1. Which discipline defines itself as “the systematic study of human society”?
2. Making use of the sociological perspective encourages us to
3. Linking specific facts together to gain meaning creates a
4. In deciding what kinds of questions to ask as they begin research, sociologists are guided by
5. The text describes the main point of using the structural-functional approach as
6. The social-conflict approach draws attention to
7. Which question summarizes the focus of the symbolic-interaction approach?
8. What would a sociologist be most likely to say about why an individual chooses a particular person to
marry?
9. Which discipline is defined as “the systematic study of human society”?
10. Which of the following phrases best describes the focus of the structural-functional approach?
1. Peter Berger described using the sociological perspective as seeing the __________ in the __________.
2. The statement that the sociological perspective shows us “the strange in the familiar" means that
Sociology
3. From a sociological perspective, patterns of childbearing around the world suggest that the number of
children born to a woman reflects
4. Three roommates are in their dorm room sharing a late-night discussion about why they are in college.
Which of the following statements about attending college best represents using the sociological
perspective?
5. The pioneering sociologist who studied patterns of suicide in Europe was
6 In the United States today, the suicide rate is highest for which of the following categories of people?
7. Suicide rates are generally higher among
8. According to Emile Durkheim, a category of people with a higher suicide rate typically has
9. People in which of the following categories would you expect to most readily make use of the
sociological perspective?
10. C. Wright Mills pointed out that sociological awareness tends to be more widespread
1. The United States falls within the category of
2. Almost all of Latin America and Asia falls within the category of
3. A country in which average income is typical for the world as a whole, and in which people are as
likely to live in a rural area as in an urban area, would fall into the category of
4. More than 1.5 million immigrants enter the United States each year and many (including Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Gloria Estefan) have become famous. These facts support the conclusion that
5. Read the following four statements. Which statement is CORRECT?
6. Making use of the sociological perspective encourages
7. Which of the following is a benefit we gain from studying sociology?
8. Which of the following statements correctly describes sociology’s value to future careers?
9. Which of the following statements best illustrates the career advantage a person gains by studying
sociology?
10. All but one the following historical trends stimulated the development of the discipline of sociology.
Which one trend did NOT?
1. Historically, the sociological perspective was most likely to develop in
2. The “Seeing Sociology in the News” article in Chapter 1 (“Sociology: Perspective, Theory, and
Method”) reports that in a bad economy, laid-off workers
3. Sociology differs from earlier philosophy by focusing on
4. The term “sociology” was coined in 1838 by
5. Comte described the earliest human societies as being at the _________ of societal development.
6. According to Comte, societies in which stage of development begin to see society as a natural—rather
than a supernatural—phenomenon?
7. Thomas Hobbes’s idea that society reflects a selfish human nature illustrates the thinking common to
Comte’s __________ of societal development.
8. According to Comte, during the Middle Ages most people in Europe thought of society as
9. According to Comte, the kind of thinking favored by people such as Thomas Edison, the inventor of
the light bulb, becomes widespread during the __________ of societal development.
10. __________ is a way of understanding the world based on science.
1. Why have sociologists NOT identified "laws of society" that allow us to predict the actions of specific
individuals?
2. By linking specific facts together to give us meaning, we create a
3. Which early sociologist made a mark for herself by studying the evils of slavery and also translating
the writings of Auguste Comte?
4. Two of sociology's early founders were
5. If we state that children raised in single-parent families are at high risk of being single parents
themselves, we have constructed a __________ of family life.
6. In deciding what questions to ask as they begin research, sociologists are guided by
7. What is the term for a basic image of society that guides thinking and research?
8. Which theoretical approach is closest to that taken by early sociologists Auguste Comte and Emile
Durkheim?
9. The theoretical approach in sociology that views society as a complex system whose parts work
together to promote solidarity and stability is the
10. Which of the following concepts refers to relatively stable patterns of social behavior?
44. Social structures sometimes have negative consequences for the operation of society. What concept
45. Identify the three sociologists below who played a part in the development of sociology’s structuralfunctional approach.
46. Herbert Spencer described human society as having much in common with
47. Who was the U.S. sociologist who pointed out the difference between the manifest functions and the
latent functions of social patterns?
48. The recognized and intended consequences of a social pattern are referred to as
49. Unrecognized and unintended consequences of the social structure are called
50. The structural-functional approach helps us to
51. Robert Merton explained that what is functional for one category of a society’s population
52. Which theoretical approach leads us to see society as orderly and stable?
53. Which of the following statements is an accurate criticism of the structural-functional approach?
54. Which early U.S. sociologist earned the first doctorate ever awarded by Harvard University to a
person of color?
55. Who was the pioneering sociologist who founded Chicago’s Hull House to assist immigrants and later
received the Nobel Peace Prize?
56. Which U.S. sociologist studied the African American community and served as a founding member of
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)?
57. Which of the following can correctly be called the "framework for building theory that sees society as
an arena of inequality that generates conflict and change"?
58. The social-conflict approach draws attention to
59. Which of the following is a social-conflict approach that deals with inequality between women and
men?
60. Looking at the operation of U.S. schools, the social-conflict approach might lead a sociologist to
conclude that
61. For Karl Marx, the point of studying society was
62. The social-conflict approach might lead a sociologist to highlight
63. Which of the following people had an important influence on the development of the social-conflict
approach?
64. Which early sociologist claimed that his goal was not to simply understand society but to change it?
65. The social-conflict approach is sometimes criticized for
66. Which of the following theoretical approaches paints societies in broad strokes at a macro-level?
67. Which of the following topics illustrates a micro-level focus?
68. The basic idea of the symbolic-interaction approach is that society is
69. Which theoretical approach highlights the fact that it is not so much what people do that matters as
much as the meaning they attach to their behavior?
70. Which founding sociologist is credited with calling attention to the meaning people attach to their
behavior?
71. An example of an insight offered by social-exchange analysis is that
72. A criticism of the symbolic-interaction approach is that it
73. Which of the following questions summarizes the focus of the symbolic-interaction approach?
74. Which of the following is the best example of a manifest function of sports?
75. Building social relationships would be a __________ of sports.
76. A social-conflict analysis of sports might emphasize
77. Science can be defined as
78. Sociologists use the concept “empirical evidence” to refer to information
79. Which term refers to “a mental construct that represents some part of the world”?
80. If you were trying to measure the “social class” of various people, you would have to keep in mind
That
81. By what process does a researcher determine the value of a variable?
82. A commonly used statistic that results from adding all scores and dividing by the number of scores is
called the
83. Two variables are said to display correlation if
84. Which of the following is NOT one of the defining traits of a cause-and-effect relationship?
85. The ideal of objectivity means that a researcher
86. The sociologist who called on his colleagues to be value-free was
87. Studying the meaning people attach to their everyday lives is the search for
88. Interpretive sociology is sociology that
89. Which of the following statements about positivist sociology is CORRECT?
90. It would be correct to say that critical sociology
91. Critical sociology can best be described as
92. Which of the following statements comes closest to correctly linking sociology’s methodological
orientations and its theoretical approaches?
93. Read the four statements below. Which of them is NOT found within the American Sociological
Association’s guidelines for ethical research?
94. If you have been criticized for "androcentricity" in your research, you have
95. Drawing conclusions about all of humanity based on information drawn only from males describes
the problem called
96. Failing to consider the possible importance of gender in a sociological study describes the problem
called
97. The method of sociological research best suited to identifying cause-and-effect relationships is
98. In his study of prison behavior, Philip Zimbardo was trying to learn
99. Which research method asks subjects to respond to a series of items in a questionnaire or an
interview?
100. A small number of people used by researchers to represent an entire population is called
101. Snowball sampling is easy to do; at the same time, it leads a researcher toward what problem?
102. In her study of the African American elite, Lois Benjamin made use of
103. Using which of the following methods would a researcher be most likely to reveal information about
herself to her subjects?
104. Which of the following is generally true of researchers setting out to conduct fieldwork?
105. William Foote Whyte teamed up with a Cornerville man named "Doc" who served as his
106. A major advantage of using existing data is
107. In his study of Boston and Philadelphia, E. Digby Baltzell linked each region's record of
achievement to
108. Which of the following concepts refers to an exaggerated description that somebody applies to every
person in a category of the population?
109. Unlike simple stereotypes, sociological generalizations
110. According to sociologists, human behavior is the product of "free will."
111. Sociology is defined as the systematic study of human society.
112. The sociological perspective reveals that personal decisions such as whom we marry are simply the
result of what people decide to do.
113. One consequence of living in a low-income country for women is, on average, having more children
than women living in high-income nations.
114. Durkheim documented that categories of people with weaker social ties have lower suicide rates.
115. In the United States, African Americans have a higher suicide rate than whites.
116. In the United States, men have a higher suicide rate than women.
117. U.S. sociologist C. Wright Mills argued that times of social crisis encourage widespread sociological
thinking.
118. The United States, Japan, and Australia are all high-income nations.
119. A global perspective has little in common with a sociological perspective.
120. Societies throughout the world are increasingly interconnected.
121. C. Wright Mills explained that the sociological imagination encourages people to see their personal
problems as their own individual responsibility.
122. Thinking globally and studying other societies is a good way to learn about ourselves.
123. The sociological perspective helps us assess the truth of the "common sense" beliefs most people
take for granted.
124. Understanding how society operates hides the opportunities and constraints in our own lives.
125. Sociology developed mostly in rural places where traditions remained strong.
126. Sociology is a good background for work in advertising, criminal justice, and public relations.
127. Revolutionary changes in European societies sparked the development of sociology.
(Factual; answer: T;)
128. As a discipline, sociology first took root in France, Germany, and England.
129. Ancient philosophers such as Plato were mostly interested in imagining the "ideal" society rather
than in studying society as it really is.
130. In 1838, Emile Durkheim coined the term “sociology.”
131. The last of Comte’s three stages of historical development is the theological stage in which people
know the world in terms of God’s will.
132. The “Seeing Sociology in the News” article in Chapter 1 (“Sociology: Perspective, Theory, and
Method”) explains that many workers who lost their jobs in the recent economic recession have decided
to attend community colleges.
133. The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes believed that society reflected the basic goodness of
human nature.
134. The structural-functional, social-conflict, and symbolic-interaction approaches are all used by
sociologists in building theory.
135. Robert K. Merton said that social patterns have much the same effect on all members of a society.
136. People usually do not recognize all of the functions of any particular social structure.
137. Every social structure is useful, or functional, in a positive sense for the operation of society.
138. The goal of researchers guided by the structural-functional approach is not just to understand society
as much as to reduce social inequality.
139. The social-conflict approach highlights social inequality involving dimensions such as class, gender,
and race.
140. The sociologist who stated that the point of studying society is not just to understand our world but
to change it was Karl Marx.
141. Feminism is an important part of sociology's gender-conflict approach.
142. W. E. B. Du Bois translated the writings of Auguste Comte from Latin into English.
143. W. E. B. Du Bois, who wrote a classic study of the African American community in Philadelphia,
made use of the social-conflict approach.
144. The race-conflict approach ignores the contributions to sociology by people of color.
145. The symbolic-interaction approach is a micro-level orientation.
146. The focus of the symbolic-interaction approach is how society is divided by class, race, and gender.
147. Social-exchange analysis is based on the idea that interaction is guided by what each person stands to
gain from another.
148. Sociologists should make use of only one theoretical approach.
149. Empirical evidence refers to what people in a society agree is true.
150. Science is a logical system based on human intuition.
151. Reliability refers to the quality of consistency in measurement.
152. Validity refers to actually measuring exactly what one intends to measure.
153. People of all races and class positions have had the same opportunities to participate in sports.
154. “Stacking” in sports is the pattern by which people of one racial category disproportionately play in
certain field positions.
155. How players understand the game—and each other—would be one focus of a symbolic-interaction
approach to sports.
156. If two variables are correlated, then one must be the cause of the other.
157. Max Weber urged sociologists to strive toward the goal of being value-free in their research.
158. Interpretive sociology focuses on the meaning people attach to their actions.
159. Positivist sociology is based on what Max Weber called Verstehen and seeks to discover the
subjective meanings that are "out there."
160. If you were engaged in interpretive sociology, you would consider subjective feelings to be a source
of bias.
161. Critical sociology both studies society and tries to bring about social change.
162. The work of Karl Marx represents the critical approach in sociology.
163. Gender blindness refers to failing to consider the importance of gender in sociological research.
164: Positivist researchers typically think of themselves as activists.
165. Researchers expect subjects to be harmed some of the time.
166. A hypothesis is a relationship between two or more variables that a researcher knows to be correct.
167. To avoid harming or offending subjects in research, it is important to understand something about
their way of life, especially if it differs from your own.
168. To identify cause-and-effect relationships, it is usually necessary to exercise experimental control of
variables.
169. Philip Zimbardo conducted an experiment that supported the idea that "violent prisoners make
prisons violent."
170. A survey is a research method in which subjects respond to a series of items or questions.
171. Conducting interviews often takes less time than having subjects complete questionnaires.
172. Lois Benjamin's research interviewing elite African Americans led to the conclusion that these men
and women feel the effects of racism.
173. Participant observation is a research method by which researchers working in a laboratory carefully
measure the behavior of others.
174. William Foote Whyte, who studied a community he called "Cornerville," found that "breaking in" to
the community was one of the hardest parts of doing the research
.
175. The use of existing data and documents, called secondary analysis, makes most historical research
possible.
176. A sociologist should never use data collected by any other person or organization.
177. E. Digby Baltzell conducted historical research that pointed to a greater "culture of achievement" in
Philadelphia than was found in Boston.
178. Sociological generalizations are the same as simple stereotypes.
SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS
179. What is the essential wisdom of sociology?
180. Explain Peter Berger's description of the sociological perspective as "seeing the general in the
particular.”
181. Within the individualistic culture of North America, why can the sociological perspective be
described as "seeing the strange in the familiar”?
182. Explain how we know that the power of society is evident in the personal decision to bear a child or
even in the act of committing suicide.
183. Why is a global perspective a logical extension of the sociological perspective?
184. What are several personal benefits of learning to use the sociological perspective?
185. What three social changes in European history were especially important to the development of
sociology?
186. In several sentences, explain the focus of the structural-functional approach.
187. Distinguish between manifest and latent functions of any social pattern.
188. What is social structure? Give several examples of social structures that shape society as a whole.
What are several examples of social structures common to everyday face-to-face interaction?
189. In several sentences, explain the focus of the social-conflict approach. Explain the specific focus of
feminism and the gender-conflict approach and also the race-conflict approach.
190. What is the difference between a macro-level and micro-level theoretical approach?
191. In several sentences, explain the focus of the symbolic-interaction approach.
192. What questions might a researcher interested in the sociological significance of jokes ask, when
guided by the structural-functional approach? When guided by the social-conflict approach. By the
symbolic-interaction approach?
193. What is the difference between a concept and a variable? How does a researcher transform one into
the other?
194. List the three conditions that we would have to confirm before concluding that a particular policy is
a cause of some specific outcome?
195. What did Max Weber mean by “value-free” research?
196. State the essential difference between positivist sociology, interpretive sociology, and critical
sociology.
197. Provide an example of a research question that would lead you to use each of the major research
methods described in this chapter: experiment, survey, participant observation, and secondary analysis.
ESSAY QUESTIONS / TOPICS FOR SHORT PAPERS
198. Explain the difference between sociological generalizations about categories of people and simple
stereotypes that we hear every day.
199. The sociological perspective helps us recognize that the lives of individuals are shaped by the forces
of society. In a short essay, explain how the sociological perspective reveals “the general in the
particular." To illustrate, explain how society played a part in your own decision to attend college.
200. Point out what sociology's two macro-level theoretical approaches—the structural-functional and
social-conflict approaches—have in common. What makes them both sociological? What does it mean to
say that they are both macro-level approaches? Next, explain how each approach takes a somewhat
different view of the nature of society. Finally, consider how each approach has a somewhat different
reason or purposes for studying society.
201. Explain how the feminist or gender-conflict approach guides us to understand society. In what ways
is this approach similar to the race-conflict approach?
202. Apply sociology's three major theoretical approaches—structural-functional, social-conflict, and
symbolic-interaction—to the family. In each case, what does a family look like? What questions does
each approach lead us to ask?
203. Can you see any dangers in adopting the sociological perspective too intensely? For example, if we
say that society is at work in all our choices about how to live, what becomes of personal responsibility
for our actions?
204. Describe science as one “way of knowing.” What are important traits of positivist sociology? How
does interpretive sociology differ from positivist sociology? What about critical sociology?
205. Explain how each of the major methods of sociological research—experiment, survey, participant
observation, and secondary research—is suitable for helping us to answer different types of questions and
to study different situations. Provide an example of how each method might be used.
206. Outline the ten steps in the process of carrying out sociological investigation. You may use the
format presented in the text; that is, what specific questions must be answered as a researcher moves
along?
207. Read through Chapter 1’s “Seeing Sociology in the News” article on page 10. Then, thinking
sociologically, explain how society is at work in the choices people make about attending college.
208. Look carefully at Chapter 1’s “Seeing Sociology in Everyday Life” photo essay on pages 32-33.
Based on this material, explain how society is at work in the “personal choices” people make about
romantic partners.
