Deck 2: Culture

Question 1

What do sociologists call the sum of ideas, practices, and material objects that people create in order to adapt to and thrive in their environments?

A) culture
B) abstractions
C) the norm
D) methods

Answer 1

A

Question 2

When humans are able to conceptualize the idea of gravity without having an apple fall on their heads, what are they engaging in?

A) sociology
B) culture
C) abstraction
D) methods

Answer 2

C

Question 3

As people conform to norms, they usually come to accept common ideas about what is desirable and important; these ideas distinguish one culture from another. What are these common ideas called?

A) beliefs
B) folkways
C) sanctions
D) values

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which of the following best illustrates the human capacity for cooperation?

A) selling a car
B) making a car
C) inventing the car
D) painting a car

Question 5

When hockey superstar Sidney Crosby performs a unique pre-game handshake before stepping on the ice, what type of practice is he taking part in?

A) a sociological practice
B) an abstracted practice
C) a methodological practice
D) a cultural practice

Question 6

The fact that a Canadian-born English speaker can understand this sentence illustrates the power of what?

A) education
B) society
C) culture
D) family

Question 7

In June of 1752, Benjamin Franklin flew a kite attached to a key in order to see if the lightning would transmit its power through a metal object, a key. If it did so, he reasoned, it would behave as electricity does, demonstrating that lightning is in fact electrical in nature, a fact that was unknown at the time. In which of the following was he engaged?

A) normative behaviour
B) abstract reasoning
C) sociological imagination
D) cultural construction

Question 8

What is the sociological definition of symbols?

A) generally accepted ways of doing things
B) practices that carries a particular meaning, such as language
C) general ideas or ways of thinking that are not linked to particular situations
D) the tools and techniques that enable people to accomplish tasks

Question 9

According to the text, cooperation is accomplished within cultures by establishing which of the following?

A) material culture
B) norms and values
C) production
D) ethnocentrism

Question 10

What tool in the human cultural survival kit allows humans to create a complex social life by sharing resources?

A) abstraction
B) cultural relativism
C) production
D) cooperation

Question 11

If Travis holds up two fingers in the peace sign, which of the following is he creating?

A) a symbol
B) a method
C) an abstraction
D) a norm

Question 12

Human survival is based on the capacity to create general ideas or ways of thinking that are not linked to specific or particular instances. What are these ideas called?

A) norms
B) methods
C) abstractions
D) culture

Question 13

Which of the following terms best describes the central elements of culture that a sociologist would define as abstract?

A) mass culture
B) societal culture
C) non-material culture
D) popular culture

Question 14

Which of the following is a central reason for the importance of symbols to human culture?

A) They allow us to classify and generalize from our experiences.
B) They give linguists their subject material.
C) They are the only basis for cooperation.
D) They establish the only unquestioned foundation for reality.

Question 15

When human beings pool their resources in order to achieve collective and individual goals, which tool in the human cultural survival kit are they using?

A) norms
B) abstractions
C) cooperation
D) symbols

Question 16

According to sociologists, how is culture transmitted?

A) through academic disciplines concerned with culture
B) through language and learning
C) through superstitions
D) through rites of passage

Question 17

Which of the following best illustrates the human capacity for abstraction?

A) measuring the area of a circle
B) building a chair
C) shakings hands with a friend
D) having a baby

Question 18

What term do sociologists use to refer to activities like attending the opera or the ballet?

A) popular culture
B) high culture
C) primary culture
D) articulated culture

Question 19

Imagine a student develops her own "shorthand" for taking lecture notes. Which of the following statements correctly identifies a feature of her shorthand?

A) The shorthand is composed of symbols but is not part of culture.
B) The shorthand does not qualify as symbols but is part of culture.
C) The shorthand is composed of symbols and is part of culture.
D) The shorthand does not qualify as symbols and is not part of culture.

Question 20

Every culture has a set of shared rules that guide the behaviour of its members by specifying what behaviours are appropriate and inappropriate. What is this set of rules called?

A) attitudes
B) beliefs
C) norms
D) values

Question 21

Which of the following is an example of a violation of a folkway?

A) a person having sexual relations with a sibling
B) a person shaking their head in disapproval at someone
C) a man walking topless in public
D) a police officer issuing a speeding ticket

Question 22

When human beings obtain lumber from trees to make their homes, which of the following are they engaged in?

A) production
B) creative destruction
C) conflict
D) cooperation

Question 23

Harris's analysis of cow worship in rural India illustrates how functionalist theory can explain otherwise mysterious social patterns, and it teaches a valuable lesson about which of the following?

A) sociocultural evolution
B) ethnocentrism
C) cultural universals
D) multiculturalism

Question 24

According to the Sapir-Whorf thesis, our concepts about our environment and experiences are expressed in language. Which of the following results from this process?

A) Language influences how we see the world.
B) Language affects our emotional connection to the environment.
C) Our concepts are only valid in our own environments.
D) Our concepts have little to do with power or equality.

Question 25

When one group of humans trades lumber they took from a forest with another group of humans in exchange for fish they took from the sea, which of the following are they engaged in?

A) production
B) creative destruction
C) conflict
D) cooperation

Question 26

Which of the following best describes language?

A) a system of symbols used to communicate thought
B) a set of universal signs used to transmit ideas
C) the norms for communication among humans
D) a system of ideas about what is right and wrong

Question 27

According to the text, the violation of which type of norm results in the most severe punishment?

A) sanction
B) more
C) taboo
D) folkway

Question 28

What do sociologists call the human practice of making and using tools and techniques that improve their ability to get what they want from nature?

A) cooperation
B) abstraction
C) conflict
D) production

Question 29

When we discard ethnocentrism and look at the functions of cow worship, we can perceive it as which of the following?

A) a superstitious practice
B) a rational economic practice
C) a non-useful practice
D) a failure of the caste system

Question 30

Our houses, the cell phones we use to stay in touch with each other, and the clothes we wear are examples of which form of culture?

A) material
B) formal
C) manifest
D) popular

Question 31

Physics is to science as taboos are to?

A) sociology
B) mores
C) norms
D) abstraction

Question 32

Incest is an example of which of the following?

A) a taboo
B) a folkway
C) a rite of passage
D) a superstition

Question 33

Which of the following is the best example of a violation of a more?

A) a person having sexual relations with a sibling
B) cheating on a sociology test
C) returning a book to the library two weeks late
D) a police officer taking a bribe

Question 34

Which of the following do folkways specify?

A) social inhibitions
B) social requirements
C) social preferences
D) social abstractions

Question 35

What do sociologists call the norms that people feel are essential for the survival of their group or society?

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

Question 36

Which of the following is the best example of a violation of a folkway?

A) a person having sexual relations with a sibling
B) cheating on a sociology test
C) texting during a sociology class
D) a police officer taking a bribe

Question 37

Which of the following describes the generally accepted ways of doing things within a culture?

A) symbols
B) norms
C) methods
D) social requirements

Question 38

What is the term for people's tendency to judge other cultures by the standards of their own culture?

A) culture lag
B) ethnocentrism
C) culture shock
D) evolutionary psychology

Question 39

Which aspect of the human cultural survival kit involves making and using tools and techniques that improve our ability to take what we want from nature?

A) cooperation
B) abstraction
C) material culture
D) production

Question 40

What is the term for rules of behaviour that people in a culture find relatively unimportant?

A) taboos
B) folkways
C) sanctions
D) mores

Question 41

Until the 1960s, many sociologists argued that culture was simply a reflection of society. However, today, under the influence of symbolic interactionist theory, what do many sociologists believe?

A) that people do not just accept culture passively
B) that people accept culture as it is given to them
C) that people really don't care about culture
D) that people shape culture only when they care about an issue

Question 42

What are a baptism, a wedding, and a graduation ceremony all examples of?

A) cultural relativism
B) cultural reproduction
C) multiculturalism
D) rites of passage

Question 43

Which of the following is one reason that Canadians are increasingly able to actively choose, rather than simply accept, cultural influences?

A) Canadian society has diversified culturally and socially.
B) Canadian society is becoming increasingly authoritarian.
C) Canadian society has historically had diverse regional identities.
D) Canadian society is becoming less globalized.

Question 44

Which of the following sociological concepts does the movie Borat (2006) demonstrate?

A) cultural myopia
B) ethnocentrism
C) cultural rites of passage
D) entropy

Question 45

Liam and Michael are about to get married. What are they engaging in with their marriage?

A) a rite of passage
B) an institutional practice
C) a globalizing trend
D) a postmodern abstraction

Question 46

What is evidenced by the growing popularity of Latino music, Asian architectural design, and varied ethnic food?

A) cultural solidarity
B) ethnocentrism
C) cultural production
D) cultural diversification

Question 47

According to the text, culture provides people with opportunities to exercise their freedom. Which of the following does culture also do?

A) It dictates all our actions.
B) It fascinates us.
C) It alarms us.
D) It constrains us.

Question 48

What is the opposite of ethnocentrism?

A) cultural diversification
B) cultural production
C) multiculturalism
D) cultural relativism

Question 49

When First Nations groups in Canada began to assert their rights to cultural sovereignty and establish land claims, what process were they engaging in?

A) cultural solidarity
B) rights revolution
C) cultural production
D) multiculturalism

Question 50

What approach to education gives substantial weight to the achievements of non-whites and non-Europeans in Canadian society?

A) multiculturalism
B) reverse ethnocentrism
C) cultural relativism
D) cultural diversification

Question 51

The rights revolution has profoundly affected culture by legitimizing the grievances of formerly marginalized groups and by renewing pride in subcultural heritages. Which of the following has been a result of the rights revolution?

A) Subcultures have been integrated into mainstream society.
B) The unity of Canadian culture has been fragmented.
C) Canada has abandoned the concept of being a mosaic of cultures.
D) Canadian culture has been erased.

Question 52

Failing to present a more balanced picture of our history, cultures, and society that reflects Canada's ethnic and racial diversity in our school and college curricula is an example of which of the following?

A) cultural diversification
B) ethnocentrism
C) multiculturalism
D) cultural solidarity

Question 53

Some educators have advocated that school and college curricula should present a more balanced picture of our history, cultures, and society. This would more accurately reflect Canada's ethnic and racial diversity. Which of the following is this proposal an example of?

A) cultural diversification
B) ethnocentrism
C) multiculturalism
D) cultural solidarity

Question 54

What is the term for the belief that all cultures and all cultural practices have equal value?

A) multiculturalism
B) ethnocentrism
C) cultural diversification
D) cultural relativism

Question 55

Based on the text, in which of the following ways has the rights revolution influenced democracy?

A) The rights revolution has tainted democracy with violence.
B) The rights revolution has strained democracy to the breaking point.
C) The rights revolution has turned democracy into a meaningless tradition in modern cultures.
D) The rights revolution has expanded democracy.

Question 56

Jennifer tells her friend Libby that she finds it disgusting that in some countries outside of Canada, the inhabitants eat bugs. What concept is reflected in Jennifer's feelings?

A) cultural diffusion
B) cultural confrontation
C) ethnocentrism
D) myopia

Question 57

Which of the following features of culture have symbolic interactionists called to the attention of sociologists?

A) People shape culture only when they care about an issue.
B) People accept culture as it is given to them.
C) People creatively produce and interpret culture.
D) People focus on all aspects of culture.

Question 58

According to conflict theory, cultural diversity and multiculturalism have emerged from the ongoing struggle between a privileged majority and disadvantaged minorities. What is the term for this struggle for equal treatment?

A) multiculturalism
B) affirmative action
C) cultural diversification
D) the rights revolution

Question 59

Why were rites of passage important in pre-literate tribal societies?

A) because they involved only certain members of the community
B) because they supported cultural homogeneity
C) because they changed norms and values
D) because they supported production

Question 60

Which of the following is a criticism of multiculturalism?

A) It focuses only on the interests of the "charter groups" in Canada.
B) Its focus on cultural diversification hurts the interests of the poor.
C) It discourages ethnocentrism.
D) It leads to cultural relativism.

Question 61

What type of culture involves an eclectic mix of elements from different times and places, an erosion of authority, and a decline of consensus around core values?

A) classic
B) postmodern
C) modern
D) premodern

Question 62

The change in how father figures are depicted on television from the 1950s to today demonstrates which of the following characteristics of postmodernism?

A) the erosion of authority
B) an eclectic mixing of elements from different times and places
C) the growth of religious conservatism
D) a loss of confidence in political leaders

Question 63

According to the textbook, cultural fragmentation increased between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries as a result of the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, and the French and American Revolutions. Which of the following is a trend that intensified this cultural fragmentation?

A) fundamentalism
B) industrialization
C) multiculturalism
D) diversification

Question 64

In a postmodern society, the social bases of authority and truth have multiplied. Which of the following is a result of this change?

A) Tradition is rejected less frequently than it used to be.
B) Challenges to authority are more frequent than they used to be.
C) Religiosity is increasing.
D) Norms are disputed less than they used to be.

Question 65

What is causing the loss of several thousand languages around the world?

A) consumerism
B) rationalization
C) globalization
D) multilingualism

Question 66

Which of the following is NOT characteristic of postmodern culture?

A) an eclectic mix of cultural elements from different times and places
B) challenges to authority and core values
C) the demise of big historical projects
D) commitment to a monotheism

Question 67

During a school trip to Russia with other British Columbia high school students, Michelle is surprised to hear Justin Beiber's latest song being played at top volume when they enter the McDonald's in St. Petersburg. She is further surprised when a group of local teens in the restaurant begins to sing along to the song. What is Michelle witnessing?

A) the shrinking of cultural repertoires
B) the expansion of cultural comfort zones
C) media convergence
D) globalization

Question 68

What characteristic of postmodernism is manifested in the demise of big historical projects, such as communism?

A) globalization
B) the instability of core values
C) the erosion of authority
D) an eclectic mix of cultural elements

Question 69

The popular cable TV program Dexter is the story of a serial killer named Dexter who works for the Miami police force as a forensic scientist. Dexter is a seemingly mild mannered man who only kills people he has determined are themselves killers. Because he is a police officer and also mild mannered, he has escaped detection and punishment. Which of the following features of the program best illustrates its postmodern aspect?

A) Dexter's seemingly normal personality
B) Dexter's rejection of the authority of the justice system
C) Dexter's insistence on strictly following a code in choosing his victims
D) Dexter's reliance on his scientific knowledge

Question 70

Freja voted for the Green Party in the last election because she favoured the party leader over other leaders. In the most recent election however, she decided to vote for the NDP because she agreed with their platform on education more than the others. What element of postmodernism do her changing political convictions reflect?

A) an eclectic mixing of elements from different times and places
B) the erosion of authority
C) the decline of consensus around core values
D) the fragmentation of simulated abstractions

Question 71

In what era did the overwhelming majority of the Western culture believe in the inevitability of progress, respect authority, and form a consensus around core values?

A) classic
B) premodern
C) modern
D) postmodern

Question 72

What is one of the most important roots of globalization?

A) expansion of ethnocentrism
B) expansion of trade and investment
C) limitations to rationalization
D) diversification of rites of passage

Question 73

Which of the following types of culture is characterized by the growth of different religious beliefs?

A) premodern
B) modernist
C) classic
D) postmodern

Question 74

Which of the following is a defining characteristic of modernity?

A) a consensus around core values
B) an eclectic mix of cultural elements
C) a diversity of religious ideas
D) a disrespect for authority

Question 75

Serena states that she believes in a god but has never attended any religious services. Instead, she practises tarot and astrology and also believes in reincarnation. What do her spiritual practices and beliefs reflect?

A) postmodernism
B) tribalism
C) institutionalization
D) premodernism

Question 76

What is the term for the process by which formerly separate economies, states, and cultures are becoming increasingly interdependent?

A) industrialization
B) diversification
C) multiculturalism
D) globalization

Question 77

Some public religious rituals involve elaborate body decoration, carefully orchestrated chants, and precise movements. What are these rituals examples of?

A) rites of passage
B) multiculturalism
C) ethnocentrism
D) cultural reproduction

Question 78

According to the text, how has globalization influenced people's relationships with the culture into which they were born?

A) They feel obliged to defend their culture.
B) They feel less obliged to accept their culture.
C) They are less likely to reject their culture.
D) They are more likely to idealize their culture.

Question 79

Relatively inexpensive international travel and communication contributed to which of the following cultural processes in the late twentieth century?

A) multiculturalism
B) industrialization
C) rationalization
D) globalization

Question 80

Critics of postmodernism are concerned that the lack of a common culture will create problems in maintaining a stable society. Which of the following has contributed to the breakdown of consensus on many issues today?

A) influence of mass media
B) growth of religious extremism
C) rapid shifts in values and in political loyalty
D) organized antiglobalization efforts