Sociology Trivia Questions for College Students — page 2

Which of the following is a personal document with closed access?

• Athe shares register of a business
• Bhousehold account book
• Cgovernment 'white paper'
• Dconfidential medical records

Pre-testing a questionnaire is useful for:

• Adeciding which respondents to leave out of the final sample
• Bidentifying any problems with the question wording and routing
• Cfinding out which topics are important to the respondents
• Dtesting out your computer and printer

In idealized views of science, the experimental method is said to involve:

• Atesting out new research methods to see which one works best
• Binterpreting data subjectively, drawing on theoretical paradigms
• Cusing personal beliefs and values to decide what to study
• Disolating and measuring the effect of one variable upon another

Which of the following sociological perspectives views society as a system of interdependent and coordinated parts?

• ARole theory
• BFunctionalism
• CSymbolic interactionism
• DConflict theory

One of the ethical problems with covert participant observation is:

• Asubjecting the participants to physical harm
• Bobserving people outside of their natural setting
• Cnot being able to write comprehensive fieldnotes or record conversations
• Ddeceiving the respondents as to the reason for your presence

Frank (1967) made the claim that 'underdeveloped' societies were:

• Aeconomically dependent on the wealthy countries that exploited them
• Binsufficiently involved in the international capitalist economy
• Cthe 'metropoles' to which 'satellite' countries were attached
• Dreluctant to surrender their traditional ways of life

If a deviant act is 'normalized', it is:

• Aseen a temporary aberration from an otherwise 'normal' character
• Brecognised as breaking an important norm of behaviour
• Cthe first step in establishing a deviant career
• Dattributed to the person's genetic or anatomical make up

Someone who gains a higher (or lower) social position than he or she was born into has experienced

• Ahorizontal mobility
• Brelative poverty
• Cabsolute poverty
• Dvertical mobility

Which of the following did Thatcher's government not strive to achieve:

• Athe rolling back of the welfare state
• Bmarketization and privatization
• Cgenerous financial benefits for single parents, students and the unemployed
• Dindividual freedom, choice and responsibility

Which of the following was not defined by Giddens (1998) as part of New Labour's 'third way':

• Apositive welfare: 'a hand up, not a hand-out'
• Bputting an end to privatization
• Cthe democratization of the family
• Dthe strengthening of civil society

Which of the following is not recognised as a level of society?

• Athe office
• Bthe nation state
• Cthe global village
• Dthe household

Warner's study of the city of Natchez in the American Deep South showed that the 'colour line' there was:

• Aa sharp division between black and white castes, underpinned by beliefs about white superiority
• Ba way of marking out the land so that black people had less space for housing
• Cno longer a powerful influence upon race relations
• Da new policy that had been introduced to assimilate black and white groups

The 'correspondence principle' (Bowles & Gintis) suggests that:

• Achildren who write lots of letters develop a better grasp of language
• Bboys' and girls' educational achievements have recently become similar
• Cteachers and parents tend to have similar attitudes to learning
• Dschools prepare children for work by teaching them to be obedient

Which of the following is not a problem associated with official statistics on strike action?

• Athe definition of strikes excludes those that involve fewer than ten workers or last less than one day
• Bmost strikes go unnoticed by employers and the mass media
• Cnot all industrial disputes will be reported by the employer
• Dit is hard to compare strikes that were measured in different ways

Social norms are:

• Arules and expectations about interaction that regulate social life
• Bthe symbolic representation of social groups in the mass media
• Creligious beliefs about how the world ought to be
• Dcreative activities such as gardening, cookery and craftwork

The case of the former Soviet Union supports Kerr et al.'s (1960) claim that:

• Aadvanced industrial technology strengthens the power of totalitarian regimes
• Bcommunist societies disperse power between various political parties
• Ctotalitarian regimes are incompatible with the requirements of advanced industrial technology
• Ddemocratic governments serve the interests of a ruling elite

Pilcher (1999) identified soap operas as a 'feminine genre' of media because:

• Athey alienate women and appeal to an audience of men
• Bmost of the characters in soap operas are women
• Cthey represent images of women as both domesticated and independent
• Dfemale television producers are most likely to work in this area

Dahrendorf, Rex, and Habermas focused their attention on:

• Awomen's experiences and gendered knowledge
• Bsocial solidarity and cohesion
• Cthe interpretive understanding of action
• Dpower, domination, and conflict

A new highway extends from a major city though an area used for farmland. Which of the following is most likely to happen as a result?

• AFarmers will increase the acreage under production.
• BPeople from the countryside will move to the city, depopulating the farmland region.
• CSuburbanization will develop because the time it takes to commute to the city has been decreased.
• DThe city will evolve into a multiple nuclei model.

The effect of the Internet upon the public sphere has been to:

• Arevive it, by reaffirming a commitment to freedom of speech
• Breplace it with a superior form of communication
• Creproduce it, by emphasizing face-to-face contact with peer groups
• Drepress it, by promoting only the interests of elite groups

Sullivan's (2000) study suggested that the proportion of housework men did was greatest when:

• Athey had rediscovered themselves as 'new men'
• Bexciting gadgets like the hoover and electric iron were invented
• Ctheir wives were at home and nagged them all the time
• Dthey were unemployed or both partners worked full time

Traditional working class identity was based around:

• Acollective aspirations to move into the middle class
• Bshared working conditions in the manufacturing industry
• Cthe class consciousness of members of the proletariat
• Dlocal communities, extended kinship networks and shared leisure pursuits

Which of the following was not a strategy used by the Conservative government of 1979 to reduce the power of the labour movement?

• Abanning political strikes that were not primarily concerned with the worker's own conditions of work
• Bimposing restrictions on picketing
• Cmaking all strike action illegal
• Dmaking secondary action (in support of workers elsewhere) illegal

Industrial production in the nineteenth century was characterized by:

• Apower-driven machinery and the concentration of workers in large workplaces
• Bthe 'managerial revolution' by which ownership and control became separate
• Cincreasing numbers of women in high status positions
• Dcottage industries and homeworkers doing piecework in the domestic sphere

Goldthorpe identified the 'service class' as:

• Athe young men and women employed in domestic service in the nineteenth century
• Bpeople working in consultancy firms who were recruited by big businesses
• Cthose who had worked in the armed services
• Dthose in non-manual occupations, exercising authority on behalf of the state

The use of 'indentured labour' in the nineteenth century involved:

• Aselecting the most skilled workers in factories to promote their employer's company overseas
• Bthe sale of African people through the slave trade in the 'Atlantic triangle'
• Cpeople being transported to the British colonies and forced to work for one employer under poor conditions
• Dextracting the teeth of the laziest workers to stop them from talking

A sect is organised around:

• Atolerance towards other religions and the separation of church and state
• Bthe idea of the secular world itself as being sacred
• Cbeliefs that can be challenged by members, a charismatic leader, and openness to new recruits
• Dvoluntary membership, democratic leadership, and high levels of emotional commitment

In Marx's theory, the 'mode of production' means:

• Athe organization of a society's technical and human resources
• Bthe way in which products are made in a factory
• Cthe average measure of productivity under capitalism
• Dan integral part of the superstructure of a society

Which of the following is not a characteristic of totalitarian societies?

• Aindoctrination and propaganda
• Bfreedom of movement for citizens
• Cone-party rule
• Da centrally planned economy

According to Davis (1995), women may seek cosmetic surgery because:

• Atheir male partners pressurize them to look like supermodels
• Bthey are in pursuit of the 'perfect' body, fuelled by images of beauty
• Cthey have a deep-rooted sense of ineffectiveness and are striving for control
• Dthey perceive a part of their body as stigmatizing, in relation to a cultural ideal

Comte's term 'positivism' refers to:

• Aan unscientific set of laws about social progress
• Ba theory that emphasizes the positive aspects of society
• Cthe precise, scientific study of observable phenomena
• Da theory that posits difficult questions and sets out to answer them

'Eyeballing' is a technique that involves:

• Akeeping your eyes on research participants at all times
• Bgathering a sample from whoever you can see in a public place
• Creading a textual document quickly to understand the gist of it
• Dscanning a table to identify general patterns and significant figures

What does Berger (1963) describe as a metaphor for social reality?

• Aa puppet theatre
• Ba circus
• Ca ballet
• Da fairground ride

Which of the following industries did Blauner (1964) suggest was most alienating to its employees?

• Acar manufacturing in assembly plants
• Bchemical processing with automated practices
• Cmachine-based factory work
• Dtextile work as craft production

Structural-Functionalists describe society as:

• Aa normative framework of roles and institutions
• Ba source of conflict, inequality, and alienation
• Can unstable structure of social relations
• Da complex network of interaction at a micro-level

Robert and Tanya are married and live with their three children. Their family unit is called

• Aa nuclear family
• Ban extended family
• Ca family of orientation
• Da communal family

According to Scott (1990), a document is 'authentic' if it:

• Ais representative of all the similar documents that did not survive
• Bhas both a literal and an interpretable meaning
• Cis a sincere and accurate account, free from political bias
• Dis a 'sound' original, or reliable copy, of known authorship

It is difficult to ascertain the true extent of domestic violence because:

• Aresearchers are not allowed access to official statistics
• Bthe changing definitions of legal categories have made it harder to convict offenders
• Cthere is a large 'dark figure' of unreported incidents
• Dthere is no valid or reliable way of researching such a sensitive topic

Sociologists like Bordo (1993) have attributed the 'epidemic' of anorexia in Western cultures to:

• Atraditional images of women as emotional, domesticated, and unassertive
• Ba generally ascetic, frugal lifestyle that can be taken to extremes
• Cthe new ideal of independent, self-assured femininity, combined with cultural values of achievement and control
• Dthe social construction of mental illness, through which 'normal' patterns of behaviour are pathologized

The 'absolute' poverty line is drawn to show:

• Athe estimated minimum level of income needed for subsistence
• Bhouseholds that are poor, relative to the norms and values of their culture
• Cthe most extreme level of poverty that is found in a society
• Dthe areas of a city in which poverty is concentrated

Society cannot be studied in the same way as the natural world because:

• Awe cannot collect empirical data about social life
• Bit is difficult for sociologists to gain access to a research laboratory
• Csociologists are not rational or critical enough in their approach
• Dhuman behaviour is meaningful, and varies between individuals and cultures

Stone's research suggests that prior to industrialization, the nuclear family:

• Adid not exist in any form
• Bwas simply another institution of patriarchal control
• Chad begun to disappear, as extended networks of kin became more important
• Dhad begun to emerge through the separation of work and home life

The 1944 Education Act provided:

• Afree secondary education for all
• Bpublic schooling for those who could afford it
• Cstate elementary education for all
• Dassisted places in public schools for those on low incomes

Which of the following best describes the practice of placing the blame for the problems of a society on one particular group?

• AEthnocentrism
• BStereotyping
• CScapegoating
• DInstitutionalization

Telework is a form of employment that involves:

• Ababysitting and other jobs within a local network, through the informal economy
• Brunning one's own business through telephone helplines or hotlines
• Cworking at home for an outside employer, using information technology
• Dcombining non-manual work with the leisure activity of watching television

In Durkheim's work, the term 'collective representations' refers to:

• Aideological tools used to obscure class divisions
• Bimages of gods or totems that are widely recognized
• Ceffervescent ceremonies that create a feeling of belonging
• Dshared ideas and moral values, often symbolized by an object or figurehead

There was a growth in income inequality in the 1980s because:

• Arates of income tax increased equally for all occupational groups
• Bthere were more professional jobs available but not enough people to fill them
• Cthe price of consumer goods rose at a higher rate than earnings
• Dgrowing unemployment made more people dependent on welfare benefits

The capitalist class of the mid-twentieth century were said to join the upper class because they:

• Aemulated the lifestyle and cultural values of the traditional aristocracy
• Bparticipated in the same leisure pursuits and events of the 'social calendar'
• Cowned companies and financial assets that generated wealth through corporations
• Dhad direct, personal ownerships of land and businesses as physical assets

One of the difficulties in 'operationalizing' concepts like social class is that:

• Ait takes all the fun out of armchair theorising
• Bit has little use for applied, empirical research about the topic
• Cdefinitions and indicators can vary, making valid comparisons problematic
• Dthere are no reliable indicators of such widely contested ideas

Which of the following did Domhoff not identify as a process of decision-making in the USA?

• Athe ideology process
• Bthe candidate-selection process
• Cthe exploitation process
• Dthe policy-formation process