Sociology Final

Past Quizzes

During which period was the so-called New World colonized

1450-1650

What does GDP (Gross Domestic Product) fail to capture?

The well being of residents

The happiness index shows a trend.  What is the scale of that trend?

Global

How many years was the trend measured?

10

Which three emotions showed an increase as a trend?

Anger, Worry and Sadness

Which region of Europe is again ranked at the top?

Scandinavia

Which three countries are included in that region?

Denmark, Sweden, and Norway

According to Prof. Sachs, what is remarkable about those countries ranking?

They have had a consistent high ranking for years

How does the US rank for well-being?

49

Prof. Sachs says the US lacks something which the Scandinavian countries have and the US doesn't.  That is what?

Welfare state that provides healthcare, safety net, financial security

The policies of Scandinavian governments reduce negative emotions among residents because they reduce…

Anxiety caused by financial insecurity

As of recently, US capitalists (the richest 20% of Americans) hold around 85-93% of total US wealth, while the remaining 80% holds about 7-15%of US wealth

True

Which of the following is true of the income gap between the wealthiest and the poorest in the US

It has increased dramatically since the 1980s

Service sector jobs are polarized into high-wage jobs and low-wages jobs

True

Generally speaking, in the United States by comparison to European countries, \[select all that are true\]

There is greater inequality

Poverty tends to be higher

Cause and Effect in the structural political change

Cause- Southern whites, angry at Democrat’s welfare and civil rights policies for blacks, switch to Republican

Effect- Republicans gain power and implement policies that contribute to shrinking the working class and its middle strata

Strata results from the distribution of wealth held by one group to another group. Since the distribution is varied, there are many strata.

True

In the United States, which sector declined the most rapidly during the past 100 years?

Extractive (farming)

Which of the following governments spends the largest portion of its budget on the defense and the smallest proportion on social programs that reduce inequality

The United States

According to the audio with Paul Krugman, which policies did government implement during the 1980-present era, when Republicans were mostly in power?

Anti-Union Policies

Tax reductions mostly for the wealthy

Reduced government spending on the poor

The Great U-Turn refers to which of the following

The decline middle-strata income since about 1970

Classes

Bi-model (two), based on workplace relationships

Stratification

Wide-ranged distribution of income

Capitalists accumulate wealth by selling what workers produce and from rents that tenants pay

True

Understanding class relationships is more relevant than wealth distribution because…

Class relations reveal the underlying causes of wealth and power differences, and tell us how social inequality in a society emerges from interactions among groups

Who emphasized that distinct classes are created when a few own the means of production, which in turn requires others to become workers?

Karl Marx

Classes and Strata are virtually the same thing. Data on income distribution showing stratification is concrete evidence of classes

False

According to the NPRA interview Paul Krugman, the Nobel-winning economist, the political structural shift power since the 1980s was due to:

Rapid de-industrialization that caused middle class decline

Two of the major facts about the Great U-Turn are

Led to women’s increased participation in the workforce

Led to a steep decline in unions, factory jobs and wages for workers without college degrees

In the 1800s, social scientists already rejected modernization theory and the idea that the French Revolution and Industrial Revolution were progressive stages with their new model of international development

False

People who share a culture are necessarily systematically interacting and therefore part of the same society

False

According to the reading, for some social scientists, identifying a society is absolutely crucial. They argue that,

Not taking society-wide dynamics into account overlooks causal factors that impact all the groups and institutions of a society

The results of research that does not take society-wide dynamics into account may reach mistake conclusions about the groups and institutions examined

In a large-scale society, people interact systematically but interact systematically but indirectly; most never meet face-to-face

True

According to the reading, there are some rare cases where some ethnic groups have their own exclusive language and religion and are concentrated in one area

True

What is the concept of mutual causality according to the reading?

When interaction affects all groups interacting

According to the reading, the boundaries of a society are ultimately the boundaries of where people are interacting systematically, regardless of culture or political institutions

True

That change does happen at the level of individual countries is why so many people, including many social scientists, believe that countries are separately developing societies

True

It’s _______ to find a group of people in some specific area who exclusively share a culture that others outside do not share at least in part

Very rare

Culturally speaking, as for countries, we find that most countries are multicultural to one extent or another, not culturally homogenous, and we also find that ethnically, language or religion found in one country is found in other countries too

True

Anthropologists consider a culture to consist of three major components

Religion, language, ethnicity

The author concludes in the later section “society as interaction,” that the core ideas defining a society is that

To be in the same society, people must be systematically interacting

The boundaries of a society are the boundaries of where people are systematically interacting

If people are not systematically interacting, they probably are not in the same society

People may be interacting systematically without ever meeting or knowing each other

According to the reading, reasons even college students might want to know where their society is and its basic dynamics, are that

It may provide insight or government policies affecting their careers

They may better understand social problems they care about

According to the reading, social scientists generally agree on the definition of “society” and that it is very important that they agree.

False

According to the reading, the fact that countries have clear-cut political boundaries and that people affect change within their own country, should not lead us to assume that people are not also interacting systematically with each other

True

A diaspora is a cultural group that lives in one specific place, usually within a rural area of some country

False

According to the reading, what is it about a country that sustains the impression that each is an individually and separately developing society

Because the political boundaries of countries, as sovereign states, means that citizens can more easily effect change at the national level rather than international level

The guiding parameters by which to judge whether or not the interaction is generating mutual causality include

Frequency, Significance and scale

According to the reading, which examples are provided as definitions of society based on shared political institutions

“The aggregate of persons living together in community, esp. one having shared customs, laws, and institutions”

“Society is groupings that obey a central a central authority”

According to the reading, which examples are provided as definitions of society based on shared culture

“A society consists of people living in a specific geographic region who share a common culture”

“A grouping of interacting people who live in a cooperative manner, and who share a common culture”

According to the reading, the problem(s) with identifying Japan as a society based on the cultural definition of society is that:

There are multiple religions practiced in Japan

Some religions practiced in Japan are also practiced elsewhere

Japan contains multiple ethnic groups

Many Japanese citizens don’t live in Japan

Significance

The interaction has a major impact on both groups, people’s lives are affected in important ways, not trivial ways

At a minimum, interaction must produce mutual causality in order to say to say that people are in the same society

True

There are very few places on the planet where the people qualify as a society based on the cultural definition of society

True

According to the reading, evidence that undermines that undermines the definition of society based on shared political institutions, and that countries are separate societies, includes that

Every country has always defined its borders in relation to other states, not in isolation

The historical evidence is overwhelming that modern countries came into existence though systematic interaction

Frequency

The interaction daily and consistent over time and regular

Interaction is necessary criteria for people to be in the same society. However, interaction may entail a one-way or one-time causal affect that is not evidence that people are in the same society. Such interaction may be evidence that people are in different societies

True

“There are very few places on the planet where the people qualify as a society based on the cultural definition of society

True

What is the concept of mutual causality according to the reading

When interaction affect all groups interacting

In a large scale society, people interact systematically but indirectly; most never meet-face-to-face

True

Worldwide, approximately ____ of percent of people living in poverty are women

70

Rosie the Riverer

Was a role model to encourage women to work in factories during WW2

In the United States, women earn:

About 75 cents to a man’s dollar

Free-trade zones where companies can access cheap female workers who are not allowed to form unions are called

Maquiladora

The social construction of gender in modern society and all past societies

Explains the absence of patriarchy in earlier societies and deeply patriarchal societies that later emerged

In the US and Japan, unlike Nordic countries, women are disproportionately over-represented in

“female” professions that pay lower wages

1870-1950 Gender relations

US industrializes; percent of women who work rises rapidly to about 34%

1950-1970 Gender relations

More unions, more men in factories; more women becoming middle class “housewives”

1970-2000 Gender relations

De-industrializations; divorce soars, percent of women who work soars to 60%

Regarding hunting and gathering societies

For the most part, the work of men and women was valued equally

In the early 1900s more women went to work. Which is true?

Were confined to low-paying “female” occupations

Government policies that do not reduce gender discrimination results in cheaper labor for companies

True

The gap between educational opportunities for girls and boys in poor countries

Narrowing, but still wide

Most of the perceived differences between male and females result from

The social construction of gender

Today, women’s enrollment in U.S. colleges and universities is greater than men’s enrollment

True

Discrimination against women that prevents promotions at workplaces is known as

The Glass Ceiling

Women demanded the right to divorce on equal terms, and an equal say in the household, and to have sex as they pleased. This was known as

Sexual Revolution

The modern world system’s structure has changed little; the gap between peripheral countries and core countries has actually widened, when though some countries have industrialized

True

The “division of labor” of the world-economy refers to

The different but interdependent activities of the core, semi peripheral zones of the world economy

The first wave of colonization took place during the period

1492-1650

The first wave of DE-colonization took place during the period

1776-1830

In the new division of labor created between Europe and the New World, Europe specialized in producing and selling which goods?

Ships, weapons, clothing, tools, banking and shipping services

During which period was Africa fully colonized

1750-1900

The second wave of DE-colonization took place during the period

1945-1975

Fortunately, despite colonization the gap in wealth between the richest and poorest countries has consistently decreased since the 1500s. Poor countries are catching up to rich countries

False

Match the raw materials produced in the New World (left-side) > products made in Europe from raw material (right side)

Rum, tobacco, coffee, beans

Rum, tobacco, coffee beans

Mass consumption

Lumber, hemp

Ship building

Cotton

Textile manufacturing

Sugar, molasses, rice

Food production

The wealth of core states hinges on

All of the above

Which explains the gap of wealth between core, semiperipheral and peripheral zones

All of the above

Different countries became semi peripheral or peripheral primarily because

Enterprise and government of core zones colonized other areas and established raw materials production for export to core zone

Which states led the way in the expansion of the modern world-system between 1492-1650 through the colonization of the New World

Britain (the UK or England) and Spain

France and Holland (the Dutch)

In the new division of labor created between Europe and the New World, the co-called New World specialized in producing and selling which goods

Their different but interdependent production activities in the world economy’s division of labor

Capitalism is defined in part by the basic relationship between states and capitalists, in which:

States try to help capitalists in their country expand profits over capitalists in other countries

When the modern world system first emerged, numerous word-systems existed on the planet, including bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and agrarian states

True

Governments typically support the formation of large monopolistic corporations owned by capitalists to compete with capitalists in other countries

True

The second wave of the modern world system’s expansion, in which it grew to cover the entire planet, occurred during which period?

1830-1900

The first wave of European colonization, across Asian and then Africa, took place between 1776-1830

False

Colonies of the past or present are different than states because

They lack sovereignty

They are under the control of a state