LSU Sociology 2001 Final Exam Questions And
Answers Real Study Solutions
/. altruistic suicide - Answer-where ties to the group or community are considered more
important than individual identity
/.anomic suicide - Answer-occurs when the structure of society is weakened or
disrupted and people feel hopelesss and disillusioned
/.fatalistic suicide - Answer-occurs when people see no possible way to improve their
oppressive circumstances
/.comparitive method - Answer-compares existing official statistics and historical records
across groups to test a theory about some social phenomenon
/.egotistic suicide - Answer-occurs in settings where the individual is emphasized over
group or community connections
/.individualistic explanation - Answer-tendency to attribute people's achievements and
failures to their personal qualities
/.macrolevel - Answer-way of examining human life that focuses on the broad social
forces and structural features of society that exist above the level of individual people
/.microlevel - Answer-way of examining human life that focuses on the immediate,
everyday experiences of individuals
/.sociological imagination - Answer-ability to see the impact of social forces on our
private lives
/.sociology - Answer-systematic study of human societies
/.achieved status - Answer-social position earned
/.ascribed status - Answer-social status given at birth
/.coalition - Answer-subgroup of a triad, formed when two of the members unite against
the third
/.conflict perspective - Answer-views the structure of society as a source of inequality
that always benefits some groups at the expense of other groups
/.culture - Answer-language, values, beliefs, etc that characterize a society
,/.dyad - Answer-group consisting of two people
/.feminist perspective - Answer-theoretical perspective that focuses on gender as the
most important source of conflict and inequality in social life
/.globalization - Answer-the process when people's lives all around the world become
economically, politically, environmentally and culturally interconnected
/.group - Answer-a set of people who interact more or less on a regular basis and who
are conscious of their identity as a unit
/.in-groups - Answer-groups where we feel we belong, and a sense of loyalty
/.latent functions - Answer-unintended, unrecognized consequences of activities that
help some part of the social system
/.manifest function - Answer-intended, obvious consequences of activities that help
some part of the social system
/.norm - Answer-culturally defined standard or rule of conduct
/.organization - Answer-large, complex network of positions created for a specific
purpose and characterized by a hierarchial division of labor
/.normative organization - Answer-people voluntarily join for personal satisfaction
/.coercive organization - Answer-people are forced to join
/.utilitarian organization - Answer-people voluntarily join for a material reward
/.out-group - Answer-the groups we don't have a sense of loyalty to, and we feel a
certain amount of antagonism towards
/.primary group - Answer-collection of individuals who are together for a relatively long
period, whose members have direct contact with and feel emotional attachment to one
another
/.role - Answer-set of expectations associated with a particular status
/.role conflict - Answer-when the demands of one role interfere with the demands of
another
/.role strain - Answer-lack of resources to fulfill the demands of a particular role
/.secondary group - Answer-relatively impersonal collection of individuals that is
established to perform a specific task
,/.social institution - Answer-stable set of roles, statuses, groups and organizations that
provide a foundation for behavior in some major area of social life
/.society - Answer-a population of people living in the same geographic area who share
a culture and a common identity and whose members are subject to the same political
authority
/.status - Answer-any named social position that a person can occupy
/.structural-functionalist perspective - Answer-the perspective that posits that social
institutions are structured to maintain stability and order in society
/.symbol - Answer-something used to represent something else
/.symbolic interactionsim - Answer-theoretical perspective that explains society and
social structure through an examination of the microlevel, personal, day-to-day
exchanges of people as individuals, pairs or groups
/.triad - Answer-group consisting of three people
/.value - Answer-standard of judgement by which people decide on desirable goals and
outcomes
/.analysis of existing data - Answer-unobtrusive research that relies on data gathered
earlier by someone else for some other purpose
/.content analysis - Answer-form of unobtrusive research that studies the content of
recorded messages, such as books, speeches, poems, songs, television shows,
websites and advertisements
/.dependent variable - Answer-the effect
/.independent variable - Answer-the cause
/.quantitative data - Answer-use numbers measure data
/.qualitative data - Answer-use words to analyze results
/.surveys - Answer-gather facts to determine the relationship among facts
/.experiments - Answer-study the impact of variables on subjects' attitudes or behaviors
/.participant observation - Answer-researchers participate in the situation they seek to
observe a group's behavior from within the group
, /.historical analysis - Answer-form of social research that relies on existing historical
documents as a source of data
/.incorrigible proposition - Answer-unquestioned cultural belief that cannot be proved
wrong no matter what happens to dispute it
/.indicator - Answer-measurable event, characteristic, or behavior commonly thought to
reflect a particular concept
/.moral entrepenuers - Answer-groups that work to have their moral concerns translated
into law
/.nonparticipant observation - Answer-form of research where the researcher observes
people without directly interacting with them and without letting them know they're being
observed
/.probabilistic - Answer-capable only of identifying those forces that have a high
likelihood, but not a certainty, of influencing human action
/.reactivity - Answer-a problem associated with certain forms of research in which the
very act of intruding into people's lives may influence the phenomenon being studied
/.representative - Answer-typical of the whole population being studied
/.sample - Answer-subgroup chosen for a study because its characteristics approximate
/.self-fulfilling prophecy - Answer-assumption or prediction that in itself causes the
expected event to occur, thus seeming to confirm the prophecy's accuracy
/.social construction of reality - Answer-members of a society discover, make known,
reaffirm and alter a collective version of facts, knowledge and "truth"
/.spurious relationship - Answer-a false association between two variables that is
actually due to the effect of some third variable
/.theory - Answer-set of statements that seek to explain/predict a particular aspect of
social life
/.unobtrusive research - Answer-the researcher, without direct contact with the
participants, examines the evidence of social behavior that people create or leave
behind
/.variable - Answer-any characteristic, attitude, behavior or event that can take on two or
more values or attributes
Answers Real Study Solutions
/. altruistic suicide - Answer-where ties to the group or community are considered more
important than individual identity
/.anomic suicide - Answer-occurs when the structure of society is weakened or
disrupted and people feel hopelesss and disillusioned
/.fatalistic suicide - Answer-occurs when people see no possible way to improve their
oppressive circumstances
/.comparitive method - Answer-compares existing official statistics and historical records
across groups to test a theory about some social phenomenon
/.egotistic suicide - Answer-occurs in settings where the individual is emphasized over
group or community connections
/.individualistic explanation - Answer-tendency to attribute people's achievements and
failures to their personal qualities
/.macrolevel - Answer-way of examining human life that focuses on the broad social
forces and structural features of society that exist above the level of individual people
/.microlevel - Answer-way of examining human life that focuses on the immediate,
everyday experiences of individuals
/.sociological imagination - Answer-ability to see the impact of social forces on our
private lives
/.sociology - Answer-systematic study of human societies
/.achieved status - Answer-social position earned
/.ascribed status - Answer-social status given at birth
/.coalition - Answer-subgroup of a triad, formed when two of the members unite against
the third
/.conflict perspective - Answer-views the structure of society as a source of inequality
that always benefits some groups at the expense of other groups
/.culture - Answer-language, values, beliefs, etc that characterize a society
,/.dyad - Answer-group consisting of two people
/.feminist perspective - Answer-theoretical perspective that focuses on gender as the
most important source of conflict and inequality in social life
/.globalization - Answer-the process when people's lives all around the world become
economically, politically, environmentally and culturally interconnected
/.group - Answer-a set of people who interact more or less on a regular basis and who
are conscious of their identity as a unit
/.in-groups - Answer-groups where we feel we belong, and a sense of loyalty
/.latent functions - Answer-unintended, unrecognized consequences of activities that
help some part of the social system
/.manifest function - Answer-intended, obvious consequences of activities that help
some part of the social system
/.norm - Answer-culturally defined standard or rule of conduct
/.organization - Answer-large, complex network of positions created for a specific
purpose and characterized by a hierarchial division of labor
/.normative organization - Answer-people voluntarily join for personal satisfaction
/.coercive organization - Answer-people are forced to join
/.utilitarian organization - Answer-people voluntarily join for a material reward
/.out-group - Answer-the groups we don't have a sense of loyalty to, and we feel a
certain amount of antagonism towards
/.primary group - Answer-collection of individuals who are together for a relatively long
period, whose members have direct contact with and feel emotional attachment to one
another
/.role - Answer-set of expectations associated with a particular status
/.role conflict - Answer-when the demands of one role interfere with the demands of
another
/.role strain - Answer-lack of resources to fulfill the demands of a particular role
/.secondary group - Answer-relatively impersonal collection of individuals that is
established to perform a specific task
,/.social institution - Answer-stable set of roles, statuses, groups and organizations that
provide a foundation for behavior in some major area of social life
/.society - Answer-a population of people living in the same geographic area who share
a culture and a common identity and whose members are subject to the same political
authority
/.status - Answer-any named social position that a person can occupy
/.structural-functionalist perspective - Answer-the perspective that posits that social
institutions are structured to maintain stability and order in society
/.symbol - Answer-something used to represent something else
/.symbolic interactionsim - Answer-theoretical perspective that explains society and
social structure through an examination of the microlevel, personal, day-to-day
exchanges of people as individuals, pairs or groups
/.triad - Answer-group consisting of three people
/.value - Answer-standard of judgement by which people decide on desirable goals and
outcomes
/.analysis of existing data - Answer-unobtrusive research that relies on data gathered
earlier by someone else for some other purpose
/.content analysis - Answer-form of unobtrusive research that studies the content of
recorded messages, such as books, speeches, poems, songs, television shows,
websites and advertisements
/.dependent variable - Answer-the effect
/.independent variable - Answer-the cause
/.quantitative data - Answer-use numbers measure data
/.qualitative data - Answer-use words to analyze results
/.surveys - Answer-gather facts to determine the relationship among facts
/.experiments - Answer-study the impact of variables on subjects' attitudes or behaviors
/.participant observation - Answer-researchers participate in the situation they seek to
observe a group's behavior from within the group
, /.historical analysis - Answer-form of social research that relies on existing historical
documents as a source of data
/.incorrigible proposition - Answer-unquestioned cultural belief that cannot be proved
wrong no matter what happens to dispute it
/.indicator - Answer-measurable event, characteristic, or behavior commonly thought to
reflect a particular concept
/.moral entrepenuers - Answer-groups that work to have their moral concerns translated
into law
/.nonparticipant observation - Answer-form of research where the researcher observes
people without directly interacting with them and without letting them know they're being
observed
/.probabilistic - Answer-capable only of identifying those forces that have a high
likelihood, but not a certainty, of influencing human action
/.reactivity - Answer-a problem associated with certain forms of research in which the
very act of intruding into people's lives may influence the phenomenon being studied
/.representative - Answer-typical of the whole population being studied
/.sample - Answer-subgroup chosen for a study because its characteristics approximate
/.self-fulfilling prophecy - Answer-assumption or prediction that in itself causes the
expected event to occur, thus seeming to confirm the prophecy's accuracy
/.social construction of reality - Answer-members of a society discover, make known,
reaffirm and alter a collective version of facts, knowledge and "truth"
/.spurious relationship - Answer-a false association between two variables that is
actually due to the effect of some third variable
/.theory - Answer-set of statements that seek to explain/predict a particular aspect of
social life
/.unobtrusive research - Answer-the researcher, without direct contact with the
participants, examines the evidence of social behavior that people create or leave
behind
/.variable - Answer-any characteristic, attitude, behavior or event that can take on two or
more values or attributes
