Sociology Exam

Why does the family has such a powerful impact as an agent of socialization?

Family begins the socialization process before there are any other competing influences

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.

Which of the following statements about the process of socialization is true?

Society shapes the individual and the individual shapes society.

How do sociologists define the self?

The experience of an individual's personal identity, distinct from other people

Macrosociology and microsociology approach the study of society from different perspectives . How does the discipline of sociology deal with these two very different approaches?

These two perspectives are on a continuum with each other and sociologists can adopt the perspective most useful for a particular problem.

Which of the following is an advantage of using interviews as a research method?

They reveal attitudes and beliefs not accessible by any other means.

Why do ethnocentric people tend to view other cultures as abnormal?

They use their own culture as a standard of judgment.

True or False : Even when sociologists study their own cultures, they often engage in the process of "othering" the people they study.

True

True or False: Both sides are partially right in the nature vs. nurture debate.

True

True or False: Norms develop out of a culture's value system

True

True or False: Our sense of self is largely created through social processes.

True

True or False: Signs are symbols that stand for or convey an idea.

True

True or False: Sociologist claim that culture is the lens through which we perceive and evaluate what is going on in the world around us.

True

True or False: Sociologists try to follow the steps of the scientific method or approach to gather new empirical data that can change and deepen our understanding of human social life.

True

Which of the following is one of the steps in Charles Cooley's model of the looking-glass self?

We interpret others reactions to us.

Where should you start if you possess a sociological imagination and you are asked to study unemployment rates in a city with fifty million people, of which, fifteen million are unemployed?

You should consider the economic and political structures of the society.

Unlike folkways, mores are closely related to a. the core values of a group b. formal but not informal norms c. the dominant culture of a group d. culture wars between groups

a. the core values of a grouo

Churches usually teach their members rules and often codify these rules into forma commandments to be followed. Given this, churches can be considered

agents of socialization

At the beginning of the 21st century, some people placed signs with crudely painted skeletons holding cell phones near roadways, usually facing freeway ramps. These signs indicated disapproval of using cell phones while driving, a practice some states have now made illegal. As a result of this social movement

an informal norm has become a law

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.

When engaging in participant observation, researchers can study others as well as themselves. Research that focuses on one's own thoughts, feelings, and experiences is known as

auto-ethnography

Which of the following is a subculture?

bodybuilding

Today, it is possible to travel all over the world, especially if you visit major metropolitan areas, without ever having to eat anything but McDonald's foodThis is an example of

cultural leveling

What do you sociologists call it when cultures that were once distinct became increasingly similar?

cultural leveling

Clashes over values in the United States, especially as represented by liberals and conservatives in the mass media, have been termed

culture wars

Conflicts within mainstream society about which values and norms should be upheld or shifted are called

culture wars

Which methodology MOST closely resembles the scientific method?

experimental research

Which of the following agents of socialization has the most enduring, lifelong impact on the individual?

family

According to the scientific method, what are the steps in conducting research and in what order should they be completed?

form a hypothesis, define variables, choose research method, collect data

Which of the following is a latent function of the educational system in the United States?

keeping children out of trouble while parents are at work

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that

language can structure our perception of reality.

Sociology can be defined as the systematic and scientific study of human society and social behavior, from ________ to ________.

large-scale institutions; individual interactions

A close-ended question is one that

limits the possible responses

Designer labels on purses and logos on shirts are both examples of

material culture

Which term describes a policy of honoring diverse racial, ethnic, national, and linguistic backgrounds?

multiculturalism

A monetary fine, harsh words, and shaking one's fist are examples of

negative sanctions

Imagine that you are trying to rewrite a survey. You find a multiple-choice question that asks, "What is your favorite recreational activity?" and gives three response options: watching television, shopping, or sports. You add a fourth response option, "other" and invite respondents to write an activity of their choice. What kind of question have you just made?

open-ended

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

A social research methods class wants to study smoking. First, the professor asks how many people in the class are smokers. Two people indicate that they are. Then she asks how many people have smoked a cigarette in the past week and ten people indicate that they had. From this, the class decides, for the purposes of the survey, a smoker will be anyone who has smoked a cigarette in the past week and currently owns a pack of cigarettes. This is a(n)

operational definition

Which of the following research techniques focuses on gaining an insider's perspective of the everyday lives of subjects under investigation, often dispelling stereotypes about the group being investigated?

participant observation

As children get older, which agent of socialization tends to replace parents as their most intense and immediate influence?

peers

Together and in groups, people organize their lives and their social interactions to produce a real and meaningful world. Sociologists can study this because:

people organize their lives in patterned ways.

What kind of research are you doing if you observe a group in order to determine its norms, values , rules, and meanings?

qualitative research

Which social theory focuses on micro-level interactions?

symbolic interactionism

Which kind of norm is so deeply ingrained that the very thought of breaking it brings feelings of disgust or horror?

taboo

Which of the following sequences list norms in the correct order, from the most strictly enforced to the list?

taboos, mores, folkways

A space shuttle, graffiti, a new coding language, and a new instrument are all examples of

technology

True or False : Only an authoritative body or formal institution can impose negative sanctions

False

A research team is curious about the relationship between exercise habits and academic performance among American college students. In order to get their data the researchers randomly select seventeen colleges by pulling names out of a hat. They travel to campuses and stand in prominent public places asking for volunteers until they have ten people from each campus willing to be interviewed. What is the researchers' target population?

American college students

How are norms enforced in everyday settings?

By sanctions

What economic system emerged during the Industrial Revolution?

Capitalism

Which of the following is an advantage of using ethnography to study social life?

Ethnography allows the researcher to gather abundant data on a small population.

Which of the following is one of the functions of symbolic culture?

It enables people to communicate

Which of the following statements best characterizes microsociology?

It is an approach that examines interactions between individuals and the ways those interactions reflect larger societal patterns.

Which of the following is a DISADVANTAGE of using ethnography as a method of social research?

It is difficult for another researcher to repeat or replicate any particular ethnography.

Many everyday cultural practices such as greeting a friend, giving someone flowers or using the thumbs-up sign seem like natural ways of acting. Why does having an awareness of how these practices vary across cultures demonstrate a healthy sociological imagination?

It reminds us that everyday interactions are connected to larger societies and norms.

Which of the following statements best describes the approach taken by macro-sociologists?

Macrosociology examines large-scale social structure to see how it affects individual lives.

Symbolic interactionism argues that people act toward things on the basis of their meaning. According to this perspective, how does meaning arise?

Meaning is negotiated through interaction with others.

Which best describes the research goals of sociologists who use a macrosociological approach and the research goals of sociologists who use a microsociological approach?

No matter what approach they take, all sociologist aim to illuminate the connection between the individual and society.

Which of the following groups is MOST likely to be classified as a counterculture?

a militia group living in Montana

What does it mean if a sample of sociological research is representative?

a smaller group of people studied can tell us something about a larger group

Structural functionalist theory is concerned with the ways in which structures contribute to the stability of society. What is a structure?

a social institution that is stable over time and helps meet the needs of society

Sociologists assert that there is a close relationship between the individual and society. How does Pam Fishman's research on gender and power in heterosexual couples characterize this relationship? a. Fishman's data show how macro -level phenomena like gender and power manifest themselves in everyday interactions b. It doesn't because Fishman's data only show how individuals act c. Fishman's data show that micro-level and macro-level phenomena are largely independent of each other d. Fishman's research shows that there is no relationship between the individual and society .

a. Fishman's data show how macro -level phenomena like gender and power manifest themselves in everyday interactions

Countercultural groups such as the hippies of the 1960s a. Actually had a lifestyle that was similar to that of a mainstream culture b. Were considered members of the popular culture c. Rejected the norms of the dominant culture d. Are now seen as members of a subculture

c. Rejected the norms of the dominant culture

Jai is conducting a sociological research study on differences in interactions between similar and dissimilar co-workers. After reviewing the literature, he developed a hypothesis and has operationalized the variables he will study. What is the next step Jai should take in the scientific method?

choose a research design or method

Unlike sociologists, the knowledge that most people possess about the world can be described as

common sense

You want to conduct some sociological research on whether people on social networking sites are less likely to meet in person as a result of their online community participation. What is the next step in the scientific method?

conduct a literature review

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

conflict between social groups

What methodology would you use if you were to conduct a research project investigating the relationship between smoking and gender in blockbuster films?

content analysis

If changing one variable seems to lead to a change in another variable, this shows ________ but does not necessarily prove ________.

correlation, causation

Sociologists use which of the following terms to describe a group with values and norms that oppose the dominant culture?

counterculture

There are many sushi restaurants in the United States and many McDonald's style fast food restaurants in Japan. This is an example of

cultural diffusion

Survey research tends to produce quantitative data. One key advantage of this kind of data is that it

is easy to transmit to the public.

A simple random sample is defined as a sample a. With only one variable b. That takes into account other demographic variables c. That weights one variable more than the other d. That provides the same chance of being included to every member of the population

d. That provides the same chance of being included to every member of the population

You are conducting research on violence in the media. In what part of the research process are you engaged if you are trying to decide whether "violence" includes words as well as actions?

defining the variables

An employee who has a special relationship with his boss is promoted instead of a more deserving co-worker. This is an example of the

distinction between ideal culture and real culture.

A man is listening to loud music and singing along public. The people around him glare and frown at him, hoping that he will stop. The man ignores them, indicating that he

doesn't seem to care about negative sanctions.

The values, norms, and practices of the most powerful group within a society are called

dominant culture

The tendency to use your own group's way of doing things as the yardstick for judging others is called

ethnocentrism

What uses an inductive method that involves collecting data and then generating theory by looking for relationships among categories?

grounded theory

What was probably Harriet Martineau's MOST important contribution to the development of sociology as a discipline?

her translation of the work of Auguste Comte into English

The concept of the looking-glass self explains

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

Regardless of their various approaches to social phenomena, what are all sociologists trying to do?

illuminate the connection between the individual and society

Which of the following is an example of a taboo in American society?

incest

What does Marx see as the primary tool for the oppression of the lower social classes in modern society?

industrial capitalism

"Each to each a looking glass, Reflects the other that doth pass." This line of poetry associated with sociologist Charles Cooley, indicates that our sense of self originates in

interactions with other people

A study found a strong correlation between parental bonding and adolescent drug use. Children with stronger bonds to their parents were far less likely to try drugs alcohol. However, the researchers, after examining their data more closely, discovered that parental bonding was really a predictor for teen religiosity. Consequently, high levels of religiosity prevent drug use rather than parental bonding. This means that religiosity was a(n)

intervening variable.

Sociologists who conduct interviews can only gather data from a limited number of people because

interviews are too time consuming

What do sociologists call the norms and values that people actually follow as opposed to the nord and values that people believe should be followed?

real culture

According to Karl Marxthe most important factor in social life is a person's

relationship to the means of production

What will a good researcher always do after formulating a general research question?

review the literature relevant to his or her topic

Which of the following theories views society as a whole unit made up of inter-related part that work together?

structural functionalism

Sociologists observe society by

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

A cultural group that exists harmoniously within a larger, dominant culture is called a

subculture

What is the sociological imagination?

the ability to understand the connections between biography and history, or the interplay of the self and the world

According to George Herbert Mead, what are children learning when they begin to take the perspective of a generalized other in their games?

the attitudes and expectations of society as a whole

A researcher must identify a target population before engaging in sampling. What is the target population?

the larger group of people about whom he or she wishes to generalize

What is the scientific method?

the procrdure for acquiring and collecting concrete data

What is one of the goals of socialization?

to teach norms, values, and beliefs

What are the goals of ethnography?

to understand the meanings people attach to their activities