Deck 1: Developinga Sociological Consciousness

Question 1

During the first 30 years of the twentieth century, Chicago sociologists trained an estimated half of the sociologists in the world.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Important developments in feminist theory grew out of awareness that the social experience of gender is not universal.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Social organization and social policy have no impact on the outcome of a natural disaster.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Climate change and other issues of environmental degradation are affected by social factors including economic and political power struggles, poverty, population growth, and human value systems.

Question 5

Elliot Liebow's study of streetcorner men demonstrated how sociological research can help us to see beyond the stereotyped images of African American men.

Question 6

The collection of census and national statistical data, used to determine federal and state policies on health, education, and housing, was developed primarily by private telemarketing businesses.

Question 7

Microsociology involves the detailed study of what people say, do, and think moment by moment in their everyday lives.

Question 8

The three major frameworks in contemporary sociology are critical theory, feminism, and socialism.

Question 9

Elliot Liebow's classic study of low-income urban black men offers an excellent example of how sociological research is limited to generating only superficial understandings of social problems like poverty.

Question 10

Herbert Spencer was an English sociologist who argued that society was like a living organism made up of many interrelated parts.

Question 11

Since sociological research is scientific in nature, it is seldom applied to the practical matters of everyday life.

Question 12

Most African Americans are not poor; more than 70 percent of African Americans live above the poverty line.

Question 13

From a sociological perspective, what we think, how we feel, and what we say and do are shaped by our social interactions.

Question 14

The founders of Hull House in Chicago, Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr, are credited with assisting the urban poor in that city and developing case studies and demographic mapping as research procedures.

Question 15

One of the most important contributions of sociologist Max Weber was his insistence on maintaining a "value-free" approach to sociology.

Question 16

Ideal type is a concept that captures what is good about a social pattern.

Question 17

English sociologist Harriet Martineau was an ardent defender of women's rights who supported the idea of making the study of society a scientific enterprise.

Question 18

Marx's perspective that development depends on the clash of opposing social forces and the subsequent creation of new, more advanced structures is called dialectical materialism.

Question 19

Emile Durkheim was a French psychologist who promoted the idea that suicide was brought on by the mental illness of the individuals committing the act.

Question 20

Sociologist Max Weber used Verstehen to identify the significance of understanding the subjective meanings people attach to their behavior.

Question 21

An independent variable is a variable that is affected.

Question 22

__________ refers to processes of social life that pattern institutional development and have to do with social change.

A) Social dynamics
B) Social statics
C) Organic solidarity
D) Mechanical solidarity

Question 23

A majority of Liebow's "streetcorner men" were

A) drug addicts and AIDS carriers.
B) unemployed.
C) employed.
D) white derelicts.

Question 24

The scientific study of social interactions and of social organization is called

A) psychology.
B) sociology.
C) sociometry.
D) socialism.

Question 25

The "sociological perspective" points out that

A) we have absolutely no control over our individual behavior.
B) there is scientific agreement that the subconscious is the principal source of behavioral motivation.
C) as we look beyond outer appearances at what lies beneath, we encounter new levels of social reality.
D) written rules and regulations are the unquestionable roots of behavior.

Question 26

Postmoderism is a sociological framework based on an inherent trust in science and objectivity as potential solutions to social problems.

Question 27

Symbolic interactionists say we experience the world as an objective reality, not a social reality.

Question 28

Sociologists are concerned about natural disasters because

A) sociology is the science of natural disasters.
B) natural disasters are caused by acts of God and thus cannot be controlled by humans.
C) natural disasters have no impact on humans but do have enormous impact on the environment.
D) social organization and social policy can increase or decrease the effect of natural disasters.

Question 29

Elliot Liebow's study of streetcorner men in Washington,
D)C., found that

A) the conventional stereotypes of such people were accurate.
B) their lifestyles were surprisingly middle class.
C) these men believed that success was inevitable.
D) many of our stereotyped images of people are wrong or inaccurate.

Question 30

Power is the ability to control the behavior of others, even when it is against their will.

Question 31

_________________ is commonly credited with being the founder of sociology.

A) Max Weber
B) Émile Durkheim
C) Harriet Martineau
D) Auguste Comte

Question 32

When sociologists investigate the "big picture" of social groups and societies, they are said to be engaging in

A) microsociology.
B) macrosociology.
C) ethnomethodology.
D) nonscientific research.

Question 33

The ways we think, feel, and act are

A) shaped by our interaction with others.
B) entirely determined by our genes.
C) programmed by our parents.
D) unchangeable once we reach adulthood.

Question 34

Manifest functions are those consequences that are neither intended nor recognized.

Question 35

A stratified random sample provides less precision than a pure random sample.

Question 36

Researchers conducting experiments frequently introduce a change into the control group.

Question 37

Sociologists at the beginning of their careers have to choose one of the three primary sociological perspectives and then organize all their thoughts about and analyses of human behavior based on that single perspective.

Question 38

Microsociology is the study of

A) the family in America.
B) large-scale, long-term social processes.
C) up-close and personal studies of people in real-life settings.
D) cultures and societies.

Question 39

__________ involves aspects of social life that have to do with order, stability, and social organization that allow societies and groups to hold together and endure.

A) Social dynamics
B) Organic solidarity
C) Social statics
D) Mechanical solidarity

Question 40

The first step in the scientific method is determining a research design.

Question 41

Which of the following is viewed by many to be an economic determinist?

A) Karl Marx.
B) Herbert Spencer.
C) William Graham Sumner.
D) William J. Wilson.

Question 42

Max Weber's term Verstehen suggests that

A) sociologists must put themselves in the shoes of others to know how they think and feel.
B) sociologists, to be objective, must avoid putting themselves in the shoes of others.
C) sociologists must engage in criticism of self in order to understand others.
D) ideal types must be refuted to make sociology a real science.

Question 43

Durkheim found that

A) individuals enmeshed in a web of social bonds are less inclined to suicide than individuals who are weakly integrated into group life.
B) individuals dependent on a web of social bonds are more inclined to suicide than individuals who have a stronger, more self-sufficient sense of self.
C) individuals from cultures emphasizing individual worth are less inclined to suicide than individuals from cultures emphasizing group worth.
D) individuals from cultures with greater economic opportunities are less inclined to suicide than individuals from cultures with fewer economic opportunities.

Question 44

A simple, small tribal society would illustrate Durkheim's concept of ______, whereas a modern, complex society would be an example of his concept of ________.

A) rural; urban
B) organic solidarity; mechanical solidarity
C) mechanical solidarity; organic solidarity
D) utopian; rational

Question 45

Émile Durkheim focused his sociological work on

A) why social classes always seem to be in conflict with one another.
B) the way societies seem to be made up of tiny relationship units.
C) how societies hold together and endure.
D) the particular problems of women and minorities.

Question 46

The concept that represents the main features of a phenomenon such as bureaucracy is called

A) Verstehen.
B) Gemeinschaft.
C) an ideal type.
D) objectivity.

Question 47

Herbert Spencer viewed society as a system, having important similarities with

A) a biological organism.
B) a finely tuned automobile.
C) a modern factory.
D) a jigsaw puzzle.

Question 48

Herbert Spencer applied the concept of survival of the fittest to the social world, an approach termed social

A) hedonism.
B) organism.
C) Darwinism.
D) Freudianism.

Question 49

Émile Durkheim is often remembered for his scientific study of

A) consumerism.
B) suicide.
C) dialectical materialism.
D) political attitudes.

Question 50

Examining the impact of change in population size on the growth of urban areas would be an example of using

A) social psychology.
B) microsociology.
C) macrosociology.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 51

For Durkheim, social facts are

A) individual properties in reality.
B) the tangible, brick-and-mortar institutions of society, like prisons.
C) aspects of social life that cannot be explained in terms of either biological or mental characteristics of people.
D) similar to the Freudian concepts of the Id and Ego.

Question 52

Karl Marx focused on ______________ as a primary cause of the evolution of history.

A) physical environments
B) class conflict
C) genetic behavioral codes
D) the psychology of the individual

Question 53

The origins of sociology are linked to

A) the French Revolution.
B) the Industrial Revolution.
C) Neither of the above is correct.
D) Both A and B are correct.

Question 54

In regard to value-free sociology, Max Weber

A) argued for experimental research.
B) rejected the scientific model as a basis for sociology.
C) felt that sociologists must see the world as they believe it should be, not as it is.
D) argued for objectivity and control of personal biases.

Question 55

Max Weber emphasized the importance of a

A) culturally biased sociology.
B) personally defined sociology.
C) value-free sociology.
D) subjective sociology.

Question 56

Auguste Comte and Harriet Martineau both presented sociology as a

A) component of the liberal arts.
B) science.
C) religion.
D) philosophy of humanism.

Question 57

Harriet Martineau was

A) an author concerned with the role of values in American life.
B) a defender of women's rights.
C) a supporter of the study of society as a separate scientific field.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 58

Durkheim's study of suicide found that

A) Protestants, people who were unmarried, and soldiers had lower suicide rates than did Catholics, people who were married, and civilians.
B) Protestants, people who were unmarried, and soldiers had higher suicide rates than did Catholics, people who were married, and civilians.
C) there was no statistically significant difference in the suicide rates of the above mentioned groups.
D) There were statistically significant differences in the suicide rates of various groups, but he was unable to draw any conclusions from them.

Question 59

Karl Marx sought to

A) prove the value of science in the study of human behavior.
B) prove the value of maintaining the status quo in societies.
C) establish new institutions in the service of humanity.
D) show the value of capitalism in developing a more humanitarian society.

Question 60

Max Weber's term Verstehen describes an approach for understanding

A) objective reality.
B) subjective meanings people attach to their actions.
C) people's behavior rather than their values.
D) the social structure outside the individual.

Question 61

Early American sociology

A) developed a rather pessimistic approach to the study of human behavior.
B) believed that American society was in a lot of trouble.
C) used a generally optimistic, forward-looking approach that was rooted in a belief in progress.
D) rejected everything that sociologists in Europe had developed.

Question 62

In the early twentieth century, the women's world of sociology was centered at

A) the University of Chicago.
B) Hull House, a Chicago settlement house.
C) Smith College, where only women students were accepted.
D) Vassar College, where all students live on campus and much research could be conducted.

Question 63

"A set of assumptions, concepts, and statements about the relationship of various social phenomena" best defines which of the following terms?

A) hypothesis
B) experiment
C) theoretical perspective
D) social structure

Question 64

The _______ perspective of sociology views society as a system.

A) functionalist
B) conflict
C) interactionist
D) behaviorist

Question 65

Feminism

A) is viewed as an intellectual movement in the humanities and social sciences.
B) examines women's roles and experiences in society.
C) attempts to avoid theories developed through the experiences and situation of women.
D) A and B are correct.

Question 66

Three theoretical frameworks that developed in contemporary sociology include

A) critical theory, feminism, and postmodernism.
B) feminism, functionalism, and neolocalism.
C) critical theory, feminism, and posthumanism.
D) postmodernism, theoreticalism, and neoculturalism.

Question 67

____________ was the first university to create a department of sociology in the United States.

A) The University of Chicago
B) Harvard University
C) The University of Virginia
D) Yale University

Question 68

The _______ perspective focuses on the concepts of wealth, status, and power.

A) functionalist
B) conflict
C) interactionist
D) behaviorist

Question 69

A core assumption of symbolic interactionism is that

A) people respond to elements in their environment on the basis of the meanings attached to such elements.
B) Meaning attached to environmental elements is predetermined.
C) Shared cultural meanings rarely change.
D) All the above are correct.

Question 70

Founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr, the Hull House was NOT involved in

A) promotion of women's suffrage, stricter child-labor laws, and protection of working women.
B) promotion of civic, recreational, and education programs.
C) invention of the research techniques of community case study and demographic mapping.
D) housing Chicago's prison population during times of prison overcrowding.

Question 71

Symbolic interactionists say that we experience the world as a(n) __________ reality.

A) objective
B) experimental
C) constructed
D) solid

Question 72

The women of Hull House are credited with inventing the research procedures of

A) experiments and surveys.
B) participant and nonparticipant observation.
C) archival and comparative research methods.
D) community case studies and demographic mapping.

Question 73

The _______ perspective focuses on the "micro" or small-scale aspects of social life.

A) functionalist
B) conflict
C) interactionist
D) behaviorist

Question 74

Postmodernism

A) is an intellectual view with a deep distrust of science and the research principle of objectivity.
B) is no different from the views of critical theory.
C) assumes the modern period of history is an ongoing, never-ending process.
D) supports the idea that we are entering an age dominated by a goods-producing economy.

Question 75

In answer to the question of how society is possible,

A) functionalists say that consensus regarding core values and norms is the key.
B) conflict theorists say that society is held together in the face of conflicting interests.
C) interactionists say that society isn't possible; small groups are the only reality holding people together.
D) A and B are correct.

Question 76

American sociologists assumed a critical role in the development of sociology during the

A) Middle Ages.
B) Industrial Revolution.
C) American Revolution.
D) twentieth century.

Question 77

Which of the following is NOT correct about critical theory?

A) It grew out of dissatisfaction with Marxism.
B) It criticized sociology because it viewed individuals as passive and helpless entities locked in social structures.
C) It grew out of functionalist theory.
D) It grew out of conflict theory.

Question 78

Which of the following is NOT a major theoretical perspective of sociology?

A) functionalism
B) conflict theory
C) interactionism
D) behaviorism

Question 79

Weber originated the concept of _________, a common but important idea that we use to understand social life.

A) economic determinism
B) class conflict
C) suicide
D) the Protestant ethic

Question 80

The "new breed" of sociologists of the 1960s and 1970s often

A) emphasized scientific objectivity in their work.
B) were major supporters of traditional sociology.
C) rejected the scientific neutrality view because it was insensitive to social problems and human suffering.
D) despised the theoretical work of
C) Wright Mills because they felt it was too reactionary.