Chapter 1 The Sociological Perspective

A note left at the scene of a suicide expressed the victim's concern that he felt little sense of moral guidance. He indicated that he was uncertain about what was right or wrong in today's world. Using Emile Durkheim's theory, sociologists might conclude that the suicide victim was feeling:

A. anomie.

In the Marxian framework, the __________ comprise(s) those who own and control the means of production.

A. bourgeoisie

W.E.B. Du Bois observed that a dual heritage creates conflict for people of color, i.e., an identity conflict of being a black and an American. Du Bois referred to this duality as: double-identity.

A. double-consciousness.

According to Robert K. Merton, __________ are the undesirable consequences of any element of a society.

A. dysfunctions

The perpetuation of gender, racial-ethnic, and class inequalities in the education system in the United States is an example of Merton's concept of:

A. dysfunctions.

From a functionalist perspective, the wife/mother is responsible for the __________ tasks, including housework, caring for the children, and providing emotional support for the entire family.

A. expressive

The world's _____ countries are nations with highly industrialized economies; technologically advanced industrial, administrative, and service occupations; and relatively high levels of national and personal income.

A. high-income

The __________ are the tools, land, factories, and money for investment that form the economic basis of a society.

A. means of production

David is employed by one of the state senators. The senator has asked David to determine the age groups in the constituency that are most likely to vote in the upcoming election. David is most likely to contact a(n) __________ to acquire this information.

A. political scientist

According to Auguste Comte, societies contain _____, which are forces for social order and stability.

A. social statics

In describing the law of the three stages, Auguste Comte believed that knowledge began in the _____ stage, where explanations were based on religion and the supernatural, and kinship was the most prominent unit of society.

A. theological

Max Weber stressed that sociologists should employ _____ (understanding or insight) to gain the ability to see the world as others see it

A. verstehen

__________ is the relative location of a person or group within the larger society, based on wealth, power, prestige, or other valued resources.

B. Class

Sociologist _____ is described as the founding figure of the functionalist theoretical tradition.

B. Emile Durkheim

The concept of _____ refers to the meanings, beliefs, and practices associated with the sex differences, which are referred to as femininity and masculinity.

B. Gender

Who referred to consumption as the "see-want-borrow-buy" process?

B. Juliet Schor

The theory that history is a continuous clash between conflicting ideas and forces was developed by:

B. Karl Marx.

German social scientist __________ emphasized that sociology should be value-free, i.e., research should be conducted in a scientific manner and should exclude the researcher's personal values and economic interests.

B. Max Weber

__________ is the process by which an increasing proportion of a population lives in cities rather than in rural areas.

B. Urbanization

According to the text, one reason why more people are not actively protesting our current economic plight may be because of _____—an individual's feeling of powerlessness and estrangement.

B. alienation

From a functionalist perspective, the husband/father performs the __________ tasks, which involve leadership and decision-making responsibilities in the home and employment outside the home to support the family.

B. instrumental

Many teens"hangout"with friends and eat lunch at the food court of a shopping mall. According to the functionalist perspective, this is an example of a __________ of shopping and consumption.

B. latent function

According to Robert K. Merton, __________ are unintended functions that are hidden and remain unacknowledged by participants.

B. latent functions

Many of the nations of Africa and Asia, particularly India and the People's Republic of China where people typically work the land, are examples of __________ countries.

B. low-income

The world's _____ countries are nations with industrializing economies, particularly in urban areas, and moderate levels of national and personal income.

B. middle-income

Sociologists refer to a theoretical framework as a(n) ___________—an overall approach to or viewpoint on some subject.

B. perspective

According to Max Weber, __________ is the ability of a person within a social relationship to carry out his or her own will despite resistance from others.

B. power

Widespread unemployment and massive, nationwide consumer debt are examples of:

B. public issues.

In describing the law of the three stages, Auguste Comte believed that knowledge would reach the _____ stage, where explanations were based on systematic observation, experimentation, comparison, and historical analysis; and industry became the prominent structural unit in society.

B. scientific

A ______ is a large social grouping that shares the same geographical territory and is subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations.

B. society

The ability to see the relationship between individual experiences and the larger society is referred to as:

B. the sociological imagination.

Emphasis on the individual's possession of critical reasoning and experience is associated with the origins of sociological thinking and with the _____.

A. Age of Enlightenment

Which of the following theoretical perspectives would argue that a booming economy benefits other social institutions, including the family, religion, and education?

A. Functionalism

__________ perspectives are based on the assumption that society is a stable, orderly system.

A. Functionalist

_____ is a term used by many people to specify groups of people distinguished by physical characteristics.

A. Race

__________ refers to the biological and anatomical differences between females and males.

A. Sex

__________ is the belief that those species of animals, including human beings, best adapted to their environment survive and prosper, whereas those poorly adapted die out.

A. Social Darwinism

_________ is demonstrated by scorecards that allow lenders to score potential borrowers based on prior statistics of other people's performance in paying their bills.

C. Calculability

The example of a college student using credit cards to finance vacations and eat out is an illustration of what type of society?

C. Consumer society

__________ is regarded as the founder of the symbolic interaction perspective.

C. George Herbert Mead

Personal troubles are solved at the individual level and within one's own immediate social settings. Which of the following would be an example of an individual solution to student credit card debt?

C. Getting a second job to clear debt

According to British social theorist _____, societies developed through a process of "struggle" (for existence) and "fitness" (for survival), which he referred to as the "survival of the fittest."

C. Herbert Spencer

Although the women of that day were categorically excluded from much of public life in France, some women strongly influenced the philosophes and their thinking through their participation in the _____an open house held to stimulate discussion and intellectual debate.

C. Salon

__________ is/are defined as a set of logically interrelated statements that attempts to describe, explain, and (occasionally) predict social events.

C. Theory

According to the functionalist perspective, a society is composed of interrelated parts. If there is an adverse effect in one institution such as the economy, there will be:

C. an adverse reaction in all other institutions.

According to the __________ perspective, groups in society are engaged in a continuous power struggle for control of scarce resources.

C. conflict

The term _____ refers to the cultural heritage or identity of a group and is based on factors such as language or country of origin.

C. ethnicity

According to the functionalist perspective, society develops ___________ to remain orderly and stable. Examples would be religion, economy, family, and government.

C. institutions

In describing the law of the three stages, Auguste Comte believed that knowledge moved to the _____ stage, where explanations were based on abstract philosophical speculations, and the state becomes the prominent social unit.

C. metaphysical

The nations of Eastern Europe and many Latin American countries are examples of _____ countries.

C. middle-income

One person being addicted, unemployed, or running up a high credit card debt could be identified as a:

C. personal trouble.

From Marx's viewpoint, the __________ is composed of those who must sell their labor because they have no other means to earn a livelihood.

C. proletariat

According to Max Weber, __________ is the process by which the modern world has come to be increasingly dominated by structures devoted to efficiency, calculability, predictability, and technological control.

C. rationalization

A community that comes together to build a barn for one of its members after it has been destroyed by fire would be characteristic of a preindustrial society. Durkheim would conclude their members have:

C. shared moral beliefs and values.

According to Auguste Comte, societies contain _____, which are forces for conflict and change.

C. social dynamics

The first department of sociology in the United States was established at __________, where the faculty was instrumental in starting the American Sociological Society (now known as the American Sociological Association).

C. the University of Chicago

__________ defines a condition in which social control becomes ineffective as a result of the loss of shared values and a sense of purpose in society.

D. Anomie

French philosopher __________ is credited with having coined the term sociology to describe a new science that would engage in the study of society.

D. Auguste Comte

The "founder of sociology" is:

D. Auguste Comte.

According to Karl Marx's ideas, he believed that class conflict is necessary in order to produce social change and a better society. Specifically, which of the following social forces was most important to create social change?

D. Economic

In Society in America, __________ examined religion, politics, child rearing, slavery, and immigration to the United States, paying special attention to social distinctions based on class, race, and gender.

D. Harriet Martineau

According to _____Theory of General Evolution, society, like a biological organism, has various interdependent parts (such as the family, the economy, and the government) that work to ensure the stability and survival of the entire society.

D. Herbert Spencer's

__________ is the process by which societies are transformed from dependence on agriculture and handmade products to an emphasis on manufacturing and related industries.

D. Industrialization

Chicago School sociologist __________ is credited with the founding of Hull House, one of the most famous settlement houses in an impoverished area of Chicago.

D. Jane Addams

_____ are patterned ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that exist outside any one individual but that exert social control over each person.

D. Social facts

Sociologist_____suggested that a division of labor (distinct, specialized functions) between husband and wife is essential for family stability and social order.

D. Talcott Parsons

Karl Marx coined the phrase the "fetishism of commodities" to describe the situation wherein workers:

D. fail to recognize that their labor gives the commodity its value.

The United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and the countries of Western Europe are examples of __________ countries.

D. high-income

The world's __________ countries are primarily agrarian nations with little industrialization and low levels of national and personal income.

D. low-income

The transmission of knowledge and skills from one generation to the next is a __________ of education.

D. manifest function

According to Robert K. Merton, __________ are intended and/or overtly recognized by the participants in a social unit.

D. manifest functions

The ___________ of credit cards means that if the cardholder is current on paying bills and the merchant accepts that kind of card, the cardholder will not be turned down on a purchase.

D. predictability

Robert works on the assembly line at the local automobile factory and trades his labor for wages. Robert is a __________ because he does not own the factory.

D. proletariat

The awareness that helps us understand that there is a connection between losing our job and the high unemployment rate in the region in which we live is an example of:

D. the sociological imagination.

According to Veblen, random consumption is the continuous public display of one's wealth and status through purchases such as expensive houses, clothing, motor vehicles, and other consumer goods.

False

According to the conflict perspective, society is a stable, orderly system. This system is characterized by societal consensus.

False

In the Marxian framework, the working class, or bourgeoisie, is composed of those who must sell their labor because they have no other means to earn a livelihood.

False

Max Weber believed that societies developed through a process of "struggle" (for existence) and "fitness" (for survival), which he referred to as the "survival of the fittest."

False

One of Max Weber's most useful concepts is decentralization—the process by which the modern world has come to be increasingly dominated by structures devoted to efficiency, calculability, predictability, and technological control.

False

Simmel theorized that there is no significant difference between dyad groups and triad groups.

False

The conflict and functionalist perspectives focus primarily on microlevel (focusing on small groups) analysis, whereas the symbolic interactionist approaches are based on a macrolevel (examining whole societies, large-scale social structures, and social systems) analysis.

False

Urbanization is the process by which societies are transformed from dependence on agriculture and handmade products to an emphasis on manufacturing and related industries.

False

A political scientist interested in studying consumerism in the United States might examine how the political process—such as the efforts of lobbyists and interest groups to influence governmental policies—affects credit card interest rates and consumer spending in this country.

True

A psychologist interested in studying why some individuals have excessive credit card debt might identify the specific thought processes that a person has when purchasing expensive items that are well beyond his or her budget.

True

A society is a large social grouping that shares the same geographical territory and is subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations.

True

According to Robert K. Merton, a manifest function of education is the transmission of knowledge and skills from one generation to the next; a latent function is the establishment of social relations and networks.

True

According to the functionalist perspective, societies develop social structures (institutions) that persist because they play a part in helping society survive. These institutions include the family, education, government, religion, and the economy

True

Anomie defines a condition in which social control becomes ineffective as a result of the loss of shared values and a sense of purpose in society.

True

C. Wright Mills believed that the most important decisions in the United States are made largely behind the scenes by the power elite—a small clique composed of the top corporate, political, and military officials.

True

French philosopher Auguste Comte coined the term sociology to describe a new science that would engage in the study of society

True

George Herbert Mead explored how individual personalities are developed from social experience and concluded that we would not have an identity, a "self," without communication with other people.

True

Max Weber emphasized that sociology should be value free—research should be conducted in a scientific manner and should exclude the researcher's personal values and economic interests.

True

Social thought began to change rapidly in the seventeenth century with the scientific revolution.

True

Sociologist Emile Durkheim observed that rapid social change and a more specialized division of labor produce strains in society. These strains lead to a breakdown in traditional organization, values, and authority and to a dramatic increase in anomie.

True

Sociology is a systematic study because sociologists apply both theoretical perspectives and research methods to examinations of social behavior.

True

Symbols are instrumental in helping people derive meanings from social situations. In social encounters, each person's interpretation or definition of a given situation becomes a subjective reality from that person's viewpoint.

True

The 2,400 pairs of shoes owned by Imelda Marcos, wife of the late President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, is an example of conspicuous consumption.

True

The awareness that helps us understand that there is a connection between losing our job and the high unemployment rate in the region in which we live is an example of the sociological imagination.

True

The sociological imagination helps us place personal troubles, such as losing one's job or overspending on credit cards, into a larger social context, where we can distinguish whether and how personal troubles may be related to public issues.

True

Sociology is defined as the:

systematic study of human society and social interaction.