Deck 1: Thinking About Social Problems

Question 1

Sampling is an important consideration in survey research.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Symbolic interactionist theory is a macro perspective.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

According to the textbook, what is a social problem?

A) a social condition that interferes with the functioning of society
B) a social condition that results in conflict among segments of society
C) a social condition that a segment of society views as harmful to
D) a social condition that requires immediate government intervention

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Clients and their customers, and employers and their employees, are examples of which types of groups?

A) primary groups
B) secondary groups
C) manifest groups
D) latent groups

Question 5

Queer theory has strong ties to feminist work, but also corrects the pervasive assumption that heterosexuality is both natural and a historical.

Question 6

A latent function is a consequence that is intended and commonly recognized.

Question 7

The dependent variable is the variable that the researcher wants to explain.

Question 8

The dependent variable is the variable that is expected to explain change in the independent variable.

Question 9

Which category has two types, primary and secondary?

A) institutions
B) statuses
C) social groups
D) norms

Question 10

Some theorists believe that drug abuse is a social problem only if it is perceived by society to diminish the quality of human life. Which of the following is the focus of this perspective?

A) the human element
B) the objective element
C) the subjective element
D) the variability element

Question 11

According to the textbook, which element of a social problem refers to the real existence of a social condition?

A) objective
B) subjective
C) symbolic
D) human

Question 12

Control groups are always exposed to the influence of the independent variable.

Question 13

Surveys always utilize a control group.

Question 14

A person's master status is the status that is considered the most significant in the person's social identity.

Question 15

Which of the following is an element of social structure?

A) institutions
B) folkways
C) mores
D) norms

Question 16

Which of the following is an ascribed status?

A) race
B) university graduate
C) parent
D) hockey coach

Question 17

A major strength of participant observation is that its findings are always highly generalizable.

Question 18

Every individual occupies numerous statuses simultaneously.

Question 19

Labelling theory suggests that resolving social problems sometimes involves changing the meanings and definitions attributed to people and situations.

Question 20

In sociology, the term "status" refers to a position a person occupies within a social group.

Question 21

What are folkways, laws, and mores three types of?

A) sanctions
B) norms
C) values
D) master statuses

Question 22

Which of the following is a good example of a more?

A) speeding
B) abortion
C) drug trafficking
D) sexual harassment

Question 23

According to the textbook, your classmates may be best described as being which of the following?

A) a master status
B) a primary group
C) a secondary group
D) a role set

Question 24

Which of the following are language and gestures both examples of?

A) mores
B) folkways
C) symbols
D) roles

Question 25

According to the textbook, how are beliefs usually characterized?

A) They are explanations about what is assumed to be
True.
B) They can be good and bad.
C) They can be right or wrong.
D) They can be desirable and undesirable.

Question 26

Which of the following describes a master status?

A) one that is highly valued by society
B) one that a person is born into
C) one that is difficult to achieve
D) one that is significant in a person's social identity

Question 27

Which of the following is characterized by impersonal and formal interaction?

A) primary groups
B) secondary groups
C) tertiary groups
D) social groups

Question 28

Which of the following are a police badge and the peace sign examples of?

A) mores
B) folkways
C) symbols
D) ascribed statuses

Question 29

Which of the following is an achieved status?

A) senior citizen
B) French-Canadian
C) woman
D) university professor

Question 30

A person is fined for failure to dispose of trash properly. Which type of sanction is this an example of?

A) positive formal
B) positive informal
C) negative formal
D) negative informal

Question 31

According to the textbook, a role is a set of rights, obligations, and expectations. Which of the following is a role associated with?

A) a norm
B) an identity
C) a status
D) a master status

Question 32

A person receives a citizen's award for organizing a neighbourhood recycling program. What is this an example of?

A) positive formal sanction
B) positive informal sanction
C) negative formal sanction
D) negative informal sanction

Question 33

Who developed the term "sociological imagination"?

A) Karl Marx
B) Talcott Parsons
C) Robert Merton
D) C. Wright Mills

Question 34

Which of the following are associated with sanctions?

A) norms
B) roles
C) statuses
D) beliefs

Question 35

What type of expressions of disapproval are informal sanctions?

A) weak
B) strong
C) spontaneous
D) institutionalized

Question 36

Which of the following can be central to the development of social problems?

A) mores
B) folkways
C) laws
D) values

Question 37

What are norms that are formalized and backed by political authority?

A) roles
B) folkways
C) statuses
D) laws

Question 38

Which of the following statements best describes a role?

A) Every status involves one role.
B) Roles guide our behaviour.
C) Roles stay fixed throughout our lifetime.
D) Roles are only a part of the structure of some societies.

Question 39

What does the "sociological imagination" refer to?

A) the ability to see the connections between our personal lives and the social world we live in
B) the ability to envision a world without social problems
C) the ability to see the positive aspects of social problems
D) the ability to understand social problems by putting ourselves in the shoes of those who are suffering because of social problems

Question 40

Which of the following is defined as two or more people who have a common identity, interact, and form a social relationship?

A) institution
B) role set
C) social group
D) tertiary encounter

Question 41

According to the social disorganization view of social problems, where does one of the solutions to social problems lie?

A) slowing the pace of social change
B) reducing social inequality
C) reducing government interface into our lives
D) increasing educational opportunities

Question 42

Which of the following sees social problems as resulting from the breakdown of or inadequacies in the family, religious, economic, educational, and political institutions?

A) symbolic interactionist perspective
B) social pathology model
C) Marxist conflict perspective
D) non-Marxist conflict perspective

Question 43

Which perspective is largely based on the works of Herbert Spencer, Émile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons, and Robert Merton?

A) symbolic interactionist
B) conflict
C) structural-functionalist
D) feminist

Question 44

When is a society in a state of "anomie"?

A) When norms are weak or in conflict with each other.
B) When the major social institutions reinforce the same cultural values.
C) When there are more secondary groups than primary groups.
D) When individuals experience more negative than positive sanctions.

Question 45

Which of the following causes of social conflict do Marxist conflict theories focus on?

A) weak social norms
B) economic inequalities
C) social disorganization
D) class inequality

Question 46

Which of the following perspectives can trace its origins to the works of Karl Marx?

A) social disorganization
B) conflict
C) structural-functionalist
D) social pathology

Question 47

Which of the following is a latent function of the educational institution?

A) to transmit knowledge to youth
B) to transmit skills to youth
C) to offer a place for young adults to meet
D) to impart knowledge necessary to secure a job

Question 48

Who was the sociologist responsible for developing the concepts of manifest and latent functions?

A) Ralf Dahrendorf
B) Robert Merton
C) Charles Horton Cooley
D) Erving Goffman

Question 49

What does Karl Marx call workers who earn wages?

A) bourgeoisie
B) proletariat
C) captors
D) automatons

Question 50

Solutions to social problems include increasing the understanding that conflicting groups have of each other's views, resolving differences through negotiation or mediation, or agreeing to disagree. Which view of social problems does the preceding sentence describe?

A) social pathology
B) social disorganization
C) Marxist conflict
D) non-Marxist conflict

Question 51

Which of the following causes of social conflict do non-Marxist conflict theories focus on?

A) weak social norms
B) economic inequalities
C) competing values and interests
D) social disorganization

Question 52

According to Marxist conflict theory, which of the following refers to actual harm and/or risk of harm inflicted on consumers, workers, and the general public as a result of decisions by business executives or managers?

A) anomie
B) corporate violence
C) social pathology
D) hegemony

Question 53

Which perspective argues that a society needs to have cohesion in its different parts?

A) symbolic interactionism
B) conflict theory
C) feminist theory
D) structural-functionalism

Question 54

What does Cooley call the reflection of ourselves that we see by observing how others view us?

A) looking-glass self
B) reflective self
C) conscious self
D) impressionistic self

Question 55

Which perspective sees society as a system of interconnected parts that work together in harmony to maintain a state of balance and social equilibrium for the whole?

A) conflict
B) structural-functionalist
C) symbolic interactionist
D) constructionist

Question 56

Which perspective views society as comprising different groups and interests competing for power and resources?

A) essentialist
B) symbolic interactionist
C) structural-functionalist
D) conflict

Question 57

Meeting a potential spouse might be which type of function of religion?

A) manifest
B) latent
C) regressive
D) societal

Question 58

Which types of consequences are called manifest functions?

A) neither functional nor dysfunctional
B) unintended and often hidden
C) both functional and dysfunctional
D) intended and commonly recognized

Question 59

What aspect of people's lives does alienation refer to?

A) powerlessness and meaninglessness
B) communication and technology
C) innovation and advancement
D) work and education

Question 60

Which types of consequences are called latent functions?

A) neither functional nor dysfunctional
B) unintended and often hidden
C) both functional and dysfunctional
D) intended and commonly recognized

Question 61

Which of the following might one use in rehearsing for a job interview?

A) symbols
B) the looking-glass self
C) labelling theory
D) postmodern perspectives

Question 62

Which of the following research methods involves the serious disadvantages of cost and lack of privacy and anonymity?

A) questionnaires
B) interviews
C) secondary data research
D) experiments

Question 63

A researcher wants to explain the relationship between age and crime. Crime is which kind of variable?

A) independent
B) dependent
C) primary
D) secondary

Question 64

Which research method involves randomly assigning participants to one of two groups?

A) experiments
B) field research
C) surveys
D) secondary analysis

Question 65

What is a hypothesis?

A) a statement of fact
B) a conclusion based on research
C) a subjective opinion
D) a prediction or educated guess

Question 66

In which kind of research is selecting a representative sample important?

A) experimental
B) field
C) survey
D) secondary data

Question 67

Which of the following is a good example of the type of social problem that a feminist would be likely to study?

A) immigration
B) the economy
C) workplace harassment
D) unruly crowd behaviour

Question 68

Which theoretical perspective reflects micro-sociology?

A) symbolic interactionism
B) structural-functionalism
C) Marxist conflict
D) non-Marxist conflict

Question 69

Which research variable must always precede the variable that the researcher is trying to explain?

A) independent
B) dependent
C) control
D) secondary

Question 70

Which theorist is most often identified with queer theory?

A) Mead
B) Martineau
C) Devor
D) Durkhein

Question 71

Which theory is referred to by some critics as "jargon-heavy" and a "conspiracy to destroy culture"?

A) postmodern
B) symbolic interactionism
C) conflict
D) non-Marxist conflict

Question 72

Max Weber argued that in order to understand human behaviour, social scientists must use an approach called Verstehen. What does this German term mean?

A) wisdom
B) empathy
C) scientific method
D) statistical analysis

Question 73

Which of the following suggestions did Herbert Blumer, a noted symbolic interactionist, contribute to the study of social problems?

A) that they develop in stages
B) that they are basically lifelong afflictions
C) that they continue on because the wealthy prosper from them
D) that they were cyclical in nature

Question 74

Which perspective suggests that our identity, or sense of self, is shaped by social interaction?

A) social disorganization
B) social pathology
C) structural-functionalism
D) symbolic interactionism

Question 75

For which of the following variables is an operational definition most important?

A) income
B) age
C) marital status
D) job satisfaction

Question 76

Which of the following theorists is often referred to as the first feminist sociologist?

A) Blumer
B) Thomas
C) Lyotard
D) Martineau

Question 77

Which of the following statements is central to feminist theory?

A) Labelling something as a social problem makes it so.
B) Resolving social problems sometimes involves changing meanings.
C) The experiences of women's lives are missing in traditional sociology.
D) It is important to observe how our identity is shaped by social interaction.

Question 78

Which term refers to a measurable event, characteristic, or property that differs or is subject to change?

A) hypothesis
B) strategy
C) variable
D) sample

Question 79

Which type of group is often used in experiments?

A) sample
B) control
C) competency
D) polling

Question 80

What is the greatest strength of the experimental method?

A) Its research findings are highly generalizable.
B) It provides evidence for causal relationships.
C) It is affordable
D) It is not very time consuming.