Chapter 1

Question 1

The degree to which people succeed in life in such areas as education, income, and health.

Answer 1

life chance

Question 2

A general term for social backgrounds and other aspects of society.

Answer 2

social environment

Question 3

The scientific study of social behavior and social institutions.

Answer 3

sociology

Question 4

The belief that people’s social backgrounds influence their attitudes, behaviors, and life chances.

Answer 4

sociological perspective

Question 5

A group of people who live within a defined territory and who share a culture.

Answer 5

society

Question 6

From Peter L. Berger, a theme of sociology in which the aim is to go beyond superficial understandings of social reality.

Answer 6

debunking motif

Question 7

The social patterns through which society is organized.

Answer 7

social structure

Question 8

The social relationships and social and physical characteristics of communities to which individuals belong.

Answer 8

horizontal social structure

Question 9

A term used interchangeably with social inequality.

Answer 9

vertical social structure

Question 10

The unequal distribution of resources, such as wealth, that a society values.

Answer 10

social inequality

Question 11

C. Wright Mills’s term for the personal problems that many individuals experience.

Answer 11

personal troubles

Question 12

C. Wright Mills’s term for problems in society that underlie personal troubles.

Answer 12

public issues

Question 13

From C. Wright Mills, the realization that personal troubles are rooted in public issues.

Answer 13

sociological imagination

Question 14

The belief that people experiencing difficulties are to blame for these problems.

Answer 14

blaming the victim

Question 15

The belief that personal difficulties stem from problems in society.

Answer 15

blaming the system

Question 16

The part of sociology that deals with issues involving large-scale social change and social institutions.

Answer 16

macrosociology

Question 17

That part of sociology that deals with social interaction in small settings.

Answer 17

microsociology

Question 18

The view that social institutions are important for their contributions to social stability.

Answer 18

functionalism

Question 19

From Emile Durkheim, the combined norms of society.

Answer 19

collective conscience

Question 20

Normlessness, a state in which social norms are unclear.

Answer 20

anomie

Question 21

The view that society is composed of groups with different interests arising from their placement in the social structure.

Answer 21

conflict theory

Question 22

The ruling class.

Answer 22

bourgeoisie

Question 23

The working class.

Answer 23

proletariat

Question 24

Awareness of one’s placement in the social structure and the interests arising from this placement.

Answer 24

class consciousness

Question 25

The view that society is filled with gender inequality characterized by women being the subordinate sex in the social, political, and economic dimensions of society.

Answer 25

feminist theory

Question 26

A micro perspective in sociology that focuses on the meanings people gain from social interaction.

Answer 26

symbolic interactionism

Question 27

The view that people interact so as to maximize their benefits and minimize their disadvantages.

Answer 27

utilitarianism

Question 28

Utilitarianism

Answer 28

exchange theory and rational choice theory