Sociology Clep Exam Questions & Answers 2023/2024
Absolute poverty - ANSWER-A standard of poverty based on a minimum level of subsistence below which families should not be expected to exist.
Achieved status - ANSWER-A social position attained by a person largely through his or her own effort...
Sociology Clep Exam Questions &
Answers 2023/2024
Absolute poverty - ANSWER-A standard of poverty based on a minimum level of subsistence below
which families should not be expected to exist.
Achieved status - ANSWER-A social position attained by a person largely through his or her own efforts.
Activity theory - ANSWER-An interactionist theory of aging that argues that elderly people who remain
active will be best-adjusted.
Adoption - ANSWER-In a legal sense, a process that allows for the transfer of the legal rights,
responsibilities, and privileges of parenthood to a new legal parent or parents.
Affirmative action - ANSWER-Positive efforts to recruit minority group members or women for jobs,
promotions, and educational opportunities.
Ageism - ANSWER-A term coined by Robert N. Butler to refer to prejudice and discrimination against the
elderly.
Agrarian society - ANSWER-The most technologically advanced form of preindustrial society. Members
are primarily engaged in the production of food but increase their crop yield through such innovations as
the plow.
Alienation - ANSWER-The condition of being estranged or disassociated from the surrounding society.
Amalgamation - ANSWER-The process by which a majority group and a minority group combine through
intermarriage to form a new group.
Anomie - ANSWER-Durkheim's term for the loss of direction felt in a society when social control of
individual behavior has become ineffective.
,Anomie theory of deviance - ANSWER-A theory developed by Robert Merton that explains deviance as
an adaptation either of socially prescribed goals or of the norms governing their attainment, or both.
Anticipatory socialization - ANSWER-Processes of socialization in which a person "rehearses" for future
positions, occupations, and social relationships.
Anti-Semitism - ANSWER-Anti-Jewish prejudice.
Apartheid - ANSWER-The former policy of the South African government designed to maintain the
separation of Blacks and other non-Whites from the dominant Whites.
Argot - ANSWER-Specialized language used by members of a group or subculture.
Ascribed status - ANSWER-A social position "assigned" to a person by society without regard for the
person's unique talents or characteristics.
Assimilation - ANSWER-The process by which a person forsakes his or her own cultural tradition to
become part of a different culture.
Authority - ANSWER-Power that has been institutionalized and is recognized by the people over whom it
is exercised.
Bilateral descent - ANSWER-A kinship system in which both sides of a person's family are regarded as
equally important.
Bilingualism - ANSWER-The use of two or more languages in particular settings, such as workplaces or
educational facilities, treating each language as equally legitimate.
Birthrate - ANSWER-The number of live births per 1,000 population in a given year. Also known as the
crude birthrate.
,Black power - ANSWER-A political philosophy promoted by many younger Blacks in the 1960s that
supported the creation of Black-controlled political and economic institutions.
Bourgeoisie - ANSWER-Karl Marx's term for the capitalist class, comprising the owners of the means of
production.
Bureaucracy - ANSWER-A component of formal organization in which rules and hierarchical ranking are
used to achieve efficiency.
Bureaucratization - ANSWER-The process by which a group, organization, or social movement becomes
increasingly bureaucratic.
Capitalism - ANSWER-An economic system in which the means of production are largely in private hands
and the main incentive for economic activity is the accumulation of profits.
Castes - ANSWER-Hereditary systems of rank, usually religiously dictated, that tend to be fixed and
immobile.
Causal logic - ANSWER-The relationship between a condition or variable and a particular consequence,
with one event leading to the other.
Census - ANSWER-An enumeration, or counting, of a population.
Charismatic authority - ANSWER-Max Weber's term for power made legitimate by a leader's exceptional
personal or emotional appeal to his or her followers.
Class - ANSWER-A term used by Max Weber to refer to a group of people who have a similar level of
wealth and income.
Class consciousness - ANSWER-In Karl Marx's view, a subjective awareness held by members of a class
regarding their common vested interests and need for collective political action to bring about social
change.
, Classical theory - ANSWER-An approach to the study of formal organizations that views workers as being
motivated almost entirely by economic rewards.
Class system - ANSWER-A social ranking based primarily on economic position in which achieved
characteristics can influence mobility.
Closed system - ANSWER-A social system in which there is little or no possibility of individual mobility.
Coalition - ANSWER-A temporary or permanent alliance geared toward a common goal.
Code of ethics - ANSWER-The standards of acceptable behavior developed by and for members of a
profession.
Cognitive theory of development - ANSWER-Jean Piaget's theory explaining how children's thought
progresses through four stages.
Cohabitation - ANSWER-The practice of living together as a male-female couple without marrying.
Colonialism - ANSWER-The maintenance of political, social, economic, and cultural dominance over a
people by a foreign power for an extended period of time.
Community - ANSWER-A spatial or political unit of social organization that gives people a sense of
belonging, based either on shared residence in a particular place or on a common identity.
Concentric-zone theory - ANSWER-A theory of urban growth that sees growth in terms of a series of
rings radiating from the central business district.
Conflict perspective - ANSWER-A sociological approach that assumes that social behavior is best
understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups.
Conformity - ANSWER-Going along with one's peers, individuals of a person's own status, who have no
special right to direct that person's behavior.
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