Contemporary Social Issues
Exam Materials
Course Introduction
This course explores a range of pressing social issues facing contemporary societies, such as inequality, racism, gender dynamics, climate change, immigration, and the impact of technology on daily life. Through multidisciplinary perspectives and critical analysis, students examine the historical roots, current trends, and possible solutions related to these challenges. The course encourages active engagement with real-world problems, fostering thoughtful discussion and research to promote deeper understanding and informed citizenship.
Recommended Textbook
The Sociology Project Introducing the Sociological Imagination 1st Canadian Edition by Jeff Manza
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20 Chapters
1206 Verified Questions
1206 Flashcards
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2
Chapter 1: The Sociological Imagination
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63 Verified Questions
63 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Two key components to understanding the social worlds humans create are __________.
A)social interaction and social structure
B)social space and social time
C)social deviance and social applications
D)social critique and social acceptance
Answer: A
Q2) You are taking your first sociology course in the fall.About halfway through the semester,you go home for Thanksgiving.At Thanksgiving dinner,you plan to conduct an impromptu sociological experiment by violating some social norms.Which of following actions could you potentially take?
A)You eat your dinner and make polite dinner conversation with your family.
B)You help to make dinner and serve the guests as well.
C)You eat your dinner with your hands,even the mashed potatoes.
D)You excuse yourself from the table after dessert to answer your cell phone.
Answer: C
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3
Chapter 2: Social Theory
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56 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Christine works at the high school,is a deacon at her church,a den mother for the Girl Scouts,a Sergeant in the Cadets,and a kickboxing instructor at her gym.The connection of Christine to other individuals in these groups are her _________.
A)social networks
B)social solidarity
C)social cohesion
D)social class
Answer: A
Q2) By carefully researching the lives of African Americans in a predominantly black neighbourhood of Philadelphia,W.E.B.Du Bois demonstrated that __________ shaped every aspect of the lives of African Americans.
A)class membership
B)limited opportunities
C)prejudice
D)double consciousness
Answer: B
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Chapter 3: Studying the Social World
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55 Verified Questions
55 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements about a code of ethics and sociological research is true?
A)Sociologists often disagree about the contents of their code of ethics.
B)The sociological code of ethics is not relevant for human subjects.
C)All social scientists commit to a shared code of ethics.
D)Informed consent satisfies the requirements of the code of ethics.
Answer: C
Q2) For which of the following reasons do sociologists and other social scientists abide by codes of ethics?
A)Government regulations require all sociologists to abide by these standards.
B)Given the nature of their research,social scientists must commit to do no harm to those they study.
C)Codes of ethics affect the validity of a project's findings.
D)Scientists have always readily endorsed the usefulness of such codes in keeping other scientists in check.
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: Social Interaction
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Sample Questions
Q1) You have been tasked with a longitudinal study involving interviews with a group of individuals as they age from 5 to 40.At the onset of the project,you decide it would be helpful to try to predict which children may be later labelled as deviant.Based on the textbook discussion of deviants,which child do you predict will be so labelled?
A)Robert really enjoys baseball and is very physically active.He sometimes gets in fights with other children,especially when they do not follow the rules.
B)Phillip is a nice boy,but he often eats his crayons and paste.
C)Jenny talks a lot during story hour and has trouble sitting still.She often talks over other students and the teacher.
D)Susan generally enjoys school and follows directions well.However,she has trouble making friends.
Q2) According to George Herbert Mead,the term significant other refers to individuals
A)we look up to but with whom we have little personal experience
B)who are part of both our primary and secondary groups
C)close enough to us to have a strong capacity to motivate our behaviour
D)we know but do not care about
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Page 6
Chapter 5: Social Structure
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Sample Questions
Q1) When social structure breaks down so does social order;which of the following best illustrates a breakdown in social structure?
A)Wall Street after the housing market crashed
B)New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina
C)shoppers in a new mall
D)a parking lot after a sporting event
Q2) Your sociological research is examining the relationship between how governmental policies reinforce economic inequality.This research is investigating _________.
A)social structure
B)symbolic interaction
C)agency and path dependence
D)structuralism and cognition
Q3) Subordinate groups may challenge contemporary institutionalization practices because ___________.
A)they want to gain access to more power
B)they want to resist contemporary norms
C)they have rejected the economic structure
D)their religious conviction is no longer critically important
Q4) How and why do interest groups tend to work to maintain social structure?
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Chapter 6: Culture, media, and Communication
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55 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) You are a successful sociologist and have recently written a new book on ethnography.You are about to enter a party where an important executive at a publishing company is in attendance.You are talking to one of your colleagues about how to impress this individual.She advises,"Just be sure to use your cultural capital!" If you were to follow this advice,which of the following actions might you take?
A)Walk up to the executive and slip a $20 bill into her hand when you mention your book.
B)Walk up to the executive and strike up a conversation on classical music.
C)Walk up to the executive and talk about how America is superior to all other countries in the world.
D)Go to the party,but avoid interacting with the executive in any way.
Q2) Which of the following phenomenon do sociologists suggest is a contributing factor to people's sense of national identity?
A)the ability to watch foreign films in any country of the world
B)mass production and consumption of print media written in local languages
C)the decline of Indigenous languages
D)rising rates of urbanization
Q3) How do corporations contribute to the framing of media?
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Page 8
Chapter 7: Power and Politics
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to research conducted by the Broadbent Institute,Canadians think the wealthiest fifth-or top 20%-of Canadians hold more than half of the wealth in the country (55.5%)and that the poorest fifth-or bottom 20%-hold less than 6%.What are the actual statistics?
A)The wealthiest hold 67% of the wealth,while the poorest fifth of Canadians own no share at all.
B)The wealthiest hold less than half of the wealth (45%),while the poorest fifth of Canadians own 10%.
C)The wealthiest hold more than 75% of the wealth,while the poorest fifth of Canadians own no share at all.
D)The wealthiest hold more than 80% of the wealth,while the poorest fifth of Canadians own no share at all.
Q2) Poverty,crime,drug abuse,and racism are examples of __________.
A)the welfare state
B)social problems
C)deviance
D)public policies
Q3) Explain the role of the state in the distribution of power to the poor and disadvantaged.
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Page 9
Chapter 8: Markets, organizations, and Work
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65 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) A company named Worldwide Widget Distributors is conducting a job search for a new regional sales manager.Based on what researchers have documented about how power influences hiring decisions,which of the following applicants is most likely to get the job?
A)a white male who is a couple of years away from retirement
B)a middle-aged Latina who is reentering the workforce after time away to raise a family
C)a young white male who recently graduated from a top-tier university
D)a young black male who has relevant work experience,but has been unemployed for several years
Q2) Legislation that declared that citizens with disabilities should have the same access to physical spaces such as buildings and bathrooms as their nondisabled peers is called
A)Disability Rights legislation
B)Human Rights legislation
C)National Advisory Commission on Disabilities Act of 1991
D)National Disabilities Act of 1990
Q3) Explain the concept of scientific management and how it has influenced workplaces in North America.
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Chapter 9: Social Stratification, inequality, and Poverty
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56 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to Forbes magazine,in 2014,the richest individual in the world was
A)American
B)Chinese
C)Indian
D)Mexican
Q2) Dawn works as a lawyer for a Fortune 500 company and recently bought her first home.She was the first person in her family to attend university.Even though while she was growing up her family was very busy working to pay rent and other bills-her dad worked as a janitor and her mother as a childcare assistant-her parents have always been supportive of her education and career goals.What sociological concept best describes Dawn's life?
A)upward mobility
B)downward mobility
C)socioeconomic culture
D)relative poverty
Q3) Explain the distinction between relative and absolute poverty.
Q4) Why is it important to make the distinction between income and wealth?
Q5) How is inequality of opportunity measured?
Q6) What is the significance and limitations of the poverty line?
Page 11
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Chapter 10: Race and Ethnicity
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84 Verified Questions
84 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is an example of unintentional institutional discrimination?
A)Jim Crow laws that segregated whites and blacks in terms of housing,transportation,and education in the American South
B)federal sentencing guidelines that penalize individuals who possess crack cocaine more heavily than those who possess powder cocaine
C)a company that systematically excludes women from upper-level managerial positions
D)South Africa's system of apartheid
Q2) Amir had to flee his country due to threats on his life from his corrupt government.Amir has come to Canada under which of the following classifications?
A)family class
B)economic class
C)refugee class
D)humanitarian class
Q3) Discuss the differences between individual and institutional discrimination and provide an example of each one.
Q4) Explain the second generation effect.
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Chapter 11: Gender and Sexuality
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57 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) The term sexual minority refers to anyone who is not __________.
A)gay
B)heterosexual
C)bisexual
D)lesbian
Q2) Which of the following is the most plausible explanation for the underrepresentation of men in jobs as kindergarten teachers?
A)Men are naturally less adept at taking care of young children.
B)Occupational segregation remains rigidly in force across all occupations.
C)Female-dominated occupations often pay less than male-dominated occupations.
D)Gender discrimination means men are not granted interviews for these positions.
Q3) What is meant by the term gender revolution? What is its impact on the lives of women?
Q4) What are stereotypes?
A)beliefs about a group that are often untrue or exaggerated
B)when men and women are distributed differently across occupations
C)discrimination or bias against homosexual people
D)acts of unmarried couples living together
Q5) What is socialization? Discuss how it is different for males and females.
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Chapter 12: Families and Family Life
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Sample Questions
Q1) Sociologist Joan Williams argues that workplace antidiscrimination policies need to address family responsibilities for what reason?
A)to end penalties that those who care for others face
B)to protect the rights of the childless
C)to institute the 35-hour workweek
D)to reaffirm family values
Q2) Earl is married and has two children.His spouse and his children comprise his
A)family of orientation
B)family of procreation
C)extended family
D)blended family
Q3) __________ define families as groups of people who live together and share biological and/or legal ties.
A)Anthropologists
B)Biologists
C)Historians
D)Demographers
Q4) What are the criticisms of the family decline perspective?
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Chapter 13: Sociology of Religion
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55 Verified Questions
55 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Religion,education,family,and the media are all examples of __________.
A)social institutions
B)denominations
C)animisms
D)theologies
Q2) A religious __________ is an organized group with at least a few different doctrines that distinguish it from other such groups that are also adherents of the "same" religion.
A)branch
B)denomination
C)sect
D)tradition
Q3) Social scientists have concluded that religiosity is most closely associated with which two social variables?
A)gender and age
B)age and denomination
C)income and employment status
D)political affiliation and marital status
Q4) Explain what is meant by civil religion.
Q5) Why are North American churches so segregated?
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Chapter 14: Education
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Sample Questions
Q1) Knowing how to dress,act,and present oneself at work,and being able to work well with other people are examples of __________ skills.
A)citizenship
B)higher-order
C)soft
D)technical
Q2) _____________ is the stock of knowledge,skills,and habits that one can use to do productive labour later in life.
A)human capital
B)educational capital
C)credential capital
D)soft skill capital
Q3) Given what you know about gender differences in educational attainment,which of the following scenarios is most likely?
A)Jane is more likely than Bob to earn her bachelor's degree.
B)Bob is more likely than Jane to earn his PhD.
C)Jane is more likely than Bob to earn her PhD.
D)Bob is more likely to attend a two-year college than Jane.
Q4) Why do people with more education reap larger socioeconomic rewards?
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Chapter 15: Health and Medicine
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Sample Questions
Q1) The colonial period of the eighteenth century saw most healthcare being provided by __________.
A)merchants,community leaders,and spouses
B)poorly trained local doctors,community folk healers,and religious leaders
C)members of the church,shamans,and community leaders
D)aptly trained apprentices,folk healers,and community leaders
Q2) When was midwifery legalized in Ontario?
A)1943
B)1973
C)2016
D)1991
Q3) The idea that people with the lowest social status in society are less healthy than those in the middle or at the higher end of social status is the __________.
A)socioeconomic gradient in health
B)population prevention model
C)social-trajectory model
D)cumulative-exposure model
Q4) What are the reasons for the differences in life expectancy between men and women?
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Chapter 16: Crime, deviance, and Social Control
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which group is the most likely to perceive others as outsiders?
A)a motorcycle club that takes over a bar on Friday nights
B)officers patrolling the Texas-Mexico border
C)an evangelical church seeking new members
D)the members of a group home for the mentally challenged
Q2) Which of the following is an example of statistical deviance?
A)A man cheats on his wife when he travels.
B)The Occupy Wall Street protesters marched without a permit.
C)A group of friends gets stoned every weekend.
D)A man decides to sing loudly while he is shopping for groceries.
Q3) Moral regulation,the effort to legislate morality,is being curbed by what phenomenon?
A)the general support for lifestyle freedom rather than organized resistance
B)the perception that such initiatives are anachronisms,that they make you look old-fashioned
C)that young people are naturally curious and rebellious and want to see what will happen
D)the greater effort to teach people that enforcing morality is wrong
Q4) How do groups,especially those outside the family,exert pressure to force individuals to conform and so not deviate?
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Chapter 17: Social Movements and Revolutions
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Sample Questions
Q1) Alicia and her friends,all busy working mothers in their 30s,wanted to organize a protest against the lack of affordable childcare.They designed a website outlining their cause and posted announcements on Facebook indicating where protesters were to assemble.Alicia was surprised when the turnout at the protest site was less than she had anticipated.What missing factor might explain the group's failure to recruit participants?
A)biographical availability
B)framing
C)ideological compatibility
D)social-network ties
Q2) One way to undermine the credibility of an opponent is __________.
A)using bullhorns effectively
B)using attendance in a packed courtroom
C)organizing street protests outside their headquarters
D)using the media (press releases,faxes,Twitter,television)
Q3) The extent of violence in revolutions is __________.
A)fixed (there must be bloodshed to constitute a revolution)
B)quite variable
C)nonexistent
D)quite mild
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Page 19
Chapter 18: Environmental Sociology
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the sociological impact of an environmentally catastrophic event such as Deepwater Horizon?
A)People lose their jobs and homes.
B)Vacationers,fishermen,and other stakeholders in the region become more likely to join environmental causes.
C)Coastal residents discover that the government and oil companies have failed them.
D)Coastal fishermen and vacationers experience inequality vis-à-vis the oil companies.
Q2) The field of __________ revealed how so-called primitive societies __________ nature.
A)anthropology;are dependent on B)environmental sociology;are interdependent on C)ecology;are based on D)archaeology;worship
Q3) In July 1995,a severe heat wave in Chicago revealed how one element of the population was particularly vulnerable in a scenario that anticipated likely tragedies,such as what happened in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.What did the sociologist Eric Klinenberg reveal and what special phrase did he coin to describe it?
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Page 20
Chapter 19: Population
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Sample Questions
Q1) Given that Japan's fertility has been between 1.2 and 1.4 for several decades,there is a distinct possibility that in the future Japan will experience a __________.
A)sharp drop in infant mortality
B)slow and steady increase in population
C)slow and steady decline in population
D)very rapid decline in population
Q2) Explain the difference between chronic and infectious disease.Why is this an important distinction for epidemiologists to make in their research?
Q3) A(n)__________ is a legal document that defines the conditions under which a person prefers to die.
A)advance directive
B)palliative care plan
C)power of attorney
D)order for life-sustaining treatment
Q4) Outline the differences between the first and second demographic transitions.
Q5) Summarize the reasons population research is useful for society and some of the kinds of population trends demographers study.
Q6) Explain which factors influence fertility and how.
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Chapter 20: Globalization
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Sample Questions
Q1) The trade intensity index is the ratio of __________.
A)intraregional trade share relative to global trade
B)intraregional trade share relative to the region's share in global trade
C)interregional trade share relative to global trade
D)one TNC's share of intraregional trade relative to another TNC's share
Q2) Prior to the rise of capitalism,what was the traditional means of survival among peasants?
A)selling produced goods at local markets
B)working for wages in rural communities
C)working their own land with their own labour
D)leasing their own land for agricultural production
Q3) When firms from one country make investments in another,it is known as
A)direct foreign investment (DFI)
B)direct licensing (DL)
C)foreign direct investment (FDI)
D)investment transfer authorization (ITA)
Q4) Explain the relationship of outsourcing to global value chains.
Q5) What derailed the process of globalization in the early twentieth century and why was the period of deglobalization that followed so enduring?
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