LET SOCIAL STUDIES PRACTICE TEST - SOCIOLOGY

Choose the letter of the best answer. If no correct answer, write E.

1. Sociology is the study of:

A.       People in a society

B.       Interactions among people

C.       Social institutions

D.       All of the above

2. Which theory believes that people in society battle over scarce resources like money, power, and prestige?

A.       Structural functionalism

B.       Symbolic interaction

C.       Feminist

D.       Conflict

3. Conflict theory is primarily based in the work of

A.       Emile Durkheim

B.       Herbert Spencer

C.       August Comte

D.       Karl Marx

4. Social solidarity is based on

A.       organic solidarity

B.       mechanical solidarity

C.       functional specialization

D.       collective conscience

         

5. The division of labor characteristic of simple societies is

A.       organic

B.       segregated

C.       functional

D.       mechanical

6. Who stressed the development of alienation among workers in a capitalist system?

A.       Emile Durkheim

B.       August Comte

C.       Max Weber

D.       Karl Marx

7. He distinguished between societies that were based on organic solidarity and societies based on mechanical solidarity.

A.       August Comte

B.       Max Weber

C.       Karl Marx

D.       Emile Durkheim

8. It is the sociological perspective that emphasizes the symbolic nature of human interactions.

A.       Functionalism

B.       Socialism

C.       Humanism

D.       Symbolic interactionism

9. The constant struggle between the cultural (conscious) and the material (conditions) may be explained through

A.       Dialectical Diffusion

B.       Dialectical Revisionism

C.       Dialectical Liberalism

D.       Dialectical Materialism

10. Which of the following would you say best characterizes sociology’s main goal?

A.       Sociology primarily attempts to catalogue facts about society without analyzing them.

B.       Sociology primarily attempts to make moral pronouncements about ethics in society.

C.       Sociology primarily attempts to understand thoughts, memory, perception, and personality.

D.       Sociology primarily attempts to understand and explain the impact of social forces.

11. What is the definition of functionalism?

A.       the study of the way people function in groups

B.       the study of the probability that any given individual has for upward social mobility

C.       the conservative response to the Social Reform movement

D.       the study of the function of a social activity to determine the contribution that the activity makes to society as a whole

12. Sociologists ask factual, comparative, developmental, and theoretical questions as they study the social world. Which type of question is the following: “What accounts for the decline in the proportion of the population voting in elections in recent years?”

A.       factual

B.       comparative

C.       developmental

D.       theoretical

13. What is microsociology?

A.       the study of the internal dynamics of individual consciousness

B.       the study of children in social life

C.       another name for the sociology of computing

D.       the study of face-to-face interaction in everyday life

14. Why is the act of drinking coffee symptomatic of globalization?

A.       The act unites us with the millions of others who start their day with a cup of coffee.

B.       The act increases an individual’s sense of connectedness with people of other races, ethnicities, and national backgrounds from all over the planet.

C.       Drinking coffee is simply drinking coffee and does not involve globalization.

D.       The act shows how we are caught up in a complicated set of social and economic relationships stretching across the world

15. The social contexts of our lives consist of more than just random assortments of actions or events; there are regularities in the ways we behave and in the relationships we have with one another. This patterned nature of social contexts is what sociologists refer to as which one of the following?

A.       structuration

B.       functionalism

C.       macrosociology

D.       social structure

16. A system of stratification where social positions are mainly achieved rather than ascribed and social mobility is possible is which one of the following?

A.       Caste

B.       Status

C.       Slavery

D.       Class

17. What was the system of racial segregation in South Africa known as?

A.       Multiculturalism

B.       Genocide

C.       Patricide

D.       Apartheid

18. What is behavior towards a group or individual which treats them differently from other groups or individuals called?

A.       Prejudice

B.       Racism

C.       Fascism

D.       Discrimination

19. Class consciousness involves which one of the following?

A.       People aware of earning more than others

B.       Over-emphasizing the importance of social class divisions in society

C.       Being unaware of your real class interests

D.       A sense of solidarity and awareness of shared interests with others in the same class

20. Which one of the following is not part of the functionalist view of stratification?

A.       Stratification is necessary to ensure the right people are motivated to fill certain positions and it is based on meritocracy.

B.       Some positions are more important than others in society

C.       Everyone has the talent to fill the top positions if they try hard enough

D.       None of the above

21. In Marxist theory, the proletariat is:

A.       a group between the upper class and the working class

B.       a group of small-business owners

C.       those who own the means of production

D.       those who have to work for wages as they do not own the means of production

22. Which one of the following describes the ‘repressive state apparatus’?

A.       The tools and implements used by the police

B.       The machinery of government involved in spreading misleading ideas

C.       Jamming technology used to intercept terrorist and other subversive messages

D.       The parts of the state concerned with primarily physical means of keeping a population in line

23. Which one of the following attributes provides a physical basis for differentiation?

A.       Income

B.       Occupation

C.       Religion

D.       Sex

24. To say something is socially constructed means:

A.       It only exists because it is created by human labour

B.       It is found in every human society

C.       It is a biological or natural occurrence to which human societies have attached great importance

D.       It only exists because it is created by the interpretations, perceptions and actions of people in society

25. A stratification system where the hierarchy of status and power is based primarily on land ownership is known as:

A.       medievalism

B.       warlordism

C.       capitalism

D.       feudalism

26. A stratification system where the hierarchy of status and power is based primarily on manufacturing is known as:

A.       medievalism

B.       feudalism

C.       serfdom

D.       capitalism

27. A stratification system where the hierarchy of status and power is based primarily on spiritualism is known as:

A.       medievalism

B.       feudalism

C.       serfdom

D.       castism

28. A stratification system where the hierarchy of status and power is based primarily on gender is known as:

A.       medievalism

B.       feudalism

C.       castism

D.       patriarchy

29. A stratification system where the hierarchy of status and power is based primarily on race is known as:

A.       feudalism     

B.       castism

C.       patriarchy

D.       apartheid

The processes of (1) the working class becoming more like the middle class, and (2) the middle class becoming more like the working class are known, respectively, as:

A.       homogenization and pasteurization

B.       proletarianization and embourgeoisement

C.       professionalization and pauperization

D.       embourgeoisement and proletarianization

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CA ===> ALL D