T/F means True/False. Correct answers reflect information from course materials.

1. Claims consist of
a. Statistics, warrants, typifying examples
b. Grounds, warrants, conclusions
c. Structural and cultural resources
d. Media and activists
2. Using a range claim involves claiming a social problem
a. Has gotten progressively worse
b. Affects many different types of people
c. Is similar to other social problems
d. Is objective
3. This course considers social problems from a _________ approach
a. Objectivist
b. Modern
c. Subjectivist
d. Natural
4. The first three stages of the social problems process are
a. Grounds, Warrants, Conclusions
b. Public Reaction, Media Coverage, Policymaking
c. Structure, Culture, Autonomy
d. Claimsmaking, Media Coverage, Public Reaction
5. T/F: Valence issues are social problems that are contested and not agreed upon by everyone
6. Claimsmakers can frame social problems in many ways. A motivational frame
a. Explains why action needs to be taken
b. Specifies what needs to be done
c. Identifies the nature of the problem
d. Is incompatible with values
7. Typically, _________ present the primary claims; _______ present the secondary claims
a. Media; activists
b. Experts; Media
c. Policymakers; claimsmakers
d. Experts; activists
8. T/F: Public reaction is socially constructed
9. For an opinion poll, a relatively small sample can produce fairly accurate results about the whole
country if it is
a. Done by phone
b. Done online
c. Representative
d. Based on college students
10. The three policy streams are
a. Policy domain, arena, media
b. Convergence, Confluence, Disagreement
c. Problem recognition, policy proposal, political
d. Causal stories, target populations, policy purpose
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11. The media often reports on expert claimsmakers because

a. Only experts have permission to speak to the media
b. Experts are often seen to have specialized knowledge that the audience will believe
c. Claimsmakers, including government officials, pay the media for coverage
d. Only expert claimsmakers can use statistics
12. What are the two types of policy purposes?
13. Which is not an element of policy, according to Best
a. Causal story
b. Target population
c. Policy purpose
d. Lobbyist pressure
14. State the two types (not examples) of structural forces contributing to racial inequality, according to
Wilson

15. Criticisms of immigration policy for extending legal status to too many undocumented immigrants is
an example of saying the policy is
a. Excessive
b. Misguided
c. Insufficient
d. Improperly implemented
16. Name two political actions that contributed to poverty concentration

17. T/F: Race and gender are examples of things that are NOT socially constructed.
18. Name two economic forces that contributed to poverty concentration

19. Piggybacking is a rhetorical strategy where claimsmakers

a. Build a new claim upon an older, more established social problem
b. Claim that a condition is getting worse
c. Construct profiles of villains and victims
d. Construct claims for the media
20. Cultural explanations tend to be
a. Systemic
b. Structural
c. Economic
d. Individualistic
21. The social problems audience
a. Has the same interests and ideologies
b. Consists only of voters
c. Is differentiated and may only care about certain social problems
d. Are only the students of Sociology 150
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22. Expert claimsmakers

a. Only organize protests
b. May be politicians or scientists
c. Present purely objective facts
d. Are not swayed by money
23. Public reaction is a stage in the social problems process where
a. The public votes on whether something is a social problem or not
b. Claims are made by activists
c. Policy outcomes are evaluated
d. The public provides feedback to claimsmakers
24. T/F: Because crime is defined by our current laws, it is an objective social problem
25. The organic analogy compares society to a [MACHINE/ORGANISM]
26. One structural factor contributing to the high rates of African American single-mother families is:
a. Welfare benefits
b. High rates of black male joblessness
c. Devaluing of marriage
d. Perceptions of black male promiscuity
27. Audience segmentation is practiced by the media to
a. Make range claims
b. Ensure that no media bias occurs
c. Aim at a particular demographic group
d. Deal with the 24 hour news cycle
28. Social pathology defines deviants as
a. Young men
b. Children, adolescents, and adults
c. Defective, dependent, or delinquent
d. Criminals and soldiers
29. Adrian Raine argues that approximately __% of crime is hereditary
a. 40-50%
b. 80-90%
c. 0-10%
d. 20-30%
30. Raines social push theory indicates that
a. Only social factors lead to crime
b. Only biological factors lead to crime
c. Both social and biological factors lead to crime
d. Neither social nor biological factors lead to crime
31. The age crime curve shows that, in terms of their criminal activity, individuals
a. Start at an early age and never desist
b. Start in late childhood, peak in adolescence, and desist through adulthood
c. Start in late adolescence and desist by mid-20s
d. Start in early adolescence and desist only after mid-50s
32. T/F: Social norms have no consequences if broken
33. T/F: Crime has fallen most since 1990 in poorer, more urbanized, and more minority communities
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34. Social disorganization theory identifies three ways social rules can fail:
a. Normlessness, culture conflict, breakdown
b. Grounds, warrants, conclusions
c. Neighborhood effects, heterogeneity, collective efficacy
d. Disconnection, pathology, deviance
35. The demographic factors associated with neighborhood disorganization include
a. Rural areas and high-income areas
b. Gang membership and prior arrests
c. Low economic status and ethnic heterogeneity
d. Crime and delinquency
36. One social process that explains how neighborhoods affect individuals is
a. Incarceration
b. Collective efficacy
c. Ethnic heterogeneity
d. Claimsmaking
37. Among black men without a high school degree, approximately __ will spend time in prison by age
35
a. 1/3
b. 50%
c. 2/3
d. 90%
38. State one reason that one broken window can lead to more crime.

39. T/F: the wealth gap between blacks and whites is larger than the income gap
40. T/F: Asians and whites generally have higher incomes and education levels than blacks and
Hispanics.
41. Which statement is most true about crime in the US?
a. Levels of both violent and property crime are much lower today than in 1990
b. Levels of violent but not property crime are much lower today than in 1990
c. Levels of property but not violent crime are much lower today than in 1990
d. Levels of both violent and property crime are much higher today than in 1990
42. Non-Hispanic whites made up __% of the U.S. population in 2010
a. 52
b. 64
c. 77
d. 91
43. The oppositional culture explanation for black educational achievement
a. Shows that black parents dont care about education
b. Originally argued that cultural opposition arose from structural conditions
c. Explains 50% of the black-white achievement gap
d. Refutes the model minority myth

44. T/F: Wilson argues that more evidence supports structural than cultural explanations for inequality
in outcomes between different racial/ethnic groups
45. An example of a cultural explanation for racial inequality would be
a. School segregation
b. Decline in real value of minimum wage
c. Disconnect from mainstream values
d. Neighborhood segregation
46. Neighborhoods have been shown to affect
a. Educational outcomes
b. Gentrification
c. Marital choices
d. None of the above
47. Redlining refers to the practice of
a. Racial steering of renters
b. Race-blind college admissions procedures
c. Denying loans to buy in minority neighborhoods
d. Illegally crossing the border
48. According to Wilson, poverty concentration is better explained by
a. Structural causes
b. Cultural causes
49. T/F: The majority of African Americans have incomes below the poverty line
50. According to Turner, which of the following is NOT a key reason why racial segregation has
persisted?
a. Minority homeseekers prefer minority neighborhoods
b. Blacks and whites access different sources of information and search strategies for homes
c. The income differences between blacks and whites, on average
d. Whites avoid neighborhoods with many minority residents
51. Black-white segregation in terms of dissimilarity
a. Is lower than Hispanic-White segregation
b. Has remained stable since 1970
c. Has declined since 1970
d. Remains low
52. __________ is a cultural explanation for racial segregation
a. Redlining
b. Economic inequality
c. Group preferences
d. None of these
53. Mass incarceration is best described as accounting for less than __ of the crime decline
a. 10%
b. 30%
c. 50%
d. 90%
54. Which most closely describes the share of U.S. income going to the top 10% of income earners?
a. 10%
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55.

56.

57.

58.

59.

60.

61.

62.

b. 20%
c. 50%
d. 90%
In the U.S. in recent years, poverty is highest among
a. Children
b. The elderly
c. Married couple households
d. Men
Masseys article indicates that
a. Constructing affordable housing in high-income areas leads to segregation
b. Constructing affordable housing in high-income areas can benefit residents
c. Constructing affordable housing always decreases property values and increases crime
d. Constructing affordable housing in high-income areas is illegal in the U.S.
Income inequality has risen in the U.S. mainly because
a. The incomes of the poor have declined
b. The incomes of the middle-class have risen
c. Minimum wages are too low
d. The incomes of the highest-income households have risen
Which of these most accurately describes income mobility in the U.S.?
a. The U.S. does well on relative mobility but not as well on absolute mobility
b. The U.S. does well on absolute mobility but not as well on relative mobility
c. The U.S. does poorly in terms of both relative and absolute mobility
d. The U.S. does really well in terms of both relative and absolute mobility
According to Edin & Kefales, low-income single mothers do not get married because
a. They do not value marriage
b. Their partners are abusive
c. They want to be economically secure before marriage
d. Their children are products of brief relationships
Since 1960, the share of households headed by single parents has
a. More than tripled
b. Stayed the same
c. Declined
d. Increased 5%
In terms of economic mobility, there is stickiness at the ends in the U.S. Which statement reflects
this?
a. Those who grew up in low-income households end up in high-income households as adults
b. Those who grew up in high-income households end up in low-income households as adults
c. Those who grew up in low-income households remain in low-income households as adults
d. None of the above
Today, affirmative action in college admissions
a. Consists of racial quotas and reverse discrimination
b. Can only focus on income in all states
c. Allows for the consideration of race in a holistic assessment
d. None of the above
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63. Recent polls indicate that

a. Less than the majority of women want an egalitarian relationship
b. The majority of fathers felt that mothers should provide more amounts of caregiving for
children than fathers
c. Mothers are less likely than fathers to cut back or drop out of work
d. The majority of both men and women agree that the best marriage is one in which husband
and wife both work and both take care of the house
64. T/F: The US does not require employers to offer any weeks of paid family leave to employees
65. Theories that state that schools reward upper-class students more than lower-class students and
better prepare upper-class students for the workforce are described as
a. Achievement ideology
b. Social reproduction
c. Social mobility
d. Social stratification
66. First-wave feminism focused on
a. Suffrage and property rights
b. Abortion rights
c. Equal pay
d. International issues
67. Compared to other developed countries, the U.S. spends
a. Less on social programs aimed at reducing poverty
b. More on social programs aimed at reducing poverty
c. More money on safety net programs than defense
d. Enough money so that poverty has been eliminated
68. T/F: the War on Poverty has reduced the poverty rate in America
69. The New York Times article about the experiences of Dasani and her family in a homeless shelter
reflects a rhetorical claimsmaking strategy of
a. A typifying example
b. Piggybacking
c. Naming the problem
d. Counterclaims
70. Sampson shows that crime in predominantly immigrant neighborhoods in Chicago is
a. Higher than similar predominantly native-born neighborhoods
b. Lower than similar predominantly native-born neighborhoods
c. Has declined since 1965
d. Consists of more violent and less property crime than similar neighborhoods
71. Approximately what proportion of immigrants are undocumented?
a. 10%
b. 30%
c. 50%
d. 90%
72. Most economists agree that
a. Immigrants have no long or short term negative effects on native-born workers
employment
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b. Immigrants reduce the odds that native-born workers will be employed

c. Immigrants are a drain on federal government resources
d. Immigrants have large negative effect on native-born workers wages at all education levels
73. T/F: The U.S. has the highest rate of civilian gun ownership in the world because most Americans
own guns.
74. Wilson advocates for policies that focus more on
a. Structural inequalities
b. Race-blind policies
c. Cultural factors
d. Reparations for slavery
75. DACA/DAPA
a. Would increase deportations of unauthorized immigrants
b. Are the same as the DREAM Act
c. Are currently in legal limbo
d. Would only apply to immigrants under age 18