Survey of Sociology Test Preparation
Course Introduction
This course offers an introduction to the fundamental concepts, theories, and methods of sociology. Students will explore the structure and dynamics of society, examining key topics such as culture, socialization, social groups, institutions, social stratification, race, gender, and deviance. Through the analysis of real-world issues and case studies, the course highlights how sociological perspectives help us understand human behavior, social change, and the impact of social forces on individuals and communities. Designed for students from all disciplines, this course provides a foundational understanding of the role of society in shaping our everyday lives.
Recommended Textbook
Sociology 14th Edition by John J. Macionis
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24 Chapters
3010 Verified Questions
3010 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: The Sociological Perspective
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186 Verified Questions
186 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Read the following four statements about social patterns we find in the world as a whole. Which statement is FALSE?
A)The world is now home to 7 billion people.
B)A majority of the world's people live in Asia.
C)People in the United States make up one-third of the global population.
D)Less than 10 percent of the world's people have completed a college degree.
Answer: C
Q2) We would expect the sociological perspective to be most likely to develop in a place that was
A)very traditional.
B)experiencing many social changes.
C)very poor.
D)small and socially isolated.
Answer: B
Q3) Sociological research shows that all categories of people have had the same opportunities to participate in sports.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Sociological Investigation
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133 Verified Questions
133 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) With regard to the process of measurement, which of the following statements is true?
A)For measurement to be reliable, it must be valid.
B)For measurement to be valid, it must be reliable.
C)All measurement is both reliable and valid.
D)Measurement cannot be both reliable and valid.
Answer: B
Q2) What research method was used in Philip Zimbardo's study, the "Stanford County Prison"?
A)an experiment
B)a survey
C)participant observation
D)secondary analysis
Answer: A
Q3) Gender blindness is the problem of failing to consider the importance of gender in sociological research.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Culture
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146 Verified Questions
146 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Subculture is more at odds with dominant culture than counterculture.
A)True
B)False Answer: False
Q2) Cultural transmission cannot take place unless people have a written language. A)True
B)False Answer: False
Q3) Cultural lag refers to the fact that some cultural elements change more quickly than others.
A)True
B)False Answer: True
Q4) For at least 12,000 years, humans have used culture as a strategy for survival.
REMEMBER;
A)True
B)False Answer: True
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Society
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142 Verified Questions
142 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Marx looked forward to the transformation of capitalism into a more equal and humane society that he called socialism.
A)True B)False
Q2) Marx argued that industrial-capitalist societies had two main divisions: capitalists and proletarians.
A)True B)False
Q3) What would Marx propose as a solution to the problem of alienation? What would Weber propose as a solution to the same problem as he understood it? What would Durkheim propose as a solution to the problem of anomie? Which of these three problems do you think is the most serious in today's world? Why? How might you address these three issues?
Q4) Weber viewed rationality as a liberating force that would free the human spirit. REMEMBER;
A)True B)False
Q5) Identify the seven traits that define rational social organization, according to Max Weber.What makes these traits "rational"?
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Chapter 5: Socialization
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115 Verified Questions
115 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) U.S.school children spend about as much time in front of a television as they do at school or interacting with their parents.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Based on everything you have read in this chapter, write an essay in which you state your own position on the degree to which human beings can claim to have freedom.Provide specific references to chapter material in your essay.
Q3) In Freud's model of personality, the superego manages the opposing forces of the id and the ego.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Thinking about how patterns of child-rearing vary by class, lower-class parents generally stress _____, while well-to-do parents typically stress _____.
A)independence; protecting children
B)independence; dependence
C)obedience; creativity
D)creativity; obedience
Q5) Note one criticism often made of Erik Erikson's "Stages of Development" theory.
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Chapter 6: Social Interaction in Everyday Life
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125 Verified Questions
125 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) "Personal space" refers to A)owned property, such as a house or land.
B)unowned space in a public place.
C)the surrounding area over which an individual makes some claim to privacy.
D)a feeling of needing isolation from others.
Q2) When interacting with people of an unfamiliar cultural background, A)telling jokes is a good way to "break the ice."
B)we find people everywhere enjoy many of the same jokes.
C)we find that some cultures do not have humor.
D)what is funny to people in one society may not be funny to those from another society.
Q3) A "role set" refers to all the roles a person has over the course of a lifetime. A)True
B)False
Q4) Explain the difference between an ascribed status and an achieved status.Give examples of statuses that are mostly ascribed and those that are mostly achieved.
Q5) A person's racial or ethnic identity is an ascribed status.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 7: Groups and Organizations
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126 Verified Questions
126 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) If you were a prisoner, a maximum-security prison would be which of the following types of organizations from your point of view?
A)a normative organization
B)a coercive organization
C)a utilitarian organization
D)a voluntary organization
Q2) The concept "bureaucracy" refers to
A)a large, normative organization.
B)any source of inefficiency in organizational operation.
C)an organizational model that operates informally.
D)an organizational model rationally designed to perform tasks efficiently.
Q3) As groups increase in size, interaction between members becomes more intense and personal.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The "McDonaldization" of society thesis echoes Weber's belief that rational systems are efficient, but also dehumanizing.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 8: Sexuality and Society
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113 Verified Questions
113 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Assume that you are investigating the consequences of the incest taboo for kinship organization in a number of societies.Which theoretical approach are you using?
A)the structural-functional approach
B)the symbolic-interaction approach
C)the social-conflict approach
D)queer theory
Q2) A majority of adults in the United States report at least some homosexual experience.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Is it possible for a society to exist without clear-cut categories of "female" and "male"? If so, describe what such a society would be like.If not, explain why not.
Q4) Apply the three theoretical approaches to the topic of sexuality.What are important insights provided by the structural-functional, symbolic-interaction, and social-conflict approaches?
Q5) Homophobia refers to a fear of sexuality.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 9: Deviance
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119 Verified Questions
119 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following refers to the illegal actions of a corporation or people acting on its behalf?
A)corporate crime
B)organized crime
C)victimless crime
D)secondary deviance
Q2) The "medicalization of deviance" idea points to the fact that most crimes are committed by people who are under the influence of an illegal drug.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Whether people respond to deviance as a moral issue or a medical matter affects which of the following?
A)who responds-police or medical personnel
B)whether the person is subject to punishment or treatment
C)how personally competent the person is assumed to be
D)All of these are correct.
Q4) Define each of the following: white-collar crime, corporate crime, organized crime, and hate crime.
Q5) Define due process, plea bargaining, and community-based corrections.
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Chapter 10: Social Stratification
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122 Verified Questions
122 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Compared to the U.S.society, Japanese society exhibits more caste elements.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Read the four statements below.Which one of these statements about stratification is NOT true?
A)Social stratification is a trait of society.
B)Social stratification is universal and also variable.
C)A family's social standing typically changes a great deal from generation to generation.
D)Social stratification is a matter of inequality and also beliefs about why people should be unequal.
Q3) What concept describes a person who moves from one occupation to another that provides about the same level of rewards?
A)upward social mobility
B)downward social mobility
C)horizontal social mobility
D)This is not social mobility at all.
Q4) What is meritocracy? What part does it play in class systems?
Q5) Explain how social stratification shapes patterns of social interaction.
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Chapter 11: Social Class in the United States
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122 Verified Questions
122 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The concept of "intergenerational social mobility" refers to change in social position
A)over a person's lifetime
B)when moving from one type of job to another.
C)in a downward direction.
D)comparing children to their parents.
Q2) In 2009, the percentage of all poor families in the United States headed by single women was
A)8 percent.
B)28 percent.
C)48 percent.
D)78 percent.
Q3) What were some of the consequences of the 1996 welfare reform in the United States? To what extent would you say that this reform was or was not successful?
Q4) The concept "conspicuous consumption" refers to
A)buying things that are popular with the most people.
B)buying more than what you need for the moment.
C)the practice of buying things to make a statement about one's social position.
D)acting as if one had a lower social position than is really the case.
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Page 13
Chapter 12: Global Stratification
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115 Verified Questions
115 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Some critics claim that modernization theory
A)ignores how rich nations prevent the economic development of poor nations.
B)amounts to an attack on capitalism.
C)treats rich and poor societies as linked.
D)All of these are correct.
Q2) Huge businesses that operate in many different countries are called multinational corporations.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Modernization theory claims that
A)poor nations can never become rich in today's world.
B)the main causes of poverty involve culture and technology.
C)the main causes of poverty involve multinational corporations.
D)most poor nations were richer in the past.
Q4) Modernization theory focuses on the production of wealth, while dependency theory focuses on the distribution of wealth.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Identify and define four types of slavery found in today's world.
Q6) Describe the distribution of income for the world as a whole.
Page 14
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Chapter 13: Gender Stratification
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120 Verified Questions
120 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the United States, on average, males live longer than females.
A)True
B)False
Q2) A majority of U.S.women in which of the following categories enter the labor force?
A)married women with children
B)single women with children
C)divorced women with children
D)All of these are correct.
Q3) George Murdock found that, in the case of many tasks, what one society considers "masculine" another may consider "feminine."
A)True
B)False
Q4) In the United States today, two-thirds of physicians are women.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What three factors account for most of the income disparity between women and men?
Q6) The socialization process links gender to personal identity
Q7) What is the importance of the term "glass ceiling"?
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Chapter 14: Race and Ethnicity
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130 Verified Questions
130 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Conflict theory states that prejudice is
A)a tool used by powerful people to oppress others.
B)built in to culture itself.
C)common among immigrants.
D)common among certain people with rigid personalities.
Q2) While prejudice is a matter of _____, discrimination is a matter of _____.
A)biology; culture
B)attitude; action
C)choice; social structure
D)abnormality; what a society considers normal
Q3) Scapegoat theory holds that the most powerful people in a society are the most likely to hold prejudices.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Human beings are all members of
A)a single biological species.
B)various species, depending on color.
C)various species, depending on cultural background.
D)various species, depending on where in the world they live.
Q5) What is the "trend toward mixture" in terms of race in the United States?
Page 16
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Chapter 15: Aging and the Elderly
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124 Verified Questions
124 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Age stratification refers to inequality among elderly people.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Activity theory states that a high level of activity enhances personal satisfaction in old age.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Social isolation is a greater problem for elderly women than for elderly men.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Elderly people were more likely to retire a century ago than they are today.
A)True
B)False
Q5) In today's society, most deaths occur in
A)impersonal settings such as hospitals or nursing homes.
B)the homes of people's children.
C)a person's own home.
D)a hospice.
Q6) What is age stratification? What is a gerontocracy?
Q7) Why is social isolation a greater problem for aging women than aging men?
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Chapter 16: The Economy and Work
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117 Verified Questions
117 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The social thinker whose ideas most supported the operation of a free-market economy was
A)Thorstein Veblen.
B)Adam Smith.
C)Karl Marx.
D)Max Weber.
Q2) Socialist economies create greater economic equality than capitalist economies, but with a lower overall living standard.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Monopoly refers to a corporation that operates within a single sector of the economy.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The concepts "primary sector," "secondary sector," and "tertiary sector" refer to how productive a sector is in terms of economic value.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What is a profession? What are four characteristics of professional work?
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Chapter 17: Politics and Government
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112 Verified Questions
112 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of all U.S.wars was the most deadly in terms of loss of
A)the Civil War
B)World War I
C)World War II
D)the War in Iraq
Q2) Special interest groups represent liberal interests, while political action committees represent conservative interests.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Terrorism refers to
A)the use of military force by a nation state.
B)the use or threat of violence as a political strategy by an individual or group.
C)organized, armed conflict between groups.
D)unorganized, violent conflict between any two parties.
Q4) Nuclear proliferation is the process by which the two superpowers engage in an arms race.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What is terrorism? What is state terrorism?
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Chapter 18: Families
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Sample Questions
Q1) The incest taboo
A)exists only in industrial societies.
B)is found in all societies.
C)is found among all living species.
D)All of these are correct.
Q2) A system of marriage that unites one woman with two or more men is called
A)polygyny.
B)polygamy.
C)polyandry.
D)All of these are correct.
Q3) Bilateral descent is found in societies that have a relatively high level of gender equality.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Jessie Bernard claimed that women would be happier in marriage if men did not expect them to do almost all the housework.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Why do more of U.S.households contain a single person?
Q6) In what specific ways does social class affect families and family life?
Page 20
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Chapter 19: Religion
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117 Verified Questions
117 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The symbolic-interaction approach treats religion as socially constructed meaning that provides greater certainty and security for our lives.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Buddhists are a majority of people in which of the following countries?
A)India
B)Saudi Arabia
C)Japan
D)Canada
Q3) Ritual refers to activity in which the sacred is embodied in formal, ceremonial behavior.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What is secularization? Do you consider secularization to be a positive or negative development? Why?
Q5) What factors lead some analysts to characterize the United States as a "post-denominational" society? How do "seekers" pursue spirituality without being connected to traditional religious organizations?
Q6) What is Max Weber's thesis regarding Protestantism and the rise of capitalism?
Page 21
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Chapter 20: Education
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113 Verified Questions
113 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What percentage of U.S.adults are high school graduates? College graduates? How have these percentages changed over the last century?
Q2) Research suggests that the level of functional illiteracy in the United States may be about what share of young people who leave secondary school?
A)about one in eight B)about one in twenty C)about one in fifty D)about one in one hundred
Q3) In the United States today, about what percentage of the adult population has a high school diploma?
A)47 percent
B)67 percent
C)87 percent
D)97 percent
Q4) Because the United States is so rich, almost 90 percent of students attend private schools.
A)True
B)False
Q5) How is the development of schooling linked to economic development?
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Chapter 21: Health and Medicine
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements about the "right to die" is true?
A)Voters in Oregon approved a physician-assisted suicide law.
B)The U.S.Supreme Court has stated that there is no "right to die."
C)Physician-assisted suicide is legal in the Netherlands.
D)All of these are correct.
Q2) Social epidemiology is the study of how health and disease are distributed throughout a society's population.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Following the social-conflict approach, patterns of health and illness are seen largely as a product of A)technology.
B)how people define the situation they experience.
C)how culture defines health and illness.
D)social inequality.
Q4) Discuss the "right to die" debate.How has modern technology created this debate in the first place? What are the arguments for legal euthanasia? What are the arguments against it? Which side do you find more convincing? Why?
Q5) Describe several reasons for the shortage of nurses in the United States.
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Chapter 22: Population, Urbanization, and Environment
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127 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) About how long ago in history did the first cities emerge?
A)10,000 years ago
B)4,000 years ago
C)2,000 years ago
D)1,000 years ago
Q2) Which of the following statements expresses the "logic of growth"?
A)Material affluence is dangerous to humanity.
B)Technology and human ingenuity will continue to improve our lives.
C)Quality of life on the Earth is declining.
D)Growth makes no sense because we cannot sustain it indefinitely.
Q3) What is "environmental racism"?
Q4) It would be fair to say that Malthus was a pessimist about the future of the world. A)True
B)False
Q5) Why are environmentalists concerned about the loss of the planet's rainforests?
Q6) In general, low-income countries grow as much from immigration as from natural increase.
A)True
B)False
Page 24
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Chapter 23: Collective Behavior and Social Movements
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132 Verified Questions
132 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What are three reasons that collective behavior is difficult to study?
Q2) As the "Paul is Dead" story in the box about the Beatles illustrates, rumor thrives in a climate of
A)uncertainty.
B)relative deprivation.
C)officials taking decisive action.
D)All of these are correct.
Q3) Which of the following is NOT a form of collective behavior?
A)a fad
B)mass hysteria
C)a deviant subculture
D)public opinion
Q4) What condition or situation in the world today calls out for a social movement aimed at change? Why is change necessary? What would you do to help bring about this change?
Q5) What are three key differences between "collectivities" and "social groups"?
Q6) What are five categories of crowds? Give an example of each.
Q7) What is claims making? Why is this process important to the success of a social movement?
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Q8) What is the difference between "rumor" and "gossip"? Give an example of each.
Chapter 24: Social Change: Traditional
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Sample Questions
Q1) Karl Marx considered the defining trait of modern society to be capitalism.
A)True
B)False
Q2) David Riesman described other-directed social character as which of the following?
A)openness to the latest fashions and fads
B)rigid conformity to established ways of life
C)being highly individualistic
D)All of these are correct.
Q3) Comparing various social changes, we correctly conclude that A)all changes are planned.
B)fads have the greatest importance.
C)most changes go completely unnoticed by people.
D)some changes matter more than others.
Q4) Emile Durkheim claimed that the defining trait of modernity was A)faith in established tradition.
B)kinship.
C)common beliefs.
D)an increasing division of labor.
Q5) What are Peter Berger's four major characteristics of modernization?
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