Exam MCQs: definitions

Question 1

Ethnocentrism

Answer 1

Any of:

• Attitude of superiority
• Thinking your own ways are superior to others
• Judging other groups as inferior to your own
• Judging other groups from our own cultural point of view
• making false assumptions about others’ ways based on our own limited experience

Question 2

Darwinism

Answer 2

Belief in the theory of evolution by means of natural selection

Question 3

Eugenics

Answer 3

Advocates the improvement of human hereditary traits through various forms of intervention, e.g. selective breeding

Question 4

Phrenology and craniometry

Answer 4

study of the skull as an indication of someone’s character and mental abilities

Question 5

Social Darwinism

Answer 5

The application of Darwinism to the study of human society; specifically that individuals or groups achieve advantage over others as the result of genetic or biological superiority

Question 6

Sociology

Answer 6

the systematic study of human society

Question 7

Sociological imagination

Answer 7

• describes the sociological approach to analysing social issues
• Stepping outside your taken-for-granted knowledge and analyzing what influences this
• Historical, structural, cultural, critical

Question 8

Culture

Answer 8

• Total lifestyle of a people, incl. all the ideas, knowledge, behaviours and material objects that they share.
• Learned social heritage; passed on

Question 9

Cultural safety

Answer 9

Self-reflection of your own cultural background, in order to recognise the impact of these personal and professional influences on professional practice

Question 10

Socialisation

Answer 10

the process by which we learn to become members of society

Question 11

Biomedical model

Answer 11

• Based on the diagnosis and explanation of illness as a malfunction of the body’s biological mechanisms
• Conventional approach to Western society medicine

Question 12

Cartesian Dualism

Answer 12

the separation of the spiritual world (mind) from the material world (body), whereby the material world could be conceived as a vast machine

Question 13

Mind-body split

Answer 13

• separation of mind from body

Question 14

Positivist science

Answer 14

Theory of knowledge about how we know what we know. The event has to be observable and measurable

Question 15

Ideology

Answer 15

Refers to beliefs and values that relate to the way in which society should be organised

Question 16

Hegemony

Answer 16

• Refers to the ideal representation of the interests of the ruling class as universal interests
• the ideas of Capitalism structure society (e.g. unemployment is lazy, material objects make us happy)

Question 17

Capitalism

Answer 17

An economic system based on the private accumulation of wealth

Question 18

Class system

Answer 18

hierarchical rankings in society

Question 19

Globalisation

Answer 19

political, social, economic and cultural developments that result in people’s lives being increasingly influenced by global factors (e.g. international trade)

Question 20

Commodification of healthcare

Answer 20

treating healthcare as a commodity to be bought and sold for profit

Question 21

Social structure

Answer 21

socially constructed ways of interacting with groups and institutions in society

Question 22

Social stratification

Answer 22

hierarchical ranking of societal groups in which resources are distributed unevenly

Question 23

Class

Answer 23

the position an individual holds in the stratification system

Question 24

Power

Answer 24

• the fundamental concept in stratification

Question 25

Horizontal violence

Answer 25

describes behaviour common to all oppressed groups, whereby because of their powerlessness, the oppressed are unable to direct their anger towards their oppressor and so turn in towards each other, with various degrees of violence and negativity

Question 26

Life chances

Answer 26

refers to people’s opportunities to realize their life-style choices, and are often assumed to differ from their social class

Question 27

Oppression

Answer 27

to treat harshly or with cruel injustice

Question 28

Assimilation

Answer 28

the process of particular human groups being absorbed into a larger group, culture or social structure

Question 29

Discrimination

Answer 29

Treating unfairly; a person being given less favourable treatment than another person in the same or similar circumstances.

Question 30

Ethnicity

Answer 30

• cultural characteristics

- sociologically, refers to a shared cultural background which is a characteristic of all groups in society

Question 31

Prejudice

Answer 31

• Preconceived opinions or bias

- An irrational attitude towards certain people based on their membership in particular groups

Question 32

Race

Answer 32

• Physical characteristics
• uses skin colour and facial features to describe what are alleged to be biologically distinct groups of humans.
• actually a social construction used to categorize groups of people and sometimes implies assumed (and unproven) intellectual superiority and inferiority

Question 33

Racism

Answer 33

beliefs and cautions used to discriminate against a group of people because of their physical and cultural characteristics

Question 34

Colonisation

Answer 34

a process by which one nation imposes itself economically, politically and socially upon another

Question 35

Dispossession

Answer 35

the removal of people from land which they regard as their own

Question 36

Marginalisation

Answer 36

the process of denying a person access to important positions and symbols of economic, religious or political power within any society

Question 37

Religion

Answer 37

a collectively held set of symbols and rituals that express a basic understanding of the world, especially its sacred dimension and addresses the ultimate concerns of the meaning of human existence

Question 38

Beliefs

Answer 38

people’s convictions about what is true in the world - what exists, how things work and how they relate to one another

Question 39

Power

Answer 39

the ability of one group to realise its will, even in the face of resistance from other groups