Deck 2: Culture and Social Structure

Question 1

The "oughts" and "musts" of some societies are often the "ought nots" and "must nots" of other societies.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Values are very stable and never change over time.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Calvin is tempted to chew Hyperbubble chewing gum when he sees a television commercial portraying Hyperbubble chewers as "supremely cool."

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Gestures used to communicate numbers are universal.

Question 5

The differences identified between folkways and mores include their relative importance to the well-being and survival of the society in which they exist.

Question 6

The form and content of culture is rarely affected by economic, legal, or organizational factors. The primary influence is technological.

Question 7

Culture provides individuals with a set of common understandings used to fashion behavior.

Question 8

Two people may believe in the same value, such as social equality, yet have opposite views as to how she or he should achieve this valued goal.

Question 9

The story of the settlement on Pitcairn Island is an example of the founding of a society and the issues involved in the development of a culture.

Question 10

In a cultural context, norms are social rules that specify appropriate and inappropriate behavior in given situations.

Question 11

The idea that people view the world differently depending on the nature of the concepts available in their language is the linguistic ethnocentricity hypothesis.

Question 12

Norms are created by people, so they tend to be objective in nature and universal in their use by different societies.

Question 13

The only component that gives meaning to the term culture is the nonmaterial aspect that includes such tools for living as computers, axes, and paintings.

Question 14

We often judge the behavior of other groups by the standards of our own culture, a phenomenon sociologists call ethnocentrism.

Question 15

Helen Keller was unable to acquire an intelligent understanding of her environment until she grasped the significance of symbols, specifically the connection between words and experiences.

Question 16

Humans stand apart from other species in their use of language.

Question 17

Culture universals often include the specific details of actual behavior.

Question 18

Values are the codified rules of behavior, including the rule that classifies murder as a felony.

Question 19

An example of how expressive symbolism reflects society is found in the changes to lyrics of country music songs from the 1930s to the present.

Question 20

Like humans, groups of orangutans have unambiguously symbolic elements in their cultures.

Question 21

The idea of a "strain toward consistency" suggests that there are powerful forces linking the various elements of culture.

Question 22

Sociologist William H. Sewell, Jr., observed that structure is static, not dynamic.

Question 23

Cultural relativism refers to the importance of evaluating a different culture's way of life from the point of view of the evaluator.

Question 24

In the Trobriand Islands, some days have specific names and other days are unnamed.

Question 25

All groups are ethnocentric.

Question 26

The idea behind social structure is that most people tend to interact in a haphazard or random manner; therefore, they need structure in their lives.

Question 27

A society is a relatively simple type of social structure in today's world.

Question 28

Role performance is the actual behavior of a person occupying a particular status.

Question 29

Sociologists use the word "status" to refer to a person's social ranking in a society as determined by wealth, influence, and prestige.

Question 30

Race, class, and gender are examples of the term master status in that they carry primary weight in a person's interactions and relationships with other people.

Question 31

Quarterback, choir director, ballet dancer, and college student are examples of achieved statuses.

Question 32

The old order Amish are an example of a counterculture.

Question 33

Roles frequently exist in isolation.

Question 34

Countercultures are groups of people, such as delinquent gangs, who tend to be at odds with the larger mainstream society.

Question 35

Statuses carry with them a number of culturally defined rights and duties. These expectations are referred to as roles.

Question 36

A group is the same as a category.

Question 37

The view that one's own group is "the center of everything" reflects the concept of ethnocentrism.

Question 38

Sociologists use the word "status" to refer to a person's position within a group or society.

Question 39

Gunnar Myrdal's book, An American Dilemma, exposed the inconsistencies in America's values and the reality of its societal behavior.

Question 40

One may achieve ascribed status through great effort, such as winning a gold medal at the Olympics.

Question 41

A society's shared ideas regarding what is desirable, correct, and good are called

A) norms.
B) laws.
C) values.
D) mores.

Question 42

_____________ have to do with the customary ways and ordinary conventions by which we carry out our daily actions, and we ordinarily do not attach moral significance to their violation.

A) Folkways
B) Mores
C) Laws
D) Material culture

Question 43

Stone axes, computers, skateboards, and lamp shades are examples of

A) society.
B) nonmaterial culture.
C) social structure.
D) material culture.

Question 44

______________ are rules enforced by a special political organization composed of individuals who maintain the right to use force.

A) Folkways
B) Mores
C) Laws
D) Institutions

Question 45

The assignment of high importance to ________ is NOT one of the major value configurations within the dominant American culture.

A) leisure and relaxation
B) work and activity
C) efficiency and practicality
D) material comfort

Question 46

Primary methods for enforcing folkways include

A) gossip and ridicule.
B) ostracism.
C) death.
D) fines and imprisonment.

Question 47

Norms

A) tell members of a society what is "normal."
B) are objective in nature.
C) include folkways, mores, and laws.
D) describe one's position in society.

Question 48

Norms include

A) folkways.
B) statuses.
C) roles.
D) institutions.

Question 49

Major sets of values within the dominant American culture include the assignment of high importance to all but

A) work and activity.
B) efficiency and practicality.
C) individuality.
D) group effort and cooperation.

Question 50

________ are NOT an example of nonmaterial culture.

A) Physical artifacts
B) Values
C) Norms
D) Customs

Question 51

In describing the relationship between values and norms, sociologists would say that

A) values are based on norms.
B) values are based on mores.
C) norms are based on values.
D) there is no relationship.

Question 52

If someone constructed a playhouse in her backyard for her children and a group of neighbors complained that she had violated the written deed restrictions for the neighborhood, the basis of their complaint would illustrate a(n)

A) social more.
B) law.
C) informal norm.
D) value.

Question 53

Practicality, individuality, and democracy illustrate basic American

A) norms.
B) mores.
C) values.
D) folkways.

Question 54

From the sociological perspective, wearing soiled clothing might be viewed as violating a

A) law.
B) more
C) folkway.
D) sanction.

Question 55

Values provide people with

A) a legalistic approach to life, leaving no doubt as to what is right or wrong.
B) ways to evaluate people, objects, and events as to their relative worth, merit, beauty, or morality.
C) specific methods for judging the appropriateness of our behavior.
D) stable, unchanging guidelines for behavior.

Question 56

The learned patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting that are transmitted from one generation to the next are called

A) society.
B) social structure.
C) culture.
D) material culture.

Question 57

The development of the settlement on Pitcairn Island serves as an example of

A) the founding of a capitalist economy among a group of primitives.
B) the development of a new culture.
C) the establishment of religion in a previously satanist society.
D) how to maintain order in a military setting.

Question 58

While culture provides the meanings that allow people to interpret their daily lives, _____________ refers to a group of people living in the same area and sharing a common culture.

A) material culture
B) socialization
C) society
D) ethnocentrism

Question 59

______________ are rules that are seen as vital to a society's well-being and survival; people who break them are viewed as sinful, evil, and wicked.

A) Folkways
B) Mores
C) Laws
D) Institutions

Question 60

Social rules that specify appropriate and inappropriate behavior in given situations are

A) cultural expectations.
B) socialized values.
C) norms.
D) cognitive expectations.

Question 61

Two Americans in England note the "stupidity" of English drivers for driving on "the wrong side of the road." The Americans are exhibiting

A) cultural relativism.
B) syncretism.
C) ethnocentrism.
D) patriotism.

Question 62

The idea that language shapes our perceptions of reality is called the

A) symbolic reality hypothesis.
B) linguistic relativity hypothesis.
C) sign language hypothesis.
D) cultural diversity hypothesis.

Question 63

________ represent(s) symbols of American culture.

A) Gestures
B) Language
C) The U.S. flag
D) All the above are correct.

Question 64

When social scientists examine the practice of the Inuits leaving their elderly to perish in the cold, they typically evaluate the behavior pattern in the context of the Inuit culture. This is an example of

A) cultural sensitivity.
B) linguistic relativism.
C) syncretism.
D) cultural relativism.

Question 65

Expressive symbolism

A) interferes with the ability of people to understand their society.
B) is a way of using symbols in users' manuals for consumer products.
C) is an important way to communicate the norms, values, and beliefs in a society.
D) does not reflect society.

Question 66

The attempt to bring the rights of African Americans into line with the American belief in human equality is an example of

A) a strain toward consistency.
B) cultural relativism.
C) ethnocentrism.
D) the linguistic relativity hypothesis.

Question 67

Acts or objects that are socially accepted as standing for something else are called

A) norms.
B) symbols.
C) values.
D) signs.

Question 68

Sapir and Whorf developed the linguistic relativity hypothesis, which proposes that

A) people view the world differently depending on the nature of the concepts available in their language.
B) people view the world in basically the same way because languages are universal.
C) people view the world differently because the sounds of languages are so different.
D) people view the world in basically the same way because the differences between languages are relative.

Question 69

When a trait or feature from one culture is rejected as being strange or immoral by another culture, it is an example of

A) syncretism.
B) synchronization.
C) cultural relativism.
D) ethnocentrism.

Question 70

The most important symbols are found in

A) music.
B) mathematics.
C) language.
D) art.

Question 71

Researcher Christophe Boesch claims there are three components of culture common to humans and chimpanzees. Which of the following is NOT one of these?

A) Culture is learned from group members.
B) Culture is a distinctive collective practice.
C) Culture is objectively obtained.
D) Culture is based on shared meanings between members of the same group.

Question 72

The form and content of culture is

A) heavily affected by economic, organizational, legal, and technological factors.
B) unaffected by technology.
C) almost totally determined by the economic system.
D) independent of human input.

Question 73

The existence of cultural universals can be attributed to

A) a law of nature.
B) the tendency of all people to desire the same, specific activities and relationships in their lives.
C) a human instinct.
D) people facing the same broad problems of survival.

Question 74

According to existing research, chimpanzees

A) do not use tools.
B) have complex grooming and courtship behaviors.
C) cannot solve technical problems.
D) have as much capacity for language use as humans.

Question 75

Helen Keller gained entrance to social life when

A) she grasped the significance of symbols.
B) she was old enough to go to parties.
C) she could dream in color instead of in black and white.
D) she began receiving invitations from people her own age.

Question 76

Primate researchers have concluded that great ape cultures probably have existed for at least __________ years.

A) the past ten
B) the past one hundred
C) the past one thousand
D) the past 14 million

Question 77

Based on research conducted with chimpanzees, _________ is a specific behavior found among some chimps that has different meanings in different groups.

A) eating
B) leaf clipping
C) sex display
D) pant hooting

Question 78

________ is/are not a cultural universal.

A) Food quests
B) Automobile purchases
C) Social stratification
D) Funeral rites

Question 79

The chief vehicle by which people communicate ideas, information, attitudes, and emotions to one another in contemporary times is

A) gestures.
B) the Internet.
C) cell phones.
D) language.

Question 80

Which of the following does NOT apply to the word "computer"?

A) It is a symbol.
B) It is part of a powerful code that helps us deal with the world around us.
C) It becomes a vehicle of communication because a group of people view the symbol and the object as linked.
D) It is understood in all cultures even though it is an English word.