Social Problems Practice Exam
Course Introduction
This course offers a comprehensive exploration of major social problems affecting contemporary society, including poverty, crime, inequality, discrimination, family instability, substance abuse, and environmental issues. Students examine the causes and consequences of these problems from sociological perspectives, analyzing how structures, institutions, and cultural norms contribute to their persistence and change. Through empirical case studies and critical discussions, the course encourages students to evaluate current policies and reform efforts, fostering a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between individual experiences and broader social forces.
Recommended Textbook
Experience Sociology 3rd Edition by David Croteau
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17 Chapters
1701 Verified Questions
1701 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Sociology in a Changing World
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100 Verified Questions
100 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which concept describes the processes of examining the social world though understanding how individuals are connected to the societies in which they live?
A) structural-functionalist theory
B) social viewpoint
C) sociology
D) sociological perspective
Answer: D
Q2) Service-oriented economies, the development of mega-cities, and disengagement and cynicism in politics are characteristics of what type of society?
A) modern
B) postmodern
C) premodern
D) bimodern
Answer: B
Q3) A manifest function of crime is the creation of law enforcement jobs.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 2: Understanding the Research Process
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101 Verified Questions
101 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Internet and other related technologies have transformed social research by enabling researchers to both expand the scale of their work and to keep costs down.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Marisol conducted a study in which she counted the number of times world leaders used specific words in their speeches. What type of data is she using?
A) secondary
B) experimental
C) quantitative
D) qualitative
Answer: C
Q3) The target group a researcher is interested in studying is the A) data.
B) population.
C) sample.
D) model.
Answer: B
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Chapter 3: Culture
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is a system of meaning that helps define, explain, and make value judgments about the world?
A) cultural universal
B) hypothesis
C) theory
D) ideology
Answer: D
Q2) In many larger cities across the United States, various ethnic groups host parades, play music, prepare food, and demonstrate rituals or traditions. This is an opportunity for people of similar ethnicity to gather and share their cultural heritage. It also provides an opportunity for those who do not belong to the culture to learn more and appreciate the diversity of others. Which form of cultural activism does this describe?
A) moral holiday
B) cultural pride
C) religious fundamentalism
D) anticorporate activism
Answer: B
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Social Structure
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Sample Questions
Q1) How does mobile phone usage in the United States compare to usage in Africa?
A) There are more landlines in Africa because of limited resources.
B) There are more mobile phones in the United States because of higher incomes.
C) In Africa there are few landlines; most people use mobile phones.
D) Mobile phone usage is growing faster in the United States.
Q2) Which of the following would be an example of information loss at a restaurant?
A) The chef realizes that the restaurant is out of the night's special but has no way to let the wait staff know before they take customers' orders.
B) A waiter is fired for refusing to abide by the dress code.
C) The manager and the hostess argue about what the décor should look like.
D) A waitress leaves to work at another restaurant because she heard the management is nicer.
Q3) The most common way that teens today "spend time" with their friends is by talking on the phone.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Social structures never change; they are constant fixtures of a society.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 5: Power
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the United States, "individual achievement" is the focus of the ideology behind the system of stratification. This idea, that individual effort determines one's lot in life,
A) implicitly justifies inequality.
B) promotes individual achievement.
C) improves the economy.
D) promotes justice.
Q2) ________ is a condition that exists when those in power have successfully spread their ideas-and marginalized alternative viewpoints-so that their perspectives and interests are accepted widely as being universal and true.
A) Feudalism
B) The Stockholm Syndrome
C) Hegemony
D) Social closure
Q3) Unlike in Europe, in the United States, class always corresponds with status.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Under the Indian caste system, people must marry within their own caste.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 6: Socialization
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is NOT part of the concept of the looking glass self?
A) our image as others see us
B) others making judgments or assessments of us
C) deciding how we view ourselves
D) experiencing a feeling based on our perceptions of others' judgments of us
Q2) Julie is a very independent, spontaneous individual. According to Mead, this is an example of which part of the self?
A) the "I" and the "me"
B) neither the "I" nor the "me"
C) the "I"
D) the "me"
Q3) What perspective examines how age, time, and place shape social identities?
A) the life course
B) functionalism
C) the looking glass self
D) symbolic interactionism
Q4) Social interaction produces physical changes in the brain itself.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 7: Interaction, Groups, and Organizations
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102 Verified Questions
102 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Neither Briana's employer nor her parents found the off-color joke that she and her friends bantered about on her Facebook page funny. This is an example of A) the iron law of oligarchy.
B) context collapse.
C) "back-stage" privacy.
D) impression management.
Q2) Which of the following illustrates the dynamics of an out-group?
A) An individual does not feel a connection to the out-group and tries to distance him/herself from its members.
B) An individual feels a strong connection to the out-group and sees them as role models.
C) An individual is part of an out-group but he/she really wants to be part of the in-group.
D) An individual is not part of the out-group but sees its members in a positive light.
Q3) One example of a dyad is a married couple who are also business partners.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 8: Deviance and Social Control
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which statement best describes racial disparity in the application of capital punishment?
A) African Americans account for over 40 percent of death row inmates.
B) Little racial disparity exists.
C) Hispanics are most disproportionately represented.
D) Whites are most likely to face capital punishment.
Q2) We mostly abide by the rules and norms imposed on us by our culture because nonconformity is typically punished and conformity rewarded. This social mechanism is referred to as
A) social control.
B) collective conscience.
C) implicit structure.
D) group solidarity.
Q3) Deviance can play a positive role in society.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Deviance contributes to change and innovation in society.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 9: Class and Global Inequality
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following occupations is NOT included in the middle class?
A) teacher
B) secretary
C) lawyer
D) social worker
Q2) What is the best match to Karl Marx's term "bourgeoisie"?
A) middle class
B) working class
C) capitalist class
D) upper class
Q3) Alex believes that people who are poor are lazy and do not want to work. He argues that anyone can be rich if they simply work hard enough. What concept reflects the argument he is making?
A) singularity
B) equal opportunity
C) individualism
D) meritocracy
Q4) Individuals who share similar lifestyles have the same individual mobility.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 10: Race and Ethnicity
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Sample Questions
Q1) Most native peoples in the United States identify themselves
A) as American Indians.
B) as Native Americans.
C) according to tribal heritage.
D) as Native Peoples.
Q2) In ancient Greece and Rome, slavery existed independent of race.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Very little prejudice and discrimination exists in contemporary society.
A)True
B)False
Q4) To which theoretical perspective does the split labor market theory belong?
A) conflict theory
B) symbolic interactionism
C) functionalism
D) feminist theory
Q5) There is only one human race, with no subcategories or subspecies.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 11: Gender and Sexuality
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Sample Questions
Q1) The way that we understand ourselves in terms of our sexual attractions to others is called our
A) sexuality.
B) sexual identity.
C) gender expression.
D) gender identity.
Q2) What concept deals with how working women take on primary responsibility for childcare and housework?
A) institutional sexism
B) gender stratification
C) the glass ceiling
D) the second shift
Q3) Which term refers to individuals who are born with a sex that cannot be clearly defined based on biological criteria?
A) intersexual people
B) mixed-sexed people
C) asexual people
D) two-spirit people
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13
Chapter 12: Family and Religion
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Sample Questions
Q1) Roger was raised in a Catholic family. When he went away to college, he practiced Catholicism for a short period of time. He was always interested in religion and felt that, at times, his religion did not provide enough answers for him. Roger decided that he would learn more about other world religions. For a short period, he practiced Buddhism. Roger found that while he had a belief in a higher power, he decided he wasn't interested in affiliating with a particular religion. He gave up Catholicism from his childhood and stopped practicing Buddhism as well. What does Roger's situation represent?
A) a growing movement of people who are unaffiliated with any religion
B) a growing group of people who experience a "crisis of religion"
C) an overall decline in the importance of Catholicism in the United States
D) an increasing American interest in Eastern religions
Q2) Which of the following is the LEAST common form of marriage in the world?
A) monogamy
B) polygamy
C) polyandry
D) polygyny
Q3) Nearly 50 percent of all first marriages end in divorce.
A)True
B)False
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Page 14
Chapter 13: Education and Work
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why do American companies outsource jobs to other countries?
A) They want to make their products more globally friendly.
B) They want to take advantage of cheaper labor costs in other countries.
C) There are not enough workers in the United States to meet the demand.
D) Labor costs in the United States are too low to generate quality workmanship.
Q2) How does managers' workplace power compare to professionals' workplace power?
A) Managers' power comes from control over daily routines, whereas professionals possess highly specialized skills.
B) Neither has much power in the workplace; almost all power resides in the owner of the firm.
C) Both derive power from the fact that they control the finances of a firm; money equates with power.
D) Professionals' power comes from control over daily routines, whereas managers possess highly specialized skills.
Q3) Which aspect of schooling would a functionalist study?
A) how the educational system fits into the larger society
B) how classmates interact with one another during gym
C) how property taxes pay for instruction and books
D) how schools perpetuate inequalities within society
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Page 15
Chapter 14: Media and Consumption
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which if the following is among the functions of the media?
A) source of information
B) agent of socialization
C) promoter of ideology
D) All these answers are correct.
Q2) Which of the following is true about consumption patterns worldwide?
A) As media have become globalized, participation in consumerism has grown to the point that all areas of the world participate equally as consumers.
B) Due to differences in available resources, people in the United States and other wealthy nations are more able to participate in consumerism than people in poorer nations.
C) There is a worldwide movement against the rise tide of consumerism; people are returning to more simple lifestyles.
D) Developing regions are now more consumerist than ever; their consumer habits are as extensive as richer Western countries.
Q3) Sociologists believe that the media only influence us as entertainment.
A)True
B)False
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16
Chapter 15: Communities, the Environment, and Health
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Sample Questions
Q1) Efforts to rehabilitate and upgrade a declining neighborhood for the purposes of attracting higher-income residents is referred to as
A) urban upgrade.
B) gentrification.
C) urban investment.
D) beautification.
Q2) Low population density and the privacy-oriented style of housing in the suburbs contribute to which phenomenon?
A) higher standard of living
B) social isolation
C) satisfaction and happiness
D) interconnectedness
Q3) According to Dunlap and Marshall, environmental problems are caused by A) natural climate cycles.
B) human social behavior.
C) unknown factors.
D) a combination natural factors.
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Chapter 16: Politics and the Economy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were funded primarily by small donors pledging online contributions.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The North Korean government is run by a central ruling party that severely restricts the civil liberties of its citizens. Which type of government does North Korea represent?
A) an absolute state
B) an absolute monarchy
C) an authoritarian government
D) a centralized government
Q3) What did Max Weber mean by the term social economics?
A) the calculating nature of social interaction
B) the interconnection between economy and social life
C) economics as a social science
D) systems of exchange in small-scale societies
Q4) The majority of the world's people live in full democracies.
A)True
B)False
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Page 18
Chapter 17: Social Change: Globalization, Population, and Social Movements
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which group most benefits from the principles of economic neoliberalism?
A) investors and capitalists
B) the working class
C) the government sector
D) marginal groups
Q2) ________ is essential to the success of today's social movements.
A) Effective communication
B) Large financial backing
C) Face-to-face contact
D) Access to mainstream media
Q3) Even though women today enjoy full equality in the workplace, they still collectively make significantly less money than men. This is evidence that while some beliefs and attitudes change,
A) they do not change fast enough.
B) they are replaced by new ones.
C) other structural patterns persist.
D) things really stay the same.
Q4) Population growth has been gradual and incremental throughout human history.
A)True
B)False
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