Deck 8: The Social Construction of Intimacy

Question 1

Economic and social changes over the history of the United States have

A) increased the individual's need for intimate relationships.
B) increased men's need for the romantic aspects of intimate relationships.
C) had no visible effect on intimate relationships.
D) made intimate relationships an encumbrance.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Human sexuality is strictly a biological drive.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

In general,women and men (ages 18-44) think about sex with equal frequency and find the same sexual practices to be equally appealing.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Cultural standards of beauty can be a factor in dating.

Question 5

Research finds that "hooking up" on college campuses is

A) much less common than the public believes.
B) practiced by a majority of college students.
C) no different from the "one night stands" of the past.
D) likely to enhance long-term relationships.

Question 6

In the premodern United States,the courtship and mate selection process for young people was controlled by

A) organized religion.
B) the young people themselves.
C) parents and kin.
D) states' legal systems.

Question 7

Using Goffman's theater metaphor,intimate relationships

A) require "frontstage behavior."
B) are becoming increasingly scripted due to societal bureaucratization.
C) are necessary for assortive mating to occur.
D) permit an escape from formal role playing.

Question 8

Individuals generally select mates whose ethnicity,educational level,and social class is similar to their own.

Question 9

Hypergamy describes a situation in which a woman marries a man of higher status.

Question 10

Sociologists suggest early sexual activity among poor youth is a substitute for other non-attainable forms of gratification.

Question 11

The "principle of least interest" suggests that as society modernizes,parents are no longer concerned about selecting mates for their children.

Question 12

Dating and courtship behaviors vary with social class in which of the following ways?

A) The higher the class, the more control parents have over the dating activities of their children.
B) The lower the class, the more likely are youth to use structured activities for their cross-sex encounters.
C) Middle-class youth have less freedom of choice than their upper-class counterparts.
D) all of the above

Question 13

Online dating and matchmaking has

A) increased among younger and older internet users.
B) been shown to lead to weak marriages.
C) been used by only a small percentage of individuals looking for a partner.
D) all of the above

Question 14

Teen childbearing is at the highest rate ever in U.S.history.

Question 15

Which of the following phenomena represents a major break with traditional courtship in the past?

A) hypergamy
B) formal engagement
C) dating
D) arranged marriage

Question 16

The higher the socioeconomic status of U.S.families,the more likely it is that parental control will play a major role in mate selection.

Question 17

The text's approach to the subject of intimacy assumes which of the following?

A) Interpersonal communication should be the focus of the study of intimacy.
B) Because the experience of intimacy is highly personal, social forces have little to do with this subject.
C) Macro level forces and cultural ideals shape our experience of intimacy.
D) Intimate behaviors are unchanging over time.

Question 18

Dating is of interest to sociologists because it is a process that has changed very little over the course of U.S.history.

Question 19

Which of the following presents a fundamental difficulty with intimate relations in modern society?

A) Women are no longer willing to do the "emotion work" to sustain intimate relations.
B) The two partners must provide all the supports to each other that kin and community once provided.
C) The high rate of heterogamous relationships.
D) all of the above

Question 20

Research finds that since 1990,

A) the percentage of teens who never date has decreased.
B) the percentage of teens who date frequently has declined.
C) the percentage of teens who date has rapidly increased.
D) male teens date much more frequently than female teens.

Question 21

The mate selection process for Black women in the contemporary United States

A) is limited due to the undersupply of young Black men.
B) follows the general female pattern of marrying men of higher status.
C) results in nearly identical marriage rates at age 20 for Black and Hispanic women.
D) all of the above

Question 22

An important factor contributing to sexual permissiveness is

A) commercial advertising.
B) prolonged adolescence.
C) sex surveys.
D) all of the above

Question 23

The set of practices that enforce heterosexuality as the only normal and natural form of sexuality has been labeled

A) healthy heterosexuality.
B) compulsory heterosexuality.
C) pathological sexuality.
D) atomistic sexuality.

Question 24

Which of the following is a major finding of the 1992 National Health and Social Life Survey?

A) Adultery occurs more often than previously thought.
B) Social networks shape the sexual choices people make.
C) Sexual partners are generally found in a random manner.
D) The rate of homosexuality is higher than Kinsey reported.

Question 25

The text does not discuss which of the following as a factor that contributed to the transformation of sexuality in the United States?

A) the rising age of marriage
B) the decline of organized religion
C) women's growing autonomy
D) new birth control methods

Question 26

Recent research on interracial dating finds

A) more than 50% of African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and Asian-Americans "interdate."
B) women are more likely than men to "interdate."
C) the quality of interracial relationships tends to be much lower than intraracial relationships.
D) all of the above

Question 27

The 1992 National Health and Social Life Survey used which survey method?

A) face-to-face interviews
B) paper survey
C) mailed survey
D) a combination of all of the above

Question 28

According to the text,gender differences in love and sex are largely shaped by

A) power relations in the larger society.
B) physiological differences between women and men.
C) psychological factors.
D) women's maternal instincts.

Question 29

The text makes which of the following points about human sexuality?

A) Sexuality is a power system.
B) Sexuality exhibits variability across time and space.
C) Sexuality is related to a society's systems of class, race, and gender.
D) all of the above

Question 30

The tendency of individuals to select marriage partners with social characteristics similar to their own is called

A) hypogamy.
B) demography.
C) heterogamy.
D) homogamy.

Question 31

The Global Study of Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors finds that sexual satisfaction is

A) lower in the United States than in most other countries.
B) higher in Asia than in the West.
C) highest in countries with more gender equality.
D) lowest in countries of the Middle East.

Question 32

Between 2005 and 2006,teenage births increased slightly for

A) Latino teens.
B) White teens.
C) African American teens.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 33

Research on mate selection suggests people find which of the following very important?

A) mutual attraction
B) dependable character
C) emotional stability
D) all of the above

Question 34

Research on the role of schools in the process of mate selection has found that

A) neighborhood schools promote cross-class relationships because they are no longer homogeneous by social class.
B) the restrictive membership policies of fraternities and sororities discourage heterogeneous dating experiences among college youth.
C) tuition differentials that formerly produced intra-class patterns of courtship have been eradicated by financial aid programs.
D) there are no significant relationships between schools and mate selection.

Question 35

Which of the following is true of new cases of AIDS?

A) Men are more likely to be infected than women.
B) People of color are more likely to be infected than whites.
C) African Americans have the highest rate of infection.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 36

Interracial relationships are likely to form in which settings?

A) metropolitan areas
B) the military
C) colleges and universities
D) all of the above

Question 37

Wallerʹs "principle of least interest" suggests that

A) men are less interested in the material aspects of relationships than women.
B) upper-class individuals are less interested in marriage in early adulthood than individuals from other classes.
C) people of color are less interested in marriage than White people.
D) control of a relationship rests with the person who has less to lose if it fails.

Question 38

According to the text,confusion in contemporary male-female relationships is often a result of

A) prolonged adolescence.
B) the emergence of dating.
C) differences between traditional standards and new more egalitarian expectations.
D) loss of parental control over mate selection.

Question 39

Which of the following describes teen child-bearing in the United States?

A) Teen child-bearing is at the highest rate ever in the United States.
B) The marriage rate for teen mothers is increasing.
C) The United States has a higher rate of teen child-bearing than most other countries.
D) all of the above

Question 40

According to research,which of the following statements about teen sexuality is accurate?

A) Since 1991, sexual intercourse among teens has declined modestly.
B) The sexual activity of teens shows little variability by race.
C) Sexual abstinence is a growing trend among teens.
D) The percentage of teen boys who are sexually active is far higher than the percentage of teen girls who are sexually active.

Question 41

Discuss the sexual revolution in the United States.What social,demographic,and economic factors contributed to that change?

Question 42

How does the educational system in the United States function to encourage intra-class patterns of courtship and mate selection?

Question 43

The double standard that men can be more sexually competent than women

A) perpetuates sexual ignorance.
B) prevents men from seeking help for sexual problems.
C) prevents many men from discussing sex with their partners.
D) all of the above

Question 44

Discuss variation in teen childbirth rates in the United States.What social factors contribute to the high rate of teen pregnancy in the African American population?

Question 45

Discuss the idea of "gendered love and sex." Compare men's and women's patterns of expectations and experiences related to both love and sex.

Question 46

Which of the following does not illustrate the point that gender exerts a great influence on all intimate relationships; that is,both heterosexual and same-sex relationships?

A) Emotional attachment is generally the most significant aspect of relationships for lesbians.
B) Sexual activity is generally the most significant aspect of relationships for gay men.
C) While heterosexual women engage in "emotion work" and "feeling work", lesbians do not.
D) Gay men have historically been involved with more one-time partners than have lesbians.

Question 47

Discuss the 1992 National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS).Why is this survey important? What does its data tell us about sexuality in the United States?

Question 48

When it comes to sex and relationships,which social constructions structure patterns of intimacy for people of color?

A) race and class
B) class and gender
C) gender and race
D) education and race

Question 49

Which of the following generalizations about gender and intimacy is accurate?

A) Women stress the emotional relationship.
B) Men stress the sexual aspects of the relationship.
C) Gender differences in adults reflect the socialization of boys and girls into very different sexual expectations and meanings.
D) all of the above