Sociology Important Quiz Questions and Answers

Here are a few important sociology quiz questions for competitive and entrance examinations.

1. According to Marx, the worker is a slave of his object when:

1. Labour is his/her source of creativity and he can use it to the maximize his potential
2. The worker enjoys working at the factory and uses it to maximize his/her potential
3. Labour becomes an object and becomes his/her subsistence
4. When the worker consumes more than what he produces

Explanation: Marx explains that one’s work is alienating as someone else controls the worker (hire/fire) and also controls the work process. Therefore, a worker becomes a slave of his object by 1. His labour becomes something outside of him, an object, and 2. It is converted to a means of subsistence.

      2. Labour is realized in the material it produces, Marx calls this:

1. The objectification of labour
2. The production of labour
3. The self-actualization of labour
4. Alienation of labour

Explanation: Alienated labour exhibits itself outside of the producer creating a division between subject and object. Thus, the worker relates to their labour as a strange object, lacking identification or as something alienating.

      3.  To Weber, Action concerns:

1. Human beings who act out in social settings
2. An act that has a subjective meaning attached to it by the certain individual
3. An act based on interactions of ideas and values based on environmental factors
4. The searchlight for attention

Explanation: Action is social on account of the subjective meaning attached to it by the acting individual(s); it is oriented by the behaviour of others. Action may be overt or subjective and it also may consist of a positive or a negative interaction.

      4.  The two types of meaning for Weber are:

1. Meaning existing in the case of a given actor; pure theoretically conceived meaning
2. Meaning explaining empirical concept; provides theoretical framework
3. Logical type; Pure type
4. Value- rational action; Ideal type

Explanation: Meaning consists of (a) the actual meaning existing of an actor or an average meaning given to a group of actors, and (b) the theoretically conceived pure type assigned to the particular actor or group of actors.

     5.  Durkhiem defines crime on the basis of:

1. The environment
2. The society
3. The act
4. The act and society

Explanation: Durkheim argued that crime is a normal aspect of social life and that it is inevitable in all societies, even in the more advanced ones.

     6. Collective conscience in simpler societies is:

1. Manifested through particular consciences
2. Manifested when it dies with the individual
3. Diffused and has a distinct reality
4. Has a specific substratum

Explanation: Collective consciousness consists of ideas, beliefs and values that people in the society share and all individuals have their own consciousness, sharing solidarity with another.

     7. According to Durkheim, punishment may be defined as:

1. Repressive Law
2. Restitute Law
3. Harsh punishments and contracts
4. Consequences to an act that is deemed deviant to societal norms 

Explanation: For Durkheim, the social function of punishment is to consider the emotional outrage of society and execute it based on the norms that have been breached. A criminal act is recognized as that which shocks the social conscience, so in a way, criminality refines the moral boundaries in society.

      8. To Durkheim, a social fact in society contains: 

1. A determined legal code which is grounded in the psyche of its individuals
2. A distinct reality of its own and exerts a coercive power on individuals
3. A physically moored individuals in the moral constitution of society
4. An unstable environment which exerts authoritative power on individuals

Explanation: Social facts consist of external actions, thought and feelings to the individual and are invested through a coercive power which exercises control over him.

      9. Social facts are separated from organic and psychical facts due to the following traits:

1. Social action
2. Various degrees of alienation
3. Representations and actions
4. Social conduct

Explanation: The existence of representations and actions in Social facts varies it from the organic and psychical phenomena which have no relation with the individual consciousness.

     10. Occupy Wall Street or Black Lives Matter are examples of:

1. Political Events
2. Social Facts
3. Social Currents
4. Social Events

Explanation: Social Currents are made up of moments of enthusiasm from a crowd which exist only in the context of collectivity, where a certain act would not have been possible when acted individually, isolated from others.

     11. Prominent contributions of the Bombay School of Sociology are:

1. Sensitivity to historical context; concern for public issues
2. Post-Independence Social reconstruction
3. Post-Liberalization and Globalization effects
4. Economic reconstruction of the Nation

Explanation: The Bombay School of Sociology was deeply concerned with the problems of development in the context of rural and urban situations, social and political movements, tribal life and many more. They also conducted empirical research to study the dynamics and problems of development and this had a great impact on sociology.

     12. Important name associated with the Bombay School of Sociology:

1. R.K. Mukherjee
2. Leela Dube
3. K.M. Kapadia
4. Krishna Varma

Explanation:  K.M. Kapadia’s notable contributions to Kinship, family and marriage in India are highly esteemed and referred to this day.

    13. Important themes that emerged from the Bombay School of Sociology:

1. Tribal question; colonial ethnography; human rights; urban ecology
2. Economic reconstruction of Indian society; Social Philosophy
3. Nationalism; Interdisciplinarity in field-view; Tribal question
4. Caste and class eradication; Communism; Social Philosophy

Explanation: The Bombay School of Sociology was deeply concerned with the problems of development in the context of rural and urban situations, social and political movements, tribal life and many more. They also conducted empirical research to study the dynamics and problems of development and this had a great impact on sociology.

    14. Sociological traditions can be influenced by:

1. Nationalism and Religion undermining the society
2. Capitalism and Industrialization
3. Greater individual autonomy
4. Dominant ideologies and social backgrounds of researchers

Explanation: A part of culture that is passed on from persons or generations is greatly influenced and varied by the ideas that are most dominantly shared by the society or ruling class and the ideas, values and environment that affect the particular researcher.

  15.  The definition “Society is the web of social relationships” was coined by:

1. Aristotle
2. Marx
3. Maclver
4. Cooley

Explanation: Maclver was a pioneering Scottish sociologist who contributed greatly to the western thought. The non-static social interactions stated by Maclver help us recognize mutual recognition, and the collective consciousness of a kind in society.

  16.  The two types of definitions of society are:

1. Intersectional and Rational
2. Functional and Structural
3. Irrational and Rational
4. Qualitative and Quantitative

Explanation: Functionalism sees society as a structure that consists of interrelated aspects that fulfil the social and biological needs of individuals in a society and Structuralism sees society as prior to individuals and studies it based on the social interaction as patterned behavior. 

 17. The differentiation between state and government was made by

1. Gidding
2. Ginsberg
3. Locke
4. Weber

Explanation: John Locke is one of the most influential writers who greatly influenced the principles of the American government. His most noted concept was the separation of powers which led to the differentiation between the state and government.

  18. Functional theory was defined by

1. Davis and Ross
2. Davis and Cooley
3. Davis and Moore
4. Davis and York

Explanation: The functional theory of stratification provided by Kingsley Davis and Willbert Moore states that social inequalities are ‘functional’ for a society as it makes sure of the most capable individuals to occupy jobs that help maintain the society.

  19. The three stages that society has passed through was put forth by:

1. Auguste Comte
2. Herbert Spencer
3. Emile Durkheim
4. Erving Goffman

Explanation: Auguste Comte was a French philosopher and writer who states that society as a whole develops through three stages- The theological stage, Metaphysical stage, and Positive stage.

  20.  Kinship classifies primitive societies by:

1. Rational terms
2. Societal terms
3. Affinal terms
4. Classificatory terms

Explanation: People are put into society-based kinship classes in relation to terms that merge/equate relatives who have a genetic distinction from each other.

Read: 100 Sociology MCQs for PhD, Masters and Other Competitive Exams