1.Having a sociological imagination
a. will help an unemployed person during a period of high unemployment not to blame himself
b. will solve all personal problems
c. will turn that person into a revolutionary
d. enables that person to escape responsibility for his situation
2. Which of the following can help reduce the misery of the poor in a rich society?
a. go to war
b. have a revolution
c. offer a strong social safety net to all citizens
d. teach the poor to save their money
3. According to Dr. Franke, a just society
a. guarantees total equality
b. assures male dominance according to evolutionary theory
c. protects at the very least the civil liberties of all citizens
d. none of the above
4. It has been said that the dictator Mussolini in fascist Italy made the trains run on time. This suggests:
a. dictatorship is the most efficient form of government
b. a society can secure order at the expense of liberty& justice
c. a good society is based on efficiency
d. fascism has its good qualities
5. Charon and other instructors may disagree as to the definition of “society.” An alternative position is (Franke)
a. identifying society as a nation state enables us to specify what large macro-level group of people we are talking about.
b. the nation state is characterized by a homogenous population and culture
c. society by definition must have a history of at least 100 years
d. civilization and society are one and the same
6. Sociology must be careful in the use of the culture concept in that:
a. America has no distinctive traditions
b. how early anthropologists viewed cultures of primitive isolated societies may not apply to modern society.
c. there is no difference between the meanings of society versus culture
d. only experimentation can reveal the nature of culture
7. Neoliberalism is a current favorite belief system of an economic elite. It is based upon the assumption
a. it is up to government to help the poor
b. private enterprise is always more efficient and effective in providing services than government run ones
c. government has no business interfering with the free market
d. b and c
8. Symbolic Interaction theory(George Herbert Mead) would suggest that society
a. exists mainly in the minds of its members
b. is structured
c. is as real as the pimple on your nose
d. functions like an organism
9. Charon defines social institutions pretty much as
a. concrete agencies of action
b. arrangements to satisfy various human needs
c. properties of government
d. barriers to human desires
10. Conflict theory has a general meaning and a specific Marxian meaning.
a. clashes or struggles between groups possessing unequal power(general meaning)
b. each individual pursuing the American Dream
c. struggles over class conflict in terms of economic groups with antagonistic interests
d. a and c
11. C. Wright Mills’ book on the Power Elite:
a.was consistent with President Eisenhower’s farewell address warning the American people about the military industrial complex(nation on permanent war footing)
b. elite identified by leaders of our major social institutions
c. the revolving door from government or military to private industry/lobbying and back again.
d. all of the above
12. The so called free market
a. increases freedom for all Americans
b. is a myth in the face of corporate monopolies determining prices
c. reduces inequality
d. none of the above
13. Certain assumptions underlie different theories in sociology. Which are the assumption(s) of functionalism:
a. society is self-regulating
b. society hangs together because the population shares common values and norms
c. stability and order are “normal”&conflict is abnormal
d. all of the above
14. Functionalism and conflict theory
a. complement each other
b. are macro-level theories
c. are completely different having nothing in common
d. a and b
15.One of the interesting things about the concept of socialization is
a. childhood experiences as Freud predicted determines one’s personality for life
b. the cognitive tools used to learn to conform to the culture can also be used to change it
c. the individual’s inability to reject it
d. none of the above
16. Symbolic Interactionism differs from macro-level theories
a. symbolic interactionism focuses on social behavior at the micro-level
b. opens the possibility of individual interpretation and thus offers unpredictable outcomes
c. puts much emphasis on shared understandings
d. all of the above
17. Durkheim’s study Suicide is considered an early model of conducting sociological research as well as
a. pinpointing the psychological mechanisms for suicide
b. employing a sociological theory to explain individual behavior
c. using advanced statistics(factor analysis and multiple regression)
d. conducting social experiments
18. Freud’s position on the individual’s relationship to society is:
a. there is a war going on between the individual and a repressive society
b. the individual innately is loyal to country and society
c. totally subjective
d. as a psychiatrist Freud had nothing to say about that relationship
19. Maintaining the the social order is dependent on
a. compliance of the population to laws and customs due to willingness to conform as well as fearing punishment not to conform.
b. how ignorant the masses are
c. the degree to which the government leaves citizens alone
d. none of the above
20. Max Weber’s concept of bureaucracy is an example of
a. Marx’s theory that economics determines everything that happens in a society.
b. an ideal type
c. the usefulness of tradition
d. human evolution
21. The instructor maintained that the relationship between the individual and society was complex. He meant that:
a. complexity can only be understood under laboratory conditions
b. sociology must employ complex statistical methods to be a science
c. there are many intervening variables and conflicting forces between the two.
d. racial diversity seems to be the key to the complex connection between individual and society
22. Our discussion of social order goes beyond what Charon had to say:
a. order and chaos are ideal types and thus order should be measured on a continuum
b. order is a static concept and never attainable
c. perfect harmony can exist among monastic monks
d. Marx denied the possibility of Communism being the perfect model of society
23. Caste and social class are different models of society They differ in that:
a. the practice of slavery is an example of a social class system
b. caste operates in small groups in contrast to social class which pertains to society
c. they represent different forms of social stratification
d. class and caste don’t overlap
24. The elite in the former Soviet Union was determined by
a. wealth and income
b. profession such as scientist
c. social class at birth
d. high level membership in the ruling Communist Party
25. The process of socialization starting from childhood through adulthood represents:
a. a link between individual and society throughout one’s life course
b. the idea that each person is a “blank slate” at birth
c. the assumption that the environment is more important than heredity
d. none of the above
