Contemporary Social Issues
Textbook Exam Questions
Course Introduction
This course explores a range of pressing social issues facing societies today, such as inequality, discrimination, globalization, environmental challenges, and the impact of technology on social life. Through lectures, discussions, and case studies, students will critically analyze the root causes and consequences of these issues, examine the roles of individuals and institutions in addressing them, and consider potential solutions. Emphasis is placed on developing a global perspective and fostering skills in research, critical thinking, and informed civic engagement.
Recommended Textbook
SOC+ 2nd Edition by Robert J. Brym
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13 Chapters
2331 Verified Questions
2331 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Introducing Sociology
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Sample Questions
Q1) Although Max Weber was strongly influenced by Marx, he was critical of Marx's conclusions. What was one of Weber's criticisms of Marx?
A) that class conflict is not the only driving force of history
B) that manufacturing economies become more personal and flexible over time
C) that a workers' revolution would weaken bureaucracies
D) that the working classes are more revolutionary than Marx predicted
Answer: A
Q2) Married adults are half as likely as unmarried adults to commit suicide because marriage creates social ties and social commitments to others. What are these ties and commitments called?
A) social structure
B) socialization
C) social organization
D) social solidarity
Answer: D
Q3) Sociology is the systematic study of human behaviour in social context.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Culture
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175 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Imagine a student develops her own "shorthand" for taking lecture notes. Which of the following statements correctly identifies a feature of her shorthand?
A) The shorthand is composed of symbols but is not part of culture.
B) The shorthand does not qualify as symbols but is part of culture.
C) The shorthand is composed of symbols and is part of culture.
D) The shorthand does not qualify as symbols and is not part of culture.
Answer: A
Q2) Which aspect of the human cultural survival kit involves making and using tools and techniques that improve our ability to take what we want from nature?
A) cooperation
B) abstraction
C) material culture
D) production
Answer: D
Q3) Define rationalization.
Answer: Answers will vary
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Chapter 3: Socialization
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186 Verified Questions
186 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Virtually all sociologists agree that socialization doesn't affect gender roles until early adulthood.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) What do some social scientists predict will happen to childhood and adolescence in the future?
A) They will be governed less by self-socialization.
B) They will make a big comeback.
C) They will be far less stressful than today.
D) They will disappear.
Answer: D
Q3) Anticipatory socialization is the term sociologists use to describe the effects that lowered expectations that are held out by secondary agents of socialization can have on academic achievement.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q4) What is the "hidden curriculum?"
Answer: Answers will vary.
Page 5
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Chapter 4: From Social Interaction to Social Organizations
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Sample Questions
Q1) Subjects in Milgram's authority experiment were allowed to administer what appeared to be dangerous electric shocks. Which of the following did most subjects choose to do?
A) Most chose to disobey the authority figure.
B) Most chose to administer high-voltage shocks even though they were free to stop.
C) Most chose not to participate in the experiment because it involved harming others.
D) Most chose to administer shocks only if the shocks did little harm.
Q2) Because laughter in everyday life is often a signal of dominance or subservience, we can conclude that social structure influences laughter.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Weber's research has correctly identified that bureaucracies are generally less efficient than traditional and charismatic social organizations.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Define reference group and explain the role of imagination in our participation in group life.
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6
Chapter 5: Deviance and Crime
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165 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In Becker's three stages of becoming a regular marijuana user, what did failure to pass any stage mean?
A) ostracism from deviant cohorts
B) increased aggression to achieve the next stage
C) failure to learn and assume the deviant role
D) lowered self-esteem in the novice user
Q2) Formal punishment is imposed on people who do which of the following?
A) break the law
B) take responsibility for deviant behaviour
C) look guilty
D) behave eccentrically and are unlikeable
Q3) Strain theory explains that deviance results not simply from the actions of the deviant, but also from the responses of others who define the action as deviant.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Define and provide examples of the medicalization of deviance.
Q5) Briefly describe labelling theory, its advantages, and its shortcomings.
Q6) Describe strain theory and distinguish it from subcultural theory. Identify the shortcomings of each of these theories.
Page 7
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Chapter 6: Social Stratification-Canadian and Global Perspectives
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Sample Questions
Q1) Define social stratification. Describe the social stratification currently characterizing Canada.
Q2) Marx believed that capitalist growth would eventually produce a society without classes and so without class conflict.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Outline the modernization theory of global stratification.
Q4) Which of the following best describes Canada's progressive tax system?
A) It has done little to erode poverty.
B) It makes Canada one of the most socially responsible countries in the Western world. C) It makes any social inequalities the fault of the poor.
D) It has caused the poverty rates in Canada to fall steadily.
Q5) As the Canadian economy moves from a resources economy to being more knowledge-driven, education will continue to grow in importance.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Explain the benefits of guaranteeing an annual income for the poor. Explain why Canadians would resist such a proposal.
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Chapter 7: Race and Ethnicity
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173 Verified Questions
173 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Based on its focus, split labour market theory is a variant of which major perspective?
A) structural functionalism
B) conflict theory
C) symbolic interactionism
D) feminist theory
Q2) What is symbolic ethnicity?
Q3) What term is used for a socially defined category of people with physical markers perceived as socially significant?
A) discrimination
B) stereotypes
C) prejudice
D) race
Q4) Explain the need for scapegoats.
Q5) What is ethnicity for most Irish Canadians?
A) like institutional racism
B) imposed
C) a matter of choice
D) beyond negotiation
Q6) Outline the social conflict theory of internal colonialism.
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Sexuality and Gender
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Sample Questions
Q1) Even though Katie does a completely different job than her brother Kevin at the processing plant, their wages are the same because they are based on the level of skill, training, and responsibility that each of them needs for the job. What do sociologists call this situation?
A) gender equality
B) employment equity
C) affirmative employment-wage action
D) equal pay for work of equal value
Q2) Describe the profile of women who are most vulnerable to sexual harassment.
Q3) Define glass ceiling. Research its presence in the Canadian corporate world. Suggest the factors that have been most effective in eliminating the glass ceiling, and evaluate the strength of those trends that are keeping it in place.
Q4) In single-sex schools, girls tend to experience faster cognitive development, higher occupational aspirations and achievements, and greater self-esteem and self-confidence.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Define the social constructionist's explanation of gender.
Q6) Identify the meaning of the term masculinities.
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Families
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Sample Questions
Q1) Marrying outside of one's social group can sometimes be opposed by which of the following?
A) homosexuals
B) parents or community leaders
C) extramarital relations
D) immigration officials
Q2) Polygamy increases the nuclear family vertically by adding spouses (usually women), while the extended family is an expansion of the nuclear family horizontally.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Explain when and why love became an important component of marriage.
Q4) According to the textbook, most Canadians take for granted that marriage ought to be based on which of the following?
A) parents' wishes
B) money
C) love
D) convention
Q5) List the feminist conclusions about the relationship of patriarchy to gender inequality.
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Chapter 10: Religion and Education
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is more characteristic of a sect than a church?
A) Members are generally from all classes.
B) Worship is formal, removed from direct experience, and orderly.
C) Salvation is granted by God and administered by the organization.
D) Leaders and members tend to be intolerant of other religions.
Q2) Religious fundamentalism often provides a convenient vehicle for framing political extremism, enhancing its appeal, legitimizing it, and providing a foundation for the solidarity of political groups.
A)True
B)False
Q3) According to the text, what are the content and intensity of our religious beliefs, and the form and frequency of our religious practices, influenced by?
A) our level of personality development
B) our gender
C) our place in the structure of society
D) the structure of the human brain
Q4) There are a number of anti-poverty organizations in Canada. Research one organization and describe how education contributes to the strategies for battling socioeconomic inequality.
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Chapter 11: Health and Medicine
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following groups is most likely to report poor health in Canada?
A) Sikh Canadians
B) Japanese Canadians
C) Aboriginal Canadians
D) Chinese Canadians
Q2) How does "race" and ethnicity affect health and health care in Canada?
Q3) Racial disparities in health status are due partly to economic differences between racial groups. What have American studies shown regarding blacks and whites at the same income level?
A) They have identical levels of health.
B) They have health levels that depend on diet.
C) They have different levels of health.
D) They have similar levels of health.
Q4) What occurred with medical doctors in the late 1800s that prevented many midwives, chiropractors, and herbalists from continuing to practise in Canada?
A) Doctors created a monopoly.
B) Doctors formed an oligarchy.
C) Doctors integrated horizontally.
D) Doctors unionized.
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Chapter 12: The Mass Media
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166 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Many forms of mass media provide people with pleasure, relaxation, and short-term escape from their problems and worries. What function of media does this reflect?
A) coordination
B) entertainment
C) social control
D) socialization
Q2) Mass media ownership over time tends to become more concentrated. According to the textbook, which of the following explains this?
A) Regulations favour multinational corporations.
B) Conglomerates tend to be more innovative than smaller companies.
C) Entry costs are so high.
D) User-based billing eliminates competition.
Q3) Jimmy now remotely programs his home PVR from work using a downloaded "app." What enables him to do this?
A) media convergence
B) vertical integration
C) horizontal integration
D) media concentration
Q4) What is the two-step flow of communication?
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Chapter 13: Technology, the Environment, and Social Movements
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195 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Heather is angered because people only see the cost of fuel at the pump but not the overall cost to the environment of extracting the fuel, transporting the fuel, and storing the fuel. What is she angry about?
A) environmental costs
B) social costs
C) market costs
D) technological costs
Q2) Having a doctoral degree, a job as a professor, and a large saving account are all examples of which of the following?
A) social goods
B) social inducements
C) social goals
D) social rewards
Q3) Sociologists reserve the use of the expression normal accident for errors arising from the unpredicted but inevitable failure of highly complex technologies.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Explain the relationship between social control and collective action.
Page 15
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