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Macionis, Society: The Basics, 12/e Testbank
The 191 questions in this chapter’s test bank are divided into four types of questions. True/False
questions are the least demanding. As the table below shows, two-thirds of these questions are
“Remember” questions and all questions fall within the lowest three levels of cognitive reasoning
(Remember, Understand, and Apply). Multiple-choice questions span a broader range of skills
(almost half are “Remember” questions and the remainder are divided among four higher levels.)
Short answer questions also span a broad range of skills (from “Understand” to “Evaluate”).
Finally, essay questions are the most demanding because they include the four highest levels of
cognitive reasoning (from “Apply” to “Create”).
Types of Questions
Easy to Difficult Level of Difficulty
True/False Mult Choice Short Answer Essay Total Qs
Remember 35 (61%) 48 (42%) 0 0 83
Understand 16 (28%) 21 (19%) 5 (36%) 0 42
Apply 6 (11%) 19 (17%) 2 (14%) 2 (28%) 29
Analyze 0 19 (17%) 4 (29%) 1 (16%) 24
Evaluate 0 6 (5%) 3 (21%) 2 (28%) 11
Create 0 0 0 2 (28%) 2
57 113 14 7 191
TRUE/FALSE QUESTIONS
4. Using the sociological perspective, we would conclude that people’s lives are mostly a result
of what they decide to do.
(APPLY; answer: F; page 3)
5. Durkheim documented that categories of people with weaker social ties have lower suicide
rates.
(REMEMBER; answer: F; page 4)
6. In the United States, African Americans have a higher suicide rate than whites.
(REMEMBER; answer: F; page 4)
7. In the United States, men have a higher suicide rate than women.
(REMEMBER; answer: T; pages 4-5)
8. People with lower social standing are usually more likely to see the world from a
sociological perspective than people who are well off.
(APPLY; answer: T; page 5)
10. U.S. sociologist C. Wright Mills argued that times of social crisis foster widespread
sociological thinking.
(REMEMBER; answer: T; pages 5-6)
11. C. Wright Mills claimed that, most of the time, people must learn to take responsibility for
their own problems.
(REMEMBER; answer: F: pages 5-6)
12. Studying other societies is a good way to learn about our own way of life.
(REMEMBER; answer: T; pages 5-6)
13. Societies around the world are more interconnected than ever before.
(REMEMBER; answer: T; page 7)
14. Sociological research may be interesting, but it is of little use in shaping public policy,
including legislation.
(REMEMBER; answer: F; page 7)
15. The sociological perspective helps us assess the truth of the “common sense” beliefs we tend
to take for granted.
(REMEMBER; answer: T; page 7)
16. Sociology is useful training for any job that involves working with people.
(REMEMBER; T; page 8)
18. Ancient philosophers, including Plato, were primarily interested in imagining the “ideal”
society rather than studying society as it really is.
(REMEMBER; answer: T; page 9)
19. The last of Comte’s three stages is the metaphysical stage, in which people know the world
in terms of God’s will.
(REMEMBER; answer: F; page 9)
20. Auguste Comte was a positivist who believed that there were laws of society in the same
way that there are laws of physics that describe the operation of the natural world.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: T; page 9)
21. The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes believed that society reflected the basic goodness
of human nature.
(REMEMBER; answer: F; page 9)
23. According to Robert K. Merton, social patterns are always good and have the same effect on
all members of a society.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: F; page 11)
24. To say that a social pattern is “dysfunctional” means that it has more than one function for
the operation of society.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: F; page 11)
25. Keeping young people out of the labor market is one latent function of higher education.
26. The manifest functions of our society’s reliance on personal automobiles include tens of
thousands of deaths each year in traffic accidents.
(APPLY; answer: F; page 11)
27. The goal of the structural-functional approach is no so much to understand how society
operates as it is to reduce social inequality.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: F; page 12)
28. W.E.B. Du Bois translated the writings of Auguste Comte from French into English.
(REMEMBER; answer: F; page 12)
29. In the United States, secondary schools place students in college preparatory tracks that
partially reflect the social background of their families.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: T; page 12)
30. Both Karl Marx and W.E.B. Du Bois carried out their work following the structural-
functional approach.
(REMEMBER; answer: F; pages 12-13)
31. Feminism and the gender-conflict approach highlight ways in which women are unequal to
men.
(REMEMBER; answer: T; page 12)
32. Both Jane Addams and Harriet Martineau are remembered today because they were married
to important sociologists.
(REMEMBER; answer: F; page 12)
33. Like the gender-conflict approach, the race-conflict approach is concerned with social
inequality.
(REMEMBER; answer: T; page 12)
35. The focus of the symbolic-interaction approach is how society is divided by class, race, and
gender.
(REMEMBER; answer: F; page 14)
37. Sociological research shows that all categories of people have had the same opportunities to
participate in sports.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: F; page 15)
38. “Stacking” in sports is the pattern by which people of one racial category disproportionately
play in favored positions.
(REMEMBER; answer: T; page 15)
39. The meaning people find in competitive sports would be one focus of a symbolic-interaction
approach.
(APPLY; answer: T; page 15)
40. The sociologist recognizes that there are various kinds of “truth.”
(REMEMBER; answer: T; page 16)
41. Empirical evidence is nothing more than what people in a society agree is true.
(REMEMBER; answer: F; page 16)
42. Empirical evidence refers to what we can verify with our senses.
(REMEMBER; answer: T; page 16)
43. The mean is always a better statistical measure than the mode or the median.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: F; pages 17-18)
46. A variable that is changed by another variable is called the “independent variable.”
(REMEMBER; answer: F; page 18)
47. A variable that causes change in another variable is called the “dependent variable.”
(REMEMBER; answer: F; page 18)
48. When two variables are statistically related, a cause-and-effect relationship exists.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: F; page 18)
50. A false correlation between two variables caused by a third factor is described as a
“spurious” correlation.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: T; page 18)
52. A positivist approach assumes that an objective reality exists “out there.”
(REMEMBER; answer: T; page 19)
53. Critical sociology studies society and tries to bring about social change.
(REMEMBER; answer: T; page 19)
54. Gender blindness is the problem of failing to consider the importance of gender in
sociological research.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: T; page 20)
55. A researcher who assumes that the man was the head of the household and his wife simply
took care of the kids is demonstrating a gender-based research error called “double
standards.”
(APPLY; answer: T; page 20)
57. Participant observation is a research method by which researchers stand back from a setting,
watch from a distance, and then carefully record the behavior of others.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: F; page 24)
MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS
58. What does the statement idea that “the social world guides our actions and life choices just
as the seasons influence activities and choice of clothing” describe?
a. the basis of what philosophy calls “free will”
b. the essential wisdom of the discipline of sociology
c. the fact that people everywhere have “common sense”
d. the fact that people from countries all around the world make mostly identical
choices about how to live
(UNDERSTAND; answer: b; page 2)
59. Which discipline defines itself as “the systematic study of human society”?
a. sociology
b. psychology
c. economics
d. history
(REMEMBER; answer: a; page 2)
60. Peter Berger describes using the sociological perspective as seeing the ______ in the
_______.
a. good; worst tragedies
b. new; old
c. specific; general
d. general; particular
(REMEMBER; answer: d; page 2)
61. By stating that the sociological perspective shows us “the strange in the familiar,” the text
argues that sociologists
a. focus on the bizarre elements of society.
b. reject the familiar idea that people simply decide how to act in favor of the initially
strange idea that society shapes our lives.
c. believe that people often behave in strange ways.
d. believe that even people who are most familiar to us have some very strange habits.
(REMEMBER; answer: b; page 3)
62. The chapter’s sociological analysis of childbearing around the world suggests that the
number of children born to a woman reflects
a. only her personal preference for family size.
b. how many children she can afford.
c. whether she lives in a poor or a rich society.
d. simply the desires of her husband.
(REMEMBER; answer: c; pages 3-4)
63. According to Emile Durkheim, people with a higher suicide rate typically have
a. more clinical depression.
b. less money, power, and other resources.
c. a lower level of social integration.
d. greater self-esteem.
(ANALYZE; answer: c; page 4)
64. The pioneering sociologist who studied patterns of suicide in Europe was
a. Robert K. Merton.
b. Auguste Comte.
c. Emile Durkheim.
d. Karl Marx.
(REMEMBER; answer: c; page 4)
65. In the United States today, the suicide rate is highest for which of the following?
a. white males
b. African American males
c. white females
d. African American females
(REMEMBER; answer: a; page 4)
67. If marginality encourages sociological thinking, we would expect people in which category
listed below to make the most use of the sociological perspective?
a. the wealthy
b. disabled persons or people who are a racial minority
c. politicians
d. the middle class
(ANALYZE; answer: b; page 5)
68. Following the thinking of C. Wright Mills, we would expect the sociological imagination to
be more widespread in a population
a. during times of peace and prosperity.
b. among the very rich.
c. among very religious people.
d. during times of social crisis.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: d; page 5)
69. Which of the following categories contains countries in which average income is typical for
the world as a whole and in which people are as likely to live in a rural area as in an urban
area?
a. low-income nations
b. middle-income nations
c. high-income nations
d. None of the other responses is correct.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: b; page 6)
70. About 1.4 million immigrants enter the United States each year and many (including Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Gloria Estefan) have become well known. These facts support the
conclusion that
a. the United States and other of the world’s nations are increasingly interconnected.
b. other nations have little effects on life in rich countries such as the United States.
c. people around the world share little in terms of their ways of life.
d. sociology does not have to pay attention to nations other than the United States.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: a; page 7)
72. Sociologist Lenore Weitzman carried out research showing that women who divorce
typically
a. remarry within one year.
b. claim they are happier than before.
c. suffer a significant loss of income.
d. have a happier sex life.
(REMEMBER; answer: c; page 7)
73. Learning more sociology can help you to do all of the following EXCEPT
a. assess the truth of “common sense”
b. assess the opportunities and constraints in our lives
c. be more active participants in society
d. see how individuals guide their own lives through “free will”
(ANALYZE; answer: d; pages 7-8)
74. 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. A majority of the world’s people have completed a college degree.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: c; page 8)
75. Sarah is spending a summer living in another country where people have a way of life that
differs from her own. A sociologist might expect that this experience would lead her to
a. end up with a greater understanding of both a new way of life and her own way of
life.
b. accept what people in the United States call “common sense.”
c. assume that people’s lives simply reflect the choices they make.
d. gradually understand less and less about her own way of life.
(APPLY; answer: a; page 8)
76. Which of the following statements BEST illustrates the career advantage a person gains by
studying sociology?
a. A researcher discovers a new and effective vaccine.
b. A person in retail sales knows how to exceed the monthly sales target.
c. A police officer understands which categories of people are at high risk of becoming
crime victims.
d. A financial services worker devises a new type of hedge fund.
(APPLY; answer: c; page 8)
77. Examples of people applying their knowledge of sociology at work include people in
a. law enforcement, understanding which categories of people are at high risk of
becoming victims of crime.
b. medicine, understanding patterns of health in a community.
c. business, dealing with different categories of people.
d. All of the these responses are correct.
(APPLY; answer: d; page 8)
78. Which of the following historical changes is among the factors that stimulated the
development of sociology as a discipline?
a. the founding of the Roman Catholic Church
b. the rise of the industrial economy and growth of cities
c. the power of tradition
d. a belief that our future is defined by “fate”
(REMEMBER; answer: b; page 8)
79. We would expect the sociological perspective to be MOST likely to develop in a place that
was
a. very traditional.
b. experiencing major social changes.
c. very poor.
d. small and socially isolated.
(ANALYZE; answer: b; page 8)
82. Comte described the earliest human societies as being at which stage of historical
development?
a. theological stage
b. metaphysical stage
c. scientific stage
d. post-scientific stage
(REMEMBER; answer: a; page 9)
83. The ancient Romans saw the stars as being gods. Auguste Comte would classify Roman
society as which of the following stages of history?
a. scientific stage
b. metaphysical stage
c. theological stage
d. post-scientific stage
(ANALYZE; answer: c; page 9)
84. Thomas Hobbes’s idea that society reflects a selfish human nature illustrates the thinking
common at which of Comte’s historical stages?
a. theological stage
b. metaphysical stage
c. scientific stage
d. None of the other responses is correct.
(APPLY; answer: b; page 9)
86. The major goal of Auguste Comte and Emile Durkheim was to develop sociology
a. to serve the powerful.
b. to help build an “ideal society.”
c. to discover how society actually operates.
d. to prevent disruptive social change.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: c; pages 9-11)
87. When did sociology become established as an academic discipline in the United States?
a. during the Middle Ages
b. about 1800
c. about 1900
d. about 2000
(REMEMBER; answer: c; page 10)
88. Most of today’s sociologists agree with Auguste Comte’s claim that
a. no society has reached the scientific stage of history.
b. human behavior is not patterned and orderly.
c. sociology should be based on religion.
d. science has an important place in sociology.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: d; page 10)
89. Because there is more social isolation in rural areas of the United States than in urban areas,
we would expect suicide rates to be
a. higher in urban areas.
b. higher in rural areas.
c. high in both urban and rural areas.
d. low in both urban and rural areas.
(ANALYZE; answer: b; page 10)
90. Sociologists cannot identify “laws of society” that allow us to precisely predict the behavior
of an individual because
a. human behavior may be patterned, but it is also spontaneous.
b. sociology is still very young.
c. no sociologist ever tried to discover such laws.
d. no sociologist would wish to predict human behavior.
(ANALYZE; answer: a; page 10)
91. A statement that explains how and why specific facts are related is called a(n)
a. approach.
b. precept.
c. concept.
d. theory.
(REMEMBER; answer: d; page 10)
93. If we state that children raised in single-parent families are at high risk of being single
parents themselves, we have constructed a(n)_____ of family life.
a. approach
b. precept
c. concept
d. theory
(APPLY; answer: d; page 10)
94. Looking at the United States, high suicide rates are typical of areas in which people
a. live densely packed in cities.
b. live spread apart in low-density areas.
c. have higher incomes.
d. live in a warmer climate.
(REMEMBER; answer: b; page 10)
95. The theoretical approach in sociology that assumes society is a complex system whose parts
work together to promote solidarity and stability is the
a. structural-functional approach.
b. social-conflict approach.
c. symbolic-interaction approach.
d. tradition-based approach.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: a; page 10)
96. Which concept is used to describe relatively stable patterns of social behavior?
a. social structure
b. eufunctions
c. social functions
d. social dysfunctions
(REMEMBER; answer: a; page 10)
97. Which of the following BEST describes the focus of the structural-functional approach?
a. the meaning people attach to their behavior
b. patterns of social inequality
c. the consequences of social patterns for the operation of society
d. ways in which each person differs from all others
(ANALYZE; answer: c; page 10)
98. Using the structural-functional approach, which of the following questions might you ask
about marriage?
a. What do people think marriage means?
b. How does marriage benefit women and men in different ways?
c. What are the consequences of marriage for the operation of society?
d. How can we help people find more happiness in their marriages?
(APPLY; answer: c; page 10)
99. Which theoretical approach was used by the early sociologists Auguste Comte and Emile
Durkheim?
a. the structural-functional approach
b. the social-conflict approach
c. the symbolic-interaction approach
d. no theoretical approach was used
(UNDERSTAND; answer: a; pages 10-11)
101. Identify the three sociologists who played a part in the development of sociology’s
structural-functional approach.
a. Auguste Comte, Karl Marx, W.E.B. Du Bois
b. Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim
c. Herbert Spencer, Karl Marx, Auguste Comte
d. Harriet Martineau, Robert Merton, W.E.B. Du Bois
(REMEMBER; answer: b; page 11)
102. Herbert Spencer described human society as a complex system having much in common
with
a. animal societies.
b. planets and stars.
c. the human brain.
d. the human body.
(REMEMBER; answer: d; page 11)
103. Who was the U.S. sociologist who distinguished between the manifest functions and the
latent functions of social patterns?
a. Robert K. Merton
b. William Graham Sumner
c. Talcott Parsons
d. C. Wright Mills
(REMEMBER; answer: a; page 11)
104. The recognized and intended consequences of a social pattern are referred to as
a. latent functions.
b. manifest functions.
c. eufunctions.
d. dysfunctions.
(REMEMBER; answer: b; page 11)
106. Which of the following is the BEST example of a latent function of going to college?
a. providing skills needed for later jobs
b. keeping young people out of the labor force, which may not have jobs for them
c. gaining the knowledge required to be an active and thoughtful citizen
d. giving young people experience living more on their own
(APPLY; answer: b; page 11)
107. Robert Merton explained that what is functional for one category of a society’s population
a. is always functional for everyone.
b. may be dysfunctional for another category.
c. is unlikely to change over time.
d. can never be functional in the future.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: b; page 11)
108. The main characteristic of the _____ approach is its view of society as being orderly and
stable.
a. structural-functional
b. social-conflict
c. social-interaction
d. tradition-based
(REMEMBER; answer: a; page 11)
110. The “framework for building theory that sees society as an arena of inequality that generates
conflict and change” is the
a. structural-functional approach.
b. social-conflict approach.
c. symbolic-interaction approach.
d. tradition-based approach.
(REMEMBER; answer: b; page 11)
111. Three campus roommates are talking about why they are in college. A sociological view of
going to college highlights the effect of
a. only age, because college students tend to be young.
b. only class, because college students tend to come from families with above-average
incomes.
c. only our place in history, because a century ago going to college was not an option
for most people.
d. all three--age, class, and our place in history—because these are all ways in which
society guides college attendance.
(APPLY; answer: d; pages 11-12)
112. Looking at the operation of U.S. schools, the social-conflict approach might lead a
sociologist to conclude that
a. the function of schools is to teach needed skills.
b. the meaning of schooling varies from child to child.
c. schools have been a major path to social advancement.
d. the policy of tracking provides some students with far better schooling than others.
(APPLY; answer: d; page 12)
113. Which of the following statements might be made by a sociologist using the gender-conflict
approach?
a. Men and women share in the joys of family life.
b. In many ways, men are in positions of power over women.
c. Gender functions in an important way to keep society operating.
d. All of these responses are correct.
(ANALYZE; answer: b; page 12)
114. Who helped launch the discipline of sociology by studying the evils of slavery and also by
translating the writings of Auguste Comte?
a. Harriet Martineau
b. Jane Addams
c. Elizabeth Cady Stanton
d. Dorothea Dix
(REMEMBER; answer: a; page 12)
115. Which pioneering sociologist founded Chicago’s Hull House to assist immigrants and was
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?
a. Jane Addams
b. Harriet Martineau
c. W.E.B. Du Bois
d. Herbert Spencer
(REMEMBER; answer: a; page 12)
116. Karl Marx, speaking for the social-conflict approach, argued that the point of studying
society should be
a. to understand how society really operates.
b. to compare U.S. society to others.
c. to foster support for a nation’s government.
d. to bring about greater social justice.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: d; page 12)
117. Which theoretical approach would highlight the fact that, on average, African American
families have less income than white families?
a. the race-conflict approach
b. the gender-conflict approach
c. the structural-functional approach
d. the symbolic-interaction approach
(UNDERSTAND; answer: a; page 12)
118. W.E.B. Du Bois described African Americans as having a “double consciousness” because
a. most felt that, compared to white people, they had to be twice as careful in how they
acted.
b. there is a double disadvantage in being both poor and black.
c. black people have to work twice as hard as whites to get the same reward.
d. they are American citizens who have a second identity based on skin color.
(ANALYZE; answer: d; page 13)
119. Which early sociologist received the first doctorate ever awarded by Harvard University to a
person of color?
a. Jane Addams
b. Harriet Martineau
c. W.E.B. Du Bois
d. Herbert Spencer
(REMEMBER; answer: c; page 13)
121. The _____ approaches are macro-level, describing societies in broad terms.
a. structural-functional and social-conflict
b. structural-functional and symbolic-interaction
c. social-conflict and symbolic-interaction
d. All of these responses are correct.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: a; page 14)
123. Which theoretical approach claims that it is not so much what people do that matters as
much as what meaning they attach to their behavior?
a. structural-functional approach
b. social-conflict approach
c. symbolic-interaction approach
d. social-exchange approach
(UNDERSTAND; answer: c; page 14)
124. Which of the following founding sociologists urged sociologists to understand a social
setting from the point of view of the people in it?
a. Karl Marx
b. Emile Durkheim
c. Auguste Comte
d. Max Weber
(REMEMBER; answer: d; page 14)
127. Building social relationships and creating jobs are two of the ____ of sports.
a. manifest functions
b. latent functions
c. dysfunctional aspects
d. nonfunctional aspects
(UNDERSTAND; answer: b; page 15)
128. Which of the following would be the focus of a social-conflict analysis of sports?
a. the way in which sports help encourage competition
b. the importance of physical ability in success
c. how sports reflect social inequality
d. the different meanings people attach to games
(APPLY; answer: c; page 15)
134. Which of the following terms is defined in the text as “a mental construct that represents
some aspect of the world in a simplified form”?
a. variable
b. operationalization
c. measurement
d. concept
(REMEMBER; answer: d; page 17)
135. Imagine that you were going to measure the age of a number of respondents taking part in a
survey. As you record the data, you are using the concept “age” as
a. a theory.
b. a hypothesis.
c. a variable.
d. an axiom.
(APPLY; answer: c; page 17)
136. If you were trying to measure the “social class” of various people, you would have to keep
in mind that
a. it is necessary to specify exactly what you are measuring.
b. you must measure “social class” in every way possible.
c. there is no way to measure “social class.”
d. everyone agrees on what “social class” means.
(APPLY; answer: a; page 17)
137. What process involves deciding exactly what is to be measured when assigning value to a
variable?
a. operationalizing
b. reliability
c. conceptualizing
d. validity
(REMEMBER; answer: a; page 17)
138. What is the term for the value that occurs most often in a series of numbers?
a. the mean
b. the mode
c. the median
d. the standard deviation
(REMEMBER; answer: b; pages 17-18)
140. Examine the following series of numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10. Which number is the median value?
a. 1
b. 2
c. 3
d. 4
(ANALYZE; answer: c; pages 17-18)
142. Which of the concepts listed below refers to measuring exactly what you intend to measure?
a. congruence
b. validity
c. repeatability
d. reliability
(REMEMBER; answer: b; page 18)
143. With regard to the process of measurement, which of the following statements is true?
a. For a measurement to be reliable, it must be valid.
b. For a measurement to be valid, it must be reliable.
c. All measurements are both reliable and valid.
d. Measurements cannot be both reliable and valid.
(ANALYZE; answer: b; page 18)
144. A theory states that increasing a person’s formal higher education leads to increased
earnings over the individual’s lifetime. In this theory, “higher education” is the
a. independent variable.
b. dependent variable.
c. correlation.
d. effect.
(ANALYZE; answer: a; page 18)
145. An apparent, although false, association between two variables that is caused by a third
variable is called a(n) _________ correlation.
a. spurious
b. unproven
c. unreliable
d. invalid
(REMEMBER; answer: a; page 18)
146. Which of the following is true about cause-and-effect relationships in the social world?
a. Most patterns of behavior have a single cause.
b. Most patterns of behavior are random and have no cause at all.
c. Most patterns of behavior are caused by many factors.
d. Sociologists are not able to reach conclusions about cause and effect.
(ANALYZE; answer: c; page 18)
148. The sociologist who called on his colleagues to be “value-free” in the conduct of their
research was
a. Karl Marx.
b. Emile Durkheim.
c. Herbert Spencer.
d. Max Weber.
(REMEMBER; answer: d; page 18)
151. Which German word meaning “understanding” was used by Max Weber to describe his
approach to sociological research?
a. Gemeinschaft
b. Gesellschaft
c. Verstehen
d. Verboten
(REMEMBER; answer: c; page 19)
152. Qualitative research has special appeal to investigators who favor the _________ approach.
a. structural-functional
b. symbolic-interaction
c. social-conflict
d. social-exchange
(ANALYZE; answer: b; pages 20, 24)
154. If you have been criticized for “androcentricity” in your research, you are being criticized
for
a. overgeneralizing your results.
b. ignoring gender entirely.
c. doing the research from a male perspective.
d. using double standards in your research.
(APPLY; answer: c; page 20)
155. If you read a study that draws conclusions about all of humanity based on research using
only males as subjects, you would correctly point to the problem called
a. androcentricity.
b. overgeneralization.
c. gender blindness.
d. using double standards.
(APPLY; answer: b; page 20)
156. All of the following statements—except for one—are guidelines for ethical research
endorsed by the American Sociological Association. Which one is NOT one of the ASA’s
guidelines for ethical research?
a. Researchers must always perform their research several times in order to ensure its
accuracy.
b. Researchers must disclose their sources of funding for the research.
c. Researchers must protect the privacy of subjects taking part in a research project.
d. Researchers must ensure the safety of subjects taking part in a research project.
(UNDERSTAND; answer: a; page 21)
157. If you were to conduct sociological research that closely follows the logic of science, which
research method would you MOST likely use?
a. interviews
b. the experiment
c. questionnaires
d. participant observation
(APPLY; answer: b; page 21)
158. “A statement of a possible relationship between two or more variables” is the definition of
which concept?
a. theory
b. correlation
c. spurious correlation
d. hypothesis
(REMEMBER; answer: d; page 21)
159. 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
(REMEMBER; answer: a; page 22)
160. Which research method asks subjects to respond to a series of items on a questionnaire or in
an interview?
a. secondary research
b. participant observation
c. an experiment
d. a survey
(REMEMBER; answer: d; page 23)
161. A small number of people that are used to represent a much larger population is called a
a. target group.
b. sample.
c. closed-format group.
d. sampling frame.
(REMEMBER; answer: b; page 23)
163. William Foote Whyte’s study of Cornerville (Street Corner Society) used which sociological
research method?
a. experiment
b. survey
c. participant observation
d. secondary analysis
(REMEMBER; answer c; page 24)
164. A researcher doing participant observation may often “break in” to a setting more easily
with the help of a
a. key informant.
b. research assistant.
c. bigger budget.
d. longer questionnaire.
(REMEMBER; answer: a; page 26)
165. E. Digby Baltzell’s historical study, Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia, illustrates
which research method?
a. the experiment
b. the survey
c. participant observation
d. existing sources
(REMEMBER; answer: d; page 27)
166. E. Digby Baltzell’s study, Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia, showed that a very high
number of “top achievers” listed in the Dictionary of American Biography came from
a. the South.
b. Pennsylvania.
c. Massachusetts.
d. Philadelphia.
(REMEMBER; answer: c; page 27)
167. Which sociological research method is MOST likely to produce quantitative data that will
identify cause-and-effect relationships?
a. the experiment
b. the survey
c. participant observation
d. existing sources
(APPLY; answer: a; page 27)
168. Which sociological research method is likely to be the MOST difficult to replicate (repeat)?
a. the experiment
b. the survey
c. participant observation
d. secondary analysis
(EVALUATE; answer: c; page 27)
170. What might a sociologist say about people’s selection of marriage partners?
a. People marry because they fall in love.
b. When it comes to romance, it’s all a matter of personal taste.
c. Typically, a person marries someone of similar social position.
d. When it comes to love, opposites attract.
(ANALYZE; answer: c; pages 30-31)
171. What did Peter Berger mean when he said the sociological perspective is “seeing the general
in the particular”?
(ANALYZE; pages 2-3)
172. Explain why the power of society is evident in the decision to bear a child or even in the act
of committing suicide.
(APPLY; pages 4-6, 10)
174. Distinguish between the manifest and latent functions of any specific social pattern.
(ANALYZE; page 11)
175. What is social structure? How do the structural-functional and social-conflict approaches
understand social structure differently?
(ANALYZE; pages 10-11)
177. Explain the focus of the gender-conflict or feminist approach. Compare and contrast this
approach to the race-conflict approach. Using each of these approaches, provide several
sentences that offer a critical analysis of our society.
(EVALUATE; pages 12-14)
178. How do positivist sociology, interpretive sociology, and critical sociology deal with the
issue of subjectivity in different ways?
(EVALUATE; pages 16-20)
179. What are the essential differences between positivist sociology, interpretive sociology, and
critical sociology?
(ANALYZE; pages 16-20)
181. Thinking about measuring a variable, how is reliability different from validity? Which
concept implies the other?
(UNDERSTAND; page 18)
182. List the three conditions that are required to establish cause and effect in social scientific
research.
(UNDERSTAND; page 18)
184. What did Max Weber mean by “value-free” research? Do you think researchers can be
value-free? Should they try? Explain.
(EVALUATE; pages 18-19)
185. Explain the difference between sociological generalizations about categories of people and
the simple stereotypes we hear in everyday life.
(ANALYZE)
186. The sociological perspective helps us recognize that the lives of individuals are shaped by
the forces of society. Explain, in a short essay, how the sociological perspective reveals “the
general in the particular.” To illustrate, explain how society plays a part in your own
decision to attend college.
(APPLY)
187. Explain how the structural-functional approach is more focused on understanding society as
it is and how the social-conflict approach (consider the gender-conflict or race-conflict
approaches) is more focused on social change. Do you prefer one approach to the other?
Explain.
(EVALUATE)
188. Since beginning this course in sociology, how has your view of the world changed? Provide
one specific example of something in your life that you see differently now compared to
before you started this course. Is this change a good thing? Explain.
(CREATE)
189. How and why is gender important in research? What are some of the problems in research
that involve gender? How about race and ethnicity? Why might a researcher need to take
race and ethnicity into account when planning research within a specific category of people?
(EVALUATE)
190. Why is it necessary for researchers to understand the social characteristics of the people they
are studying? What problems could arise if a researcher started to study the Amish, Korean
Americans, or some other distinctive category of people and had no understanding of their
way of life?
(APPLY)
191. Based on your own interests, identify a research question that you would like to investigate.
State the question, identify an appropriate research method, and point to any challenges or
issues that you would have to resolve in order to complete such a project.
(CREATE)
Name__________________________
Multiple Choice:
1. According to Emile Durkheim, a category of people with a higher suicide rate typically has
a. more clinical depression. c. lower social integration.
b. less money, power, and other resources. d. greater self-esteem.
2. Which German word meaning “understanding” was used by Max Weber to describe his approach to
sociological research?
a. Gemeinschaft. c. Verstehen.
b. Gesellschaft. d. Verboten.
7. W.E.B. Du Bois claimed that _____ was the major problem facing the United States during the twentieth
century.
a. class c. gender
b. race d. ethnicity
True/False
__________ 8. Sociologists focus only on unusual patterns of behavior.
__________ 9. As a discipline, sociology first took root in France, Germany, and England.
Short Answer
10. Name the three social changes in European history that were especially important to the development of
sociology.
Name ________________________________
Multiple Choice:
1. According to Emile Durkheim, a category of people with a higher suicide rate typically has
a. more clinical depression. c. lower social integration.
b. less money, power, and other resources. d. greater self-esteem.
2. Which German word meaning “understanding” was used by Max Weber to describe his approach to
sociological research?
a. Gemeinschaft. c. Verstehen.
b. Gesellschaft. d. Verboten.
7. W.E.B. Du Bois claimed that _____ was the major problem facing the United States during the twentieth
century.
a. class c. gender
b. race d. ethnicity
True/False
___False___ 8. Sociologists focus only on unusual patterns of behavior.
___True___ 9. As a discipline, sociology first took root in France, Germany, and England.
Short Answer
10. Name the three social changes in European history that were especially important to the development of
sociology.
“David Rittenhouse
These two parties continued to divide the state, until the adoption
of the fœderal constitution. The great and multiplied evils which
resulted to the people of the United States, after the restoration of
peace, and which had also been severely felt during the greater part
of the war, from the inefficacy of the original confœderation of the
States, had convinced all thinking men of the necessity of forming a
more energetic national government, as the only remedy for those
evils. And the actual formation of such a government, aided by the
long experience which the citizens of Pennsylvania had then
acquired, of the injurious effects of their own existing constitution,
disposed them soon after to establish the present constitution of the
state, which was done in convention on the 2d of September 1790; a
form of government, free from the palpable errors of the preceding
one, and much more consonant to the genius and spirit of the
fœderal constitution.
Although little more than six years and an half intervened, from the
time of Mr. Rittenhouse’s resigning the treasurership of the state,
until the period of his decease, literary and other public honours then
flowed in upon him. He enjoyed, likewise, the satisfaction of
experiencing, during that short interval, multiplied proofs of the
esteem in which his abilities and character were held, both at home
and abroad. And, notwithstanding it appears to have been his wish,
when he retired from the treasury, to decline for the future any official
situation, or public employment of any kind, not connected with
science; in order that he might, without interruption, devote the
remainder of his life to his favourite pursuits; a variety of public
trusts, some of them requiring arduous duties, were constantly
pressed upon his acceptance.
This institution, called Nassau Hall, was founded about the year
1738; but its original charter was enlarged by Governor Belcher, in
1747. The president and trustees of Nassau Hall possessed a
power, by their charter, of granting to “the students of the college, or
to any others thought worthy of them, all such degrees as are
granted in either of the universities, or any other college, in Great
Britain.” This privilege, it is believed, was not enjoyed generally—if at
all, in any other instance[238], by the American colleges, before the
revolution; as it is supposed they were restricted, prior to that era, to
the conferring of degrees in the Arts only. But all the superior
seminaries of learning, in the United States, now possess the right of
creating Bachelors and Doctors, in Divinity, Law, and Medicine: and
it is greatly to be wished, that they may always dispense these high
academic honours with impartiality and a due discretion.
The college-edifice at Princeton is a stately and durable one,
constructed of stone; and it will afford satisfaction to the reader, to be
informed, that in this building is deposited the Rittenhouse Orrery. He
will derive additional pleasure from learning, that this grand machine
has, lately, been repaired in some considerable degree, and at a
great expence, by the ingenious Mr. Henry Voight, of the Mint: by
whom, that belonging to the University of Pennsylvania, has likewise
been put in good order. Neither of these Orreries appeared to have
suffered any material injury from the British troops, during the war of
the revolution; though it has been generally believed, they did. The
libraries, indeed, and some of the apparatus, belonging to both the
colleges in which the Orreries are placed, experienced great losses
from the presence of an hostile army in their vicinity: but the officers
of that army seem to have respected these greater works of human
ingenuity.[239]
“Sir,
“I am extremely sensible of the honour the members of the
Philosophical Society have done me, by electing me their President,
in the room of that very worthy patron of the Society, the late Doctor
Franklin.
“David Rittenhouse.”
“In this elevated situation, the highest that Philosophy can confer
in our country,” says his learned and eloquent Eulogist,[243] “his
conduct was marked by its usual line of propriety and
dignity.”—“Never,” continues his Eulogist, “did the artificial pomp of
station command half the respect, which followed his unassuming
manners in the public duties of this office. You will,” says he, “often
recollect, Gentlemen, with a mixture of pleasure and pain, the
delightful evenings you passed in the Society, every time he
presided in your meetings. They were uniformly characterized by
ardour in the pursuits of science, urbanity, and brotherly kindness.”
Besides a few of his most intimate friends, who were in the habit of
visiting him pretty often towards the close of the day[244], many
strangers of distinction, and persons who had no particular claims
upon him on the score of friendship, made him occasional visits at
other times: but in such portions of his time as he could retrench
from these avocations, he was much employed in reading; and the
books he read comprehended works of literature, taste, and science.
He blended the utile cum dulci, in the choice of his subjects; and
while he devoted some of what might be called his leisure hours,
such as were abstracted from his more appropriate pursuits, to
works of amusement, he did not neglect studies of a more serious
and important nature. He was at no loss for books: independently of
his own collection, he had ready access to two valuable and
extensive public libraries[245]; those of several literary gentlemen
were open to him; and some of his friends occasionally supplied him
with new publications. The following note addressed to him by Mr.
Jefferson, in the beginning of the year 1791, will shew that Dr.
Rittenhouse then devoted some attention to chemistry, and that he
continued to read works of natural science, in French, as well as in
his own language.
“Monday morning.”
The relation in which Dr. Rittenhouse now stood to the American
Philosophical Society, of which he had attained to the honour of
being the President, renders it proper that some account should be
given, in this place, of an institution heretofore distinguished by its
Transactions. The following are the leading features in its history.
The same original laws and regulations of the Society indicate the
style of the several officers of the institution, and prescribe the duties
of their respective stations: they likewise direct the manner in which
the general economy of the Society shall be managed, and their
proceedings, in the more appropriate business of their institution,
arranged and conducted. “These Rules,” say the Society (in an
Advertisement prefixed to the first volume of their Transactions,)
“were adopted from the Rules of that illustrious Body, the Royal
Society, of London; whose example the American Philosophical
Society think it their honour to follow, in their endeavours for
enlarging the sphere of knowledge and useful arts.”
These outlines will serve to furnish the reader with some ideas of
the nature, condition, and character of an institution, which has, in
many respects, reflected honour on the country to which it belongs.
Its usefulness,[251] it is earnestly to be wished, will not be suffered to
diminish, by any declension of that noble ardour in cultivating, that
public spirit in promoting, learning and science, which, while they
adorn the names of individuals, contribute to the glory of a nation.
Let a hope be still cherished, that notwithstanding the tumult, the
folly, and the distractions, which at the present day pervade a large
portion of the civilized world, the period is not remote, when
tranquillity, good sense and order, shall resume their blest dominion
over the conduct of the too many now infatuated nations of the earth.
—Let a belief be yet encouraged, that under the guidance of a
benign Providence, not only the rising generation will be found
zealous to emulate the fair fame of a Franklin and a Rittenhouse;
but even, that good and rational men in our own time, and among
ourselves, will continue to cultivate the arts of peace, and to promote
those objects of literature and science, which, at the same time they
meliorate the heart and elevate the mind, contribute to the happiness
of the individual and the general welfare of mankind.
“Sir,
“At any time, and in any country, such a “brilliant present” would
indicate a mind that can feel the inseparable connection between
Learning and Human Felicity: But in the present state of our
finances, it is a most important benefaction; and a noble specimen of
Literary Patronage in a young empire, where many other
improvements must share with the Arts and Sciences, in the public
attention and bounty.
“Gentlemen,
“My sincerest wishes are, that you may ever merit public
encouragement, and enjoy the patronage of the generous and the
good.”
“Dear Sir,