Chapter 1: Sociology: A Unique Way to View the World
Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. According to the text, the smallest unit sociologists study is a(n) ______.
a. triad
b. dyad
c. individual
d. community
Ans: b
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: What Is Sociology?
Difficulty Level: Easy

2. In comparison, sociology focuses on ______, whereas psychology focuses on ______.
a. humans; rats
b. group patterns; the behavior of individuals
c. the behavior of individuals; group patterns
d. society; members of society
Ans: b
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: What Is Sociology?
Difficulty Level: Medium

3. A sociological perspective on race suggests that:
a. racial categories are biologically determined.
b. racial categories are the same across societies.
c. racial categories are socially constructed.
d. racial categories do not change over time.
Ans: c
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Sociological Findings and Commonsense Beliefs
Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Which of the following sociologists is most closely associated with the sociological imagination?
a. Peter Berger
b. Karl Marx
c. C. Wright Mills
d. Émile Durkheim
Ans: c
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: The Sociological Imagination
Difficulty Level: Easy

5. While walking down the street, Alana notices a homeless man. She thinks to herself, “That man must be homeless because he became unemployed. I’m sure that’s because our local economy is so bad, and companies seem to be moving to other countries. He probably lost his family, too.” Sociologists would say that Alana is using her ______.
a. sociological imagination
b. psychological training
c. economic perspective
d. investigative abilities
Ans: a
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: The Sociological Imagination
Difficulty Level: Medium

6. A social scientist is trained to study the contents of garbage heaps. “What can we learn from studying garbage?” would most likely be asked by a(n) ______.
a. anthropologist
b. economist
c. political scientist
d. psychologist
Ans: a
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Social Sciences: A Comparison
Difficulty Level: Easy

7. The discipline a social scientist is trained in plays a role in the questions the social scientist asks. “What are individuals’ physiological reactions to a violent movie like Saw?” would most likely be asked by a(n) ______.
a. anthropologist
b. economist
c. psychologist
d. political scientist
Ans: c
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Social Sciences: A Comparison
Difficulty Level: Easy

8. The discipline a social scientist is trained in plays a role in the questions the social scientist asks. “How will high gas prices impact automobile sales in the near future?” would most likely be asked by a(n) ______.
a. anthropologist
b. economist
c. psychologist
d. sociologist
Ans: b
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Social Sciences: A Comparison
Difficulty Level: Easy

9. The discipline a social scientist is trained in plays a role in the questions the social scientist asks. “How do educational opportunities for women impact national infant mortality rates in Eastern European countries?” would most likely be asked by a(n) ______.
a. sociologist
b. psychologist
c. political scientist
d. economist
Ans: a
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Social Sciences: A Comparison
Difficulty Level: Easy

10. The discipline a social scientist is trained in plays a role in the questions the social scientist asks. “How do couples negotiate roles in a marriage?” would most likely be asked by a(n) ______.
a. sociologist
b. economist
c. political scientist
d. psychologist
Ans: a
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Social Sciences: A Comparison
Difficulty Level: Medium

11. Interconnected parts of the social world ranging from small groups to entire societies are ______.
a. social units
b. social structures
c. social institutions
d. national societies
Ans: a
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Social Structures
Difficulty Level: Hard

12. The aspects of society that provide the rules, roles, and relationships needed to shape human behavior are ______.
a. social units
b. social structures
c. social institutions
d. national societies
Ans: c
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Social Structures
Difficulty Level: Hard

13. The authors of the text would argue that a change in the economy would eventually result in a change in the family. This is because:
a. people panic when the economy changes, and they frequently take their stresses out on their families.
b. the economy and the family remain separated unless something bad occurs in one institution or the other.
c. all social institutions are interrelated.
d. the authors of the text would not use any of these arguments.
Ans: c
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Social Structures
Difficulty Level: Medium

14. Jennifer and Tyrone have been dating for two years. They have decided to attend the same college together, so both move into the same dorm. In this example, “Jennifer and Tyrone” are a ______, and “moving in to the same dorm” is a ______.
a. social unit; social institution
b. social structure; social process
c. social process; social structure
d. social unit; social process
Ans: d
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Social Structures
Difficulty Level: Medium

15. When her 4-year-old son wanted to wear a dress to kindergarten, Lisette told him that he could not because “boys don’t wear dresses.” In doing so, Lisette engaged in the process of ______.
a. socialization
b. change
c. stratification
d. institutionalism
Ans: a
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Social Processes
Difficulty Level: Medium

16. A ______ refers to one of the largest social units and includes a population of people, usually living within a specified geographic area, connected by common ideas and subject to a particular political authority.
a. national society
b. dyad
c. social group
d. social institution
Ans: a
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Social Structures
Difficulty Level: Medium

17. Kevin is a member of his college hockey team. The team is supported by the university, fans, and corporate sponsors; and is connected to other teams, their sports conference governing board, and all of the individual team members’ families and friends. In this example, Kevin’s team is ______, and the team’s supporters and connections are ______.
a. an institution; the environment
b. a social unit; the environment
c. an institution; a social unit
d. the environment; a social structure
Ans: b
Learning Objective: 1.3: Explain how the social world model works, with examples.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Environment of Our Social World
Difficulty Level: Medium

18. Byron is a sociologist who studies social change. In his study of the election of a new congressional representative for his district, Byron concluded that “Representative Phillips will inevitably be harmful for the working-class people of our district.” What error did Byron make in his study?
a. He failed to interview the representative.
b. Rather than just explaining the change, he made a judgment about it.
c. He failed to inform Representative Phillips of his conclusion before releasing it to the public.
d. He should have used both qualitative and quantitative data in his study.
Ans: b
Learning Objective: 1.3: Explain how the social world model works, with examples.
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Social Processes
Difficulty Level: Hard

19. Which of the following is an advantage of using micro-level analysis?
a. It is important for understanding the basis for all social groups and organizations.
b. It is important for the study of processes and institutions in a society.
c. It helps explain how larger social forces shape everyday aspects of social life.
d. It helps explain the moral implications of social organizations.
Ans: a
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Micro-Level Analysis
Difficulty Level: Hard

20. A study that examines how elementary school children form cliques on the playground would constitute ______.
a. micro-level research
b. meso-level research
c. macro-level research
d. mega-level research
Ans: a
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Micro-Level Analysis
Difficulty Level: Medium

21. Which of the following is an advantage of using meso-level analysis?
a. It is important for understanding the basis for all social organizations.
b. It is important for the study of processes and institutions in a society.
c. It helps explain how larger social forces shape everyday aspects of social life.
d. It helps explain the moral implications of social organizations.
Ans: b
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Meso-Level Analysis
Difficulty Level: Hard

22. A study that examines how the No Child Left Behind Act has changed education in Iowa best reflects the ______-level of analysis.
a. micro
b. meso
c. macro
d. none of these
Ans: b
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Meso-Level Analysis
Difficulty Level: Easy

23. All of the following represent micro-level analysis EXCEPT:
a. sociology class.
b. study group cramming for an exam.
c. sociology department.
d. professional sociological association.
Ans: d
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Micro-Level Analysis
Difficulty Level: Medium

24. All of the following represent the meso-level of analysis EXCEPT:
a. state board of education.
b. National Education Association.
c. world literacy programs.
d. Catholic school systems.
Ans: c
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Macro-Level Analysis
Difficulty Level: Medium

25. How are the three levels of analysis related to one another?
a. The three are not related to one another.
b. The distinctions among the three are very clear.
c. The three levels can overlap on a continuum.
d. The three levels are not at all clearly delineated.
Ans: c
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Studying the Social World: Levels of Analysis
Difficulty Level: Medium

26. Which of the following is not a social unit?
a. a group of sociology students studying for a test
b. two warring tribes fighting over land rights
c. a boss teaching a new employee
d. a college professor preparing a sociology lecture in her office
Ans: d
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Social Structures
Difficulty Level: Easy

27. Lauren is a sociology student who wants to examine the effects that a new restaurant, the Tasty Tidbit, has on the wait staff at competing restaurants in her town. She decides that she needs to learn more about the restaurant industry, her town’s economy, the national economy, and food service workers in general to better understand the impact of the Tasty Tidbit. Lauren is using the ______.
a. cultural anthropological model
b. environmental model
c. social world model
d. commonsense model
Ans: c
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Social World Model and This Book
Difficulty Level: Medium

28. According to the text, a more complete and accurate perspective on the social world can be gained by using:
a. commonsense beliefs obtained through logic and past experiences.
b. socialization through parents, schools, and religious figures.
c. multiple perspectives gained through a nationally representative survey.
d. the concepts, theories, methods, and levels of analysis used by sociologists.
Ans: d
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Social World Model and This Book
Difficulty Level: Hard

29. Psychologists are most likely to study ______.
a. human interaction
b. individual behavior and mental processes
c. the distribution of power
d. the way of life of a particular society
Ans: b
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Social Sciences: A Comparison
Difficulty Level: Medium

30. While psychologists would explain behavior by examining the personality traits of individuals, sociologists would examine ______.
a. what motivates individual behavior
b. physiological reactions to violent media
c. human interaction and social structure
d. people’s thought processes in decision-making situations
Ans: c
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Social Sciences: A Comparison
Difficulty Level: Medium

31. Sociology is based on a few assumptions about the social world. Which of the following is not one of these assumptions?
a. People are social by nature.
b. People live much of their lives in social groups.
c. Human behavior is determined by the supply of goods and services.
d. Conflict and change are inevitable features of groups.
Ans: c
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Social Sciences: A Comparison
Difficulty Level: Medium

True/False

1. According to sociologists, human beings are naturally social creatures.
Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Ideas Underlying Sociology
Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Sociology, political science, and psychology are separate disciplines and do not overlap.
Ans: F
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: The Social Sciences: A Comparison
Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Sociologists study how personality traits affect an individual’s behavior.
Ans: F
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: The Social Sciences: A Comparison
Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Your sociology class is an example of a large group, according to the sociological definition of large groups.
Ans: F
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Micro-Level Analysis
Difficulty Level: Easy

5. Because sociology is based on common sense, it is an excellent discipline for students who approach the world in a rational, matter-of-fact way.
Ans: F
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Sociological Findings and Commonsense Beliefs
Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Tyler heard a story from a friend about a woman who was being beaten by her husband. He decided that the only reason the woman stayed with her husband was because she was too weak to leave him. In this case, Tyler was using his sociological imagination.
Ans: F
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Sociological Imagination
Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Tyler read the news story about a 12-year-old boy who was caught selling crack cocaine. “My hypothesis is that the boy must be living in true poverty in a neighborhood full of crime.” In this case, Tyler was using his sociological imagination.
Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Sociological Imagination
Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Ethnology is the subfield of anthropology most closely related to sociology.
Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: The Social Sciences: A Comparison
Difficulty Level: Medium

9. A married couple is a social unit.
Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Social Structures
Difficulty Level: Medium

10. According to the text, the changes in the institution of the family will not likely have an impact on religion.
Ans: F
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Social Processes
Difficulty Level: Medium

11. The social world is organized into two parts: structures and processes.
Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Social World Model
Difficulty Level: Easy

12. According to the text, religion and family are examples of social processes.
Ans: F
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Social Structures
Difficulty Level: Easy

13. C. Wright Mills developed the concept of sociological imagination.
Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: The Sociological Imagination
Difficulty Level: Easy

14. Social institutions are found in every society.
Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Social Structures
Difficulty Level: Easy

15. Our social positions in society are the result of social structures.
Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Social Structures
Difficulty Level: Easy

16. Sociologists generally judge social processes as “good” or “bad.”
Ans: F
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Social Processes
Difficulty Level: Easy

17. An environment includes everything that influences a social unit.
Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Environment of Our Social World
Difficulty Level: Easy

18. Complete harmony between social units is unusual.
Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Environment of Our Social World
Difficulty Level: Easy

19. Psychologists tend to focus on groups while sociologists tend to focus on individuals.
Ans: F
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Social Sciences: A Comparison
Difficulty Level: Easy

20. A focus on individual or small-group interaction entails micro-level analysis.
Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Micro-Level Analysis
Difficulty Level: Easy

21. Sociologists argue that conflict is a natural part of social life.
Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Social Processes
Difficulty Level: Easy

22. August Comte coined the term sociological imagination.
Ans: F
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: The Sociological Imagination
Difficulty Level: Easy

23. Analysis of intermediate-sized social units is called meso-level analysis.
Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Meso-Level Analysis
Difficulty Level: Easy

24. The examination of changes in women’s status can only take place at the macro-level of analysis.
Ans: F
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Macro-Level Analysis
Difficulty Level: Medium

25. The types of jobs that sociologists do depend on their level of education.
Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.2: Describe why sociology can be useful for us.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: What Do Sociologists Do?
Difficulty Level: Easy

26. The social world engulfs each of us from the moment of our birth until we die.
Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.3: Explain how the social world model works, with examples.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Social World Model and This Book
Difficulty Level: Easy

27. Understanding individual human behavior often requires investigation of larger societal beliefs supporting that behavior.
Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Ideas Underlying Sociology
Difficulty Level: Easy

28. According to the text, rates of violence against women are relatively uniform across countries.
Ans: F
Learning Objective: 1.3: Explain how the social world model works, with examples.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Studying the Social World: Levels of Analysis
Difficulty Level: Easy

29. The social sciences share some concepts but do not share theories or methods of inquiry.
Ans: F
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: The Social Sciences: A Comparison
Difficulty Level: Medium

30. Sociologists consider a street gang and work-group examples of small groups.
Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Social Structures
Difficulty Level: Medium

31. Sociology provides a method to assess the accuracy of our commonsense assumptions about the social world.
Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Sociological Findings and Commonsense Beliefs
Difficulty Level: Easy

32. Most sociologists with a bachelor’s degree work in colleges or universities.
Ans: F
Learning Objective: 1.2: Describe why sociology can be useful for us.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: What Do Sociologists Do?
Difficulty Level: Easy

33. No social unit of our social world can stand alone.
Ans: T
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Social Structures
Difficulty Level: Easy

Essay

1. Briefly discuss the difference between sociology and psychology.
Ans: Varies. Sociology is the study of society and psychology is the study of individuals and personalities. For instance, a sociologist would look to social factors to explain suicide and a psychologist might examine individual characteristics.
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: The Social Sciences: A Comparison
Difficulty Level: Hard

2. Briefly describe how sociology and common sense differ from one another.
Ans: Varies. Sociology is the systematic study of society and often defies common sense. Common sense, on the other hand, relies on personal experiences and anecdotal evidence.
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Sociological Findings and Commonsense Beliefs
Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Compare and contrast sociology and at least two of the other social sciences discussed in the text.
Ans: Varies. Sociology is the systematic study of society. In contrast, political science is explicitly concerned with politics and voting patterns. To give another example, anthropology is the study of culture and has four subfields. While there are differences between all three, a sociologist might also be interested in voting patterns or culture. Sociology shares common ground with other social sciences.
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: The Social Sciences: A Comparison
Difficulty Level: Hard

4. List and briefly explain the three levels of analysis discussed in the text.
Ans: Varies. Micro, meso, and macro. Micro-level analysis looks at interpersonal dynamics or small groups; meso-level analysis looks at institutions; and macro-level analysis looks at broader dynamics at, for example, the country level.
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: The Social Sciences: A Comparison
Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Compare and contrast social units and social institutions. Provide at least two examples of each.
Ans: Varies. Social units are interconnected parts of the social world ranging from small groups to societies. Social institutions are organized, patterned, and enduring sets of social structures that provide guidelines for behavior and help each society meet its basic survival needs. Two examples of social units are community organizations and dyads. Two examples of social institutions are the economy and family.
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Social Structures
Difficulty Level: Medium

6. What are social processes? Provide at least two examples.
Ans: Varies. Social processes take place through actions of people in institutions and other social units. Two examples are the processes of socialization and social change.
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Social Processes
Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Briefly discuss what sociologists mean by the sociological imagination. Provide an example of its application.
Ans: Varies. It is the ability to see beyond personal explanations for social problems and phenomena. For instance, instead of looking at depression as an individual problem, a person exercising their sociological imagination would look to what societal processes might contribute to the rise of mental health problems (such as industrialization, precarious economy, etc.).
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: The Sociological Imagination
Difficulty Level: Medium

8. According to the text, what two parts are essential to the study of our social world?
Ans: Varies. Social units, social processes, and the environment.
Learning Objective: 1.3: Explain how the social world model works, with examples.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Social World Model and This Book
Difficulty Level: Hard

9. What do the authors of the text mean when they state that “the social world is a human creation”?
Ans: Varies. Instead of being something that is just out there, society is the result of interactions between people, interactions between people and institutions, and the effects that structures and institutions have on that interaction. Without humans, there would be no social world.
Learning Objective: 1.3: Explain how the social world model works, with examples.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Social World Model and This Book
Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Drilling for oil affects all levels of the sociological world. Using your knowledge of sociology, explain how this behavior (drilling for oil) affects human relationships on the micro-, meso-, and macro-levels.
Ans: Varies. Micro-level: might cause an oil spill that would disrupt the community. Meso-level: might have an impact on the economy (good or bad or both). Macro-level: might affect the relationship between countries and/or between countries and transnational corporations.
Learning Objective: 1.3: Explain how the social world model works, with examples.
Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Social World Model and This Book
Difficulty Level: Hard

11. Imagine you wanted to study child poverty from a micro-, meso-, and macro-level. For each of the three levels of analysis, describe what question or questions you might ask to learn more about child poverty and why that level of analysis is appropriate for your question.
Ans: Varies. Micro: how is child poverty the result of socialization? (this question is appropriate because to answer this question, one would look at smaller scale interactions and might require talking to people). Meso: how do non-profit organizations help to alleviate child poverty? (this question is appropriate because to answer this question, the researcher would look at institutions and organizations). Macro: has child poverty increased in the past two decades? (this question is appropriate because the researcher would look at global patterns and trends).
Learning Objective: 1.3: Explain how the social world model works, with examples.
Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Social World Model and This Book
Difficulty Level: Hard

12. Explain how social units, social structures, and social institutions are related. Using examples from your own life, illustrate the interconnectedness of these concepts.
Ans: Varies. An example of a social unit would be a relationship. An institution could be religion. Social structure could be the United States. In the United States there is freedom of religion. Recently, people of the same sex could get married. However, the institutions of religion and government are sometimes in conflict in this scenario. This shows how structures and institutions enable or constrain particular types of marriages in our country.
Learning Objective: 1.3: Explain how the social world model works, with examples.
Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Social World Model and This Book
Difficulty Level: Hard

13. What are some commonsense beliefs you hold about the social world? What factors led you to hold those beliefs? What evidence would be necessary for you to change those beliefs?
Ans: Varies. This answer would ideally show that the student is engaging their sociological imagination.
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Sociological Findings and Commonsense Beliefs
Difficulty Level: Hard

14. Consider the social problem of homelessness in the United States. What questions might someone from anthropology ask about homelessness? What about someone from economics? Political science? Psychology? Sociology? Which of these disciplines do you think could best help find a solution for homelessness, and why?
Ans: Varies. Anthropologists might ask what homelessness means to the homeless person. An economist might look at the patterns of the job market that lead to homelessness. A psychologist might investigate to see if homelessness and mental health problems are correlated. A sociologist could potentially be interested in all of the above. However, unique to sociology, they would be sure to include questions about how homelessness is produced by social institutions and social processes.
Learning Objective: 1.1: Explain the sociological perspective.
Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: The Social Sciences: A Comparison
Difficulty Level: Hard

15. Imagine you are a sociologist asked to study the issues pertaining to the high school dropout rate. What factors would you focus on in your study? Why?
Ans: Varies. The student might include something about culture, poverty, racism, classism, sexism, and the economy. Or, if they were thinking about the issue at a micro-level, they might look at the justifications for why students drop out of high school.
Learning Objective: 1.3: Explain how the social world model works, with examples.
Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: Social World Model and This Book
Difficulty Level: Hard