1. Which of the following is not part of the definition of culture?
a. Language
b. Beliefs
c. Behavior
d. Globalization
2. The complex system that includes a group’s beliefs, values, dress, and way of life is called _____.
a. counterculture
b. culture
c. social structure
d. culture complex
3. Which of the following is an example of non-material culture?
a. A painting
b. A fashion magazine
c. A building
d. Table manners
4. Material culture consists of
a. objects created in a given culture.
b. ideas and beliefs of a group of people.
c. laws, customs, and ideas.
d. ideas about what is right and wrong.
5. What is the relationship between other animals and humans, according to scientists?
a. Human biology determines most of our behavior.
b. The natural environment is the biggest determinant of human behavior.
c. Other animals lack the elaborate symbol-based forms of knowing and communication that are common in
human societies.
d. Other animals and humans are identical with regard to behavior.
6. The discussion of birthday traditions demonstrates that
a. some forms of celebration are universal.
b. even seemingly “normal” practices have cultural roots.
c. American birthday traditions represent cultural lag.
d. U.S. culture dominates globally, even in birthday practices.
7. Norms, values, laws, and customs are all examples of _____ culture.
a. high
b. material
c. nonmaterial
d. nontraditional
8. Which of the following is an example of nonmaterial culture?
a. Media
b. Art
c. Ideas
d. Cars
9. How do sociologists view the value of culture for the individual?
a. A person must learn culture in order to know how to behave in their society.
b. Having culture gives a person higher status than other people.
c. The more culture one has, the more income one will earn.
d. None of these; culture is not of particular importance for humans.
10. Regardless of where it is found in the world, culture is
a. shared.
b. genetic.
c. questioned by those who take part in it.
d. the same everywhere at all times.
11. Which of the following is true about culture in the U.S.?
a. Groups have different traditions but share a culture.
b. Groups have different traditions and do not share a culture.
c. Groups have independent culture experiences.
d. Groups have independent cultural traditions and do not learn a similar culture.
12. In their day-to- day lives, most people
a. have to consciously think about their cultural practices.
b. take the expectations of their culture for granted.
c. spend a lot of time questioning why they engage in certain behaviors.
d. ignore their own cultural traditions.
13. A(n) _____ is something that stands for something else, or anything to which people give meaning.
a. symbol
b. culture
c. identity
d. society
14. Which of the following is true about the meanings of symbols?
a. They depend on the culture in which they appear.
b. They have no influence on human behavior.
c. They are inherent in the symbol itself.
d. They are always the same, regardless of the context in which they exist.
15. People stand during the national anthem and are emotionally moved by the display of a cross or the Star of David
because
a. these symbols are innately significant.
b. of the significance people bestow on them as cultural symbols.
c. crosses and stars are instinctually moving to people.
d. people innately know how to behave when facing these symbols.
16. Which of the following is true about cultural change?
a. Culture changes only after extreme situations change.
b. While culture changes from place to place, in each place it stays virtually the same.
c. Culture changes as people adapt in different time periods and in to different environments.
d. Culture changes overtime but not across places.
17. Which of the following is an element of culture?
a. Language
b. Norms
c. Mores
d. All of the above
18. As an element of culture, language is important because
a. it enables a person to become a part of society.
b. it permits the formation of culture
c. it enables us to learn social skills.
d. All of these choices are true.
19. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that:
a. reality is the result of social inequality.
b. language provides the category through which social reality is defined.
c. there is no relationship between language and culture.
d. language reflects social differences and therefore material culture.
20. Today, almost all sociologists would agree that
a. language determines what people think.
b. culture determines language.
c. language and culture are inextricably linked and each shapes the other.
d. there is no relationship between language and culture.
21. How does language influence patterns of social inequality?
a. Language has little effect on patterns of race or gender inequality.
b. Language may reproduce inequalities through stereotypes and assumptions that may be built into what
people say.
c. Studieshaveproventhatwhatsomeoneiscalledreallydoesn’tmatter,sinceidentityisdeveloped
internally by the individual.
d. While language affects patterns of race and gender, there is no indication that it influences patterns of class
inequality.
22. What is the relationship between language and social inequality?
a. Language may reproduce the inequalities that exist in society.
b. The language that people use may alter social stereotypes to some extent.
c. The power relations in a situation provide a context for the meanings of particular expressions.
d. All of these choices are true.
23. The specific cultural expectations for how to behave in a given situation are called _____.
a. norms
b. directives
c. belief-based actualizations
d. culture-constructs
24. Why are norms such an important element of culture?
a. Without norms society would be chaotic.
b. People cannot survive without norms.
c. Norms are the way that people communicate with each other.
d. Norms are the basis for the formal education system.
25. Mechanisms of social control that enforce rules against killing are examples of:
a. norms.
b. folkways.
c. sanctions.
d. mores.
26. Two classic cultural concepts associated with the work of William Graham Sumner are _____.
a. explicit and implicit norms
b. folkways and mores
c. dominant culture and subcultures
d. culture traits and culture concepts
27. Folkways are
a. the ordinary customs of different group cultures.
b. strict norms that control moral and ethical behavior.
c. often upheld through laws that bring serious repercussions.
d. norms that provide strict codes of behavior.
28. Mores are
a. the ordinary customs of different group cultures.
b. strict norms that control moral and ethical behavior.
c. often upheld through laws that bring serious repercussions.
d. norms that provide strict codes of behavior.
29.
Those behaviors that bring the most serious sanctions are called _____.
a. folkways
b. mores
c. taboos
d. laws
30. As a means of social control, to enforce norms, sanctions
a. are always negative.
b. are always positive.
c. may be mild or severe.
d. are not very effective.
31. According to researchers on culture and language:
a. terms like “handicapped”do not stigmatize people.
b. culture and language are unrelated.
c. terms for race are accurate depictions of human history.
d. language affects people’s perception of reality.
32. The strength or seriousness of social sanctions is
a. harsh, regardless of how strictly the norm is held.
b. generally lighter for violations of folkways than violations of mores.
c. unrelated to the type of norm that is violated.
d. not something that sociologists consider in the study of norm violations.
33. The theoretical approach that is based on the idea that one can discover the normal social order through
disrupting it is referred to as _____.
a. dramaturgy
b. ethnomethodology
c. exchange theory
d. impression management
34. People generally follow norms for behavior because they
a. only fear serious punishment for violations.
b. have thought about all their actions and act in the way they find most efficient.
c. are physically forced to do so.
d. have learned and internalized the common expectations for behavior.
35. Through ethnomethodological research sociologists have learned all of the following, except
a. most of the time, specific sanctions are not necessary to achieve conformity.
b. society exists because people behave as if there is no other way to do so.
c. when norms are violated, their existence becomes apparent.
d. social norms are less important among children than adults.
36. Shared ideas that help bind people in society together are called _____.
a. folkways
b. beliefs
c. mores
d. sanctions
37. Which of the following statements is false with regard to beliefs?
a. Shared beliefs hold people in a group or society together.
b. Beliefs are the basis for many norms and values in a society.
c. Beliefs must be true in order for them to guide human behavior.
d. Beliefs may be so strongly held that it is difficult to consider any contradictory information.
38. The abstract standards that define the ideal principles of a society are called _____.
a. beliefs
b. values
c. myths
d. mores
39. Which of the following statements about values is true?
a. Values define what is considered desirable and morally correct.
b. Values are not guides for behavior because they are too abstract.
c. Societal values are actually realized or achieved most of the time.
d. Values most often create conflict.
40. Which of the following statements about values is true?
a. Values are really too abstract to provide any guidelines for behavior.
b. Values are never the source of cultural tensions.
c. Values may cause conflict in society.
d. Values create ideals that cannot ever be achieved.
41. Freedom, democracy, and equal opportunity are examples of:
a. sanctions.
b. functions.
c. values.
d. mores.
42. Consumptionforthesakeofdisplayingone’swealthiscalled_____.
a. conspicuous consumption
b. conspicuous austerity
c. economic posturing
d. financial reciprocity
43. America’s dominant culture is characterized by which of the following?
a. Diversity
b. Middle-class values
c. Later arriving immigrants
d. Asians and Latin Americans
44. Which of these is true regarding cultural diversity in society?
a. It is rare for a society to be diverse.
b. Diversity is very characteristic of American society.
c. Many very technologically simple societies actually have the most cultural diversity.
d. As societies become more complex, the more the culture will be internally uniform and consistent across
all groups.
45. Whereas earlier immigrants to the U.S. were predominantly from Europe, today most new immigrants come to
the U.S. from _____.
a. Southern and Eastern Europe
b. Asia and Latin America
c. the Middle East and Africa
d. South America and the Caribbean
46. In every society, the dominant culture is
a. the only culture in society.
b. the culture of the most powerful group.
c. strongly influenced by minority subcultures.
d. always the culture of the majority of people.
47. The dominant culture in any society
a. is the only true culture in the society.
b. is commonly believed to be “the” culture of a society.
c. does not necessarily correspond to the groups with the most power.
d. is the least recognized.
48. Puerto Ricans in New York and the Amish are examples of _____.
a. subcultures
b. minority cultures
c. majority groups
d. countercultures
49. The cultures of groups whose values and norms differ to some extent from those of the dominant culture are
called _____.
a. countercultures
b. subcultures
c. popular cultures
d. postmodern cultures
50. Members of a subculture
a. are never well-integrated into the dominant culture.
b. tend to share the same practices, values and beliefs as the members of the dominant culture.
c. exist within and share some elements of the dominant culture.
d. are indistinguishable from members of the dominant culture.
51. The difference between subcultures and countercultures is that
a. countercultures reject and defy the dominant culture and subcultures do not.
b. subcultures are created as a reaction to the dominant culture and countercultures are not.
c. countercultures retreat from the dominant culture and subcultures do not.
d. subcultures always lead to the development of countercultures.
52. Members of a counterculture
a. share many elements of the dominant culture and exist within it.
b. conform to most of the standards of the dominant culture.
c. reject the dominant cultural values of a society.
d. seek to redefine the dominant culture.
53. Which of the following is an example of a counterculture?
a. White supremacist
b. Feminist
c. Irish Americans
d. Anglo Americans
54. An ethnocentric person is characterized by which of the following?
a. An ethnocentric person is always extreme.
b. An ethnocentric person protects their identity from others.
c. An ethnocentric person is not normal.
d. None of the answer choices are correct.
55. Thehabitofseeingthingsonlyfromthepointofviewofone’sowngroupiscalled_____.
a. ethnocentrism
b. xenocentrism
c. cultural relativism
d. multiculturalism
56. Which of the following statements is false regarding ethnocentrism?
a. Ethnocentrism may be a strong force for group solidarity.
b. Only Americans are ethnocentric.
c. Ethnocentrism discourages intergroup understanding.
d. One’sowncultureistakenforgrantedsoitmaybedifficulttounderstandotherpeople’sculture.
57. Ethnocentrism
a. can be subtle or extreme.
b. can only be practiced by dominant groups.
c. encourages intergroup understanding.
d. is another word for cultural relativism.
58. Extreme ethnocentrism
a. is rare.
b. may result in violence, including terrorism, war, and genocide.
c. is found primarily in less developed countries.
d. has not been studied by sociologists.
59. Cultural relativism is the idea that
a. a phenomena should be understood and judged only in relation to the cultural context in which it appears.
b. thingsshouldbeviewedfromone’sownpointofview.
c. culture is diffused throughout the world.
d. cultures are created in reaction to social change.
60. From the perspective of cultural relativism, in order to understand a particular cultural practice we must know
a. how much harm it does.
b. whether or not it is practiced by the majority of people in a society.
c. the cultural values that it is based on.
d. how it compares to the practices of our own culture.