Test Bank For OpenStax Introduction to
Sociology 3e.
National Board–Style MCQs with 100%
Correct Answers and Explanations
,21 chapters:
1. An Introduction to Sociology
2. Sociological Research
3. Culture
4. Society and Social Interaction
5. Socialization
6. Groups and Organization
7. Deviance, Crime, and Social Control
8. Media and Technology
9. Social Stratification in the United States
10. Global Inequality
11.Race and Ethnicity
12.Gender, Sex, and Sexuality
13.Aging and the Elderly
14.Relationships, Marriage, and Family
15.Religion
16.Education
17.Government and Politics
18.Work and the Economy
19.Health and Medicine
20. Population, Urbanization, and the Environment
21.Social Movements and Social Change
,Chapter 1: An Introduction to Sociology
Question 1
A sociologist is studying how the 2008 global financial crisis continues to influence the
marriage rates of Millennials in the United States today. By examining the link between
large-scale economic shifts and personal life choices, the researcher is primarily utilizing:
A. Reification
B. The sociological imagination
C. Clinical sociology
D. Positivism
E. Micro-level analysis
Correct Answer: B. The sociological imagination
Explanation: C. Wright Mills defined the sociological imagination as the awareness of the
relationship between a person’s behavior and experience and the wider culture and history
1
that shaped those choices . This question applies that concept by connecting a personal
decision (marriage) to a historical social structure (the financial crisis).
Question 2
When a researcher treats the concept of "Culture" as a self-aware, independent entity that
"decides" to change itself, rather than seeing it as a product of human interaction, they are
committing which analytical error?
A. Figuration
B. Social Facting
C. Verstehen
D. Reification
E. Antipositivism
Correct Answer: D. Reification
Explanation: Reification is the error of treating an abstract concept (like culture) as though it
2
has a real, material, or independent existence . Sociology emphasizes that culture is a
product of the people within a society, not an entity that exists outside of them.
Question 3
, German sociologist Norbert Elias used the term "figuration" to describe a central tenet of the
sociological perspective. Which of the following best summarizes this concept?
A. The belief that individual biological drives determine social outcomes.
B. The practice of using mathematical figures to prove social theories.
C. The process of simultaneously analyzing the behavior of individuals and the society that
shapes that behavior.
D. The hierarchy of social classes within a capitalist economy.
E. The study of how symbols are used in one-on-one communication.
Correct Answer: C. The process of simultaneously analyzing the behavior of
individuals and the society that shapes that behavior.
Explanation: Elias’s concept of figuration posits that the individual and society are
inseparable; one cannot study one without "figuring in" the other, as social institutions and
3
individual practices are mutually influential .
Question 4
While Auguste Comte is often credited with coining the term "sociology," which 14th-century
historian is recognized for setting the foundation for modern sociology and economics
through his theories on social conflict and social cohesion (asabiyyah)?
A. Ma Tuan-Lin
B. Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès
C. Ibn Khaldun
D. Plato
E. Georg Simmel
Correct Answer: C. Ibn Khaldun
Explanation: Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) proposed early theories of social conflict, analyzed
political economy, and studied the relationship between a tribe's social cohesion and its
4
capacity for power, long before sociology was established as a formal Western discipline .
Question 5
Auguste Comte's philosophy of "positivism" proposed that:
A. Social scientists should only focus on the positive aspects of human behavior.
Sociology 3e.
National Board–Style MCQs with 100%
Correct Answers and Explanations
,21 chapters:
1. An Introduction to Sociology
2. Sociological Research
3. Culture
4. Society and Social Interaction
5. Socialization
6. Groups and Organization
7. Deviance, Crime, and Social Control
8. Media and Technology
9. Social Stratification in the United States
10. Global Inequality
11.Race and Ethnicity
12.Gender, Sex, and Sexuality
13.Aging and the Elderly
14.Relationships, Marriage, and Family
15.Religion
16.Education
17.Government and Politics
18.Work and the Economy
19.Health and Medicine
20. Population, Urbanization, and the Environment
21.Social Movements and Social Change
,Chapter 1: An Introduction to Sociology
Question 1
A sociologist is studying how the 2008 global financial crisis continues to influence the
marriage rates of Millennials in the United States today. By examining the link between
large-scale economic shifts and personal life choices, the researcher is primarily utilizing:
A. Reification
B. The sociological imagination
C. Clinical sociology
D. Positivism
E. Micro-level analysis
Correct Answer: B. The sociological imagination
Explanation: C. Wright Mills defined the sociological imagination as the awareness of the
relationship between a person’s behavior and experience and the wider culture and history
1
that shaped those choices . This question applies that concept by connecting a personal
decision (marriage) to a historical social structure (the financial crisis).
Question 2
When a researcher treats the concept of "Culture" as a self-aware, independent entity that
"decides" to change itself, rather than seeing it as a product of human interaction, they are
committing which analytical error?
A. Figuration
B. Social Facting
C. Verstehen
D. Reification
E. Antipositivism
Correct Answer: D. Reification
Explanation: Reification is the error of treating an abstract concept (like culture) as though it
2
has a real, material, or independent existence . Sociology emphasizes that culture is a
product of the people within a society, not an entity that exists outside of them.
Question 3
, German sociologist Norbert Elias used the term "figuration" to describe a central tenet of the
sociological perspective. Which of the following best summarizes this concept?
A. The belief that individual biological drives determine social outcomes.
B. The practice of using mathematical figures to prove social theories.
C. The process of simultaneously analyzing the behavior of individuals and the society that
shapes that behavior.
D. The hierarchy of social classes within a capitalist economy.
E. The study of how symbols are used in one-on-one communication.
Correct Answer: C. The process of simultaneously analyzing the behavior of
individuals and the society that shapes that behavior.
Explanation: Elias’s concept of figuration posits that the individual and society are
inseparable; one cannot study one without "figuring in" the other, as social institutions and
3
individual practices are mutually influential .
Question 4
While Auguste Comte is often credited with coining the term "sociology," which 14th-century
historian is recognized for setting the foundation for modern sociology and economics
through his theories on social conflict and social cohesion (asabiyyah)?
A. Ma Tuan-Lin
B. Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès
C. Ibn Khaldun
D. Plato
E. Georg Simmel
Correct Answer: C. Ibn Khaldun
Explanation: Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) proposed early theories of social conflict, analyzed
political economy, and studied the relationship between a tribe's social cohesion and its
4
capacity for power, long before sociology was established as a formal Western discipline .
Question 5
Auguste Comte's philosophy of "positivism" proposed that:
A. Social scientists should only focus on the positive aspects of human behavior.
