Developing a Sociological Perspective
CHAPTER 1
DEVELOPING A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Multiple Choice Questions
What Is Sociology?
1. Sociologists define the discipline of sociology as:
A. the study of human development
B. the methods of gathering data–sociology uses empirical observations while the others do not
C. the study of human behavior in society
D. the study of personality types
ANS: C PG: 2 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
2. Social commentary is distinct from sociology because:
A. it describes behavior in society.
B. it focuses on topics such as race relations, gender, etc.
C. it is based on someone’s opinion, rather than research.
D. it appears on television, whereas serious scholars never do.
ANS: C PG: 2 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
3. The benefits of studying sociology for students include:
A. increased awareness of society and its components.
B. encourages active and informed citizens.
C. aids in interpretation of daily life.
D. all of the above.
ANS: D PG: 2 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
4. A comparison of sociology and psychology reveals that:
A. psychologists are interested in individuals—sociologists are not
B. the unit of analysis for psychology is the individual and groups while for sociologists it is society (the whole configuration of group life)
C. from the sociological point of view, psychological explanations are not only incomplete—they are flat out wrong
D. there are no major differences between the two disciplines
ANS: B PGS: 3-4 TYP: COMPREHENSION
5. Anthropology differs from sociology to the extent that:
A. sociology focuses on culture—anthropology does not
B. anthropologists tend to study cultures other than their own
C. sociologists study faraway and remote cultures more than anthropologists do
D. anthropologists use participant observation as a data gathering device while sociologists do not
ANS: B PG: 4 TYP: COMPREHENSION
6. Sociologists refer to an established, organized system of social behavior with a recognized purpose as a:
A. social institution
B. culture complex
C. social construct
D. social telesis
ANS: A PG: 4 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
7. The field which draws from the social sciences to serve people in need, and generally addresses the needs of individuals is known as:
A. sociology
B. social work
C. anthropology
D. economics
ANS: B PG: 4 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
The Sociological Imagination
8. Which sociologist is associated with the concept, “the sociological imagination?”
A. C. Wright Mills
B. Max Weber
C. Emile Durkheim
D. Charles Murray
ANS: A PG: 5 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
9. A fundamental concept for organizing the sociological imagination is the distinction that Mills made between:
A. mechanical and organic solidarity
B. “troubles” and “issues”
C. the gemeinschaft and the gesellschaft
D. social status and social dynamics
ANS: B PG: 5 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
10. The organized pattern of social relationships and social institutions which together constitute society is referred to as:
A. social interaction
B. social structure
C. social institution
D. social change
ANS: B PG: 5 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
11. According to Mills, the specific task of sociology is to:
A. make people aware of the exploitation of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie
B. identify the inevitable worker alienation associated with bureaucracy
C. enable people to comprehend the whole of human society¾its personal and public dimensions; historical and contemporary, and its influence on the lives of human beings
D. make people aware of the value of using “verstehen” to understand social behavior from the point of view of those who engaged in it
ANS: C PG: 6 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
12. The empirical approach to knowledge requires that conclusions be based on:
A. careful and systematic observations
B. previous assumptions
C. common sense
D. personal experiences
ANS: A PG: 7 TYP: COMPREHENSION
13. Peter Berger called the process whereby sociologists question actions and ideas that are usually taken for granted:
A. “unmasking”
B. “verstehen”
C. “objectification”
D. “debunking”
ANS: D PG: 7 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
14. Examining the commonly held assumption that education helps people learn and get ahead is an example of:
A. empirical research
B. social commentary
C. debunking
D. marginal distance
ANS: C PG: 7 TYP: COMPREHENSION
15. Seeing past the cultural beliefs established in any society requires stepping back, detaching oneself from unquestioned engagement in everyday life, and establishing:
A. critical distance
B. social distance
C. cultural distance
D. marginal distance
ANS: A PG: 8 TYP: COMPREHENSION
16. Which of the following is true about marginality?
A. To be effective as a sociologist one needs to be a marginal person
B. Marginality has often provided the critical distance necessary to inspire a thriving sociological imagination
C. Marginality is often the obstacle to developing critical distance
D. Simmel’s work suggests that marginality blurs one’s objectivity in assessing a social situation
ANS: B PG: 8 TYP: COMPREHENSION
17. Georg Simmel is a sociologist concerned with studying:
A. the role of insiders in society.
B. the role of strangers in social groups.
C. the role of the sociological imagination.
D. the role of social commentary on society.
ANS: B PG: 8 TYP: COMPREHENSION
The Significance of Diversity
18. Factors which influence the regional distribution of racial-ethnic groups in the United States include:
A. history of slavery
B. urban migration
C. forced relocation
D. all of the above
ANS: D PG: 10 (MAP 1.1) TYP: KNOWLEDGE
19. According to the maps on diversity in your textbook, African Americans have a substantial presence in which region of the United States?
A. South-eastern
B. South-western
C. North-eastern
D. North-western
ANS: A PG: 10 (MAP 1.1) TYP: COMPREHENSION
20. According to the maps on diversity in your textbook, the Hispanic population has a substantial presence in which region of the United States?
A. South-eastern
B. South-western
C. North-eastern
D. North-western
ANS: B PG: 10 (MAP 1.1) TYP: COMPREHENSION
21. According to the maps on diversity in your textbook, the White population has a substantial presence in which region of the United States?
A. Southern
B. Western
C. Eastern
D. all of the above
ANS: D PG: 10 (MAP 1.1) TYP: COMPREHENSION
22. The variety of group experiences that result from the social structure of society is referred to by sociologists as:
A. social change
B. diversity
C. formation of group identity
D. formation of individual identity
ANS: B PG: 11 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
23. Which of the following is an important dimension of diversity in the United States?
A. class
B. race
C. gender
D. all of the above
ANS: D PG: 11 TYP: COMPREHENSION
24. A variety of factors differentiate the experience of diverse groups in the United States, including:
A. nationality
B. region of residence
C. religion
D. all of the above
ANS: D PG: 11 TYP: COMPREHENSION
The Development of Sociology
25. Sociology first emerged as a discipline during the 18th and 19th centuries in:
A. the United States
B. western Europe
C. South America
D. There is no one geographic area or region in particular associated with the emergence of sociology as a discipline
ANS: B PG: 14 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
26. The Enlightenment had an enormous influence on the development of modern sociology because of:
A. the spread of socialism
B. the influence of religion as a system of authority and law
C. its faith in the ability of human reason to solve society’s problems
D. all of the above
ANS: C PG: 14 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
27. The system of thought that emerged during the Enlightenment which argued that accurate observation and description is considered the highest form of knowledge is:
A. positivism
B. organicism
C. humanitarianism
D. scientology
ANS: A PG: 14 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
28. A product of the Enlightenment that had a significant influence on the development of modern sociology was/were:
A. a faith in the ability of human reason to solve society’s problems
B. positivism
C. humanitarianism
D. all of the above
ANS: D PG: 14 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
29. The philosophy that human reason can successfully direct social change for the betterment of society is called:
A. egalitarianism
B. humanism
C. humanitarianism
D. secularism
ANS: C PG: 14 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
30. The classic sociologist who coined the term sociology and first elaborated the positivist basis of sociology was:
A. Auguste Comte
B. Alexis de Tocqueville
C. Harriet Martineau
D. Emile Durkheim
ANS: A PG: 14 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
31. Which of the following statements is true about Auguste Comte?
A. He was greatly influenced by Emile Durkheim
B. He was the husband of Harriet Martineau and, like his wife, supported feminist ideology
C. He believed that scientific knowledge developed in stages, with sociology being the most highly evolved
D. Much of his work is the result of his friendship and collaboration with Karl Marx
ANS: C PG: 14 TYP: COMPREHENSION
32. Alexis de Tocqueville referred to the ability of the majority to impose its will on everyone else in a democracy as:
A. the “tyranny of the masses”
B. “unenlightened despotism”
C. “manifest destiny”
D. the “tyranny of the majority”
ANS: D PG: 14 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
33. Alexis de Tocqueville and Harriet Martineau were alike in that both were:
A. abolitionists who feared that slavery would tear a society apart
B. feminists who were concerned about the subordination of women
C. fascinated by the newly emerging culture in America
D. symbolic interactionists
ANS: C PG: 14 TYP: APPLICATION
34. Harriet Martineau’s important book, Society in America, was overlooked for many years, probably because she was:
A. a woman
B. Black
C. an unknown as a writer prior to publishing this work
D. not well-educated by the standards of the time
ANS: A PG: 14 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
35. Harriet Martineau’s book, How to Observe Manners and Morals, is a classic work on:
A. sociological research methods with a particular emphasis on participant observation
B. field studies of folkways and mores
C. the forces that hold society together and make it stable
D. positivism as a tool for sociological analysis
ANS: A PG: 14 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
36. According to Emile Durkheim:
A. deviance has no place in a “healthy” society
B. society is a subject to be studied separate from the sum of the individuals who comprise it (i.e., society sui generis)
C. the best theoretical approach to the study of society is social conflict theory
D. economic forces direct human behavior
ANS: B PG: 15 TYP: COMPREHENSION
37. Durkheim’s work is the basis for:
A. functionalism
B. social conflict theory
C. symbolic interaction
D. feminist theory
ANS: A PG: 15 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
38. Durkheim argued that “social facts” are best understood from the perspective.
A. sociological
B. psychological
C. biological
D. Durkheim contended that all three perspectives were needed to understand this complex phenomena
ANS: A PG: 15 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
39. According to the text, Durkheim’s major contribution was the discovery of:
A. the effects of capitalism on society
B. the social basis of human behavior
C. the relationship that exists between society’s major social institutions
D. the effect of verstehen on our conception of reality
ANS: B PG: 15 TYP: COMPREHENSION
40. Durkheim conceptualized social facts as:
A. drives and motivations that exist within individuals
B. social patterns that are external to individuals
C. the embodiment of sui generis
D. the direct outgrowth of our biological drives
ANS: B PG: 15 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
41. Marx’s work was devoted to explaining:
A. the social basis of human behavior
B. the social laws that governed human behavior
C. how capitalism shaped society
D. the effect of the interplay between economic, political, and cultural institutions
ANS: C PG: 16 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
42. The theorist who devoted his work to explaining how capitalism shaped society was:
A. Auguste Comte
B. Emile Durkheim
C. Max Weber
D. Karl Marx
ANS: D PG: 16 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
43. Which of the following is true of Karl Marx?
A. Marx focused more on individuals than social structure in his analysis of society
B. Marx believed that all institutions are shaped by economic forces
C. A limitation of Marx’s work was his failure to recognize the effects of class on social behavior
D. Marx’s evolutionary concept of societal development and change is almost identical to that of Durkheim
ANS: B PG: 16 TYP: COMPREHENSION
44. While Marx saw economics as the basic organizing element of society, Weber theorized that the basic dimension(s) of society was/were:
A. political
B. economic
C. cultural
D. all of the above
ANS: D PG: 16 TYP: COMPREHENSION
45. While Weber’s approach to the analysis of society was more multidimensional, he was greatly influenced by the work of:
A. Ferdinand Tönnies
B. Auguste Comte
C. Karl Marx
D. Georg Simmel
ANS: C PG: 16 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
46. Weber theorized that:
A. a value-free society could not exist since values would always influence what sociologists considered worthy of study
B. society’s economic, political, and cultural institutions exist independent of one another with no interplay between them
C. that verstehen is of little value as a tool of analysis because of its subjective nature
D. faculty had a moral and ethical responsibility to use their positions to promote their political opinions
ANS: A PG: 16 TYP: COMPREHENSION
47. Weber’s major contribution(s) to sociology was/were:
A. the discovery of the social basis of human behavior
B. the definition of social action as “a behavior to which people give meaning”
C. his discovery of the effects of capitalism on society
D. All of the above are contributions of Max Weber to the discipline of sociology
ANS: B PG: 17 TYP: COMPREHENSION
48. Max Weber was particularly interested in the:
A. rise of bureaucracy in the modern world
B. nature of power and authority
C. foundation of the work ethic in capitalist society
D. all of the above
ANS: D PG: 17 TYP: KNOWLEDGE
49. The belief in practicality that influenced sociologists in the United States to value social planning is philosophically referred to as:
A. pragmatism