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Introduction to Sociology — Practice Questions flashcards

6 of 40 questions free to study here · 15 topics · the whole deck is built into Willys

Multiple-choice practice questions, one best answer each, on theory and theorists, research methods, culture, socialization, groups, deviance, stratification, race, gender, family and institutions.

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Practice deck · part of Introduction to Sociology · written against: Standard Soc 101; OpenStax Introduction to Sociology 3e, consulted as a reference; no text copied. Updated 2026-10-10.

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  1. After months of failed job applications, a recent graduate blames himself, until he learns that hiring in his field fell sharply across the whole country during a recession. Seeing his situation as part of that larger pattern is an example of what?

    A) The sociological imagination
    B) Double consciousness
    C) Verstehen
    D) Cultural relativism
    A) The sociological imagination

    C. Wright Mills's sociological imagination links a personal trouble to public issues of history and social structure. Verstehen is about grasping actors' own meanings, not connecting a biography to structural trends.
    Sociology & Theory
  2. A high school coach is expected to push players hard to win games and also to make sure every student enjoys playing. The tension between these demands of the coaching job is an example of what?

    A) Impression management
    B) A master status
    C) Role conflict
    D) Role strain
    D) Role strain

    Role strain is tension among the demands of one role. Role conflict would mean demands from two different roles colliding, such as coaching and parenting on the same evening.
    Society & Socialization
  3. A commentator argues that surgeons must earn far more than cashiers because few people have the talent and training for surgery and society needs it done well. Which view does this match?

    A) The Davis–Moore thesis
    B) Weber's three dimensions of stratification
    C) Marx's analysis of class conflict
    D) Wallerstein's world-systems analysis
    A) The Davis–Moore thesis

    The Davis–Moore thesis is the functionalist claim that unequal rewards draw scarce talent into important positions. Critics such as Melvin Tumin reply that pay does not track importance and inherited advantage blocks talent.
    Stratification & Class
  4. A man who becomes an elementary school teacher, in a field where most teachers are women, is promoted to principal faster than female colleagues with similar experience. Which concept describes this?

    A) The glass escalator
    B) The second shift
    C) Doing gender
    D) The glass ceiling
    A) The glass escalator

    Christine Williams's glass escalator is the faster rise of men in female-dominated fields. The glass ceiling is the opposite kind of barrier, keeping women and minorities out of top positions.
    Gender & Sexuality
  5. Children whose parents take them to museums and discuss books at dinner arrive at school speaking and behaving as teachers expect, and teachers read this as natural ability. Which concept explains this advantage?

    A) Symbolic ethnicity
    B) The hidden curriculum
    C) The Pygmalion effect
    D) Cultural capital
    D) Cultural capital

    Bourdieu's cultural capital is the tastes, knowledge and manners of dominant groups, which schools reward as if they were talent and so reproduce inequality. The hidden curriculum is what schools teach informally, not what children bring from home.
    Education
  6. A movement urges people to undergo a religious conversion and rebuild their whole lives around their new faith. In David Aberle's typology, which type of movement is this?

    A) A redemptive movement
    B) A revolutionary movement
    C) A reformative movement
    D) An alternative movement
    A) A redemptive movement

    A redemptive movement seeks total change in individuals. An alternative movement seeks only limited change in individuals, and reformative and revolutionary movements aim to change society.
    Social Change & Movements

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Review status: Second-reader reviewed, with corrections applied.

Checked against:

  • Facts follow this folder's study deck, which was checked against the reference below.
  • OpenStax Introduction to Sociology 3e, consulted as a reference; no text copied.
  • Original questions written for this deck; no exam, textbook or question-bank items were copied. Scenarios are hypothetical and describe no real person or organization.

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