Sociology 109 quizzes

Which change was associated with the Industrial Revolution?

a significant population boom

A famous social scientist tells you that the most important task in her research was entering the social world of the people she was studying. What can you say about this researcher

she is a qualitative researcher

The former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor voted to allow a Christmas display on public property that included a nativity scene but voted to prohibit city governments from having displays that had only a nativity scene. This indicates that:

America is both a secular and a nonsecular society at the same time.

What does a sociological perspective tell us about education in the United States?

Educational success often has as much to do with social stratification as it does with individual ability.

What do sociologists call it when a person's job requires him to manage his feelings as part of his official duties?

Emotion work

Erving Goffman theorized social life as a kind of con game in which we work to control the impressions others have of us. What did Goffman call this process?

Impression management

Which of the following statements best characterizes microsociology

It is an approach that examines interactions between individuals and how those interactions reflect larger societal patterns

How has union membership changed in recent years?

Membership has steeply declined

When John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon debated during the 1960 presidential campaign, voters who watched the debate on television were more likely to see Kennedy as the winner than those who listened to it on radio. Why? a. b. c. d.

Nixon refused to take advice on hair, makeup, and clothing that would have made him look better on camera.

What does sociologist Randall Collins argue is the true function of schools?

They reproduce the class structure, making sure that most people grow up to have a socioeconomic status similar to that of their parents.

According to the symbolic interactionist George Herbert Mead, the generalized other is:

an understanding of the rules that govern a network of different players in related roles.

In Great Britain, the government owns the British Broadcasting Corporation, or BBC, which is the world's largest television and radio broadcasting service. This tells you that Great Britain is:

at least partially socialist

Poverty can be defined in either relative or absolute terms. How does absolute deprivation measure poverty?

by considering access to food, shelter, clothing, and medical care

What did Karl Marx think the lower classes needed to develop in order to end their oppression

class consciousness

According to the theoretical position developed by Karl Marx, what is the engine of social change

conflict between social groups

According to Karl Marx, what social relations matter most in a capitalist system?

economic relations

Which methodology MOST closely resembles the scientific method

experimental research

It is often said that you can always tell a millionaire by her shoes. She may dress like a slob in every other respect, but someone from the upper class is bound to have expensive, custom-made footwear. Whether this is true or not, it helps demonstrate the way we:

make split-second judgments about who people are and what social status they occupy based on their appearances

According to Barbara Ehrenreich, which of these behaviors can help those with minimum-wage service jobs to get ahead and move up in the world?

none of them; there is no way for minimum-wage workers to move up in the world

What kind of question usually produces a wide variety of responses by allowing respondents to answer in whatever way seems appropriate to them

open-ended

Robert is walking down the street late at night when a man in a ski mask suddenly sticks a gun in his face and takes his wallet. Sociologists would say that Robert's mugger had ________ but not ________.

power; authority

The practice of refusing mortgages for houses in poor and minority neighborhoods is called:

redlining

Mother Teresa was a person with tremendous power and prestige, yet she was very poor. Mother Teresa is an example of which of the following?

status inconsistency

What school of social theory believes that society is a stable system of structures, which contribute to the equilibrium of the whole

structural functionalism

Sociologists observe society by

studying the various parts of a society and the ways they interact and influence one another

A simple random sample is defined as a sample

that provides the same chance of being included to every member of the population

In his book The Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud suggested that:

the conscious level of awareness is but the tip of the iceberg and that just below the surface is a far greater area of the mind, the subconscious and the unconscious.

The term "socialization" refers to:

the lifelong process by which people learn the norms, values, and beliefs of their culture.

What is the scientific method

the procedure for acquiring and collecting concrete data

What is it called when nations compete to attract transnational corporations by undercutting their citizens' wages or offering tax incentives?

the race to the bottom