SCC Core Concepts 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which concept refers to the unwritten, informal rules that govern everyday social interactions?
- Laws
- Mores
- Folkways (Correct answer)
- Taboos
Correct answer: Folkways
Folkways are informal norms governing routine social behavior, such as table manners; violations carry mild social disapproval rather than serious sanctions.
Question 2: A sociologist studying how a small group of friends develops shared slang and inside jokes is focusing on which level of analysis?
- Macrosociology
- Mesolevel analysis
- Microsociology (Correct answer)
- Comparative sociology
Correct answer: Microsociology
Microsociology examines small-scale, face-to-face interactions and the meanings individuals construct in everyday social situations.
Question 3: When a first-generation college student feels torn between their working-class family's values and the academic culture of their university, they are experiencing:
- Cultural diffusion
- Cultural shock
- Cultural capital deficit
- Cultural marginality (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Cultural marginality
Cultural marginality describes the experience of straddling two distinct cultural worlds without fully belonging to either, often experienced by people in social transition.
Question 4: Pierre Bourdieu's concept of 'social capital' refers to:
- Money earned through professional networks
- Formal educational credentials
- Resources gained through social relationships and networks (Correct answer)
- The economic value of cultural products
Correct answer: Resources gained through social relationships and networks
Bourdieu defined social capital as the actual and potential resources linked to membership in durable networks of mutual acquaintance and recognition.
Question 5: The term 'master status' refers to:
- The highest-ranking position in a social hierarchy
- A status achieved through exceptional effort
- A status that overrides all others in shaping how a person is perceived (Correct answer)
- The combination of all statuses a person holds
Correct answer: A status that overrides all others in shaping how a person is perceived
A master status dominates how others perceive an individual, often eclipsing all other statuses they hold, such as when a criminal conviction defines someone's entire identity to others.
Question 6: Which research method involves a researcher fully immersing themselves in a social group to observe behavior in its natural setting?
- Survey research
- Ethnography (Correct answer)
- Content analysis
- Experiment
Correct answer: Ethnography
Ethnography involves sustained, in-depth immersion in a social setting, often including participant observation, to understand a group from the inside.
Question 7: Talcott Parsons described four functional prerequisites that every society must fulfill: adaptation, goal attainment, integration, and latency. This framework is called:
- AGIL schema (Correct answer)
- Systems theory
- Structural imperatives
- Social equilibrium model
Correct answer: AGIL schema
Parsons' AGIL schema names four functional requirements — Adaptation, Goal attainment, Integration, Latency — that all social systems must address to survive.
SCC Core Concepts 3
Which concept refers to the unwritten, informal rules that govern everyday social interactions?