Lesson 4.1.3.5

4.1.3.5 Consensus, conflict, structural and social action theories Quiz: AQA Sociology, Unit 1

20 questions

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Lesson 4.1.3.5, Consensus, conflict, structural and social action theories: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA Sociology (7192), Unit 1: Education with Theory and Methods, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Which assumption is central to consensus theories of society?

    • Society is held together by shared values and norms, which most people accept as legitimate
    • Society is divided into classes whose interests are fundamentally opposed and cannot be reconciled
    • Society is primarily shaped by random events, so no general patterns can be identified in social life
    • Society is made up of individuals whose actions have no shared meaning or patterned structure at all

  2. Which theorist is most associated with the idea that society is a system of interrelated parts that work together to maintain stability?

    • Max Weber, whose interpretive account describes the meanings that individuals attach to social action
    • Karl Marx, whose conflict account describes the struggle between classes over the means of production
    • Talcott Parsons, whose functionalist account describes social systems that meet functional prerequisites
    • Erving Goffman, whose dramaturgical account describes the performance of roles in everyday encounters

  3. Which assumption is central to conflict theories of society?

    • Society is characterised by stable traditions, which change only when individuals decide to adopt new ideas
    • Society is characterised by inequalities of power and resources, which generate conflict between groups
    • Society is characterised by a harmonious balance of values, which no group seeks to challenge in practice
    • Society is characterised by individual choices that have no effect on the distribution of power and resources

  4. Which theorist is most associated with the view that history is shaped by class conflict between owners of the means of production and those who sell their labour?

    • Karl Marx, whose historical materialism identifies class struggle as the driving force of social change
    • Talcott Parsons, whose structural functionalism identifies the equilibrium of social systems as central
    • Emile Durkheim, whose study of suicide identified social integration and regulation as the key factors
    • Herbert Blumer, whose symbolic interactionism identifies the negotiation of meaning as central to society

  5. Which approach is most closely associated with social action theory?

    • Symbolic interactionism, which studies how individuals create and interpret meanings through social interaction
    • Systems theory, which studies the input and output of resources between institutions in society
    • Structural functionalism, which studies how institutions contribute to the stability of the social system as a whole
    • Marxist structuralism, which studies how economic structures determine the forms of social institutions

  6. Which statement best describes a structural theory of society?

    • It explains social behaviour through the biological instincts that all humans share in common
    • It explains social behaviour entirely through the personal interpretations that individuals make of their experiences
    • It explains social behaviour through the constraints and patterns that exist beyond the choices of individuals
    • It explains social behaviour through the random actions of individuals, which produce no patterns at all

  7. Which criticism is most often made of functionalist consensus theory by conflict theorists?

    • It relies too heavily on the statistical analysis of large datasets, which cannot describe social values
    • It ignores the power and inequality that some groups use to impose their values on others
    • It places too much emphasis on the meanings that individuals attach to their actions in daily life
    • It assumes that individuals have no ability to make choices, which is inconsistent with social research

  8. Which criticism is most often made of interactionist social action theory by structural theorists?

    • It claims that every social action has a biological cause, so it has no room for social explanation
    • It assumes that all meanings are fixed and unchanging, so it cannot explain the process of interpretation
    • It neglects the constraining influence of large-scale social structures, such as class and economic inequality
    • It relies entirely on the functions of institutions, so it cannot explain how individuals interact at all

  9. A researcher finds that pupils from different social backgrounds hold broadly shared views about the importance of education. Which theoretical view would most readily account for this finding?

    • Ethnomethodology, which explains the views as entirely unique to each individual's own interpretation
    • Conflict theory, which explains the shared views as the product of class struggle between groups
    • Consensus theory, which explains shared values as the basis of social stability
    • Feminism, which explains the views as the product of patriarchal control over the family

  10. Which concept is most closely associated with Dahrendorf's conflict approach to social order?

    • Organic solidarity, in which people are bound together by their interdependence in the division of labour
    • Authority relations, in which those in positions of power impose orders that others may resist
    • Verstehen, in which the researcher seeks to understand the meanings that actors give to their actions
    • Latent functions, in which institutions perform unintended roles that contribute to social stability

  11. Which idea is central to Weber's social action approach?

    • Social action is the automatic response of individuals to the functional needs of the social system
    • Social action is the result of biological drives, which sociologists can measure only through physiology
    • Social action is determined entirely by the economic base, which sets the limits of human behaviour
    • Social action is meaningful behaviour oriented towards the actions of others, which sociologists must understand

  12. Which evaluation of structural theories is most consistent with sociological debate?

    • They explain individual meanings perfectly, but they cannot account for any patterns in social behaviour
    • They explain broad patterns well, but they may underplay the agency and the meanings of individuals
    • They are irrelevant to modern society, because social structures have disappeared in advanced economies
    • They are fully objective and free from any ideological assumptions about society or its institutions

  13. Which theory would most likely explain a school's rules as necessary for the smooth functioning of society?

    • Ethnomethodology, which sees the rules of schools as entirely constructed by the pupils in their interaction
    • Feminism, which sees the rules of schools as a means of maintaining patriarchal control over girls
    • Marxism, which sees the rules of schools as a means of reproducing the interests of the capitalist class
    • Functionalism, which sees institutions such as schools as contributing to social order and stability

  14. Which theory would most readily explain how a pupil's identity develops through interaction with teachers and peers?

    • Symbolic interactionism, which studies how meanings and identities are created through social interaction
    • Marxist structuralism, which studies how economic relations determine the identity of individuals in society
    • Structural functionalism, which studies the contribution of institutions to the maintenance of the social system
    • Systems theory, which studies the flow of information between institutions and the environment

  15. Which statement about the relationship between conflict theory and social change is correct?

    • Conflict theory sees social change as impossible, because power relationships are fixed and unchanging
    • Conflict theory sees social change as irrelevant, because the study of society should focus on stability only
    • Conflict theory sees social change as the result of consensus, which allows all groups to agree on reform
    • Conflict theory tends to see social change as arising from struggles between groups with different interests

  16. Which of the following is an example of a structural explanation?

    • Explaining high rates of school exclusion by the personal meanings that a single teacher gives to a pupil's behaviour
    • Explaining high rates of school exclusion by the random choices that pupils make on each day of the school year
    • Explaining high rates of school exclusion by the biological temperaments of individual pupils in the school
    • Explaining high rates of school exclusion by the way that the school's policies disadvantage certain groups of pupils

  17. Which concept links social action theory with the interpretation of everyday life?

    • The definition of the situation, in which individuals act according to how they interpret the circumstances they face
    • The social fact, in which external constraints exist independently of the meanings held by individuals
    • The functional prerequisite, in which institutions must meet the needs of the social system to survive
    • The base and superstructure, in which economic relations determine the ideas and institutions of a society

  18. A sociologist argues that the education system reproduces inequality by serving the interests of the economically powerful. Which theoretical position does this argument most closely reflect?

    • Ethnomethodology, which sees institutions as the product of the everyday rules that individuals follow
    • Symbolic interactionism, which sees institutions as entirely constructed by the meanings of individuals
    • Consensus theory, which sees institutions as serving the shared values of the whole society equally
    • Conflict theory, which sees institutions as serving the interests of dominant groups in unequal societies

  19. Which theorist is most associated with the view that conflict in society arises from authority relations within organisations?

    • Emile Durkheim, who argued that social solidarity depends on the shared moral values of a community
    • Talcott Parsons, who argued that social systems are stable when institutions meet their functional needs
    • Erving Goffman, who argued that social life is a performance in which individuals present different selves
    • Ralf Dahrendorf, who argued that conflict arises from the unequal distribution of authority in organisations

  20. Which assumption is shared by structural functionalism and Marxist structuralism?

    • Society is best understood through the study of individual biographies, without reference to institutions
    • Society is best explained by the meanings that individuals construct through everyday interaction
    • Society is shaped by structures that constrain individual behaviour, beyond individual choice and interpretation
    • Society is best understood as a collection of individual choices with no patterned social structure

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