Contemporary Social Issues
Exam Practice Tests
Course Introduction
This course explores major contemporary social issues affecting societies at local, national, and global levels. Students critically examine topics such as inequality, poverty, discrimination, immigration, the environment, public health, and the impact of technology on social relationships. Through the analysis of case studies, theories, and current events, the course encourages discussion and reflection on the root causes, consequences, and potential solutions to these pressing challenges. Students are also introduced to the ways in which social institutions and policies shape everyday life, with an emphasis on civic engagement and informed citizenship.
Recommended Textbook
Public and Private Families An Introduction 8th Edition by Andrew J Cherlin
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14 Chapters
682 Verified Questions
682 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/study-set/2852
Page 2
Chapter 1: Public and Private Families
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53 Verified Questions
53 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/56868
Sample Questions
Q1) To conduct ___________ studies, researchers may join the group they are interested in and live with them for a period of time.
A)survey questionnaire
B)experimental
C)random sample
D)observational
Answer: D
Q2) One disadvantage of survey research on family is the limited information that can be gathered.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) The adherents of the symbolic interaction theory see the world as a place where people rarely create and sustain meaning because doing so involves more costs than benefits.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 2: The History of the Family
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61 Verified Questions
61 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Although a good marriage was thought to require a good sex life in the early decades of the 20<sup>th</sup> century, it was more important that the wife be satisfied rather than the husband.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) In the United States, levels of lifetime childlessness were higher for women who reached their peak child-bearing years in the __________ than in any other generation of women in the twentieth century.
A)1960s
B)1950s
C)1930s
D)1990s
Answer: C
Q3) The disruption of slave families was more severe in
A)the upper North.
B)the Appalachian area.
C)the lower South.
D)all areas.
Answer: B
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Chapter 3: Gender and Families
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) "Two-spirited" females were most likely to be found in societies
A)where sex roles overlapped.
B)where there was a female-dominated lineage.
C)where homosexuality was tolerated and expected.
D)where men had less control over women.
Answer: D
Q2) Hormone influences of the mother on her fetus in the second trimester of pregnancy can fully determine children's behaviors.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) The feminist-influenced branch of men's studies believes that male aggressiveness is
A)a social construct.
B)a biological factor.
C)an evolutionary factor.
D)hormonally influenced.
Answer: A
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Chapter 4: Social Class and Family Inequality
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47 Verified Questions
47 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Dual-earner, married couples have seen their incomes shrink, just as have other families.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Each class socializes its children to fill the same positions as their parents have filled.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which of the following types of workers has jobs opportunities declined for as a result of polarization of the labor market since the 1970s?
A)most-educated workers
B)least-educated workers
C)workers with a moderate level of education
D)workers with technical education
Q4) What reasons can you think of to explain why there is little good research on the upper class in the United States?
Q5) Membership in a kinship network can perpetuate poverty.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 5: Race, Ethnicity, and Families
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49 Verified Questions
49 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Statistics from 2006 show that ____ of American Indian births were to mothers who were unmarried.
A)32%
B)36%
C)54%
D)65%
Q2) Sixty-nine percent of black men without high school diplomas are incarcerated by the time they are in their early thirties.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The __________ family is thought to be superior in allowing people to be upwardly mobile, as is evidenced by the success of Cubans.
A)conjugal
B)female-centered
C)male-centered
D)cohabitation-based
Q4) Why do sociologists separate racial-ethnic groups for the study of family?
Q5) Name two kinds of socially recognized unions among Puerto Ricans. How do they differ?
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Chapter 6: Sexualities
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47 Verified Questions
47 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Changes in sexual activity in the United States since the start of the century have served to
A)weaken the role of marriage as the core of family life.
B)strengthen the role of marriage as the core of family life.
C)reinforce the central focus of children as the core of family life.
D)decrease the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases.
Q2) The main disagreement that remains between the proponents of the social constructionist and integrative perspectives on sexual identity is whether society completely determines sexual identities.
A)True
B)False
Q3) How has the new emphasis on sexual gratification in marriage in the late twentieth century changed the concept of marriage? Discuss both the advantages and the disadvantages.
Q4) How did the invention and widespread use of the birth control pill allow individuals to separate sex-as-pleasure from sex-as-reproduction?
Q5) Elaborate on the debate about the origins of homosexuality.
Q6) Why have biological studies of homosexual origins been controversial?
Q7) Describe the family of choice. How might it impact a couple of the same sex?
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Chapter 7: Cohabitation and Marriage
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52 Verified Questions
52 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) How did Maud look at the difference between romantic love and spiritual love, and which did she choose?
Q2) Describe and explain the current context of marriage.
Q3) Discuss what is meant when people refer to a positive selection into marriage and a negative selection out of marriage.
Q4) After the 1900s, the key resource that young people in the United States gained, which changed the centuries-old system of courtship, was A)education.
B)land.
C)inheritance.
D)spending money.
Q5) What is the marriage market, and how does it work?
Q6) Explain how the automobile helped change courtship patterns in the United States.
Q7) In the 2000s in the United States, premarital cohabitation has increased from being the experience of a few to being commonplace.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 8: Work and Families
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42 Verified Questions
42 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The historic rise in women's labor participation seems to have peaked.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The movement of married women into the labor force is one of the most important changes in American family life in the past century.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What kind of benefits for families does a responsive workplace provide?
Q4) Some observers have suggested that balancing work and family has become difficult for Americans because they are
A)working longer hours.
B)working too hard.
C)earning less money.
D)receiving fewer benefits.
Q5) Describe how the service sector has contributed to the rise in the number of women in the workforce.
Q6) What makes parental leave from jobs such a great idea?
Q7) Why is it in U.S. businesses' best interests to make their workplaces more responsive to women?
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Chapter 9: Children and Parents
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52 Verified Questions
52 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Children in America experience more changes to the compositions of their households than do children in any other Western nation.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Fathers in families under economic pressure were more likely to lack energy and interest and be depressed than were their wives.
A)True B)False
Q3) In the United States, parents treat sons and daughters differently.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Based on current research, one can safely conclude that children raised in gay and lesbian homes do not exhibit any greater symptoms of mental distress than children raised in heterosexual homes.
A)True B)False
Q5) How has the transformation of the U.S. economy over the past few decades hurt many parents and made child rearing more difficult?
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Chapter 10: Older People and Their Families
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50 Verified Questions
50 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Identify an accurate statement about multigenerational households.
A)They have higher poverty rates than skipped-generation households.
B)They are the most disadvantaged of all the kinds of grandparent-grandchild households.
C)They are households that contain grandparents and grandchildren but exclude parents.
D)They are common in Latin American and Asian cultures.
Q2) Of the following living arrangements, which is the most likely one for elderly men today in the United States?
A)living alone
B)living with a spouse
C)living with other relatives
D)living with other non-relatives
Q3) The average monthly Social Security benefit has doubled in purchasing power since 1960, even taking into account inflation.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Describe a multigenerational household and the effects it might have on the families who live in them.
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Chapter 11: Domestic Violence
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55 Verified Questions
55 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) On the basis of research that is currently available on domestic violence, which of the following types of families is most likely to experience abuse?
A)families with high educational levels
B)two-parent families
C)families where the husband did not have a full-time job
D)high-income families
Q2) Vincent is unemployed for more than six months. He becomes impatient with his failure to find a new job, and he directs his anger toward his family members by beating and abusing them. Vincent's behavior can be best explained by the ________ perspective.
A)social learning
B)frustration-aggression
C)social exchange
D)integrative
Q3) Male dominance today is based in part upon the use of, or threat of the use of, force against women.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What is the heart of the problem of foster care in the United States?
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Chapter 12: Divorce
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35 Verified Questions
35 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) How does legal custody differ from physical custody in a divorce settlement?
Q2) Historically, in most cases of divorce, mothers retained legal and physical custody of their children.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Why would an African American woman be more likely to divorce than her comparable (in age and education, for example) white female friend?
Q4) Some studies indicate that there is a "divorce gene" that predisposes some people to divorce.
A)True
B)False
Q5) In the context of union dissolution, which of the following forms of parenting is most likely to occur during the crisis period?
A)diminished parenting
B)authoritative parenting
C)authoritarian parenting
D)narcissistic parenting
Q6) Describe the major racial and ethnic differences in divorce.
Q7) What were the effects of no-fault divorce on marriage and the family?
Page 14
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Chapter 13: Stepfamilies
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39 Verified Questions
39 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is an argument stated by the functionalist theorists of the conjugal family system?
A)The conjugal family is ideal in industrialized societies where salary workers can move geographically to the best opportunities located in the market.
B)The conjugal family system weakens the dominance of breadwinner-homemaker marriages in the United States.
C)The geographical movement of families is difficult in urbanized societies as both husbands and wives have equal power in deciding the movement.
D)The conjugal family system works best when wives earn more than their husbands.
Q2) In which of the following countries has early marriage been typically uncommon?
A)Bangladesh
B)India
C)Brazil
D)Mali
Q3) What is modernization theory, and what are its basic assumptions?
Q4) What were the predictions made by Goode on family patterns, and how accurate were they?
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15
Chapter 14: The Family, the State, and Social Policy
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46 Verified Questions
46 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Families living in deep poverty are most likely to A)have family incomes that are less than 50 percent of the federal poverty line. B)have family incomes that fall between 70 percent and 80 percent of the federal poverty line.
C)include anyone who is working steadily unlike families living in shallow poverty. D)receive more generous benefits from the government than those received by families living in shallow poverty.
Q2) Those considered to be the most undeserving poor in our country are A)unwed mothers.
B)children.
C)unemployed, able-bodied men. D)widows.
Q3) On what major basic issue does the liberal viewpoint on family differ from the conservative viewpoint?
Q4) For purposes of discussion on this question, take a stand as either a social conservative or social liberal in the U.S. Congress, and discuss what policies you would support (or oppose) for child care for working parents.
Q5) What do you see in the future of the American welfare state?
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