Sociology Midterm Exam (Chapters 1-5) Exam QUESTIONS AND VERIFIED
ANSWERS 2025(GRADED A+) DETAILED ANSWERS!!
5 Basic institutions - ✔✔1.Family, 2.economy, 3.government, 4.education,
5.religion
5 Characteristics of Bureaucracies - ✔✔1) clear levels, with assignments flowing
downward and accountability flowing upward
2) division of labor
3) written rules
4) written communications and records (forms in triplicate)(TPS
reports)(sending memos)
5) impersonality-you work for the organization, not the person above you in
hierarchy
achieved status - ✔✔the things that are optional, things you can obtain in a life
time.(Can be negative, ex. Drug addict, Prostitute)
activity theory - ✔✔theory of adjustment to aging that assumes older people
are happier if they remain active in some way, such as volunteering or
developing a hobby
age-grades - ✔✔The system found in small traditional cultures by which people
belonging to a similar age-group are categorized together and hold similar rights
and obligations.
ageism - ✔✔discrimination against people solely on the basis of their age
,agents of socialization - ✔✔groups or social contexts within which processes of
socialization take place
aging - ✔✔the combination of biological, psychological, and social processes
that affect people as they grow older
agrarian societies - ✔✔societies whose means of subsistence are based on
agricultural production (crop growing).
Agriculture societies - ✔✔also known as agrarian societies whose means of
substance are based on agricultural production.
Aguste Comte (1798- 1857) - ✔✔founder of sociology began to analyze the
bases of social order. stressed the scientific method should be applied, he did
not apply it himself
Anomie - ✔✔referring to a situation in which social norms lose their hold over
individual behavior..... When an individual goes astray
ascribed status - ✔✔fixed by birth or inheritance and is usually unalterable in a
life time. (Gender, Race, Royal Family)
assimilation - ✔✔Process by which people of one culture merge into and
become part of another culture
Bureaucracy - ✔✔A system of government in which most of the important
decisions are made by state officials rather than by elected representatives.
, A state or organization governed or managed according to such a system
capitalism - ✔✔An economic system based on private ownership of wealth,
which is invested and reinvested in order to produce profit.
closed ended questions - ✔✔respondent chooses from list of possible answers
cognition - ✔✔the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning
colonialism - ✔✔the process by which some nations enrich themselves through
political and economic control of other nations
comparative questions - ✔✔Questions concerned with drawing comparisons
between different human societies for the purposes of sociological theory or
research.
Compulsion of proximity - ✔✔people need to interact with others in their
presence.
concrete operational stage - ✔✔According to Piaget, the stage of cognitive
development during which children acquire the ability to think logically
conflict theories of aging - ✔✔arguments that emphasize the ways in which the
larger social structure helps to shape the opportunities available to the elderly.
Unequal opportunities are seen as creating the potential for conflict
ANSWERS 2025(GRADED A+) DETAILED ANSWERS!!
5 Basic institutions - ✔✔1.Family, 2.economy, 3.government, 4.education,
5.religion
5 Characteristics of Bureaucracies - ✔✔1) clear levels, with assignments flowing
downward and accountability flowing upward
2) division of labor
3) written rules
4) written communications and records (forms in triplicate)(TPS
reports)(sending memos)
5) impersonality-you work for the organization, not the person above you in
hierarchy
achieved status - ✔✔the things that are optional, things you can obtain in a life
time.(Can be negative, ex. Drug addict, Prostitute)
activity theory - ✔✔theory of adjustment to aging that assumes older people
are happier if they remain active in some way, such as volunteering or
developing a hobby
age-grades - ✔✔The system found in small traditional cultures by which people
belonging to a similar age-group are categorized together and hold similar rights
and obligations.
ageism - ✔✔discrimination against people solely on the basis of their age
,agents of socialization - ✔✔groups or social contexts within which processes of
socialization take place
aging - ✔✔the combination of biological, psychological, and social processes
that affect people as they grow older
agrarian societies - ✔✔societies whose means of subsistence are based on
agricultural production (crop growing).
Agriculture societies - ✔✔also known as agrarian societies whose means of
substance are based on agricultural production.
Aguste Comte (1798- 1857) - ✔✔founder of sociology began to analyze the
bases of social order. stressed the scientific method should be applied, he did
not apply it himself
Anomie - ✔✔referring to a situation in which social norms lose their hold over
individual behavior..... When an individual goes astray
ascribed status - ✔✔fixed by birth or inheritance and is usually unalterable in a
life time. (Gender, Race, Royal Family)
assimilation - ✔✔Process by which people of one culture merge into and
become part of another culture
Bureaucracy - ✔✔A system of government in which most of the important
decisions are made by state officials rather than by elected representatives.
, A state or organization governed or managed according to such a system
capitalism - ✔✔An economic system based on private ownership of wealth,
which is invested and reinvested in order to produce profit.
closed ended questions - ✔✔respondent chooses from list of possible answers
cognition - ✔✔the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning
colonialism - ✔✔the process by which some nations enrich themselves through
political and economic control of other nations
comparative questions - ✔✔Questions concerned with drawing comparisons
between different human societies for the purposes of sociological theory or
research.
Compulsion of proximity - ✔✔people need to interact with others in their
presence.
concrete operational stage - ✔✔According to Piaget, the stage of cognitive
development during which children acquire the ability to think logically
conflict theories of aging - ✔✔arguments that emphasize the ways in which the
larger social structure helps to shape the opportunities available to the elderly.
Unequal opportunities are seen as creating the potential for conflict
