Question 1

Carolina studies mainstream American culture.One of her colleagues notices that she consistently ignores material objects such as food,clothing,and art.Why might her studies be criticized?

Accepted Answer

A) These objects are a crucial part of culture that influences how we live our lives. 
B) Studying American culture is useless since it has spread all over the globe. 
C) Culture is a secondary effect of social structures, so Carolina would do better to begin her studies with capitalism and the state. 
D) Carolina should be studying American subcultures since mainstream culture is a given. 
E) Of the three things Carolina ignores, only art matters in the context of studying culture.

Question 2

Alice stole a bit of money from her friend Rosa to buy groceries.Rosa finds out and angrily chastises Alice for her behavior.What does this exchange demonstrate?

Accepted Answer

A) labeling theory 
B) socialism 
C) reinforcement of norms 
D) a deviant career 
E) mutual exchange

Question 3

Juliana notes in her research that new means of communicating seem to be creating the possibilities for a new global culture and have even been helpful in organizing protests and social movement actions in places such as Tunisia,Egypt,and Kuwait.It is likely that Juliana will be studying __________ as part of this research project.

Accepted Answer

A) telegraphs 
B) the rise of snail mail 
C) the Internet 
D) Morse code 
E) indigeneity

Question 4

Why might sociologists criticize the idea that the world is contemporarily made up of many different,isolated cultures?

Accepted Answer

A) The idea assumes that we can provide a reasonably coherent definition of "culture." 
B) Sociologists might note the rise of the Internet and globalization as features of different cultures being connected. 
C) Sociologists would likely criticize the idea because of its underlying multiculturalism. 
D) The idea suggests that human communities actually have different cultures, when we have empirically shown that culture is the same everywhere. 
E) Sociologists would suggest that first we need to look at universal conceptions of gender since culture is an effect of gender.

Question 5

Alan notes that some groups who have many different words for snow tend to perceive snow differently than groups who use English.Alan is noting __________ at work.

Accepted Answer

A) natural selection 
B) the material representation of culture 
C) structural determination 
D) resource mobilization 
E) the linguistic relativity hypothesis

Question 6

________ refer(s)to the physical objects that individuals in society create.These objects,in turn,influence how we live.

Accepted Answer

A) Norms 
B) Material goods 
C) Values 
D) Sociobiology 
E) Instinct

Question 7

The book refers to the emergence of machine production based on the use of inanimate power resources (such as steam or electricity)as:

Accepted Answer

A) capitalism 
B) communization 
C) feudal progression 
D) linearity 
E) industrialization

Question 8

The book asserts that material goods can carry with them powerful cultural and social meanings.What are some ways that clothing expresses social values and culture?

Accepted Answer

The answer of The book asserts that material goods can...

Question 9

What is cultural relativism,and what are some possible benefits and pitfalls of it?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What is cultural relativism,and what are some...

Question 10

The __________ argues that the language we use influences our perceptions of the world.

Accepted Answer

A) theorem of symbolic order 
B) hypothesis of communication 
C) linguistic relativity hypothesis 
D) structuration theory 
E) hypothesis of symbolic codes

Question 11

Mario is researching how genetic factors influence human behaviors.His research would best be described as:

Accepted Answer

A) social constructionism 
B) sociobiology 
C) conflict theory 
D) structural functionalism 
E) institutional ethnography

Question 12

Sociologists often refer to less developed societies,in which industrial production is either virtually nonexistent or only developed to a limited degree,as:

Accepted Answer

A) the developing world 
B) core nations 
C) McDonaldized societies 
D) nontraditionalist societies 
E) trade bureaucracies

Question 13

Juanita is studying why some behaviors and social relations seem to be a part of every human society.She is researching:

Accepted Answer

A) language 
B) morality 
C) marriage 
D) material culture 
E) cultural universals

Question 14

Yang is researching how many groups that live in Spain seem to have their own sets of norms and values that are at times different from mainstream Spanish norms and values.Which sociological concept best describes what he is studying?

Accepted Answer

A) political economy 
B) ritual ascendance 
C) postmodernism 
D) essentialism 
E) subcultures

Question 15

According to the text,two cultural universals particularly stand out in human societies.They are __________ and __________ .

Accepted Answer

A) ways of expressing meaning; material goods 
B) material goods; money 
C) market relations; ways of expressing meaning 
D) market relations; money 
E) ways of expressing meaning; capital accumulation

Question 16

Chen studies the process through which Brazil is shifting from workers mostly working in fields and living in rural villages to people living in cities and working in factories,offices,and the like.He is noting how Brazil is becoming a(n)__________ society?

Accepted Answer

A) pastoral 
B) agrarian 
C) industrial 
D) hunter-gatherer 
E) postmodern

Question 17

Johann is from the United Kingdom.In his cross-cultural studies,he sees that women in Afghanistan are often forced to wear headscarves,but women in the United Kingdom are not.He concludes,then,that women in Afghanistan would be more free if their culture were more like that of the United Kingdom.How might sociologists likely critique Johann's position?

Accepted Answer

A) Johann has not yet made an argument for how the United Kingdom might free the women of Afghanistan. 
B) Johann first needs to look at class relations in the two countries, because gender is always an effect of class. 
C) Johann cannot make meaningful comparisons without at least four more sample countries. 
D) Johann would be better served as a social scientist if he avoided those kinds of value judgments. 
E) Johann needs to demonstrate how Islam leads to women's oppression, unlike Christianity, by doing a comparison of religious contexts.

Question 18

Why do sociologists try to avoid judging other cultures based on their own cultural values?

Accepted Answer

A) because no culture could ever possibly be better than any other in any regard 
B) because sociologists do not make value judgments 
C) because first we must examine the institutions that give rise to these cultures 
D) because human cultures vary so widely that people belonging to one culture frequently find it difficult to understand the ideas or behavior of those from a different culture 
E) because human cultures cannot be reasonably compared, as each of them springs from the natural human condition

Question 19

Maria wants to look at how immigrant communities in the United States come to acquire the dominant culture into which they have moved.She is studying the process of:

Accepted Answer

A) primitive accumulation 
B) assimilation 
C) cultural resistance 
D) nationalism 
E) multiculturalism

Question 20

Frank notices that at some point in relatively recent times,humans in some places began using machines powered by non-human means such as steam and coal.Frank is noting what process?

Accepted Answer

A) stone-cutting 
B) communization 
C) industrialization 
D) state formation 
E) political process

Exam 2: Culture and Society