WGU C273 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
PRACTICE EXAM 200 QUESTIONS WITH
100% VERIFIED ANSWERS & RATIONALES
1. Which theoretical perspective focuses on face-to-face interactions
and the meanings people attach to symbols?
A. Functionalism
B. Conflict theory
C. Symbolic interactionism ✔
D. Feminist theory
Rationale: Symbolic interactionism examines micro-level interactions
and shared meanings.
2. A society where men hold primary power in politics, law, and religion
is known as:
A. Matriarchy
B. Patriarchy ✔
C. Egalitarian
D. Oligarchy
Rationale: Patriarchy refers to systematic male dominance in social
institutions.
3. The process by which people learn the norms, values, and behaviors
of their culture is:
A. Socialization ✔
,B. Resocialization
C. Assimilation
D. Acculturation
Rationale: Socialization is the lifelong learning of culture.
4. Which social institution typically handles the transmission of
knowledge and skills across generations?
A. Economy
B. Family
C. Education ✔
D. Government
Rationale: Education formalizes knowledge transfer, though family also
socializes.
5. According to Merton’s strain theory, a person who rejects both
cultural goals and institutional means is a(n):
A. Innovator
B. Ritualist
C. Retreatist ✔
D. Rebel
Rationale: Retreatists drop out of society, rejecting both goals and
means.
6. Which concept refers to the intended and recognized consequences
of a social institution?
A. Latent function
B. Manifest function ✔
C. Dysfunction
D. Hidden curriculum
Rationale: Manifest functions are deliberate and obvious outcomes.
,7. A woman is paid 82 cents for every dollar a man earns for the same
job. This illustrates:
A. Glass ceiling
B. Gender pay gap ✔
C. Occupational segregation
D. Second shift
Rationale: The gender pay gap measures earnings differences between
men and women.
8. The belief that one’s own culture is superior to others is called:
A. Cultural relativism
B. Multiculturalism
C. Ethnocentrism ✔
D. Xenocentrism
Rationale: Ethnocentrism judges other cultures by one’s own standards
as superior.
9. Which sociologist developed the theory of the “looking-glass self”?
A. George Herbert Mead
B. Charles Horton Cooley ✔
C. Erving Goffman
D. Harold Garfinkel
Rationale: Cooley’s looking-glass self says we see ourselves through
others’ reactions.
10. When a subordinate person breaks an unspoken rule and a more
powerful person corrects them, this is a:
A. Status degradation
B. Breaching experiment ✔
C. Dramaturgical slip
, D. Role exit
Rationale: Breaching experiments intentionally break social norms to
study reactions.
11. A factory worker loses their job due to automation. This is an
example of:
A. Structural mobility ✔
B. Exchange mobility
C. Horizontal mobility
D. Intergenerational mobility
Rationale: Structural mobility results from changes in the economy, not
individual effort.
12. The idea that deviance can strengthen social solidarity by clarifying
moral boundaries comes from:
A. Emile Durkheim ✔
B. Karl Marx
C. Max Weber
D. W.E.B. Du Bois
Rationale: Durkheim argued deviance affirms norms and unites society
against wrongdoing.
13. The concept of “double consciousness” was introduced by:
A. Jane Addams
B. Robert Merton
C. W.E.B. Du Bois ✔
D. Talcott Parsons
Rationale: Du Bois described double consciousness as African
Americans’ dual identity.
PRACTICE EXAM 200 QUESTIONS WITH
100% VERIFIED ANSWERS & RATIONALES
1. Which theoretical perspective focuses on face-to-face interactions
and the meanings people attach to symbols?
A. Functionalism
B. Conflict theory
C. Symbolic interactionism ✔
D. Feminist theory
Rationale: Symbolic interactionism examines micro-level interactions
and shared meanings.
2. A society where men hold primary power in politics, law, and religion
is known as:
A. Matriarchy
B. Patriarchy ✔
C. Egalitarian
D. Oligarchy
Rationale: Patriarchy refers to systematic male dominance in social
institutions.
3. The process by which people learn the norms, values, and behaviors
of their culture is:
A. Socialization ✔
,B. Resocialization
C. Assimilation
D. Acculturation
Rationale: Socialization is the lifelong learning of culture.
4. Which social institution typically handles the transmission of
knowledge and skills across generations?
A. Economy
B. Family
C. Education ✔
D. Government
Rationale: Education formalizes knowledge transfer, though family also
socializes.
5. According to Merton’s strain theory, a person who rejects both
cultural goals and institutional means is a(n):
A. Innovator
B. Ritualist
C. Retreatist ✔
D. Rebel
Rationale: Retreatists drop out of society, rejecting both goals and
means.
6. Which concept refers to the intended and recognized consequences
of a social institution?
A. Latent function
B. Manifest function ✔
C. Dysfunction
D. Hidden curriculum
Rationale: Manifest functions are deliberate and obvious outcomes.
,7. A woman is paid 82 cents for every dollar a man earns for the same
job. This illustrates:
A. Glass ceiling
B. Gender pay gap ✔
C. Occupational segregation
D. Second shift
Rationale: The gender pay gap measures earnings differences between
men and women.
8. The belief that one’s own culture is superior to others is called:
A. Cultural relativism
B. Multiculturalism
C. Ethnocentrism ✔
D. Xenocentrism
Rationale: Ethnocentrism judges other cultures by one’s own standards
as superior.
9. Which sociologist developed the theory of the “looking-glass self”?
A. George Herbert Mead
B. Charles Horton Cooley ✔
C. Erving Goffman
D. Harold Garfinkel
Rationale: Cooley’s looking-glass self says we see ourselves through
others’ reactions.
10. When a subordinate person breaks an unspoken rule and a more
powerful person corrects them, this is a:
A. Status degradation
B. Breaching experiment ✔
C. Dramaturgical slip
, D. Role exit
Rationale: Breaching experiments intentionally break social norms to
study reactions.
11. A factory worker loses their job due to automation. This is an
example of:
A. Structural mobility ✔
B. Exchange mobility
C. Horizontal mobility
D. Intergenerational mobility
Rationale: Structural mobility results from changes in the economy, not
individual effort.
12. The idea that deviance can strengthen social solidarity by clarifying
moral boundaries comes from:
A. Emile Durkheim ✔
B. Karl Marx
C. Max Weber
D. W.E.B. Du Bois
Rationale: Durkheim argued deviance affirms norms and unites society
against wrongdoing.
13. The concept of “double consciousness” was introduced by:
A. Jane Addams
B. Robert Merton
C. W.E.B. Du Bois ✔
D. Talcott Parsons
Rationale: Du Bois described double consciousness as African
Americans’ dual identity.
