WGU C273 Sociology- Pre-Assessment Test Questions and
Answers
1. What did Emile Durkheim’s research on suicide reveal?
a) Suicide rates were higher in areas where an individual’s ties to their group were disrupted or distorted
b) Suicide rates were not related to community ties.
c) Suicide rates were similar across social groups.
d) Suicide rates were lowest in areas with strong individual identity.
2. Which idea did Auguste Comte introduce to the field of sociology?
a) Positivism
b) Ethical standards
c) Subjective interpretations
d) Applied sociology
3. Which sociological perspective assumes that social life is shaped by the meanings people associate with things?
a) Symbolic interactionism
b) Functional analysis
c) Conflict
d) Macrosociology
4. Which sociological perspective views society as being made up of groups competing for scarce resources?
a) Symbolic interactionism
b) Functional analysis
c) Conflict
d) Microsociology
5. Which ethical dilemma in sociological research does Laud Humphry’s study on social interactions between men in
public restrooms highlight?
a) Misleading research subjects
b) Revealing the names of research subjects
c) Falsifying results
d) Plagiarism
6. Sociologists must consider the potential physical and emotional risks that participants may be exposed to during a
research study. Which issue does this consideration address?
a) Data validity
b) Data analysis
c) Ethical standards
d) Personal values
7. What are sociologists practicing when they evaluate cultures without judging them?
a) Cultural relativism
b) Ethnocentrism
c) Symbolic culture
d) Culture shock
, 8. A group of teachers teaching in the same neighborhood of Los Angeles meet regularly about family and ethnicity
issues they encounter in their daily work. What is this an example of?
a) Subculture
b) Counterculture
c) Taboo
d) More
9. What role do a culture’s values play in social interactions?
a) Values define a culture’s standards for good and bad, beautiful and ugly, right and wrong.
b) Values are the primary way people communicate with one another.
c) Values are the expectations for behavior in a society.
d) Values can take the form of positive or negative sanctions.
10. How does the workplace act as an agent of socialization?
a) It is the place where one begins concrete operational thought.
b) It is an environment where one’s social class is unimportant.
c) It is the place where one’s looking-glass self is first realized.
d) It is an environment where one can acquire new perspectives of the world.
11. According to studies of socialization through the “life course” in modern society, which group characteristically
grapples most with the question “Who am I?” and struggles to carve out a group identity?
a) Children, age 12 and under
b) Adolescents, ages 13 to 17
c) Young adults, ages 18 to 29
d) Middle-age people, ages 30 to 62
12. Where do most people first encounter gender socialization?
a) Family
b) Workplace
c) School
d) Media
13. What does George Herbert Mead’s term "generalized other" refer to in relation to the development of the self?
a) General attitudes the individual internalizes from significant others
b) Perception of the norms, values, attitudes, and expectations of others in general
c) Perception of the norms, values, attitudes, and expectations of significant others
d) The spontaneous part of the self that is derived in general from others
14. If Mateo feels happy because he thinks his classmates will approve of his new shoes, which phase of the looking-
glass self is Mateo in?
a) First
b) Second
c) Third
d) Fourth
15. Which concept reflects sociological ways of thinking about the development of self?
a) Genetic differences
b) The looking-glass self
, c) Emphasizing nature over nurture
d) Intelligence measures
16. What is a secondary group?
a) A group that is created through similar interests, activities, or professions
b) A group of family members
c) A group that a person feels antagonistic toward
d) A group that an individual uses as a comparison point
17. A student is well prepared for a class assignment, and she feels confident she knows the correct answers to the
questions the teacher will ask during a group discussion. However, the student is reluctant to raise her hand to answer
the questions to avoid making her classmates look bad. Which term explains the student’s behavior within the social
structure of the group?
a) Role strain
b) Dramaturgy
c) Organic solidarity
d) Gemeinschaft
18. What is an example of a category?
a) Fans gathered to watch a concert
b) Members of the same softball team
c) People who wear glasses
d) Participants in a race
19. Which term describes a crowd of people who happen to be in the same place at the same time?
a) Aggregate
b) Category
c) Primary group
d) Secondary group
20. Which social theorist was the first to analyze bureaucracies as powerful forms of social organization that are
concerned with the “bottom line?”
a) Karl Marx
b) Max Weber
c) Robert Michaels
d) George Ritzer
21. How does group size effect group dynamics?
a) The smaller the group, the more divisions it has.
b) The larger the group, the more intimacy exists between members.
c) The smaller the group, the less interaction exists between members.
d) The larger the group, the more stable it is.
22. Which characteristic describes a bureaucracy?
a) There is a clear division of labor.
b) Interactions are personal.
c) Communication tends to be verbal.
d) Assignments flow upward.
Answers
1. What did Emile Durkheim’s research on suicide reveal?
a) Suicide rates were higher in areas where an individual’s ties to their group were disrupted or distorted
b) Suicide rates were not related to community ties.
c) Suicide rates were similar across social groups.
d) Suicide rates were lowest in areas with strong individual identity.
2. Which idea did Auguste Comte introduce to the field of sociology?
a) Positivism
b) Ethical standards
c) Subjective interpretations
d) Applied sociology
3. Which sociological perspective assumes that social life is shaped by the meanings people associate with things?
a) Symbolic interactionism
b) Functional analysis
c) Conflict
d) Macrosociology
4. Which sociological perspective views society as being made up of groups competing for scarce resources?
a) Symbolic interactionism
b) Functional analysis
c) Conflict
d) Microsociology
5. Which ethical dilemma in sociological research does Laud Humphry’s study on social interactions between men in
public restrooms highlight?
a) Misleading research subjects
b) Revealing the names of research subjects
c) Falsifying results
d) Plagiarism
6. Sociologists must consider the potential physical and emotional risks that participants may be exposed to during a
research study. Which issue does this consideration address?
a) Data validity
b) Data analysis
c) Ethical standards
d) Personal values
7. What are sociologists practicing when they evaluate cultures without judging them?
a) Cultural relativism
b) Ethnocentrism
c) Symbolic culture
d) Culture shock
, 8. A group of teachers teaching in the same neighborhood of Los Angeles meet regularly about family and ethnicity
issues they encounter in their daily work. What is this an example of?
a) Subculture
b) Counterculture
c) Taboo
d) More
9. What role do a culture’s values play in social interactions?
a) Values define a culture’s standards for good and bad, beautiful and ugly, right and wrong.
b) Values are the primary way people communicate with one another.
c) Values are the expectations for behavior in a society.
d) Values can take the form of positive or negative sanctions.
10. How does the workplace act as an agent of socialization?
a) It is the place where one begins concrete operational thought.
b) It is an environment where one’s social class is unimportant.
c) It is the place where one’s looking-glass self is first realized.
d) It is an environment where one can acquire new perspectives of the world.
11. According to studies of socialization through the “life course” in modern society, which group characteristically
grapples most with the question “Who am I?” and struggles to carve out a group identity?
a) Children, age 12 and under
b) Adolescents, ages 13 to 17
c) Young adults, ages 18 to 29
d) Middle-age people, ages 30 to 62
12. Where do most people first encounter gender socialization?
a) Family
b) Workplace
c) School
d) Media
13. What does George Herbert Mead’s term "generalized other" refer to in relation to the development of the self?
a) General attitudes the individual internalizes from significant others
b) Perception of the norms, values, attitudes, and expectations of others in general
c) Perception of the norms, values, attitudes, and expectations of significant others
d) The spontaneous part of the self that is derived in general from others
14. If Mateo feels happy because he thinks his classmates will approve of his new shoes, which phase of the looking-
glass self is Mateo in?
a) First
b) Second
c) Third
d) Fourth
15. Which concept reflects sociological ways of thinking about the development of self?
a) Genetic differences
b) The looking-glass self
, c) Emphasizing nature over nurture
d) Intelligence measures
16. What is a secondary group?
a) A group that is created through similar interests, activities, or professions
b) A group of family members
c) A group that a person feels antagonistic toward
d) A group that an individual uses as a comparison point
17. A student is well prepared for a class assignment, and she feels confident she knows the correct answers to the
questions the teacher will ask during a group discussion. However, the student is reluctant to raise her hand to answer
the questions to avoid making her classmates look bad. Which term explains the student’s behavior within the social
structure of the group?
a) Role strain
b) Dramaturgy
c) Organic solidarity
d) Gemeinschaft
18. What is an example of a category?
a) Fans gathered to watch a concert
b) Members of the same softball team
c) People who wear glasses
d) Participants in a race
19. Which term describes a crowd of people who happen to be in the same place at the same time?
a) Aggregate
b) Category
c) Primary group
d) Secondary group
20. Which social theorist was the first to analyze bureaucracies as powerful forms of social organization that are
concerned with the “bottom line?”
a) Karl Marx
b) Max Weber
c) Robert Michaels
d) George Ritzer
21. How does group size effect group dynamics?
a) The smaller the group, the more divisions it has.
b) The larger the group, the more intimacy exists between members.
c) The smaller the group, the less interaction exists between members.
d) The larger the group, the more stable it is.
22. Which characteristic describes a bureaucracy?
a) There is a clear division of labor.
b) Interactions are personal.
c) Communication tends to be verbal.
d) Assignments flow upward.
