Social Problems Exam Review
Course Introduction
This course examines the major social problems facing contemporary societies, such as poverty, crime, inequality, discrimination, environmental issues, and health care. Students analyze the causes and consequences of these issues through sociological theories and empirical research, considering how cultural values, public policy, and institutional practices contribute to the persistence and resolution of social problems. The course encourages critical thinking about the role of individuals and groups in promoting social change, and includes discussion of possible solutions to the challenges explored.
Recommended Textbook
Sociology 14th Edition by John J. Macionis
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24 Chapters
3010 Verified Questions
3010 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: The Sociological Perspective
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186 Verified Questions
186 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Thomas Hobbes's idea that society reflects a selfish human nature illustrates the thinking common at which of Comte's historical stages?
A)theological stage
B)metaphysical stage
C)scientific stage
D)None of the above is correct.
Answer: B
Q2) W.E.B.Du Bois claimed that _____ was the major problem facing the United States during the twentieth century.
A)class
B)race
C)gender
D)ethnicity
Answer: B
Q3) The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes believed that society reflected the basic goodness of human nature.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Sociological Investigation
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133 Verified Questions
133 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Qualitative research appeals to investigators who favor which theoretical approach?
A)the structural-functional approach
B)the symbolic-interaction approach
C)the social-conflict approach
D)All of these are correct.
Answer: B
Q2) Scientific sociologists make use of what Max Weber called "verstehen" in order to make sense of their surroundings.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) Examine the following series of numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10.What is the median value?
A)1
B)2
C)3
D)4
Answer: C
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Chapter 3: Culture
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146 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Census Bureau reports that only ten different languages are spoken in the United States.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) As our society has entered a postindustrial, computer-based phase, which of the following has become more important?
A)gaining symbolic skills, including speaking, writing, and computing
B)gaining mechanical skills using industrial machinery
C)knowing more about the past
D)All of these are correct.
Answer: A
Q3) Give an example of each of the following:
Answer: Sure, here are examples for each of the following:
1. A mammal: A dog
2. A fruit: An apple
3. A country: France
4. A color: Blue
5. A vehicle: A car
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Chapter 4: Society
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142 Verified Questions
142 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Max Weber's analysis of the rise of capitalism provides strong evidence of A)the results of class conflict.
B)the effects of increasing specialization.
C)the importance of advancing technology.
D)the power of ideas to change society.
Q2) Karl Marx considered capitalism to be _____, but Max Weber argued that capitalism was very _____.
A)irrational; rational
B)rational; irrational
C)unproductive; productive
D)productive; unproductive
Q3) In general, industrialization results in more schooling and a sharp increase in the share of the population that is illiterate.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which of the following types of society has the most productive specialization?
A)hunting and gathering
B)horticultural and pastoral
C)agrarian
D)industrial
Page 6
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Chapter 5: Socialization
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115 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A college is a good example of a total institution.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The "id" in Freud's work represents the human being's basic drives, which are unconscious and demand immediate satisfaction.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What concept refers to a person's fairly consistent pattern of acting, thinking, and feeling?
A)socialization
B)behavior
C)human nature
D)personality
Q4) What differences did Carol Gilligan find in how males and females make moral judgments?
Q5) Total institutions operate with the goal of resocializing inmates.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Explain why George Herbert Mead's theory of self can be described as completely social.
Page 7
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Chapter 6: Social Interaction in Everyday Life
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125 Verified Questions
125 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to Erving Goffman, people usually make efforts to _____ their intentions.
A)idealize
B)reveal
C)hide
D)contradict
Q2) Typically, each status is linked to several roles.
A)True
B)False
Q3) In dramaturgical analysis, an examination room in a doctor's office is called a "back region."
A)True
B)False
Q4) Nonverbal communication refers to
A)body movements, gestures, and facial expressions.
B)instant messaging and other e-communication.
C)written language.
D)beliefs assumed to be true by everyone.
Q5) What makes something funny? Explain the foundation of humor and what is involved in "getting" a joke.
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Chapter 7: Groups and Organizations
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126 Verified Questions
126 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Read the list of traits below.Which of these traits is NOT a characteristic of secondary groups?
A)large size
B)members have weak emotional ties
C)members have a personal orientation
D)often short-term duration
Q2) As groups grow larger, they become less stable.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What concept refers to all factors outside an organization that affect the organization's operation?
A)oligarchy
B)organizational environment
C)secondary environment
D)competition
Q4) In today's information age, more competitive organizations have a more hierarchical, pyramid shape.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What are the important differences between primary and secondary groups?
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Sexuality and Society
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113 Verified Questions
113 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Although some people think rape simply reflects a desire for sex, it is an expression of power.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Apply the three theoretical approaches to the topic of sexuality.What are important insights provided by the structural-functional, symbolic-interaction, and social-conflict approaches?
Q3) Based on what you know about the history of human sexuality, once a society gains birth-control technology
A)social control of sexuality becomes more strict.
B)families, rather than individuals, make choices about sexual partners.
C)social norms regarding sexuality become more permissive.
D)the incest taboo no longer is observed.
Q4) The text suggests that probably the most widely contested issue involving sexuality in the United States in recent years has been
A)homosexuality and gay rights.
B)abortion.
C)prostitution.
D)teen pregnancy.
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Chapter 9: Deviance
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119 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to the social-conflict approach, what a society labels as deviant is based primarily on
A)how often the act occurs.
B)the moral foundation of the culture.
C)how harmful the act is to the public as a whole.
D)differences in power between various categories of people.
Q2) Using the terms of Robert Merton's strain theory, which of the following concepts correctly describes the behavior of a school "dropout" who rejects both cultural goals and the conventional means to reach them?
A)innovator
B)ritualist
C)retreatist
D)rebel
Q3) List the crimes against the person and crimes against property tracked by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.Which type of crime is more common?
Q4) Explain the value and the limitations of biological and psychological explanations of crime.Expand the essay by explaining the strengths of a sociological approach to understanding crime.
Q5) Define due process, plea bargaining, and community-based corrections.
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Chapter 10: Social Stratification
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122 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) When Marx argued that capitalism "reproduces the class structure," he meant that
A)it is really ordinary people who create social inequality.
B)society operates and carries class differences from one generation to the next.
C)class differences are the same throughout human history.
D)society could never abolish class inequality.
Q2) The common ideology of a class system states that success and wealth result mainly from
A)sheer luck.
B)family background.
C)flaws in society.
D)personal talent and effort.
Q3) Which of the following statements accurately describes social stratification in the People's Republic of China?
A)A new set of social classes is gradually emerging.
B)There is no longer any social inequality.
C)Social standing reflects only a person's position in the Communist Party.
D)China has the same social stratification that is found in Japan.
Q4) What is status consistency? Give an example.
Q5) What is meritocracy? What part does it play in class systems?
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Chapter 11: Social Class in the United States
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122 Verified Questions
122 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Because education is a right in the United States, there is very little inequality in schooling.
A)True
B)False
Q2) In general, people of low-class position
A)live in less safe and more stressful environments.
B)are less likely to describe their own health as "excellent."
C)live fewer years overall.
D)All of these are correct.
Q3) Many people in this country think of the United States as a more-or-less "middle-class" society because
A)we have no history of nobility, as in Europe.
B)U.S.culture celebrates individual effort.
C)most people interact with others in similar social standing.
D)All of these are correct.
Q4) People in the lower-upper class are sometimes said to have "old money."
A)True
B)False
Q5) How has the expansion of the global economy affected class structure in the United States?
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Chapter 12: Global Stratification
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115 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The former Soviet Union and the nations of Eastern Europe are low-income countries.
A)True
B)False
Q2) A social theorist who contributed to the development of dependency theory by tracing the growth of the capitalist world economy is
A)Max Weber.
B)Emile Durkheim.
C)Walt Rostow.
D)Immanuel Wallerstein.
Q3) Modernization theory identifies which of the following as the greatest barrier to economic development?
A)technology
B)multinational corporations
C)capitalism
D)traditional culture
Q4) How does global poverty differ from poverty in the United States? Which involves more people? Which is more serious? Why?
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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120 Verified Questions
120 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Based on the map and discussion in the text, in which of the following do women have the lowest social standing?
A)Europe
B)North America
C)Africa
D)South America
Q2) When did feminism begin as a social movement in the United States?
A)during the colonial era
B)in the 1840s
C)in the 1940s
D)in the 1980s
Q3) Why is "earning an income" no longer a man's role in the United States? Provide some specific data in support of your claims.
Q4) What criticisms of pornography are made in the text?
Q5) Which one of the following statements is correct?
A)Men and women differ physically in some limited ways.
B)Overall, men are physically superior to women.
C)Overall, women are physically superior to men.
D)There are no physical differences between men and women.
Q6) What criticism would feminists make of the current membership of our Congress?
Page 15
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Chapter 14: Race and Ethnicity
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130 Verified Questions
130 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the scapegoat theory of prejudice? What is the conflict theory of prejudice?
Q2) Which of the following concepts refers to a category of people, distinguished by physical or cultural traits, who are socially disadvantaged?
A)minority
B)ethnic category
C)racial category
D)out-group
Q3) Pluralism is the idea that all people should live with their own kind.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Racial segregation has existed, but it has never been legal in the United States.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The story about the class at New York's Bronx Community College explains that A)race is a simple matter of color.
B)many people have mixed racial and ethnic ancestry.
C)race is not important to most people in the United States.
D)All of these are correct.
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Chapter 15: Aging and the Elderly
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124 Verified Questions
124 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following situations increases the risk of elder abuse?
A)A caregiver to an older person also has a full-time job.
B)A caregiver to an older person also cares for his or her young children.
C)A caregiver to an older person has little help or support from other people.
D)All of these are correct.
Q2) In hunting and gathering societies, older members are considered to be a valuable resource to the group.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Age stratification refers to inequality among elderly people.
A)True
B)False
Q4) How does industrialization change patterns of working for income for people over the age of sixty-five?
A)People continue working for as long as they can.
B)People begin to retire from paid work, often by about age sixty-five.
C)People come to see retirement from paid work as a sign of weakness.
D)The peak earning years shift later into the sixties and seventies.
Q5) How do modern societies separate death from life?
Q6) What is age stratification? What is a gerontocracy?
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Chapter 16: The Economy and Work
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117 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following concepts refers to an economy based on computer technology?
A)postindustrial economy
B)industrial economy
C)technological economy
D)agrarian economy
Q2) Define the concepts of "monopoly" and "oligopoly." Why are these economic patterns controversial?
Q3) Over the course of human history, revolutionary changes in which of the following have brought great changes to the economy?
A)production technology
B)the family
C)population size
D)natural resources
Q4) The expansion of office work marks the growth of the economy's
A)primary sector.
B)secondary sector.
C)tertiary sector.
D)None of these are correct.
Q5) What are the three defining traits of capitalism?
Page 18
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Chapter 17: Politics and Government
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112 Verified Questions
112 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The concept "political economy" refers to
A)any system in which people are unequal.
B)the interplay of politics and economics.
C)democratic political systems.
D)the most efficient form of government.
Q2) In the United States, what categories of people are most and least likely to vote?
Q3) A sociological profile of men and women in the U.S.armed forces today reveals a large share of young people who
A)are of working-class background.
B)are looking to the military for a job.
C)join the military to earn money for college or just to get out of a small home town.
D)All of the above are correct.
Q4) People with lower social standing in the United States tend to be _____ on social issues and _____ on economic issues.
A)conservative; conservative
B)liberal; liberal
C)liberal; conservative
D)conservative; liberal
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Chapter 18: Families
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Sample Questions
Q1) Most adults in the United States say they want at least three children, although most do not go on to have this many.
A)True
B)False
Q2) A system of marriage that unites one woman with two or more men is called
A)polygyny.
B)polygamy.
C)polyandry.
D)All of these are correct.
Q3) The concept "homogamy" means that
A)people marry because they benefit from being married.
B)women usually marry older men.
C)people marry others who are socially like themselves.
D)most marriages are based on romantic love.
Q4) Typically, industrial societies make use of which of the following systems to trace ancestry?
A)bilateral descent
B)matrilineal descent
C)patrilineal descent
D)None of these is correct.
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Chapter 19: Religion
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Sample Questions
Q1) Christianity is one religion that has never experienced internal divisions.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The United States is a less religious society than, say, Japan or Sweden.
A)True
B)False
Q3) In global perspective, most Muslims are not Arabs.
A)True
B)False
Q4) In one sentence, what was Karl Marx's concern about the effects of religion on society?
Q5) The same elements of life are defined as sacred throughout the world.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Karl Marx investigated the positive functions of religion for social life.
A)True
B)False
Q7) Members of denominations typically accept religious pluralism.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 20: Education
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113 Verified Questions
113 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Education is the social institution by which society provides people with important knowledge, including A)job skills.
B)basic facts and information.
C)cultural norms and values.
D)All of these are correct.
Q2) Following a social-conflict approach, schooling in the United States helps to eliminate social inequality.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What is the "savage inequality" in U.S.schools as described by Jonathan Kozol? Why is this a social-conflict analysis?
Q4) 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
Q5) Define "education" and "schooling."
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Chapter 21: Health and Medicine
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe several reasons for the shortage of nurses in the United States.
Q2) What is the most common method of HIV transmission in the United States? In the world as a whole?
Q3) In his structural-functional analysis, Talcott Parsons claimed that society responds to illness by
A)punishing ill people.
B)withholding treatment to those who need it most.
C)using the "sick role" to relieve ill people of many daily responsibilities.
D)forcing people, sick or not, to perform important work.
Q4) Social epidemiology is the study of how health and disease are distributed throughout a society's population.
A)True
B)False
Q5) In an essay, consider the issue raised in the Controversy & Debate box on
Q6) In the United States, how does life expectancy of white people compare to that of black people?
A)It is four years longer.
B)It is about the same.
C)It is two years shorter.
D)It is four years shorter.
Page 23
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Chapter 22: Population, Urbanization, and Environment
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following concepts refers to the optimistic approach to environmental issues that claims science can promote progress and solve environmental problems?
A)the sustainability thesis
B)the Malthusian thesis
C)the limits to growth
D)the logic of growth
Q2) In what year was half the U.S.population living in urban places for the first time?
A)1880
B)1920
C)1960
D)1985
Q3) Currently, about how many people are added to the world's population each year?
A)830,000
B)8.3 million
C)83 million
D)830 million
Q4) What three urban revolutions have reshaped human societies? What changes have occurred in each of the three revolutions?
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24
Chapter 23: Collective Behavior and Social Movements
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is an example of mass behavior?
A)a riot
B)rumor
C)a mob
D)a crowd
Q2) Convergence theory states that people in crowds
A)make their own rules as they go along.
B)carry a plan for their behavior into the crowd.
C)behave in surprisingly "normal" ways.
D)are taken over by the contagious emotions of the crowd.
Q3) 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.
Q4) Based on the discussion found in the final box in the chapter
Q5) The social damage from a disaster is especially great when a toxic substance is involved.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 24: Social Change: Traditional
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is modernity? How are modern societies different from traditional societies? Discuss the defining traits of modernity by applying the theories of Tönnies, Durkheim, Weber, and Marx.
Q2) What did Emile Durkheim say about modernization changing society's solidarity? What about modernization affecting specialization? What, exactly, changes as societies modernize?
Q3) Sociologists point out that
A)some societies change and others do not.
B)social change happens all the time.
C)all social change is good.
D)All of these are correct.
Q4) "Postmodernity" refers to societies transformed by the Industrial Revolution. A)True B)False
Q5) Scholars who take a postmodernist approach claim that A)in many respects, modernity has failed.
B)science holds the important answers.
C)people should be optimistic about their future.
D)All of these are correct.
Q6) Is modernization the same around the world? Why or why not?
Page 26
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