Anthony Giddens | Sociology 5th Edition | Student Resources

Student Resources

Chapter 1 - What is Sociology?

Theoretical approaches can only be said to be 'valid' if:
a) the theorist has researched the literature thoroughly
b) they have been tested out by means of factual research
c) they are written in such a way as to be impossible to disprove
d) they are shared by a large enough number of theorists
When Comte wrote of sociology as a positive science, he meant:
a) that it should show people in the best possible light
b) that it should attempt to appeal to as many people as possible
c) that it should apply the same methods as physics or chemistry
d) that it should progress by positing new concepts and theories
According to Durkheim, 'social facts' are:
a) ways of behaving that are external to individuals
b) only things that have been shown to be true
c) social insights into collective behaviour
d) information captured by official statistics
The feeling of aimlessness or despair often associated with unsettling conditions is:
a) alienation
b) amorality
c) anomie
d) ascription
Which one of the following is NOT associated with the materialist conception of history?
a) the 'mode of production'
b) the 'motor of history'
c) the 'history of class struggle'
d) the 'spirit of capitalism'
According to Max Weber, the 'ideal type' refers to:
a) the best possible outcome available
b) a perspective emphasizing the primacy of ideas
c) a model based on certain features of a phenomenon
d) the social agenda of political idealists
Which of the following is NOT associated with functionalism?
a) Talcott Parsons
b) Ralf Dahrendorf
c) Emile Durkheim
d) Robert Merton
Positivism is most accurately described as the belief that:
a) social research should highlight the positive aspects of social life
b) knowledge should be produced based on evidence from observations
c) sociologists should make more use of official statistics
d) none of the above
Arlie Hochschild’s The Managed Heart is an influential application of:
a) emotional labour
b) symbolic interactionism
c) social action
d) symbiosis
It is useful to have a diversity of theories in sociology because:
a) human behaviour is so complicated that no single theory would be adequate
b) sociologists can choose the theory that best fits the data they have collected
c) it removes the need to assess a theory according to the empirical evidence
d) innumerable theories have been developed in the many fields of sociology
The distribution of power in society is a concern for:
a) microsociology
b) interactionism
c) macrosociology
d) ethnomethodology
Merton’s term for the hidden or forgotten reason for a particular behaviour was:
a) middle-range function
b) consumption function
c) latent function
d) structural function

Anthony Giddens — Sociology, 5th Edition

Anthony Giddens • Sociology 5th Edition

Student Resources

Chapter 1 - What is Sociology?