Contemporary social Problems Exam 11. A web of social relationships linking people to one another is known as
A web of social relationships linking people to one another is known as
Social Network
1. At a restaurant you overhear a parent telling their young child to say "thank you" to the waiter for bringing the food they ordered. A sociologist would say that in this situation, the parent is teaching the young child about ________.
a. Prosocial behavior
1. You have just received a phone call from the Local University Poll. The interviewer asked you a series of questions about your opinions on gun control. Which stage of the social problems construction process best applies to this scenario
a. Public reaction
1. The work of W.E.B Du Bois was largely overlooked by academics in his lifetime because of...
a. Racism
1. Middle-range theories encourage
a. Self-fulfilling prophecies
1. Which of the following has had the LEAST amount of impact on the working-class job market since the 1950s?
a. Shifts in parenting styles
1. Sherri is an Asian American woman. She has two school-aged children. She works full-time as a shift supervisor at a local big box store, but still has difficulty making ends meet. The theoretical contributions of Karl Marx would likely emphasize Sherri's ______ to make sense of her common life experiences
a. Social class
1. Which of the following statements about social problems is true?
a. Social problems can be difficult to solve if doing so removes advantages from groups who have traditionally benefitted from the status again
1. Policing is an example of...
a. Social solidarity
1. Conflict theory emerged in the 1960s in response to the limitations of __________.
a. Structural functionalism
1. In your Social Problems class this semester, your professor assigns a project that requires you to interview someone who is a social minority about their lived experiences. The goal of the assignment is for students to connect with each other and learn from each other's experiences. The goal of the assignment is an example of
a. Sympathetic knowledge
1. Today, _______ in the U.S. is about ________.
a. The median household income; $60,000
1. For her social science master's thesis research, Stacey used data from the US Census and other government agencies, to document disparities in educational funding across school districts in the country. She found a clear pattern that school districts with higher percentages of non-white students received significantly less funding than districts with mostly white students. In the conclusion of her thesis she argues that such dramatic educational inequality is harmful to society. Which of the following concepts best applies to this scenario?
a. The objectivist approach
1. The way facts are interpreted and, in turn, given attention by the media and public helps explain the difference between ______ and ________.
a. The objectivist; the constructivist approach
1. When sociological theories are used to understand social problems, they tend to emphasize
a. The origin of the problem
1. What do sociologists Marx, Du Bois, and Addams have in common?
a. They all mixed scholarship and activism in their careers
1. An opponent of an approach to primarily dealing with poverty in the U.S. via programs that promote "family values" would most likely argue that __________
a. This approach is not productive because changes in the structure of the economy, gender norms. Marriage, and parenthood have far outpaced efforts to restore the "traditional family"
1. Since the 1960s, ______ in the US has dramatically declined
a. Union membership
1. Research shows that _________ are particularly vulnerable to falling into poverty after a divorce.
a. Women
1. Today, approximately ______ percent of the U.S. population lives in poverty. However if we were to use a measure of ________ to assess the situation, this number would dramatically increase.
a. 15; relative poverty
1. _______ do not imply whether a social condition is a social problem or not.
a. Agreed-upon facts
1. In a recent campaign speech, a senator running for re-election in your state said, "Divorce among American families has remained high since the 1970s. This is a crisis for the American family." The first sentence of this speech excerpt is an example of ______. Whereas the second sentence is an example of ________.
a. Agreed-upon facts; interpretations of facts
1. When individuals obtain a college degree they...
a. Are likely to earn higher salaries than those without one
1. Sociological theories _______.
a. Are ways of explaining a complex social world
1. _______ assumes that economic rewards are the driving force behind individual behavior.
a. Capitalism
1. World system theory connects the concepts of _______ and globalization
a. Capitalism; globalization
1. Wallerstein's _______ theory is an example of a _______ theory.
a. Capitalist world system; neo-Marxist
1. Research demonstrates that the more _____ a society, _______.
a. Capitalist; the less happy people are there
1. Research shows that _________ can impact an individual's physical and cognitive development
a. Chronic stress from living in conditions of poverty
1. Special interest groups and policy experts play an essential role in the _____ stage of the social problems construction process
a. Claims-making
1. _______ are important to consider when accounting for _______.
a. Communities; differences in life chances
1. The works of Marx, Mills, and Weber fall under the umbrella of _______ theory.
a. Conflict
1. Reforming a host of social programs, such as access to health insurance, wage subsidies, education, and employment opportunities, would mean expanding the ________.
a. Conservative approach to alleviating poverty
1. _______ is more likely to occur in communities where opportunities for individuals are difficult to come by
a. Crime
1. ______ is a ______ theorist
a. Durkheim; structural functionalism
1. Solutions to social problems...
a. Have to be multifaceted
1. Which of the following puts Americans in the most favorable position for employment in today's economy?
a. Having a college degree
1. Given what you know from the text about economic inequality in the U.S., why is an individual's access to home ownership so important
a. Home ownership is the primary means through which average Americans generate wealth
1. The minimum-wage requirements in the U.S. are such that workers can work full-time and still be ______.
a. In poverty
1. According to a sociological perspective, _______ could be considered a social problem because it negatively impacts a large number of people.
a. Increased divorce rates
1. Since the 1970s, economic inequality in America in the 1950s
a. Increased substantially
1. The steady rise in median household income realized by American families between 1950 and 1975 is primarily the result of __________.
a. Increases in women's labor force participation
1. As inequality in a population ______, overall health in the population tends to ________.
a. Increases; decreases
1. To draw attention to a social problem, claims-makers often engage in which if the following?
a. Interpretation of facts
1. A feminist theorist would assert that ________ helps illuminate nuances in the social hierarchy.
a. Intersectionality
1. According to the Gini Index, the U.S. _________.
a. Is about average in terms of economic inequalities
1. Which of the following is true about economic inequality in America I the 1950s?
a. It was at an all-time high
1. Families both provide and are impacted by
a. Life chances
1. Expectations that guide our behaviors are referred to as_____.
a. Norms
1. _____ is credited with advancing structural functionalism as a theoretical perspective for understanding social life.
a. Parsons