SOCI1160 f09 Exam 1 Ch 1-3

MULTIPLE CHOICE.  Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.

1)The authors of the text caution against using an extreme system-blame orientation when studying social problems because 1) _______

A)it is only part of the truth.

B)it may absolve individuals from responsibility for their actions.

C)Both A and B are true.

D)None of the above are true.

2)Subsidies by the government to big business include all of the following except 2) _______

A)government's funding of development of new technology that is turned over to private companies.

B)government subsidies, such as tax breaks and low-interest loans, to private corporations.

C)government's system of legal loopholes on federal income taxes available to businesses.

D)government's guarantee of unfettered access to public airways through public ownership of broadcast facilities

3)All of the following result from the disparate spending in developing countries on military goods over social service except 3) _______

A)previously independent self-governing political processes must now include outside powers.

B)massive debts mean decreasing money that could have been spent on education.

C)important natural resources are over-exploited in the Third World to help pay off debts.

D)people become less dependent on social services and become more self-sufficient.

4)Which of the following does not contribute to the problem of food shortages in the Third World? 4) _______

A)low rates of population growth

B)shrinkage of productive land

C)population growth in countries that are already poor

D)environmental problems such as overgrazing, air pollution and toxic chemicals

5)Which of the following contributes to creating the enormous advantage global corporations have over local competition when they move into an underdeveloped country? 5) _______

A)They receive better terms than local business when they borrow money.

B)They are tied to global banks through interlocking directorates and shared ownership.

C)They have access to the latest technology.

D)All of the above are true.

6)Third World governments spend the bulk of their meager resources on 6) _______

A)education, health care, and agricultural development.

B)social programs for the desperately poor who threaten to riot.

C)military strength needed to protect themselves from internal and external threats.

D)courting foreign multi-national corporations.

7)According to the text, factors involved in the poor "breeding themselves into poverty" include all of the following except 7) _______

A)lack of family planning and birth control.

B)ignorance and religious superstition.

C)both A and B

D)Neither A nor B is true because the premise is not true.

8)Beginning in the 1960s, when the U.S. and the United Nations began funding family planning programs in less developed countries, all of the following have happened except 8) _______

A)a decrease in annual population growth.

B)a decline in the number of children born in less developed nations.

C)an increase in the relative poverty rate in less developed nations.

D)an increase in the number of women using contraception.

9)According to the text, wealthy nations should provide aid to developing nations with all the following provisions except 9) _______

A)that goods purchased with the new resources be purchased from American companies.

B)that governments receiving the aid have sensible and humane plans for using the new resources.

C)that aid reaches the intended targets and not the well-off elite.

D)that it be used for truly humanitarian purposes.

10)The slowing of world population growth will result from underdeveloped nations undergoing all the following except 10) ______

A)a demographic transition.

B)changes in the roles of women.

C)a return of both women and men to their traditional roles

D)access to family planning and effective methods of birth control.

11)In the last stage of modern demographic transition, nations become more urban and 11) ______

A)the birth rate declines, slowing the population growth.

B)the birth rate stabilizes.

C)agricultural production goes down and the birth rate increases.

D)None of the above is true.

12)Colonialism has had all the following consequences for Third World nations except 12) ______

A)it  has encouraged high birth rates.

B)it has made the colonized nations more dependent on the developed world.

C)it has created relatively classless societies.

D)it has eliminate indigenous social, cultural, and economic structures.

13)According to Karl Marx, the free enterprise system will result in, among other things, 13) ______

A)monopolies.

B)individual fulfillment.

C)democratic governments.

D)state ownership of corporations.

14)Contributors of large sums of money to political campaigns receive which of the following benefits? 14) ______

A)influence over the positions of politicians on public issues

B)access to politicians

C)Both A and B are true.

D)None of the above are true.

15)The relationship between U.S. foreign policy and corporate interests is demonstrated by all of the following except 15) ______

A)the government provides foreign aid that largely goes to benefit the poor in other countries.

B)the government directly intervenes in the domestic affairs of foreign governments in order to protect U.S. corporate interests.

C)the government peddles military goods overseas for the profit of arms merchants.

D)the government supports tyrannical governments if they support U.S. multi-national corporations.

16)The authors point out that the problems that exist in U.S. society largely result from 16) ______

A)the distribution of power.

B)the form the U.S. economy takes.

C)the system being undermined by those who criticize the system.

D)both A and B

17)Factors that explain the increase in the inequality gap in the U.S. includes all of the following except 17) ______

A)decreases in salaries to corporate executives because of the downsizing of corporations.

B)changed job structures because of the shift from a manufacturing to a service economy.

C)increased tax benefits going to the affluent from changing tax laws during the 1980s and 1990s.

D)All of the above are true.

18)For pure capitalism to exist, all of the following conditions must be present except 18) ______

A)private ownership of property.

B)government regulation of competition.

C)competition.

D)pursuit of personal profit.

19)Piven and Cloward conclude that governmental assistance to the poor is provided when 19) ______

A)U.S. Census statistics document that the poor make up more than 15 percent of the population.

B)there is a Democratic majority in Congress.

C)policy analysts have conducted extensive studies and are convinced of the plight of the poor.

D)there is a threat of political disorder.

20)The consequences of corporations shifting production from the U.S. to other countries include all of the following except 20) ______

A)more equal distribution of resources and, consequently, of well-being across all groups in society.

B)multi-national corporations tend to meddle in the internal affairs of other nations.

C)accumulation of enormous power and its being wielded by gigantic multi-national corporations.

D)loss or reduction in the number of semi-skilled and unskilled jobs in the U.S.

21)Karl Marx asserted that capitalism has within it the seeds of its own destruction because of all of the following reasons except 21) ______

A)the inevitability of monopolies.

B)the lack of centralized planning.

C)control of the state by the majority.

D)demands for labor-saving machinery.

22)According to the text, which of the following best explains social problems? 22) ______

A)people who seek self-actualization

B)people who violate norms

C)problems caused by societal conditions

D)None of the above is true.

23)Deviants are treated as the cause of their own problems by which of the following approaches to studying social problems? 23) ______

A)self-actualization B) institutionalized deviance

C)person-blame D) system-blame

24)The authors assert that exclusively focusing on the individual when studying social problems 24) ______

A)overlooks deviations from society's norms as potential problems.

B)treats social problems as being the product of systematic inequity.

C)ignores the strains that are caused by the inequities of the system.

D)takes an overly deterministic view of social problems.

25)Relying too heavily on a person-blame approach to social problems is a problem for all of the following reasons except 25) ______

A)it legitimizes the right to initiate person-change rather than system-change treatment programs.

B)societal conditions (such as norms that are racist, sexist, or homophobic) go unchallenged.

C)society does not need to be protected from individuals who would harm society.

D)it directs blame at individuals and away from the system.

26)Because we live in a pluralistic society, all of the following are true except 26) ______

A)we can judge social problems objectively.

B)we judge social problems subjectively.

C)there is no uniform set of societal guidelines that direct people's behavior.

D)there is a universally accepted approach to judging social problems.

27)Which of the following is not a reason that the system-blame approach should be emphasized when sociologists study social problems? 27) ______

A)Accepting the system-blame perspective is a necessary first step in restructuring society along more humane lines.

B)Social systems are overlooked because they impact social problems less than other conditions.

C)A balance is needed since most people in our society tend to blame the individual.

D)Society's institutional framework is responsible for creating many social problems.

28)According to the text, the key to understanding social problems is understanding the 28) ______

A)distribution of power in society.

B)needs of victims of deviant behavior.

C)opinions of the public.

D)personal experiences of those who violate society's norms.

29)Social Darwinists like William Graham Sumner would oppose social reforms like social welfare because 29) ______

A)it is more effective to provide technical training for the poor

B)they perpetuate the existence of unfit groups in society who would otherwise disappear.

C)they are too expensive to produce viable results.

D)they allow people to get money for doing nothing.

30)Our social system is rarely seen as causing social problems because of all of the following reasons except 30) ______

A)it is only a small percentage of the population that suffers from these problems.

B)we tend to focus on "deviants" who are seen as living inappropriately within the system.

C)it is the powerful that shape the system and, thus, define what are considered to be social problems.

D)we have a hard time questioning our cherished traditions.

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