1
SOC 202 Questions with Answers (100% Correct
Answers)
What is Sociology? Answer: The Scientific study of social behavior and
human groups
-includes all forms of social interaction
How is sociology like a science and how is it different from other
sciences? Answer: it is the application of the scientific method to
everyday life; we take the interactions that people have and study them
from an objective scientific perspective; The subjects in sociology are
similar and so familiar and in other sciences the things being studied are
unfamiliar
microsociology Answer: interactions among small groups of few people
(romantic)
macrosociology Answer: looks at interactions of groups as large as nation
states or races
Max Weber Answer: a famous german sociologist that stated any action
that took into account other people (even their opinions) possessed
social meaning and therefore was qualified as a social action
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social action Answer: any act or engagement that possess social meaning
Define sociological imagination (sociological perspective) Answer: this is
what sociologists use to apply science to normal social life
Give an example of a metaphor that would represent sociological
imagination Answer: fish seeing the water--> where sociologists are the
fish that have decided to study the water they are in
What does the sociological imagination allow us to do? Answer: it allows
us to dissect things that we do in everyday life without even thinking
about and lets us understand whys e do the things we do; gain
perspective
Who is the famous scientists that introduced sociological imagination?
Answer: C. Wright Mills in THE PROMISE
How does C wright mills define sociological imagination? Answer:
Understanding or being aware of social context (milieux) that constrains
the choices people make.
-he presents the ability to put individual choices and actions into a larger
historical context as a critical part of sociological imagination
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,3
-reminds us that in every society, in every era there are specific contexts
that will make us more or less likely to act a certain way or choose an
option
Describe the distinction between personal issues and public troubles?
Answer: a personal issue is the individual struggle to say find a job
public trouble would be that their is not enough jobs to go around
The sociological imagination involves us ___ Answer: shifting our
perceptions to specifically examine those constraints
What are three aspects in which the sociological imagination can be
broken down into? Answer: 1) seeing the general in the particular
2) seeing the strange in the familiar
3) seeing the interplay of structure and agency
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, 4
Describe what seeing the general in the particular means? Answer: it
describes looking for patterns among the behaviors of individuals
-while we make our own choices (the particular), certain groups or
categories of people tend to make similar choices (the general)
Drescribe what it means to see the strange in the familiar? Answer: It
involves looking at the normal everyday features of our lives as if they
were not normal or common
-we must put away our normal way of thinking of something
-it involves active suspension of our normal preconceptions PP-11
What does seeing the interplay between structure and agency involve?
Answer: focusing on how actions an choices of individuals (agency_) are
shaped and constrained by the social relationships in which they find
themselves (structure). PP-1 -12
In Horace Miners Body ritual among the Nacirema what is he hitting on?
Answer: He is basically looking at the american culture from a twisted
point of view and using the sociological imagination to explain how we
go about or everyday lives
© 2025 All rights reserved
SOC 202 Questions with Answers (100% Correct
Answers)
What is Sociology? Answer: The Scientific study of social behavior and
human groups
-includes all forms of social interaction
How is sociology like a science and how is it different from other
sciences? Answer: it is the application of the scientific method to
everyday life; we take the interactions that people have and study them
from an objective scientific perspective; The subjects in sociology are
similar and so familiar and in other sciences the things being studied are
unfamiliar
microsociology Answer: interactions among small groups of few people
(romantic)
macrosociology Answer: looks at interactions of groups as large as nation
states or races
Max Weber Answer: a famous german sociologist that stated any action
that took into account other people (even their opinions) possessed
social meaning and therefore was qualified as a social action
© 2025 All rights reserved
,2
social action Answer: any act or engagement that possess social meaning
Define sociological imagination (sociological perspective) Answer: this is
what sociologists use to apply science to normal social life
Give an example of a metaphor that would represent sociological
imagination Answer: fish seeing the water--> where sociologists are the
fish that have decided to study the water they are in
What does the sociological imagination allow us to do? Answer: it allows
us to dissect things that we do in everyday life without even thinking
about and lets us understand whys e do the things we do; gain
perspective
Who is the famous scientists that introduced sociological imagination?
Answer: C. Wright Mills in THE PROMISE
How does C wright mills define sociological imagination? Answer:
Understanding or being aware of social context (milieux) that constrains
the choices people make.
-he presents the ability to put individual choices and actions into a larger
historical context as a critical part of sociological imagination
© 2025 All rights reserved
,3
-reminds us that in every society, in every era there are specific contexts
that will make us more or less likely to act a certain way or choose an
option
Describe the distinction between personal issues and public troubles?
Answer: a personal issue is the individual struggle to say find a job
public trouble would be that their is not enough jobs to go around
The sociological imagination involves us ___ Answer: shifting our
perceptions to specifically examine those constraints
What are three aspects in which the sociological imagination can be
broken down into? Answer: 1) seeing the general in the particular
2) seeing the strange in the familiar
3) seeing the interplay of structure and agency
© 2025 All rights reserved
, 4
Describe what seeing the general in the particular means? Answer: it
describes looking for patterns among the behaviors of individuals
-while we make our own choices (the particular), certain groups or
categories of people tend to make similar choices (the general)
Drescribe what it means to see the strange in the familiar? Answer: It
involves looking at the normal everyday features of our lives as if they
were not normal or common
-we must put away our normal way of thinking of something
-it involves active suspension of our normal preconceptions PP-11
What does seeing the interplay between structure and agency involve?
Answer: focusing on how actions an choices of individuals (agency_) are
shaped and constrained by the social relationships in which they find
themselves (structure). PP-1 -12
In Horace Miners Body ritual among the Nacirema what is he hitting on?
Answer: He is basically looking at the american culture from a twisted
point of view and using the sociological imagination to explain how we
go about or everyday lives
© 2025 All rights reserved
