Deck 1: Responding to Chaos: A Brief History of Sociology, the Sociological Eye, Science and Fuzzy Objects: Specialization in Sociology, and Whos Afraid of Sociology

Question 1

W.I. Thomas suggested that sociologists ought to

A) ignore people's misconceptions about reality and stick to the real facts.
B) take into account people's misconceptions as these can have consequences.
C) follow a commonsense understanding of the world.
D) take into account the fact that people who are mentally ill are likely to misunderstand reality.
E) resign themselves to the reality that the social world is too complex for any individual to study.

Answer 1

take into account people's misconceptions as these can have consequences.

Question 2

When W.I. Thomas argued that "if people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences," he meant that

A) sociologists should not study people's perceptions of reality because these are often false.
B) people are excellent judges of what is real.
C) sociology is the intersection of history and biography.
D) sociologists can learn a lot even from studying people's misperceptions of social reality.
E) people act haphazardly and don't stop to define the situations they encounter.

Answer 2

sociologists can learn a lot even from studying people's misperceptions of social reality.

Question 3

A basic tenet of or doctrine in sociology is that human behavior is

A) shaped by social interaction.
B) genetically driven.
C) primarily a result of economic drives.
D) in greatest part driven by psychological drives.
E) not subject to being studied in a scientific manner.

Answer 3

shaped by social interaction.

Question 4

Sociology is best understood as the study of

A) how people's psychological problems create social problems.
B) how biological factors influence people's social behavior.
C) the likes and dislikes of individuals in groups.
D) what nineteenth century social theorists thought about society.
E) interactions and relations between human beings.

Question 5

Which of the following factors helped spur the creation of sociology?

A) the worldwide economic depression experienced in the 1930s
B) people's increasing faith in the legitimacy of religious authority
C) the flight from urban areas that took place in the early nineteenth century
D) the technological and political changes experienced by industrializing societies
E) all of these

Question 6

Which of the following events helped to encourage the emergence and initial growth of sociology?

A) changing technologies associated with the industrial revolution
B) widespread social distress that came with the worldwide depression in the 1890s
C) the Pope's refusal to abdicate after Comte requested he do so
D) people's growing disbelief in God during the Middle Ages (i.e., 8-12^th centuries)
E) all of these

Question 7

Sociology emerged in the _________ as an attempt to make sense of the chaos left in the way of the________.

A) 1800s; industrial revolution
B) 1830s; great depression
C) 1890s; religious awakening
D) 1700s; Pilgrims' move to the New World
E) 1800s; flight of people from urban areas

Question 8

Auguste Comte said that the political, technological, and social changes of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries had created a situation of

A) intellectual anarchy.
B) economic chaos.
C) religious upheaval.
D) immorality.
E) serious psychic pain (SPP).

Question 9

Emile Durkheim is remembered for the path-breaking research in which he found that_________ are influenced by ____________, and not just by individual choices.

A) economic factors; investment strategies
B) suicide rates; social factors
C) ethnicities; discrimination
D) political factors; genocide
E) social factors; marriage rates

Question 10

Emile Durkheim studied the nature of social solidarity in modern and premodern societies. He argued that

A) solidarity is unnecessary in modern society.
B) social solidarity is based on people's natural tendency to be social creatures.
C) solidarity in premodern society was based on purely economic considerations.
D) in modern society solidarity is based on the interdependence of individuals.
E) in premodern society solidarity was based on individual differences.

Question 11

According to Durkheim, mechanical solidarity predominates in

A) modern societies.
B) postmodern societies.
C) premodern societies.
D) highly individualistic societies.
E) societies based on Gesellschaft.

Question 12

Emile Durkheim viewed modern society as

A) based on organic solidarity.
B) based on a solidarity that arose through people's interdependence.
C) having a smaller collective conscience than premodern society.
D) one in which people are held together by their differences.
E) all of these

Question 13

The collective conscience

A) is a term introduced by Durkheim.
B) refers to the values and beliefs shared by people within society.
C) is smaller (less encompassing) in modern society than in premodern society.
D) helps maintain social solidarity.
E) all of these

Question 14

Emile Durkheim used the concept of ________________________ to refer to a kind of social unity based on a complex division of labor.

A) Gemeinschaft
B) Gesellschaft
C) mechanical
D) organic
E) rational

Question 15

Durkheim demonstrated that suicide rates vary across groups. For example, he found that Protestants have higher rates of suicide than Catholics. Sociologists regard this as convincing evidence that

A) the tendency to suicide is genetically determined.
B) suicide is the result of psychological abnormalities.
C) social factors must be invoked to explain suicide rates.
D) individuals respond to economic difficulties differently.
E) Catholics are more religious than Protestants.

Question 16

Ferdinand Tö nnies said that Gemeinschaft-type relationships

A) predominate in the premodern world.
B) are typical of most modern financial dealings.
C) are very rarely seen in premodern times.
D) are tied to organic solidarity.
E) all of these

Question 17

Ferdinand Tö nnies would have said that the relationship between parents and children will most likely be

A) Gemeinschaft.
B) Gesellschaft.
C) instinctual.
D) rooted in psychological drives.
E) all of these

Question 18

According to Ferdinand Tö nnies,

A) Gemeinschaft social relations are seen as means to ends.
B) Gesellschaft social relations are seen as means to ends.
C) businesses that adopt Gemeinschaft relationships achieve higher profits.
D) sociology is Gemeinschaft while political science is Gesellschaft.
E) none of these

Question 19

Max Weber argued that

A) Tö nnies' Gemeinschaft-Gesellschaft dichotomy is totally misguided.
B) it is irrational not to calculate financial costs and benefits when making decisions.
C) the modern social world is becoming increasingly rational and calculating.
D) nonrational behavior is pointless.
E) the survival of the fittest depends on eliminating nonrational behavior.

Question 20

According to Max Weber, when people engage in nonrational behavior, they

A) are acting irrationally.
B) may be engaging in a behavior simply because they enjoy it.
C) are wasting their time.
D) are being anti-social.
E) none of these

Question 21

Max Weber argued that

A) people ought to avoid nonrational behavior.
B) nonrational behavior is unproductive.
C) the opposite of rational behavior is irrational.
D) any particular behavior may be either rational or irrational. It depends on why the person is doing it.
E) rational behavior is better than nonrational behavior.

Question 22

Karl Marx

A) divided people in modern society into two groups: proletariats and bourgeoisie.
B) said that religion was epiphenomenal.
C) said that the only important reality was economic reality.
D) proposed a monocausal theory of the social world.
E) all of these

Question 23

When Karl Marx discussed the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, he was referring to

A) the rational and nonrational actors in society.
B) the moral and the immoral actors in society.
C) the workers and the owners (i.e., capitalists).
D) people involved in Gemeinschaft versus Gesellschaft relationships.
E) socialists and feudalists.

Question 24

By which phrase did Karl Marx refer to the people who own the means of production?

A) social cultural elite
B) managers and owners
C) bourgeoisie
D) proletariat
E) socioeconomic tycoons

Question 25

By which phrase did Marx refer to the people who do not own the means of production, but have only their labor to sell?

A) socially and culturally deprived
B) menial laborers
C) bourgeoisie
D) proletariat
E) underclass

Question 26

Which theorist argued that everything in society is secondary to economic reality?

A) Max Weber
B) Emile Durkheim
C) Lisa McIntyre
D) Karl Marx
E) Herbert Spencer

Question 27

One might reasonably argue that ________________ is to sociology as Charles Darwin is to biology.

A) Max Weber
B) Emile Durkheim
C) Lisa McIntyre
D) Karl Marx
E) Herbert Spencer

Question 28

Herbert Spencer's idea that rich people deserve their riches and poor people deserve their poverty, is tied to the theory of

A) the law of three stages.
B) democracy.
C) natural selection.
D) proletarianism.
E) economic determinism

Question 29

His ideas about the "survival of the fittest" were used by some people to justify their resistance to such social reforms as public schooling.

A) W.I. Thomas
B) Emile Durkheim
C) Herbert Spencer
D) Auguste Comte
E) James Addams

Question 30

The notions that human societies evolve and that social competition inevitably results in social progress, was promoted by

A) W.I. Thomas.
B) Emile Durkheim.
C) Herbert Spencer.
D) Auguste Comte.
E) James Addams.

Question 31

W.E.B. Dubois

A) was a founding member of the Ku Klux Klan.
B) said that Marx had made a mistake when he overlooked the role of race in promoting social conflict.
C) nominated Brooker T. Washington for President of the United States in 1903.
D) organized Hull House in Chicago.
E) believed that African Americans ought to lower their expectations about success.

Question 32

The first sociologist to win a Nobel Prize was

A) James Adams.
B) Jane Addams.
C) W.E.B. DuBois.
D) Alicia Spencer.
E) Herbert Spencer.

Question 33

C. W. Mills' conception of the sociological imagination suggests that

A) people often can understand their own experiences only by taking into account larger social factors.
B) sociology and history are entirely separate fields of inquiry.
C) individuals who experience "personal troubles" typically mistake them for "public issues."
D) individuals who feel trapped generally lack the intelligence to solve their own problems.
E) all of these

Question 34

What did C. W. Mills recommend we do with our personal problems?

A) Attend counseling groups to discuss these problems in social settings.
B) Ignore them as much as possible ("denial is divine").
C) Carefully examine ourselves to find the real roots of these problems.
D) Look beyond them to their possible links to the social structure in order to find an explanation.
E) First, check to see if our personal issues have physical causes.

Question 35

Jack was always late for work because he hated to use an alarm clock. Because of this, he lost his job in the college library. Now Jack doesn't have the money to pay his tuition. Mills would say Jack's situation is

A) an example of the paradox of dependency.
B) a personal trouble.
C) a social or public issue.
D) a manifest latency.
E) one of the perils of Gemeinschaft society.

Question 36

Which of the following statements is true?

A) Sociologists are not satisfied with explanations that focus on individuals.
B) Sociologists focus primarily on how economic factors determine people's choices.
C) Sociologists accept the fact that most of what people do is simply a result of how they use their free . will and thus it is unpredictable.
D) Because people are constantly exercising their free will, sociologists can only focus on a narrow range of social phenomena.
E) Sociologists accept that most of what people do is a result of free will AND because of this, sociologists . can only focus on a narrow range of social phenomena.

Question 37

For sociologists, skepticism

A) is a tendency they must strive to overcome in order to do good work.
B) is crucial because most people lie to social researchers.
C) is best thought of as a "personal trouble."
D) is a "social issue."
E) is important because commonly accepted explanations are frequently incorrect.

Question 38

Robert Merton stressed that in order to understand what goes on in society, we must be able to distinguish between

A) manifest and latent functions.
B) real and imagined realities.
C) nature and nurture.
D) facts and social wisdom.
E) institutional and noninstitutional sources of racism.

Question 39

For DuBois the first source of skepticism was the current state of

A) race relations.
B) his education at Harvard.
C) manifest functions.
D) dysfunctional social groups.
E) the environment.

Question 40

When sociologists discuss the fact that individuals have "agency," they mean that individuals

A) have the capacity to influence their social environment.
B) have the ability to act on the behalf of others.
C) can form organizations.
D) are subject to the social environment.
E) are unimportant in the overall scheme of things.

Question 41

In sociology, the term "agency" refers to

A) voluntary organizations.
B) a group that receives 10% of athletes' salaries.
C) the power of individuals to evaluate and influence their social environment.
D) the national association of sociologists.
E) the influence of nonhuman entities on the human environment.

Question 42

As most sociologists understand things,

A) latent functions are visible and intended, while manifest functions are frequently unseen and unintended.
B) manifest functions include many unanticipated consequences.
C) latent functions are frequently of more consequence than manifest functions.
D) latent functions tend to be especially obvious to the untrained observer.
E) all of these

Question 43

Which of the following is an example of a social institution carrying out its manifest function?

A) Colleges providing places for middle class youth to meet potential marriage partners.
B) Churches providing opportunities for people to show off their clothing.
C) Courts punishing people found guilty of crimes.
D) Industry polluting the water and air.
E) all of these

Question 44

Sociologists may refer to those aspects of society that do not make positive contributions to the well-being of society as

A) disruptive.
B) dysfunctional.
C) distributive.
D) disintegrative.
E) bad.

Question 45

In most universities and colleges, young professors must work like crazy to earn tenure. Often, special stress is placed on how much the young professor publishes. One consequence of this is that some faculty don't pay much attention to their teaching. A sociologist would most likely call this outcome

A) a manifest function of the tenure system.
B) a latent dysfunction of the tenure system.
C) a pathological outcome of the tenure system.
D) a result of the fact that professors are bourgeoisie.
E) a life cost of being a professor.

Question 46

Many people fall in love and marry someone they meet in college. Sociologists would refer to this mate selection phenomenon as ____________________ of attending college.

A) a manifest function
B) a latent function
C) the social tragedy
D) an irrelevant function
E) a personal trouble

Question 47

Regular attendance at church, synagogue, or temple allows people to keep current on what others are wearing in public and to gossip with their friends. A sociologist would refer to these as the________________________ functions of attending religious services.

A) complementary
B) economic
C) social
D) symbolic
E) latent

Question 48

When McIntyre refers to sociology as a science that studies fuzzy objects,

A) she means that sociology cannot be a real science.
B) she means that sociology is unique; it's the only science that studies fuzzy objects.
C) she is attempting to be humorous.
D) she is referring to the fact that sociological predictions, like those of some physicists, must be probabilistic.
E) she is referring to the fact that social science (including sociology), unlike physical science, must accept chaos.

Question 49

Which of the following statements is correct?

A) Sociologists who adopt particular paradigms tend to focus on different social processes.
B) Sociologists who adopt the functionalist perspective tend to study those social factors that help to hold society together.
C) Sociologists who adopt the conflict perspective tend to emphasize social mechanisms that help to build consensus.
D) all of these
E)Sociologists who adopt particular paradigms tend to focus on different social processes AND those who . adopt the functionalist perspective tend to study those social factors that help to hold society together.

Question 50

Which of the following statements about theoretical paradigms in sociology is false?

A) The three major paradigms are: functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism.
B) Because the major paradigms are so contradictory to one another, they are generally ignored by most sociologists.
C) Different paradigms have different strengths and weaknesses.
D) Some sociologists have become too attached to their paradigms.
E) none of these

Question 51

The view that society is not really harmonious but is made up of groups in competition for resources is tied to which sociological paradigm or perspective?

A) functional paradigm
B) dysfunctional paradigm
C) symbolic interactionist paradigm
D) weberian paradigm
E) conflict paradigm

Question 52

Which of the following ideas is most characteristic of the functional point of view or paradigm?

A) There is a great deal of consensus about values and beliefs within society.
B) Society is made up of integrated parts.
C) Conflict is dysfunctional and something to be avoided.
D) Major subgroups within society coexist in relative harmony.
E) all of these

Question 53

Which of the following ideas is most characteristic of the conflict view of the social world?

A) Social conflict is dysfunctional and must be avoided at all costs.
B) Symbols in conflict are the basis of most important social disputes.
C) Conflict is not an important sociological concern.
D) Subgroups within society are in ruthless competition for important resources.
E) all of these

Question 54

Which of the following ideas is NOT a characteristic of symbolic interactionism?

A) How people act depends on how they see reality.
B) People independently arrive at their own peculiar understanding of social reality.
C) Humans work to interpret the meaning of their own behavior.
D) Humans work to interpret the meaning of other people's behavior.
E) People work together to construct social reality.

Question 55

"Is it moral to provide free condoms to high school students?" Why would most sociologists say that this is not a proper question for sociologists?

A) It is political (not sociological) and sociologists strive to avoid controversy.
B) It is sociologically naive.
C) Only an economist can answer it.
D) It's already been resolved.
E) It's not a question that can be addressed empirically.

Question 56

Which of the following is not an empirical question?

A) Does capital punishment deter would-be murderers?
B) Will providing condoms to high school students decrease the pregnancy rate?
C) How many people say they believe in God?
D) Are Catholics or Protestants more likely to achieve heaven after death?
E) Under what political system to people have a higher standard of living?

Question 57

The kinds of questions appropriate for sociologists to ask

A) should have nothing to do with religion.
B) should not be controversial.
C) should be ones that can be answered empirically.
D) should be ones that only concern academics, not laypeople.
E) all of these

Question 58

Most sociologists would not regard as sociological questions about the moral inferiority of communism compared to capitalism because

A) capitalism is now manifest whereas communism is latent.
B) the issue is not an empirical one.
C) the entire matter was resolved by the fall of the Soviet Union.
D) such questions are ethnocentric.
E) only the most naive observer would ask such questions.

Question 59

To successfully study the Yanomamö , Napoleon Chagnon had to overcome

A) his natural tendency to cultural relativism.
B) his discomfort about the fact that these people did not allow cable TV.
C) culture shock.
D) his distaste for vegetarianism.
E) his disapproval of the fact that the Yanomamö men maintained harems.

Question 60

Annabelle Smith has a firm personal conviction that the American criminal justice system treats everyone fairly. Then, in a sociology course she reads several studies that demonstrate that, compared to the punishments others receive, members of minority groups receive harsher sentences. Max Weber would tell Ms. Smith that

A) she must accept these findings as the manifest function of the criminal justice system.
B) the differential treatment experienced by members of minority groups is their personal trouble.
C) she has come face to face with an "inconvenient fact."
D) she should conclude that these studies are flawed because her personal knowledge suggests that the system is fair.
E) she should view these findings as "exceptions that prove the rule" of basic fairness.

Question 61

Chagnon's account of his work with the Yanomamö teaches important lessons about

A) the nature of ethnocentrism and culture shock.
B) the importance of understanding a society's economic system.
C) the functionalist and symbolic interactionist paradigms.
D) the latent dysfunctions of the modern educational system.
E) the nature of what Weber called "inconvenient facts."

Question 62

Two valuable qualities stressed by early as well as modern sociologists are

A) a focus on the social and skepticism.
B) a focus on mistrust and practicality.
C) the sociological imagination and survival of the fittest (also known as "publish or perish").
D) the ability to distinguish between good and bad and moral and immoral.
E) a focus on the obvious and clear.

Question 63

Max Weber's concept "inconvenient fact" refers to

A) the tendency of people not to follow what sociologists predict they will do.
B) the fact that students of sociology must learn statistics.
C) evidence that contradicts what one wants to believe is true about society.
D) the fact that it is job of sociology to undermine people's political beliefs and moral values.
E) none of these

Question 64

The tendency to judge other people's norms and customs as inferior to one's own people's norms and customs is called

A) survival of the fittest.
B) empiricism.
C) cultural relativity.
D) ethnocentrism.
E) inconvenient.

Question 65

During Spring Break, your friend visits the exotic island of Zeer. Upon her return she tells you, "Yuck, those people are really sick! Instead of kissing to show affection, they stick their tongues in each other's ears. It just gave me the willies!" Your friend is demonstrating

A) a lack of sexual sophistication.
B) ethnocentrism.
C) a typical reaction to an inconvenient fact.
D) a refusal to think empirically.
E) the power of latent functions.

Question 66

The Thomas theorem holds that people's perceptions of reality can have important consequences for their behavior.

Question 67

In the Western world, religious leaders gave up their claim to authority over the natural world shortly after they gave up their claim to authority over the social world.

Question 68

Skepticism about the nature of the social world ultimately led to skepticism about the nature of the physical world.

Question 69

August Comte believed that science could solve the problems of the social world.

Question 70

Emile Durkheim said that solidarity in the modern world was helped along by a specialized division of labor.

Question 71

According to Emile Durkheim, social facts have a coercive influence on people's behavior.

Question 72

Ferdinand Tö nnies suggested that, compared to earlier times, people in modern society were more likely to treat one another as mean-to-ends.

Question 73

The typical relationship between a bride and groom in twenty-first century U.S. is a good example of a Gesellschaft relationship.

Question 74

According to Max Weber, the opposite of rational behavior is irrational behavior.

Question 75

According to Max Weber, anyone who collects art because of its beauty rather than its investment value is being both silly and irrational.

Question 76

Karl Marx argued that religious differences led to economic differences.

Question 77

Karl Marx divided society into two classes: liberals and conservatives.

Question 78

Charles Darwin was the first British sociologist.

Question 79

Herbert Spencer argued that society would be improved through competition because the "most fit"would survive to create a new generation.

Question 80

Jane Addams was the first sociologist to win the Nobel Prize.