Sociological Perspectives
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Course Introduction
Sociological Perspectives offers an in-depth exploration of the major theoretical frameworks and concepts used to understand and analyze society. Students will examine foundational perspectives such as functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism, and feminist theory, applying them to current social issues and everyday life. Through reading, discussion, and case studies, the course encourages critical analysis of how individuals, groups, and institutions interact, how social structures influence behavior, and how social change occurs. Emphasis is placed on developing the tools necessary to examine social phenomena through multiple sociological lenses, fostering a deeper appreciation for diversity, inequality, and the complexity of social life.
Recommended Textbook
You May Ask Yourself An Introduction to Thinking Like a Sociologist Core 4th Edition by Dalton Conley
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Chapter 1: The Sociological Imagination: An Introduction
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Q1) Which area within the discipline of anthropology is most similar to sociology?
A) physical anthropology
B) cultural anthropology
C) genetic anthropology
D) forensic anthropology
Answer: B
Q2) Explaining unique cases is the focus of most historians,whereas the comparative method is the staple of the sociologist.This comparative method is also known as:
A) people's histories.
B) the nomothetic approach.
C) counterfactual.
D) historiography.
Answer: B
Q3) Which of the following sociologists wrote Suicide in 1897?
A) Auguste Comte
B) Émile Durkheim
C) Karl Marx
D) Max Weber
Answer: B
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Chapter 2: Methods
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Q1) Elizabeth would like to conduct a study to determine how women define spousal abuse and the meanings they attach to their abuse.What research method will Elizabeth most likely use?
A) quantitative
B) inductive
C) qualitative
D) deductive
Answer: C
Q2) What type of research describes people's behavior in rich detail and focuses on the meanings people give to their actions?
A) inductive
B) qualitative
C) quantitative
D) deductive
Answer: B
Q3) Define the terms validity and reliability.
Answer: Validity means that a researcher must measure what he or she intends to measure.Reliability means that a researcher is able to obtain the same result using the same measures more than once.
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Chapter 3: Culture and Media
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Q1) What are media and how do they affect our values and norms in the United States?
Answer: Media are the many formats and vehicles that carry,present,and communicate information,such as newspapers,books,television,movies,the Internet,and the radio.Our values are our moral beliefs about what is right and what is wrong,and norms are how we put our values into action in the real world.We learn our values and norms throughout our lives via socialization into our environments,and the media is a major way in which most of the population of the Western world gets socialized.
Q2) What is Jean Kilbourne's critique of an advertisement that shows a pair of women's legs with brand new,expensive shoes on them popping out of a trash can?
A) It demonstrates how consumerism makes it too easy to throw away functional items that aren't fashionable.
B) It promotes, even implicitly, violence against women.
C) It is a sexist strategy to promote recycling.
D) The legs are white, and the ad reflects the relative neglect of nonwhites in the media. Answer: B
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Chapter 4: Socialization and the Construction of Reality
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Q1) An ascribed status is one:
A) that stands out within a status set.
B) a person has little or no control over.
C) into which one enters.
D) that a person works to accomplish.
Q2) Explain the main concepts of Merton's role theory and provide an example of each.
Q3) According to George Herbert Mead,the final step in the socialization process is when we have developed the concept of the generalized other.Explain this concept in your own words,and give several examples of how your perception of the generalized other affects your day-to-day behavior.
Q4) A recognizable social position that an individual occupies,such as student or professor,is known as a:
A) status.
B) role.
C) face.
D) total institution.
Q5) Summarize the main ideas and concepts of Goffman's theory of dramaturgy.Apply it to explain one of the statuses that you currently occupy.
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Chapter 5: Groups and Networks
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Q1) The ways in which power and authority are distributed hierarchically within an organization are called:
A) isomorphism.
B) organizational structure.
C) old boys' club.
D) patriarchy.
Q2) If stepsiblings are asked to share bedrooms or other possessions,and one of them views such sharing as an intrusion,he or she may have difficulty overcoming the tendency to play the role of ____________ between his or her parent and the new stepmother or stepfather.
A) tertius gaudens
B) divide et impera
C) mediator
D) arbitrator
Q3) How we feel about ourselves is an inherently social process that stems in part from who we compare ourselves to.Provide two real-life examples of how reference groups have affected how you feel about yourself (whether fleeting or long-term).
Q4) Summarize Simmel's work on dyads and triads.
Q5) Define in-groups and out-groups,and give one example of each.
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Chapter 6: Social Control and Deviance
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Q1) The functionalist perspective on deviance argues that deviance:
A) makes societies less functional.
B) is necessary for a society's survival.
C) is a symptom of other dysfunctions in society.
D) will disappear as societies evolve.
Q2) In 1973,the governor of New York State enacted legislation mandating increased prison terms for drug possession and sale.These are still in effect and are known as:
A) three strikes.
B) the war on drugs.
C) the Rockefeller drug laws.
D) you do the line, you do the time.
Q3) In a gathering society,most people do the same things.They gather food for their survival,so the members of a society are very similar.Durkheim would say that the type of solidarity in a gathering society would be:
A) controlling.
B) dependent.
C) organic.
D) mechanical.
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Chapter 7: Stratification
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Q1) Mills believed that centralized power in the hands of a few ____________ democracy.
A) expanded
B) helped
C) hurt
D) stabilized
Q2) Mobility that is inevitable from changes in the economy is called:
A) vertical.
B) horizontal.
C) escalating.
D) structural.
Q3) Rousseau believed that the source of all social ills was: A) income.
B) private property.
C) racism.
D) business ownership.
Q4) Compare and contrast Rousseau's perspective of social inequality with that of Malthus,Millar,and Ferguson.
Q5) There are five types of social stratification systems.Name each of these and describe how they justify inequality.
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Gender
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Q1) Which theoretical perspective argues that gender is a product of social interactions and that by "doing gender," men and women create and contribute to the gendered patterns we see?
A) psychoanalytic theory
B) structural functionalism
C) social conflict
D) symbolic interaction
Q2) Judith Lorber believes that gender is a social institution because it is:
A) within an institution (hospital) that our gender first emerges.
B) a social construction instead of a biological construction.
C) a major structure organizing our day-to-day experiences.
D) the same as other major institutions in our society.
Q3) The study of gender is basically the study of how two spheres shape each other.What are the two spheres?
A) biology and sex
B) sex and birth order
C) nature and nurture
D) emotion and biology
Q4) Explain essentialism and biological determinism and the binary model in relation to sex and gender.
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Chapter 9: Race
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Q1) What was the premise behind eugenics? How did eugenics explain race? What is the problem with this explanation? Give examples.
Q2) Robert Park's model explains the universally progressive pattern in which immigrants arrive,settle in,and achieve full assimilation in a newly homogeneous country.His model is called:
A) immigration patterns.
B) assimilation progress.
C) the geographic immigrant process.
D) straight-line assimilation.
Q3) African Americans often turn to ____________ when they are attempting to be accepted by the dominant group.This means acting differently with the dominant group.
A) collective resistance
B) subalterning
C) redlining
D) code switching
Q4) Describe the definitions of race in ancient Egypt,Greece,Rome,and early Christendom.How do they compare to modern racial thinking among the European colonizers up to the present day?
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Chapter 10: Poverty
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Q1) What do Murray and Herrnstein suggest is the cause of poverty? If this argument were supported by policy makers,what would happen to the poor? How would the self-fulfilling prophecy fit into this?
Q2) Social Darwinism suggests that only the fittest survive,that people (and plants and animals)who are the smartest and most capable for survival are the ones who succeed in a society.This can be compared to:
A) Oscar Lewis's culture of poverty thesis.
B) Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray's bell curve thesis.
C) Clinton's War on Poverty thesis.
D) Gautreaux's Moving to Opportunity thesis.
Q3) The Gini coefficient is:
A) a comparison of poverty rates.
B) the U.S. poverty line.
C) a measure of economic inequality.
D) a measure of poverty rates.
Q4) Propose a social policy that would give children born into poverty a better chance of escaping it in their adult lives.What issues would the policy need to address? What social institutions (e.g.,work,family,government)would need to be changed?
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Chapter 11: Health and Society
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Q1) What is a social benefit of adopting the sick role?
A) It makes a person eligible for paid leave from work.
B) People who do so are not looked down on or morally judged if they do not work.
C) People who do so can, for example, eat fried foods after a heart attack or smoke after a cancer diagnosis.
D) It makes it easier for doctors to cure patients.
Q2) Married people tend to live longer than unmarried people.It could be that they take better care of themselves when they have the responsibility of a family.It could also be that:
A) people who are healthier are more likely to get married.
B) people who are married have less sex, so they are less likely to contract sexually transmitted infections.
C) unmarried people are more likely to travel to areas of the world where there are higher rates of diseases.
D) unmarried people are less likely to have sex and are therefore more depressed, leading to physical ailments.
Q3) What are the signs that doctors' authority is declining? How does this affect you?
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Chapter 12: Family (in Core edition)
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Q1) When a society has rules that limit marital choices to people within their own social group,such as within their social class or religion,this is known as:
A) endogamy.
B) exogamy.
C) monogamy.
D) polygamy.
Q2) As your text points out,single mothers and poverty often go hand in hand.What is the primary reason their employment opportunities typically limit them to low-wage work?
A) Single mothers always lack the connections needed to obtain higher-paying work.
B) Many single mothers lack the motivation required for higher-paying work.
C) Single mothers are often unskilled and have less education than the average American.
D) Their only other higher-paying option is criminal activity such as prostitution or drug dealing.
Q3) Discuss three of the main issues surrounding the increasing number of single mothers in the United States.
Q4) Define endogamy and exogamy as family forms and give an example of each.
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Chapter 13: Education
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Q1) Bill Cosby is concerned with black underachievement in the American school system.He suggests that:
A) more African American parents actually parent.
B) African American children begin school earlier, around the age of three.
C) white students need to tutor African American students in after-school programs.
D) white people adopt African American children into their homes to properly socialize them.
Q2) With regard to the effects of families on children's educational outcomes,which of the following is true?
A) Few studies show that birth order significantly affects children's educational attainment.
B) Children born later in a family are less likely to receive parental financial support for college because parents have exhausted their resources on the older children.
C) When a family goes from two to three children, middle children are significantly more affected by the loss of family resources.
D) Only children are an at-risk group when it comes to educational attainment.
Q3) What are the pros and cons of the sorting/tracking function served by schools?
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Chapter 14: Capitalism and the Economy
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Q1) Your grade level and amount of experience determine your:
A) number of sick days.
B) civil service salary.
C) health insurance rates.
D) high-level military officer pay.
Q2) A system of payment whereby workers are compensated on the basis of a wage not tied to the quality of the raw materials,accidents,or other exigencies in the production process refers to:
A) payment per unit.
B) piecework.
C) hourly wage.
D) wage labor.
Q3) According to Hochschild,Jacobs,and Gerson,why don't workers take advantage of family-friendly policies?
Q4) Feminist sociologists claim that the family wage is a patriarchal bargain because it implies that:
A) women depend on a man's wage.
B) women aren't smart enough to get a high-paying job.
C) the money men earn is worthless.
D) a family needs to have a male head.
Page 16
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Chapter 15: Authority and the State
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Q1) Which of the following is a characteristic of a bureaucracy?
A) individualistic and flexible
B) usually unfair
C) has positions that are highly specialized
D) affected by social differences
Q2) Even democracies tend to have authority figures.Thomas Hobbes suggests that without an agreed-upon authority figure,like a president,we would have:
A) a more democratic situation.
B) more minority members in the elitist positions.
C) chaos and violence.
D) a dictatorship.
Q3) Domination by authority means that the ruled believe their ideas are ____________ the ideas of the ruler.
A) the same as
B) less important than
C) more important than D) different from
Q4) Describe Max Weber's three accounts of a ruler's "superiority and fitness to rule." Give examples of each.
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Chapter 16: Religion
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Q1) Which of the following is NOT an example of secularization?
A) Mark and Tessa seek premarital counseling from a therapist rather than a member of the clergy.
B) Crosses are used for decoration and worn as fashion accessories.
C) The government announces a number of faith-based initiatives for the provision of social services.
D) In France, students are forbidden to wear religious items while at school.
Q2) Research has shown that religious attendance and affiliation are inversely correlated with alcohol,tobacco,and drug use.Which of the following is a valid conclusion of this?
A) Religion causes people to have positive behavioral outcomes.
B) People who are less likely to smoke, drink alcohol, and use drugs are more drawn to religion.
C) Healthy lifestyles are closer to the will of God.
D) We cannot determine if religion causes healthy lifestyles or if some other factor predisposes healthy behavior and religion.
Q3) Give an example of how the sacred is separated from the profane.What social functions are served by this separation?
Q4) Is religion a strictly integrative force?
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Chapter 17: Science, the Environment, and Society
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Q1) Which of the following is NOT something scientists predict will result from a continued rise in global temperatures?
A) heat waves
B) change in agricultural production
C) migration from coastal communities
D) decreases in tropical diseases
Q2) Organic products can lead to health stratification by income because:
A) land is needed to grow organic products.
B) organic products are more expensive.
C) organic products aren't sold in poor neighborhoods.
D) organic products are only sold in high-end markets.
Q3) In opposition to the sociology of science researcher Bruno Latour,many scientists assert that ____________ are not made but rather preexist in objective reality waiting to be discovered.
A) theories
B) diseases
C) scientific facts
D) scientific discoveries
Q4) Describe the intersection between science and politics.How do they influence each other?
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Chapter 18: Collective Action, Social Movements, and Social Change
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Q1) Contagion effects often work through the influence of a leader with a lot of:
A) charisma.
B) power.
C) knowledge.
D) experience.
Q2) What are the two types of collective action? Give examples of membership.
Q3) Imagine you are a member of Critical Mass,the cycling organization that attempts to educate the public about carbon dioxide pollution from gas vehicles.Even though this lacks the organizational structure of a professional movement,it has high levels of member participation.This would be a ____________ organization.
A) grassroots
B) redemptive
C) premodern
D) mass protest
Q4) Value-added theory was "borrowed" from the discipline of:
A) sociology.
B) economics.
C) history.
D) psychology.
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