1. It is often said that "there is no accounting for taste."
Sociologists argue that we can in fact account for taste. This is
reflected in Bryson’s and Alderson, Junisbai, and Heacock’s
findings that:
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tastes and cultural consumption vary systematically with
factors like education and social status |
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tastes and cultural consumption vary over time with changes in
mood |
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genetic differences between people explain their tastes and
cultural consumption |
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tastes and cultural consumption are largely unpredictable |
2. We talked in the mini lecture about how Americans evaluate
librarians and truck drivers in terms of their social standing. In
light of Weber’s definition of “status groups” and our discussion
of the fundamentals of social status, which of the following is
probably least important for how
Americans think about this?
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the fact that the lifestyles of librarians and truck drivers
differ from one another |
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the fact that librarians and truck drivers make about the same
income |
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the fact the jobs of librarian and truck driver are accorded
differing degrees of honor |
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the fact that librarians and truck drivers inhabit different
social circles or networks |
3. Analysis of romantic relationships in U.S. high schools
reveals the "no 4-cycle" rule. This is the rule that:
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you don't get involved with the ex of your ex's current
boyfriend/girlfriend |
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you should never date more than three people in a given
year |
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you should not express a romantic interest in anyone outside of
your social network |
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you don't get involved with a close friend's ex
boyfriend/girllfriend |
4. Which of the following best characterizes the
omnivore-univore argument about the cultural consumption of high
status people?
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High status people differ from others in the intensity of their
cultural consumption and in the breadth of its range, consuming
more “high culture”, but also more “middle” and “low"
culture.” |
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High status people consume “high” or “elite” culture and look
down on popular culture as crude and disreputable. |
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As people have become freer to construct their "selves" as they
choose, status differences in styles of cultural consumption have
dissolved and, today, "high status" people don't really differ from
"low status" people in thier cultural consumption. |
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High status people differ from others in being more
particularistic in their cultural consumption, being strongly
committed to consumption of a more limited range of cultural
products than other people. |
5. When Alderson, Junisbai, and Heacock examine how people
consume culture (e.g., whether they go to the opera, visit museums,
go to pop concerts, go to the movies, etc.), which of the following
groups do they observe?
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a group that consumes only “high culture” and rejects popular
culture |
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a group that consumes only “middlebrow” culture and rejects
both “high” culture and “low” culture |
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a group that consumes everything, both “high” culture and
popular culture |