4.3.2.5 Consensus, conflict, structural and social action theories Quiz: AQA Sociology, Unit 3

The 20 questions

1. Which theoretical perspective sees society as based on shared values and consensus, with institutions working together to maintain stability?

   • Functionalism, which views society as a system of interrelated parts that meet social needs and maintain order
   • Marxism, which views society as a set of classes whose interests conflict and whose struggle drives historical change
   • Feminism, which views society as organised around male dominance, with women's subordination maintained by patriarchal institutions
   • Symbolic interactionism, which views society as a set of meanings created through face-to-face interaction between individuals

2. Which perspective views society primarily as arising from conflict between groups with unequal power and competing interests?

   • Structuration theory, which argues that structure and agency are mutually constituted through the repeated actions of individuals
   • Marxist conflict theory, which argues that class struggle between owners and workers drives social change
   • Functionalism, which argues that social institutions work together to meet society's needs and maintain consensus over time
   • Weberian social action theory, which argues that individuals act on meanings and motives that cannot be explained by structure alone

3. Which concept, associated with Talcott Parsons, describes the functional requirements that every society must meet to survive?

   • Functional prerequisites, such as adaptation, goal attainment, integration and latency, often summarised as the AGIL scheme
   • Class consciousness, which describes the awareness of workers that their shared position makes collective action possible
   • Verstehen, which describes the interpretive understanding of meanings that actors attach to their own social actions
   • Dialectical materialism, which describes the historical development of societies through conflicts between economic classes

4. Which theory emphasises that individuals create and interpret social meanings through interaction, and that society is continually produced in this way?

   • Positivism, which focuses on the discovery of causal laws through the systematic measurement of observable social facts
   • Symbolic interactionism, which focuses on how people act on the basis of meanings developed through interaction
   • Functionalism, which focuses on how institutions meet the needs of society as a whole and sustain its stability over time
   • Marxism, which focuses on the economic base and the ways in which the means of production shape the superstructure

5. Which theorist argued that the division of labour in modern society creates organic solidarity, based on interdependence?

   • Mead, who argued that the division of labour is understood only through the symbols used in face-to-face interaction
   • Durkheim, who contrasted mechanical solidarity in traditional societies with organic solidarity in modern ones
   • Weber, who argued that the division of labour is shaped by the Protestant ethic and the rise of rational-legal authority
   • Marx, who argued that the division of labour in capitalism leads to alienation and the exploitation of the working class

6. Which theory is most closely associated with the concept of 'base and superstructure'?

   • Weberian action theory, which argues that the base consists of bureaucratic rules that govern all economic transactions
   • Symbolic interactionism, which argues that the base consists of shared meanings that determine all other social institutions
   • Functionalism, which argues that the superstructure of norms and values is determined by the biological needs of individuals
   • Marxism, which argues that the economic base shapes the institutions and ideas of the superstructure

7. Which approach is most associated with Weber's ideal type method?

   • Functionalism, which constructs models of social systems in which every institution performs a fixed role in the system
   • Social action theory, which constructs ideal types as analytical models to compare social phenomena
   • Positivism, which constructs statistical models that test whether relationships between variables are statistically significant
   • Marxism, which constructs historical stages of development that move societies towards a classless society in the future

8. What is a key criticism of functionalist theory?

   • It places too much emphasis on conflict, so it cannot explain why societies remain stable for long periods of time
   • It relies entirely on statistical data, so it cannot be applied to the study of values, norms or social institutions
   • It tends to overlook conflict and inequality, and assumes that institutions serve the interests of society as a whole
   • It focuses only on the meanings of individuals, so it cannot explain the role of institutions in maintaining social order

9. What is a key criticism of Marxist conflict theory?

   • It assumes that every social group has identical interests, so it cannot account for any conflict between classes in history
   • It has never been applied to the study of economies, so it offers no explanation of how markets or production function at all
   • It may underestimate the role of consensus and of the diversity of identities and social divisions beyond class
   • It rejects all forms of inequality, so it cannot explain differences in wealth and power between groups in any society

10. Which perspective would most likely explain gender inequality in terms of the domination of women by men through social institutions?

    • Positivism, which argues that gender is a biological category whose differences are measured directly and not socially constructed
    • Functionalism, which argues that gender roles are fixed by biology and therefore cannot be changed by any social process
    • Feminism, which argues that patriarchy structures family, work and politics in ways that disadvantage women
    • Symbolic interactionism, which argues that gender differences are entirely the product of individual choices unaffected by social structure

11. Which concept, associated with Weber, describes the rationalisation of social life through formal rules, hierarchy and impersonal procedure?

    • Labelling, which Becker described as the process by which rules are applied to people who are then seen as deviant
    • Bureaucracy, which Weber saw as the characteristic form of rational-legal authority in modern societies
    • Hegemony, which Gramsci described as the leadership of the ruling class through consent rather than through force alone
    • Anomie, which Durkheim described as the breakdown of norms in periods of rapid social change and economic disruption

12. Which perspective is best described as a 'structural' theory?

    • Ethnomethodology, which explains social behaviour in terms of the everyday rules people use to create order in conversation
    • Phenomenology, which explains social behaviour in terms of the personal experience of consciousness and perception of the world
    • Functionalism, which explains social behaviour in terms of the structures and institutions that constrain individuals
    • Symbolic interactionism, which explains social behaviour in terms of the meanings created by individuals in face-to-face settings

13. Which pair correctly matches a theory with its general view of society?

    • Marxism: meaning created by individuals; functionalism: class conflict driven by unequal access to the means of production
    • Marxism: biological determinism; functionalism: the social construction of gender roles through interaction in families
    • Marxism: consensus between classes; functionalism: conflict between institutions over the distribution of resources in society
    • Marxism: conflict between classes; functionalism: consensus and stability through shared institutions

14. Which theory would a sociologist use to explain why people in the same class behave differently, through their interpretations of situations?

    • Symbolic interactionism, which emphasises how individuals interpret situations and act on the basis of those interpretations
    • Functionalism, which emphasises that institutions determine the roles that each individual plays in the social system as a whole
    • Positivism, which emphasises that behaviour can be predicted fully from measurable economic variables such as income and wealth
    • Marxism, which emphasises that class position alone determines every individual's behaviour regardless of personal interpretation

15. What does the term 'social action' mean in Weber's theory?

    • Action that is purely instinctive and carried out without any thought or intention on the part of the individual actor
    • Action that is determined entirely by the economic base of society, so that individuals have no choices in any situation
    • Action to which the actor attaches subjective meaning and which takes account of the behaviour of others
    • Action that is carried out only by members of institutions, such as government departments and corporations, on behalf of the state

16. Which theory is most closely associated with the view that society is held together by shared norms and values, rather than by coercion alone?

    • Functionalism and consensus theory, which emphasise shared norms, socialisation and the integrating role of institutions
    • Marxism and conflict theory, which emphasise the use of coercion by the ruling class to suppress the interests of subordinate groups
    • Feminism and conflict theory, which emphasise the coercion of women by men within families and institutions of the state
    • Symbolic interactionism and ethnomethodology, which emphasise the coercion of individuals by the meanings of everyday talk

17. Which of these is a key concept in Marx's conflict theory?

    • Latency, arising from the need of every social system to maintain the cultural patterns that motivate individuals to act
    • Class struggle, arising from the antagonistic relationship between those who own the means of production and those who sell their labour
    • Verstehen, arising from the interpretive understanding of meanings that actors give to their own actions in social settings
    • Organic solidarity, arising from the interdependence created by the specialised division of labour in modern industrial society

18. Which perspective would be most useful for studying how everyday interaction in a school classroom creates shared understandings of what it means to be a 'good student'?

    • Functionalism, which examines only how the school as a whole contributes to the stability of the economy at national level
    • Marxism, which examines only the ownership of the school buildings and the wages paid to its teachers and staff
    • Positivism, which examines only the average exam scores of pupils, without reference to their everyday interactions
    • Symbolic interactionism, which examines how shared meanings are produced and negotiated through interaction

19. A theorist argues that social order depends on the interests of powerful groups and that laws reflect those interests. Which perspective is this?

    • Positivism, which argues that laws are neutral reflections of measurable patterns of behaviour in each society over time
    • Functionalist theory, which argues that laws reflect the shared values that bind society together in a consensus
    • Conflict theory, which argues that power and domination shape the institutions and laws of society
    • Symbolic interactionism, which argues that laws are simply the meanings that individuals agree upon in everyday conversation

20. In Merton's functionalism, what is a 'manifest function'?

    • An intended and recognised consequence of an institution, such as schools teaching literacy and numeracy to pupils
    • A consequence of an institution that applies only to a single individual, rather than to the institution as a whole in its functioning
    • A consequence of an institution that is always harmful to society, which functionalists regard as a sign of the institution's decline
    • An unintended and hidden consequence of an institution that is not recognised by participants, such as schools reinforcing social class

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