sociology midterm

A twenty eight year old woman is on the verge of a big promotion at work. She didn't finish college until she was 25, and the entry level job she currently has is unimpressive. She decides to attend her ten year high school reunion only if she is promoted. What do sociologists say her high school classmates represent if they can have this much influence on her decision to attend the reunion?

a reference group

What might a conflict theorist conclude about deviance 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 commiting?

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

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

violations of social norms

in terms of job leads, mes social networks are different from those of women because:

women are less likely to hear about quality job openings if their social networks are composed of more women than men.

According to the symbolic interactionist George Herbert Mead, playing organized games is important for an older child's development of the self because:

game playing involves learning to anticipate and coordinate with other players actions.

members of a _____ interact with one another and think of themselves as belonging together.

group

what sort of group dynamic may have led officials at NASA to ignore warnings and launch the space shuttle challenger, which exploded shortly after takeoff?

group think

What does the concept of the looking glass self help explain?

how we develop a self concept based on our perception of others' judgments of us.

what is the strongest type of conformity that can occur as a result of social influence or peer pressure?

internalization

Which of the following is a factor that can lead to increased group cohesion?

shared values

One of the baristas at Jose's local coffee shop always greets him by name. She often asks how school is going and seems to care about his answer. How would we characterize Jose's relationship with the barista?

she is a "consequential stranger" who bridges the gap between primary and secondary groups.

What did Harvard medical school researchers conclude about the effects of the media on young people in Fiji who, until the 1990's, lacked widespread access to television?

television affected young women's body image.

most sociological studies of deviance focus on elements of an individual's background that would make them more likely to act in deviant ways. What is the key problem with such an approach?

It cannot explain why some people with very similar backgrounds act differently.

What do the several cases of children who grew up in extreme social isolation, such as the case of Genie in 1970, suggest?

Most of our mental capacities, and perhaps even the ability to think, are learned through social interaction.

Which of the following statements about bureaucracies is true?

People who work in bureaucracies may feel alienation as a result of being treated in terms of roles, rules, and functions rather than as individuals.

Which of the following statements about grief is true according to the sociological explanation of emotions?

The experience of grief is universal, but the expressions of grief vary.

Which of the following is a quality of charismatic leaders?

They possess extraordinary personal qualities.

which of the following is best suited to preventing groupthink

a leader who encourages and rewards the presentation of alternative opinions

In 1978, cult leader Jim Jones forced more than 900 of his followers to drink poisoned flavor aid, which led to their deaths. In the run up to this event, Jones strictly enforced discipline, mocked and ridiculed anyone who expressed doubts, and even had doubters sedated. This extreme effort to enforce conformity is an example of:

bureaucracy

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

deviance clarifies moral boundaries and affirms norms.

who is most likely to commit murder according to the uniform crime report?

friend or relative

resocialization is particularly necessary when people are cut off from society and their former identities are stripped away. Which of the following is an example of a life change that would lead to this more dramatic form of resocialization?

entry into a total institution

It is counterintuitive to tell your opponents that you have a good hand when you play high stakes poker. However, particularly good poker players say they can read other players' "tells." These are subtle and unintentional facial expressions, mannerisms, and body language that reveal what players are thinking. What would Erving Goffman call tells?

expressions given off

why does the family have such a powerful impact as an agent of socialization?

family begins the socialization process before there are any other competing factors.

Pablo comes from a low income family, but he worked hard in school and earned a full scholarship to Stanford university. Pablo is worried that his peers and professors will recognize his background and treat him differently, so he wears new clothes and attempts to hide his accent on the first day of class. When Pablo goes home for the weekend, he leaves his new clothes behind in his dorm and does not mask his accent. Which sociological concept best explains Pablo's behavior and interactions with others?

impression management

Robert Merton's typology of deviance outlines the strain that people experience as they attempt to access cultural goals through legitimate, institutionalized means. In which of the following categories would gangsters and con artists be found?

innovation

____ are evidence that the definition of what constitutes a group is being transformed as a result of new technology and the digital age.

reddit subgroups

what did david rosenhan describe in "on being sane in insane places"?

researchers posing as "pseudo patients' in a mental hospital but otherwise acting normally were treated as mentally ill by the hospital staff.

individual members of a large group often neglect their responsibilities when a task needs to be completed because it is impossible for any one person to receive credit or blame. This phenomenon is called:

social loafing

The sociologist Duncan Watts examined the way people may change their minds about whom to vote for based on the opinions of friends and acquaintances. What concept was watts studying?

social networks

Brooke is a PhD in the field of nanophysics. She is aware that only 4% of physics professionals are women. Brooke has heard peers and even instructors say that this is because women struggle to comprehend complex mathematics. What may brooke be experiencing when she scores below her male counterparts on an exam.

stereo type threat

Jewish Americans, African Americans, and hispanic Americans were not permitted to purchase houses in the suburb of Lakewood, California when it was first built in 1950. However, the developers reversed this policy within a few years and started selling homes to families regardless of religious faith or ethnicity. What does this tell us about stigma?

stigmatized identities change over time.

sociologists define the self as:

the experience of an individual's personal identity that is distinct from other people

Simon lagolios studied government employment in Quebec, canada. He found that more than 40% of the people he surveyed found their jobs through personal contact, even though the government had made efforts to formalize recruitment. The personal contact were fairly casual acquaintances in the majority of cases, not close friends. What principle is demonstrated here?

the strength of weak ties

how have social networking websites affected social groups?

they help people make the most of both their primary and secondary groups.

The vast majority of crimes come to the attention of the police in response to citizen complaints. Citizens do not usually bother to inform the authorities if they do not think a crime is serious enough or feel that nothing can be done. This means that there might be serious bias in the:

uniform crime report