A method that answers questions through a systematic collection and analysis of data is called __________.
a. a comparative perspective
b. a structural functionalist perspective
c. an empirical approach
d. a constructivist approach
This text has four themes. Which is NOT one of them?
a. Sociological understanding of social problems requires a comparative perspective.
b. Sociological understanding of social problems requires a qualitative approach.
c. Sociological understanding of social problems requires linking individual experiences with social structure.
d. Sociological understanding of social problems requires recognizing the importance of social inequality.
To readers of daily websites and news sites, and to those who watch television news, social problems may often resemble fads because the focus on any given subject by the press and the public tends to last only a few days or weeks.
Why does this occur? a. There are many social problems to cover, and the media can spare only a few days or weeks on each one.
b. Most people are not interested in social problems.
c. Most people are interested in social problems, but they lose interest in a very short time.
d. The media wants to attract large numbers of viewers or readers so they constantly pursue stories that will capture the attention of the public.
Sociologists distinguish between the nature of media coverage of a social problem and the way that a problem is perceived by the public and political leaders.
They have also devoted considerable study to the question of how social problems develop from underlying conditions into publicly defined problems that engender social policies and sustained social movements. This subject is often referred to as the __________ of social problems. a. natural history
b. prime predictor
c. essence
d. prime mover
Early in the twentieth century, sociologists recognized that social problems often seemed to develop in a series of phases or stages. They called the study of this process the __________.
a. coalition forming schema
b. consensus formation mode
c. institution building system
d. natural history approach
Justin has been using drugs for a number of years. He has been labeled as a drug addict by his peers, who now want nothing to do with him.
Justin has recently adopted elements of what is seen as a drug addict's lifestyle: resisting employment or treatment, getting into fights, and engaging in crime. Sociologists label this behavior __________. a. social disorganized deviance
b. third-order deviance
c. secondary deviance
d. social deviance
Drug addicts may possess illegal drugsan act that is criminal. To maintain their habit, addicts may commit crimes in order to maintain their supply of drugs. This type of crime is categorized as __________ deviance.
a. unnecessary
b. criminalized
c. stress-related
d. secondary
According to labeling theory, the act of labeling a person or group deviant may cause society to suffer in which of the following ways?
a. Labeling causes those who are labeled to avoid deviance, thereby deterring them.
b. The labeled may accept the definition of themselves as deviant and increase their deviance as a result.
c. The labeling has no effect because of the pro-criminal self-concepts of those labeled.
d. The labeling causes those who are labeled to become an important, powerful,
political force.
__________ theory stresses that a social process separates deviant and nondeviant persons not by what they do, but by how society reacts to what they do.
a. Labeling
b. Value-conflict
c. Value-reaction
d. Social disorganization
According to the __________ perspective on social problems, an individual's or group's definition of the situation is central to understanding the actions of that individual or group.
a. functionalist
b. conflict
c. symbolic interactionist
d. normative
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