Deck 16: Social Change

Question 1

Which of the following statements about social change is true?

A) It occurs exclusively during unmistakable periods in history.
B) It happens quickly.
C) It occurs rarely.
D) It is always happening.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Experts have posited that Syria's change from a stable to an unstable country is partially due to an extensive drought. This means that the recent social change in Syria is partly due to

A) a major physical event.
B) wide-scale demographic changes.
C) a new innovation or discovery.
D) war.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Typically parents teach children, not the other way around. However, it is now common for parents to call their children for help performing a simple task on a computer, such as attaching a file to an email. What creates situations in which parents have to turn to their children for help?

A) war
B) emergent norms
C) social dilemmas
D) social change

Answer 3

D

Question 4

In 2013, YouTube user "DizastaMusic" uploaded a video featuring a segment called the "Harlem Shake." Almost instantly, people started replicating the dance moves seen in the video and uploading their own versions of the segment to YouTube. Of what is this an example?

A) a public goods dilemma
B) mass behavior
C) a crowd
D) contagion theory

Question 5

Large numbers of people form a ________ when they come together.

A) crowd
B) collective behavior group
C) riot
D) fad

Question 6

What are the periods in which large-scale social change occurs so rapidly that whole societies are dramatically redefined?

A) contagion theory eras
B) mass behavioral evolutions
C) social revolutions
D) the tragedy of the commons

Question 7

Thousands of UCLA students used to gather several times a year for an "undie run" as a way of relieving stress during finals until it was canceled due to safety concerns in 2009. Of what is this an example?

A) emergent norms
B) a public goods dilemma
C) the tragedy of the commons
D) collective behavior

Question 8

"An agglomeration of men presents new characteristics very different from those of the individuals composing it. The sentiments and ideas of all the persons in the gathering take one and the same direction, and their conscious personality vanishes. . . It forms a single being . . ." Which theory describes this quote?

A) public goods dilemma
B) tragedy of the commons
C) mass society theory
D) contagion theory

Question 9

What is the transformation of a culture over time called?

A) social revolution
B) cultural evolution
C) social iteration
D) social change

Question 10

Demographic factors, discoveries and inventions, and _________ are three of the main ways by which social change occurs.

A) political regime changes
B) major physical events
C) war
D) disease

Question 11

You are walking across campus and see a large group of students gathered outside the student union listening to someone talk. You stop and try to listen, but you cannot get close enough. You ask another member of the crowd what is happening, and you are told that someone was proselytizing and some students gathered to listen while others argued with them. What does this tell you about crowds?

A) A crowd does not have to share a geographic location.
B) People have many different motivations in any crowd.
C) Crowds are illogical.
D) People lose their individuality and become part of something like a collective mind when they join a crowd.

Question 12

Approximately 12,000 years ago, people began to domesticate grain in what we now call the Middle East. This involved a process that slowly spread around the world over the next 6,000 to 7,000 years. In 1984, 8 percent of U.S. households had a computer, but that number was above 70 percent in 2008. How do these two things relate to social change?

A) Neither is an example of social change.
B) Both are examples of social change that occurred at different rates.
C) The change in agriculture was a social change, but not the change in computer ownership.
D) The change in computer ownership was a social change, but not the change in agriculture.

Question 13

Two groups in Lincoln, Nebraska held rallies about health care during the summer of 2009, one supporting and one opposing legislation proposed to overhaul America's health-care system. At one point, the two groups went beyond holding signs and shouting slogans, and tempers flared. Objects were thrown, shoving occurred, and the police had to step in to break up the

A) social movement.
B) riot.
C) rally.
D) march.

Question 14

In recent years, salsa has overtaken ketchup as America's most popular condiment. This is an example of

A) resource mobilization.
B) social change.
C) cultural leveling.
D) the political power of Hispanics.

Question 15

________ was one of the earliest theories of collective behavior.

A) Contagion
B) Emergent norms
C) Resource mobilization
D) Collective action

Question 16

________ occurs when a large number of people either collectively or individually engage in similar behaviors.

A) Collective behavior
B) Riots
C) Mass behavior
D) Contagion

Question 17

In trying to understand the evacuation during the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, B. E. Aguirre, Dennis Wenger, and Gabriela Vigo argue that the more "the search for meaning in the milling process focuses upon defining the situation as serious, the quicker should be the mobilization of people and the initiation of collective behavior." What type of theory are they using to make this prediction?

A) technological determinism
B) emergent norm theory
C) contagion theory
D) cultural diffusion

Question 18

Anna's father tried a low-carb diet for a while, but stopped when he became aware of a new diet called "paleo." This is an example of

A) a fad.
B) fashion.
C) a social dilemma.
D) contagion theory.

Question 19

The majority of households in the United States now have personal computers. The federal government has encouraged this trend for many reasons, including increased productivity, better education, and a better-informed public. At the same time, there has been an increase in acute injuries related to computers or computer tools. This is an example of

A) the way individuals can change the world.
B) a fad or a temporary trend.
C) the unintended consequences of social change.
D) the rapid pace of change.

Question 20

________ is the theory of collective behavior that explains how a "mob mentality" takes over and rational thought disappears when crowds come together.

A) Regressive action
B) Relative deprivation theory
C) Contagion theory
D) Emergent norm theory

Question 21

The relatively short-lived enthusiasm for leg warmers during the 1980s was an example of a

A) social dilemma.
B) riot.
C) fad.
D) virtual community.

Question 22

A situation in which behavior that is rational for the individual, but when practiced by many people can lead to collective disaster, is known as

A) a social movement.
B) mass behavior.
C) a social dilemma.
D) a riot.

Question 23

Many people think that nuclear proliferation can be best understood as a tragedy of the commons. Which of the following might they propose as a solution if someone sees nuclear proliferation this way?

A) a global grassroots movement demanding that governments destroy nuclear warheads
B) a better missile defense system that could make nuclear missiles obsolete
C) a series of technical innovations that could make nuclear inspections more effective by making illegal reactors easier to detect
D) better bomb shelters and new medical techniques to treat radiation poisoning

Question 24

An office has a "coffee fund," which is an old coffee can where people can toss change any time they pour a cup of coffee. The fund can be used to buy coffee and supplies for the office when more is needed. However, one individual always takes coffee and never puts any money in the fund, which makes him a

A) dilemma.
B) resource mobilizer.
C) free rider.
D) prisoner.

Question 25

An individual contributes to National Public Radio (NPR) even though they do not listen to it every day and know that other people who do listen to it every day do not contribute. This is an example of what sociological concept?

A) public goods dilemma
B) tragedy of the commons
C) mass society theory
D) relative deprivation theory

Question 26

________ is/are behaviors that are rational for any given individual, but lead to disaster for an entire group.

A) Cultural leveling
B) Postmodern dilemmas
C) Social dilemmas
D) Fads

Question 27

A research team led by biologist Brian MacKenzie ran computer models of the population dynamics of the bluefin tuna, according to a study published in Conservation Letters. The models suggest that the population of bluefin in the Atlantic and Mediterranean oceans will most likely collapse even if fishing were banned immediately. This is a serious issue for sushi lovers everywhere, and some sociologists call it

A) technological diffusion.
B) ecoterrorism.
C) a tragedy of the commons.
D) a public goods dilemma.

Question 28

A company that dumps toxic waste in a river to keep costs down will likely never get caught by environmental regulators. According to Garrett Harden, we can best understand the costs of this action in terms of a

A) public goods dilemma.
B) relative deprivation.
C) tragedy of the commons.
D) social dilemma.

Question 29

An individual uses more public resources for their own gain because they worry that others will do the same and the resources will soon run out. This is an example of which sociological concept?

A) tragedy of the commons
B) public goods dilemma
C) mass society theory
D) relative deprivation theory

Question 30

Individual fishing boats may harvest more fish each year in order to maximize profits while, as a result, threatening the fish population with extinction. This is an example of

A) a public goods dilemma.
B) the tragedy of the commons.
C) relative deprivation.
D) sustainable consumption.

Question 31

In 1968, Garrett Hardin described the tragedy of the commons. The classic example of the commons is a pasture where any community member can graze their livestock. What would be the modern equivalent of the commons?

A) mass public entertainment, such as the circus and rock concerts
B) natural resources, such as water, air, forests, and plants
C) the Internet
D) shopping malls and retailers

Question 32

The Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, Nazism, birth control, and Protestantism all

A) began in the twentieth century.
B) are the products of social movements.
C) have had a negative effect on society.
D) are the products of a single charismatic leader.

Question 33

According to Garrett Hardin, social dilemmas can be solved

A) with the proper application of science and technology.
B) by changing the behaviors of the people involved.
C) with specific technical solutions implemented by the government.
D) by increasing the resources available for exploitation.

Question 34

Individual companies have an economic interest in fossil fuels, although they might cause a great deal of harm in the long run. What is it called when the pursuit of individual gain leads to loss for a larger group?

A) social change
B) a tragedy of the commons
C) a fad or fashion
D) a public goods dilemma

Question 35

How does a fad differ from fashion?

A) Fads can mark you as belonging to a certain social group; fashion is widespread in society.
B) Fashion changes; fads are stable, if only among a small group of people.
C) Fads become very popular for short periods of time; fashions are widespread styles of behavior that may last for longer periods of time.
D) Fads and fashions are the same thing.

Question 36

According to the text, sociologists would consider someone who listens to public radio but never contributes during pledge drives as a

A) free rider.
B) parasite.
C) social tragedy.
D) community malcontent.

Question 37

What are people called who take advantage of a public good without contributing to it?

A) social dilemmas
B) members of a virtual community
C) free riders
D) interest groups

Question 38

Litter may not be the most pressing problem facing our society, but many people still wish that our streets and parks had less trash strewn about. However, it is difficult to convince people to clean these public areas, which is a problem that sociologists would call

A) a public goods dilemma.
B) the tragedy of the commons.
C) resource mobilization theory.
D) community policing.

Question 39

The examples of Isla Vista, CA, and Baltimore, MD, from your textbook highlight how collective behavior can evolve into

A) social dilemmas.
B) mass behavior.
C) social movements.
D) riots.

Question 40

A public goods dilemma occurs when

A) individual actions that may be rational by themselves lead to a collective disaster.
B) individuals must give something to a collective resource without necessarily taking anything in return.
C) an individual tries to cheat the system by getting more than their fair share of the commons.
D) individuals encourage others to participate in a social movement.

Question 41

Many individuals began to see the growth of federal prison populations as a problem in the 1990s. What were they a part of first, though they would later form groups to protest the policies that imprisoned so many?

A) a fad or fashion
B) cultural lag
C) the incipient stage of a social movement
D) the bureaucratized stage of a social movement

Question 42

A major achievement of social movements geared toward increasing employment equality for minorities and women has been the widespread adoption of equal employment officers in many large organizations. When they achieved this stage, the social movements could be said to have

A) succeeded.
B) failed.
C) coalesced,
D) bureaucratized.

Question 43

A social movement's long-term development can sometimes look a lot like

A) revolution.
B) failure.
C) social transformation.
D) reform.

Question 44

________ was the historical event that convinced American scholars that not all social movements can be explained in terms of simply satisfying the psychological needs of their members.

A) The civil rights movement
B) Protestantism
C) McCarthyism
D) The rise of Nazi Germany

Question 45

What are you asserting if you theorize that poor people join groups dedicated to keeping toxic waste dumps out of low-income communities because they want to enjoy the same standard of living and quality of life as the rest of society?

A) structural functionalism
B) relative deprivation theory
C) mass society theory
D) resource mobilization theory

Question 46

According to relative deprivation theory, people join social movements because

A) they are filling a psychological need to belong to something.
B) social movements are a necessary part of a system of social stratification.
C) joining a social movement is a rational response to inequality or oppression.
D) social movements are good places to meet people and network.

Question 47

The Shriners are a fraternity based on the Masonic principles of brotherly love, relief, and truth. They have roughly 375,000 members and 191 temples in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The Shriners support Shriners Hospitals for Children, which is a system of twenty-two hospitals dedicated to improving the lives of children by providing specialty pediatric care. What prohibits the Shriners from being a social movement?

A) It is hard to imagine membership in the Shriners transforming anyone's life.
B) They are not dedicated enough to their work.
C) They do not seek to alter the status quo.
D) They do not have an ideological commitment.

Question 48

Activists are engaging in ________ when they begin to amass the things they need to sustain their movement, including volunteers, money, and office space.

A) resource mobilization
B) bureaucratization
C) individual behavior
D) coalescence

Question 49

MoveOn.org was one of the first groups to successfully organize a large number of people around issues like partisan bickering and the power of corporate lobbies in Washington. This was, in large part, because it used innovative technology to locate, recruit, and organize supporters. This is exactly what ________ theory would predict.

A) mass society
B) relative deprivation
C) emergent social movement
D) resource mobilization

Question 50

According to Armand Mauss, what happens in the "incipient" stage of a social movement?

A) The social movement begins to fade away.
B) The very bureaucracies and institutions that it initially challenged absorb the movement.
C) The public just begins to take notice of an issue and define it as a problem.
D) Members of the social movement begin to organize and select leaders.

Question 51

According to Armand Mauss, what happens in the second stage of a social movement's development?

A) The social movement becomes incorporated into institutions.
B) The social movement turns into a bureaucracy.
C) The social movement declines and disappears from view.
D) Like-minded individuals organize.

Question 52

Sociologists who focus on how practical constraints and opportunities can help or hinder a social movement are using

A) relative deprivation theory.
B) resource mobilization theory.
C) technological determinism.
D) activist politics.

Question 53

We would call a group that is organizing to change cultural "codes" related to substance addiction

A) a crowd.
B) a social movement.
C) a riot.
D) a protest.

Question 54

When African Americans joined protest movements because it was harder for them to vote than it was for white Americans, they were acting out of ________.

A) contentedness
B) relative mobility
C) relative deprivation
D) deprived rationality

Question 55

For many years, there have been efforts to organize teaching assistants on college campuses and form a union. These efforts often fail because of practical reasons, such as limited numbers of volunteers, the fact that leaders graduate and leave, and organizers' limited money for supplies. What theory is MOST associated with these reasons?

A) resource mobilization
B) relative deprivation
C) mass society
D) technological diffusion

Question 56

The "decline" phase of social movements is interesting because

A) after a movement declines, it always perishes.
B) after a movement declines, it is possible that the movement changes and continues.
C) the coalescence phase comes right afterward.
D) social movements always decline quickly after they begin.

Question 57

People who believe the government is not doing enough about climate change have become fed up and are starting to organize, which means they are starting to

A) achieve their goals.
B) become part of the mainstream.
C) take notice of a situation, but refuse to define it as a problem.
D) coalesce.

Question 58

Which of the following is true regarding social movements reaching the "bureaucratization" stage?

A) It always happens at the beginning.
B) It has not yet happened for the gay rights movement.
C) It happened when American colonists transitioned from being revolutionaries to the official government leaders.
D) It happened for the environmental rights movement with the release of the film An Inconvenient Truth.

Question 59

Sometimes the motivations for large protests organized by college activists are criticized. Highly organized and attended protests in Washington, D.C. are seen as "spring break" for activists who take part more for an escape and a sense of belonging than for anything else. What theory would support this critique?

A) public goods theory
B) postmodernism
C) the global village theory
D) mass society theory

Question 60

African Americans gained the legal right to exercise their right to vote

A) with the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
B) shortly after the Civil War.
C) with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1919.
D) with the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870.

Question 61

The English Premier League broadcasts its games to hundreds of millions of households in more than 200 countries and is reportedly watched by more than a billion people each week. This is what Marshall McLuhan would call

A) a social movement.
B) a global village.
C) television.
D) faith in technology.

Question 62

The Promise Keepers are a Christian men's organization that seeks to train men to be better fathers and husbands. They also work to preserve what they call "traditional" family values, which includes men being the head of the household and men making decisions for their wives and children. In this way, the Promise Keepers are

A) secular.
B) regressive.
C) bureaucratic.
D) coalescing.

Question 63

The use of in vitro fertilization solved a specific problem, but it seems to have created a wide range of ethical dilemmas and problems that were unanticipated when it was first invented. This is an instance of

A) cultural leveling.
B) cultural imperialism.
C) dystopia.
D) cultural lag.

Question 64

Activists supporting the LGBTQ rights social movement in the United States secured a repeal of the "Don't ask, don't tell" law in 2010 and a Supreme Court ruling in favor of same-sex marriages in 2015. What type of social movement does this example represent?

A) regressive
B) progressive
C) retrogressive
D) pregressive

Question 65

What is one reason the poor might participate less in social movements compared to college students with adequate financial support?

A) Social issues do not matter to the poor.
B) The poor have a different culture, leading them to value different things.
C) They worry more about their children's futures.
D) They may have to work multiple jobs, leaving little energy for activism.

Question 66

Dr. Williams is studying the "Indivisible" opposition to Trump that spread through social media. He believes that coverage from high profile celebrities and recruitment through catchy hashtags on Facebook and Twitter were critical to the movement's success. What theoretical perspective is Dr. Williams espousing?

A) mass society theory
B) relative deprivation theory
C) resource mobilization theory
D) contagion theory

Question 67

In the early twentieth century, some social activists stood against continued immigration to the United States from eastern and southern Europe. What type of social movement does this example represent?

A) progressive
B) retrogressive
C) pregressive
D) regressive

Question 68

What theoretical perspective argues that technology plays a defining role in shaping society?

A) technological determinism
B) symbolic interactionism
C) structural functionalism
D) idealism

Question 69

Modern technology has made it possible for individuals who work in traditionally urban jobs, such as stockbrokers, to live in rural areas. What concept is this an example of?

A) rural rebound
B) urban boomerang
C) city-to-country exchange
D) rural flight

Question 70

Which of the following people would be MOST likely to join a social movement?

A) a young woman who attends college and is involved in campus government and volunteers for local and state political campaigns
B) a disaffected loner taking lots of math classes but without a real social life or a good outlet for forming relationships
C) a young man from the lower class who gets a job in a campus cafeteria and notices how well off the students he serves are
D) a single mother who works nights as a stocker at a grocery store and has relatives both in the Deep South and on the West Coast

Question 71

Many sociology majors enter what are termed _______ professions, which can be agents of social change.

A) contributing
B) helping
C) social
D) positive

Question 72

"Buy Nothing Day" might best be described as a ________ social movement.

A) regressive
B) progressive
C) conservative
D) radical

Question 73

Hero of Alexander, a mathematician who lived in Rome, invented a steam engine in the first century CE. What does this say about William Ogburn's theory of technological determinism?

A) It strongly supports the theory.
B) It suggests that ancient Rome was less advanced than was previously suspected.
C) It demonstrates the ways in which technology always changes society.
D) It suggests that technological determinism cannot always explain social change.

Question 74

Regressive or reactionary social movements are always

A) the most common type of social movement.
B) motivated by prejudice or hate.
C) working to make sure things stay the same or even turn them back to an earlier point in history.
D) motivated by a desire to protect the environment.

Question 75

How did Marshall McLuhan believe that the world would turn into a "global village"?

A) Television and other media technology would link people all over the world.
B) Cultural imperialism would lead to greater homogenization.
C) Improvements in transportation technology would make tourism cheaper.
D) Mass production would ensure that people all over the world were using the same products.

Question 76

On average, participants in social movements are

A) more marginal and more isolated than nonparticipants.
B) more socially engaged than nonparticipants.
C) less oriented toward conventional politics.
D) more alienated from society than nonparticipants.

Question 77

Many young people face an unprecedented problem today, which is what to do when their parents try to friend them on a social media platform such as Instagram. Technology has given us unprecedented ways to document our lives online, but some are not quite sure how to share this new development with older generations. What is this problem called?

A) technological determinism
B) cultural imperialism
C) regressive social change
D) cultural lag

Question 78

If a social movement works to resist some kind of social change or even to shift backward to earlier forms of social order, it is

A) progressive.
B) cosmopolitan.
C) resistant.
D) regressive.

Question 79

The World Church of the Creator, founded by Matt Hale, wants to stop both religious and racial integration of America. This makes his movement a

A) tragedy of the commons.
B) postmodern movement.
C) voluntary simplicity movement.
D) regressive social movement.

Question 80

To what extent do the poorest members of American society participate in social movements?

A) more than any other class
B) in about equal numbers as other class groups
C) more than members of the upper class, but less than members of the middle class
D) less than any other class