SOC Test 1: Ch1-3
Jennifer is a new student in sociology. She is having trouble in her theory class because none of the theories she is learning about seem to say the same things about society. What might a more experienced student say to Jennifer to help her understand why this is the case?
"Sociology has multiple and competing theories and most sociologists draw on more than one at a time to make sense of their research."
Which of the following best describes how people commonly develop stereotypes?
A person perceives that a group is distinct because of a certain characteristic, then assumes that an individual from that group must have that characteristic.
Sociologist C. Wright Mills suggested that the sociological imagination is a concept that lets us think systematically about the relationship between the personal and the social. Using your sociological imagination, how might the personal problem of unemployment be tied to greater social issues?
A person will face unemployment due to a recession that resulted in fewer available job openings for job seekers.
Which of the following statements is the best example of a researcher making a causal inference?
A researcher concludes that the health of unborn babies was negatively impacted by the high levels of stress their mothers experienced during pregnancy.
Which of the following illustrates a researcher obtaining informed consent?
A researcher helps a research subject understand the risks and benefits of participating in a study before enrolling the subject.
Which of the following scenarios depicts a researcher breaking an ethical code?
A researcher publishes the full names of study participants on her website.
Which of the following statements best describes how roles are related to social institutions?
A role is a position within an institution or organization that comes with specific social expectations for how to behave and be treated.
Which of the following best explains the relationship between a sociological imagination and stereotypes?
A sociological imagination challenges stereotypes by raising questions about where they come from.
Who coined the term "sociology"?
Auguste Comte
Which of the following best describes what it means to connect individual biographies to history?
Connecting biography to history means understanding how an individual's problem is really a social problem affecting many individuals.
__________ is the term used to describe when two factors or two social phenomena "co-vary" with each other.
Correlation
A student notices that very few women in his university are studying to become engineers. What sort of sociological question could be based on this observation?
Despite the fact that many people say women can succeed in any field they choose, are there invisible barriers in higher education that prevent women from studying engineering?
A teenager notices that his new employer likes to boast that no matter the background and identity of new applicants, she always gives people equal consideration when it comes to hiring. What sort of sociological question could be based on this teenager's observations?
Do employers like this one actually give people equal consideration, or do they just say they do?
A good sociological question does not simply rely on stereotypes. Which of the following is a good sociological question?
Does being born into poverty increase the chances that a person will stay in poverty?
Which of the following questions should sociologists ask themselves to determine the merit and feasibility of their research questions?
Does the question connect to existing social scientific literature or studies?
Edward is introduced to Jessah and intends to kiss her cheek in greeting. Inadvertently, he ends up kissing her on the lips. Both Edward and Jessah laugh and feel embarrassed by this mistake. Which of the following conclusions can be drawn based on this scenario?
Edward's mistake was a violation of social norms.
What is the difference between empirical generalizability and theoretical generalizability?
Empirical generalizability means research results can be applied to a larger population, whereas theoretical generalizability means research results can be applied to larger sociological processes.
Imagine you are a sociologist interested in designing a research study to investigate whether there are differences in college students' academic outcomes depending on whom they have in their social networks to help them through college. Which of the following social theorists might be most useful in helping you with this research?
Georg Simmel
__________ refers to the increasing flows of goods and services across national borders.
Globalization
Which of the following best describes the difference between how sociologists and historians study history?
Historians are usually experts on a given time period or place, while sociologists examine variations in time and place to make sense of larger patterns.
__________ is one of the common themes that nearly all social theories have sought to address.
How does the individual act within the context of society?
Which of the following is the best definition of the term "institution"?
Institutions are important sets of practices that society has followed for a long time.
Which of the following is an example of a stereotype?
Keri is spoiled because she came from a wealthy family.
Which pair of social theorists are similar in that they both emphasized how social class matters in social life?
Marx and Bourdieu
Which social theorist was most interested in understanding how people interpret and give meaning to the world around them?
Max Weber
A sociologist wants to do research about how elementary school children learn to monitor and discipline themselves. Which theorist's work might be useful for informing this research topic?
Michel Foucault
Which of the following statements best reflects the relationship between norms and whether an individual "fits in" to society?
Norms are the rules about what is and isn't acceptable by our community and must be followed to "fit in."
Which of the following statements best describes why a sociological imagination is important for understanding society?
Only when we develop this ability can we start to see how larger issues in society relate to personal problems.
__________ solidarity, unlike __________ solidarity, is associated with an extensive division of labor in society.
Organic; mechanical
Which of the following statements best highlights the key differences between qualitative and quantitative research?
Qualitative research relies on words, direct observations, historical records, and pictures, whereas quantitative research relies on data that are more easily subjected to statistical analyses.
The social sciences were first founded in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Why was this the case?
Rapid industrialization and urbanization of the time resulted in the need to study society and its groups. The social sciences formed to address this need.
What is the difference between reliability and validity?
Reliability describes when a measurement technique repeatedly produces similar results, whereas validity describes whether a measurement technique actually measures what the researcher thinks it measures.
Which of the following scenarios describes how a person's identity might have an impact on his or her opportunities in life?
Shelly notices that her classmates are less likely to question male professors than female professors. She wonders whether the relative lack of criticism for male professors means male professors in the university will be more successful than their female colleagues.
Which of the following statements best reflects the relationship between sociology and different units of analysis?
Sociological explanations of how the world shapes people's behavior often take into account different units of analysis.
Sociologists can ask a broad array of questions. Which of the following best identifies what these sociological questions all have in common?
Sociological questions consider how social contexts matter.
Which of the following statements best reflects the relationship between sociology and other social science disciplines?
Sociology has given birth to a number of other disciplines, including African American studies, gender studies, demography, and criminology.
Which of the following describes how sociology is different from economics?
Sociology makes use of a number of different theoretical traditions.
Which of the following best characterizes the focus of symbolic interactionism?
Symbolic interactionism focuses on how people interact and create shared meaning.
Which social theorist is primarily associated with the development of structural functionalism?
Talcott Parsons
Tam is able to attend a highly competitive college because his parents have enough income to pay the tuition. Lai is only able to attend night classes at a less competitive college because she has to work during the day to pay tuition. Which statement best describes how the notion of a "social context" can be used to describe this scenario?
Tam and Lai are experiencing different social contexts, which will likely have an impact on the type of opportunities each encounters in life.
Baby Alyssa is born in a hospital with a lot of resources, staff, and modern equipment. Baby Brandi is born in a hospital with older equipment, few staff, and little resources. Which statement best describes this scenario?
The two babies are born into different social contexts, which will have an impact on their social development.
Angela observes that children from poor families tend to have higher rates of lead poisoning, but she doesn't know if being poor makes people more likely to be exposed to lead, or if people who already have high levels of lead in their bodies are more likely to become poor. Which of the following characterizes what Angela knows about the relationship between poverty and lead poisoning?
There is a correlation between poverty and lead poisoning.
What do synagogues, political organizations, and schools have in common?
They are all contexts where people might gain special opportunities.
How did urbanization lead to the development of sociology?
Urbanization caused various social problems, such as growing levels of poverty, and governments and scholars wanted to understand these problems.
Which of the following describes the central questions all sociological theories face?
What is the nature of the individual? What is the basis for social order? What are the circumstances under which societies change?
Tamara analyzes data from 300 randomly selected schoolchildren throughout the state of Wisconsin and finds that children from wealthy families are more likely to receive extra help from teachers than children from poor families. When asked by a reporter, Tamara claims her findings actually describe the entire population of schoolchildren in Wisconsin. This is an example of __________.
a generalization
A researcher states that she thinks that the less sleep students get on the night before an exam, the poorer they will perform on the exam. What is this statement an example of?
a hypothesis
Drawing on the theory developed by Karl Marx, Rupert Murdoch, owner of one of the world's largest media conglomerates, is best characterized as __________.
a member of the bourgeoisie
A parent tells a child he is not supposed to eat food off the ground. This rule is an example of __________.
a norm
Which of the following correctly defines the term "sampling"?
a process of identifying which subjects to include in a study
A conclusion about how one factor is producing a change in another factor is known as a(n) __________.
causal inference
Which of the following terms describes the idea that capitalists are driven to push down the wages of workers, which is in direct conflict with the goals of workers, who seek to secure higher wages?
class struggle
Yumiko just filled out a form that asked her to provide information about her diet. The first question asked, "How many days per week do you consume meat? a) 1; b) 2; c) 3; or d) more than 3." Which of the following terms describes this type of question?
closed-ended survey question
Which theoretical perspective focuses on how social and economic inequalities persist because powerful individuals and groups work to protect their advantages?
conflict theory
A researcher claims he wants to study why England's infant mortality rate has been lower than the United States' infant mortality rate. What type of research is this?
cross-national comparison
Chip is examining data regarding the age at which people got married. He notices that in a number of cases people were reported as being over 200 years old, so he begins fixing these obvious errors. Which of the following describes what Chip is doing?
data cleaning
When researchers organize the data according to key categories and concepts, they are __________.
data coding
After a sociologist created a line graph showing the cost of prescription medication over time, she noticed that the elderly are paying more than ever before. In this example, the sociologist created a __________
data display
Emilio is reviewing the data he collected from historical records about immigration in the United States. He decides to create a series of tables and flow charts in order to visually summarize patterns in the data. Based on this description, you can tell that Emilio is creating __________.
data displays
Michael is going to conduct a study about living in a college dorm. He begins choosing only students in every third dorm room to interview. Which of the following describes this step of "choosing" in the research process?
developing a random sample
Different theoretical traditions offer __________ answers to the question, "What are the circumstances or conditions under which societies change?"
different
Which of the following concepts refers to W. E. B. Du Bois's idea that unlike white Americans, black Americans must live multiple lives, one as a black person and one as an American?
double consciousness
A sociologist has met with gang members and asked them to tell her what it is like to belong to a gang; however, she suspects that for various reasons these informants are leaving out details of their experiences. Which of the following methods would be most useful for learning about the behaviors and experiences of gang members?
ethnography
The field of sociology has spawned other areas of study. Which of the following is an area of study spawned by sociology?
gender studies
Before conducting research, sociologists often come up with a prediction about what might be discovered by the research. What is this prediction called?
hypothesis
Race, gender, and religion are all examples of __________.
identities
Which of the following concepts would symbolic interactionists most likely use in their research?
impression management
Which of the following methods is best suited for learning about the thought processes of people who chose to get divorced within the past year?
in-depth interviews
In the late 1800s, the United States went through a period of __________, which refers to a pronounced growth in factories and cities.
industrialization
Karl Marx's social theory primarily focuses on __________.
inequality in economic systems
What is the name of the organization that evaluates research proposals based on whether the research will potentially harm research subjects?
institutional review board (IRB)
Which of the following concepts refers to the interlocking nature of inequality, or how gender inequalities are formed in relation to inequalities based on race, class, and sexuality?
intersectionality
Relative to other disciplines, such as economics and political science, sociology __________ engage(s) in interdisciplinary research.
is the most likely discipline to
Which of the following is the best example of cultural capital?
knowing a lot about fine wine
Your professor took a sample of a population and collected data from the subjects in that sample over a period of years. What kind of data is this called?
longitudinal data
Valerie follows a group of spoken word poets around for a year in an effort to understand the inner workings of their group. Although Valerie did not randomly select the people she studies, she draws on her research findings to formulate a broader theory of human behavior. This is called __________.
making a theoretical generalization
Contrary to dominant theories at the time, W. E. B. Du Bois argued that racial inequality was __________.
manufactured by American society
According to Karl Marx, capitalism, feudalism, and slavery are all examples of __________.
modes of production
Sebastian completes an experiment and records the results. Anna completes the same experiment, following the same steps as Sebastian, but gets different results. This means that the experiment is __________.
not reliable
Within a symbolic interactionist framework, Herbert Blumer distinguished between three types of objects that can be the subject of interpretation. Which of the following describes these three types of objects?
physical objects, social objects, and abstract objects
Which of the following terms refers to original data that a sociologist independently collects?
primary-source data
A sociologist plans to study how the clothing Americans wear has become less and less formal over time. To get a sense of how clothing choices have changed over time, the sociologist examines thousands of historical photographs and carefully takes notes about where the photo was taken, when it was taken, and what the people in the photo were wearing. This study is an example of __________.
qualitative research
The statistical analysis of data is called __________.
quantitative research
When feminist social theorist Simone de Beauvoir wrote, "One is not born but becomes a woman," she was pointing to a difference between an individual's __________ and __________.
sex; gender
Jonas belongs to a political club, but he notices that he does not always get invited to hang out with some of the more popular members of the club after their club meetings. After reading about the work of Georg Simmel in his sociology class, Jonas realizes that what he is experiencing is an example of __________.
social distance
Imagine you are entering an elevator full of people. When you step in, you most likely turn around to face the door like everyone else. Drawing on the work of Emile Durkheim, your behavior has been impacted by a __________.
social fact
Emile Durkheim emphasized __________, while Max Weber emphasized __________ in his theory of society.
social facts; social action
Family, marriage, education, government, and religion are all examples of __________.
social institutions
Which of the following themes can be readily found in Emile Durkheim's theoretical work?
social solidarity
Human behavior is not natural; it is learned. People learn how to behave in society through a process of __________.
socialization
Forming a good sociological question requires that we learn not to take __________ for granted.
stereotypes and commonsense
Your friend Mary Jo tells you that the purpose of religion is to ensure that the individuals of a given society all hold a common set of values. Which theoretical perspective offers a view of religion that is similar to the one shared by Mary Jo?
structural functionalism
Social theorists working in the tradition of __________ theorized that social change happened much like the theory of __________.
structural functionalism; evolution
Which of the following terms describes theories that consciously connect social structure with individual action?
structural individualism
Jennifer is studying the effects of nutrition on student performance in school. She researches a group of students and finds that students who miss breakfast often do poorly during the school day. What is the dependent variable in this scenario?
student performance
A(n) __________ is a standardized set of questions asked to a large group of randomly chosen people.
survey
Social theories are __________.
systematic ideas that help explain the relationship between individuals and society
Sociologists often use conceptual frameworks, which are inherited from other scholars. These conceptual frameworks are also called __________.
theoretical traditions
Theories that are very grand or "macro" in nature typically seek to explain __________.
universal features of societies
A sociologist supports marriage equality, and he decides to conduct a research project on marriage laws in each state. His support of marriage equality could also be called his __________.
values
