Social Problems Community Policy and Social Action 6th Edition Leon-Guerrero Test Bank
Chapter 1: Sociology and the Study of Social Problems
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
- What is the term for the ability to link our own lives and experiences with our
social world?
a. sociology
b. sociological imagination
c. globalization
d. socialism
Ans: B
Learning Objective: 1-1: Define the sociological imagination.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Easy - Which of these is the least likely to form the basis of people’s understanding of
social problems according to your text?
a. life experiences
b. scientific research
c. good guesses
d. opinions
Ans: B
Learning Objective: 1-1: Define the sociological imagination.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Easy - What might a sociologist say about widespread unemployment?
a. It is a personal trouble.
b. It is a public issue.
c. It is not a social problem.
d. It is not a concern of sociology.
Ans: B
Learning Objective: 1-1: Define the sociological imagination.
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Medium - Which of these regions has the highest number of individuals living with AIDS?
a. Eastern and Southern Africa
b. Latin America
c. Western and Central Europe
d. North America
Ans: A
Learning Objective: 1-1: Define the sociological imagination.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Medium
- The number of Americans being diagnose annually with HIV/AIDS has
since the early 1980s when it emerged in the United States.
a. tripled
b. doubled
c. stayed the same
d. declined significantly
Ans: D
Learning Objective: 1-1: Define the sociological imagination.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: Introduction
Difficulty Level: Medium - The cost of college tuition is .
a. rising at a slower rate than family income or student financial aid
b. rising at about the same rate as family income or student financial aid
c. rising at a faster rate than family income or student financial aid
d. not being tracked
Ans: C
Learning Objective: 1-1: Define the sociological imagination.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Using Our Sociological Imagination
Difficulty Level: Medium - Damien and his friends are at a barbecue discussing the changes in AIDS over
the past few decades. Damien asserts that HIV/AIDS is no longer a significant
global health concern because his neighbor is HIV positive and is thriving.
Damien’s statement is most likely based on which of these?
a. objective reality
b. subjective reality
c. social constructionism
d. sociological imagination
Ans: B
Learning Objective: 1-2: Identify the characteristics of a social problem.
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: What is a Social Problem?
Difficulty Level: Medium - What is the term for the belief that problems only become real because they
were perceived and defined that way?
a. social constructionism
b. social problem
c. objective reality
d. definitional theory
Ans: A
Learning Objective: 1-2: Identify the characteristics of a social problem.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: What is a Social Problem?
Difficulty Level: Medium - As defined by the author, a social problem is a social condition or pattern of
behavior that has consequences for .
a. positive; non-conforming members of society
b. negative; our social world
c. positive; external self
d. negative; individuals, our social world, or the physical world
Ans: D
Learning Objective: 1-2: Identify the characteristics of a social problem.
Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: What is a Social Problem?
Difficulty Level: Medium - According to Spector and Kituse’s stage model of social problems, the
transformation of AIDS from a private trouble to a public issue is an example of
which stage of social problem emergence?
a. stage one
b. stage two
c. stage three
d. stage four
Ans: A
Learning Objective: 1-2: Identify the characteristics of a social problem.
Cognitive Domain: Analysis
Answer Location: The History of Social Problems
Difficulty Level: Medium - According to your text, social problems can be identified as happening in
stage(s)?
a. one
b. two
c. three
d. four
Ans: D
Learning Objective: 1-2: Identify the characteristics of a social problem.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: The History of Social Problems
Difficulty Level: Easy
- Which stage 2 action could Ronald Reagan have taken to inhibit the spread of
AIDS in the mid-1980s?
a. He could have reduced funding for drug treatment programs.
b. He could have resisted labelling AIDS the “gay plague.”
c. He could have publicly legitimized the disease when it was first identified.
d. He could have allowed children with AIDS to attend public schools by supporting
the Ryan White CARE Act.
Ans: C
Learning Objective: 1-2: Identify the characteristics of a social problem.
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: What is a Social Problem?
Difficulty Level: Hard - Who developed the concept of the “Social Construction of Reality”?
a. Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim
b. Jane Addams and C. Wright Mills
c. Peter Berger and Thomas Luckman
d. Max Weber and Robert Merton
Ans: C
Learning Objective: 1-2: Identify the characteristics of a social problem.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Answer Location: What is a Social Problem?
Difficulty Level: Medium - A set of assumptions and propositions used for explanation, prediction, and
understanding is defined as which of these?
a. a theory
b. a hypothesis
c. a macro-level analysis
d. a micro-level analysis
Ans: A
Learning Objective: 1-3: Compare the four sociological perspectives.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Understanding the Sociological Perspective
Difficulty Level: Medium - Social structures can have positive or negative consequences. What is the
name for the negative consequences, according to functionalist Robert Merton?
a. malfunctions
b. negative functions
c. conflict
d. dysfunctions
Ans: D