Foundations of Sociology and Major Thinkers MCQs 2026

The terms in-group and out-group were popularized by

1. ARobert Merton✓
2. BMax Weber✓
3. CWilliam Graham Sumner✓
4. DTalcott Parsons✓

Who coined the term sociology

1. AAuguste Comte✓
2. BHerbert Spencer✓
3. CMax Weber✓
4. DKarl Marx✓

Norms are best understood as

1. APhysical tools✓
2. BWeather patterns✓
3. CRules and expectations of behavior✓
4. DGenetic traits✓

Values in sociology refer to

1. AShared beliefs about what is desirable✓
2. BOnly market prices✓
3. CWritten court orders✓
4. DRandom habits✓

Sanctions are used in society to

1. AMeasure rainfall✓
2. BReward or punish behavior✓
3. CCreate chromosomes✓
4. DPredict earthquakes✓

Social control refers to processes that

1. AIncrease rainfall✓
2. BRemove all groups✓
3. CStop social learning✓
4. DPromote conformity to norms✓

Social stratification means the

1. ARotation of seasons✓
2. BGrowth of cities only✓
3. CHierarchical ranking of people or groups✓
4. DStudy of fossils✓

Social mobility refers to

1. AMovement within a stratification system✓
2. BMigration of birds✓
3. CRotation of crops✓
4. DWeather forecasting✓

Culture is generally defined as a

1. ABiological reflex✓
2. BLearned and shared way of life✓
3. CChemical compound✓
4. DPrivate dream✓

Ethnocentrism means judging another culture by

1. AIts own historical context✓
2. BUniversal physics✓
3. CRandom sampling✓
4. DStandards of one own culture✓

Cultural relativism means understanding a culture according to

1. AOnly foreign standards✓
2. BMarket value✓
3. CGenetic rank✓
4. DIts own context and meanings✓

The description of sociology as the science of social facts is linked with

1. AKarl Marx✓
2. BAuguste Comte✓
3. CEmile Durkheim✓
4. DGeorge Mead✓

Class struggle is a central idea in the theory of

1. AMax Weber✓
2. BKarl Marx✓
3. CAuguste Comte✓
4. DTalcott Parsons✓

An ideal type in Weberian sociology is a

1. AMoral command✓
2. BStatistical average✓
3. CBiological species✓
4. DAnalytical model for comparison✓

The phrase survival of the fittest was coined by

1. AHerbert Spencer✓
2. BKarl Marx✓
3. CEmile Durkheim✓
4. DMax Weber✓

Quantitative sociological research mainly uses

1. APersonal diaries only✓
2. BSacred rituals✓
3. CNumerical data and statistics✓
4. DMythic stories✓

An ascribed status is usually

1. ABought in a market✓
2. BAssigned by birth or society✓
3. CChosen after training✓
4. DWon in competition✓

Sociology is best defined as the systematic study of

1. AIndividual anatomy✓
2. BChemical reactions✓
3. CHuman society and social relations✓
4. DEarth materials✓

The concept of sociological imagination is associated with

1. ARobert K. Merton✓
2. BC. Wright Mills✓
3. CTalcott Parsons✓
4. DGeorge Herbert Mead✓

Which sociologist argued that social facts should be treated as things

1. AEmile Durkheim✓
2. BMax Weber✓
3. CKarl Marx✓
4. DHerbert Blumer✓

The idea of Verstehen in sociology is most closely linked with

1. AAuguste Comte✓
2. BEmile Durkheim✓
3. CHerbert Spencer✓
4. DMax Weber✓

Historical materialism is primarily associated with

1. AMax Weber✓
2. BKarl Marx✓
3. CTalcott Parsons✓
4. DVilfredo Pareto✓

Auguste Comte is often called the father of sociology because he

1. AFounded psychoanalysis✓
2. BCreated economics✓
3. CNamed and systematized sociology✓
4. DInvented anthropology✓

Ibn Khaldun used the concept of asabiyyah to refer mainly to

1. AGroup solidarity✓
2. BUrban pollution✓
3. CReligious ritual✓
4. DEconomic inflation✓

The view of society as an organism is especially associated with

1. AKarl Marx✓
2. BGeorge Simmel✓
3. CEmile Durkheim✓
4. DHerbert Spencer✓

Durkheim explained suicide mainly through variations in social integration and

1. AEconomic capital✓
2. BSocial regulation✓
3. CGenetic traits✓
4. DClimate change✓

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism was written by

1. AMax Weber✓
2. BKarl Marx✓
3. CAuguste Comte✓
4. DEmile Durkheim✓

An achieved status is one that is

1. AInherited automatically✓
2. BBiologically fixed only✓
3. CAssigned before birth✓
4. DEarned or chosen through effort✓

The conflict perspective in sociology has its strongest classical roots in the work of

1. AHerbert Spencer✓
2. BTalcott Parsons✓
3. CKarl Marx✓
4. DRobert Park✓

Functionalism views society mainly as

1. AA set of random individuals✓
2. BA permanent class war only✓
3. CA collection of instincts✓
4. DInterrelated parts maintaining order✓

Symbolic interactionism mainly focuses on

1. AGlobal trade balances✓
2. BMeanings in face-to-face interaction✓
3. CGeological evolution✓
4. DPopulation chemistry✓

Positivism in sociology emphasizes

1. AEmpirical observation and scientific method✓
2. BMystical revelation only✓
3. CPersonal opinion as proof✓
4. DPoetic imagination✓

The distinction between manifest and latent functions was developed by

1. AAuguste Comte✓
2. BKarl Marx✓
3. CMax Weber✓
4. DRobert K. Merton✓

Manifest functions of a social institution are its

1. AHidden consequences✓
2. BAccidental outcomes✓
3. CIntended and recognized effects✓
4. DBiological causes✓

Anomie refers to a condition of

1. AStrong kinship✓
2. BNormlessness✓
3. CHigh literacy✓
4. DPolitical election✓

The looking-glass self is a concept given by

1. ACharles Horton Cooley✓
2. BKarl Marx✓
3. CMax Weber✓
4. DHerbert Spencer✓

The dramaturgical approach to social interaction is linked with

1. ATalcott Parsons✓
2. BRobert Merton✓
3. CErving Goffman✓
4. DAuguste Comte✓

The concepts Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft were introduced by

1. AEmile Durkheim✓
2. BMax Weber✓
3. CKarl Marx✓
4. DFerdinand Tonnies✓

Mechanical and organic solidarity are concepts developed by

1. AEmile Durkheim✓
2. BHerbert Spencer✓
3. CGeorge Mead✓
4. DIbn Khaldun✓

Rationalization is a central theme in the sociology of

1. AKarl Marx✓
2. BMax Weber✓
3. CAuguste Comte✓
4. DCharles Cooley✓

The base and superstructure model belongs to the theory of

1. AEmile Durkheim✓
2. BMax Weber✓
3. CKarl Marx✓
4. DTalcott Parsons✓

A role is best described as

1. AExpected behavior linked to a status✓
2. BA biological organ✓
3. CA census table✓
4. DAn income tax rate✓

Middle-range theory is especially associated with

1. ARobert K. Merton✓
2. BHerbert Spencer✓
3. CKarl Marx✓
4. DAuguste Comte✓

Comte law of three stages ends with the

1. ATheological stage✓
2. BFeudal stage✓
3. CMilitary stage✓
4. DPositive stage✓

Social action is the basic unit of analysis for

1. ATalcott Parsons only✓
2. BMax Weber✓
3. CHerbert Spencer✓
4. DRobert Park✓

Conflict theory gives special importance to

1. APerfect consensus✓
2. BBiological heredity✓
3. CPower and inequality✓
4. DWeather cycles✓

A primary group is marked by

1. AOfficial contracts only✓
2. BIntimate face-to-face relations✓
3. CAnonymous membership✓
4. DTemporary crowd behavior✓

A secondary group is usually characterized by

1. AFormal and impersonal relations✓
2. BKinship by blood only✓
3. CNo organized purpose✓
4. DInfant socialization✓

A reference group is one that people use mainly for

1. AFood production✓
2. BClimate control✓
3. CGenetic selection✓
4. DComparison and self-evaluation✓

In sociology, status means

1. AA written law✓
2. BA social position✓
3. CA ritual object✓
4. DA private emotion✓

Auguste Comte's Law of Three Stages progresses from

1. Apositive to theological to metaphysical✓
2. Btheological to metaphysical to positive/scientific✓
3. Cmetaphysical to positive to theological only✓
4. Dtheological to positive without metaphysical✓

Comte described sociology as

1. Athe queen of the sciences unifying all knowledge✓
2. Ba branch of psychology only✓
3. Cidentical to anthropology always✓
4. Da purely literary discipline✓

Positivism, as advocated by Comte, stresses

1. Apure intuition without data✓
2. Bsystematic observation and scientific method in social study✓
3. Crejection of all measurement✓
4. Dexclusive reliance on theology✓

Emile Durkheim defined social facts as

1. Apurely subjective feelings only✓
2. Bbiological instincts alone✓
3. Crandom individual preferences✓
4. Dways of acting, thinking and feeling external to and constraining the individual✓

Durkheim's concept of mechanical solidarity is found in societies with

1. Ahigh specialization and interdependence✓
2. Burban industrial complexity only✓
3. Cstrong collective conscience and minimal division of labor✓
4. Dabsence of any shared norms✓

Organic solidarity, according to Durkheim, arises from

1. Ainterdependence created by the advanced division of labor✓
2. Btotal homogeneity of beliefs✓
3. Cisolation of individuals from groups✓
4. Drejection of all specialization✓

In Durkheim's study of suicide, anomie refers to

1. Astrict religious conformity only✓
2. Bnormlessness or breakdown of moral regulation during rapid social change✓
3. Cgenetic predisposition alone✓
4. Dlegal punishment by the state✓

Durkheim classified egoistic suicide as linked to

1. Aweak integration of the individual into social groups✓
2. Bexcessive group pressure alone✓
3. Csudden economic prosperity only✓
4. Dmilitary discipline always✓

Durkheim's "Elementary Forms of Religious Life" analyzes

1. AProtestant capitalism in Europe only✓
2. BMarxist class struggle directly✓
3. CWeberian bureaucracy✓
4. Dtotemism among Australian aborigines to explain religion's social origins✓

Max Weber's Verstehen means

1. Astatistical correlation without meaning✓
2. Bbiological reductionism only✓
3. Cinterpretive understanding of subjective meanings behind social action✓
4. Dpure value judgment without analysis✓

Weber developed ideal types as

1. Aperfect empirical descriptions of every case✓
2. Banalytical constructs highlighting essential features of social phenomena✓
3. Cmoral prescriptions for policy only✓
4. Drandom stereotypes without purpose✓

Weber's three types of legitimate authority are

1. Aeconomic, political and religious only✓
2. Bmechanical, organic and anomic✓
3. Ctraditional, charismatic and legal-rational✓
4. Dprimary, secondary and tertiary groups✓

Weber's model of bureaucracy emphasizes

1. Apatrimonial favoritism and kin ties✓
2. Babsence of any formal records✓
3. Cunlimited personal discretion always✓
4. Dhierarchy, written rules, impersonality and specialized competence✓

In "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism," Weber argued that

1. ACalvinist ascetic values helped foster modern rational capitalism✓
2. BCatholic ritual alone created industrialism✓
3. CMarxist class struggle was irrelevant✓
4. DSpencerian evolution replaced all religion✓

Weber's concept of the "iron cage" refers to

1. Aromantic escape from all rules✓
2. Bindividuals trapped in rationalized bureaucratic and economic systems✓
3. Cpure traditional authority always✓
4. Dpre-industrial communal bliss✓

Karl Marx's historical materialism holds that

1. Aideas alone determine history without economic base✓
2. Bbiology is the sole driver of change✓
3. Crandom events explain all social evolution✓
4. Dmaterial conditions and modes of production fundamentally shape society✓

Marx distinguished the bourgeoisie as

1. Alandless peasants in feudalism only✓
2. Bthe industrial proletariat always✓
3. Cthe capitalist class owning means of production✓
4. Dreligious clergy exclusively✓

Marx's theory of alienation describes workers as estranged from

1. Aproduct, process, fellow workers and human potential✓
2. Bonly their wages temporarily✓
3. Cgovernment taxes exclusively✓
4. Dreligious rituals alone✓

Marx's base and superstructure model treats law, religion and ideology as

1. Acompletely independent of production✓
2. Blargely shaped by the economic base though with reciprocal influence✓
3. Cidentical to the mode of production✓
4. Dalways determining the economic base alone✓

Herbert Spencer applied to society the idea of

1. Asocial evolution through survival of the fittest✓
2. Bpure Marxist revolution only✓
3. CDurkheimian collective effervescence✓
4. DWeberian charisma exclusively✓

Spencer's organic analogy compares society to

1. Aa single undifferentiated cell only✓
2. Ba random collection without structure✓
3. Ca purely psychological mind alone✓
4. Da biological organism with interdependent specialized parts✓

Talcott Parsons' AGIL scheme refers to

1. Aanomie, guilt, isolation and loss✓
2. Bauthority, government, industry and law only✓
3. Cadaptation, goal attainment, integration and latency functions✓
4. Dalienation, gender, ideology and labor✓

Parsons' pattern variables contrast, for example

1. Amechanical versus organic suicide only✓
2. Buniversalism versus particularism in social relations✓
3. Csacred versus profane without context✓
4. Dbourgeoisie versus proletariat exclusively✓

Robert K. Merton's manifest functions are

1. Ahidden outcomes unknown to participants✓
2. Balways dysfunctions harming society✓
3. Cintended and recognized consequences of social patterns✓
4. Dpurely biological effects only✓

Merton's latent functions are

1. Adeliberately planned policy goals✓
2. Balways harmful dysfunctions only✓
3. Ceffects visible to all actors always✓
4. Dunintended and often unrecognized consequences of social patterns✓

Merton's strain theory identifies five modes of adaptation including

1. Aconformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion✓
2. Bonly conformity and rebellion✓
3. Cegoism, altruism, anomie, fatalism, ritualism✓
4. Dtraditional, charismatic, legal, patrimonial, feudal✓

Merton advocated

1. Aonly grand universal laws without data✓
2. Bmiddle-range theories linking empirical research to broader frameworks✓
3. Crejection of all empirical testing✓
4. Dexclusive use of historical narrative✓

Comte's positivist religion, the Religion of Humanity, sought to

1. Aabolish all moral codes entirely✓
2. Brestore medieval Catholic authority✓
3. Cmerge sociology with military rule only✓
4. Dreplace traditional theology with devotion to human progress and order✓

Durkheim's collective conscience refers to

1. Aindividual private conscience only✓
2. Blegal codes without moral content✓
3. Cshared beliefs and moral attitudes binding members of a society✓
4. Deconomic self-interest alone✓

Weber's three-component stratification model includes

1. Aclass, status and party (power)✓
2. Bcaste, varna and jati only✓
3. Cincome, wealth and consumption exclusively✓
4. Dage, gender and ethnicity without class✓

Marx argued that ideology often produces

1. Aperfect transparent knowledge always✓
2. Bfalse consciousness masking exploitation and class relations✓
3. Cpurely random individual beliefs✓
4. Dbiological instincts without social content✓

Marx and Engels authored

1. AThe Communist Manifesto (1848)✓
2. BSuicide (1897)✓
3. CThe Protestant Ethic (1905)✓
4. DThe Rules of Sociological Method (1895)✓

Weber distinguished value relevance from value neutrality by arguing researchers should

1. Ainject personal politics into all conclusions✓
2. Bavoid any topic with social importance✓
3. Creject empirical methods entirely✓
4. Dchoose topics by values but analyze findings objectively✓

Durkheim's rule of sociological method insists researchers must treat social facts as

1. Apurely imaginary constructs only✓
2. Bindividual psychology without society✓
3. Cthings—observable and subject to systematic study✓
4. Dtheological revelations exclusively✓

Spencer generally supported

1. Acentralized socialist planning✓
2. Blaissez-faire individualism and minimal state intervention✓
3. Ccomplete abolition of private property✓
4. DDurkheimian state moral education only✓

Parsons' structural functionalism views society as

1. Apermanent conflict without integration✓
2. Bpure randomness without pattern✓
3. Ca system of interrelated parts working toward equilibrium✓
4. Donly economic production without culture✓

Merton's concept of the self-fulfilling prophecy explains how

1. Atruth always prevents social change✓
2. Blabels never affect behavior✓
3. Conly economic forces matter✓
4. Dfalse definitions of situations can produce real consequences✓

Comte placed sociology after which sciences in his hierarchy

1. Amathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry and biology✓
2. Bonly theology and metaphysics✓
3. Cliterature and art exclusively✓
4. Dmilitary science alone✓

Durkheim argued crime is

1. Aalways pathological and useless✓
2. Bnormal and functional in defining moral boundaries✓
3. Cabsent in healthy societies✓
4. Dpurely individual without social meaning✓

Weber's rationalization thesis describes modern society as increasingly dominated by

1. Apure tradition without change✓
2. Bcharismatic chaos permanently✓
3. Cfeudal patrimonialism exclusively✓
4. Dcalculable rules, efficiency and disenchantment of magical worldviews✓

Marx's concept of commodity fetishism refers to

1. Areligious worship of commodities only✓
2. Bconsumer preference surveys✓
3. Csocial relations between people appearing as relations between things✓
4. DWeberian status groups exclusively✓

Spencer coined or popularized the phrase

1. Asurvival of the fittest in evolutionary social thought✓
2. Biron cage of bureaucracy✓
3. Ccollective effervescence✓
4. DProtestant ethic✓

Parsons analyzed the sick role as involving

1. Apermanent disability benefits without norms✓
2. Bexemption from normal duties and obligation to seek recovery✓
3. Cpunishment for illness as deviance only✓
4. Dno social expectations on patients✓

Merton's role set refers to

1. Athe multiple roles attached to a single status✓
2. Bone role per person only✓
3. Croles without any status✓
4. Dstatuses without social expectations✓

Comte divided sociology into

1. Amicro sociology and macro economics only✓
2. Bquantitative and qualitative methods exclusively✓
3. Curban and rural studies alone✓
4. Dsocial statics and social dynamics✓

Durkheim's sacred versus profane distinction is central to his theory of

1. Abureaucratic authority only✓
2. Bmarket exchange exclusively✓
3. Creligion as a fundamental social institution✓
4. Dbiological reproduction alone✓

Weber's patrimonial authority is based on

1. Aimpersonal legal codes exclusively✓
2. Btraditional domination through personal loyalty to a ruler✓
3. Ccharismatic revelation always✓
4. Delectoral democracy only✓

Marx predicted that capitalism would generate

1. Apermanent full employment without conflict✓
2. Bthe end of all technology✓
3. Cincreasing concentration of capital and periodic crises✓
4. Dinstant global equality✓

The Chicago School is distinct from Comte, Durkheim, Weber and Marx as it emphasized

1. Aonly theological stages of Comte✓
2. BDurkheim's totemic religion alone✓
3. CSpencer's universal evolution without research✓
4. Dempirical urban ethnography and ecological models in early American sociology✓

Comparing Durkheim and Weber, a key difference is that Durkheim stressed

1. Asocial facts and collective constraints more than interpretive meaning✓
2. BVerstehen and ideal types primarily✓
3. Ccharismatic authority exclusively✓
4. Dhistorical materialism throughout✓