CHAPTER 5: Groups, Networks, and Organizations
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Which of the following is a social group?
a. couple married less than one year
b. everyone in your sociology class who has brown hair
c. passengers on an airline flight
d. Microsoft stockholders
Answer: A
2. Members of which of the following think of themselves as belonging together while also
interacting with each other?
a. social aggregate
b. social group
c. social category
d. an audience
Answer: B
3. Which of the following would NOT be considered a social aggregate?
a. a collection of sightseers at a tourist attraction
b. a primary group
c. a crowd
d. an audience
Answer: B
4. Which of the following is NOT a group in the sociological sense?
a. an extended family with members living in three different states
b. the audience at a Broadway show
c. a little league baseball team
d. the chess club at a high school
Answer: B
5. Sociologists do not consider fans of the rock musician Bruce Springsteen to be a group.
Why not?
a. They will not form any lasting relationship with one another.
b. They share no meaningful features.
c. They do not find themselves in the same physical location.
d. They do not interact in any meaningful way.
Answer: A
6. Which of the following is a social aggregate?
a. an unmarried couple who have been living together for less than one year
b. middle-class Asian American women
c. passengers on an airline flight
d. your family
Answer: C
7. Bert is a New York Yankees fan. To Bert, Boston Red Sox fans are a(n):
a. in-group
b. out-group
c. aggregate
d. social category
Answer: B
8. Which of the following statements is NOT true about in-groups?
a. In-group members feel loyalty to the group.
b. In-group membership is often temporary.
c. In-group members have a sense of belonging.
d. In-group members are biased in favor of their fellow members.
Answer: B
9. All over Los Angeles, cars can be seen sporting a bumper sticker that says, “My favorite
teams are UCLA and whoever is playing USC.” What is this an example of?
a. the use of a reference group
b. the role that gender plays in social networks
c. hostility toward an out-group
d. bureaucratic rationalization
Answer: C
10. Many sociologists have worried that the modern economy demands both geographic and
occupational mobility, which in turn means that industrial and bureaucratic organizations
have become the norm. What sort of groups might become less common if people have to
relocate many times in their lives for work?
a. aggregates
b. secondary groups
c. categories
d. primary groups
Answer: D
11. Which is more likely to be an in-group?
a. primary group
b. secondary group
c. social aggregate
d. social category
Answer: A
12. John graduates from college with a degree in business administration and gets a job with
a large firm that audits small businesses that have contracts with the city. While working
there, he becomes friends with Dave, who invites him to attend a weekly poker game that
becomes a meaningful part of John’s life. Some weeks the game is the only thing John looks
forward to. What does this illustrate?
a. the absolute distinction between primary and secondary groups
b. the goal-oriented nature of primary groups
c. the way that primary groups can lead to membership in secondary groups
d. the way that secondary-group ties can lead to the close personal ties of primary groups
Answer: D
13. Which of the following are characterized by long-term, intimate, face-to-face
relationships?
a. primary group
b. secondary group
c. social aggregate
d. social category
Answer: A
14. Why would a person want to be part of a secondary group?
a. to accomplish a specific goal, such as graduating from college
b. to have a sense of closeness and camaraderie
c. to associate with people who care about his or her future
d. to appreciate the importance of sacrificing individual needs for the group’s goals
Answer: A
15. Which of the following is an example of a primary group?
a. a student and her professor
b. a customer and the sales clerk
c. a student council president and the president of his university
d. a high school girl’s clique
Answer: D
16. Which of the following arrangements facilitate relationships and social interaction?
a. the economic homogeneity of gated communities, where like-minded people relate to one
another
b. employees working from home three out of five days a week
c. townhall meetings where citizens can discuss, debate, and vote on issues
d. workplace situations where different activities and workers are segregated, building
camaraderie among similar employees
Answer: C
17. When people attend high school class reunions, they often compare their own personal
and professional successes and failures to those of their former classmates. This means that
classmates are a(n):
a. Reference group
b. secondary group
c. Out-group
d. Professional group
Answer: A
18. Groups that we use as standards to evaluate ourselves (either positively, in terms of the
positions we aspire to achieve, or negatively, in terms of the positions we wish to avoid) are
called:
a. reference groups
b. secondary groups
c. out-groups
d. networks
Answer: A
19. A 28-year-old woman is on the verge of a big promotion at work. Because she did not
finish college until she was 25, she wonders about getting her career moving, especially since
the entry-level job that she has is not impressive. She decides to attend her 10-year high
school reunion only if she is promoted. If her old high school classmates can have this effect
on her, what kind of group do they represent?
a. a triad
b. a primary group
c. a reference group
d. a particularly cohesive group
Answer: C
20. What is a group that provides standards by which an individual can judge his or her own
accomplishments?
a. primary group
b. secondary group
c. out-group
d. reference group
Answer: D
21. For a reference group to be effective, it must meet which of the following criteria?
a. The group must have active members.
b. The group must be considered a primary group.
c. The group members must interact.
d. The group must provide standards by which others measure their attitudes or behaviors.
Answer: D
22. A boyfriend and girlfriend would be considered what kind of group?
a. monad
b. dyad
c. triad
d. reference
Answer: B
23. What is the simplest size that can comprise a social group?
a. an ego and an alter ego
b. a dyad
c. a triad
d. a family
Answer: B
24. Introductory sociology classes are typically large and can have more than 100 students.
On the other hand, graduate school sociology seminars typically have fewer than 15 students.
How does this difference in enrollment influence classroom dynamics?
a. Students in the introductory classes are less likely to skip class because they want to spend
time with all of their friends.
b. It is more acceptable, and less noticeable, to skip a graduate seminar because graduate
students have many other responsibilities.
c. If a student skips the introductory class, it will have little or no effect on the class
discussion, but if a student skips the seminar, it will affect the discussion more.
d. In the larger class, the professor makes a point to learn the students’ names because
attendance is more important for freshmen than for graduate students.
Answer: C
25. Which of the following best describes the relationship between group size, intimacy, and
stability?
a. Larger groups, such as families with more than three children, are more intimate than small
families with one child because everyone must look after everyone else.
b. Larger groups, such as fraternities, are less intimate than small cliques, but are more stable.
c. Dyads are the most stable and enduring of all social groups.
d. Triads are more intimate than dyads because members are working to keep the group
together.
Answer: B
26. Who is Nelson Mandela?
a. Mandela was a transformational leader who directed the dissolution of apartheid in South
Africa.
b. Mandela was the transactional leader of the United Nations during the early years of the
Bosnian conflict.
c. Mandela was the autocratic leader of Indonesia who was overthrown by the rebel army.
d. Mandela was a messianic leader who directed the civil rights movement in the United
States.
Answer: A
27. The Solomon Asch experiment in which a group of subjects were asked to compare the
length of lines demonstrated that:
a. an authoritarian leader can strongly influence group members
b. groups have great power to induce conformity
c. the larger the group, the less each member has a sense of individual responsibility
d. when people are given a relatively simple task, they are unlikely to conform to a larger
group
Answer: B
28. What was the Solomon Asch experiment measuring?
a. the power of the group
b. the extent of social networks
c. the role that authority plays in maintaining social control
d. the value of teamwork compared to individual effort
Answer: A
29. What did we learn about students’ willingness to obey authority in the famous Milgram
study?
a. People will follow an authority figure’s orders regardless of the effects on others.
b. People will organize and establish their own rules, eliminating the expert.
c. People will establish relationships among themselves, creating an in-group and an outgroup.
d. No one will obey orders that have negative consequences for other people.
Answer: A
30. When group members withhold their reservations and criticisms for the sake of
consensus, they are engaging in:
a. group solidarity
b. group dynamics
c. groupthink
d. transactional leadership
Answer: C
31. Before the Second Gulf War, many in the U.S. government believed that Iraq possessed
significant stores of weapons of mass destruction. In part, this belief was supported by CIA
intelligence reports that later turned out to be wrong. Some have blamed the intense need for
group cohesion and loyalty for driving out anyone who disagreed with the analysis. What is
this called?
a. the “iron law of oligarchy”
b. group dynamics
c. informal networks
d. groupthink
Answer: D
32. In 1628, the King of Sweden commissioned the construction of the Vasa, the largest ship
in the Baltic, to be built for the war against Poland. Although shipbuilders knew that the
king’s design, which called for two layers of cannons, would cause the Vasa to sink, no one
told him. The ship sank fifteen minutes after it was launched. Why was the king not told by
anyone that his design was flawed?
a. The shipbuilders would not challenge the king’s authority as the ruler of the country.
b. The shipbuilders wanted Sweden to surrender to Polish troops.
c. The shipbuilders wanted the king to fail to incite a revolt against his rule.
d. The shipbuilders knew that the king would ignore their advice.
Answer: A
33. Sociologists refer to the webs of direct and indirect ties connecting individuals to others
who influence them as:
a. social networks
b. reference groups
c. in-groups
d. out-groups
Answer: A
34. In The Strength of Weak Ties, what does Mark Granovetter mean when he claims that
weak ties can be strong?
a. Weak ties often develop into stronger ones later.
b. We rely on weak ties for much of our emotional support.
c. Weak ties matter more to us than stronger ties.
d. Even weak ties can provide valuable information.
Answer: D
35. Mark Granovetter has argued that the people you know best are likely to possess only
information that you already have, which is why he argued that, especially for finding
employment, it is advantageous to have:
a. a high degree of cultural and social capital
b. more casual acquaintances who are connected to different social networks
c. parents and grandparents with high socioeconomic status
d. a prestigious education in order to gain access to lucrative occupations
Answer: B
36. A study of government employment in Quebec found that, even though the government
had made efforts to formalize recruitment, over 40 percent of those surveyed had found jobs
through personal contacts. And in the majority of those cases, the personal contacts were
fairly casual, not close friends. What principal is demonstrated here?
a. the strength of weak ties
b. the power of strong triads
c. the power of groupthink
d. the role of reference groups
Answer: A
37. What term do sociologists use to refer to a group with an identifiable membership that
engages in concerted collective actions to achieve a common purpose?
a. primary group
b. secondary group
c. in-group
d. organization
Answer: D
38. A large grouping of people that engages in concerted collective actions to achieve specific
objectives is called a(n):
a. oligarchy
b. organization
c. primary group
d. peer group
Answer: B
39. Formal organizations:
a. are irrationally designed to achieve their objectives
b. often employ explicit rules, regulations, and procedures
c. are atypical in modern societies
d. never involve legalities and formal procedures
Answer: B
40. People in modern societies depend on ________ to coordinate resources and activities of
the mass of the population across the world.
a. nature
b. organizations
c. tradition
d. primary groups
Answer: B
41. Which of the following is an example of an organization?
a. a hospital
b. a herd of cattle
c. chat room users
d. online shoppers
Answer: A
42. The first systematic interpretation of modern organizations was developed by:
a. Émile Durkheim
b. Karl Marx
c. Max Weber
d. Alexis de Tocqueville
Answer: C
43. All large organizations tend to be ________, according to Max Weber.
a. bureaucracies
b. primary groups
c. inefficient
d. rational
Answer: A
44. Which of the following is NOT true regarding the nature of bureaucracies?
a. They have come to dominate modern social life, as predicted by Max Weber.
b. They are organized in a way that breaks down hierarchies of management so that all
members feel a sense of equality with one another.
c. They can be so bound by red tape that their rules impede the purpose of the organization.
d. They can be technically effective and efficient.
Answer: B
45. The word “bureaucracy,” as coined by Monsieur de Gournay, literally means:
a. the rule of officials
b. large table
c. inefficient organization
d. rule by incompetents
Answer: A
46. Max Weber believed ________ was the only way to cope with the administrative needs of
large social systems.
a. tradition
b. bureaucracy
c. surveillance
d. charismatic authority
Answer: B
47. “Ideal type of bureaucracy” refers to:
a. the most desirable kind of organization
b. an organization without a hierarchy of authority
c. the purest form of a bureaucracy
d. an organization with little control or power
Answer: C
48. Which of the following is NOT among the characteristics of Max Weber’s ideal type of
bureaucracy?
a. Ownership is in the hands of the workers.
b. There is a complete separation between work and home life.
c. Each job has a definite and fixed salary attached to it.
d. A set of rules governs the conduct of officials at all levels of the organization.
Answer: A
49. Max Weber concluded that the closer bureaucracies were to the ideal type, the more
________ they would become.
a. ineffective in achieving their objectives
b. effective in achieving their objectives
c. loose and informal
d. like a democracy
Answer: B
50. According to Max Weber, the relations between people as stated in the rules of an
organization are:
a. formal
b. informal
c. small group
d. flexible
Answer: A
51. John Meyer and Brian Rowan found that the ________ in a bureaucracy are often
ceremonial or ritual, serving mainly to justify the way things are really done.
a. formal procedures
b. informal relations
c. primary groups
d. traditions
Answer: A
52. Which of the following is problematic in a rigid bureaucratic organization?
a. efficiency
b. rationality
c. overt discrimination
d. innovation
Answer: D
53. Robert Michels saw that power is inevitably concentrated at the top in large-scale
organizations and in societies dominated by such organizations. He called this the:
a. clan model
b. iron law of oligarchy
c. surveillance society
d. ruling class
Answer: B
54. Which of the following best characterizes the place of women in executive positions
within American corporations?
a. The percentage of women senior executives increased dramatically during the 1980s, but
then slowed down during the 1990s.
b. The most dramatic gender change among chief executives has been the number of women
in charge of the economic direction of corporations.
c. Since the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s, women now make up nearly 30
percent of the senior executives of major corporations.
d. While the percentage of women senior executives has increased, the number of women in
key corporate positions continues to lag.
Answer: D
55. How do Japanese corporations differ from the Weberian model followed by most business
organizations in the West?
a. Japanese corporations encourage consensus building.
b. There is less job security in Japan.
c. Japanese employees are more individualistic than their Western counterparts.
d. The Japanese maintain a strict separation between work and their private lives.
Answer: A
56. A company invents its own mascot and song, which is sung by employees at the
beginning of each shift. This style is known as:
a. oligarchic
b. human resource management
c. corporate culture
d. socialism
Answer: C
57. Why did American corporations introduce new, more worker-friendly management
techniques so much later than the Japanese?
a. American business people were afraid of a labor revolt if they allowed workers to influence
the direction of the corporation.
b. American businesses wanted to rival the productivity of their Japanese counterparts.
c. American workers were hostile to the idea of involvement in corporations.
d. American business executives were not as well educated as their Japanese counterparts.
Answer: B
58. Which of the following is an advantage of information technology in organizations?
a. It promotes more hierarchical management, permitting more efficient decision making.
b. It enables organizations to become more decentralized, allowing for greater flexibility.
c. It stifles creativity in problem solving.
d. It enables employees to work fewer hours.
Answer: B
59. Which of the following is a disadvantage of telecommuting?
a. It wastes company resources such as office equipment and furniture.
b. It causes workers to lose the casual interaction that occurs around the water cooler.
c. It decreases productivity.
d. It discriminates against older and disabled employees.
Answer: B
60. The increasing use of technology in the workplace is leading to the development of
________ of workers.
a. one big class
b. two classes
c. three distinct classes
d. infinite classes
Answer: B
61. The McDonaldization of society refers to the:
a. obesity epidemic in American society
b. assumption of key authority positions by baby boomers who grew up eating McDonald’s
c. increased uniformity and rationality of society due to automation
d. phenomenal success of McDonald’s restaurants as a model for other companies
Answer: C
62. What term did sociologist George Ritzer use to describe the spread of rationalization and
bureaucratic ways of operating into everyday life?
a. the iron cage
b. the spirit of capitalism
c. bureaucratic creep
d. McDonaldization
Answer: D
63. A high school decides that its band needs to wear uniforms. In order to be more efficient,
the school buys uniforms only in three sizes and tells students to pick the size that comes
closest to fitting. What process is this an example of?
a. commodification
b. rationalization
c. group dynamics
d. social aggregation
Answer: B
64. What might be the outcome when there is a decline in a political party’s social capital?
a. More people will vote for the party’s candidate in the next election.
b. More people will register as members of the party.
c. More people will make contributions to the party.
d. More people will vote for the other party’s candidate in the next election.
Answer: D
TRUE/FALSE
1. Strong identification with and loyalty to the in-group often results in discrimination against
members of the out-group.
Answer: True
2. The size of a group does not effect how it operates or what sort of relationships are
possible within it because group dynamics are the same regardless of group size.
Answer: False
3. Two people can be a social group.
Answer: True
4. A triad is slightly more stable than a dyad.
Answer: True
5. Our social networks consist of only our closest friends and family.
Answer: False
6. There is a social tie between me and my best friend’s uncle even though I’ve never met
him.
Answer: True
7. The influence of organizations over our lives today is entirely beneficial.
Answer: False
8. Everything about bureaucracies is bad because they constitute an iron cage of rules and
regulations.
Answer: False
9. Japanese corporations are good examples of the bureaucratic model outlined by Max
Weber.
Answer: False
10. Studies show that Western companies cannot successfully operate with the kind of
bottom-up decision making used in Japan.
Answer: False
11. The bottom-up decision-making style has not been found to work in Western societies.
Answer: False
12. Human resource management is a style that sees human resource issues as the
responsibility of the whole organization, not just the human resources department.
Answer: True
Test Bank for Essentials of Sociology
Anthony Giddens, Mitchell Duneier, Richard P Appelbaum, Deborah Carr
9780393932379, 9780393674088, 9780393937459, 9780393918830
