SOC 101-WVU-Intro to Sociology
Chapter 1Test Questions and Answers
2026/2027 Updated.
Sociology - Answer The systematic or scientific study of human society and social behavior,
from large-scale institutions and mass culture to small groups and individual interactions.
Society - Answer A group of people who shape their lives in aggregated and patterned ways
that distinguish their group from other groups.
Social Sciences - Answer The disciplines that use the scientific method to examine the social
world, in contrast to the natural sciences, which examine the physical world.
Sociological Perspective - Answer A way of looking at the world through a sociological lens
Beginner's mind - Answer Approaching the world without preconceptions in order to see
things in a new way (BERNARD MCGRANE)
Culture Shock - Answer A sense of disorientation that occurs when you enter a radically new
social or cultural environment
Sociological imagination - Answer A quality of the mind that allows us to understand the
relationship between our individual circumstances and larger social forces. (C. WRIGHT MILLS)
Microsociology - Answer The level of analysis that studies face-to-face and small-group
interactions in order to understand how they affect the larger patterns and institutions of
society.
Macrosociology - Answer The level of analysis that studies large-scale social structures in order
to determine how they affect the lives of groups and individuals.
Theories - Answer In sociology, abstract propositions that explain the social world and make
predictions about the future.
Paradigm - Answer A set of assumptions, theories, and perspectives that make up a way of
understanding social reality.
, Positivism - Answer The theory, developed by AUGUSTE COMTE, that sense perceptions are
the only valid source of knowledge.
Scientific Method - Answer A procedure for acquiring knowledge that emphasizes collecting
concrete data through observation and experiment.
Social Darwinism - Answer The application of the theory of evolution and the notion of
"survival of the fittest" to the study of society.
Structural Functionalism - Answer A paradigm that begins with the assumption that society is
a unified whole that functions because of the contributions of its separate structures.
Mechanical Solidarity - Answer Term developed by Emile Durkheim to describe the type of
social bongs present in premodern, agrarian societies, in which shared traditions and beliefs
created a sense of social cohesion.
Agrarian Societies - Answer Societies that depends on agriculture as their primary means for
support and sustenance.
Organic Solidarity - Answer Term developed by Emile Durkheim to describe the type of social
bongs present in modern societies based on difference, interdependence, and individual rights.
Anomie - Answer "Normlessness"; term used to describe the alienation and loss of purpose as
a result from weaker social bonds and an increased pace of change.
Solidarity - Answer The degree of integration or unity within a particular society; the extent to
which individuals feel connected to other members of a group.
Sacred - Answer The holy, divine, or supernatural
Profane - Answer The ordinary, mundane, or everyday.
Collective Effervescence - Answer An intense energy in shared events where people feel swept
up in something larger than themselves.
Collective Conscience - Answer The shared moral and beliefs that are common to a group and
which foster social solidarity.
Empirical - Answer Based on scientific experimentation or observation
Chapter 1Test Questions and Answers
2026/2027 Updated.
Sociology - Answer The systematic or scientific study of human society and social behavior,
from large-scale institutions and mass culture to small groups and individual interactions.
Society - Answer A group of people who shape their lives in aggregated and patterned ways
that distinguish their group from other groups.
Social Sciences - Answer The disciplines that use the scientific method to examine the social
world, in contrast to the natural sciences, which examine the physical world.
Sociological Perspective - Answer A way of looking at the world through a sociological lens
Beginner's mind - Answer Approaching the world without preconceptions in order to see
things in a new way (BERNARD MCGRANE)
Culture Shock - Answer A sense of disorientation that occurs when you enter a radically new
social or cultural environment
Sociological imagination - Answer A quality of the mind that allows us to understand the
relationship between our individual circumstances and larger social forces. (C. WRIGHT MILLS)
Microsociology - Answer The level of analysis that studies face-to-face and small-group
interactions in order to understand how they affect the larger patterns and institutions of
society.
Macrosociology - Answer The level of analysis that studies large-scale social structures in order
to determine how they affect the lives of groups and individuals.
Theories - Answer In sociology, abstract propositions that explain the social world and make
predictions about the future.
Paradigm - Answer A set of assumptions, theories, and perspectives that make up a way of
understanding social reality.
, Positivism - Answer The theory, developed by AUGUSTE COMTE, that sense perceptions are
the only valid source of knowledge.
Scientific Method - Answer A procedure for acquiring knowledge that emphasizes collecting
concrete data through observation and experiment.
Social Darwinism - Answer The application of the theory of evolution and the notion of
"survival of the fittest" to the study of society.
Structural Functionalism - Answer A paradigm that begins with the assumption that society is
a unified whole that functions because of the contributions of its separate structures.
Mechanical Solidarity - Answer Term developed by Emile Durkheim to describe the type of
social bongs present in premodern, agrarian societies, in which shared traditions and beliefs
created a sense of social cohesion.
Agrarian Societies - Answer Societies that depends on agriculture as their primary means for
support and sustenance.
Organic Solidarity - Answer Term developed by Emile Durkheim to describe the type of social
bongs present in modern societies based on difference, interdependence, and individual rights.
Anomie - Answer "Normlessness"; term used to describe the alienation and loss of purpose as
a result from weaker social bonds and an increased pace of change.
Solidarity - Answer The degree of integration or unity within a particular society; the extent to
which individuals feel connected to other members of a group.
Sacred - Answer The holy, divine, or supernatural
Profane - Answer The ordinary, mundane, or everyday.
Collective Effervescence - Answer An intense energy in shared events where people feel swept
up in something larger than themselves.
Collective Conscience - Answer The shared moral and beliefs that are common to a group and
which foster social solidarity.
Empirical - Answer Based on scientific experimentation or observation
