Lesson 7 – Social Groups

1. A set of two or more individuals who share a sense of common identity and belonging and who interact on a regular basis is

an aggregate.
a social group.
a social category.
a population.

2. People that share the same sex, race, or age are in the same

social cohort.
social group.
social category.
population.

3. Relationships that involve few aspects of their members' personalities are found in

secondary groups.
primary groups.
family groups.
cohesive groups.

4. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of primary groups?

Intimacy
Instrumental or task orientation
Face-to-face interaction
Cooperation
Sympathy and mutual identification between members

5. Which of the following is NOT an example of a secondary group?

Classrooms
Town committees
Political party organizations
Families
Corporations

6. A reference group is a group that

secondary groups refer to when they wish to extend their goals.
employers use when checking on the qualifications of an applicant.
is composed of relevant others whom we admire and whose behavior we try to imitate.
primary groups use as models in establishing norms.

7. Compared with dyads, triads

are more stable, since adding another person tends to reduce sexual tension
are less stable, since it increases competition for attention
are smaller
have less conflict

8. Professional associations, such as the American Medical Association and the American Bar Association, are examples of

in-groups
out-groups
nonterritorial communities
territorial communities

9. A group used by an individual to judge themselves is called a

in-group
out-group
reference group
comparison group

10. After their guests left, Alice and Ted started laughing and talking about how bored they had been. They felt relief and were looking forward to changing to more comfortable clothing and relaxing. Alice's and Ted's relief at the departure of their guests is an example of

frontstage behavior.
backstage behavior.
instrumental leadership.
the rationality principle.

11. Which of the following best describes the significance of groups for individuals?

Groups are of minimal importance in the growth and development of individual personalities.
Groups totally determine people's desires, goals, and plans.
Groups are unnecessary for formulating good self-images and adequate functioning.
Groups shape individuals' behavior and give their lives meaning.

12. W. I. Thomas' argument that 'situations we define as real, are real in their consequences' is significant because it shows that

our understandings or definitions of what is occurring around us guide our actions
there is no such thing as reality
people usually interpret their world wrongly
our understandings of the world are largely objective

13. Goffman's technique of studying how social interaction is guided by our efforts to impress those who may be watching us is known as

the narcissistic approach
the dramaturgical approach
the reciprocity approach
structural functionalism

14. The study of the underlying rules of behavior that guide group interaction is known as

interactionism
the dramaturgical approach
ethnomethodology
social network analysis

15. When people set up a front stage and a back stage in order to control the impressions they give to others, Erving Goffman would call this

dramawork
stagework
impression management
ethnomethodology

16. Kitty Genovese's murder was explained by sociologists as an example of

dramaturgy
impression management
bystander effect
territorial conflict

17. In their study of the Nazi army, Morris Janowitz and Edward Shils discovered that the reason Nazi soldiers were so effective and committed was because

they were loyal to their small combat unit.
the Nazi army bureaucracy went out of their way to care for all its soldiers.
they were subjected to massive ideological manipulation, so they were dedicated to Hitler and the Nazi effort.
All of the above.
None of the above.

18. According to Kornblum, ideological primary groups

are less effective than non-ideological primary groups, because ideologies undermine the efficiency of the groups
are more effective than non-ideological primary groups, because sharing an ideology often leads to high levels of cohesion and devotion to group leaders and teachings
are no more, nor no less, effective than non-ideological primary groups, because ideology generally has little or nothing to do with primary group membership
None of the above, since there's no such thing as ideological primary groups; all ideological groups are secondary groups

Lesson 8 – Formal Organizations and Bureaucracies

19. Which of the following is characteristic of formal organizations?

They have explicit sets of norms, statuses, and roles for each member
They are usually democratic, and run by elected figures
They usually develop out of informal organizations
Membership is such organizations is rarely voluntary; people are either drafted into it, or otherwise required to participate

20. Which of the following is NOT an example of a formal organization?

A group of friends at work who meet every Friday to discuss how their week went
A New England town meeting
Lane Community College
The Boy Scouts

21. According to Morris Janowirtz, participation in voluntary organizations

has declined slightly in recent years
has nearly disappeared in recent years
has increased during the past few decades
is more common among people living on the semirural fringe of society

22. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of bureaucracy, according to Max Weber's analysis?

Positions are ordered in a hierarchy
Personnel are usually hired and promoted by management based on who they know and prefer (Weber called this the "it's not what you know, it's who you know" system)
A career ladder exists
A system of rules and precedents exists
The norm of efficiency dominates

23. Weber argued that bureaucracy has become more common because it makes social life more

secular.
rational and efficient.
personal and meaningful.
enchanted.

24. Which of the following is FALSE regarding membership in small groups?

People in large cities tend to join small groups more often than people in small towns.
Women tend to join small groups more often than men
People over age 50 tend to join small groups more often than younger people
People with a college education tend to join small groups more often than people with only a high school education

25. According to Wuthnow, people join small groups because

they tend to benefit economically from such membership.
they need to be part of face-to-face groups in which they attain a sense of community with others.
they are pressured into doing so by their families or other significant others.
they are an excellent source for finding friends and mates.

Lesson 15 – Deviance and Social Control

26. Deviance is defined as

behavior that harms others, physically or emotionally
behavior that violates the norms of a particular society
behavior that violates the laws of a particular society
behavior that violates the norms or laws of all societies

27. Which of the following persons is most likely to be classified as deviant?

A child whose stealing becomes noticed by school authorities
A student who is cheating regularly but never gets caught
A child who gets in fights but whose parent is president of the school board
A person involved in influence peddling in the state legislature

28. According to Kai Erikson's functionalist analysis, the Salem witch hunt occurred because

of the increasingly common practice of engaging in witchcraft rituals by young women in Salem
of the weakening of Puritan society, and the need to reaffirm their community values by declaring some people were witches
local religious leaders used it as a way to steal the land and wealth of the people they killed.
British authorities used it as a way to stem the American Revolution

29. The capacity of a social group, including a whole society, to regulate itself is known as social

regulation.
equilibrium.
control.
boundary maintenance.

30. Power is

negatively associated with who defines what is considered deviant: the less power people have, the more they control what is defined as deviant
positively associated with who defines what is considered deviant: the more power people have, the more they control what is defined as deviant
unrelated to who defines what is considered deviant, since deviance is defined objectively
related to who defines what is considered deviant, but not to who is punished for deviant behavior

31. When someone is considered deviant because of their race, physical appearance, or other characteristic over which they have no control, sociologists would say s/he has

an ascribed deviant status
an achieved deviant status
a prejudicial deviant status
a corporeal deviant status

32. Which of the following is NOT one of the FBI's Index Crimes?

Murder
Forcible Rape
Robbery
Espionage
Aggravated Assault

33. According to Kornblum, the FBI crime statistics

are the most reliable statistics on crime
are limited by differences in the effectiveness of crime-reporting agencies
are of limited value, since the data covers only reported crimes, not the crime rates for the total population
overestimate the amount of real crime, as shown by victimization surveys
e. BOTH b and c

34. Which of the following is NOT an example of a deviant subculture?

Biker gangs
Skinheads
Fraternities
Anarchists

35. According to Denno's research, an important biological source of social deviance is

the throwback to primitive human beings
lower innate intelligence
childhood hyperactivity
mesomorphic body types

36. Which of the following is NOT true, regarding early sociological theories of social deviance that attributed such deviance to 'social pathology'?

They argued that deviance was bred in slums and tended to infect innocent slum residents, just as diseases are passed from one person to another
These theories led to the building of many juvenile training schools in rural areas to isolate youth from the corrupting influence of cities
These theories led to the creation of weekend furlough policies for prisoners, based on the argument that if the population had a small amount of contact with deviants, they would develop an immunity to them
These theories are criticized today for relying on subjective definitions of deviance and engaging in circular reasoning, offering little insight into the actual causes of deviance

37. The young man told the social worker that he had tried to be successful in school, but the material was just too hard for him. Therefore, he had resorted to theft to get the stereo he had wanted for so long. This young man's theft falls under which of Robert K. Merton's categories in his functionalist theory of deviance and crime?

Innovation
Ritualism
Retreatism
Rebellion
Conformity

38. Merton would say a hobo or tramp who chose to ride the rails rather than work a steady job is an example of

innovation
ritualism
retreatism
rebellion
conformity

39. If a sociologist argued that 'when robber barons used illegal means to acquire great wealth they simply illustrated the logic of capitalism', her argument would most reflect which of the following theories?

conflict
labeling
differential association
cultural transmission

40. According to Edwin Sutherland's differential association theory of crime, teenagers in certain neighborhoods became delinquent because they

interacted in groups whose culture legitimized crime.
inherited genes that gave them a predisposition to become delinquent.
were from families that didn't give them enough love and attention.
were labeled as delinquent by school and other authorities at a very early age.

41. The 'lumpenproletariat' is Marx's term for

the 'robber baron' class, who make great fortunes by swindling and creating monopolies that exploit consumers
the middle class bureaucrats and small businessmen that rip off both the government and their customers
the poorest strata in society, who are unable to find regular employment and therefore turn to street crimes such as thieving, prostitution, and pickpocketing to make a living
the vanguard of the working class revolution, who are labeled deviants by capitalists threatened by their political rebellion

42. Once we are labeled as deviant, we tend to commit additional deviant acts in order to fulfill the negative definitions that society has attached to us. This statement represents which of the following?

Independent deviance
Additive deviance
Primary deviance
Secondary deviance

43. In William J. Chambliss' study, he discovered that whether delinquent boys became labeled as delinquent was based largely on the

social position of their parents.
seriousness of the offense involved.
degree of commitment of the delinquent to law-abiding individuals.
intelligence and wit of the individuals involved.

44. In the fourth grade Marcia was caught stealing a pencil from a classmate's notebook. The school authorities made note of this incident on Marcia's record, and other teachers in the school called her a little thief. This reputation followed her through high school. The description of Marcia best represents which theory of deviance?

Anomie
Labeling
Differential association
Conflict

45. Just as during Prohibition when many people condoned drinking alcohol, many people today condone smoking marijuana. Both are evidence of

immorality
hypocrisy
cultural conflict over definitions of deviancy
high cultural deviance
elite deviance

46. Kornbloom discussed the weaknesses of theories of deviance. Which of the following is FALSE?

Social pathology theory offers no real theory of why deviance and crime occur.
Functionalist theory doesn't explain why some people drift into deviant subcultures.
Biological theories ignore evidence that crime is a product of socialization.
Marxist theories exaggerate the crimes by the poor.

47. Which region of the U.S. has the highest crime rate?

Northeast
Midwest
South
West

48. The probability that a person who has served a jail term will commit additional crimes and be jailed again is called

revolving crime
recidivism
rehabilitation
the ecology of crime
deterrence

49. The probability in the U.S. that a person who has served a jail term will commit additional crimes and be jailed again is approximately what percent?

10%
25%
50%
75%
100%

50. Kornblum suggests that crime rates have significantly declined in the U.S. in recent years because of

the reemergence of traditional values (also referred to as the 'decline of anomie')
the changing age composition of the U.S. population, especially the movement of the baby-boom generation out of the young adult years, when people are more likely to commit crimes
strict gun control laws today
the end of the Cold War

51. Which of the following is NOT one of the factors Kornblum uses to explain high rates of interpersonal violence in the U.S.?

An inability of Americans to get along with each other, due in part to its multiethnic origins
A frontier stage of rapid social change, resulting in traditions of vigilantism and possession of personal weapons
Large scale drug epidemics
Norms encouraging possession of personal weapons

52. Which of the following statements regarding the rates of homicide is true?

The U.S. has one of the lowest rates of homicide in developed nations.
The U.S. has among the highest rates of homicide in the world.
The homicide rate in the U.S. is significantly higher than other industrially developed countries, but significantly lower than most less developed countries (also known as third world countries)
Little can be said about homicide rates in the U.S. because homicide is so inaccurately measured

53. Compared with 1980, the number of people imprisoned in the U.S.

has been cut in half, and is among the lowest in the world
has remained about the same
has doubled
has more than tripled

54. In 2000, approximately people __________ were imprisoned in the U.S.

200,000
500,000
1,000,000
2,000,000
4,500,000

55. Functionalists believe prisons serve many important functions. Which of the following is NOT one these functions?

restitution
deterrence
rehabilitation
retribution

56. By far the least successful aspect of prison life is

restitution
deterrence
rehabilitation
retribution

57. What do most sociologists say about the success of prison systems in the United States?

Prisons are a dismal failure.
Prisons deter crime.
Prisons are appropriate for second offenders, but not for first offenders.
Prisons successfully rehabilitate and resocialize most criminals.

58. According to Kornblum, researchers critical of the prison system argue all BUT which of the following?

Too many people are being imprisoned and otherwise overseen by the criminal justice system
Far from rehabilitating inmates, prisons function more as schools for crime
Punishment for drug use and sales is extremely unequally distributed, with young Black men more likely to go to prison today than to go to college
Prisons are unable to achieve their goals of promoting deterrence because they are too attractive

59. Studies show that the most effective rehabilitation programs in prisons involve

getting prisoners to confess and take responsibility for their crimes
making prisons so oppressive that prisoners never want to be sent back again
job training and education
using chain gangs and military style boot camps

60. Studying the differences between corporate crimes and those committed by people without great wealth and political power would most likely be done by a sociologist using which of the following sociological perspectives?

conflict
functionalist
interactionist
None of the above