Deck 2: Examining the Social World: How Do We Know What We Know

Question 1

Prior to the 19th century, approaches to understanding society ______.

A) had a strong moral tone
B) involved systematic data collection
C) involved objective analysis
D) applied the scientific method

Answer 1

A

Question 2

______ was the first person on record to suggest a systematic approach to explain the social world.

A) Plato
B) Auguste Comte
C) Ibn Khaldun
D) C. Wright Mills

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The Industrial Revolution led, in part, to the rise of sociology because ______.

A) Europeans sought to understand the rapid changes occurring in society
B) the advent of mechanized labor made people distrustful of religion and philosophy
C) Karl Marx's critique of the bourgeoisie inspired the proletariat to embrace this new school of thought
D) those who had been farmers pursued the social sciences when they found themselves unemployed

Answer 3

A

Question 4

When Auguste Comte coined the term sociology in 1838, what two basic questions did he ask?

A) What holds society together and gives rise to a stable order? Why and how do societies change?
B) How do humans define or make sense of situations? How do we learn our social roles in society?
C) How do societies achieve social consensus? How do people internalize shared beliefs and rules?
D) How does inequality create injustice? How does conflict function in society?

Question 5

Auguste Comte saw society as divided into which of the following parts?

A) social statics and social institutions
B) social institutions and social processes
C) social units and social institutions
D) social statics and social dynamics

Question 6

A ______ is a basic view of society that guides sociologists' research and analysis.

A) theoretical perspective
B) scientific method
C) ethical analysis
D) hypothetical approach

Question 7

A good theory allows social scientists to make ______ about the social world.

A) theoretical perspectives
B) predictions
C) value judgements
D) rules

Question 8

Which statement accurately describes an underlying assumption of symbolic interaction theory?

A) People create shared meanings and interact based on those meanings.
B) People are self-interested, making decisions based on weighing potential costs and rewards.
C) All parts of the social structure interact to make a society run smoothly.
D) Interaction breeds conflict, and conflict underlies all social relations.

Question 9

More than any other theory in the social sciences, symbolic interaction theory stresses the role of ______.

A) social statics
B) social dynamics
C) human agency
D) anomie

Question 10

Which of the following sociologists placed special emphasis on human interpretations of gestures and symbols and the meaning we attach to our actions?

A) August Comte
B) Karl Marx
C) George Herbert Mead
D) Émile Durkheim

Question 11

One critique of symbolic interaction theory is that it ______.

A) neglects the micro-level structures of society that affect human behavior
B) neglects the macro-level structures of society that affect human behavior
C) does not explain social changes in society, such as conflict and revolution
D) overemphasizes social stress, power dynamics, and disharmony

Question 12

______ theory states that humans are fundamentally concerned with self-interests, making rational decisions based on weighing costs and rewards of the projected outcome of an action.

A) Symbolic interaction
B) Rational choice
C) Structural-functional
D) Conflict

Question 13

According to rational choice theory, people stay in relationships because ______.

A) they derive meaning from the interaction
B) they get something from the exchange
C) partnerships make society run more harmoniously
D) they fear conflict and change

Question 14

One critique of rational choice theory is that it ______.

A) gives little attention to micro-level internal mental processes, such as self-reflection
B) does not explain social changes in society, such as conflict and revolution
C) gives too much attention to macro-level structures of society that affect human behavior
D) assumes a stable world

Question 15

The structural-functional perspective states that ______.

A) all parts of the social structure work together to make society run smoothly
B) a person's choices determine the individual's place within the social structure
C) those with power exert their will over those without power
D) social status is in the eye of the beholder

Question 16

A manifest function of war is ______.

A) boosting manufacturing
B) encouraging technological innovation
C) defending territory
D) inspiring patriotism

Question 17

A latent function of war is ______.

A) defending territory
B) obtaining resources
C) protecting citizens and residents
D) inspiring patriotism

Question 18

Functional actions contribute to the stability of society whereas ______ are those actions that undermine the stability of society.

A) manifest functions
B) latent functions
C) dysfunctions
D) surjection functions

Question 19

The conflict perspective states that ______.

A) conflict is dysfunctional
B) conflict is inevitable and that inequality and injustice are the source of conflicts
C) people keep a mental ledger in their heads about whether they owe or are owed something
D) groups of people look out for each other and try to obtain resources and make sure they are distributed equally

Question 20

Karl Marx primarily viewed conflict in ______ terms.

A) gendered
B) economic
C) religious
D) racial

Question 21

Harriet Martineau argued that societies should be judged by how well they treat the most oppressed members of society. Which of the following sociologists shared her concern for advancing a more just society, asserting that the ultimate goal of sociological work should be social improvement?

A) George Herbert Mead
B) Henri Saint-Simon
C) W. E. B. Du Bois
D) Émile Durkheim

Question 22

Though structural-functional theory and conflict theory take very different approaches, they are both critiqued for ______.

A) being difficult to test
B) for focusing on micro-level interactions
C) for overemphasizing the role of social cohesion and cooperation
D) for overemphasizing social inequality

Question 23

Which of the following sociologists focused much of his writings on the nature of bureaucracies?

A) Karl Marx
B) W. E. B. Du Bois
C) Max Weber
D) Ralf Dahrendorf

Question 24

Which of the following theories employs multilevel analysis?

A) conflict theory
B) feminist theory
C) structural-functional theory
D) exchange theory

Question 25

Patricia Hill Collins coined the term ______ in reference to the confluence of identities (e.g. related to race, class, and gender) that impact people's lives and opportunities.

A) cultural relativity
B) intersectionality
C) double consciousness
D) ethnocentricity

Question 26

Science is rooted in ______; that is, one must take steps to ensure that one's personal opinions or values do not bias or contaminate data collection and analysis.

A) subjectivity
B) morality
C) objectivity
D) philosophical inquiry

Question 27

An educated guess or prediction about the research being conducted is referred to as a ______.

A) hypothesis
B) variable
C) thesis
D) theory

Question 28

A spurious relationship occurs between two variables when ______.

A) there is no correlation
B) there is a causal relationship
C) there is no causal relationship, but they vary together, often because of a third variable affecting both of them
D) two or more variables are found to be unrelated

Question 29

Which of the following is TRUE of secondary data analysis?

A) It tends to be qualitative.
B) It tends to be used when conducting macro- and meso-level studies.
C) It tends to be used with micro-level research.
D) It is generally considered less reliable than primary data analysis.

Question 30

What is the purpose of a control group?

A) to promote triangulation
B) to enforce ethical research practices
C) to provide a baseline with which the experimental group can be compared
D) to eliminate spurious relationships

Question 31

The purpose of human subjects review boards is to review proposed research plans and methods to be sure ______.

A) they will not hurt the subjects
B) they are socially relevant
C) they will reflect well on the discipline
D) they will benefit the researcher's career

Question 32

According to the principles of symbolic interactionism, people continually create and recreate society by interacting with one another.

Question 33

A central premise of rational choice theory is that altruism guides human behavior.

Question 34

According to rational choice theory, we learn our place in society through interacting with each other.

Question 35

Émile Durkheim's believed that individuals conform to the rules of society because of a collective conscience.

Question 36

According to Merton, latent functions are the planned outcomes of social organizations and institutions.

Question 37

Structural-functional theory assumes that conflict is harmful.

Question 38

According to conflict theorists, symbols have a meaning beyond their own existence.

Question 39

Ralf Dahrendorf's major contribution to conflict theory was his acknowledgement that conflicts over resources extend beyond the conflict that exists between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.

Question 40

Max Weber argued that in order to understand people's behavior, you have to see the world as they do.

Question 41

Empirical knowledge is founded on information gained from intuition.

Question 42

The first step in planning a research study is to define a topic or problem that can be studied scientifically.

Question 43

Interviews are convenient for collecting large amounts of data.

Question 44

The process of triangulation provides a baseline with which the experimental group can be compared.

Question 45

Compare and contrast social statics and social dynamics. Provide one example of each.

Question 46

Explain the statement, "Science is rooted in objectivity." Include the ways sociologists can ensure that they are being as objective as possible.

Question 47

Explain how a theory differs from a hypothesis and discuss how the two are related. Provide an example.

Question 48

Compare and contrast manifest and latent functions. Provide examples of each.

Question 49

Describe one of the theoretical perspectives mentioned in the text and pose a question the perspective could address. Further, explain the critiques of that perspective. Do those critiques make the perspective useless? Why, or why not?

Question 50

Imagine you want to study the U.S. military from a functionalist, symbolic interactionist, and conflict perspective. What research questions will you ask about the military from each perspective, and why is that perspective appropriate for the question posed?

Question 51

Why is sociology considered a science? Provide one example of a sociological research question and how it is approached and studied scientifically.

Question 52

Explain the statement, "Every research study should be replicable." Provide an example of what a researcher would do to replicate a study.

Question 53

In an experiment, what is the difference between the experimental group and the control group? Provide an example.

Question 54

You have been asked to conduct a study titled "The Effect of Watching Television on the Academic Performance of First-Year College Students." What theoretical perspective will you use to guide your study, and why? Explain at least two hypotheses you have about the effect of TV on grades. Describe the method you will use to conduct your study and explain why that method is most appropriate.

Question 55

In the late 1960s, Laud Humphries conducted a study called "The Tearoom Trade." Humphries posed as a "watch queen" (a man who guards the doors of restrooms in public parks so that men can have sex with other men inside). Humphries wrote down the license plate numbers of the men who had sex with other men, then looked up their addresses, disguised his appearance, and went to their homes to interview them a year later. Humphries discovered that, contrary to popular opinion, many of the men were actually married to women and living otherwise quiet, middle-class lives. Today, this study is considered unethical. In light of what you learned about research ethics in Chapter 2 of the text, what ethical principles does this study violate? Do you personally feel the benefits of the study (it destroyed many stereotypes) outweighed the risks?

Question 56

Imagine you work as a public sociologist. Explain what your job responsibilities are both inside academia (i.e. a professor) and outside academia (i.e. working in an organization).