Society and the Individual Exam Practice Tests
Course Introduction
This course explores the complex relationship between society and the individual, examining how social structures, cultural norms, and institutions shape individual identities, behaviors, and experiences. Students will analyze key sociological theories and concepts such as socialization, conformity, agency, and deviance to understand how individuals both influence and are influenced by the societies in which they live. Through case studies, discussions, and critical analysis, the course encourages reflection on the interplay between personal autonomy and social expectations, as well as the impact of social change on individual lives.
Recommended Textbook
You May Ask Yourself An Introduction to Thinking Like a Sociologist Core 4th Edition by Dalton Conley
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Chapter 1: The Sociological Imagination: An Introduction
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Q1) American sociology in the United States began at which of the following universities?
A) American University
B) University of Chicago
C) New York University (NYU)
D) Columbia University
Answer: B
Q2) Discuss the main ideas of postmodernism.
Answer: Postmodernism argues that,unlike what symbolic interactionists believe are shared meanings,no shared meanings exist any longer-everything is open to multiple meanings and interpretations.In other words,postmodernists believe that everything in society is socially constructed so that all organizing narratives are broken down because they aren't objective.
Q3) The "grand narrative" that constitutes a social identity:
A) is nothing more than a sum of individual stories told between pairs of individuals. B) remains the same throughout time.
C) can only be defined by the individual him- or herself.
D) is best displayed online on Myspace and Facebook.
Answer: A
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Chapter 2: Methods
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Q1) A potential shortcoming of survey research is that surveys:
A) tend to focus more on what people do than what they say.
B) rely on people's honesty and willingness to cooperate.
C) cannot reflect the total population.
D) cannot be used on large populations.
Answer: B
Q2) Elizabeth would like to conduct a study to determine how women define spousal abuse and the meanings they attach to their abuse.What research method will Elizabeth most likely use?
A) quantitative
B) inductive
C) qualitative
D) deductive
Answer: C
Q3) A variable that is thought to be influenced by another variable is known as the:
A) dependent variable.
B) independent variable.
C) key independent variable.
D) spurious variable.
Answer: A
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Chapter 3: Culture and Media
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Q1) An element of nonmaterial culture known as ____________ is a system of concepts and relationships sometimes used to understand cause and effect.
A) high art
B) ideology
C) cultural relativism
D) concentric framing
Answer: B
Q2) If you are a member of a subculture,like the goth subculture,you can be sure that the meaning of certain words and the behavior of the members:
A) can be different within the group.
B) will remain consistent across the group.
C) will differ greatly from the dominant culture.
D) will remain consistent for several years and then change across the groups.
Answer: A
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Chapter 4: Socialization and the Construction of Reality
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Q1) Although there are many agents of socialization,four of the primary ones,according to the textbook,are:
A) television, music, videos, and books.
B) schools, the military, colleges, and day care centers.
C) peers, religion, sororities, and fraternities.
D) family, schools, peers, and media.
Q2) According to Goffman,when there is a breach (mistake)in an established script,people generally do which of the following?
A) point out the mistake so they can make others look bad
B) point out the mistake so they can feel superior
C) work hard to repair the mistake so everyone can move forward
D) work hard to repair the mistake only if they know the person really well
Q3) According to Goffman,we all try to make good impressions on others and we actively work to ensure that others believe they are doing the same.He calls this:
A) resocialization.
B) the generalized other.
C) impression management.
D) controlling one's environment.
Q4) List and give an example of each of the four main agents of socialization.
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Chapter 5: Groups and Networks
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Q1) Sets of dyads held together by ties between the individuals are known as:
A) triads.
B) social networks.
C) primary groups.
D) reference groups.
Q2) Why might acquaintances prove to be more important in the job search process than our family and friends (as is argued in the "strength of weak ties" thesis)? Make sure you discuss how/why embeddedness matters.
Q3) The characteristics of a formal structure and status differentiation are essential to which of Simmel's types of groups?
A) triads
B) small groups
C) parties
D) large groups
Q4) Define in-groups and out-groups,and give one example of each.
Q5) Define social capital and give two examples of it.
Q6) What is isomorphism? Give one example.
Q7) Distinguish between the terms organizational culture and organizational structure.
Page 7
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Chapter 6: Social Control and Deviance
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Q1) Violation of laws enacted by society is also known as:
A) informal deviance.
B) unofficial deviance.
C) crimes.
D) secondary deviance.
Q2) One of the major changes associated with the modern prison system is:
A) the shift from "violence against the body" to "reforming the soul."
B) the shift from private to public punishments.
C) reduced public spending on prisons.
D) the rise of the prison as a "total institution."
Q3) Durkheim's theory and research on deviance fall within which of the main sociological theories?
A) functionalist
B) symbolic interactionist
C) conflict
D) feminist
Q4) Briefly discuss the effect of the mass incarceration that has resulted from the War on Drugs.
Q5) Explain Merton's strain theory of deviance and list each adaptation to anomie.Refer to "means" and "goals."
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Chapter 7: Stratification
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Q1) How does the status-attainment model help us understand social mobility?
Q2) Hegel argued that notions of inequality are constantly evolving in a larger historical arc and will eventually lead to:
A) conflict.
B) anomie.
C) equality.
D) organization.
Q3) What is another term for the nonworking poor?
A) mentally challenged
B) proletariat
C) deserving poor
D) underclass
Q4) Ferguson and Millar saw social developments resulting from the establishment of private property as representing a huge improvement in society because private property leads to higher degrees of social organization and:
A) individuals.
B) efficiency.
C) incentives.
D) bureaucracy.
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Chapter 8: Gender
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Q1) According to Talcott Parsons,the nuclear family is the ideal arrangement in modern society because it fulfills the function of reproducing workers and the division of labor ensures a stable society.What did Parsons call this theory?
A) sex role theory
B) gender role theory
C) patriarchal theory
D) structural functional theory
Q2) What percentage of teenagers over the age of 14 admit they have had sexual intercourse?
A) just under 10 percent
B) just under 25 percent
C) just under 50 percent
D) just under 75 percent
Q3) Which theoretical perspective assumed that every society had certain structures that existed to fulfill some set of necessary functions?
A) structural functionalism
B) social conflict
C) symbolic interaction
D) functional hierarchy
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Page 10
Chapter 9: Race
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Q1) The majority of the Latinos in the United States come from:
A) Puerto Rico.
B) Cuba.
C) Mexico.
D) the Dominican Republic.
Q2) Aristotle's principle of civic association was that the true test of people's worth was in what they did,not who they were.All people were included in this EXCEPT:
A) brown-skinned people.
B) women.
C) whites.
D) nonwhites.
Q3) Prejudice is to discrimination as thinking is to:
A) manifesting.
B) developing.
C) doing.
D) being.
Q4) Explain the difference between prejudice and discrimination.Describe Merton's diagram for explaining the intersections of prejudice and discrimination.Give examples of each cell.
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Chapter 10: Poverty
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Q1) When the official poverty line was first set,food made up the largest percentage of household budgets.In today's society,what now makes up the largest percentage?
A) transportation
B) housing
C) heating homes
D) health care
Q2) You are a policy maker interested in reducing behavioral problems among school-age children on Native American reservations.Based on results of a study of the Cherokee Nation,which of the following proposals will you make?
A) implement a program of alcohol and drug counseling among expectant mothers
B) legalize gambling, and allow the tribe to retain the profits
C) raise the minimum wage on the reservation
D) make the work requirements for receiving welfare more stringent
Q3) A higher Gini coefficient score means:
A) more inequality.
B) less inequality.
C) higher poverty.
D) lower poverty.
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Chapter 11: Health and Society
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Q1) If state and federal health care plans don't change,which of the following can you look forward to when you turn 65?
A) SCHIP
B) Medicaid
C) Medicare
D) HMOs
Q2) Since 1981,AIDS has killed more than ____________ Americans.
A) 500,000
B) 1 million
C) 10 million
D) 25 million
Q3) Which federal government program for children matches the state funding while still allowing states to set their own criteria for eligibility and control the disbursement of funds?
A) the State Children's Health Insurance Plan
B) Medicaid
C) Medicare
D) HMOs
Q4) What are the signs that doctors' authority is declining? How does this affect you?
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Chapter 12: Family (in Core edition)
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Q1) Which of the following is true regarding motherhood in the Zambian culture?
A) Zambian mothers nurture daughters in similar ways to Western mothers.
B) Zambian mothers are far more nurturing than Western mothers.
C) Zambian mothers don't nurture their daughters in the way that Western mothers do.
D) There are no consistent observations of Zambian motherhood.
Q2) Neoclassical economists typically look at a member's power in the family as a direct expression of that member's utility to the family unit.This measure of power tends to be based on gender and:
A) physical size.
B) intelligence.
C) vocational skills.
D) income.
Q3) Define what Hochschild and others call the supermom strategy,and discuss one possible negative consequence.
Q4) Approximately what percentage of U.S.marriages ends in divorce?
A) 10 percent
B) 25 percent
C) 40 percent
D) 75 percent
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Chapter 13: Education
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Q1) One of the most interesting findings from the Coleman Report was that:
A) when upper-status students went to school with fewer lower-class students, their grades fell.
B) when lower-class students went to school with more upper-status students, their grades improved.
C) when males and females were separated in classes, both groups' grades improved. D) when all students were on vacation during the summer, they all lost ground with regard to knowledge.
Q2) Though she graduated from high school,Jenny does not possess the skills necessary to balance her checkbook or make change for a customer without the aid of a cash register.Jenny is:
A) undereducated.
B) unschooled.
C) innumerate.
D) functionally illiterate.
Q3) The Coleman Report (1966)was twelve years after Brown v.Board of Education.Did the study uphold the idea that schools were "separate but unequal"? Explain.
Q4) What factors inside classrooms can affect students' learning experiences?
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Chapter 14: Capitalism and the Economy
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Q1) Adam Smith argues that money is inherently social because:
A) it requires an employment relationship between an employer and employee.
B) it requires complex social and governmental institutions to ensure that markets work properly.
C) any and all economic exchange requires two partners.
D) economic activity involves cooperation and even collusion among many participants.
Q2) Karl has been hired to paint a house blue,but he mixes the color wrong,and it turns out purple instead of blue.Under which wage system(s)would he be responsible for paying for new paint?
A) piecework and payment in kind
B) wage labor
C) payment in kind
D) piecework
Q3) The personal bankruptcy rate in America is higher than it has ever been.Why? Do any theories or theorists help explain this trend?
Q4) The service sector is considered the most important and recent change in the American economy.Discuss this change along with the development of globalization.
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Chapter 15: Authority and the State
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Q1) The president vetoes a bill although there is disharmony among supporters.This is an example of:
A) domination.
B) control.
C) power.
D) authority.
Q2) Which kind of rights give the state the responsibility to interfere in its citizens' lives?
A) civil
B) political
C) social
D) individual
Q3) Until places like Somalia are recognized by other states and international institutions such as the United Nations,they will remain:
A) integrated into the world.
B) in poverty.
C) without economic help from the United Nations.
D) self-proclaimed nation-states.
Q4) Compare and contrast hard power and soft power,using examples.
Q5) Explain why Weber's definition of state does not fit many African states.
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Chapter 16: Religion
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Q1) The ____________ population of the United States has grown since the 1960s due to immigration from countries like Indonesia,India,Pakistan,and Bangladesh,along with countries in the Middle East.
A) Hindu
B) Muslim
C) secular
D) fundamentalist
Q2) According to Durkheim,religion is created by ____________,and religious expressions represent ____________.
A) hardship; delusions
B) a higher being; the will of God
C) sacred power; individual desires
D) social interaction; collective realities
Q3) In a battle between church and state,what did the French government ban in 2004?
A) the wearing of head scarves in Paris
B) prayers in school, the courtroom, and other public buildings
C) marijuana smoking as a religious activity
D) the wearing of religious garb or conspicuous symbols in its public schools
Q4) Is religion a strictly integrative force?
Q5) What is the sect-church cycle? How can this help us understand social change?
Page 18
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Chapter 17: Science, the Environment, and Society
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Q1) The term used to describe how a well-known scientist is more likely to be credited with a particular scientific discovery than lesser-known colleagues is:
A) the hierarchy rule.
B) prestige seniority.
C) science wars.
D) the Matthew effect.
Q2) Sometimes meat and poultry aren't labeled organic even though they come from free-range animals raised without growth hormones or antibiotics.This is because:
A) small farmers are moving into cities and leaving their organic farms behind.
B) the guidelines as to what is an organic farm have not yet been established by the government.
C) maintaining an organic farm with U.S. Department of Agriculture certification is expensive; many farmers can't comply because of this.
D) it is difficult to keep cattle and chickens fenced in; therefore, they could be contaminated by other animals.
Q3) What are the benefits and risks of genetically modified organisms? Do you think the benefits outweigh the risks?
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Chapter 18: Collective Action, Social Movements, and Social Change
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Q1) New technologies like the Internet and social media are major contributors to rapid social:
A) unrest.
B) change.
C) deviance.
D) coalescence.
Q2) ____________ social movements advocate the radical reorganization of society.
A) Revolutionary
B) Alterative
C) Redemptive
D) Reformative
Q3) An example of an emotional attachment that results from sharing a group affiliation with another could be:
A) two women who have children with disabilities.
B) going to the same school.
C) a person who has a learning disability.
D) living in the same house.
Q4) What is a social movement? Describe the four types of social movements and give examples.
Page 20
Q5) What are the two types of collective action? Give examples of membership.
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