SED2601
Assignment 1
Multiple choice
, Social stratification can be defined as a process of categorising people according to their
ranks within the family and society using two major criteria, …. and …
a. may include occupation, marital status, level of education and income level.
b. they include skin colour, sex and hair colour.
c. is what the society strives to pass on to new generations.
d. where an individual in society only acquires a certain part of culture.
Conflict theory argues that …
a. there are inequalities amongst social groups or classes.
b. that families are harmonious.
c. that society should function.
d. relations between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ are based on exploitation, domination,
subordination and conflict.
Functionalists argue that …
a. education must provide the norms and values that the child needs.
b. education should provide an unstable, unstructured environment.
c. society is full of opposing groups.
d. education should provide a stable and structured environment.
Identify which point is NOT one of Blumer’s basic principles of symbolic interactionism:
a. Human beings are passive.
b. Meanings and symbols allow people to carry on distinctively human action and
interaction.
c. Human beings have the capacity for thought.
d. The capacity for thought is shaped by social interaction.
A criticism of functionalism is that it …
a. does not focus on social inequalities sufficiently.
b. departs from the observation that most modern societies are multicultural.