Deck 2: Personal Experiences and Public Issues From the Sociological Imagination

Question 1

"The ________ requires us, above all, to think ourselves away from the familiar routine of our daily lives in order to look at things anew," write Anthony Giddens and Mitchell Duneier.

A) sociological imagination
B) Protestant ethic
C) research process
D) universal perspective

Answer 1

A

Question 2

A significant reason for the importance of sociological understanding is that

A) the rate of social change has increased and threatens to disorient people.
B) terrorism can now strike anyone, anywhere in the world.
C) we are rapidly becoming a global village.
D) children are no longer learning most of what they need to know from their parents.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The major distinction or comparison Mills uses throughout his essay is

A) civilization (modern society) and primitives (premodern society).
B) justice (laws) and fairness (tradition).
C) individuals (biography) and society (history).
D) happiness (emotions) and contentment (understanding).

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Mills calls society's organization and methods of operating

A) an iron cage.
B) mechanisms of control.
C) social structure.
D) sociality.

Question 5

Mills talks about unemployment, war, marriage, and the city in order to show that

A) people can choose to be depressed about the state of the world or be optimistic and hopeful.
B) modern society is much more complex than premodern societies.
C) human nature is the prime cause of both happiness and unhappiness.
D) what happens to individuals and what they do is strongly influenced by their

Question 6

In The Sociological Imagination, C. Wright Mills argues that personal troubles

A) are sometimes best handled by telling a person what he or she wants to hear.
B) are of concern to psychologists rather than sociologists.
C) are better dealt with if we understand the social context in which they occur and recognize them as social issues that many others face as well.
D) are exaggerated when people watch a significant amount of television.