Deck 13: Social Change

Question 1

Some communications experts suggest that the media produce a "cultivation effect" in which fictional images of life influence public attitudes and behavior about a number of policy issues such as crime,violence,and welfare.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Arnold Toynbee suggested that civilizations arise in response to some challenge that can be met with an adequate response by a creative minority.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

According to symbolic interactionists,the primary task of the media is to make the public aware of the objective realities of everyday life.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

One view of the role of the mass media is that they afford the public a "marketplace of ideas" through which the public becomes enlightened about a variety of attitudes and behaviors.

Question 5

According to the text,the events taking place in the 1930s resulted in duty being the watchword of the times.Today that watchword has been changed to self or identity.

Question 6

According to Herbert Spencer,social evolution has gradually produced a society that has moved from one consisting of heterogeneous interdependent units to one that is more homogeneous in nature.

Question 7

Gerhard Lenski argued an evolutionary perspective that regards changes in social organization as being a necessary element in the path to greater human happiness and overall satisfaction.

Question 8

Diffusion is a people process and hence is expedited or hindered by the social environment.

Question 9

Ogburn's "cultural lag" theory proposed that nonmaterial culture is constantly in the process of catching up with changes in the material culture and this produces changes in the society.

Question 10

The text suggests that if people are to survive today,they must develop an effective relationship with their government.

Question 11

Research has shown that social change follows one basic sequence of stages,and this view is called the social evolution perspective.

Question 12

The only major function of a society's values and norms is to act as a conservative censor or "watchdog" inhibiting certain kinds of innovation.

Question 13

The principal factor in the nation's soaring Social Security,Medicaid,and health care costs is the increasing number of older people in the population.

Question 14

Spencer's view of the human "struggle for existence" has been referred to as Social Darwinism.

Question 15

An invention represents an addition to knowledge,whereas a discovery uses existing knowledge in some new way.

Question 16

According to the conflict perspective,class conflict is a particularly powerful source of change.

Question 17

Innovations that incorporate both discoveries and inventions are changes that result from new combinations of old cultural elements plus new elements.

Question 18

The classic satire,The 100 Percent American by anthropologist Ralph Linton,showed the significance of invention in everyday American life.

Question 19

A primary problem in forecasting social change is that change is so much a part of our lives,we take it for granted.

Question 20

The inventor of ideas is often referred to as a revolutionary.

Question 21

The graying of the population is an example of which source of social change?

A) population change
B) change in the physical environment
C) clashes over resources and values
D) diffusion

Question 22

__________ is NOT a factor identified in the text as a critical source of social change?

A) Changes in the workplace
B) Changes in the physical environment
C) Changes in population
D) The mass media

Question 23

Panics can be greatly amplified by modern information technologies.

Question 24

Fundamental modifications in the patterns of culture,structure,and social behavior over time are called

A) diffusion.
B) historical accident.
C) the dialectic.
D) social change.

Question 25

Convergence theory sees normal,decent people being transformed under crowd influence.

Question 26

Nearly two-thirds of the U.S.population had computers in 2003.

Question 27

All conflict theorists agree with Karl Marx that "all history is the history of class conflict."

Question 28

In comparison with whites and Asian Americans,African Americans,and Hispanics are likely to have less household Internet access.

Question 29

Social change involves fundamental alterations in

A) the patterns of culture.
B) structure.
C) social behavior.
D) All of the choices are correct.

Question 30

Conflict is a basic source of

A) stability.
B) social change.
C) socialization.
D) social cohesion.

Question 31

In practice,what constitutes terrorism is a matter of social definition.

Question 32

Drought is an example of which source of social change?

A) population change
B) change in the physical environment
C) clashes over resources and values
D) diffusion

Question 33

While computers are seen as an agent resulting in the automation of the workplace,they are not viewed as having a significant impact on the ways in which people relate to one another.

Question 34

Fads that become all-consuming passions are called crazes.

Question 35

Suicide terrorists are less well educated and more likely to be members of lower socioeconomic groups in comparison with those in the surrounding population.

Question 36

A society's values and norms act as

A) censors that inhibit some innovations.
B) "watchdogs" that permit some innovations.
C) stimulants for social change.
D) All of the choices are correct.

Question 37

A common problem found in attempting to predict the future is

A) being oblivious to or unimpressed by many of the social changes.
B) looking too far into the future instead of looking backward for clues.
C) the "rearview-mirror effect" in which recent events occupy too much of our thinking about the future.
D) being oblivious to or unimpressed by many of the social changes and the "rearview-mirror effect" in which recent events occupy too much of our thinking about the future are correct.

Question 38

Rumors never contain any truth.

Question 39

The Vietnam War might be viewed as an example of what source of social change?

A) changes in the physical environment
B) clashes over resources and values
C) population change
D) innovation

Question 40

Reform movements advocate replacement of the existing value scheme.

Question 41

Regarding social change,the exponential principle states that as the cultural base increases,the possibilities for change

A) multiply.
B) grow arithmetically.
C) grow in a curvilinear shape.
D) gradually level off.

Question 42

______________ involves a new combination of old elements.

A) Innovation
B) Invention
C) Discovery
D) All of the choices are correct.

Question 43

Social Darwinists equated the biological struggle for survival with _________________ in the social world.

A) free competition
B) governmental regulation
C) socialism
D) diffusion

Question 44

_____________ theorists look to the rise and fall of civilizations to explain social change.

A) Evolutionary
B) Cyclical
C) Functionalist
D) Conflict

Question 45

Some communication experts argue that fictional media presentations provide images that influence attitudes and behavior about such policies as crime,violence,and welfare.This phenomenon is referred to as a(n)__________ effect.

A) anomie
B) cultivation
C) restrictive
D) Hawthorne

Question 46

The German scholar and cyclical theorist Oswald Spengler

A) was optimistic about the future of Western society.
B) believed that Western society would flourish in the 20th century.
C) believed that culture passes through stages from development,to maturity,to decline,to death.
D) was optimistic about the future of Western society and believed that Western society would flourish in the 20th century are correct.

Question 47

______________ involves the combination of existing elements in a culture plus new elements.

A) Innovation
B) Invention
C) Discovery
D) All of the choices are correct.

Question 48

According to the text,the greater number of ________________ increases the frequency of discovery and invention.

A) cultural elements on which innovators may draw
B) college graduates and doctoral students
C) computers and fax machines
D) intellectual elites employed by the government

Question 49

Cyclical theorists

A) look at the rise and fall of civilizations.
B) try to predict the course of a civilization or society,including its demise.
C) compare societies in a search for generalizations regarding their stages of growth and decline.
D) All of the choices are correct.

Question 50

The discovery of glass gave birth to lenses,costume jewelry,windowpanes,and test tubes.Such developments reflect

A) the relatively static level of social change.
B) the exponential principle.
C) arithmetic growth.
D) the role of clashes over resources and values.

Question 51

Spencer and Social Darwinists represent the _________ approach to social change.

A) evolutionary
B) cyclical
C) functionalist
D) conflict theory

Question 52

In the United States we have the technology to produce and distribute large numbers of inexpensive handguns.At the same time we lack effective legal means of controlling and identifying who gets and uses them.In terms of violence in America,this may be an example of

A) syncretism.
B) diffusion.
C) cultural lag.
D) innovation.

Question 53

A view of the mass media presented in the text is that the media

A) discharge products,ideas,and values into a passive and susceptible population who are therefore manipulated by the media.
B) provide a "marketplace of ideas" for an enlightened public.
C) do little to promote real changes in the society.
D) discharge products,ideas,and values into a passive and susceptible population who are therefore manipulated by the media and provide a "marketplace of ideas" for an enlightened public are correct.

Question 54

According to English historian Arnold J.Toynbee,

A) civilizations grow and decline in a uniform manner.
B) civilizations arise in response to some challenge such as warlike neighbors.
C) a civilization will grow and flourish when a challenge it faces is not so severe as to make an adequate response impossible.
D) All of the choices are correct.

Question 55

Ralph Linton's satire,The 100 Percent American,is an example of

A) differentiation.
B) socialization.
C) diffusion.
D) invention.

Question 56

_________________ is the process that spreads cultural traits from one social unit to another.

A) Differentiation
B) Socialization
C) Diffusion
D) Invention

Question 57

Sociologist Talcott Parsons suggested that societies tend to become increasingly differentiated in their structures and functions,leading to

A) societal prerequisites.
B) adaptive upgrading.
C) multilinear evolution.
D) unilateral functioning.

Question 58

Symbolic interactionists note that the news is

A) translated by the media into "events."
B) a matter of social construction.
C) what remains after the media ignore other events.
D) All of the choices are correct.

Question 59

William F.Ogburn argues that the main source of change comes from the

A) nonmaterial culture.
B) material culture.
C) subculture.
D) contraculture.

Question 60

Adding something new to our present knowledge base is called

A) diffusion.
B) discovery.
C) invention.
D) an accident.

Question 61

Collective behavior is characterized by

A) being highly institutionalized.
B) established,routinized group behavior.
C) ordered ways of doing things.
D) spontaneity and lack of structure.

Question 62

___________________ represent ways of thinking,feeling,and acting that develop among a large number of people and that are relatively spontaneous.

A) Social institutions
B) Social movements
C) Revolutions
D) Collective behaviors

Question 63

________________ describes the process by which a society moves from traditional or preindustrial social and economic arrangements to those characteristic of industrial societies.

A) Industrialization
B) Modernization
C) Evolution
D) Acculturation

Question 64

The ideal conditions for rumors to occur are typified by

A) calm and boring serenity.
B) steady,calculated,progressive change.
C) anxiety and tension.
D) periods of fluctuating economic growth.

Question 65

_________ occurs when there is an uneven rate of change between social institutions and technology.

A) Syncretism
B) Diffusion
C) Cultural lag
D) Evolutionary change

Question 66

Modernization assumes social patterns where

A) there is increasing conflict.
B) there is a heightening of oppression.
C) convergence produces societies that are increasingly urban,the division of labor is more specialized,and the knowledge base becomes larger and more complex.
D) diversity of organization is the rule.

Question 67

Such widespread psychogenic illnesses as nausea and dizziness are

A) examples of mass hysteria.
B) examples of problems in people's heads.
C) related to stress,monotony,and boredom,which result in hyperventilation.
D) examples of mass hysteria and related to stress,monotony,and boredom,which result in hyperventilation are correct.

Question 68

The world system (and dependency)approach sees the social structure of

A) advanced nations as though they were shaped by their status as colonies.
B) the former U.S.S.R.as though it was shaped primarily by democratic forces.
C) third world nations as though they were shaped by their colonial heritage.
D) third world nations as thought they were a recap of the history of Western nations.

Question 69

According to Karl Marx,the primary source of change in society is

A) material culture.
B) technology.
C) constant conflict between opposites.
D) conflict between the material and nonmaterial culture.

Question 70

Thomas Friedman,in The World is Flat,describes a world coming to a single global economy with a playing field "flattened" by

A) technological changes.
B) a scarcity of resources.
C) a few large companies.
D) None of the choices are correct.

Question 71

Some studies of computer usage have shown that

A) computers are a source of power.
B) centralized accumulation of data permits the concentration of power among those who have access to computers.
C) in the United States,whites have much more access to computers and the Internet than do African Americans.
D) All of the choices are correct.

Question 72

Studies indicate that when we communicate with others electronically by computer,we are

A) able to pick up nonverbal cues more easily.
B) less likely to hold back strong feelings.
C) more likely to be courteous.
D) more likely to "talk" less than the other person.

Question 73

________________ refers to the rapid dissemination of behaviors involving contagious anxiety that is usually associated with some mysterious force.

A) Crowd behavior
B) Panic
C) Rumor
D) Mass hysteria

Question 74

Fashions and fads represent short-term

A) rumors.
B) social movements.
C) folkways.
D) mores.

Question 75

According to conflict theorists who disagree with Karl Marx' view of change,

A) all history is the history of class conflict.
B) conflict between different ethnic groups is unimportant.
C) social consensus is the dominant force in society.
D) different types of conflict,such as that between religious groups,may be equally important to class conflict.

Question 76

According to the text,a current revolutionary source of social change is

A) genetics.
B) the global village.
C) computers.
D) chemical warfare.

Question 77

_________ does not represent a form of collective behavior?

A) Rumor
B) Bureaucracy
C) Fashion
D) Mass hysteria

Question 78

Certain racial and socioeconomic groups in society are far less likely to have access to computers and the Internet,and this phenomenon is called

A) the computer class effect.
B) computer poverty.
C) the digital divide.
D) None of the choices are correct.

Question 79

Irrational,uncoordinated collective actions brought on by immediate,severe threat is

A) panic.
B) fetishism.
C) fadism.
D) psychogenic illness.

Question 80

According to the world system and dependency approaches,those areas of the world that the powerful nations exploit for their raw materials are

A) core areas.
B) peripheral areas.
C) focal areas.
D) pseudo-imperialistic areas.