Deck 4: Poststructuralism and Social Theory

Question 1

Poststructuralism favors

A) The subject
B) The object
C) Both subject and object
D) Neither subject nor object

Answer 1

D

Question 2

For Jacques Derrida,

A) Words have no meaning. It is the context in which they are placed that give them meaning
B) Context has no meaning. Words mean the same thing across social contexts
C) Social structures determine the nature of words and language
D) None of the above

Answer 2

A

Question 3

With reference to time, Derrida argued that:

A) There is no time
B) There is only the here and how. Efforts to describe the past or predict the future are impossible
C) There is no pure now. Everything is either in the past or in the future.
D) Time is a social construction

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Deconstructionism such as that espoused by Derrida attacks linguistic distinctions such as "black/white," "smooth/rough," "cooked/raw." These distinctions are called:

A) Dichotomies
B) Binaries
C) Differentiators
D) None of the above

Question 5

For Foucault, power is

A) The ability to control others
B) Embedded in social structures
C) The means through which reason is instituted
D) Unreasonable

Question 6

Foucault's primary interest is in

A) Human action
B) Human interaction
C) Human agency
D) Social control

Question 7

For Foucault, power emerges directly from

A) Discourse
B) Strength
C) Bureaucracy
D) None of the above

Question 8

According to Foucault, power is exercised by

A) The observation, supervision, coded discipline, and education of those considered to be nonrational or nonconformist.
B) Fear, and ostentatious displays of strength and force.
C) Public shaming and public punishments
D) None of the above

Question 9

Jacques Lacan began his career trying to reformulate the theories of:

A) Durkheim
B) Marx
C) Mead
D) Freud

Question 10

Central to Lacan's theory of the self was

A) The unconscious
B) The self
C) Interaction
D) Language

Question 11

A key stage in the process of self-recognition is:

A) The mirror stage
B) The sensorimotor stage
C) The preoperational stage
D) The formal operational stage

Question 12

What are the three orders of being, according to Lacan?

A) Imaginary, symbolic, real
B) Self-awareness, other-awareness, integration
C) Imaginary, self-awareness, representational
D) Symbolic, interaction, real

Question 13

Taking the "Name of the Father" involves

A) The role of religious beliefs in social integration
B) The resolution of the oedipal complex
C) Learning and accepting language, and taking on the laws and restrictions as posited by patriarchal authority
D) None of the above

Question 14

Feminism from which of the following countries had the strongest connection to poststructuralism?

A) United States
B) Britain
C) Germany
D) France

Question 15

Luce Irigaray criticizes the work of Freud and Lacan for being

A) Ignorant of social structures
B) Phallocentric
C) Patriarchal
D) Ignorant of developmental biology

Question 16

For Irigaray, poststructuralism

A) Objectifies women
B) Obscures differences between genders, and sees women as "men without penises"
C) Liberates women from the confines of phallocentrism
D) Confines women to a phallocentric social order

Question 17

An "abjection" is something or someone that is

A) Overly abstract, detached from reality
B) Violates social norms
C) An outcast, seen as worthless
D) Disagreeable, confrontational

Question 18

A "discursive innovation" arises from

A) Gaffes
B) Transgressions
C) Mistakes
D) Rule enforcement

Question 19

For Žižek, ideology

A) Is a tool of liberation, one that can free people from authoritarianism
B) Leads to self-domination, self-delusion, alienation, and cynicism among most classes
C) Reflects the changing nature of social reality
D) Is rooted in the means of production

Question 20

Poststructuralism is felt first in which area of social theory?

A) Theories of race and race relations
B) Theories of structure and agency
C) Theories of interaction
D) Theories of sexuality and gender

Question 21

Jacques Derrida was a key figure in structuralism

Question 22

Foucault focused a lot of attention on discourse

Question 23

Poststructuralism signifies the end of social theory

Question 24

According to Foucault, how are people controlled?

Question 25

For Derrida, what gives words and language its meaning?

Question 26

What happens during the mirror stage?

Question 27

What is the relationship between knowledge, power, and discourse in Foucalut's theory of tyrannical reason? What is one social institution in which this relationship plays out?

Question 28

Describe and explain Lacan's three orders of being. When do these develop in humans?

Question 29

Describe the feminist critique of psychoanalysis. Does the psychoanalytic theories of Freud and Lacan consider women? If so, why are feminist poststructuralists unsatisfied with this treatment?

Question 30

What roles to structure and culture play in poststructural theory? ON balance, which would you say is more important in the theoretical explanations offered by poststructuralism?