SOC 1305 Midterm Test Questions with. Correct Answers Latest Update 2025-2026
Human Population Trends - Answers What makes the population change (Fertility, mortality,
urbanization, etc)
Demography - Answers a sub field of sociology that examines population size composition and
distribution composition (age, education, race distribution)
Population - Answers all the inhabitants of a town or particular area
Fertility - Answers how many babies are being born
Low: Japan, wester Europe
M: US, India, Mexico,Egypt
H: Pakistan, Nigeria,Ethiopia
Mortality - Answers death rates, higher in developing countries
Migration - Answers push and pull factors (pushed out of their country/ pulled in by opportunity)
Push: Syrian Refugees
Pull: opportunity
The Malthusian Perspective - Answers the power of population is infinitely greater than the
power of Earth to produce subsistence for men (population growth > food supply = screwed)
The Marxist Perspective - Answers capitalism --> technology
technology --> faster/ better food production BUT leads to overpopulation, labor exploitation,
poverty because the wealthy capitalist have all the resources and wages
Demographic Transition Theory - Answers shift in birth rates and death rates (high birth and
death rates to low birth and death rates)
Society - Answers a large social grouping that shares the same geographical territory and its
subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations
Culture - Answers knowledge, language, values, and customers passed down from one
generation to the next
Differences between sociology and other academic disciplines - Answers sociology is not
economics, history, psychology, statistics, race, class, political science etc.
sociology (Definition) - Answers study of social life and FORCES that shape us, study of human
behavior, 1/2 art 1/2 science
, Sociological methods
qualitative vs quanitative - Answers qualitative- non numeric assessment of observations
quantitative- the numerical representation of observations
Ethnography/participant observation - Answers cultural interpretation, looks at detailed in depth
descriptive everyday life and practice// the observer involves themselves to learn more about
others
controlled experiment - Answers only one variable is being tested. only the independent variable
is allowed to be adjusted.
comparative/historical - Answers the examination of societies over time and in comparison with
one another
survey research - Answers mode of observation used for descriptive, explanatory, and
exploratory purposes
face to face interviews - Answers data collection encounter where the interviewers asks a
responder a series of questions
demographic variables - Answers age, gender, race, education, income, religious tradition
attributes - Answers Age : 18-35
Race : White, Black, Asian
Education : High school, College, Doctorate
Religion : Christianity, Atheist
independent and dependent variables - Answers how might ones age, gender, race (Independent)
effect health (dependent)
sociological imagination - Answers Book written by C. Wright Mills
two different concepts of social reality = the individual and society
concept:"the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society." It is
the ability to see things socially and how they interact and influence each other. To have a
sociological imagination, a person must be able to pull away from the situation and think from
an alternative point of view.
"troubles" vs "issues" - C. Wright Mills - Answers troubles are personal problems and issues are
social problems that effect us personally from the book The Sociological Imagination
Modernity vs. Postmodernity - Answers Modernity-(product of industrial revolution) Modernity is
Human Population Trends - Answers What makes the population change (Fertility, mortality,
urbanization, etc)
Demography - Answers a sub field of sociology that examines population size composition and
distribution composition (age, education, race distribution)
Population - Answers all the inhabitants of a town or particular area
Fertility - Answers how many babies are being born
Low: Japan, wester Europe
M: US, India, Mexico,Egypt
H: Pakistan, Nigeria,Ethiopia
Mortality - Answers death rates, higher in developing countries
Migration - Answers push and pull factors (pushed out of their country/ pulled in by opportunity)
Push: Syrian Refugees
Pull: opportunity
The Malthusian Perspective - Answers the power of population is infinitely greater than the
power of Earth to produce subsistence for men (population growth > food supply = screwed)
The Marxist Perspective - Answers capitalism --> technology
technology --> faster/ better food production BUT leads to overpopulation, labor exploitation,
poverty because the wealthy capitalist have all the resources and wages
Demographic Transition Theory - Answers shift in birth rates and death rates (high birth and
death rates to low birth and death rates)
Society - Answers a large social grouping that shares the same geographical territory and its
subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations
Culture - Answers knowledge, language, values, and customers passed down from one
generation to the next
Differences between sociology and other academic disciplines - Answers sociology is not
economics, history, psychology, statistics, race, class, political science etc.
sociology (Definition) - Answers study of social life and FORCES that shape us, study of human
behavior, 1/2 art 1/2 science
, Sociological methods
qualitative vs quanitative - Answers qualitative- non numeric assessment of observations
quantitative- the numerical representation of observations
Ethnography/participant observation - Answers cultural interpretation, looks at detailed in depth
descriptive everyday life and practice// the observer involves themselves to learn more about
others
controlled experiment - Answers only one variable is being tested. only the independent variable
is allowed to be adjusted.
comparative/historical - Answers the examination of societies over time and in comparison with
one another
survey research - Answers mode of observation used for descriptive, explanatory, and
exploratory purposes
face to face interviews - Answers data collection encounter where the interviewers asks a
responder a series of questions
demographic variables - Answers age, gender, race, education, income, religious tradition
attributes - Answers Age : 18-35
Race : White, Black, Asian
Education : High school, College, Doctorate
Religion : Christianity, Atheist
independent and dependent variables - Answers how might ones age, gender, race (Independent)
effect health (dependent)
sociological imagination - Answers Book written by C. Wright Mills
two different concepts of social reality = the individual and society
concept:"the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society." It is
the ability to see things socially and how they interact and influence each other. To have a
sociological imagination, a person must be able to pull away from the situation and think from
an alternative point of view.
"troubles" vs "issues" - C. Wright Mills - Answers troubles are personal problems and issues are
social problems that effect us personally from the book The Sociological Imagination
Modernity vs. Postmodernity - Answers Modernity-(product of industrial revolution) Modernity is
