Interdisciplinary Social Sciences Study Guide
Questions
Course Introduction
Interdisciplinary Social Sciences explores the interconnectedness of fields such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, political science, and economics to provide a holistic understanding of human behavior and societal structures. By integrating theories and methodologies from multiple disciplines, this course examines complex social issues such as inequality, globalization, and identity from diverse perspectives. Students will develop critical thinking and analytical skills, learning to synthesize information, address multifaceted problems, and appreciate the value of collaborative approaches in the social sciences.
Recommended Textbook
Social Science An Introduction to the Study of Society 15th Edition by Elgin F. Hunt
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Social Science and Its Method
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Q1) New fields of social science are evolving such as cognitive science.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Albert Einstein said that, "Theories should be as simple as possible, but not more so."
Why and how is this important in understanding social science methods and the whole purpose of social science?
Answer: If a theory is complicated and difficult to understand it will be a harder explanation of the world to test. Complicated theories also obscure the purpose of social science, which is to understand and clarify social issues and social problems. If social scientists use simple theories that are easier to test and explain, they are better able to meet the goals relative to the field of social science.
Q3) Social scientists basically use the same approaches and methods and discourage different disciplinary approaches.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 2: Human Origins
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Q1) The earliest known species of Homo (human) is Homo habilis.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Darwin saw evolution as a rapid process with sudden abrupt changes.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) Gould's punctuated equilibrium theory holds that evolution is a stop/go process of sudden change with long periods of no change.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q4) Whether evolution is punctuated or continuous is:
A) no longer a question.
B) still much in debate.
C) now replaced by a rapid pace theory.
D) unimportant.
Answer: B
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Chapter 3: Origins of Western Society
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Q1) Early civilizations often become organized into a military aristocracy, a priesthood, and landless peasants.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Beginning in the late 1980s the countries of Eastern Europe become independent of the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.) which:
A) itself broke up.
B) then re-conquered these countries by 1995.
C) did not change in political structure.
D) returned the Czar to power in 1996.
Answer: A
Q3) Chronologically, the Middle Ages falls approximately one thousand years after the Renaissance.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Society, Culture, and Cultural Change
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Q1) Christian churches in America have traditionally been and continue to be active in social change movements in the United States.
A)True
B)False
Q2) William Ogburn described cultural lag as a pattern of stability and cultural cohesion.
A)True
B)False
Q3) A group of people who come together accidentally for a brief time only is called a: A) society.
B) crowd.
C) social institution.
D) family.
Q4) The doctrine that all cultures are for the most part equally valid is called: A) cultural diffusion.
B) cultural relativism.
C) centralization.
D) democratization.
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Chapter 5: Geography, Demography, Ecology, and Society
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Q1) Most species depend on:
A) other species for food or other needs.
B) themselves.
C) the lack of interdependence in nature to survive.
D) inability to adjust to changing environments to survive.
Q2) In 1798 "an Essay on the Principle of Population as It Affects the Future Improvement of Society" was written by:
A) Diderot.
B) Thomas Jefferson.
C) Charles Darwin.
D) Thomas Malthus.
Q3) Demographers classify and count people on the basic of characteristics such as age, gender, marital status, occupation, income, nationality, and race.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The Malthusian Theory is the idea that the means of subsistence tends to outrun the growth of population.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 6: Technology and Society
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Q1) Geologists have been calling for a new "age"-the age of man-called:
A) the Industrial Age.
B) the Anthropocene Age.
C) the Millennial Age.
D) the Future Age.
Q2) Potential technological developments in the future are limited only by the imagination.
A)True
B)False
Q3) How is modern technology related to the need for skilled and unskilled workers? Do machines cause a decline in total employment?
Q4) The gradual warming of the earth's temperature due to the burning of fossil fuels is called:
A) the ice age.
B) glaciation.
C) acclimatization.
D) global warming.
Q5) The first six letters on the top of a keyboard spell QWERTY. A)True
B)False
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Chapter 7: Psychology, Society, and Culture
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Q1) The psychoanalytic approach to understanding behavior focuses on:
A) Freud's theories of behavior.
B) ones conscious understanding of their environment.
C) cognitive science.
D) the actions one demonstrates.
Q2) Labeling Theory is part of the broader theoretical perspective called the:
A) functionalist perspective.
B) symbolic interactionist perspective.
C) psycho analytical perspective.
D) historical perspective.
Q3) B. F. Skinner strongly denied the influence of society on the individual.
A)True
B)False
Q4) A society is composed of individuals and as a whole society is:
A) equal exactly to the sum of these individuals.
B) is best understood as developing in the same way individuals develop.
C) known to have few adjustment problems.
D) more than the sum of those individuals.
Q5) What is intelligence? How have psychologists tested for intelligence? Why did the book titled The Bell Curve cause a controversy among social scientists?
Page 9
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Chapter 8: The Family
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Q1) The average number of children per family in the U.S. has been:
A) increasing since 1800.
B) dropping most recently.
C) very stable since 1800.
D) constant over the last four generations.
Q2) Within the last hundred years family control in the U.S. has gradually shifted toward the partnership form.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Why do people get divorced? How is divorce related to family disorganization? What cautions are necessary in understanding the meaning of divorce rates?
Q4) The rules governing the choice of mates are the same in all societies.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What are the four major factors that determine variations in family patterns? Give examples of each.
Q6) Throughout history the family has been the basic primary human group. A)True
B)False
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Chapter 9: Religion
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Q1) The pilgrimage to the Kaaba at Mecca is one of the five pillars of Islam.
A)True
B)False
Q2) When Emperor Hirohito died in 1989, a new calendar beginning at year zero was introduced.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The three major monotheistic religions are Judaism, Christianity, and Buddhism.
A)True
B)False
Q4) After Muhammad's death, Islam split into two factions:
A) the Shiites and the Sunni.
B) the Taoists and the Hindus.
C) the Sikhs and the Hindus.
D) the Left and the Right.
Q5) In the world, about 70% of the population identifies itself with no religious affiliation.
A)True
B)False
Q6) What are the central beliefs of two of the five major religions of the world?
Page 11
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Chapter 10: Education
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Q1) Ideally U.S. education is a fundamental building block of U.S. democracy.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The college curriculum has evolved from an elective system to a rigid system.
A)True
B)False
Q3) There are about 45 million U.S. students at all levels of the educational ladder.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Community colleges are no longer regarded primarily as institutions preparing students to enter four- year colleges.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What are the reasons why the U.S. educational system is not equal? In what ways is the U.S. educational system unequal?
Q6) After World War II the number of two-year colleges rose rapidly.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 11: Social and Economic Stratification
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Q1) Some claim that blacks in the U.S. are stratified as a caste system, like in India.
A)True
B)False
Q2) What is the experience for those immigrating to the U.S. to work in the unskilled labor market?
A) They find there are no unskilled jobs available for immigrant laborers.
B) They rapidly move into the American middle class because their wages are so high.
C) They usually return to their native countries because they can't survive here on such low wages.
D) They make good money because our "low-wage" jobs are "high-wage" jobs for them.
Q3) One of the best ways to advance from one social class to another is through education.
A)True B)False
Q4) What is class consciousness? Describe factors that explain why Americans are not overly class conscious?
Q5) How is globalization related to social mobility in the United States?
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Page 13
Chapter 12: Stratification, Minorities, and Discrimination
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Q1) The U.S. Supreme Court decided that at an undergraduate level admission points were too much like affirmative action. The court also held that in admission decisions colleges could:
A) not take race into account.
B) take race into account.
C) use any point-based system giving preferences.
D) take any factor except race into account.
Q2) Actions, behavior or treatment based on prejudice are called:
A) inventions.
B) classes.
C) discrimination.
D) systematic.
Q3) In the early 2000s women in the workforce as a percentage of total women of working age rose to:
A) 90 percent.
B) 70 percent.
C) 50 percent.
D) 80 percent.
Q4) What is the cultural history of Hispanics in the U.S.? Discuss the experiences of Chicanos and Latinos in the U.S.
Page 14
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Chapter 13: The Functions and Forms of Government
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Q1) Anarchists believe that institutions, like private property and the state, exploit and corrupt humans.
A)True B)False
Q2) Thomas Paine contended that government is unnecessary "to supply the defect of moral virtue."
A)True B)False
Q3) In an autocracy the press, religion, family, work, and society are all subject to strict controls designed to maximize the freedom of citizens.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The functionalist approach to government is too rigid a position for most social scientists.
A)True B)False
Q5) The primacy of the individual can be seen in the Miranda Rights. A)True B)False
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Chapter 14: Governments of the World
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Q1) In 1991 a group of Communist leaders attempted a coup to:
A) stop the breakup of the U.S.S.R.
B) return the Czar to power.
C) create a reformed communist state in Russia.
D) divide the Russian Soviet Republic into three independent states.
Q2) Prior to its 1960 independence, Nigeria was a protectorate of which country?
A) The United States
B) The Soviet Union
C) Holland
D) Great Britain
Q3) A severe recession in 1995, along with domestic unrest, forced Mexico to adopt many financial and social reforms.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Since gaining independence from Britain in 1960, Nigeria has progressed through three separate republics and is currently in the fourth republic.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What is the Russian Federation? How is power divided in the Russian government?
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Chapter 15: Democratic Government in the United States
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Q1) Evaluate the democratic political process in the United States. What are the major elements and problems in the U.S. political process? Consider parties, elections, elites, pressure groups and the military-industrial complex.
Q2) The journalistic profession or its members is called:
A) the first association.
B) the middle factors.
C) the sixth estate.
D) the fourth estate.
Q3) The government of the United States is both a democracy and a republic.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The direct democracy approach is least used in California as exemplified by the recall of Governor Gray Davis and election of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The federal Constitution is easy to amend.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 16: The Organization of Economic Activities
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Q1) What institution controls an unplanned economic system?
A) the citizenry
B) the religious institution of that nation
C) the private sector
D) markets
Q2) Adam Smith's concept of the invisible hand refers to:
A) government controls.
B) import and export costs.
C) the rise and fall of prices that guide individual actions in a market.
D) the combined impact of foreign trade and aid on a national economy.
Q3) Economic goods are only material and tangible.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Karl Marx had much to say about how a communist economy would operate.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The fact that Socialist economies were significantly lagging behind capitalist economies is one of the reasons Soviet-style socialism was abandoned.
A)True
B)False
Page 18
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Chapter 17: The Economy, Government, and Economic Challenges Facing the United States
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Q1) The U.S. Social Security system paid out almost immediately the money it took in. Thus, it was not funded:
A) like a bank.
B) like insurance.
C) like an investment company.
D) like a profit corporation.
Q2) The majority of federal revenue comes from Social Security.
A)True
B)False
Q3) If a firm is too big to fail, economists argue it is too big to be regulated.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Contractionary monetary policy makes credit harder to get, raises interest rates, and has a downward effect on the level of income.
A)True
B)False
Q5) How is global warming an economic issue? What are economic answers to the problem of global warming and what are criticisms of our current solution? Why must solutions to global warming occur at a global level?
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Chapter 18: International Political Relations
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Q1) The election of Barack Obama in 2009 brought a shift towards unilateral foreign policy and continued preemption.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Economic power has never been important in international relations.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The relationship between geography and security that foreign policy makers attempt to consider is called:
A) ideology.
B) frontier security.
C) boundary maintenance.
D) geopolitics.
Q4) Today, an easing or relaxation of strained relations and political tensions between countries seems to have replaced:
A) the purely economic struggles of the past Cold War.
B) the ideological rivalries of the Cold War.
C) the cooperation among all nations during the Cold War.
D) religious conflicts everywhere.
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Chapter 19: International Economic Relations
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Q1) World trade expanded during 1929-1933.
A)True
B)False
Q2) What are the advantages and disadvantages of international trade? Why and how are the advantages linked to the disadvantages?
Q3) When countries meet under GATT in order to reduce trade barriers, these meetings are called:
A) circles.
B) trade rounds.
C) confrontations.
D) squares.
Q4) Which of the following is NOT an argument against protective tariffs?
A) restricting international trade robs us of part of its benefits
B) free admission of imports is one of the most effective ways of expanding the foreign markets of home industries
C) when one country institutes tariffs, it is likely that other countries will follow
D) a tariff that keeps out foreign goods increases the market for U.S. goods
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21
Chapter 20: The Political Economies of Developing
Countries
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Q1) In China, all available land is already under cultivation.
A)True
B)False
Q2) After the communist revolution in China, the status of women in Chinese society improved greatly.
A)True
B)False
Q3) How many Internet users were in China as of 2010?
A) 1 million
B) 500,000
C) 389 million
D) China still has no access to the Internet
Q4) Democracy as a system offers a way around corruption.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Any state that is to operate as a nation-state must have:
A) full transparency in government.
B) political consensus.
C) a fourth estate.
D) cultural unity
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Chapter 21: International Institutions and the Search for Peace
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Q1) The UN Security Council is composed of twenty-five nations.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Middle Eastern politics are complicated by:
A) the United States not supporting Israel.
B) Iran's stance on women's rights.
C) China's sanctions against Iran.
D) internal tensions among different sects of Islam.
Q3) Dante, King Henry IV of France and William Penn all proposed plans for peace.
A)True
B)False
Q4) In imposing sanctions, the UN is limited because:
A) member states retain their sovereignty.
B) the UN is a superstate.
C) the power of the world is not concentrated in a few states.
D) it can force states to accept its decisions in all cases.
Q5) In 2009, President Obama reached out to the Arab and Palestine communities and took a strong stand against the expansions of Israeli settlements.
A)True
B)False
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