SOC 204: Introduction to Social Theory - Final Exam (Ending Course Material)

Duality

Refers to the intersection of two apparently contradictory forces.

The defining characteristic of sociability is interaction _____.

for the sake of connecting with others

the domination of material objects over individual creativity

Simmel defines the “tragedy of culture” as ______.

Simmel’s basic theoretical orientation, according to the metatheoretical framework, is ______.

nonrational and individual

Simmel defines the “blasé attitude” as ______.

a response to the intensity of city life

In response to the overwhelming nature of the metropolitan city, many people take a(n) ______ approach to life.

intellectual

Simmel argues that the blasé attitude, combined with the ______, impacts the ability to have an emotionally meaningful life.

money economy

Which three theoretical traditions significantly influenced Mead’s body of work?

pragmatism, behaviorism, evolutionism

According to the authors’ metatheoretical model, Mead’s work is predominantly __________ in orientation.

individualist and nonrationalist

According to Mead, the self is primarily constructed through our ______.

perceptions about how others will respond to us

Meaning

______ is a response to a gesture developed within a social act.

According to Mead, the meaning of a gesture lies in ______.

how another person responds to that gesture

significant symbols

Mead calls ___________ the words and gestures that have the same meaning for those involved in a social act.

According to Mead, how do social processes influence the behavior of individuals?

through the generalized other

According to Mead, what happens in his ideal universal society?

Everyone shares the same social meanings.

Manifest functions refer to the ______, while latent functions refer to _______.

intended purpose of an action; unintended consequences of that action

True or False: Deviance occurs when the values of a society are out of sync with the means available for achieving them.

True

Which of the following produces dysfunction?

A disconnect between cultural and social realms

Merton’s concepts of social status and role expectations fall within which basic theoretical orientation?

nonrational and collective

True or Falsel: Overall, structural functionalism tends to emphasize the collective/nonrational realm.

True

Which type of adaptation most directly ensures continuity and stability of society?

conformity

Someone who is selling illegal drugs as a means of obtaining wealth and success is using which mode of adaptation?

innovation

When someone follows the norms of society but has lowered their expectations for success, they are using which mode of adaptation?

ritualism

Someone who fails to meet society’s goals and has tried unsuccessfully to innovate may turn to which adaptation?

retreatism

How is rebellion different from the other forms of adaptation?

Rebellion seeks to create new societal goals.

The “critical” in critical theory refers to foundational scholars’ critique of ______.

empiricism and positivism

Which three scholars had the most significant impact on Marcuse and Adorno?

Marx, Weber, Freud

Which of the following is a critique of Marx’s claim that the proletariat will develop class consciousness?

The existing ideas and beliefs legitimate the ruling class.

Critical theorists deviated from orthodox Marxism when they ______.

abandoned analyses of economic conditions to focus instead on ideas

The critical theorists argued that the ______ was responsible for the oppression of humanity.

dominant form of thought

According to critical theorists, what contributed to the decaying of humanity?

science

The authors consider the work of critical theorists to be primarily ______.

rational and collective

According to Adorno, why is the “culture industry” destructive?

It pacifies individuals and encourages conformity.

How does Adorno describe the relationship between culture industry and the consumer?

Culture industry creates the consumer as an object.

According to Adorno and Marcuse, the locus of individual freedom lies in ______.

negative thinking

Which of Marcuse’s concepts refers to the ability to critically understand one’s world and to critique the status quo?

individualistic rationality

According to Collins, why does society need black feminist thought?

to challenge the oppression experienced by black women

By examining how experiences vary by race, gender, social class, and sexuality, Collins takes a(n) ______ approach.

intersectional

According to Collins, what makes black feminist thought an example of critical theory?

the emphasis on justice and addressing inequality

True or False: Black feminist thought is developed primarily through academic research.

False

Which scholar coined the term “symbolic interactionism”?

Herbert Blumer

Which of the following is one of the basic premises that informs Blumer’s understanding of a symbolic interactionist approach to social life?

Meaning is derived from social interaction.

Goffman defines impression management as ______.

the work we do to present an appropriate image of our self to others

Deference and demeanor’s relationship can best be described as ______.

reciprocal

The kitchen in your favorite restaurant can best be described as the ________ for a waiter or waitress.

backstage

Goffman suggests that the definition of the situation is often based on a “working consensus,” meaning that ______.

actors conceal their immediate feelings to maintain an agreement

Our speech, appearance, and other expressive equipment are all components of the ______.

personal front

The organismic model of emotions focuses on ______.

how emotions are rooted in an individual’s biology

Upon what three models did Hochschild build her emotion-management model?

Organismic, interactional, and impression management

Hochschild refers to efforts to alter or manage the intensity or type of feelings as ______.

emotion work

In The Managed Heart, Hochschild connects emotive experiences and expectations to ______.

gender identity

Which group of people tends to be expected to perform more emotion work?

people in low-status categories

According to Hochschild, female flight attendants are often assumed to embody the loving mother and ______

career woman

How can female flight attendants minimize the stress they feel on the job?

They can separate their “real” self from their self on the job.

When our natural capacity to engage in emotion work is sold for a wage, we are experiencing ______.

commodification of feelings

According to Berger and Luckmann, which of the following is necessary to maintaining social order and interaction within society?

intersubjectivity

According to Berger and Luckmann, how do institutions channel human behaviors?

They reinforce typifications for both actors and actions.

In which scenario are typifications most likely to be challenged?

when meeting a friend in person for conversation and coffee

typification

the process of using general knowledge to create ideas about people and the social world

Reification refers to the process through which ______.

people see themselves only as the product, and not the producer, of the world

Objectivation and reification are related to which concept from Karl Marx’s work?

alienation

Objectivation refers to the process of ______.

encountering everyday life as an external reality

Which of the following was thoroughly critiqued by emerging poststructuralist scholars?

semiotic model

Which concept is defined as a framework of knowledge that shapes our language and logic?

episteme

Foucault’s method of exposing forms of discourse as they have developed and changed across time is called ______.

archaeology

Genealogy, one of Foucault’s methods of analysis, focuses on ______.

the interrelationship of knowledge and power

For Foucault, power is in its most potent form when it is embodied within ______.

systems of knowledge

Foucault studied the Panopticon because it was the idealized embodiment of ______.

surveillance and discipline

Which of the following would you expect to find in a disciplinary society?

Techniques of surveillance integrated into institutions.

Foucault adds ___________ dimensions to structuralism’s theoretical orientation.

individualistic and rationalistic

According to Foucault, the power of the Panopticon stems from its ______.

visibility and unverifiability

Foucault suggests that the contemporary decline of corporal punishment reflects which of the following?

transformation in the technologies of power

According to Bourdieu, which of the following best describes symbolic power?

the ability to name the world

What does Bourdieu mean by defining “habitus” as the “internalization of externality”?

We acquire dispositions from the world around us.

For Bourdieu, knowledge, taste, and language ability are forms of ______ capital.

cultural

Taylor gets an internship at a good company because her mom knows the company’s hiring manager. Which form of capital is Taylor using here?

social

Which of Bourdieu’s terms would sit in the exact center of the authors’ axes of action and order?

habitus

Which of the following best defines hyperreality?

the condition where simulations of reality are more real than reality itself

Baudrillard distinguished himself from Marxist theory by ______.

exploring the capitalist mode of consumption

Jean Baudrillard’s concept of simulacra refers to ______.

copies of objects for which there is no true original

According to Baudrillard, why have signs become more complex over time?

Consumer goods have created a world of unstable meaning.

According to Baudrillard, what happens to signs in the age of simulation?

They have no connection to reality.

According to Baudrillard, what happens when the divine is represented via icons?

People begin to fear that there was never a god.

Why is Disneyland the perfect example of simulation?

Disneyland makes us believe that everything else is real.

According to Baudrillard, the shift from working in manufacturing to working in ______ contributed to the rise of postmodernism.

service industries

For Butler, ________ is a kind of persistent impersonation that passes as the real.

sex

One of the basic concepts of queer theory is that ______.

homosexual persons are as “natural” as heterosexual persons

What does Butler argue about sex?

Sex is a gendered and culturally constructed category.

According to Butler, discrimination against gay men and women is a function of what?

their failure to perform heterosexual norms

The normative idea that “proper” men and women are straight reflects which concept?

heterosexual matrix

What fundamental question does Butler raise about the existence of women as subjects?

Can women as a group be understood outside the context of oppression?

True or False: The heterosexual matrix reinforces flawed biological understandings of sex and gender.

True

Most definitions of globalization argue that globalization is marked by increasing ______ and ______.

connectivity; interdependency

Appadurai refers to global and cultural flows—such as the movement of people or technology across borders—as which of the following?

scapes

Western cultural imperialism, McDonaldization, and coca-colonization are all consequences of globalization that would be categorized as ______.

homogeneous and strong

Wallerstein’s belief that all social systems are formed, maintained, and destroyed through conflict can be traced most readily to the work of ______.

Karl Marx

According to Wallerstein’s world-system analysis, capitalist domination is rooted in ______.

capitalists’ control of the state apparatus

Which of the following is one of the factors Wallerstein attributes to the origin of the modern world-capitalist system?

development of strong states dictating economic trade

Which area controls a vast majority of the world’s wealth while producing a highly skilled workforce?

core

Central America, the Caribbean, and Africa are all part of the ______.

periphery