Social Institutions
Chapter Exam Questions
Course Introduction
This course provides an in-depth exploration of social institutions, such as family, education, religion, economy, and government, examining their roles as foundational structures within society. Students will analyze how these institutions organize patterns of behavior, influence social life, and contribute to both social stability and change. The course also delves into the ways social institutions interact with issues of power, inequality, and cultural norms, drawing on classical and contemporary sociological theories and engaging with current examples from global and local contexts.
Recommended Textbook
Sociology 14th Edition by John J. Macionis
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Page 2
Chapter 1: The Sociological Perspective
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Q1) 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.
Answer: D
Q2) 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
Answer: A
Q3) Building social relationships and creating tens of thousands of jobs are two of the ____ of sports.
A)manifest functions
B)latent functions
C)dysfunctions
D)non-functions
Answer: B
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Chapter 2: Sociological Investigation
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Sample Questions
Q1) A survey is a research method in which subjects respond to a series of statements or questions.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Which of the concepts listed below refers to measuring exactly what one intends to measure?
A)congruence
B)validity
C)repeatability
D)reliability
Answer: B
Q3) 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.
Answer: D
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Culture
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Sample Questions
Q1) Elements of social control in everyday life include A)shame.
B)guilt.
C)sanctions, including the response of other people.
D)All of these are correct.
Answer: D
Q2) An example of nonmaterial culture would be the types of vehicles people use to get around.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) Sociobiology explores how human biology has shaped today's culture.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q4) Compared to cultures around the world, the way of life in the United States emphasizes individualism.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Page 5
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Chapter 4: Society
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Sample Questions
Q1) Weber argued that the development of industrial capitalism had its roots in a set of religious ideas linked to Calvinism.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Assume you are studying a society that has just invented cities, has increasing specialization, and has just started using money to buy and sell goods and services.It is likely that the society is at which stage of sociocultural evolution?
A)hunting and gathering
B)horticultural and pastoral
C)agrarian
D)industrial
Q3) How does Durkheim's concept of anomie differ from
Q4) Emile Durkheim saw society as a system "beyond us" with the power to guide our lives.Therefore, he described elements of society, including cultural norms, values, and beliefs as
A)social facts.
B)ideal types.
C)false consciousness.
D)forms of rationality.
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Chapter 5: Socialization
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Q1) A college is a good example of a total institution.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Schools provide children with early experience of bureaucracy.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Applying Freud's thinking to a sociological analysis of personality development, you would conclude that
A)human behavior is basically random.
B)humans have basic, self-centered drives that must be controlled by learning the ways of society.
C)societies encourage people to become self-centered.
D)humans can never become cultural creatures.
Q4) In Mead's model, which sequence correctly orders stages of the developing self?
A)imitation, play, game, generalized other
B)imitation, generalized other, play, game
C)imitation, game, play, generalized other
D)imitation, generalized other, game, play
Q5) What differences did Carol Gilligan find in how males and females make moral judgments?
7
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Chapter 6: Social Interaction in Everyday Life
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Thomas theorem states that situations that are defined as real become real due to their consequences.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Employers rarely concern themselves with the emotions of employees.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The Thomas theorem states that
A)a role is as a role does.
B)people rise to their level of incompetence.
C)situations defined as real are real in their consequences.
D)people know the world only through their language.
Q4) Which of the following is an important element of nonverbal communication?
A)hand gestures
B)eye contact
C)body language
D)All of these are correct.
Q5) People create reality through their social interaction.
A)True
B)False
8
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Chapter 7: Groups and Organizations
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Q1) The boundary that distinguishes members from nonmembers is clearer in secondary groups than in primary groups.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The tendency of bureaucratic organizations to perpetuate themselves in order to keep going is called bureaucratic
A)retreatism.
B)ritualism.
C)innovation.
D)inertia.
Q3) In this essay, list the key characteristics of bureaucracy.What was it about bureaucracy that Max Weber saw as being positive? What did he see as being negative? To what extent to you agree with Weber's assessment?
Q4) Max Weber believed the spread of bureaucracy would greatly improve the quality of life for modern people.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What are the important differences between primary and secondary groups?
Q6) What are the differences between categories and social groups?
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Sexuality and Society
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Sample Questions
Q1) Sarah feels little or no sexual attraction to people of either sex.Her sexual orientation is called
A)heterosexuality.
B)bisexuality.
C)homosexuality.
D)asexuality.
Q2) What are several functions of the incest taboo for society as a whole?
Q3) Which of the following concepts refers to stigmatizing anyone who is not heterosexual as "queer"?
A)homophobia
B)heterosexism
C)heterophilia
D)homophilia
Q4) The abortion debate is about nothing more than the question of when life begins.
A)True
B)False
Q5) People in all cultures respond to intersexual people with confusion or even disgust.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 9: Deviance
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Q1) Using the terms of Robert Merton's strain theory, which of the following terms would correctly describe a gangster like Al Capone who made a lot of money breaking the law?
A)innovator
B)ritualist
C)retreatist
D)rebel
Q2) Whether people respond to deviance as a moral issue or a medical matter affects which of the following?
A)who responds-police or medical personnel
B)whether the person is subject to punishment or treatment
C)how personally competent the person is assumed to be
D)All of these are correct.
Q3) What concept did Erving Goffman use to refer to a powerful and negative label that greatly changes a person's self-concept and social identity?
A)a deviant ritual
B)a degradation ceremony
C)a secondary identity
D)stigma
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Chapter 10: Social Stratification
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Sample Questions
Q1) Today, U.S.workers have far fewer legal protections than U.S.workers had a century ago, when the industrial age was just beginning.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Work involving mostly mental activity is called
A)blue-collar work.
B)white-collar work.
C)pink-collar work.
D)agrarian work.
Q3) What is meritocracy? What part does it play in class systems?
Q4) The concept of social mobility refers to changes in people's positions in the social hierarchy.
A)True
B)False
Q5) In Karl Marx's analysis, another name for the capitalist class is the A)nobility.
B)aristocracy.
C)proletariat.
D)bourgeoisie.
Q6) What is status consistency? Give an example.
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Social Class in the United States
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Q1) In 2009, what percentage of the heads of poor U.S.families did not work at all or had only a part-time job?
A)16 percent
B)36 percent
C)54 percent
D)86 percent
Q2) Sociologist William Julius Wilson suggests the cause of poverty lies in
A)a lower-class culture of poverty.
B)lack of government action.
C)too few available jobs.
D)bad public schools.
Q3) Which of the following factors tends to raise your social standing?
A)divorce
B)leave school to get a job
C)marry and stay married
D)All of these are correct.
Q4) In general, white-collar occupations have more prestige than blue-collar occupations.
A)True
B)False
Page 13
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Chapter 12: Global Stratification
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Sample Questions
Q1) The text defines middle-income nations as having per capita income between $2,500 and $12,000 per year.
A)True
B)False
Q2) According to Immanuel Wallerstein's theory of global capitalism, which nations are at the "core" of the world economy?
A)high-income nations
B)middle-income nations
C)low-income nations
D)All nations form the "core."
Q3) According to modernization theory, what are the four ways in which rich nations assist poor nations in economic development? Provide a specific example of a policy that the United States would employ to advance each type of assistance.
Q4) In past centuries, European nations colonized countries in
A)Africa.
B)Latin America.
C)Asia.
D)All of these are correct.
Q5) Identify and define four types of slavery found in today's world.
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Chapter 13: Gender Stratification
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Sample Questions
Q1) In what percentage of rapes and attempted rapes on college campuses does the woman know her attacker?
A)5-10 percent
B)25-30 percent
C)65-70 percent
D)85-90 percent
Q2) Research shows that young males have less mathematical ability, but greater verbal ability than young females.
A)True
B)False
Q3) A majority of U.S.women in which of the following categories enter the labor force?
A)married women with children
B)single women with children
C)divorced women with children
D)All of these are correct.
Q4) Why is "earning an income" no longer a man's role in the United States? Provide some specific data in support of your claims.
Q5) What criticism would feminists make of the current membership of our Congress?
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Chapter 14: Race and Ethnicity
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Sample Questions
Q1) When did slavery begin in the United States? When was it outlawed?
Q2) According to the text, what factors define a minority? Based on these factors, explain why we should consider African Americans to be a minority.What about Asian Americans?
Q3) The Matsui family came to the United States from Japan thirty years ago.They now speak English at home and the Matsui children date non-Japanese students at college.This family's story best illustrates which of the following concepts?
A)pluralism
B)segregation
C)assimilation
D)miscegenation
Q4) Scapegoat theory states that prejudice is created by A)cultural beliefs.
B)high levels of immigration.
C)frustration among disadvantaged people.
D)people with rigid personalities.
Q5) Today, more people are willing to define themselves as multiracial.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 15: Aging and the Elderly
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Q1) How is the increasing share of our population over the age of sixty-five likely to change our way of life?
Q2) How does Japan differ from the United States in its cultural attitude toward old people? What accounts for such differences?
Q3) In the United States, most elderly men, but not most elderly women, live alone.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What is the term for a facility that provides care and comfort for people as they approach death?
A)hospital
B)elder hostel
C)nursing home
D)hospice
Q5) Social isolation is most commonly a problem for
A)elderly men.
B)elderly women.
C)elderly men and women living with their children.
D)elderly men and women living with spouses.
Q6) Why is social isolation a greater problem for aging women than aging men?
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Chapter 16: The Economy and Work
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Q1) In the United States about what share of the population aged sixteen and older is in the paid labor force?
A)18 percent
B)38 percent
C)58 percent
D)78 percent
Q2) What important changes in production defined the coming of the Industrial Revolution?
Q3) Monopoly refers to a corporation that operates within a single sector of the economy.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What are the three defining traits of socialism?
Q5) The U.S.workforce is becoming more "white," even as immigration rates rise.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Combining a market-based economy with an extensive social welfare program yields what is called "welfare capitalism."
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 17: Politics and Government
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Q1) The concept "authoritarian" refers to a political system that
A)is well legitimated.
B)relies on more than one kind of authority.
C)denies most people participation in government.
D)has free elections.
Q2) In the 2008 presidential election, about what percentage of registered voters actually went to the polls?
A)about 80 percent
B)about 63 percent
C)about 37 percent
D)about 29 percent
Q3) A totalitarian political system
A)mixes politics with religion.
B)is completely democratic.
C)is government without any bureaucracy.
D)concentrates power and closely regulates people's lives.
Q4) Just as the economy is becoming more and more global, so is the world developing a single global political system.
A)True
B)False
Page 19
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Chapter 18: Families
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Q1) Which of the following are traits of marriage?
A)a legal relationship
B)sexual activity and childbearing
C)economic cooperation
D)All of these are correct.
Q2) Identify at least four factors that are related to the high divorce rate in the United States.Why has the divorce rate increased over the course of the last century?
Q3) Social conflict and feminist theories explain that families perpetuate social inequality in U.S.society through
A)inheritance of private property.
B)encouraging patriarchy.
C)passing on racial and ethnic inequality.
D)All of these are correct.
Q4) Which of the following are counted among the tasks of the family, according to the structural-functional approach?
A)socialization of the young
B)regulation of sexual activity
C)social placement
D)All of the above are correct.
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Chapter 19: Religion
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Q1) In the United States, the Amish would be an example of a
A)state church.
B)cult.
C)sect.
D)All of these are correct.
Q2) All world religions define women as more morally worthy than men.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Discuss the various types of religious organizations: church
Q4) The concept "karma" refers to
A)the Christian belief in salvation.
B)the Hindu belief in the progress of the human soul.
C)the Muslim desire to do God's will.
D)the first five books of the Jewish Bible.
Q5) Christianity is one example of which of the following types of religions?
A)monotheism
B)polytheism
C)animism
D)All of these are correct.
Q6) How are each of these types of religious organizations distinctive:
Page 21
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Chapter 20: Education
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Q1) If school officials consider some children to be gifted, teachers may treat them accordingly and create a self-fulfilling prophecy.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Magnet schools encourage
A)students to specialize in specific areas of study.
B)school busing for cultural diversity.
C)students to take control of their own learning.
D)students to complete their education in fewer years.
Q3) In low-income nations, most education is a matter of A)formal schooling and then college.
B)what parents and other community members teach their children.
C)what children can teach themselves.
D)teaching by religious leaders.
Q4) Regardless of the level of a school's funding, some students benefit from more "cultural capital" than others.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Write an essay in which you demonstrate that schooling
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Chapter 21: Health and Medicine
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Q1) Social epidemiology is the study of
A)the biological basis of disease.
B)the availability of doctors around the world.
C)the age at which people die.
D)the distribution of health and illness in a population.
Q2) Describe the reasons for the shortage of nurses in the United States.
Q3) The U.S.health care system is one example of the model called socialized medicine.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Why is cigarette smoking considered the leading preventable cause of death in the United States? Describe the health consequences of smoking cigarettes.Using the sociological perspective, explain what categories of people are most and least likely to smoke.Has the smoking hazard always been recognized? Why, in your opinion, is cigarette smoking still common, especially among college students?
Q5) Which of the following is an example of a chronic illness?
A)influenza
B)cancer
C)accidents
D)pneumonia
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Chapter 22: Population, Urbanization, and Environment
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Q1) Global warming could cause the oceans to fall by two to three feet during this century.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The average life expectancy for U.S.children born today is about sixty years.
A)True
B)False
Q3) With the Industrial Revolution, how did the physical design of cities change?
A)Cities took on a new focus on business.
B)Winding streets gave way to broad and straight boulevards.
C)Urban populations became much larger.
D)All of these are correct.
Q4) An age-sex pyramid is useful, in part, because it helps predict the demographic future of a society.
A)True
B)False
Q5) How do population patterns differ in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres? What accounts for these differences?
Q6) What is the "demographic divide"?
Q7) Why is the crude birth rate "crude"?
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Chapter 23: Collective Behavior and Social Movements
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Q1) An example of the importance of gender in social movements is the fact that
A)few women are interested in most public issues.
B)men have taken most leadership roles in U.S.social movements.
C)men tend to avoid participation in social movements.
D)women typically have taken leadership roles in U.S.social movements.
Q2) Disasters and mobs are both examples of collective behavior.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What are three key differences between "collectivities" and "social groups"?
Q4) Collective behavior involves action that often
A)is unplanned.
B)involves a large number of people.
C)is controversial.
D)All of these are correct.
Q5) In preindustrial societies, social movements
A)were quite rare.
B)were typically about economic issues.
C)commonly took the form of rioting.
D)were more common than they are today.
Q6) Define "fashion" and "fad" so that their differences are clear.
Page 25
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Chapter 24: Social Change: Traditional
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Q1) According to Emile Durkheim, modern societies are held together by difference, a process he called "organic solidarity."
A)True
B)False
Q2) Is modernization the same around the world? Why or why not?
Q3) Comparing various social changes, we correctly conclude that
A)all changes are planned.
B)fads have the greatest importance.
C)most changes go completely unnoticed by people.
D)some changes matter more than others.
Q4) Class-society describes the personal experience of modernity as powerlessness.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The problem mass-society theory sees with the expansion of bureaucracy and the state is that
A)as bureaucracy and the state grow, people in local communities have little control over their lives.
B)government is not very efficient.
C)there is an increase in social inequality.
D)people feel the need for more personal freedom.
Page 26
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