a sociologist to conclude that

our society provides some students with far better schooling than others.

If you read a study that draws conclusions about all of humanity based on research using only males as subjects, you would correctly point to the problem called

overgeneralization

Which sociological research method is likely to be the MOST difficult to replicate (repeat)?

participant observation

William Foote Whyte's study of Cornerville (Street Corner Society) used which sociological research method?

participant observation

______ is a way of understanding the world based on science

positivism

Which of the following is a manifest function of sports?

providing recreation and physical conditioning

By stating that the sociological perspective shows us "the strange in the familiar," the text argues that sociologists

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

A small number of people that are used to represent a much larger population is called a

sample

A criticism of the symbolic-interaction approach is that it

says little about the influence of structural factors such as culture, class, gender, and race

Most of today's sociologists agree with Auguste Comte's claim that

science has an important place in sociology

learning more sociology can help you to do all of the following EXCEPT

see how individuals guide their own lives through free will

Which discipline defines itself as "the systematic study of human society"?

sociology

The main characteristic of the _____ approach is its view of society as being orderly and stable.

structural functional

The theoretical approach in sociology that assumes society is a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability is the

structural functional approach

The _____ approaches are macro-level, describing societies in broad terms.

structural-functional and social conflict

Sociologist Lenore Weitzman carried out research showing that women who divorce

suffer a significant loss of income

Which research method asks subjects to respond to a series of items on a questionnaire or in an interview?

survey

Qualitative research has special appeal to investigators who favor the _________ approach.

symbolic interaction

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

symbolic interaction approach

Understanding marriage using the structural-functional approach might prompt you to consider

the consequences of marriage for the operation of society

What does the idea that the social world guides our actions and life choices just as the seasons influence activities and choice of clothing describe?

the essential wisdom of the discipline of sociology

Herbert Spencer described human society as a complex system having much in common with

the human body

what term refers to the arithmetic average of a series of numbers

the mean

Racial discrimination in professional sports is evident today in

the positions typically played by white and black players

Which theoretical approach would highlight the fact that, on average, African American families have less income than white families?

the race-conflict approach

Which of the following historical changes is among the factors that stimulated the development of sociology as a discipline?

the rise of the industrial economy and growth of cities

About 1.4 million immigrants enter the United States each year and many (including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gloria Estefan) have become well known. These facts support the conclusion that

the world's nations are increasingly interconnected

Comte described the earliest human societies as being at which stage of historical development?

theological stage

The ancient Romans saw the stars as being gods. Auguste Comte would classify Roman society as which of the following stages of history?

theological stage

Which of the concepts listed below refers to measuring exactly what you intend to measure?

validity

Using the structural-functional approach, which of the following questions might you ask about marriage?

what are the consequences of marriage for the operation of society

In the process of measurement, reliability refers to

whether repeating the measurement yields consistent results

The chapter's sociological analysis of childbearing around the world suggests that the number of children born to a woman reflects

whether she lives in a poor or rich society

In the United States today, the suicide rate is highest for which of the following?

white males