SOCIOLOGY 322
MINORITY GROUPS IN THE U.S.
Test #1 (Fall,
1997)
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This is an old test that was used in this course. I'm including
it as an example for you to develop your test-taking skills. DO
NOT assume that you will see these same questions on your test,
but you can expect some of the same material to be covered.
Name_______________________________
You have 75 minutes to complete this test. Each of the
"objective" questions has one best response. If you are not sure
of the correct answer for a particular question, eliminate the responses
you know to be incorrect and choose among the remaining alternatives. You
will not be penalized for guessing. Also, record your answers to the multiple
choice questions on the NCS ANSWER SHEET. The second part of the test contains
essay questions worth 30 points. I suggest that you allow yourselves at
least 30 minutes to answer this question. When you are done pledge your
work-- "On my honor, I have neither given nor received aid on this test."
Part I, Multiple Choice-- (70 points):
1. According to our text, since Emory Bogardus developed
his social distance scale in 1926. Since then, the scale has been used
in research conducted on college students-- 10 percent of whom were black.
It was found that the responses of minority members
a. differed greatly from the majority.
b. are very similar to those of the majority except that
members of their own minority move to the top of the scale.
c. were exactly the same as the majority.
d. followed no discernible pattern at all.
2. In class we discussed Cialdini's, book Influence.
Which of the following is an example of one of the "shortcuts" that people
take in their everyday lives?
a. timelines.
c. reciprocity
b. ranking
d. stereotyping
3. Which of the following is an example of what the text
calls "categoric knowing"?
a. making judgments and generalizations about people
on the basis of scanty information, confusing an individual's characteristics
with typical group member characteristics
b. objectively arranging information about racial and
ethnic groups into separate subject areas or "categories"
c. conducting thorough and complete research and refusing
to apply stereotypes to social groups
d. conducting social research on minorities at the group
level, not on individuals.
4. According to our text, and to lecture, which of the following
is basically the same as amalgamation?
a. cultural assimilation
c. structural assimilation
b. indentificational assimilation
d. marital assimilation
5. Which of the following is an example of "reciprocal
typifications"?
a. Hispanics and whites forge a mutually beneficial alliance
in the community that they share.
b. After living in the same urban area for over 50 years,
Irish and Italian residents develop mutual categorizations about each other--
Irish see Italians as "hot-headed and sympathetic to the criminal underworld
of the city. Italians see Irish as violent drunkards.
c. Blacks in an urban ghetto unite with Asians in Chinatown
against racism.
d. Whites increasingly move out of the central cities
to avoid integrating with other minorities that are settling there.
6. Lower-middle class white Catholics in Boston; middle-class
blacks in Atlanta; and upper-class Jews in Seattle are all examples of
what Milton Gordon would call a(n)_______________.
a. ethnogensis b. ethnophaulism
c. ethnocentric d. ethclass
7. Which of the following is one of the five minority
characteristics mentioned in lecture and the text?
a. The group lacks a sense of "peoplehood." People feel
alienated and distrustful of one another.
b. Members practice exogamy-- they marry outside their
group.
c. The group receives unequal treatment compared to other
groups in society.
d. Members of minority groups are not easily distinguished
from other people in society.
8. According to our text, the concept, "race" is
a. purely a biological absolute.
b. a socio-political construct.
c. both a biological absolute and sociopolitical construct.
d. primarily a geographic construct.
9. The process by which most minority groups adapt their
distinctive cultural traits to those of the host society is called ______________.
a. acculturation b. cultural
transmission c. cultural diffusion
d. conversion
10. Which of the following are included in the fifteen major
values
found in American society by sociologist, Robin Williams?
a. group solidarity b. idleness
and leisure c. racism and group superiority
d. internationalism and world unity
11. The concepts of "cumulative causation" and the "vicious
circle phenomenon" are both extensions of
a. The W.I. Thomas Theorem.
c. Split-Labor Market Theory.
b. Accommodation Theory.
d. Internal Colonialism Theory.
12. Stevie wants to measure the social class structure of
a small Czech and Slovak community located in a town called West, Texas.
Because of the community's small size, she decides to conduct interviews
with the residents and ask them to describe the social hierarchy of this
community. She is employing the _______________ method of social class
measurement.
a. objective b. reputational
c. self-reported d. ethnocentric
13. One explanation for the poverty status of many minority
groups in the United States emphasizes that a "culture of poverty" develops
among them. This controversial approach is a version of _______________
theory.
a. cultural transmission b. split
labor market c. power differential
d. accommodation
14. Which of the following groups is the best example
of a convergent subculture in the U.S.
a. the Amish b. Slovaks
c. the Hutterites d. Native Americans
15. When addressing how different cultures change over the
course of time, it was pointed out in class that most cultural change occurs
as a result of the process of cultural _______________.
a. discovery
b. diffusion c. invention
d. transmission
16. According to Stephen J. Gould in the Mismeasure of
Man, the term, recapitulation, refers to
a. a process whereby a dominant group attempts to make
amends for the injustices it inflicted on a minority in the past.
b. a theory stating that the more advanced species are
"frozen in youth."
c. the degree to which scientists are willing to give
up cherished theories when the data don't support them.
d. a theory that states that more advanced species pass
through more evolutionary stages and are more farther along the evolutionary
scale than less advanced species.
17. Described in the Mismeasure of Man, as the "energetic
and crusading director of research at the Vineland Training School for
Feeble-minded Girls and Boys," this person coined the term "moron" describing
people with a "mental age" between 10 and 12.
a. A. Binet
b. L. M. Terman c. H. H.
Goddard d.
R. M. Yerkes
18. One of the scientists described by Gould, _______________,
was a professor of clinical surgery and founded the Anthropological Society
of Paris. He firmly believed that brain size was related to the degree
of intelligence.
a. A. Binet
b. G. Le Bon
c. C. Lombroso d.
P. Broca
19. Which of the following developed the theory of "atavism
and the criminal man?"
a. A. Binet
b. G. Le Bon c. C. Lombroso
d. P. Broca
20. Which of the following administered intelligence tests
to U.S. Army Recruits in World War I and was surprised to discover that
American was a nation of "morons"?
a. A. Binet
b. L. M. Terman c. H. H. Goddard
d. R. M. Yerkes
21. Polish immigrants living in Chicago established their
own clubs, organizations, newspapers, stores, churches, and schools duplicating
those of the host society, the United States. This phenomenon is referred
to as _______________.
a. chain migration
b. forced assimilation
c. parallel social institutions
d. value stretch
22. According to our text, A+B+C=A is referred to as the
_______________ theory.
a. Majority-Conformity
b. Accommodation
c. Melting-Pot
d.
Pluralistic
23. When a group of people feels that their own maltreatment
of other groups is right and necessary, as when the Crusaders killed Jews
because they were "Christ-killers," _______________ is said to have occurred.
a. displaced aggression
b. self-justification c.
relative deprivation
d.
displaced relativity
24. Which of the following concepts is offered by the text
as a psychological explanation of prejudice?
a. socialization
b. stereotyping c. economic competition
d. scapegoating
25. Match the following terms with their counterparts, below
in the right order: Assimilation; Amalgamation; Accommodation
a. Pluralistic, Melting-Pot, Majority-Conformity
b. Majority-Conformity, Melting-Pot, Pluralistic
c. Melting Pot, Majority-Conformity; Pluralistic
d. Pluralistic, Majority-Conformity, Melting-Pot
26. Derogatory words or expressions used against racial
groups (such as nicknames, specific group devaluations, and irrelevant
ethnic names are referred to as _______________.
a. ethnophaulisms
b. Jim Crowisms c. stereotypes
d. ethnocentrisms
27. According to the text, when a minority group arouses
feelings-- either positive or negative-- in an individual, prejudice exists
at the _______________ level?
a. cognitive
b. emotional c. action-orientation
d. egotistical
28. According to Joseph Giordano's research article in the
Parrillo text, the television and film industries' portrayal of ethnic
groups
a. promotes positive and uplifting images of ethnic minorities
in the United States.
b. do a fairly accurate job in presenting ethnic minorities,
except they tend to portray too many Italians as being Mafia.
c. are ridiculously inaccurate, but relatively harmless.
d. have a harmful effect on ethnics' perception of self
and of other ethnics and actually contribute to prejudice.
29. With regard to reducing prejudice, our text has found
that increased interaction between groups and providing information about
groups
a. are almost never successful in reducing prejudice
between groups.
b. produce opposite effects depending upon the racial
and ethnic groups studied.
c. produce limited success in reducing prejudice.
d. are almost totally effective in reducing prejudice.
30. An ethnic minority group's response to discrimination
by the dominant group that involves turning inward to themselves for their
own social and economic activities within the ethnic community is called
__________.
a. acceptance
b. avoidance c. defiance
d. deviance
31. According to class lecture, which of the following would
be considered the best example of a real definition of intelligence?
a. the size of a person's brain as measured by its volume.
b. the ability of a person to solve problems in every-day
life.
c. the score on an I.Q. test.
d. the structure of a person's brain as measured by the
number of neurons it has and the degree to which they are interconnected.
32. According to what we discussed in class, which of the
following best represents your professor's "equation of racism"?
a. racism = prejudice + power.
b. racism = power + discrimination.
c. racism = discrimination + action.
d. racism = prejudice + action.
33. Which of the three conflict theories explaining the exploitation
of minorities emphasizes antagonism and conflict resulting from wage differences
between groups of workers rather than differences of ethnicity and race?
a. Power-Differential b. Internal-Colonialism
c. Split-Labor-Market d. Cash-Phrenology
34. Which of the following is the most severe action
that a dominant group can take against a minority?
a. defiance
b. deviance c. expulsion
d. avoidance
35. Marvin is a restaurant owner who has no biased feelings
against a particular racial group, but he avoids hiring them never-the-less.
If he does employ members of this racial group, he treats them unfairly
with undue harshness because of social pressures that he faces in the community.
According to Merton's model, Marvin is a(n)
a. all-weather liberal. b. timid
bigot. c. fair-weather liberal.
d. active bigot.
Part II: Essay Questions (30 points):
Allow yourself at least thirty minutes to complete the
following essay questions. You should be brief and concise in your answer,
but do not neglect relevant terms and concepts.
1. (15 points) What is "cumulative causation"? Pick any
of the scientists that Gould discusses and show how their research claims
reinforce what actually happens in cumulative causation. (Be specific--
It will enhance your essay to describe the scientist's research in some
detail. It would be even better if you could give specific examples of
how cumulative causation actually occurred. You may find more support in
some of the scientists who worked with I.Q.).
2. (15 points) Why is the study of racial and ethnic minorities
a difficult matter? (Hint: Our text addresses this question and In class
we discussed Stanford Lymen's commentary on this several times. Think of
the theories of minority integration and of social policy towards minorities.).
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