Deck 4: Social Structure

Question 1

An institution,as sociologists define it,must be centrally located and occupy a physical building.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Contrary to popular belief,it was necessary for people born in the 1940s to have a college degree in order to find a decent job by the time they reached their early 20s.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Changes in the mix of racial and ethnic groups have been a constant challenge throughout American history,largely as the result of immigration.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

All societies have social hierarchies.

Question 5

Adolf Hitler's Germany and Josef Stalin's Soviet Union are not considered states by sociological standards.

Question 6

Socialization is the process through which we are taught and trained to behave in society or in particular social settings.

Question 7

Social structure exerts no influence on the lives of individuals.

Question 8

Changes in population size matter for an individual's life chances.

Question 9

New Orleans,in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,was a society with a greatly weakened social structure.

Question 10

The "Great Migration" is a term used to describe a wave of immigration,beginning in 1965,as large numbers of people crossed over the southern border into United States from Mexico and Central America.

Question 11

Stereotypes rarely result in discrimination against subordinate groups unless the force of law is behind them.

Question 12

Large formal organizations are social networks united by a common purpose.

Question 13

Rich people work harder and take better advantage of opportunities than poor people.

Question 14

Populations most commonly change over time as a result of immigration.

Question 15

If an idea lasts long enough and becomes widespread,it will then become institutionalized.

Question 16

The feminist movement of the 1970s and 1980s has effectively eliminated the glass ceiling that bars women from high-level managerial positions in business.

Question 17

Where we stand in key social hierarchies has a huge bearing on our lives and life chances.

Question 18

In sociological terms,power and privilege are the same thing.

Question 19

Social hierarchies are based only on class,race,ethnicity,religion,education,region,and gender.

Question 20

The unemployment rate in Detroit peaked at 35 percent in the years following the decline of the automobile industry.

Question 21

Members of more powerful groups __________.

A)work harder than others
B)work less than others
C)have advantages over others
D)have no advantages over others

Question 22

Which of the following best illustrates a breakdown in social structure?

A)Wall Street after the housing market crashed
B)New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina
C)a home after a house fire
D)a parking lot after a sporting event

Question 23

Which of the following statements regarding social hierarchy and life chances is true?

A)Where we stand in key social hierarchies is inconsequential to life chances.
B)Where we stand in key social hierarchies has a huge bearing on life chances.
C)Where we stand in key social hierarchies as an adult,but not as a child,has a huge bearing on life chances.
D)Where we stand in key social hierarchies is generally arbitrary and has an equally arbitrary bearing on life chances.

Question 24

What two components make up social structure?

A)social hierarchy and institutional environments
B)social inequality and structuralism
C)social institutions and social arrangements
D)social trends and traditions

Question 25

What happened in our past does not impact what happens today or in our future.

Question 26

Most societies in the world today contain __________ hierarchies.

A)one dominant and several subordinate
B)only one or two
C)many
D)some visible and some invisible

Question 27

One of the hallmark features of social structures is their endurance.

Question 28

Differences in endowments and valued goods,such as incomes,status,and well-being,held by individuals or families define __________.

A)inequality
B)realism
C)Marxism
D)capitalism

Question 29

What is intergenerational mobility?

A)the movement of individuals from one part of the country to another as they age
B)the movement of individuals from the social position of their parents into one of their own as adults
C)the movement of individuals through life's key stages,from infancy forward
D)the movement of individuals from one social class to another

Question 30

What characteristic is a crucial part of what gives social structures their power?

A)their durability
B)their flexibility
C)their physicality
D)their interactivity

Question 31

The barrier against the advancement of which group is typically called a glass ceiling?

A)homosexuals
B)African Americans
C)women
D)low-income men

Question 32

Your position in key social hierarchies is likely to have the least impact on __________.

A)how well you do in school
B)whether or not you attend college
C)your eventual occupation
D)your preference for McDonald's or Wendy's hamburgers

Question 33

Once a particular element of social structure comes to be established,it often will generate its own interest groups.

Question 34

What is social structure?

A)a collection of rules that dictate how individuals behave
B)a collection of sociological theories that rely on examining the difference between rich and poor
C)a collection of forces that serve as the foundation of society
D)a collection of social phenomena that enforce egalitarian principles

Question 35

Members of different social classes teach their members different kinds of ways of living.

Question 36

How do sociologists define power?

A)the ability to influence the behavior of others
B)the financial means to acquire resources
C)membership in dominant hierarchies
D)the ability to claim rewards

Question 37

Modern sociologists have completely refuted the antiquated concept of free will.

Question 38

Currently only __________ percent (approximately)of Fortune 500 companies' CEOs are women.

A)3
B)8
C)12
D)15

Question 39

How quickly does social structure tend to change?

A)Social structure is highly volatile and changes very quickly.
B)Social structure is durable but changes moderately quickly.
C)Social structure changes over time but tends to do so very slowly.
D)Social structure is incapable of change.

Question 40

What is social hierarchy?

A)the status a person acquires as a result of merit
B)social arrangements in which some groups or individuals are elevated above others
C)a system of social arrangements that make society more egalitarian
D)a group of people who control a given social institution

Question 41

Privilege confers which kind of power on an individual's ability to seize opportunities and rewards?

A)legal
B)market
C)amalgamation
D)monopoly

Question 42

Two waves of high immigration to the United States are commonly recognized.What are they?

A)inflows of immigrants from Europe in the 1880s and in the 1920s
B)inflows of immigrants from Europe between the 1880s and the 1920s,and from Mexico,Central America,and Asia beginning in the 1960s
C)inflows of immigrants from Mexico and Central America in the 1920s and in the 1960s
D)inflows of immigrants from Europe in the 1880s,and from the American South to cities in the North in the 1920s

Question 43

Which word accurately describes the decline in manufacturing jobs in America in the late 1970s and 1980s?

A)rapid
B)slow
C)steady
D)imperceptible

Question 44

When are stereotypes most likely to enable discrimination?

A)when stereotypes are widely held by the dominant group and others
B)when stereotypes are based on gender rather than race
C)when stereotypes are based on fact
D)when stereotypes disproportionately affect one subordinate group

Question 45

How do populations most commonly change over time?

A)through immigration
B)through reproduction
C)through legal mandates
D)through intergenerational mobility

Question 46

When groups become more equal in size,competition between them for jobs,housing,romantic partners,etc. ,__________.

A)stabilizes
B)decreases
C)intensifies
D)ends

Question 47

Dominant groups use __________ to control opportunities and reduce or eliminate challenges from subordinate groups.

A)informal means
B)legal means
C)informal and legal means
D)neither informal nor legal means

Question 48

How is privilege most commonly maintained?

A)with money
B)through discrimination
C)by means of gated neighborhoods
D)through apartheid

Question 49

Jobs in the service sector comprise __________.

A)nonmanagerial technical work in a wide range of industries
B)high-skill professional work in a wide range of industries
C)low-skill work in a wide range of industries
D)high-paying and low-paying work in a wide range of industries

Question 50

Since the decline of manufacturing in the 1970s and 1980s,what has replaced manufacturing jobs in the American economy?

A)service sector jobs
B)agricultural jobs
C)high-tech jobs
D)work-at-home jobs

Question 51

The dominant group in a society is __________

A)always a population majority
B)always a population minority
C)never a population minority
D)sometimes a population minority

Question 52

Where was the legal system known as apartheid instituted?

A)North Korea
B)South Africa
C)the United States
D)Germany

Question 53

Which of the following barriers to equal opportunity is legal in the United States?

A)restrictions on women in managerial roles
B)restrictions on women in combat roles
C)restrictions on college admission based on race
D)restrictions on college admission based on income

Question 54

The "Great Migration" refers to the movement of which group of Americans?

A)Latino Americans
B)African Americans
C)senior citizens
D)migrant farmers

Question 55

How did the American economy shift between 1850 and 1950?

A)from farming to service
B)from manufacturing to agriculture
C)from agriculture to manufacturing
D)from manufacturing to service

Question 56

What percentage of the American workforce was engaged in farm labor in the 1850s?

A)over 50 percent
B)over 40 percent
C)approximately 35 percent
D)approximately 25 percent

Question 57

When explicit legal restrictions on discrimination of subordinate groups have been repealed,why do inequalities remain?

A)Subordinate groups are slower than dominant groups to assert legal rights.
B)Dominant groups enact new legislative barriers to equality.
C)Dominant groups can still assert their power through a variety of informal means.
D)Subordinate groups have no effective means through which to assert their power.

Question 58

What was the leading reason for immigration to the United States from the 1880s to the 1920s?

A)jobs in agriculture
B)jobs in manufacturing
C)escape from religious persecutions
D)escape from political persecutions

Question 59

In modern democratic societies,legal forms of discrimination are likely to face challenges from subordinate groups through all of the following means EXCEPT __________.

A)social protest
B)legal action
C)political action
D)natural science

Question 60

Demography is the study of__________.

A)democracy
B)personality
C)population size
D)power relations

Question 61

Where does the process of socialization typically begin?

A)in communities
B)in families
C)in schools
D)in peer groups

Question 62

The dominant group in South Africa during the long period of apartheid was ___________.

A)a numerical minority of South Africans
B)a numerical majority of South Africans
C)a mixed-race minority of South Africans
D)a mixed-race majority of South Africans

Question 63

Why do organizations establish roles?

A)They establish roles to ensure the allegiance of their members.
B)They establish roles to ensure the survival of the organization.
C)They establish roles because it is generally an efficient way to organize things.
D)They establish roles to comply with government regulations.

Question 64

The population decline in Detroit over the past couple of decades has stemmed from __________.

A)a decrease in manufacturing sector jobs
B)an increase in the crime rate
C)a negative birth rate
D)tax incentives

Question 65

When ideas are passed down from one generation to another,they begin to solidify,become accepted,and then become __________.

A)obsolete
B)taboo
C)dominant
D)institutionalized

Question 66

What word do sociologists use to describe movement from one role to another over the course of a life?

A)tracking
B)transitioning
C)transferring
D)exiting

Question 67

What is the welfare state?

A)social assistance programs that address poverty and equality in the developing world
B)the bundle of government policies and programs in socialist countries that address poverty and inequality
C)social insurance and social assistance policies and programs that address poverty and inequality
D)the bundle of government policies and programs that address poverty and inequality,including social insurance and social assistance policies and programs

Question 68

Which of the following is NOT a key stage in a life course?

A)dying
B)retiring
C)leaving fourth grade
D)entering a committed relationship

Question 69

In sociological terms,what is a role?

A)a team member's position within an institution or organization
B)a position within an institution or organization that comes with specific expectations for what to do and how to behave
C)a position within an institution or organization that comes with a specific title
D)a high-status position within an institution or organization

Question 70

How do norms differ from laws?

A)Norms are generally not written down.
B)Violations of norms have few consequences.
C)Norms are unambiguous.
D)Norms constrain personal behavior,not social behavior.

Question 71

What do norms and laws have in common?

A)Both norms and laws have consequences if violated.
B)Both norms and laws are explicit.
C)Both norms and laws are written down.
D)Neither norms nor laws are capable of changing over time.

Question 72

What,in terms of the power of the state,do the regimes of Hitler and Stalin illustrate?

A)that weakly organized states produce brutal dictators
B)that dictators seek validation for their actions from other dictators
C)that democracies exercise less state power than dictatorships
D)that,in extreme cases,states choose who lives and who dies

Question 73

What are institutions?

A)enduring customs and concrete organizations
B)enduring customs,such as marriage
C)concrete organizations,such as schools
D)enduring customs,concrete organizations,and members of social groups

Question 74

All of the following are recognized as evidence of the institutionalization of religion EXCEPT __________.

A)the development of religious texts
B)ideas about how the world began
C)the construction of places of worship
D)the systematized spread of religious beliefs

Question 75

What is the process through which people learn to behave in society or in particular social settings?

A)memorization
B)experimentation
C)localization
D)socialization

Question 76

Of the following behaviors,which is least likely to be considered a norm violation?

A)talking too loud in a movie theater
B)physically assaulting a police officer
C)leaving a public restroom without washing your hands
D)standing too close to strangers at the bus stop

Question 77

__________ are social networks unified by a common purpose.

A)Institutions
B)Organizations
C)Families
D)Regimes

Question 78

When did education and learning become institutionalized?

A)when teachers began to think of themselves as professionals
B)when taboos against teaching began to disappear
C)when a curriculum was established
D)when social elites began to send their children to schools

Question 79

These are the basic rules of society that help us know what is and what is not appropriate to do in any situation.

A)roles
B)laws
C)norms
D)mores

Question 80

Which of the following is NOT a social institution?

A)marriage
B)schools
C)role models
D)government