Deck 5: Institutions

Question 1

A _______ is a purpose oriented and enduring feature of social life that forms through a complex interrelationship between social positions, roles, norms, and values.

A) social structure
B) social role
C) social institution
D) social position

Answer 1

C

Question 2

When we discuss _______ , we are referring to the relatively stable and independent patterns of social relationships that are occupied by people who are expected to act in certain ways.

A) social structure
B) social role
C) social institution
D) social position

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which of the following does NOT exemplify a component part of a social institution?

A) National Football League
B) Major League Baseball
C) Assistant manager of a sporting goods store
D) Soccer

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The _______ is part of the law and a government institution whose job is formal social control.

A) police
B) criminal justice system
C) courts
D) family

Question 5

_______ is a social institution that socializes individuals through indirect social control.

A) The criminal justice system
B) The family
C) The mass media
D) both answers b and c are correct

Question 6

The _______ is a social institution where members-especially parents-conform to the law and other informal expectations and pass this orientation on to their kids through socialization.

A) family
B) peer group
C) kinship network
D) extended family

Question 7

_______ are persons who have changed their physiology in a way that is different from their sex at birth.

A) Transvestites
B) Transsexuals
C) Bisexuals
D) Both b and c are correct

Question 8

As an outside observer, John Q. Researcher went to Nation One to observe their sexualities and sexual orientations for a major research project. While there, John noticed that Nation One largely privileged heterosexuality and marginalized other sexualities (e.g., bisexuality, homosexuality). The best sociological description of this phenomenon is to say that the dominant view Nation One uses to interpret and categorize sexuality is from the perspective of a _______ orientation.

A) neutral
B) sexist
C) heterosexual
D) heteronormative

Question 9

Billy was sitting in his deviant behavior class one afternoon and was half-listening to a class discussion about sexuality as he glanced out the open window seeing a beautiful spring day. His attention shifted abruptly to the class discussion when he heard someone in the class state, "I am queer, but it took me a long time to be open about this with my friends, not to mention how hard it was to discuss my sexuality with my parents." Startled, Billy asked openly in the class about the use of the term because he thought the term was a slur directed at homosexuals. The professor clarified, with the help of the student who made the statement, that queer can also mean:

A) a political way to refer to others and oneself as radically gay or lesbian.
B) an antiquated use of the term which generally refers to strange or funny.
C) a victimized perception of self that should be accepted.
D) answers b and c are correct.

Question 10

When deviants attempt to fit in or be normal by taking an active part in "normal" society, its values, and conventional institutions, this person can be said to be employing which of the following cultural strategies?

A) assimilation
B) deviance avowal
C) deviance disavowal
D) both answers a and c are correct

Question 11

Grandpa Jack was sitting on the front porch listening to the radio and muttering to the dog about the news. His grandson, back from college, asked him about the commotion. Grandpa Jack said he couldn't believe the way people talked so casually about "gay people these days." The process Grandpa Jack has unwittingly identified is:

A) heterosexism
B) homosexual preference
C) homonormativity
D) heteronormativity

Question 12

Conscious, active strategies and actions for making life choices distinct from those considered most socially expected, celebrated, and sanctioned is considered to be _______ .

A) inventive pragmatism
B) inventive functionalism
C) normative pragmatism
D) normative resistance

Question 13

Active strategies and actions that might be considered clever manipulation of an existing social structure in order to access social and material resources on behalf of oneself or one's family is considered to be _______ .

A) inventive pragmatism
B) inventive functionalism
C) normative pragmatism
D) normative resistance

Question 14

According to Button and Gealt, which of the following is NOT a correlate of sibling violence?

A) Age
B) Gender
C) Race
D) Negative parental interaction

Question 15

According to _______ , violence against women is directly connected to the patriarchal organizations of society.

A) anomie strain theory
B) differential association theory
C) social learning theory
D) feminist theory

Question 16

According to Button and Gealt, _______ theory explains one cause of sibling violence as being related to being in a violent home environment where violence is rewarded with compliance so siblings see this as an acceptable way to get what they want in similar situations.

A) anomie strain theory
B) differential association theory
C) social learning theory
D) feminist theory

Question 17

According to Jackson, the family crisis that comes with alcoholism goes though many stages. Which of the following is NOT one of them?

A) Denial
B) Disorganization
C) Lessons learned
D) Recovery

Question 18

Rhonda Doe is a social worker who deals with family violence. In attempting to ascertain the current conditions of the Phillips family, Rhonda asked about the role alcohol plays in family life. Mrs. Phillips said Mr. Phillips does what he wants, drinks when and how much he wants, and then loses his temper. Mrs. Phillips said she had given up after her eldest son, Newt, realized how belligerent his father was day to day. The situation Rhonda is handling is at which stage of family reaction to alcoholism?

A) reorganization
B) disorganization
C) escape
D) denial

Question 19

According to Jackson, which of the following is an example of a family's attempt to eliminate the problem of alcoholism?

A) Hiding it from children
B) Giving up on controlling the drinking
C) The children find out
D) Social isolation

Question 20

By enforcing strict refill laws on opiate narcotic prescriptions like Oxycodone, the government is using which type of social control?

A) Pharmaceutical
B) Prescription
C) Medical
D) Drug-based

Question 21

A worldview which defines some behavior or set of behaviors as an illness primarily because of the social and ideological benefits of doing so is called a _______ .

A) medical collaboration
B) medical social control
C) medical system impact
D) medical ideology

Question 22

In the state of Nevada v. John Doe, Jr., the prosecutor persistently asked the defendant questions that attempted to establish their ability to put together coherent and strategic thoughts, sentences, motives, and memories. This is an example of attempting to establish

A) Crazy talk
B) Interactional competence
C) Insanity
D) Answers a and c are correct

Question 23

According to Goffman, the spatial/physical background items of scenery in the immediate area of social interaction is called the _______ .

A) front
B) appearance
C) front
D) manner

Question 24

As Holstein reminds us, insanity is a meaning that we often attribute to people simply on the basis of how they _______ .

A) look or appear
B) manage their finances
C) manage their home life
D) act and talk

Question 25

According to Ball, which of the following is an example of Goffman's concept of setting in an abortion clinic?

A) The waiting room
B) The medical wing of the clinic
C) The signs protesters hold
D) Both answers a and b are correct

Question 26

According to Ball, based on Goffman's theory, one can conclude that which of the following is a dimension of the abortion clinic's "front"?

A) Luxury and cost
B) Sterility and professionalism
C) Conventional medical practices and procedures
D) Both answers a and c are correct

Question 27

Billy Bravo watches the Faux News Channel every evening. Every day, he argues with his _______ co-workers who watch another news station about the political climate of their Nation. It is likely that Billy has been differently by a component of the mass media than his co- workers.

A) indoctrinated
B) educated
C) socialized
D) both answers b and c are correct

Question 28

The mass media is capable of influencing behavior in a number of ways. Which of the following is NOT one of them?

A) Socialization
B) Education
C) Informing the public
D) All of the above are ways media impact behavior

Question 29

According to Stack and Gundlach, country music doesn't so much cause suicide as it fosters a mood conducive to suicide among folks who are already _______ .

A) drunk
B) using drugs
C) thinking about suicide
D) depressed

Question 30

According to Stack and Gundlach, the greater the percentage of radio time devoted to country music, the higher the incidence of suicide among _______ .

A) African Americans
B) children
C) Caucasians
D) low-income adults

Question 31

Music _______ involves the act of making available, transmitting, or copying someone else's work over the Internet without permission.

A) freedom
B) anarchy
C) sharing
D) piracy

Question 32

According to neutralization theory, if an individual uses the excuse that "it is not my fault" to justify their behavior, they are employing which of the following?

A) Denial of responsibility
B) Denial of injury
C) Denial of victim
D) Appeal to higher loyalties

Question 33

According to Ingram and Hinduja, students who believed that little harm is caused by downloading unauthorized MP3s were _______ to participate in moderate levels of piracy.

A) significantly less likely
B) equally as likely
C) significantly more likely
D) marginally more likely

Question 34

According to the American Law Institute's (ALI) standards, an individual lacks "criminal responsibility by reason of mental disease or defect" when at the time of the crime as a result of mental disease or defect, an individual lacked substantial capacity to know or appreciate either the _______ of such conduct or that such conduct was wrong.

A) nature and consequence
B) impact
C) timing and strategy
D) mode and meaning

Question 35

In a sample of episodes of the television show Law and Order, there were three types of discussion about mental illness. Which of the following was NOT one of them?

A) Questioning essence of human nature.
B) The flaws in the legal and mental health systems.
C) Personal responsibility and its relation to criminal behavior.
D) All of the above were discussed.

Question 36

In a sample of episodes of the television show Law and Order, the insanity plea is also framed as a potential way for individuals to _______ .

A) reduce their sentence
B) get a plea bargain
C) avoid media attention
D) avoid personal responsibility

Question 37

According to Bowditch, "troublemakers" are students who faced violence at home and were often also distracted, uncooperative, or truant, and where thus seen as undeserving of the school's services. As a result, they often faced which of the following?

A) Involuntary expulsion from courses
B) Suspensions
C) Paddling
D) Answers a and b are correct

Question 38

According to Bowditch, _______ are arranged when students moved out of the school's catchment area.

A) disciplinary transfers
B) responsibility transfers
C) affirmative action transfers
D) regular transfers

Question 39

According to Bowditch, which of the following is NOT one of the tactics used by disciplinarians when they faced opposition from parents and students?

A) They denigrated the parenting skills of the mother or father.
B) They threatened the student with failure, arrest, or expulsion.
C) They explicitly denied any personal responsibility for resolving the problem.
D) They feigned kindness and concern to win their approval and cooperation.

Question 40

According to Burns and Crawford, for an event or behavior to be defined as moral panic there must

A) initially exist a heightened level of concern about the issue.
B) be increased levels of hostility directed toward a deviant group and/or their problematic behavior(s).
C) be consensus, or agreement on a minimal level in society, that these "evildoers," or their threat to society, is real, immediate, and serious.
D) all of the above are correct.

Question 41

According to Burns and Crawford, _______ of Americans were very seriously concerned about school violence and school shootings.

A) 50%
B) 90%
C) 75%
D) 25%

Question 42

According to Burns and Crawford, the recent reports of school shootings reinforced and legitimized the arguments of those who were previously rallying to _______ the punishments for juvenile criminals.

A) decrease
B) maintain
C) redefine
D) increase

Question 43

According to Martin and Hummer, college fraternities are vitally concerned with _______ .

A) socializing
B) work ethic
C) sex
D) masculinity

Question 44

In a college fraternity, a _______ is a new recruit who occupies a trial membership status for a specific period of time.

A) brother
B) big brother
C) grand wizard
D) pledge

Question 45

According to Martin and Hummer, Little Sisters are undergraduate women who are rushed and selected in a manner parallel to the recruitment of fraternity men and are required to wear the fraternity's Greek letters and are often used as _______ .

A) a means to attract new members
B) a sexual utility
C) office managers
D) answers a and b are correct

Question 46

How can the idea of Goffman's front be applied not only to abortion clinics but also to how families react to alcoholism?

Question 47

What are the ways in which a prosecutor might try to get a patient on the stand to seem as though they are perfectly "normal"? How does the patient's attorney combat some of these techniques if they are using the insanity defense? Be sure to use specific terminology associated with medicine as a social institution and then apply them to a hypothetical case.

Question 48

Name three ways in which we, as a society, seem to blindly accept medical social control.

Question 49

Button and Gealt discuss several correlates of sibling violence. Use at least two of these correlates to explain how BOTH feminist and social learning theories explain these trends. In particular, explain why learning is related to patriarchy.

Question 50

In your own words, describe heteronormativity. Then tie this to how Pfeffer's findings could have an impact on Martin and Hummer's conclusions about the relation between fraternity culture and rape.

Question 51

In your lifetime, how has the Internet and digital media changed the way music is sold and distributed? In your opinion, is music piracy deviant or normal? Why or why not?

Question 52

When we consider how social structures of inequality influence classroom success and educational outcomes (e.g., school suspensions based on middle-class values lead lower class boys toward delinquent subcultures), how do you think these same structures and social forces influence school shooters?

Question 53

What is the line between a moral panic and a true crisis pattern in a society? Using school shootings as an example, explain how different social problems are linked to rare events of random violence like school shootings to engorge a small amount of some phenomenon into a moral panic (e.g., gun control, bullying, etc.). Does this illustrate the politicization of tragedy?

Question 54

Why do you think Stack and Gundlach find country music impacts white but not black suicide rates? What are the social-psychological underpinnings of musical lyrics that link to or trigger cognitive-emotional stimulus responses? Would you think rap music or R&B music impacts African American behavior? Caucasian behavior?

Question 55

Write a short essay on the nature of good and evil in your own words. Now, apply your definitions to a defendant who has been ruled insane, as defined in the article by Gans- Boriskin and Wardle, but who murdered a three-year-old child. Is the legal defense of insanity "good enough" in your conception of good and evil? Is the law a competent judge of good and evil?