Free Sociological Theory MCQs with Answers
291 Sociological Theory MCQs from Sociology, each with the correct answer and a written explanation of why it is correct. Free and unlimited, with no account needed.
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291 questions · page 21 of 30
201. When Berger & Luckman said that reality is socially constructed they meant ?
- A. scientists are guided in their work by social values and interests, so they define and measure phenomena that will support their theories
- B. people negotiate shared definitions of their situation and live according to these often forgetting that these social worlds are not fixed and external
- C. sociologists decide what constitutes social reality and measure only that
- D. terms like reality have no deeper meaning beyond the level of discourse
Explanation: Berger and Luckmann argued that people create and maintain social reality through shared meanings and repeated interaction, then come to experience those meanings as objective facts. Option a refers more narrowly to the social influences on scientific work.
Correct answer: people negotiate shared definitions of their situation and live according to these often forgetting that these social worlds are not fixed and external202. When workers organized unions and forced management to recognize that they were not object, theorists of formal organizations began to revise the________________?
- A. classical theory
- B. scientific management approach
- C. human relations approach
- D. both a and b
Explanation: Unionisation challenged the view of workers as mere instruments of production and encouraged revisions to both classical organisation theory and its scientific-management approach. The human-relations approach was itself one of the later responses to these limitations.
Correct answer: both a and b203. "Division of Labor in Society" increased emphasis on_____________?
- A. Interdependence
- B. Specialization
- C. Occupational Friendships
- D. All of these
Explanation: Durkheim linked the division of labour with greater specialisation and organic solidarity, in which people become interdependent through their different occupations. This can also produce occupational relationships, making all of the listed consequences relevant in the textbook's framing.
Correct answer: All of these204. According to Durkheim an important component of social life was______________?
- A. Social solidarity
- B. Social alienation
- C. Individualism
- D. None of these
Explanation: Durkheim treated social solidarity as the force integrating individuals into society: mechanical solidarity rests on similarity, while organic solidarity rests on interdependence. Alienation is mainly associated with Marx's analysis of capitalism.
Correct answer: Social solidarity205. The solution Marx gave to the problem of alienation was______________?
- A. Democracy
- B. Communism
- C. Dictatorship
- D. None of these
Explanation: Marx connected alienation to private ownership of the means of production and exploitation of wage labour. He therefore proposed communism, in which productive resources would be collectively controlled, as its solution.
Correct answer: Communism206. According to Marx the fruit of labor should go to________________?
- A. the capitalist
- B. the working class
- C. equally distributed
- D. to none of these
Explanation: Marx argued that workers produce the value appropriated by capitalists as profit, creating exploitation and alienation. In a non-exploitative communist system, the product of labour would belong to the working class collectively.
Correct answer: the working class207. Bourgeoisie refers to______________?
- A. the capitalist
- B. the working class
- C. the middle man
- D. None of these
Explanation: In Marxist sociology, the bourgeoisie are the capitalist class who own the means of production. The working class, or proletariat, must sell its labour to them, so option b is the contrasting class.
Correct answer: the capitalist208. Species being means_______________?
- A. Self-actualization
- B. Self-denial
- C. None of these
- D. both of these
Explanation: For Marx, species-being refers to humans’ distinctive capacity for conscious, creative and self-directed activity, which is closest here to self-actualization. Self-denial is not the meaning of the concept.
Correct answer: Self-actualization209. Iron cage of bureaucracy was the perception of_______________?
- A. Emile Durkhiem
- B. Max Weber
- C. August Comte
- D. Karl Marx
Explanation: Max Weber used the image of the iron cage to describe how rational rules and bureaucracy can trap individuals in impersonal systems of control. Durkheim is associated instead with anomie and social solidarity.
Correct answer: Max Weber210. "The division between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat is the key to stratification in capitalist societies "This statement is consistent with the thinking of which theorist ?
- A. Marx
- B. Weber
- C. Parsons
- D. Lincoln
Explanation: Marx treated capitalist stratification mainly as a conflict between the bourgeoisie, who own the means of production, and the proletariat, who sell their labour. Weber recognised class but also gave greater importance to status and party.
Correct answer: Marx