Deck 13: Social Change

Question 1

Sociologists define social change as fundamental alterations in the patterns of culture, structure, and social behavior over time.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The study of social change exists so that we can try to understand change and thus prevent it from occurring.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Contemporary research suggests that the primary agent in prehistoric and early-historic societal collapses was climate change.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Contemporary research shows that the collapse of prehistoric and early-historic societies was caused by combinations of social, political, and economic factors.

Question 5

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

Question 6

The cyclical perspective on social change suggests that culture passes through the same stages of growth and decline as individuals.

Question 7

One of the features of a system stressed by structural-functional theorists is its tendency toward equilibrium.

Question 8

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

Question 9

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 10

In 1893, 74 prominent Americans successfully predicted that in 100 years the country would depend primarily on the automobile for transportation.

Question 11

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

Question 12

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

Question 13

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

Question 14

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

Question 15

Humans seem to be more likely to accept changes in institutions such as religion or the family than to accept technological innovations.

Question 16

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

Question 17

The classic satire, One Hundred Percent American by anthropologist Ralph Linton, showed that everything Americans need comes from the United States.

Question 18

The study of social change is an attempt to understand and predict changes in the world.

Question 19

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

Question 20

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.

Question 21

The rapid increase in world population will occur primarily in

A) Europe.
B) the United States.
C) developing nations.
D) industrialized nations.

Question 22

Convergence theory explains how normal, decent people are transformed under crowd influence.

Question 23

Conflict is a basic source of

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

Question 24

Panics can be greatly amplified by modern information technologies.

Question 25

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 26

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 27

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 28

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

Question 29

__________ 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 30

What constitutes terrorism is a matter of social definition.

Question 31

Which of the following was NOT among the findings in a study of Facebook users?

A) Facebooks users were more socially engaged online than non-Facebook users.
B) Facebook users were more trusting than non-Facebook users.
C) Facebook users were less socially engaged offline than non-Facebook users.
D) Facebook users were more politically engaged than non-Facebook usesrs.

Question 32

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 people relate to one another.

Question 33

Reform movements advocate replacement of the existing value scheme.

Question 34

Drought is an example of how _________ can generate social change.

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

Question 35

Researchers interested in the effect of using Facebook and other social networking sites on social engagement conducted their study by

A) stopping people on a busy city street to interview them.
B) conducting a telephone survey.
C) hiring an Internet advertising firm to collect data on Internet site use.
D) using the social networking sites themselves to communicate with users.

Question 36

By "social change," sociologists mean fundamental alterations in

A) the patterns of culture, structure, and social behavior.
B) components of people's social lives, including party-going and dating.
C) the size of social groups.
D) the sorts of social interactions that occur between animals.

Question 37

The "information revolution" is a term applied to the ready availability of information at libraries and in newspapers and magazines.

Question 38

Fads that become all-consuming passions are called crazes.

Question 39

Rumors never contain any truth.

Question 40

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

Question 41

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

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

Question 42

The United States has the technology to produce and distribute large numbers of inexpensive handguns. At the same time it lacks 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 43

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

A) Innovation
B) Invention
C) Discovery
D) Social change

Question 44

Adding something new to our present knowledge base is called

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

Question 45

______________ involves a new combination of old elements.

A) Innovation
B) Invention
C) Discovery
D) Social change

Question 46

Ralph Linton's satire, One Hundred Percent American, provides examples of

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

Question 47

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

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

Question 48

Which of the following was NOT among the conclusions of cyclical theorist and 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) Civilizations arise in response to adequate natural resources, a gentle climate, and people who get along well.
D) A civilization will grow and flourish when a challenge it faces is not so severe as to make an adequate response impossible.

Question 49

What accounts for the strong resistance of many Americans to the legalization of homosexual marriage?

A) A similar proportion of Americans also object to gays and lesbians living in their communities.
B) Social institutions change more rapidly than do patterns of behavior and tolerance.
C) Social institutions change more slowly than do patterns of behavior and tolerance.
D) Nearly all Americans are intolerant of homosexuality in any form.

Question 50

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 20^th century.
C) believed that culture passes through stages from development, to maturity, to decline, to death.
D) examined eight cultures and said that none had lasted more than 300 years.

Question 51

Which of the following was among the findings of a study about Facebook use and social engagement?

A) Between a previous study conducted in 2008 and this study, conducted in 2010, the number of people who reported using at least one social networking site had dropped.
B) Between a previous study conducted in 2008 and this study, conducted in 2010, the number of people who reported using at least one social networking site had increased by ten percent.
C) Between a previous study conducted in 2008 and this study, conducted in 2010, the number of people who reported using at least one social networking site had almost doubled.
D) Between a previous study conducted in 2008 and this study, conducted in 2010, the number of people who reported using at least one social networking site had grown so much that the researchers could not find anyone who was NOT a social networking site user.

Question 52

Symbolic interactionists note that the news is

A) accurately transmitted by the mass media to the public.
B) a matter of social construction.
C) presented by highly trained professionals who have learned how to be totally objective.
D) always positive and inspiring.

Question 53

Cyclical theorists say that civilizations arise in response to

A) organization.
B) a favorable environment.
C) a challenge, such as warlike neighbors or a severe climate.
D) bountiful natural resources and an inviting climate.

Question 54

Which of the following is NOT among the views of the mass media presented in the text?

A) The mass media discharge products, ideas, and values into a passive and susceptible population who become manipulated by the media.
B) The mass media provide a "marketplace of ideas" for an enlightened public.
C) The mass media facilitate diffusion.
D) The mass media have only very minimal effects on individuals and on society.

Question 55

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 56

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

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

Question 57

The cyclical perspective of social change suggests that culture passes through the same stages of growth and decline as

A) individuals.
B) governments.
C) economies.
D) companies.

Question 58

Regarding social change, the exponential principle states that

A) as the cultural base increases exponentially, its possible uses decrease.
B) as the cultural base increases, its possible uses grow exponentially.
C) as the cultural base decreases exponentially, its possible uses decrease.
D) as the cultural base decreases, its possible uses grow exponentially.

Question 59

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

A) cultural elements innovators can use
B) college graduates and doctoral students
C) computers and fax machines
D) intellectual elites employed by the government

Question 60

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

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

Question 61

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) periphery areas.
C) focal areas.
D) pseudo-imperialistic areas.

Question 62

_________ 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 63

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

A) the computer class effect.
B) computer poverty.
C) the digital divide.
D) affirmative action.

Question 64

________________ 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 65

Which of the following is NOT a factor in current thoughts about global social change?

A) Rapid population increases in western European countries.
B) Rapid growth of high-tech industries in China and India.
C) The impact of AIDS-or its control or cure--on population growth in many countries.
D) Rapid population growth in developing nations.

Question 66

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

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

Question 67

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 though they were a recap of the history of Western nations.

Question 68

Such widespread psychogenic illnesses as nausea and dizziness are

A) examples of mass hysteria.
B) examples of problems in people's heads.
C) examples of crowd behavior.
D) examples of fashions and fads.

Question 69

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

A) panic.
B) mass hysteria.
C) fadism.
D) psychogenic illness.

Question 70

Fashions and fads represent short-term

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

Question 71

According to the text, ___________ is/are revolutionizing the structure of American life.

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

Question 72

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 73

Modernization assumes social patterns in which

A) there is increasing conflict as sections of the population become more agricultural.
B) there is a heightening of oppression because "modern" techniques for doing things exclude more people.
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 74

The ideal environment for rumors is characterized by

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

Question 75

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

A) material culture.
B) technology.
C) constant conflict among competing groups.
D) conflict between the material and nonmaterial culture.

Question 76

_________ does not represent a form of collective behavior.

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

Question 77

___________________ are 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 78

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 79

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 80

Computers are associated with social change because

A) computer use does not confer power.
B) the centralized accumulation of data permits the concentration of power among those who have access to computers.
C) in the United States, whites have much less access than African Americans to computers and the Internet.
D) the use of computers does not give users more access to information than they have without computers.