SOC101

Exam 1

Multiple Choice Questions

Identify the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question. (1point for each question)

1. Sociology is the study of

a.     Individual behavior.

b.     Human behavior

c.      Personality structures

d.     All of the above

2. Which of the following steps comes first in sociological research?

a.               To develop a research question   

b.               To decide how to proceed with your investigation via a research design

c.                To develop a hypothesis  

d.               To collect the data

3. In order to see the dating patterns among college students in this society, a student collected pictures and email text messages which were exchanged between a couple on campus. This research method is called:

a.               content analysis   

b.               participate observation     

c.                survey      

d.               historical analysis

4. Symbolic interactionists view _____ as the primary motivation for human behavior.

a.        whether or not action is functional

b.        struggles for social and economic resources

c.        achieving social solidarity

d.        people’s definition of the situation

5. According to ____ theory, norms and values are defined by the most powerful groups in society.

a.               functionalist          

b.               conflict      

c.                symbolic interaction         

d.               social exchange

6.  According to Wright Mills, “issues” DO NOT

 a.     originate in the institutional arrangements.

b.     spring from events or feelings in a person’s life.

c.      originate in the history of a society.

d.     affect large numbers of people.

 7.   Culture includes:

a.   values                                     

b.   laws                                        

c.   art.

d.   knowledge

e.   all of the above

8.    According to Karl Marx, the most important influence on what humans think and how they behave is:

1. the economic organization of society
2. the political organization of society
3. the socio-emotional organization of society
4. the religious organization of society

9. Conflict Theory is based on the idea developed by :

a.   C. Wright Mills

b.   Karl Marx

c.   Charles Cooley

d.   George Herbert Mead

10. Critics of functionalism argue that it

a.     is inherently conservative, given its emphasis on stability.

b.     understates the roles of power and conflict in society.

c.      is incorrect in its belief that inequality is necessary for the equitable distribution of societal resources.

d.     all of these are criticisms of functionalism

 11.  Functionalist theorists argue that deviance, such as homeless:

a.   results from inequality in society.       

b.   is reinforced through group membership.

c.   creates social cohesion and reaffirms norms and values.

d.   is a learned behavior.

12. Positivism refers to

a.        thinking very optimistically about society.

b.        being very certain of one’s research methods.

c.        a belief system first suggested by Emile Durkheim.

d.        scientific observation and description

13. ______ is the sociologist whose work was influenced by and built upon the work of Karl Marx.

a.        Emile Durkheim

b.        Auguste Comte

c.        George Herbert Mead

d.        Max Weber

14.  Which of the following emphasizes a micro perspective?

a.   functionalism           c.   symbolic interactionism          

b.   conflict theory          d.  all of the above

15. Symbolic interaction theory emphasizes:

a.   role of coercion and power.

b.   face-to-face contact.

c.   the interdependent parts of society

d.   class struggles

16.       A young man from the Midwest travels to Spain and witnesses the running of the bulls in Pamplona. He concludes that Spaniards are barbarians. This would be an example of:

a.    relativist fallacy.

b.     ethnocentrism.

c.     cultural relativism.

d.     culture shock.

17. The first Ph.D. ever awarded by Harvard to a Black person in any field was earned by sociologist _____.

a.W.E.B. Du Bois

b.Ida B. Wells-Barnett

c.            Jane Addams

d.Robert Parks

18.  One of the major criticisms of symbolic interaction theory is that

a. it understates the degree of cohesion and stability in society.

b. there is little analysis of inequality, and it overstates the subjective basis of society.

c. it is a conservative view of society that underplays power differences among and between groups.

d. all of the above

19.   The research method where researchers collect data by systematically observing people in their natural surroundings is called _______ research.

a. Evaluation Research

b. Historical Analysis

c Participant Observation

d. Content Analysis

e. Survey

20.   According to conflict theory, culture

a.serves the interests of powerful groups.

b.creates group identity from diverse cultural meaning.

c.            provides coherence and stability to society.

d.is unpredictable and constantly changing.

21.   Which of the following statements about culture is INCORRECT?

a.   culture is shared among social members.

b.   culture is learned.

c.   culture is constantly questioned by social members.

d.   culture is symbolic.

e.   culture varies across time and place.

22.  The reflection hypothesis contends that

1. media organizations create popular values.
2. the mass media reflects the values of the general population.
3. non-material culture shapes material culture.
4. the media try to appeal to the rich and powerful.

23.  To study people’s choices social scientists often take a(n) _______, focusing on individuals social interactions in specific settings.

1. macro-level perspective
2. micro-level perspective
3. global perspective
4. objective perspective

24.  The disadvantages of ______ arise from their rigidity: it makes it difficult to focus in great depth on a few variables and to measure subtle nuances in people’s attitudes.

1. survey
2. participant observation
3. content analysis
4. historical research
5. evaluation research

25.  According to the text, which of the following is not a step in the research process?

a.     analyzing the data

b.     duplicating the research design

c.      developing a research question

d.     developing conclusions

26. Who coined the term, sociology?

a. Emile Durkheim

b. August Comte

c. C. Wright Mills

d. Karl Marx

27. The empirical approach to knowledge requires that conclusions be based on:

1. careful and systematic observations
2. previous assumptions
3. one’s own experience
4. common sense

28. According to the text diversity is important within sociology because:

1. sociologist like to study the unusual
2. diversity seems to be disappearing
3. people are shaped by the social context around them
4. all of the above

29. Marx’s perspective of society argued that:

1. workers receive a fair share of the profits that they help create.
2. capitalists do not own the actual system by which goods are produced and distributed.
3. while capitalists control the production of goods, they do not control the production of ideas.
4. profit is produced through the exploitation of the working class.

30. _______ is the process by which sociologists organize collected data to discover the patterns and uniformities that the data reveal.

a. reaching conclusions

b. a research design

c. data analysis

d. hypothesis

31. Durkheim, Marx and Weber were ________ theorists.

1. conflict
2. microsociological
3. macrosociological
4. symbolic interactionist

32. “In today’s world, we have the technological ability to develop efficient, less-polluting rapid transit, but changing people’s transportation habits is difficult.” This statement is an example of _______.

1. culture shock
2. counterculture
3. culture lag
4. culture change

33. ______ refers to the ability to look behind things taken for granted, looking instead to the origins of social behavior.

1. sociological imagination
2. debunking
3. symbolic interaction
4. scientific imagination

34. According to the text, an ethnocentric perspective tends to:

1. encourage inter-cultural understanding.
2. be very extreme most of the time.
3. build group solidarity.
4. weaken a group's sense of identity.

35. According to the text which of the following statements about values is TRUE?

1. Values define what is desirable and morally correct.
2. Values are consequences for violating expectations for behavior.
3. Values are specific cultural expectations for how to behave.
4. None of the above

36. Which of the following statements is true according to the text?

1. The middle class is more likely to go to the movies than the upper class in the U.S.
2. The lower class is more likely to access the internet than the upper class in the U.S.
3. The lower class is more likely to go to the movies than the upper class in the U.S.
4. The upper class is more likely to access the internet than the middle class in the U.S.

37. According to _________, social order stems from consensus on public values.

1. symbolic interaction
2. new cultural studies
3. functionalism
4. conflict theory

38. According to the text which of the following statements about cultural change is TRUE?

1. cultures change as a result of innovation
2. cultural change can be imposed
3. cultures change through cultural diffusion
4. all of the above

39.  ____________ viewed society as an entity larger than the sum of its parts and conceived of society as an integrated whole – each part contributing to the overall stability of the system.

1. Emile Durkheim
2. Robert Park
3. Georg Simmel
4. August Comte

 40.  The following statement on the popularity of hip-hop music among youth is based on _______: “Whether it’s hip-hop, country, or pop, music cultures bind groups together by creating a sense of shared and collective identity. For young people, this makes them feel like part of a generation instead of being completely alienated from an otherwise adult-dominated culture.”

1. Functionalism
2. Conflict Theory.
3. Symbolic Interaction Theory
4. New Cultural Studies

41.  In every society, the dominant culture is

1. the only culture in society.
2. strongly influenced by minority subcultures.
3. always the culture of the majority of people.
4. the culture of the most powerful group.

42. Research on police officers done by sociologist Peter Moskos is discussed in the text as an example of _____.

1. survey
2. participant observation
3. content analysis
4. evaluation research

43. If research clearly established that “study time determines the grades that a student earns,” grades are the _____ variable.

1. dependent
2. independent
3. control
4. intervening

44. When sociologists conduct surveys or engage in participant observation they are gathering _____.

1. primary data
2. secondary data
3. background data
4. experimental data

 45.  According to ___________, society is considered to be socially constructed through human interpretation.

1. functionalism
2. conflict theory
3. symbolic interaction theory
4. all of the above

46. Compared to survey research, participant observation creates a greater risk that

1. the research is not measuring what it is designed to.
2. the researcher may be subjective in their interpretations.
3. the results will not be easily understood by other researchers.
4. the research process is too analytical.

47. Controlled experiments are highly focused ways of collecting data and are especially useful for determining _____.

1. respondent opinions
2. qualitative information
3. cause and effect
4. subjective understandings

48. __________ used a multidimensional approach to analyzing society, interpreting the economic, cultural, and political organization of society as together shaping social institions and social change.

a. Karl Marx

b. Emile Durkheim

c. Talcott Parsons

d. Max Weber

e. none of the above

49.  ______ may develop in situations where there is political repression and some groups are forced “underground.”

1. dominant culture
2. countercultures
3. subcultures
4. cultural diversity

50.  _______ is the complex system of meaning and behavior that defines the way of life for a given group or society

1. socialization
2. culture
3. sociological knowledge
4. symbolic interaction

Name:  

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Essay Questions

Answer the following questions. Write as neatly as you can. The answers which are not “readable” will not be graded.

1.     Many sociologists argue that today’s younger generation are more likely to have relaxed attitudes toward “sex” and also experience the first sexual relationship at an earlier age than the “Baby-Boomer” generation. Present two completely different hypotheses that explain why these two generations have different characteristics of norms, values and beliefs toward “sex” by using your “sociological imagination”.

In order to answer this question, first define the meaning of “sociological imagination” and then, explain your analysis in two or three sentences each.

a.     “sociological imagination” means:

(2points)

b.     Hypothesis 1:

              Hypothesis 2:

 2.      Hu, Winnie’s article “As Food Costs Rise….” is largely based on the idea of Functionalism. Explain how. Your answer has to include the summary of the article and some of the examples that the article presents.

Summary of the article:

                 The article is largely based on the idea of Functionalism because: