Chp 2 Practice Q's

Question 1

What is the purpose of culture?

a) to solve real-life problems
b) to define meaning of symbols
c) to develop a common language
d) to generate a connected system

Answer 1

a) to solve real-life problems

Question 2

Which term is defined as “a number of people who interact, usually in a defined territory, and share a culture”?
a) organization
b) country
c) society
d) federation

Answer 2

c) society

Question 3

Culture consumed by which of the following is known as popular culture?
a) the elite
b) all classes
c) North Americans
d) adolescents

Answer 3

b) all classes

Question 4

Which part of our culture includes the widely held belief that anyone can become rich if he or she works hard and makes smart choices?

a) subordinate
b) mass
c) popular
d) dominant

Answer 4

d) dominant

Question 5

Which norm specifies social requirements?

a) mores
b) taboos
c) sanctions
d) folkways

Answer 5

a) mores

Question 6

Anthony attends university but also must work 30 hours a week to afford to do so. Both of his parents are employed, but they cannot afford to contribute to his university education. As a family, they believe in the importance of working hard in school and at work, maintaining the idea that their efforts and good decisions will improve their position in the socioeconomic hierarchy. However, they are also skeptical of the likelihood of this actually happening, especially when they see other friends and family working similarly hard but remaining low-income. According to the text, what is this skepticism a part of?

a) dominant culture
b) skeptical culture
c) subordinate culture
d) socioeconomic culture

Answer 6

c) subordinate culture

Question 7

As people conform to norms, they usually come to accept common ideas about what is desirable and important. These ideas distinguish one culture from another. What are these common ideas called?

a) beliefs
b) folkways
c) sanctions
d) values

Answer 7

d) values

Question 8

Which argument suggests that there is a connection between experience, language, and thought?

a) functionalism
b) Sapir–Whorf hypothesis
c) symbolic interactionism
d) the Building Blocks of Society thesis

Answer 8

b) Sapir–Whorf hypothesis

Question 9

In what year was the last residential school in Canada closed?

a) 1972
b) 1984
c) 1996
d) 2008

Answer 9

c) 1996

Question 10

Marvin Harris argues that many Western observers’ understanding of cow worship in rural India is faulty due to an ethnocentric perspective. When examining cow worship from the point of view of the functions it fulfills in Indian society, how could cow worship be understood?

a) as a practice of social solidarity
b) as a practice of sentimental emotionality
c) as a rational economic practice
d) as a meaningful religious practice

Answer 10

c) as a rational economic practice

Question 11

What concept do we better understand through Harris’s functionalist analysis of “cow love” among Hindus?

a) abstraction
b) high culture
c) ethnocentrism
d) consumerism

Answer 11

c) ethnocentrism

Question 12

Which term refers to the judging of another culture by the standards of one’s own culture?

a) egocentrism
b) cultural appropriation
c) ethnocentrism
d) culture shock

Answer 12

c) ethnocentrism

Question 13

The change in how father figures are depicted on television from the 1950s to today demonstrates which characteristic of postmodernism?

a) an eclectic mixing of elements from different times and places
b) the erosion of authority
c) the growth of religious conservatism
d) a loss of confidence in political leaders

Answer 13

b) the erosion of authority

Question 14

Which group of theorists view culture as an independent variable?

a) feminists
b) functionalists
c) conflict theorists
d) symbolic interactionists

Answer 14

d) symbolic interactionists

Question 15

According to anthropologist /sociologist Louis Dumont, what gave rise to the system of inequality known as the caste system?

a) Hinduism
b) colonization
c) patterns of land ownership
d) reverse ethnocentrism

Answer 15

a) Hinduism

Question 16

The growth of different religious beliefs and practices is a characteristic of which form of culture?

a) postmodern
b) modern
c) industrial
d) premodern

Answer 16

a) postmodern

Question 17

Which of the following best describes postmodernism?

a) respect for authority
b) consensus around core values
c) an eclectic mix of cultural elements
d) belief in the inevitability of progress

Answer 17

c) an eclectic mix of cultural elements

Question 18

Which statement is a criticism of multiculturalism?

a) It focuses only on the interests of the “charter groups” in Canada.
b) It leads to cultural relativism.
c) It discourages ethnocentrism.
d) Its focus on cultural diversification hurts the interests of the poor.

Answer 18

b) It leads to cultural relativism.

Question 19

When did the United Nations proclaim the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

a) 1928
b) 1938
c) 1948
d) 1958

Answer 19

c) 1948

Question 20

According to the text, culture provides people with opportunities to exercise their freedom. Which of the following does culture also do?

a) It dictates all our actions.
b) It constrains us.
c) It fascinates us.
d) It alarms us.

Answer 20

b) It constrains us.

Question 21

What term refers to using the most efficient means of achieving a given end despite any negative consequences of such means?

a) routinization
b) space-time compression
c) ritualization
d) rationalization

Answer 21

d) rationalization

Question 22

Which statement best describes consumerism?

a) It is a lifestyle marked by sharing and an emphasis on democracy.
b) It is a lifestyle in which people are besieged by first-world problems.
c) It is a lifestyle marked by behavioural refinement, style, and grace.
d) It is a lifestyle that involves people defining themselves by what they buy.

Answer 22

d) It is a lifestyle that involves people defining themselves by what they buy.

Question 23

Rationalization and consumerism are examples of which of the following?

a) postmodernism
b) culture as constraint
c) globalization
d) diversity

Answer 23

b) culture as constraint

Question 24

In Weber’s opinion, the development of rationalization was exemplified by the growth of which institution?

a) modern labour unions
b) modern bureaucracies
c) modern armies
d) modern corporations

Answer 24

b) modern bureaucracies

Question 25

What is a subculture?

a) an emergent culture
b) an inferior culture
c) a culture that the status quo perceives to be inferior
d) a set of distinctive values, norms, and practices within a larger culture

Answer 25

d) a set of distinctive values, norms, and practices within a larger culture

Question 26

Which expression did Weber coin to illustrate the constraining effect that increased rationalization has had on modern society?

a) steel trap
b) iron cage
c) velvet glove
d) iron fist

Answer 26

b) iron cage

Question 27

Cultural freedom has its limits. Which twin forces govern or define these limits in our society?

a) technology and consumerism
b) commodification and consumerism
c) rationalization and technology
d) rationalization and consumerism

Answer 27

d) rationalization and consumerism

Question 28

Jason is a consultant who is hired by companies to do time-and-motion studies of workers at their jobs. He makes recommendations to company owners and managers about subdividing work tasks to achieve greater efficiency. What major idea is being used in these studies?

a) economization
b) space-time compression
c) profitability
d) rationalization

Answer 28

d) rationalization

Question 29

Punk rockers espoused values that were anti-establishment. Punkers shunned regular employment, took drugs, and had a clothing style of their own. The lyrics to their songs berated the established order. According to sociologists, what kind of group has such antisocial values?

a) youth culture
b) protest culture
c) subculture
d) counterculture

Answer 29

d) counterculture