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CLEP Sociology

Subjects : clep, humanities
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. A subordinate group whose members have significantly less control or power over their own lives than the members of a dominant or majority group have over theirs.






2. Max Weber's term for power made legitimate by a leader's exceptional personal or emotional appeal to his or her followers.






3. A term used by sociologists to refer to any of the full range of socially defined positions within a large group or society.






4. A term used by sociologists to describe the willing exchange among adults of widely desired - but illegal - goods and services.






5. The reputation that a particular individual has earned within an occupation.






6. A group small enough for all members to interact simultaneously - that is - to talk with one another or at least be acquainted.






7. The German word for 'understanding' or 'insight'; used by Max Weber to stress the need for sociologists to take into account people's emotions - thoughts - beliefs - and attitudes.






8. Norms that generally have been written down and that specify strict rules for punishment of violators.






9. An abstract system of word meanings and symbols for all aspects of culture. It also includes gestures and other nonverbal communication.






10. The extent to which a measure provides consistent results.






11. Elements beyond everyday life that inspire awe - respect - and even fear.






12. A term used by C. Wright Mills for a small group of military - industrial - and government leaders who control the fate of the United States.






13. A Marxist theory that views racial subordination in the United States as a manifestation of the class system inherent in capitalism.






14. An economic system under which the means of production and distribution are collectively owned.






15. The social institution that relies on a recognized set of procedures for implementing and achieving the goals of a group.






16. The practice of living together as a male-female couple without marrying.






17. Print and electronic instruments of communication that carry messages to often widespread audiences.






18. Rituals marking the symbolic transition from one social position to another.






19. A generally small - secretive religious group that represents either a new religion or a major innovation of an existing faith.






20. The maintenance of political - social - economic - and cultural dominance over a people by a foreign power for an extended period of time.






21. Sociological investigation that stresses study of small groups and often uses laboratory experimental studies.






22. A technique for measuring social class that assigns individuals to classes on the basis of criteria such as occupation - education - income - and place of residence.






23. An approach to deviance that attempts to explain why certain people are viewed as deviants while others engaging in the same behavior are not.






24. A social position 'assigned' to a person by society without regard for the person's unique talents or characteristics.






25. The incidence of death in a given population.






26. According to George Herbert Mead - the sum total of people's conscious perceptions of their own identity as distinct from others.






27. Subjects in an experiment who are exposed to an independent variable introduced by a researcher.






28. Max Weber's term for power made legitimate by law.






29. The notion that criminal victimization increases when there is a convergence of motivated offenders and suitable targets.






30. Any group or category to which people feel they belong.






31. A literal interpretation of the Bible regarding the creation of man and the universe used to argue that evolution should not be presented as established scientific fact.






32. The systematic study of social behavior and human groups.






33. Talcott Parsons's functionalist view of society as tending toward a state of stability or balance.






34. An increase in the lowest level of education required to enter a field.






35. The process by which a cultural item is spread from group to group or society to society.






36. Organizations established on the basis of common interest - whose members volunteer or even pay to participate.






37. The restriction of mate selection to people within the same group.






38. Organized collective activities to bring about or resist fundamental change in an existing group or society.






39. A system of enforced servitude in which people are legally owned by others and in which enslaved status is transferred from parents to children.






40. A study - generally in the form of interviews or questionnaires - that provides sociologists and other researchers with information concerning how people think and act.






41. Any group that individuals use as a standard in evaluating themselves and their own behavior.






42. Questionnaires or interviews used to determine whether people have been victims of crime.






43. The ability to exercise one's will over others.






44. An artificially created situation that allows the researcher to manipulate variables.






45. The belief that the products - styles - or ideas of one's society are inferior to those that originate elsewhere.






46. A floating standard of deprivation by which people at the bottom of a society - whatever their lifestyles - are judged to be disadvantaged in comparison with the nation as a whole.






47. A two-member group.






48. The process of mentally assuming the perspective of another - thereby enabling one to respond from that imagined viewpoint.






49. A term used by Erving Goffman to refer to the altering of the presentation of the self in order to create distinctive appearances and satisfy particular audiences.






50. A form of marriage in which a person can have several spouses in his or her lifetime but only one spouse at a time.