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1. ________ refers to the economic, social, and cultural changes that occur when a preindustrial society
makes the transition to an advanced industrial society.
a. Mechanization
b. Cybernation
c. Gentrification
d. Modernization
Answer: d
2. ________ refers to the use of machines, such as computers, to control other machines, to make
decisions, and to monitor the production process.
a. Gentrification
b. Cybernation
c. Modernization
d. Alienation
Answer: b
3. Mike, the CEO of Top Inc., a car manufacturing company, proposes that the company should upgrade
its production facility by using computers and other machines to control and monitor the production
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activities and to make decisions. Which of the following technological changes is Mike proposing in the
given scenario?
a. gentrification
b. alienation
c. modernization
d. cybernation
Answer: d
Answer: a
Question Title: TB_05_04 Perspectives on Education, Science, and Technology, Understand, LO 5.2
Learning Objective: 5.2 Analyze the role of education, science, and technology in society from the
viewpoint of each of the sociological perspectives.
Topic: Perspectives on Education, Science, and Technology,
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty: 2–Moderate
5. How did the United States narrow the cultural lag between technology and social policy?
a. by ensuring that education is made available for all classes of society
b. by encouraging competition for societal resources among various groups
c. by establishing workers’ compensation and employer liability
d. by establishing strict dress codes with punishments for violation
Answer: c
Question Title: TB_05_05 Perspectives on Education, Science, and Technology, Understand, LO 5.2
Learning Objective: 5.2 Analyze the role of education, science, and technology in society from the
viewpoint of each of the sociological perspectives.
Topic: Perspectives on Education, Science, and Technology
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty: 2–Moderate
6. The ________ perspective states that schools become a social problem when important groups
feel that they are not getting what they deserve from the institutions of learning.
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a. behavioral
b. interactionist
c. functionalist
d. conflict
Answer: d
Question Title: TB_05_06 Perspectives on Education, Science, and Technology, Remember, LO 5.2
Learning Objective: 5.2 Analyze the role of education, science, and technology in society from the
viewpoint of each of the sociological perspectives.
Topic: Perspectives on Education, Science, and Technology
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty: 1–Easy
7. Seven workers were killed and 30 others were severely injured in an accident at Dazzle Corp., a soft
drink manufacturing company. The company uses advanced machinery for various processes that can
prove to be risky for workers who operate them. Since there was nothing mentioned in the employee
contract about employer liability in case of on-the-job accidents, the company refused to compensate the
victims. However, the company eventually formulated a policy for compensating the victims of on-the-
job accidents. This gap between installing advanced machinery and formulating a compensation policy at
Dazzle Corp. is an example of ________.
a. cultural lag
b. social stratification
c. political discrepancy
d. alienation
Answer: a
Question Title: TB_05_07 Perspectives on Education, Science, and Technology, Apply, LO 5.2
Learning Objective: 5.2 Analyze the role of education, science, and technology in society from the
viewpoint of each of the sociological perspectives.
Topic: Perspectives on Education, Science, and Technology
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
Difficulty: 2–Moderate
8. The ability of human beings to use symbols and thus to attach social meanings to words,
objects, events, or people forms an important element of the ________ perspective.
a. interactionist
b. functionalist
c. conflict
d. behavioral
Answer: a
Question Title: TB_05_08 Perspectives on Education, Science, and Technology, Remember, LO 5.2
Learning Objective: 5.2 Analyze the role of education, science, and technology in society from the
viewpoint of each of the sociological perspectives.
Topic: Perspectives on Education, Science, and Technology
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty: 1–Easy
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9. According to the interactionist perspective, which of the following is true of labeling?
a. Students from lower-class backgrounds are labeled to be deviant or dull to benefit students from
affluent families.
b. Students who are labeled deviant receive more encouragement and assistance from teachers than bright
students.
c. Students’ grades and teachers’ written reports become a publicly stamped label that follows them
throughout their lives.
d. Students who have been labeled dull strive to not conform to the expectations of the labels attached to
them.
Answer: c
Question Title: TB_05_09 Perspectives on Education, Science, and Technology, Understand, LO 5.2
Learning Objective: 5.2 Analyze the role of education, science, and technology in society from the
viewpoint of each of the sociological perspectives.
Topic: Perspectives on Education, Science, and Technology
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty: 2–Moderate
10. Bruce, aged15, is an orphan living with his guardian, Fred. He lost his parents in a tragic accident. His
parents have ensured that he gets the best education by creating a large trust fund to cater to his
educational expenses. On turning 18, Bruce will inherit total control of Diamond Constructions Inc.,
America’s largest engineering and construction company, founded by his great grandfather. The passing
of the control of Diamond Constructions Inc. to Bruce, and the access to quality education thus
perpetuating the existing stratification system illustrates the concept of ________.
a. tracking
b. social reproduction
c. modernization
d. cultural lag
Answer: b
11. ________ refers to clustering people together into classes within classes that contain students of
comparable abilities or students with similar educational goals.
a. Social reproduction
b. Tracking
c. Alienation
d. Gentrification
Answer: b
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Topic: Problems in Education
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty: 2–Moderate
12. The ________ released a report indicating that schools in the U.S. are failing to prepare students
adequately for work-related positions in an increasingly technological society.
a. Civil Rights Project
b. Educational Testing Service
c. Coleman Commission
d. National Center for Education Statistics
Answer: b
13. Thomas, an educationist, feels that tracking or formalized ability grouping of students in the U.S. is
not a completely fair process. Which of the following is a reason for Thomas to have such an opinion?
a. Tracking decisions are made, at least in part, on the basis of stereotypes about social class and race.
b. Students from affluent families are more likely to be placed in lower tracks than lower-class students.
c. Decisions about tracking are based on the student’s performance in class or on standardized tests.
d. Tracking has resulted in an unacceptably large high school dropout rate in the United States.
Answer: a
14. Sarah, a student belonging to a minority community, is not in favor of the school integration policies
formulated by the U.S. government. She is most likely to believe that ________.
a. minorities will be placed in curriculum tracks heavily populated by whites
b. the quality of education in majority white schools is not up to the expectations of the minorities
c. crime and violence are more serious problems in majority white schools than in schools heavily
populated by minorities
d. a majority of the white schools are not necessarily the best environment for minority students
Answer: d
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Difficulty: 3–Difficult
15. The situation in which workers feel the effects of automation and view themselves as mere cogs in
the bureaucratic machinery is known as ________.
a. alienation
b. gentrification
c. loss of privacy
d. loss of control
Answer: a
Answer: c
17. ________ is the problem resulting from the use of global positioning systems (GPS) by car rental
companies to obtain a minute-by-minute record of where their vehicles are.
a. Alienation
b. Gentrification
c. Loss of privacy
d. Loss of control
Answer: c
18. ________ refers to the use of organisms or parts of organisms to make products or carry out tasks.
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a. Social reproduction
b. Biotechnology
c. Gentrification
d. Mechanization
Answer: b
19. Saul, a genetic engineer, takes a portion of DNA from a bacterial family and combines it with the
DNA of a virus to observe the characteristic of the bacteria in the virus. Which of the following genetic
engineering processes is seen in the given scenario?
a. gene splicing
b. mechanization
c. cybernation
d. gene culturing
Answer: a
Answer: d
21. How are public schools and charter schools different from each other?
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a. Public schools tend to rely on a much younger, less-experienced faculty that is considerably less likely
to have a teaching credential and is less well paid than faculty in charter schools.
b. Charter schools tend to be highly racially segregated, much more so than public schools.
c. Public schools operate autonomously with an authorization directly from the state, while charter
schools operate under local school district control.
d. Public schools receive state funding, while charter schools do not.
Answer: b
22. Which of the following is true of the back to basics approach to schooling?
a. It does not mandate students to take up academically demanding coursework.
b. It increases the number of elective courses available to students.
c. It emphasizes the traditional core curriculum and a return to strong discipline.
d. It reduces the amount of face-to-face classroom contact between students and teachers.
Answer: c
Answer: a
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b. Schools will be motivated to provide the best educational programs if they were to attract students by
convincing them and their parents about the quality of their education.
c. Schools would operate with a charter directly from the state instead of being under local school district
control with less freedom in making budgeting, hiring, and curriculum decisions.
d. Schools should not mandate students to take up academically demanding courses.
Answer: b
Answer: d
26. Schools following the back to basics approach to education are most likely to ________.
a. reduce the amount of face-to-face interactions between students and teachers
b. let students decide if they want to take up academically demanding courses
c. reduce the number of elective courses and have more required courses
d. eliminate standardized examinations
Answer: c
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27. ________ refers to research that studies the impact of technology on our physical, social, and ethical
environments and seeks solutions to social problems that arise from technological development.
a. Technology assessment
b. Appropriate technology
c. Mechanization
d. Cybernation
Answer: a
28. ________ refers to a technology that is limited in size, decentralized, and responsive to human values
and needs.
a. Indigenous technology
b. Appropriate technology
c. Capital-intensive technology
d. Autonomous technology
Answer: b
29. Why is appropriate technology considered a solution to problems associated with modern technology?
a. It makes possible an enormous increase in human productivity and a highly specialized division of
labor.
b. It does not alienate people and returns the control of technology to the hands of individuals.
c. It opens the door to eliminating characteristics deemed socially undesirable by those in positions of
power.
d. It completely eliminates large-scale technology.
Answer: b
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30. Which of the following is true of large-scale technology?
a. It is often the discovery ground for developing new alternative technologies.
b. It is appropriate to what people can comprehend and relate to.
c. It is less injurious and causes minimal damage to people.
d. It does not alienate people and returns the control of technology to the hands of individuals.
Answer: a
Answer: Technology refers to the knowledge, tools, and practices that use scientific or other organized
knowledge to achieve some practical goal. In other words, technology puts scientific and other knowledge
to use. Technology can be simple—such as a shovel to dig a hole—or it can be dazzlingly complex—such
as the Internet communications network that now encircles the globe. Technology can be both material
and nonmaterial. Material technology would include things such as robots, computers, and nuclear
bombs, whereas nonmaterial technology includes modes of social and economic organization, such as
bureaucratization, mechanization, and automation.
32. According to the interactionist perspective, what are the consequences of labeling?
Answer: According to the interactionist perspective, labeling can have serious consequences for students.
Labeling a person as a deviant, for example, can serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy when people begin to
conform to the expectations of the labels attached to them. Likewise, a similar process can occur in the
classroom when teachers label students as bright or dull. When students are so labeled, teachers may treat
them differently, possibly giving the students who are labeled bright a little more encouragement and
assistance. In addition, those labeled dull may assume that there is some truth in the label and may not try
very hard. The result of both the students’ and the teachers’ reactions may be reinforcement of the label,
or a self-fulfilling prophecy as the labelers create what they thought they were merely identifying in the
first place. Schools, then, become a social problem when these face-to-face educational encounters
produce stigmatizing results, lower students’ self-esteem, and make educational success more difficult to
achieve.
Question Title: TB_05_32 Perspectives on Education, Science, and Technology, Understand, LO 5.2
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Learning Objective: 5.2 Analyze the role of education, science, and technology in society from the
viewpoint of each of the sociological perspectives.
Topic: Perspectives on Education, Science, and Technology, Knowledge
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty: 2–Moderate
33. What is the viewpoint of conflict theorists about the race for higher educational credentials?
Answer: Conflict theorists argue that a credentials race occurs because some groups have a vested interest
in placing greater emphasis on the importance of educational degrees. For example, raising the
educational threshold for particular jobs is an easy out for harried personnel managers who can use
educational degrees as a simple sifting device in selecting employees. In addition, educational institutions
have a vested interest in this degree inflation because it generates a greater demand for their educational
services. Students may not need the degrees to do the job, but they need the degrees to get the job. Most
important, however, degree inflation serves as a way of maintaining the privileges of some while
controlling the aspirations of others. By elevating degree requirements for particular jobs, people who
have earned the degrees, or who are in a position to obtain them, protect their own positions and those of
their offspring by restricting competition.
Answer: Tracking, or ability grouping, refers to clustering people together into classes or tracks within
classes that contain students of comparable abilities or students with similar educational goals (for
example, academic versus nonacademic tracks). Tracking is done in some cases on the assumption that
students will be better able to learn if they are in a classroom with others who have equal ability. In other
cases, the tracking is based on directing students into curricular paths where it is presumed they are
capable of succeeding. Decisions about tracking are based on the student’s performance in class or on
standardized tests, the teachers’ judgments about students, and, in some cases, the student and her or his
parents’ choices.
35. Why have some schools in the United States discarded the concept of formalized ability grouping?
Answer: The danger in tracking is that the track becomes a label that creates expectations on the part of
both the teacher and the students regarding how well individual students are capable of performing.
Teachers may tend to encourage performances that are consistent with the track a student is in, and
students assume that being placed in a track indicates the performance level of which they are capable. In
addition, research shows that lower-class students and minority students are considerably more likely to
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be placed in the lower tracks than other students, even among students of equal abilities and performance
levels. This suggests that tracking decisions are made, at least in part, on the basis of stereotypes about
social class and race, and that racism may influence the outcome. It certainly raises troubling questions
about how fair the process is. Because of these problems, some schools have discarded formalized ability
grouping.
Answer: Biotechnology is the use of organisms or parts of organisms to make products or carry out tasks.
Biotechnology is based on a very important discovery: the identification in 1953 of the nature of
deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) as the basic genetic material that is found in each cell and that contains the
“blueprint” for the entire organism. DNA has been mapped and cataloged with great precision. By
manipulating DNA, scientists have been able to create organisms that perform new tasks or that produce
substances they would not normally produce.
Answer: In gene splicing, DNA from one organism is spliced into the genetic material of another
organism to produce some new characteristics in the host or even a novel form of life. Gene splicing has
been used, for example, to produce large quantities of insulin and interferon, used in the treatment of
diabetes and cancer, respectively. This is done by introducing human genes that govern the natural
production of insulin or interferon into a bacterium that is then induced by this new genetic material to
produce insulin or interferon.
38. Explain how school systems vary in the United States and other countries in terms of the centrality of
the planning and decision making.
Answer: One way in which school systems vary is in terms of the centrality of the planning and decision
making. In France, Sweden, and Japan, for example, the central government, through ministries of
education, controls educational policy, curriculum design, and even textbook selection. Such education
ministries also determine personnel policies, ensuring that teachers with equivalent training are available
to all students. Centralized systems generally spend the same amount of money on students, no matter
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where their school is. The United States, on the other hand, has a highly decentralized educational system
where state and local school boards make most decisions. Decentralization provides parents with more
control over the schools their children attend, and decentralized schools are more responsive to the needs
of the community in which they are located. However, decentralized school systems also tend to have
greater disparities in the resources available to students and in levels of achievement from one school to
another. In some cases, central-city schools may spend less than half the money spent in affluent suburbs
on each student.
39. What are the differences between charter schools and public schools?
Answer: Charter schools tend to rely on a much younger, less-experienced faculty that is considerably
less likely to have a teaching credential and is less well paid than faculty in public schools. This is
especially true in schools with low-income and minority students. In addition, charter schools tend to be
highly segregated—much more so than public schools. As for student achievement, studies are now
accumulating that show consistently that charter school students do not perform better academically than
public school students, and by many measures they do worse. In addition, these findings have been
supported even when comparing students of similar races and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Answer: One proposed solution to deal with many of the problems associated with modern technology is
to develop what has been called appropriate technology, or a technology appropriate to the human scale,
to what people can comprehend and relate to; it would be a technology that is limited in size,
decentralized, and responsive to human values and needs. In most cases, an appropriate technology would
be considerably smaller than what exists today. An appropriate technology would avoid the tendency of
technology to alienate people, and it would return control to the hands of individuals. An example of an
appropriate technology is solar energy. Solar energy does not require the building of large centralized
power plants as do nuclear and coal-fired facilities. The technology is decentralized, with each household
or community producing some of its own energy rather than having energy production controlled by large
corporations.
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Topic: Future Prospects
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty: 2–Moderate
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