1. Why do the authors of your textbook reject definitions of family that depend on particular types of
people (like parents) and specific types of ties (like marriage)?
a. They believe that the nuclear family remains the most important prototype for a family.
b. They want the definition to be broad enough to encompass a variety of living
arrangements.
c. They believe that, in the future, more and more families will consist of two sets of parents with
children.
d. They want to emphasize that family relations are always power relations.
e. They argue that it is important to limit the definition of families so that families can be
discussed with clarity.
Page 358
2. Given the history of the family, what sort of changes do you think would be most likely to make the
extended family more relevant again?
a. changes in America’s political structure that cause family values to be more important
b. changes in the economy that make people less likely to move away from their hometowns
to get a job
c. changes in divorce laws that make it harder for couples to separate
d. changes in American culture that lead us to spend less time at work
e. changes in religion that cause adults to reevaluate how they relate to their parents
Page 358
3. Until recently South Korea had laws in place banning marriage between people who belonged to the
same clan. This means that they practiced:
a. polyandry
b. exogamy
c. endogamy
d. plural families
e. extended family marriage systems
Page 359
4. If a music critic used the term “miscegenation” meta­phorically, what would they call “musical
miscegenation”?
a. the way that white country music and black blues music came together to make rock and
roll
b. the way that pop stars become disconnected from their roots
c. the way that the press treats pop superstars and the effect that this has on contemporary music
d. the role that the piano has played in twentieth-century jazz
e. the interaction between blues fans and blues musicians
Page 359
5. In Japan some are worried that the large number of families with only one child is producing a whole
generation of shy, introverted men who have little interest in consumption or material success,
which might threaten the whole basis for Japanese society. What sort of theoretical perspective on
the family is this concern based on?
a. structural functionalist
b. conflict
c. symbolic interactionist
d. life course theory
e. historical materialist
REF: Page 360
6. What would a symbolic interactionist studying the family be most interested in?
a. the inequalities associated with men’s negligible role in raising and caring for infants
b. the diminished role that the family plays in teaching children important skills
c. the way that gift giving within an extended family makes some bonds more important than
others
d. the genealogy of a family from colonial times down to the present day
e. the way that increasing divorce rates are making it harder for families to function and to
socialize children
Page 363
7. What factors are involved in forming relationships and selecting mates?
a. personal chemistry
b. the unique individual characteristics of the individuals involved
c. the tendency to choose mates who are similar in class, race, ethnicity, and age
d. the desire to find a mate who is exotic and
comes from a radically different background
e. the tendency to look for a mate far from
home
Page 363
8. How could new technologies like the Internet decrease the importance of propinquity in mate selection
while preserving or even increasing the importance of homogamy?
a. by bringing people together from all over the world based on very similar interests or
backgrounds
b. by forcing people to look for a mate closer to home
c. by making it obvious to most people that their best chance for marital satisfaction may be with a
type of person they’ve never met before
d. by expanding the dating pool through Internet dating sites and providing exposure to a much
wider variety of people
e. by allowing social networking sites to connect individuals to more and more residents of their
hometowns
Page 363
9. JDate is a website that helps Jewish men and women, especially those who aren’t practicing Jews or
who live in areas where there aren’t many other Jews, form romantic relationships. What do Jewish
people who use this website care about?
a. religious purity
b. homogamy
c. propinquity
d. polyandry
e. symbolic families
Page 363
10. Before World War II, the United States had no interstate highway system, and traveling to different
parts of the country was both more difficult and less common. This means that ____________ must
have been even more important in determining mate selection.
a. exogamy
b. economic considerations
c. expressive tasks
d. schools
e. propinquity
Page 363
11. Reading children bedtime stories is an important task in many families. What part of reading the
bedtime story is an instrumental task?
a. making bedtime fun and keeping everyone happy
b. staying entertained as a parent by reading the children books that you like
c. getting children into pajamas, tucked into bed, and then to sleep
d. teaching children to love reading and language
e. sharing a moment with a child and developing shared interests
Page 364
12. How does the birth of children change the gendered division of labor within the household?
a. It gets fathers more involved.
b. It brings the extended family into the household more.
c. It makes the gendered division of labor more traditional.
d. It makes the gendered division of labor more traditional in families that were always somewhat
traditional, but it has no effect on those who had a more progressive division of labor.
e. It has no influence on the gendered division of labor.
368
13. How do most abusive relationships look at the beginning?
a. The signs of violence are there from the start.
b. Violence usually begins as soon as the relationship starts, if not before.
c. There is tension and a “walking on eggshells” feeling from day one.
d. There is usually a mixture of abuse and contrition, sometimes in the same day.
e. The abusive partner is charming, attentive, and thoughtful.
372
14. Two people get divorced and can’t agree about child custody. They end up in family court. The
mother is an accountant who makes about twice the father’s income. Her family comes from a
wealthy background, and he is an unemployed trash collector. They both have bachelor’s degrees
from a state school, but he spends time volunteering at a local homeless shelter. What makes it
more likely that the mother will get sole custody?
a. the father’s contact with the homeless
b. the mother’s education
c. the father’s occupation
d. the mother’s family background
e. the mother’s income
375
15. How are children of divorced parents today different from children of divorced parents in the 1970s?
a. Children of divorced parents today are more likely to get divorced themselves than were
children whose parents divorced in the 1970s.
b. Children of divorced parents today are more likely to be divorced multiple times than were
children whose parents divorced in the 1970s.
c. Children of divorced parents today are more likely to get married than were children whose
parents divorced in the 1970s.
d. Children of divorced parents today are less likely to be married in their teens than were children
whose parents divorced in the 1970s.
e. Children of divorced parents today are considerably less likely to divorce than were
children whose parents divorced in the 1970s.
375
16. Under what circumstances is a father more likely than a mother to be awarded custody of his minor
children following a divorce?
a. when he lives in a rural area
b. when he lives in a politically conservative area
c. when the children are younger than 12
d. when the oldest child is female
e. when he makes substantially more money than his ex-wife
375
17. What led to the increase in leisure time in the twentieth century?
a. Changes in values and norms made leisure seem more desirable.
b. increases in industrial productivity and time-saving technologies
c. decreases in family size
d. increases in life span and better health care
e. urbanization
384
18. What is the difference between recreation and leisure?
a. Leisure is a kind of activity; recreation is a kind of time.
b. Leisure requires money; recreation does not.
c. Leisure is a kind of time; recreation is a kind of activity.
d. Recreation requires money; leisure does not.
e. Recreation involves the use of technology; leisure does not.
384
19. How are changes in technology changing the nature of recreation?
a. Recreation is more dangerous than ever before.
b. Recreation is moving into public spaces and away from the home.
c. Recreation is less likely to involve members of the immediate family.
d. Recreation has become safer.
e. Recreation is moving inside the home and away from public spaces.
385
20. What is the shift from people making their own fun to people purchasing it as goods and services
called?
a. the privatization of recreational activities
b. the commodification of recreational activities
c. the end of romance
d. formalizing recreation
e. conglomeration synergy
Page 385
21. A small child asks his babysitter if he can play “tag.” The child means the simple outdoor game
wherein one player chases the other players until she can “tag” one of them with her hand to trade
roles. However, the babysitter is confused and goes to the entertainment center to look for a DVD
or a video game named “Tag.” What phenomenon could be responsible for this confusion?
a. the increase in leisure time spontaneity
b. the popularity of simple outdoor activities
c. the commercialization of leisure
d. the decline of public life
e. the formalization of recreation
Page 385
22. A flash mob is a sudden assembly of strangers in a public place, who usually perform some novel
action (clapping for no reason, singing a song together, dancing, etc.) and then rapidly disperse.
Although they appear to be spontaneous to outsiders, in reality flash mobs are organized through emails, social networking sites, and text messages. This is a good example of how technology can:
a. shift recreation to the private sphere.
b. concentrate media power.
c. promote self-regulation and censorship in the media.
d. make it easier to organize people.
e. commodify recreation and leisure.
Page 386
23. In 2007 Michael Vick, star quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, was arrested and charged with
masterminding a dogfighting ring. Many people were shocked to find out that dogfighting still
existed, but even more were shocked to find out that a celebrity and millionaire would be involved
in it. Why were they shocked?
a. Dogfighting is a totally spontaneous recreational activity, which flies in the face of recent trends
in recreation and leisure.
b. People of different socioeconomic classes have different leisure activities, and dogfighting
is not associated with the wealthy.
c. Free time is both ambiguous and difficult to measure, so no one knew what star athletes did with
theirs.
d. It is usually assumed that the wealthy have far, far less leisure time than the poor, so people
were shocked to find that Michael Vick had so much time to devote to a hobby instead of to his
career.
e. Dogfighting is a hobby that seems completely uncommercialized; discovering that it was
commercialized would be surprising under any circumstances.
387
24. On the ESPN.com website, men’s college basketball is presented as “college basketball,” while
women’s college basketball is called “women’s college basketball” and shares a web page with
women’s professional basketball. This is an example of:
a. the concentration of media power.
b. inequality.
c. privatization.
d. commercialization.
e. the decline of public life.
387
25. How has the principle of the free press as a voice of the people been watered down since the founders
guaranteed it in the Constitution?
a. through blogs and zines
b. through conglomeration and media concentration
c. through the tabloid press
d. through an increasing desire for sensationalism
e. through the rise of celebrity gossip
390
26. Americans seem to have much more choice about which media to consume than in the past. Why is
this choice deceptive?
a. Many choices are owned by foreign companies.
b. Many choices are confined to small, marginal outlets.
c. Many choices are owned by the same company.
d. Many choices are not available in all areas.
e. Many choices are very expensive.
390
27. Given what you know about David Harvey and the postmodern economy, how does our society
manage to consume all of the additional goods produced as a result of the incredible increases in
efficiency?
a. Many more products last longer and work more efficiently, thus ensuring consumer loyalty.
b. Many more types of products will be subject to fashion and will go out of style.
c. Media deregulation and the concentration of media power has increased the persuasive quality
of advertising.
d. Passing stronger antitrust legislation has led to variety as well as quantity.
e. Using and consuming more textual poaching and consumer-driven media has led to increased
consumerism.
392
28. Which of the following is NOT considered to be protected speech?
a. material considered to be obscene
b. information about the personal lives of political candidates
c. pictures taken of celebrities on public property
d. information about bombs and weapons
e. hateful language directed at racial and ethnic minorities
393
29. Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer believed that “the triumph of advertising . . . is that consumers
feel compelled to buy and use its products even though they see through them.” If this is all you
know about Adorno and Horkheimer, you might conclude that they:
a. are functionalists.
b. accept that reinforcement theory explains the way that advertising works.
c. accept that audiences are active.
d. believe in the hypodermic needle theory.
e. rely on the uses and gratification paradigm to understand media.
396
30. Every year Project Censored posts a list of the 25 most censored news stories. These stories are
“censored” not in the sense that the media is legally prohibited from covering them, but rather in
the sense that most major media outlets have systematically ignored them and, in the process,
determined what the public will think about. What theory explains this?
a. agenda-setting theory
b. reinforcement theory
c. structural functionalism
d. the magic bullet theory
e. the two-step flow theory
Page 397
31. Stanley Fish argues against older understandings of media and literature, which held that a text is
unchanging and universal. But, although he argues that each member of an audience can interpret
and so “create” a work, he doesn’t claim that each audience member has absolute freedom to
interpret in unique ways because:
a. each member of an audience is part of a larger interpretive community.
b. the author or creator of a work imposes his own ideas on the audience.
c. the “texts” an audience consumes are transmitted unaltered and absorbed straight into their
consciousness.
d. most members of an audience have specialized training that allows them to understand what an
author means.
e. the mass media can influence the public by the way stories are presented.
400
32. Which of the following activities is part of a fan’s relationship with a celebrity?
a. reading celebrity gossip magazines
b. attending a book signing or other event
c. masterminding a fan-staged encounter with a celebrity
d. stalking a celebrity
e. all of the above
398
33. What sport is immensely popular in almost every part of the world EXCEPT the United States?
a. baseball
b. hockey
c. basketball
d. track and field
e. soccer
402
34. Single-industry resource towns built around either excavating raw materials like coal or lumber or
transporting them by train tend to spring up suddenly. Many people move there to work for the
company and the rate of change is fast: One day there is a forest, the next, a growing town built
around mobile homes in the bush. There are often few if any other things to besides work. Rates of
depression tend to be high. Which theoretical explanation for suicide would explain the higher rates
of depression that can lead to suicide in places like this?
a. selection
b. psychological
c. contagion
d. physiological
e. ecological
412
35. Good health is:
a. historically and socially contingent.
b. biologically determined.
c. unrelated to culture.
d. consistent around the world.
e. explained only by bio-medical models.
413
36. Ori went to eat at his favorite restaurant and unfortunately got food poisoning. His illness was treated
right away. This treatment would be classified as:
a. preventive medicine.
b. palliative medicine.
c. chronic.
d. curative or crisis medicine.
e. lifestyle.
413
37. Kea tries to take good care of herself. She works out regularly, gets plenty of rest and eats well. Her
approach to health is more closely aligned with:
a. palliative medicine.
b. chronic illness.
c. preventive medicine.
d. curative or crisis medicine.
e. lifestyle medicine.
414
38. Sid feels horrible. He goes to his doctor, who tells Sid he’s got a bad cold and he should be feeling
better soon. How would Sid’s illness be classified?
a. chronic
b. acute
c. curative
d. crisis
e. preventive
413
39. In the early 1900s, just under 50 percent of births took place at home. Today, around 99 percent of all
births take place in hospitals. This is an example of
a. chronic care.
b. medicalization.
c. zeitgeist.
d. the tragedy of the commons.
e. free loading.
Page 416
40. Research on HIV by Rowniak (2009) found that a social transformation has taken place since the
inception of improved treatments for AIDS that make it more of a manageable disease than an
imminent killer. Specifically, the research found that the response to this “less than a death
sentence” diagnosis has caused what some researchers refer to as _______________ that can lead
to a rise in infection rates.
a. free riding
b. a tragedy of the commons
c. the Sick role
d. renewed condom avoidance
e. safe-sex fatigue
417
41. Malaria is a serious health concern in Cambodia. In some villages, especially those surrounded by
forests, the rate of malaria infection is 40 percent. Due to your extensive professional experience
with the study of social disease patterns, you have been asked to research the problem for the
World Health Organization. You are most likely a:
a. sociologist.
b. psychologist.
c. nongovernmental organization researcher.
d. entomologist.
e. epidemiologist.
417
42. Dean is an upper middle class American. He lives in an affluent area, holds a bachelor’s degree, and
has a great job. It is likely that his health status is:
a. marginal.
b. excellent.
c. middling.
d. poor.
e. No research has been done that would help us comment on his health status.
420
43. When the incidence of a particular infectious disease is drastically larger than first estimated, this is
referred to as a(n) ________________.
a. epidemic
b. pandemic
c. epidemiology
d. distribution issue
e. false consciousness
Page 417
44. Epidemiologists predict that __________ rates may dramatically increase when vector organisms and
animals enter new ecosystems due to global climate change.
a. Lyme disease
b. West Nile virus
c. yellow and dengue fevers
d. plague
e. all of the above
419
45. There is evidence that _____________ make(s) men more sick.
a. biological features
b. traditional male gender role expectations
c. traditional female gender role expectations
d. male gender inequality
e. female gender inequality
Page 420
46. A neighborhood where there is no grocery store, but more liquor, convenience and drug stores, and
fast food outlets is referred to as a:
a. total institution.
b. locavore problem.
c. chain food center.
d. food desert.
e. fast food–dominated area.
422
47. The documentary “Unnatural Causes” explores the lives of several Louisville, Kentucky residents at
different socio-economic status levels and from various racial backgrounds. It found that poorer
Louisville residents suffered greater rates of illness and died earlier than wealthier ones. What is
this an example of?
a. deprivation amplification
b. food deserts
c. environmental racism
d. impression management
e. anomie
424
48. Yasmina loves to eat healthy. She believes that eating only organic food is the best way to live
because organic food companies are socially conscious just like her. Is Yasmina correct in her
beliefs?
a. yes, because organic companies do make good food
b. no, because organic companies can be part of conglomerates with little interest in social or
environmental consciousness
c. yes, because organic companies are not part of conglomerates and have a high interest in social
and environmental causes
d. no, because organic food isn’t always good for you
e. yes, because organic companies have to report on their social and / or environmental policies
while other food supply companies do not
426
49. When Michael Pollan talks about “re-regionalizing” the food system in America, what does he mean?
a. localizing national food policy and supporting a locavore agenda
b. regionalizing national food policy and supporting a regionalized agenda
c. nationalizing a regional approach to food consumption and working with corporations to do this
d. publicizing an organic agenda
e. making public service announcements to educate people on how to make better food choices
50. Which of the following is an effect of food deserts?
a. They are only located in densely populated urban areas.
b. They are only located in sparsely populated rural areas.
c. There is access to fresh meats, but not vegetables or fruits.
d. There is access to fresh vegetables and fruits, but not meats.
e. There is higher risk of diabetes, obesity, or heart disease.
423