Free Sociological Theory MCQs with Answers

• A. the interactionist perspective
• B. the functionalist perspective
• C. the relativist perspective
• D. the conflict perspective

Explanation: Functionalism views society and its environment in terms of interdependent parts that tend toward order and equilibrium.

• A. consumer demand and market mechanisms can bring about ecologically benign outcomes
• B. environmental protection cannot be achieved without high tech solutions
• C. an ecological form of economic growth is possible
• D. environmental protection and economic growth are incompatible aims

Explanation: Ecological modernization argues that environmental protection and economic growth can be reconciled through technology, innovation…

• A. high rewards and incentives ensure that the most skilled individuals will take the most important social positions
• B. inequality is inevitable, and we are born into poverty or wealth
• C. there are no social functions of inequality, so it should be eradicated
• D. the idea of a meritocracy is a dangerous ideology

Explanation: Functionalists such as Davis and Moore argue that unequal rewards motivate talented people to train for and occupy functionally important…

• A. Interactionist believe that groups will experience conflict only if they are of two distinct ethnic groups
• B. Interactionists believe the world we experience is socially constructed
• C. Interactionists downplay the role of communication in ethnicity
• D. all of the above

Explanation: Interactionists focus on meanings created through everyday interaction, so they argue that the social world we experience is socially…

• A. have found that American race and ethnic relations have little connection to global issues
• B. argue that prejudice discrimination and racism operate outside of social structures
• C. contend that racism serves the economic interests of the capitalist class
• D. conclude that racist notions serve the economic interests of people of color world-wide

Explanation: Marxist-oriented theorists connect racism with class structure and argue that it can serve the economic interests of the capitalist ruling…

• A. effervescent ceremonies that create a feeling o belonging
• B. images of gods or totems that are widely recognized
• C. ideological tools used to obscure class divisions
• D. shared ideas and moral values often symbolized by an object or figurehead

Explanation: For Durkheim, collective representations are shared beliefs, ideas and moral understandings through which a group expresses its collective…

• A. Samuel Huntington
• B. Amartya Sen
• C. Giles Kepel
• D. Michel Maffesoli

Explanation: Samuel Huntington developed the clash-of-civilizations thesis, arguing that major future conflicts could arise between culturally distinct…

• A. Christianity,s influence in the West
• B. the influence of the world religions on social development
• C. how salvation beliefs have shaped the modern world economy
• D. the impact of capitalism on the world religionsHire Grant Writers

Explanation: The Protestant Ethic was part of Weber’s wider comparative study of how the world religions influenced social development and economic…

• A. Max Weber
• B. Emile Durkheim
• C. Vilfredo Pareto
• D. Karl Marx

Explanation: Feuerbach’s idea that humans project their own qualities onto gods strongly influenced Marx’s critique of religion as alienation.

• A. personal qualities
• B. rational argument
• C. traditional authority
• D. collective wealth

Explanation: Weber's charismatic authority rests on followers' belief in a leader's exceptional personal qualities, such as courage, vision or…

• A. social inequality
• B. social change
• C. social solidarity
• D. social conflict

Explanation: Weber examined religion as a force that can produce social change, especially through the Protestant ethic's connection with the rise of…

• A. authority
• B. anomie
• C. alienation
• D. animism

Explanation: Marx treated religion as an expression of alienation because it projects human powers and hopes onto a supernatural being, making people…

• A. collective effervescence
• B. collective interaction
• C. collective consciousness
• D. class consciousness

Explanation: Durkheim called the intense emotional energy generated by collective worship collective effervescence.

• A. religion involves belief in God
• B. religion is a form of culture
• C. religion provides a sense of purpose
• D. religion involves beliefs and ritual practices

Explanation: God-belief is not essential in Durkheim's definition because religion centres on the distinction between the sacred and the profane…

• A. functionalism
• B. symbolic interactionism
• C. psychoanalysis
• D. cognitive theory

Explanation: Mead explained the self through interaction, language and role-taking, which are central ideas of symbolic interactionism.

• A. the group of structural theories of society that he was reacting against
• B. the overall impression of ourselves that we try to give off to others
• C. an image of how people in the wider society might perceive our behaviorTry Prep Courses
• D. a significant figure in early childhood who teaches us the general values of society

Explanation: Mead’s generalized other is the internalised viewpoint of the wider community, allowing people to judge how their behaviour is socially…

• A. face-work
• B. reverse socialization
• C. studied nonobservance
• D. anticipatory socialization

Explanation: The student gives excuses to protect a favourable social image after performing poorly, which is face-work in Goffman’s dramaturgical…

• A. nonverbal communication constitutes the majority of a message in communication
• B. if situations are defined as real they are real in their consequences
• C. definitions of the situation differ, and common understanding is impossible
• D. verbal communication is more important than touch and touch is more important than artifacts in communicating a message

Explanation: The Thomas theorem states that when people define situations as real, those situations become real in their consequences.

• A. Jean Piaget
• B. Erving Goffman
• C. Edward O.Wilson
• D. Harry Harlow

Explanation: Edward O. Wilson, a Harvard zoologist, brought sociobiology into major debate by explaining social behaviour partly through evolutionary…

• A. impression management
• B. the Thomas theorem
• C. the looking -glass self
• D. the dramaturgical approachAccess Government Careers

Explanation: The dramaturgical approach, associated especially with Erving Goffman, treats social interaction as a performance involving roles…