Social Problems
Exam Bank
Course Introduction
Social Problems examines key issues and challenges facing contemporary societies, such as poverty, inequality, crime, substance abuse, discrimination, and environmental concerns. The course explores how social problems are defined, the factors contributing to their persistence or change, and the impact they have on various populations. Students will analyze the role of institutions, policies, and social movements in addressing these problems, drawing on sociological theories and empirical evidence to better understand their complexities and potential solutions.
Recommended Textbook
Society The Basics 12th Edition by John
J. Macionis
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16 Chapters
2023 Verified Questions
2023 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Sociology: Perspective, theory, and Method
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201 Verified Questions
201 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What process involves deciding exactly what is to be measured when assigning value to a variable?
A)operationalizing
B)reliability
C)conceptualizing
D)validity
Answer: A
Q2) Critical sociology can BEST be described as a(n)________ approach.
A)activist
B)scientific
C)qualitative
D)value-free
Answer: A
Q3) Using the sociological perspective,we would conclude that people's lives are mostly a result of what they decide to do.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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3
Chapter 2: Culture
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144 Verified Questions
144 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The term Homo sapiens,the name of our species,comes from Latin meaning
A)"person of culture."
B) "intelligent person."
C)"one who walks upright."
D)"person who evolves."
Answer: B
Q2) The claim that U.S.culture is wrongly dominated by European,and especially English,way of life characterizes our culture as A)ethnocentric.
B)Afrocentric.
C)Eurocentric.
D)culturally relative.
Answer: C
Q3) Cultural change results from invention,discovery,and diffusion.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 3: Socialization: From Infancy to Old Age
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114 Verified Questions
114 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The period of life called "middle adulthood" typically involves
A)life circumstances becoming more or less set.
B)an increased awareness of health issues.
C)children growing up and requiring less attention.
D)All of these responses are correct.
Answer: D
Q2) In her research,Elisabeth Kübler-Ross found that death
A)is defined similarly in every society.
B)is an orderly transition involving specific stages.
C)is a topic that people in the United States have always been comfortable discussing.
D)All of these responses are correct.
Answer: B
Q3) Looking at childhood in global perspective,we find that
A)childhood is a time of play and learning everywhere.
B)rich societies extend childhood much longer than do poor societies.
C)poor societies extend childhood much longer than do rich societies.
D)biological immaturity is the main factor that defines childhood.
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: Social Interaction in Everyday Life
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125 Verified Questions
125 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) If a comedian cites few differences between conventional and unconventional social definitions of reality,then people will perceive a greater potential for humor.
A)True
B)False
Q2) 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.
Q3) Having a terminal illness may operate as a master status because people can react to the disease as much as they do to the person.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Explain how emotions are guided by both biology and culture.
Q5) Typically,each status is linked to several roles.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Describe how status and role operate as two building blocks of daily social interaction.
Page 6
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Chapter 5: Groups and Organizations
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Sample Questions
Q1) The scientific management approach was developed by
A)Frederick Winslow Taylor.
B)Robert Merton.
C)Robert Michels.
D)Rosabeth Moss Kanter.
Q2) Read the four statements below.Which of them is NOT evidence of the process called the "McDonaldization" of society?
A)Bank tellers are being replaced with automatic teller machines (ATMs).
B)People shop in carefully designed,climate-controlled malls.
C)Colleges select students in terms of applicants' grades and test scores.
D)Many new jobs demand creativity and imagination.
Q3) Which of the following is every society's MOST important primary group?
A)the peer group
B)the work group
C)the family
D)the play group
Q4) The sociologist who explored the primary group was Charles Horton Cooley.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What are the important differences between primary and secondary groups?
Page 7
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Chapter 6: Sexuality and Society
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113 Verified Questions
113 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) People in all cultures respond to intersexual people with confusion or even disgust.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Thinking about the Laumann study of sexual patterns among U.S.adults,which of the following statements is correct?
A)Over a lifetime,almost everyone has about the same amount of sexual experience.
B)Single people have more sex than married people.
C)The frequency of sexual activity varies widely in the U.S.population.
D)In the age of AIDS,almost all sex is limited to married partners.
Q3) The sexual counterrevolution did little to change the fact that most sexually-active people in the United States had a high number of sexual partners.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What significant changes took place during the sexual revolution? What about during the sexual counterrevolution?
Q5) State two common myths about rape.Explain why these beliefs are wrong.
Q6) State two common myths about rape.Explain why these beliefs are wrong.
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Page 8
Chapter 7: Deviance
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119 Verified Questions
119 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Many researchers agree that in the United States most arrests for street crime involve people of lower social position.According to Robert Merton,Albert Cohen,Walter Miller,and Elijah Anderson,why would this be the case? How would a broader definition of crime (to include more white-collar and corporate offenses)change the profile of the typical criminal?
Q2) Of all the property crimes discussed in The CHAPTER,one occurs far more than all the others.Which one is it?
A)motor-vehicle theft
B)larceny-theft
C)robbery
D)forcible rape
Q3) Probation and parole are two types of community-based corrections.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Looking back in history,the oldest justification for punishing an offender is A)deterrence.
B)retribution.
C)social protection.
D)rehabilitation.
Q5) Define due process,plea bargaining,and community-based corrections.
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Social Stratification
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120 Verified Questions
120 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Looking around the world today,income inequality is greatest in which of the following regions?
A)North America
B)Latin America
C)Europe
D)China
Q2) Read the four statements below.Which is NOT a reason given in the text for why a socialist revolution never took place in capitalist societies as Marx predicted?
A)Stock places ownership of companies in the hands of tens of millions of people.
B)Living standards for the majority have gone up.
C)Wealth is no longer concentrated in the hands of a few.
D)The law affords workers far more legal protections.
Q3) In 2010,the median income for U.S.families was
A)$16,099.
B)$36,077.
C)$60,395.
D)$76,055.
Q4) What is meritocracy? What part does it play in class systems?
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10
Chapter 9: Global Stratification
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114 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The global region that has made the greatest strides out of poverty in recent decades is
A)Asia.
B)Africa.
C)Latin America.
D)All of these responses are correct.
Q2) Dependency theory claims that poverty results from natural processes,such as people having too many children.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Even people with income at our country's poverty line live better than a majority of the world's people.
A)True
B)False
Q4) During the twentieth century,the standard of living in high-income countries,where the Industrial Revolution took place,increased dramatically.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Describe the distribution of income for the world as a whole.
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Chapter 10: Gender Stratification
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119 Verified Questions
119 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Since very few societies have existed without patriarchy,we must conclude that it is inevitable.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Corporate women still encounter a "glass ceiling" that prevents them from being promoted to high levels in the company.
A)True
B)False
Q3) As of 2011,women held about what share of seats in Congress?
A)17 percent
B)37 percent
C)57 percent
D)77 percent
Q4) Like race or social class,gender is a major dimension of social stratification.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Gender affects the opportunities and constraints each of us encounter throughout our lives.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 11: Race and Ethnicity
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130 Verified Questions
130 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Who were the first people to settle the area that is now the United States? When did this settlement begin?
Q2) What is the importance of Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman in the history of African Americans?
Q3) Describe the social standing of several major categories of Hispanic Americans.
Q4) Today,about how many immigrants come to the United States,both legally and illegally,each year?
A)125,000
B)1.25 million
C)12.25 million
D)125 million
Q5) Assimilation refers to everyone shedding all their traditions and "melting" into a new population with a new way of life.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Prejudice and discrimination can reinforce one another.
A)True
B)False
Q7) What is racism? Provide examples of racism in history.
Page 13
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Chapter 12: Economics and Politics
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Sample Questions
Q1) Rational-legal authority is also called "bureaucratic authority" because it is legitimized by legally enacted rules and regulations.
A)True
B)False
Q2) By 1950,most of the people in the U.S.labor force had which type of job?
A)white-collar
B)blue-collar
C)pink-collar
D)farming
Q3) Modernization theorists see large corporations as
A)offering little to help poor nations seeking to develop.
B)unleashing the productive power of capitalism to speed development in poor nations.
C)responsible for the debt crisis in many poor nations.
D)needing the technology currently available in poor nations.
Q4) Define authoritarianism and totalitarianism.Provide an example of each system in the world today.
Q5) The sociologist closely associated with the power-elite model is C.Wright Mills.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 13: Family and Religion
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115 Verified Questions
115 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A system of marriage that unites two partners is called
A)polygyny.
B)polygamy.
C)polyandry.
D)monogamy.
Q2) Jessie Bernard claimed that women would be happier in marriage if men did not expect them to do almost all the housework.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which of the following religious organizations began as a cult?
A)Islam
B)Christianity
C)Judaism
D)All of these responses are correct.
Q4) The structural-functional approach points out how family perpetuates social inequality.
A)True
B)False
Q5) How do spiritual "seekers" differ from members of established churches?
Q6) What is Max Weber's thesis regarding Protestantism and the rise of capitalism?
Page 15
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Chapter 14: Education, health and Medicine
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117 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why is cigarette smoking a major health problem in the United States?
Q2) In the United States today,what percentage of people over the age of twenty-five have earned a four-year college degree?
A)30 percent
B)50 percent
C)75 percent
D)90 percent
Q3) Gonorrhea and syphilis can be cured with penicillin.
A)True
B)False
Q4) From a sociological point of view,"health" is sometimes a matter of having the same diseases as one's neighbors.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Providing schooling is one way our society increases equality of opportunity. A)True
B)False
Q6) Dropping out of school greatly reduces a person's chance to earn a good income.
A)True
B)False
Page 16
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Chapter 15: Population, urbanization, and Environment
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126 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In general,the way of life of people living in low-income nations causes much more harm to the environment than the way of life of people living in high-income nations does.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Throughout most of human history,families had many children because A)children were a source of needed labor.
B)birth control was not reliable.
C)high death rates meant that many children did not reach adulthood.
D)All of these responses are correct.
Q3) The crude death rate is the most widely used measure of a society's population decline.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Demography is defined as the study of A)democratic political systems.
B)human population.
C)changes in human culture.
D)the natural environment.
Q5) Why is the crude birth rate "crude"?
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Chapter 16: Social Change: Modern and Postmodern
Societies
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110 Verified Questions
110 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Today's other-directed people have little interest in fashions and fads.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the following thinkers was,on balance,MOST critical of modern society?
A)Max Weber
B)Emile Durkheim
C)Peter Berger
D)None of these people was critical of modern society.
Q3) Write a one-sentence statement of the prospects for positive social change in poor nations according to each of the two theoretical approaches: modernization theory and dependency theory.
Q4) In the United States,our culture makes us think that modernity always involves which of the following?
A)progress
B)inequality
C)tradition
D)celebrating the past
Q5) In global perspective,we see that some societies change but others do not.
A)True
B)False
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