Test your basic knowledge |

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. The use or threat of violence against random or symbolic targets in pursuit of political aims.






2. The actual or threatened use of coercion to impose one's will on others.






3. A principle of organizational life - originated by Laurence J. Peter - according to which each individual within a hierarchy tends to rise to his or her level of incompetence.






4. A structured ranking of entire groups of people that perpetuates unequal economic rewards and power in a society.






5. The average number of years a person can be expected to live under current mortality conditions.






6. A term used by Ferdinand Tonnies to describe communities - often urban - that are large and impersonal with little commitment to the group or consensus on values.






7. An aspect of the socialization process within total institutions - in which people are subjected to humiliating rituals.






8. Overzealous conformity to official regulations within a bureaucracy.






9. According to






10. A term coined by Erving Goffman to refer to institutions that regulate all aspects of a person's life under a single authority - such as prisons - the military - mental hospitals - and convents.






11. The unintended influence that observers or experiments can have on their subjects.






12. A theory of urban growth that sees growth in terms of a series of rings radiating from the central business district.






13. A social ranking based primarily on economic position in which achieved characteristics can influence mobility.






14. The techniques and strategies for preventing deviant human behavior in any society.






15. The far-reaching process by which a society moves from traditional or less developed institutions to those characteristic of more developed societies.






16. A theory of deviance proposed by Edwin Sutherland that holds that violation of rules results from exposure to attitudes favorable to criminal acts.






17. The ways in which people respond to one another.






18. 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.






19. A term used by Bowles and Gintis to refer to the tendency of schools to promote the values expected of individuals in each social class and to prepare students for the types of jobs typically held by members of their class.






20. A theory of social change that holds that change can occur in several ways and does not inevitably lead in the same direction.






21. A hypothesis concerning the role of language in shaping cultures. It holds that language is culturally determined and serves to influence our mode of thought.






22. A neighborbood that residents identify through defined community borders and through a perception that adjacent areas are geographically separate and socially different.






23. A city characterized by relatively large size - open competition - an open class system - and elaborate specialization in the manufacturing of goods.






24. The exercise of power through a process of persuasion.






25. A religious group that is the outgrowth of a sect - yet remains isolated from society.






26. An approach to deviance that emphasizes the role of culture in the creation of the deviant identity.






27. The early Japanese immigrants to the United States.






28. The incidence of death in a given population.






29. A standard of poverty based on a minimum level of subsistence below which families should not be expected to exist.






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






31. The degree to which a scale or measure truly reflects the phenomenon under study.






32. A view of society as ruled by a small group of individuals who share a common set of political and economic interests.






33. Significant alteration over time in behavior patterns and culture - including norms and values.






34. The process of introducing new elements into a culture through either discovery or invention.






35. Hereditary systems of rank - usually religiously dictated - that tend to be fixed and immobile.






36. An approach to urbanization that considers the interplay of local - national - and worldwide forces and their effect on local space - with special emphasis on the impact of global economic activity.






37. The attempt to reach agreement with others concerning some objective.






38. Organized patterns of beliefs and behavior centered on basic social needs.






39. The belief that one race is supreme and all others are innately inferior.






40. The study of an entire social setting through extended systematic observation.






41. A functionalist approach that proposes that modernization and development will gradually improve the lives of people in peripheral nations.






42. A group that is set apart from others because of obvious physical differences.






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






44. The totality of learned - socially transmitted behavior.






45. A three-member group.






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






47. A form of marriage in which an individual can have several husbands or wives simultaneously.






48. A relationship between two variables whereby a change in one coincides with a change in the other.






49. An enumeration - or counting - of a population.






50. Behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society.