Anthony Giddens • Sociology 6th edition

Student Resources

Chapter 3 — Theories and Perspectives in Sociology

Which one of the following is the odd one out?
a) George Herbert Mead
b) Antonio Gramsci
c) Erving Goffman
d) Howard Becker
Comte argued that knowledge passed through which three stages?
a) theological-metaphysical-positive
b) ignorance-understanding-truth
c) philosophical-biological-sociological
d) functionalist-marxist-interactionist
Which of the following is not a ‘mode of production’?
a) feudalism
b) communism
c) capitalism
d) liberalism
Who became the first ever Professor of Sociology?
a) George Herbert Mead
b) Talcott Parsons
c) Emile Durkheim
d) Robert Merton
Talcott Parsons’s ‘structural functionalism’ attempted to tackle:
a) the problem of class conflict
b) the problem of economic restructuring
c) the problem of social welfare
d) the problem of social order
What did Max Weber understand by ‘the spirit of capitalism’?
a) the exploitation of the working class
b) the desire for more material wealth
c) the continual reinvestment of profits back into businesses
d) the belief in free markets
Which perspective does not come under the umbrella of ‘interactionism’?
a) ethnomethodology
b) symbolic interactionism
c) feminism
d) phenomenology
What concept did Giddens devise to overcome the structure-agency dualism?
a) structuration
b) reflexivity
c) interdependency
d) pluralism
Which of the following has not been central to feminist theorizing?
a) male domination in society
b) male bias in sociological theory
c) the gendered character of knowledge
d) the experience of black women
Which of the following is not an example of a ‘manufactured risk’?
a) genetic modification of crops
b) volcanic eruptions
c) global warming
d) the threat of nuclear war
Which one of the following is NOT a reason for seeing The Protestant Ethic as an example of good theory?
a) it gives primacy to middle range theorizing
b) it appears to be counter-intuitive
c) it offers an answer to an existing puzzle
d) it can be extended beyond its original context
Which of these is most closely associated with Marx's thinking?
a) integration
b) conflict
c) social facts
d) consensus
Feminist perspectives are distinctive in sociology because:
a) only women can write from a feminist perspective
b) other theoretical perspectives have not researched women
c) they emphasize the centrality of gender in social analysis
d) men and women view the world in different ways
Which of these is a broadly Weberian idea?
a) the main dynamic of modern development is capitalist economics
b) modern societies are in transition towards a socialist model
c) rationalization is bound to progress further in all spheres of life
d) all history is the history of class struggles
Which of these concepts is addressed in Foucault's work?
a) sexuality
b) discipline
c) discourse
d) all of the above
Habermas is criticized by some feminists because:
a) he is too positive about the prospects for capitalism
b) he pays too much attention to orthodox democracy
c) he implies that citizenship is gender neutral
d) he retains many of Marx's basic principles
Who describes the new global economy as the 'automaton'?
a) Michel Foucault
b) Jean Baudrillard
c) Ulrich Beck
d) Manuel Castells
According to Giddens, safe utility provision and secure banking are examples of:
a) theoretical abstractions
b) conditions of co-presence
c) abstract systems
d) reflexive monitoring
Which of the following is NOT a key theme in Michel Foucault's writing?
a) the 'hyperreality' of media imagery
b) the significance of 'expert discourses'
c) societies' use of surveillance and discipline
d) the 'archaeology' of scientific knowledge
Which of the following is most closely associated with the writing of Ulrich Beck?
a) second modernity
b) public sphere
c) legitimation crisis
d) network economy