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Intro to Sociology: Theories and Key Concepts

The three major sociological perspectives, founding theorists and core concepts like roles, status, norms and deviance, with everyday scenarios.

by Kill h.14 questionsCreated Nov 8, 2026, 08:03 PM

Sociology· Social Theory#sociology#socialtheory#intro#review

14 questions

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1
Which theorist is most associated with conflict theory and the struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat?
- A
  Émile Durkheim
- B
  Max Weber
- Karl Marx
- D
  George Herbert Mead
Marx saw society shaped by conflict between those who own the means of production and those who sell their labor. Durkheim is tied to functionalism.
2
Durkheim's study of suicide showed that suicide rates:
- A
  Are explained entirely by individual mental illness
- Vary with how integrated and regulated people are in their social groups
- C
  Are identical across all societies
- D
  Rise only during economic booms
Durkheim argued that a seemingly individual act has social causes, such as weak integration or anomie (normlessness). That is the heart of sociology as a discipline.
3
Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism argued that:
- Religious ideas, such as Calvinist discipline, helped shape the rise of capitalism
- B
  Capitalism will inevitably be overthrown by workers
- C
  Religion is the 'opium of the people'
- D
  Society works like a living organism
Weber showed that ideas and culture, not just economics, drive social change. 'Opium of the people' is Marx, and the organism analogy belongs to functionalists such as Spencer and Durkheim.
4
A researcher studies how two coworkers use gestures and words to negotiate what 'being on time' means. Which perspective is this?
- A
  Structural functionalism
- B
  Conflict theory
- Symbolic interactionism
- D
  Rational choice theory
Symbolic interactionism is a micro-level view of how people create meaning through everyday interaction. Functionalism and conflict theory look at large-scale (macro) structures.
5
Colleges exist to educate students, but they also help students build friendships and meet future partners. That second outcome is a:
- A
  Manifest function
- Latent function
- C
  Dysfunction
- D
  Social norm
Robert Merton called intended, recognized outcomes manifest functions and unintended ones latent functions. A dysfunction would be a harmful consequence.
6
C. Wright Mills's 'sociological imagination' is the ability to:
- A
  Imagine an ideal society free of conflict
- B
  Design experiments that control all variables
- C
  Predict individual behavior from personality tests
- Connect personal troubles to larger public issues and history
One person losing a job is a personal trouble; millions losing jobs in a recession is a public issue. Mills wanted people to see how the two connect.
7
Which is an example of an ascribed status?
- A
  College graduate
- B
  Doctor
- Being a teenager
- D
  Convicted criminal
Ascribed statuses are not chosen, such as age, sex or race. Achieved statuses such as graduate, doctor or criminal come from a person's own actions.
8
A student-athlete has a big exam and a championship game on the same night. She is experiencing:
- A
  Role strain
- Role conflict
- C
  Role exit
- D
  Status inconsistency
Role conflict is tension between two different roles (student vs. athlete). Role strain is tension within a single role, such as a teacher balancing many students' needs.
9
Rank these norms from least to most serious when violated:
- A
  Mores, folkways, taboos
- B
  Taboos, mores, folkways
- C
  Folkways, taboos, mores
- Folkways, mores, taboos
Folkways are casual customs (like table manners), mores carry moral weight (like honesty), and taboos are the strongest prohibitions (like incest).
10
A traveler calls another culture's food 'disgusting' because it is not what people eat at home. This is:
- A
  Cultural relativism
- Ethnocentrism
- C
  Culture shock
- D
  Cultural diffusion
Ethnocentrism is judging other cultures by the standards of your own. Cultural relativism means understanding a practice within its own cultural context.
11
In Merton's strain theory, a person who wants wealth but embezzles money to get it is an example of:
- A
  Conformity
- B
  Ritualism
- C
  Retreatism
- Innovation
Innovators accept cultural goals (success) but reject legitimate means. Ritualists do the reverse: they follow the rules but have given up on the goals.
12
A teen labeled a 'troublemaker' by teachers starts to see himself that way and acts out more. Which theory explains this?
- Labeling theory
- B
  Strain theory
- C
  Social control theory
- D
  Differential association
Labeling theory (Becker) says deviance is partly created by how others label people, which can lead to secondary deviance. Differential association is about learning deviance from close peers.
13
Erving Goffman's dramaturgical approach compares social life to:
- A
  A machine
- B
  A marketplace
- A theater performance with front and back stages
- D
  A biological organism
Goffman argued we manage impressions 'on stage' in public and relax 'backstage.' The marketplace image fits rational choice theory, and the organism fits functionalism.
14
Which is an example of a primary group?
- A close family
- B
  Coworkers in a large company
- C
  A college lecture class
- D
  Members of a political party
Charles Cooley described primary groups as small, intimate and long-lasting. The others are secondary groups: larger, impersonal and goal-oriented.