Sociology of Work Practice Exam
Course Introduction
Sociology of Work explores the social dynamics, structures, and transformations of work in contemporary societies. This course examines the organization of labor, occupational roles, workplace cultures, power relations, and the impact of globalization, technology, and economic change on work. Students will analyze topics such as gender, race, and class inequalities in the workplace, the evolution of employment relations, and the meaning of work in individuals lives. By engaging with classical and contemporary sociological theories and empirical case studies, learners will gain a comprehensive understanding of how work shapes and is shaped by broader social forces.
Recommended Textbook
Work Industry and Canadian Society 7th Edition by Harvey Krahn
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14 Chapters
375 Verified Questions
375 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Historical Perspectives on Work 1700-1950s
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Sample Questions
Q1) Adam Smith argued that an extensive division of labour could lead to immense increases in productivity in a factory setting. What did Charles Babbage propose to further increase profits for factory owners?
A) Increasing the length of the working day.
B) Paying workers less, since they would require fewer skills.
C) Outlawing trade unions.
D) Making workers pay for their own tools.
Answer: B
Q2) Compared to the era of industrial capitalism in western Europe, which of the following characterized feudal society?
A) More rapid social change.
B) Less emphasis on religion.
C) Less wage labour.
D) Larger communities.
Answer: C
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3
Chapter 2: Contemporary Debates on Work 1950s to Present Day
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Q1) Which of the following has been demonstrated by the emergence of industrial capitalism in the East Asian "tiger nations" and in the "BRIC" economies?
A) The validity of the "convergence" theory of industrialism.
B) It now takes less time for countries to industrialize than it did a century ago.
C) Industrial capitalism always functions best if the state (the government) is not involved in any way at all.
D) Industrialization eventually always leads to greater social equality.
Answer: B
Q2) The term emotional proletariat describes workers in low-skilled jobs with high emotional demands. Which of the following is the best example of a "privileged emotional manager"?
A) A Canada Post letter carrier.
B) A bank teller.
C) A player on the Toronto Blue Jays.
D) A family doctor.
Answer: D
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4
Chapter 3: Canadian Employment Trends
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following demographic shifts is having the biggest impact on the traditional "three-stage model of work life?"
A) People who have retired from one career taking up part-time employment in another line of work.
B) Young people working part-time while attending school.
C) Immigrants saving money to sponsor family members to follow them to Canada.
D) Women returning to the paid labour force after their children start school.
Answer: A
Q2) Which of the following statements best characterizes occupational trends in Canada over the past 25 years?
A) Most service-sector workers are now employed in lower-tier service occupations.
B) Blue-collar occupations have declined since the mid-1980s.
C) Men and women are equally likely to work in blue-collar occupations.
D) Men are more likely than women to be employed in health-related occupations.
Answer: B
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5
Chapter 4: Good Jobs, Bad Jobs, No Jobs
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Q1) Which of the following is correct about the additional employment benefits received by Canadian workers?
A) Full-time employees are two to three times more likely than part-time employees to receive additional employment benefits.
B) The cost to employers of providing such benefits declined during the second half of the 20th century.
C) Most employees have a dental plan, but only a small minority have pension plans.
D) Employers often "even things out" by providing more benefits to lower paid workers.
Q2) Approximately what proportion of employed Canadians worked part-time in 2012?
A) About 5 percent.
B) About 20 percent.
C) About 40 percent.
D) About 50 percent.
Q3) Based on what you have read in Chapter 4, describe how the types of jobs a Canadian might have expected to obtain have changed over the course of the 20th century. How have the chances of being jobless changed over this time?
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Chapter 5: Labour Markets: Opportunities and Inequality
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Q1) Which of the following best exemplifies current patterns of labour market polarization?
A) An increase in highly skilled temporary foreign workers.
B) Emergence of a knowledge economy with more "creative" work.
C) Shrinking of the primary labour market.
D) Downsizing of the goods-producing sector.
Q2) Julie is a 30-year-old first-generation Filipina Canadian. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from a well-respected university, yet has recently been forced to take a barista job at a local café. Use the human capital and labour market segmentation theories to analyze Julie's labour market position. Which perspective do you find more convincing? Why?
Q3) In a few sentences, outline the dual economies perspective on labour markets. Provide examples of occupations found in the core and periphery sectors.
Q4) In a few sentences, outline the labour market situation of Aboriginal Canadians. Suggest some reasons for any differences between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians you might describe.
Q5) Briefly define cultural capital, with a few examples. How does it relate to socioeconomic status?
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Chapter 6: Gender and Paid Employment
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Q1) The concept "family wage" is best described by which of the following?
A) It has been promoted as a solution to problems of balancing work and family.
B) It describes the belief that men's wages should be high enough for them to support a wife and family.
C) It describes the belief that wages should be kept low so that both wives and husbands have to work outside the home.
D) It is another term for a guaranteed annual income.
Q2) Outline Elizabeth Moss Kanter's theory of gender inequality in work organizations.
Q3) The "gender labelling of jobs" is best characterized by which of the following?
A) The categories of jobs resulting from employment equity programs.
B) The overall pattern of employers making rational hiring decisions.
C) The outcome of low-skill jobs being paid less than high-skill jobs.
D) The process whereby jobs involving caring or domestic duties came to be seen as most appropriate for women.
Q4) Define employment equity and pay equity policies and discuss how they differ. How effective have they been in Canada? How might these policies be improved to help ensure that their goals are met?
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Chapter 7: Household, Family, and Caring Work
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Q1) Define the various types of conflict involving family and work. What are the consequences of such conflict for workers, families, and employers?
Q2) Henrietta and Na'im are married with two young children. Both doctors, they work long hours and have decided to hire a live-in nanny from the Philippines. Their work-family choices best illustrate which of the following?
A) Socioeconomic status impacts a family's ability to outsource carework and household work.
B) The extent to which Canadian families are not interested in carework.
C) The trend for all Canadian families to participate in stratified hierarchies of reproduction.
D) Canadians prefer to spend more time at work than at home.
Q3) Briefly discuss recent trends in time spent by women and men on housework and childcare in Canada.
Q4) Describe what is meant by the terms household work and caring work. What types of activities do these terms refer to?
Q5) In a few sentences, explain what Arlie Hochschild means in The Outsourced Self. What factors might impact a family's ability to outsource work?
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Page 9
Chapter 8: Organizing and Managing Work
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is most correct about scientific management?
A) Robots are used to replace workers.
B) Workers have a lot of autonomy.
C) It represents a "human relations" approach.
D) Complex tasks are subdivided to improve efficiency.
Q2) Which of the following is correct about Burns and Stalker's study of work organization in the 1950s?
A) In general, all organizations had the same structure and management style.
B) Technologies did not impact the level of bureaucracy present in an organization.
C) Most organizations had open management styles.
D) There was a continuum of organizational forms shaped by type of technology.
Q3) In a few sentences, describe the basic principles of scientific management.
Q4) Which of the following criticisms have organizational researchers made about bureaucracies?
A) Workers have too much autonomy.
B) Positions within bureaucratic organizations are not regulated.
C) They are resistant to change.
D) They lack a defined system of authority.
Q5) Briefly describe human relations theory and outline one of its major criticisms.
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Chapter 9: In Search of New Managerial Paradigms
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Q1) A completely new workplace that offers opportunities for both technological and social innovations is best described by which of the following concepts?
A) Sociotechnical incubator.
B) Innovation transplant.
C) Organizational restart.
D) Greenfield site.
Q2) Imagine that you were made the manager of a fast-food restaurant staffed largely by university students working part-time. If you could choose to implement any management system (or some part of it) that you wanted, what would you choose?
Explain what your goals would be, and how this management approach would help you reach them.
Q3) Which of the following is a key feature of "total quality management"?
A) An emphasis on continuous improvement in the production of goods or delivery of services.
B) Less emphasis on the consumer compared to most other management approaches.
C) Extensive consultation with workers about most aspects of their jobs.
D) Heavy reliance on low-skill workers.
Q4) Briefly define and give an example of each: pay flexibility, functional flexibility, and numerical flexibility.
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Chapter 10: Conflict and Control in the Workplace
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Q1) In a sentence or two for each, define simple control, technical control, and bureaucratic control.
Q2) Which of the following terms is used to describe regulation of the labour process through coercive or paternalistic methods?
A) Technical control.
B) Bureaucratic control.
C) Responsible autonomy.
D) Simple control.
Q3) If they could come back to life, which of the following classical social theorists would likely be most supportive of the new managerial paradigms that have been introduced in the past several decades in an attempt to solve the problems of bureaucracy and assist managers in motivating workers?
A) Karl Marx.
B) Adam Smith.
C) Max Weber.
D) Émile Durkheim.
Q4) In a sentence or two for each, define technological determinism, economic determinism, and social determinism.
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Chapter 11: Unions and Industrial Relations
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Q1) Which of the following is a unique feature of the labour movement in Quebec?
A) Many contemporary unions were originally organized by the Roman Catholic Church.
B) A much lower degree of centralized bargaining than elsewhere in Canada.
C) Despite a high level of nationalism in Quebec, unions in the province have avoided getting involved in debates about separatism and sovereignty.
D) The willingness of unions to accept provincial legislation allowing strike-breaking by employers.
Q2) Leo Panitch and Donald Swartz use the phrase permanent exceptionalism to describe which of the following labour relations trends in Canada?
A) The shift from craft unions to industrial unions.
B) The Canadianization of formerly international unions.
C) Attempts to introduce "right-to-work" laws in Canada.
D) Repeated government intervention in collective bargaining over the past few decades.
Q3) How have Canadian unions changed over the past century? In your opinion, what are some of the key challenges they face today?
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Chapter 12: Alternative Approaches to Economic Organization
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Q1) Outline the differences and similarities between worker buyouts and producer co-operatives, and discuss the barriers each of these alternative approaches to economic organization might face. In your opinion, which, if any, of these approaches would have the greatest chance of being successful in your community? Explain why.
Q2) Briefly explain the key difference between a "worker buyout" and a "producer co-operative."
Q3) Which model of worker ownership has delivered more of the democratizing and work-humanizing outcomes promised by the new managerial paradigms that emerged over the past several decades?
A) Employee share ownership plans (ESOPs).
B) Worker buyouts.
C) Producer co-operatives.
D) High-performance workplaces.
Q4) What is the purpose of Sweden's Wage Earner Funds, introduced in 1984?
A) Set aside funds to cover the costs of benefits paid to injured workers.
B) Redirect corporate taxes into company share purchases for employees.
C) Reduce the gender wage gap within companies.
D) Pay for daycares and other benefits to make workplaces more family-friendly.
Page 14
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Chapter 13: Work Values and Work Orientations
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Q1) In recent decades, employers have frequently expressed concerns about the inadequate skills young people bring to the labour market, and have recommended that schools spend more time teaching "employability skills." Based on recent research, which of the following do employers typically focus on when hiring young people for entry-level jobs?
A) Academic skills.
B) Personal management skills.
C) Teamwork skills.
D) Personality and perceived work ethic.
Q2) In recent decades, some politicians have expressed concerns about a declining work ethic among the poorest members of society. Recent research typically leads to which of the following conclusions?
A) Poor immigrants are willing to work hard, but not poor native-born Canadians.
B) The urban poor, but not those in rural areas, seem to have a declining work ethic.
C) The real problem is that most poor people do not have adequate skills and training.
D) The main problem is not enough good jobs and inadequate government policies.
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Chapter 14: Job Satisfaction, Alienation, and Work-Related Stress
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Sample Questions
Q1) Briefly outline Karasek's "demand-control" model of workplace stress.
Q2) Which of the following is the best description of Martin Meissner's "compensatory leisure" hypothesis?
A) Job satisfaction increases if employees can participate in company-sponsored leisure activities.
B) Compared to the past, many more Canadians prefer leisure to work.
C) People look for non-work activities that can make up for what they miss at work.
D) Young workers prefer benefit packages that include fitness-club options to packages that emphasize pensions and life insurance.
Q3) When surveyed, a large majority of Canadian workers indicate that they are satisfied with their job, a finding that puzzles some sociologists. Discuss such survey findings and the explanations sociologists have provided for the high level of apparent job satisfaction.
Q4) Discuss the negative consequences of job dissatisfaction. Will worker productivity go up if job satisfaction increases in a workplace? Why or why not?
Q5) Briefly outline Frederick Herzberg's "two-factor theory" of job satisfaction.
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