Deck 6: Culture, Media, and Communication

Question 1

__________ are judgments about what is intrinsically important or meaningful.

A) Attitudes
B) Ethics
C) Morals
D) Values

Answer 1

D

Question 2

What principal purpose does group style serve?

A) It establishes acceptable forms of dress for group members.
B) It distinguishes a group from other groups through a set of norms and practices.
C) It is a measure of the formality of a group, whether high or low.
D) It allows groups to screen outsiders from group activities.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

What is mainstream culture?

A) the ties or connections between people, groups, and organizations
B) the most widely shared systems of meaning and cultural tool kits in a society
C) an organized association of people in a society that gives meaning to their lives
D) a group whose ideas, attitudes, and behaviors are in direct conflict with the dominant cultural practices of the societies of which they are a part

Answer 3

B

Question 4

What is a cultural tool kit?

A) a set of research methods that ethnographers use
B) a set of symbolic skills that we apply to practical situations
C) a set of ideas and skills that we learn and use in daily life
D) a set of behaviors that we adopt to impress cultural elites

Question 5

Which of the following is an example of a cultural universal?

A) football
B) language
C) public education
D) democracy

Question 6

Which of the following groups is an example of a subculture?

A) online gamers
B) women
C) children
D) Americans

Question 7

According to Bourdieu, preferring to play the game of squash over hockey could be an example of __________.

A) symbolism
B) ethnography
C) habitus
D) language

Question 8

To whom does the digital divide refer?

A) to adherents of radical social movements that rely on Internet technologies to mobilize
B) to government-appointed monitors of Internet traffic flowing in and out of the country
C) to a new division of haves and have-nots based on access to Internet and communication technologies
D) to the generation of children born into the Internet age

Question 9

Which of the following groups is an example of a counterculture?

A) public school teachers
B) registered Republicans
C) Neo-Nazis
D) the U.S. army

Question 10

Anthropologist Clifford Geertz thought of culture as a __________.

A) system of collective meaning
B) collection of material objects
C) series of mysterious rituals
D) series of coded messages

Question 11

What effect has the Internet had on how people consume media?

A) Media have become less accessible.
B) Media have become more participatory.
C) Media have become less accurate.
D) Media have become less interpersonal.

Question 12

How do sociologists view the traditional concept of America as a melting pot?

A) as the standard metaphor used to describe multiculturalism
B) as an example of cultural relativism
C) as an example of ethnocentrism
D) as a reflection of the realities of the immigrant experience

Question 13

Research has shown that most Americans have two tools available to them in their cultural tool kits regarding romantic love. What are they?

A) love as a choice and love as a commitment
B) love as a conversation and love as a commitment
C) love as a choice and love as a challenge
D) love as a conversation and love as a challenge

Question 14

Ethnography is a research method based on __________.

A) lengthy and intimate observation of a group
B) lengthy and intimate life histories
C) the reconstruction and interpretation of past cultures
D) experiential exchanges between two or more ethnicities

Question 15

What is the difference between a counterculture and a subculture?

A) Subcultures tend to exist in harmony with the mainstream, whereas countercultures are in direct conflict with the mainstream.
B) A subculture's beliefs stand in opposition to the mainstream, whereas a counterculture's beliefs exist in harmony with the mainstream.
C) A subculture is made up of deviants, whereas a counterculture is not.
D) A subculture pushes for social change, whereas a counterculture does not.

Question 16

Studying symbols helps us understand things about society that are not often discussed, such as __________.

A) race, ethnicity, and gender
B) habitus and the digital divide
C) distinctions of honor, inequality, and competition
D) subcultures and countercultures

Question 17

__________ does not necessarily need to be spoken.

A) Language
B) A cultural tool kit
C) Social capital
D) Group hegemony

Question 18

Taylor is a teacher at a public school in a large city. She wants to assign her students a homework assignment that requires them to do research on the Internet. She is concerned about whether or not all of her students will be able to complete the assignment. Which of the following concepts helps explain Taylor's concerns?

A) cultural capital
B) the digital divide
C) language
D) socialization

Question 19

Symbols communicate a(n) __________ while being distinct from the __________ itself.

A) attitude; attitude
B) belief; belief
C) emotion; emotion
D) idea; idea

Question 20

__________ legitimizes and empowers a society's elites.

A) Group style
B) Habitus
C) Hegemony
D) Monarchy

Question 21

According to German sociologist and philosopher Theodor Adorno, what effect does popular culture have on the public?

A) It encourages participation.
B) It encourages aggression.
C) It encourages overconsumption.
D) It encourages passivity.

Question 22

What sociological concept stands in opposition to Jurgen Habermas's ideal of the public sphere?

A) the counterculture
B) the subculture
C) the counterpublic
D) the subpublic

Question 23

Which of the following statements is most likely to be deemed ethnocentric?

A) Taxes in this country are too high.
B) Using chopsticks to eat food is strange.
C) Teachers should be fired if their students do not pass grade-level examinations.
D) Rice is an important food staple in some parts of the world.

Question 24

After college Anita remained in touch with her fellow sorority sisters. When she lost her job she reached out to them for potential job leads. Which of Bourdieu's concepts best describes how Anita is using her life resources?

A) economic capital
B) social capital
C) cultural capital
D) class capital

Question 25

A sociologist might argue that cultural production in the United States is increasingly occurring __________.

A) online
B) in print
C) on the radio
D) on television

Question 26

Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu thought about the kinds of resources that have a bearing on people's lives in terms of __________.

A) cultural capital, economic capital, and class capital
B) economic capital, political capital, and social capital
C) economic capital, social capital, and cultural capital
D) economic capital, political capital, and cultural capital

Question 27

Which of the following is an example of a counterpublic?

A) observatory decks of tall buildings
B) union halls
C) coffee shops
D) shopping malls

Question 28

German sociologist Jurgen Habermas's ideal of the public sphere is a vision of the __________.

A) equal participation of all private citizens
B) balanced participation of corporate and public interests
C) balanced participation of conservative and liberal media
D) equal participation of private citizens, corporations, and the media

Question 29

Kevin recently moved to France from the United States for a new job opportunity. Even though he is living and working in France, every morning he still reads the New York Times. Which sociological concept helps explain Kevin's preference for American news?

A) cultural relativism
B) ethnocentrism
C) nationalism
D) cultural universalism

Question 30

What is cultural relativism?

A) the idea that cultural meanings and practices must be evaluated in their own social contexts
B) the idea that cultural meanings and practices must be evaluated in relation to other cultures
C) the idea that cultural meanings and practices are fundamental, inherited, innate, and fixed across cultures
D) the idea that cultural meanings and practices must be evaluated in relation to a control group

Question 31

Through what process are class boundaries and distinctions maintained over time?

A) class reproduction
B) class warfare
C) class consciousness
D) class conditioning

Question 32

The concept of national cultures assumes that __________.

A) global culture is nonexistent
B) nationalism is a substitute for regionalism
C) shared cultural practices and beliefs exist within nation-states
D) diplomatic relations between nations, in their natural state, are strained

Question 33

As a basis for signaling distinction, high-status cultural capital requires __________.

A) secrecy
B) social context
C) class reproduction
D) scarcity

Question 34

Which list of characteristics best describes the childrearing model of concerted cultivation?

A) constraint, watching out for oneself, fostering talents
B) structured time, supervision, entitlement
C) unstructured time, strict discipline, social intervening
D) reward-based learning, unstructured time, watching out for oneself

Question 35

Why do sociologists of the media agree that journalists help to create and change the news, not just report it?

A) Journalists have the tendency to intentionally skew facts to fit predetermined storylines.
B) Journalists have the tendency to treat the world as their laboratory.
C) Journalists have the power to compel bribes in exchange for favorable coverage.
D) Journalists have the power to decide what to cover and how to cover it.

Question 36

Sociologists think of the United States as __________.

A) the least class-bound high-income nation in the world
B) less class-bound than most high-income European nations
C) an intensely class-bound society
D) an intensely classless society

Question 37

__________ is one of the things sociologists argue places commercial pressure on journalism.

A) Hidden political agendas
B) Consolidation
C) Corporate corruption
D) Journalists' ideological orientations

Question 38

In terms of how it influences our thinking, what does ethnocentrism lead to?

A) the evaluation of cultural meanings and practices in their own social contexts
B) thick descriptions of other cultures based on real understanding
C) incorrect assumptions about other cultures on the basis of our own experience
D) correct assumptions about other cultures on the basis of interpretations of shared meanings

Question 39

Which of the following phenomenon do sociologists suggest is a contributing factor to people's sense of national identity?

A) the ability to watch foreign films in any country of the world
B) mass production and consumption of print media written in local languages
C) the decline of indigenous languages
D) rising rates of urbanization

Question 40

What label did German sociologist and philosopher Theodor Adorno apply to popular movies, music, and other types of mass culture?

A) the culture machine
B) the culture industry
C) the contrapublics
D) the counterpublics

Question 41

Vincent is an anthropologist who has studied multiple cultures all over the world. He has found members of all the cultures that he has observed engage in sports and play music. Sports and music are examples of __________.

A) cultural tool kits
B) symbols
C) cultural universals
D) nonmaterial culture

Question 42

You are fascinated with Bourdieu's concept of habitus. Which of the following subjects could lead to a project that might add to the theoretical research surrounding habitus?

A) the differences in table manners at family dinners across classes
B) the growth of immigrants in recent decades
C) the decrease in arson in urban Chicago
D) the levels of posttraumatic stress disorder in recent war zones

Question 43

Lucy attended an exclusive Ivy League university. She likes horseback riding and snow skiing and dislikes reality television shows. How would a sociologist describe Lucy in cultural terms?

A) Lucy is a cultural omnivore.
B) Lucy's education and preferences represent her cultural capital.
C) Lucy represents the culture industry.
D) Lucy has an ethnocentric mindset.

Question 44

What is the digital divide? How could it contribute to already existing social hierarchies?

Question 45

How do corporations contribute to the framing of media?

Question 46

You want to study a subordinated subculture that constitutes its own counterpublic. Which of the following groups should you study?

A) Twitter followers of a prominent public figure
B) the network of black churches that formed the backbone of the civil rights movement
C) country music fans
D) the subculture of gourmet chefs

Question 47

Following the terrorist attacks on American soil on September 11, 2001, President Bush stated, "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." Bush's statement captures the essence of __________.

A) nationalism
B) cultural relativism
C) ethnocentrism
D) hegemony

Question 48

You want to study people on both sides of the digital divide. Of the following sets of test subjects, which would make the most suitable interview subjects to capture both sides of the divide?

A) infants and toddlers
B) teenagers and senior citizens
C) Australians and Americans
D) bus drivers and electrical workers

Question 49

What does it mean that the American elite are increasingly becoming cultural omnivores?

Question 50

You are a corporate advertising executive. You want your message to get out to as many mainstream Americans as possible. Which of the following approaches would best accomplish this goal?

A) Create a Facebook page and gather as many "likes" as possible.
B) Come up with a clever ad for the Super Bowl.
C) Donate money to Occupy Wall Street.
D) Sponsor a tattoo and body-piercing convention.

Question 51

How do the childrearing habits of middle-class and working-class families differ? How might this impact the child's choices as an adult and contribute to class reproduction?

Question 52

Polygamists believe that monogamy is not a natural state for human beings. They feel that people should have multiple spouses at the same time rather than just one spouse. Although polygamy is illegal in the United States, there are many people around the world who engage in this practice, including some who do so in the United States, despite the legal restrictions. Polygamists who live in the United States are an example of a __________.

A) subculture
B) mainstream culture
C) hegemony
D) counterculture

Question 53

You are a successful sociologist and have recently written a new book on ethnography. You are about to enter a party where an important executive at a publishing company is in attendance. You are talking to one of your colleagues about how to impress this individual. She advises, "Just be sure to use your cultural capital!" If you were to follow this advice, which of the following actions might you take?

A) Walk up to the executive and slip a $20 bill into her hand when you mention your book.
B) Walk up to the executive and strike up a conversation on classical music.
C) Walk up to the executive and talk about how America is superior to all other countries in the world.
D) Go to the party, but avoid interacting with the executive in any way.