Site MapHelpFeedbackPractice quiz
Practice quiz
(See related pages)

1
As discussed in "Social Problems: Definitions, Theories, and Analysis," because some major social problems can be viewed both as the problem and as the solution, they give rise to:
A)great differences in opinion.
B)faulty solutions.
C)politically motivated answers.
D)misguided interpretations of fact.
2
Some major social problems, according to "Social Problems: Definitions, Theories, and Analysis," give rise to very great differences of opinion because:
A)they can be viewed as both a problem and a solution.
B)there is a preference for the quickest and shortest way to achieve a goal at the least cost.
C)of a belief that American values and institutions represent the best on earth.
D)democracy is based on personal equality and freedom.
3
The Constitution of the United States, according to "Social Problems: Definitions, Theories, and Analysis," clearly specifies what individuals' rights entail.
A)True
B)False
4
According to "The Atrophy of Social Life," the basic building block of relationships, communities, and societies is:
A)the family.
B)individualism.
C)social interaction.
D)technological developments.
5
As claimed in "The Atrophy of Social Life," current trends in employment demonstrate that:
A)there are plenty of jobs for people who want them.
B)employer/employee loyalty is waning.
C)those who are isolated at home are able to find social fulfillment at work.
D)dual-career marriages tend to strengthen households and family relationships.
6
As presented in "The Atrophy of Social Life," the Internet is the one modern convenience that has actually increased the level of intimacy among people.
A)True
B)False
7
Much of the debate over how to address the economic crisis, as described in "Spent," has focused on:
A)regulation.
B)law enforcement.
C)ethics.
D)inflation.
8
Most people, as reported in "Spent," willingly pay their taxes because they:
A)worry about the legal consequences of non-compliance.
B)have no choice, as taxes are automatically withdrawn by their employer.
C)consider the burden fairly shared and the monies legitimately spent.
D)want their children to inherit a fiscally strong country.
9
In most areas of life covered by law, as noted in "Spent," the likelihood of getting caught breaking the law is exceptionally high.
A)True
B)False
10
The corporate community, as maintained in "Who Rules America?", is cohesive on policy issues that affect its general welfare when challenged by any of the following except:
A)environmental groups.
B)organized labor.
C)the Christian right.
D)liberals.
11
The Christian right and the corporate community, as pointed out in "Who Rules America?", are able to work together because both groups:
A)have the same goals.
B)distrust government power.
C)have overlapping memberships.
D)are able to raise large sums of money.
12
According to "Who Rules America?", even the highest-ranking members of powerful nonprofit organizations are excluded from the power elite.
A)True
B)False
13
As presented in "Inside the Hidden World of Earmarks," the purpose of the Business Week/Columbia Books analysis was to:
A)compare the earmark funding a company received with the amount the company spent on lobbying.
B)identify the members of Congress who obtained the most earmarks' money for their states.
C)discover fraud in earmark requ3sts and spending.
D)end the practice of using earmarks to circumvent the budgeting process.
14
As indicated in "Inside the Hidden World of Earmarks," the survey of earmarks and lobbyists showed that the economic sector that received the most dollar value from earmarks was:
A)banking.
B)pharmaceuticals.
C)military contractors.
D)steel manufacturers.
15
In recent years, as claimed in "Inside the Hidden World of Earmarks," the number of lobbyists in Washington, D.C., has exploded.
A)True
B)False
16
In the United States, as put forth in "Foresight for Government," policy makers and the general public appear to have a false sense of security about the country's current position and future prospects as a result of all of the following except:
A)rising levels of education.
B)modest inflation levels.
C)low interest rates.
D)strong economic growth.
17
The GAO report entitled "21st Century Challenges," as described in "Foresight for Government," highlights how much current government policies on a wide variety of issues are based on:
A)optimistic estimates of future conditions.
B)partisan ideology.
C)conditions rooted in the past.
D)protecting the interests of narrowly focused groups.
18
It is not the responsibility of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI), as pointed out in "Foresight for Government," to alert public officials to key emerging opportunities.
A)True
B)False
19
The United States has been awakened to the need to change the way the world works, as explained in "A Smarter Planet," largely due to the:
A)threat of global climate change.
B)rise of al Qaeda.
C)rapid modernization of China.
D)crisis in financial markets.
20
Largely left out of the discussion of globalization, as maintained in "A Smarter Planet," has been:
A)its impact on public health.
B)the changing structure of corporations.
C)cultural interchange.
D)immigration and population issues.
21
According to "A Smarter Planet," right now, the digital and physical infrastructures of the world are converging, as computational power is put into things that would not be recognized as computers.
A)True
B)False
22
As presented in "Reversal of Fortune," the centuries since Adam Smith launched modern economics with his book The Wealth of Nations have been single-mindedly devoted to the dogged pursuit of:
A)distributed wealth.
B)individualized wealth.
C)maximum economic production.
D)global economic equality.
23
As set forth in "Reversal of Fortune," in some ways, the invention of the idea of economic growth was almost as significant as the invention of:
A)war.
B)movable type.
C)fossil-fuel power.
D)nuclear medicine.
24
As noted in "Reversal of Fortune," mainstream liberals and conservatives no longer compete on the question of who can flog the economy harder.
A)True
B)False
25
As claimed in "The Capitalist Manifesto," historically, when something goes awry with a certain feature of the economic landscape:
A)it signals the end of that feature.
B)economic pundits attempt to cover up or ignore the problem.
C)the entire economic landscape suffers severely.
D)that feature often accelerates in the years that follow.
26
As asserted in "The Capitalist Manifesto," when countries need growth, they turn to:
A)markets.
B)government programs.
C)borrowing from other countries.
D)spending controls.
27
As argued in "The Capitalist Manifesto," capitalism remains the most productive economic engine humans have ever invented.
A)True
B)False
28
As stated in "An Age of Transformation," more and more Americans wake up in their suburb and go to work:
A)in another suburb.
B)right around the corner.
C)in their own home office.
D)100 (or more) miles away.
29
As asserted in "An Age of Transformation," having conquered suburbia, ethnic minority groups are now swiftly infiltrating the:
A)uptown city neighborhoods.
B)more distant exurbs.
C)revitalized ghetto districts.
D)most exclusive waterfront communities.
30
As described in "An Age of Transformation," Valencia proved to be as economically self-contained as its architect, Victor Gruen, had originally intended.
A)True
B)False
31
According to "Immigration Benefits America," David Stoll suggests that contemporary immigrants threaten American society as we know it because they:
A)hold European values, which are very different from American values.
B)are uninterested in assimilating into American culture.
C)have no interest in financial gain, which is the bedrock of American economic values.
D)have too much power and will soon take over mainstream political systems.
32
As presented in "Immigration Benefits America," college-educated immigrants who come to the United States:
A)help meet the demand for highly skilled professionals that outweighs the availability of U.S. workers with these skills.
B)take jobs away from college-educated U.S. workers.
C)have inferior education and skills when compared to U.S. citizens with comparable degrees.
D)generally find jobs in the lower rungs of the U.S. economy.
33
As noted in "Immigration Benefits America," since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, America's national identity has increasingly weakened.
A)True
B)False
34
As noted in "The Invisible Ones," all modern-day slavery, or human trafficking, operates on all of the following techniques except:
A)coercion.
B)psychological abuse.
C)the promise of citizenship.
D)torture.
35
As shown in "The Invisible Ones," law-enforcement and government agencies charged with fighting human trafficking are:
A)generally under-funded and under-staffed.
B)making significant progress in stopping trafficking.
C)often working in opposition to each other.
D)in fact indifferent to the fate of victims.
36
According to "The Invisible Ones," most of the enslaved are young males.
A)True
B)False
37
According to "How Stratification Works," every human society has a social structure that:
A)unites its members under a common banner or flag.
B)divides its members by race, gender, and age.
C)divides its members by a combination of certain traits.
D)unites its member through identified common traits.
38
As presented in "How Stratification Works," an example of a nominal ascribed characteristic is:
A)age.
B)gender.
C)organizational membership.
D)economic status.
39
Some relationship between intergenerational incomes, as suggested in "Goodbye, Horatio Alger," is expected to result from all of the following except:
A)biological inheritance.
B)practical inheritance.
C)cultural privilege.
D)social norms.
40
Today, as argued in "Goodbye, Horatio Alger," the United States is effectively two nations separated by:
A)religious practice and atheism
B)rich and poor.
C)immigrant and native born.
D)education and its lack.
41
The loss of middle-class jobs for high school graduates, as maintained in "Goodbye, Horatio Alger," only became an issue with the rise of off-shoring and global trade.
A)True
B)False
42
As suggested in "The Myth of the 'Culture of Poverty'," perhaps the greatest myth of all is the one that dubs education the:
A)great equalizer.
B)last best hope.
C)path of the privileged.
D)key to success.
43
As noted in "The Myth of the 'Culture of Poverty'," deficit theory establishes the idea of a segment of society that simply has not earned a fair shake, or what H. J. Gans calls the:
A)lazers and grazers.
B)undeserving poor.
C)forgotten families.
D)neglected neighbors.
44
According to "The Myth of the 'Culture of Poverty'," the Economic Policy Institute reported in 2002 that poor working adults spend more hours working each week than their wealthier counterparts.
A)True
B)False
45
As identified in "Connecting the Dots," the chief internal obstacle to those in poverty is:
A)an irrational dependency on easy solutions.
B)a comfortable immersion into laziness.
C)a corrosive sense of incapacity.
D)a looming dread of losing their children.
46
As cited in "Connecting the Dots," the author borrows the wording of Edgar Allan Poe when he says that, for most of us, the poor are:
A)a dream within a dream.
B)those little slices of death.
C)hidden in plain sight.
D)nevermore.
47
As established in "Connecting the Dots," we know more than we think we do about poverty's causes and solutions.
A)True
B)False
48
As explained in "Temporary Assistance for Needy Families," the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act:
A)ended government assistance for most needy families.
B)provided long-term federal cash payments to needy families.
C)created a program of time-limited assistance to needy families.
D)allowed Congress to control any benefits provided to needy families.
49
According to "Temporary Assistance for Needy Families," the primary focus of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is on:
A)helping clients move into the workforce and off the assistance rolls.
B)maintaining ongoing benefits for children until they reach the age of maturity.
C)increasing the number of families that are able to receive government assistance.
D)providing more foster homes for children who cannot remain with their parents.
50
As noted in "Temporary Assistance for Needy Families," TANF was originally intended to allow states to craft their own assistance programs.
A)True
B)False
51
When pregnant Letorrea Clark first applied for TANF, as put forth in "Brave New Welfare," she was told that she could not apply until she:
A)first found at least a part-time job.
B)moved out of her mother's house.
C)had a commitment that her ex-boyfriend would make regular child-support payments.
D)had given birth to her daughter.
52
After living in foster homes and then a mental hospital, as described in "Brave New Welfare," Letorrea Clark was eventually returned to her mother who:
A)wanted her home only for her disability payment.
B)was hoping to repair their relationship.
C)needed help caring for her other children.
D)had recently completed a drug-treatment program and was doing well.
53
Georgia, as asserted in "Brave New Welfare," is aggressively trying to get thousands of eligible women off the TANF program in order to use the savings elsewhere in the state budget.
A)True
B)False
54
In the white focus group described in "Inequities That Endure?", the biggest problem facing the community was said to be:
A)deteriorating schools.
B)lack of basic services, including grocery stores.
C)government-supported housing.
D)police corruption.
55
According to "Inequities That Endure?", black focus group participants stated that the biggest problem facing their community was:
A)drugs and crime.
B)police brutality.
C)excessive noise and other quality-of-life issues.
D)absentee landlords.
56
Two focus groups, one with African American participants and the other with white participants, presented in "Inequities That Endure?" suggest that the United States continues to have a race problem that has become more elusive and sophisticated than previously.
A)True
B)False
57
As stated in "Why We Hate," xenophobia, the fear of foreigners or other strange-seeming people:
A)is almost uniformly triggered by physical characteristics.
B)can be easily, even arbitrarily, turned on.
C)usually pits peoples from different hemispheres against each other.
D)typically takes generations to develop.
58
As described in "Why We Hate," the researchers Tajfel and Turner found that the root cause of social bias was:
A)identity and categorization.
B)evolution.
C)skin and hair color.
D)lack of wealth.
59
As maintained in "Why We Hate," xenophobia comes out when people are under stress.
A)True
B)False
60
As presented in "Islam in America," the Park51 project is a plan to build:
A)a memorial to the victims of the attack on the World Trade Center.
B)a mosque in the small Wisconsin village of Oostburg.
C)an Islamic cultural center in New York City.
D)a jihadi training camp in rural America.
61
As explained in "Islam in America," the controversy that has erupted over the Park51 project has to do with its:
A)cost.
B)location.
C)purpose.
D)size.
62
As noted in "Islam in America," most of the Muslims residing in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, are refugees from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
A)True
B)False
63
Back in the 1970s, as presented in "Great Expectations," a close confidante of the vice president offered the opinion that a woman would never be able to serve as president because:
A)women were subject to hormones that made them unstable.
B)no man would ever cast a vote for a woman.
C)women were unable to obtain the necessary education.
D)they lacked the strength to make difficult decisions.
64
Transformational leaders, as described in "Great Expectations," have adopted all of the following strategies except:
A)leading by example.
B)empowering subordinates.
C)responding positively to criticism.
D)focusing on the future.
65
In spite of her powerful role as publisher of the Washington Post, as noted in "Great Expectations," Katharine Graham did not break any feminist ground in creating new, women-focused policies at the newspaper.
A)True
B)False
66
According to "Human Rights, Sex Trafficking, and Prostitution," the World Health Organization has found that:
A)Thai prostitutes are very healthy.
B)HIV is epidemic in Thailand.
C)sex tourists view prostitution from a self-interested perspective.
D)some 30 percent of women being trafficked for prostitution are minors.
67
As reported in "Human Rights, Sex Trafficking, and Prostitution," the Italian Camorra, Chinese Triads, Russian Mafia, and Japanese Yakuza are:
A)non-governmental organizations that have condemned trafficking in human beings.
B)members of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women.
C)government bodies that want to separate issues of trafficking from prostitution.
D)powerful criminal syndicates that operate globally in trafficking and prostitution.
68
As noted in "Human Rights, Sex Trafficking, and Prostitution," during the international debates over the definition of trafficking, a few non-governmental organizations and a minority of governments wanted to separate issues of trafficking from issues of prostitution.
A)True
B)False
69
The states with the highest number of same-sex senior couples, as cited in "Answers to Questions about Marriage Equality," include all of the following except:
A)California.
B)Florida.
C)Illinois.
D)New York.
70
The answer to the apparent dilemma between religious beliefs and support for equal protections for all families, as maintained in "Answers to Questions about Marriage Equality," lies in recognizing that marriage is:
A)a legal contract.
B)not a guarantee of procreation.
C)not an indivisible union.
D)not universally recognized by all religious organizations.
71
Couples who are joined in a civil union in one of the states that allows them, as noted in "Answers to Questions about Marriage Equality," are guaranteed protections when they travel to other states.
A)True
B)False
72
Gender, as described in "(Rethinking) Gender," is increasingly seen as a complex interplay among all of the following except:
A)biology.
B)personal choice.
C)genes.
D)hormones.
73
One way that parents treat boys and girls differently, as cited in "(Rethinking) Gender," is that they typically:
A)become more impatient with crying boys.
B)encourage boys to eat more.
C)talk more to girls.
D)put girls to bed earlier.
74
Almost all of the states, as mentioned in "(Rethinking) Gender," have enacted antidiscrimination laws to protect transgender individuals.
A)True
B)False
75
As reported in "The End of Men," since the 1990s, scientists and medical professionals have found that sex selection for children in the United States is driven by:
A)women, with a preference for male children.
B)men, with a preference for female children.
C)women, with a preference for female children.
D)joint decisions of couples, with no sex preference.
76
As claimed in "The End of Men," the keys to economic success in the current global economy are:
A)thinking and communicating.
B)speed and stamina.
C)aggression and competition.
D)size and strength.
77
As noted in "The End of Men," studies have found that the greater the power of women in a country, the greater that country's economic success.
A)True
B)False
78
As shown in "The Frayed Knot," how the best- and least-educated Americans approach marriage and child-rearing is:
A)about the same.
B)little changed from the 1950s.
C)so different it has become a widening gulf.
D)determined more by geography than anything else.
79
As brought out in "The Frayed Knot," compared to children who live with two biological parents, children in single-parent homes are more likely to be all of the following except:
A)academic high achievers.
B)poor.
C)high-school drop-outs.
D)behavioral problems in school.
80
As cited in "The Frayed Knot," the divorce rate among college-educated women has climbed steadily since the 1970s.
A)True
B)False
81
According to "Good Parents, Bad Results," the best discipline programs for children are grounded in:
A)positive reinforcement.
B)the carrot-and-stick approach.
C)corporal punishment.
D)tough love.
82
As brought out in "Good Parents, Bad Results," research has shown that not having behavior limits for children:
A)encourages child creativity.
B)works better with girls than with boys.
C)has been proven to make children more defiant and rebellious.
D)is effective only with school-age children.
83
As asserted in "Good Parents, Bad Results," setting and enforcing rules are an essential part of the job description of being a parent.
A)True
B)False
84
According to "Overworked, Time Poor, and Abandoned by Uncle Sam," the responsibility for the work-family time bind in which most dual-earner households find themselves lies with:
A)working mothers who choose the challenge of the workplace over their family responsibilities.
B)upwardly mobile couples who buy into the U.S. consumer culture.
C)parents who use long work hours as an excuse to avoid responsibilities at home.
D)the structure and policies of the U.S. business world.
85
As suggested in "Overworked, Time Poor, and Abandoned by Uncle Sam," an example of a "work-family reconciliation measure," such as those used in European countries, might be:
A)an onsite day-care facility that allows working mothers to work longer hours.
B)an employer who hires husband-wife teams, so couples could spend more time together.
C)a government cap on the number of hours worked per week and days worked per year.
D)the elimination of part-time jobs, which tend to pull mothers away from their children.
86
As asserted in "Overworked, Time Poor, and Abandoned by Uncle Sam," the market-based options available to U.S. working parents are far superior to the public supports available to working parents in other countries.
A)True
B)False
87
As revealed in "Peer Marriage," the secret to the success of peer unions appears to be:
A)parity of salaries and equal responsibility for finances.
B)a sense of friendship that transcends romantic love.
C)a satisfying and intimate sexual relationship.
D)joint child-rearing.
88
The author of "Peer Marriage" describes her parents' traditional marriage, in which her mother escaped a childhood of poverty by marrying her father, who provided for the family as a:
A)lawyer.
B)doctor.
C)automotive executive.
D)university professor.
89
As mentioned in "Peer Marriage," more men than women leave marriages.
A)True
B)False
90
According to "Against School: How Public Education Cripples Our Kids, and Why," history has shown us that there is a difference between:
A)being intelligent and being smart.
B)school and work.
C)boredom and lack of intelligence.
D)schooling and education.
91
As claimed in "Against School: How Public Education Cripples Our Kids, and Why," a major purpose of the Prussian school system on which our system is based was to:
A)make the populace manageable.
B)turn out strong leaders.
C)create independent thinkers.
D)equalize the rich and the poor.
92
As noted in "Against School: How Public Education Cripples Our Kids, and Why," one function of the Prussian school system was to divide the underclasses.
A)True
B)False
93
According to "Nine Powerful Practices," when students feel that they have been shown disrespect by a teacher, they usually identify the disrespect in the form of:
A)nonverbal signals.
B)calling them by the wrong name.
C)using unfamiliar words.
D)being overly familiar.
94
As reported in "Nine Powerful Practices," the language register in which content should be taught is the:
A)intimate.
B)casual.
C)frozen.
D)formal.
95
As noted in "Nine Powerful Practices," the amount of time devoted to a content area makes no substantial difference to how well students learn that content.
A)True
B)False
96
According to "Fixing Hospitals," one of the biggest obstacles to life-saving changes in today's American hospitals is the:
A)lack of available technology.
B)difficulty of implementing the necessary solutions.
C)resistance of doctors, who demand autonomy.
D)interference of regimented quality-control professionals.
97
As claimed in "Fixing Hospitals," the basic part of practicing medicine that has been neglected by modern medical facilities is:
A)using treatments safely and consistently.
B)identifying appropriate therapies.
C)educating doctors.
D)understanding disease.
98
As suggested in "Fixing Hospitals," changing the culture in which a hospital staff operates is the most important step to positive results.
A)True
B)False
99
Cynthia Johnson, as reported in "The Medical Mafia," first became concerned about the lawsuit and medical procedures arising from her traffic accident when her attorney instructed her to:
A)apply for permanent disability.
B)stop taking her pain medication.
C)undergo psychological treatment.
D)not mention the name of her case coordinator.
100
The insurance case involving Cynthia Johnson, as explained in "The Medical Mafia," became more difficult for her lawyer, Robert Vannah, because the driver of the car that caused the collision was:
A)himself an attorney.
B)an illegal immigrant.
C)a federal prosecutor on government business.
D)a man with his own history of fraud.
101
In the Las Vegas insurance fraud scheme detailed in "The Medical Mafia," the accident victims knew nothing of the alleged conspiracy.
A)True
B)False
102
As presented in "Fighting Crime," street crime in the United States could be significantly reduced by establishing public policy based on:
A)political ideology.
B)costs and benefits.
C)special interests.
D)incarceration and punishment.
103
As claimed in "Fighting Crime," the most effective strategy for utilizing law-enforcement personnel in the reduction of street crime is to:
A)adopt "community policing" programs.
B)identify and focus on crime "hot spots."
C)strengthen punishments for petty crimes.
D)increase the number of police officers.
104
As asserted in "Fighting Crime," the existence of the death penalty in a given state not only does not deter murder, but might even increase the number of murders committed.
A)True
B)False
105
As presented in "The Aggregate Burden of Crime," the majority of studies undertaken to estimate the costs of crime in the United States are problematic because:
A)most crimes go unreported and are therefore not available for study.
B)police department records are highly inaccurate.
C)those carrying out the studies are not trained in law enforcement.
D)the studies do not measure the indirect costs of crime.
106
As claimed in "The Aggregate Burden of Crime," from a societal standpoint, the most important thing about crime is:
A)the extent of damage inflicted by crime.
B)the violence associated with various crimes.
C)whether or not crime can be measured.
D)how citizens can be protected from crime.
107
As noted in "The Aggregate Burden of Crime," incarcerated criminals are potentially valuable members of society's workforce.
A)True
B)False
108
From a commercial perspective, as explained in "The Globalization of Crime," the key to the flow of illicit goods is:
A)recruitment of salespeople.
B)finding recurring customers.
C)logistics.
D)establishing profitable pricing structures.
109
Law-enforcement agencies, as reported in "The Globalization of Crime," have been cooperating more closely with military services because they need access to:
A)advanced weaponry.
B)accurate intelligence.
C)expanded criminal databases.
D)the greater financial resources militaries can often draw on.
110
Preventing money laundering, as mentioned in "The Globalization of Crime," is likely to become even harder as new forms of money and financial instruments emerge.
A)True
B)False
111
As outlined in "Causes and Consequences of Wrongful Convictions," capital punishment in the United States has been erroneously imposed in all of the following situations except:
A)self-defense killings.
B)incompetent defense.
C)revenge killings.
D)a murder that never occurred.
112
As noted in "Causes and Consequences of Wrongful Convictions," a recent ruling by Judge Jed S. Rakoff decided that the 1994 federal death penalty statute was unconstitutional because enforcing it:
A)allowed convicted killers to go free.
B)placed undue hardship on the courts.
C)allowed for racial bias.
D)posed an undue risk of executing innocent people.
113
As pointed out in "Causes and Consequences of Wrongful Convictions," since the death penalty was reintroduced in the 1970s, 100 death row prisoners have been released due to findings of innocence.
A)True
B)False
114
The first Children's Courts, as explained in "Reforming Juvenile Justice," were established in 1899 in the states of Illinois and:
A)Massachusetts.
B)Colorado.
C)Vermont.
D)Ohio.
115
The Supreme Court decision involving the case of Gerald Gault, as described in "Reforming Juvenile Justice," involved a 15-year-old defendant serving a 6-year term in a correctional facility for:
A)shoplifting.
B)truancy.
C)making an obscene telephone call.
D)minor assault.
116
The most dramatic example of juvenile correction reform, as related in "Reforming Juvenile Justice," came in the 1970s when the new head of the Department of Youth Services in Massachusetts closed all of the state juvenile facilities to make a completely fresh start.
A)True
B)False
117
According to "Too Many Laws, Too Many Prisoners," as a proportion of its total population, the wealthy country that has the highest incarceration rates in the world is:
A)Britain.
B)the United States.
C)Japan.
D)Germany.
118
As claimed in "Too Many Laws, Too Many Prisoners," mandating minimum sentences for various crimes has resulted in:
A)a significant reduction in violent crime.
B)a decrease in petty drug crimes.
C)reduced incarceration costs.
D)less individual sentencing power for judges.
119
As noted in "Too Many Laws, Too Many Prisoners," federal laws are often so difficult to understand that many criminals do not know what they have done wrong.
A)True
B)False
120
When the Terror 2000 report was compiled, as explained in "Defeating Terrorism," the common wisdom at the time held that terrorism was becoming obsolete because it:
A)was quickly treated as merely a criminal matter.
B)extracted too high a price from sponsoring states.
C)failed to obtain public support for the terrorists' goals.
D)supported violent ideologies that were themselves becoming obsolete.
121
Participants in the conference that led to the Terror 2000 report, as pointed out in "Defeating Terrorism," anticipated all of the following features of the September 11, 2001, attacks except:
A)a second, more successful attack on the World Trade Center.
B)the accomplishment of simultaneous assaults on widely separated targets.
C)health concerns arising from the rescue and clean-up efforts.
D)the deliberate crash of an airplane into the Pentagon.
122
The Terror 2000 report, as noted in "Defeating Terrorism," was widely distributed to government officials and military officers when it was first written in 1994.
A)True
B)False
123
As claimed in "War in the Fifth Domain," the "fifth domain" of war is:
A)outer space.
B)air.
C)sea.
D)cyberspace.
124
As quoted in "War in the Fifth Domain," according to former spy chief Mike McConnell, the effects of a full-blown cyberwar would resemble the effects of:
A)a nuclear attack.
B)an aerial attack.
C)a tornado or hurricane.
D)the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
125
As noted in "War in the Fifth Domain," one of the more difficult aspects of a cyber attack is that the perpetrator often remains anonymous.
A)True
B)False
126
According to "Population & Sustainability," the key to long-term environmental sustainability is to:
A)initiate population-control programs to reduce global population growth.
B)control consumption, particularly in high-population areas.
C)act on both population growth and consumption simultaneously.
D)immediately reduce carbon-dioxide emissions in the United States and European Union by a uniform percentage.
127
As explained in "Population & Sustainability," disparities in the population growth and consumption patterns of different nations indicate that the climate would be better served if:
A)India emulated U.S. population growth.
B)the United States emulated Indian consumption patterns.
C)developing nations emulated China's one-child policy.
D)each individual, wherever he or she lived, took responsibility for his or her environmental footprint.
128
As claimed in "Population & Sustainability," population growth in any one area has an immediate, but short-term, effect on the environment.
A)True
B)False
129
According to "How to Feed 8 Billion People," the world is entering a new food era that will be marked by:
A)lower food prices.
B)a rapid increase in world hunger.
C)sharing land between countries for mutual benefit.
D)closing borders and hoarding resources.
130
As claimed in "How to Feed 8 Billion People," the weak link in our civilization is:
A)water.
B)land.
C)food.
D)fuel.
131
As noted in "How to Feed 8 Billion People," in the United States and Canada, which rank at the top of the food-consumption charts, grain is consumed primarily in its original state.
A)True
B)False
132
Greenhouse gases, as explained in "The Science of Climate Change," include all of the following except:
A)water vapor.
B)methane.
C)helium.
D)ozone.
133
Adverse conditions arising from climate change, as reported in "The Science of Climate Change," will result in widespread displacement of people and up to 4 billion people experiencing:
A)devastating storms.
B)water shortages.
C)wildfires.
D)devastating tropical diseases.
134
Past climate changes on Earth, as described in "The Science of Climate Change," were either slow enough to allow life to move on and adapt to the conditions or they brought about large-scale extinctions.
A)True
B)False
135
Ron Bailey, as put forth in "Who's Afraid of Human Enhancement?", hopes that biotechnology can eventually accomplish all of the following except:
A)make death optional.
B)restore the environment.
C)reduce the need for food.
D)enhance an individual's intellectual capacities.
136
Eric Cohen explains in "Who's Afraid of Human Enhancement?" that some people are uncomfortable with the biotech revolution because it has the potential to:
A)make life worse in ways that have not been imagined.
B)destroy diversity on the planet.
C)cause new global political tensions.
D)make a small number of people tyrants over those who have not had enhancements.
137
Any regulatory scheme to control biotechnology, as maintained in "Who's Afraid of Human Enhancement?", must have the United States in the forefront, as it is the sole superpower.
A)True
B)False
138
The number of accidents and experiments involving nuclear weapons over the last half-century, as maintained in "The Secret Nuclear War," has resulted in:
A)massive environmental destruction.
B)loss of human life equivalent to the effect of a nuclear war.
C)a better understanding of how radiation exposure can best be treated.
D)more intense inspections of facilities that handle nuclear materials.
139
The citizens of Kosovo and Bosnia, as reported in "The Secret Nuclear War," are suffering a significant increase in the number of cancer deaths because:
A)long-term effects from Soviet-era nuclear experiments are now beginning to affect the health of the population.
B)acid rain and other pollutants have contaminated the soil and water supplies in the region.
C)NATO troops used depleted-uranium shells during the Kosovo war.
D)the quality of their health care has deteriorated as more medical professionals leave the country.
140
The nuclear accident that occurred at Greenham Common in England in the 1950s, as noted in "The Secret Nuclear War," was never fully acknowledged by the U.S. or British governments.
A)True
B)False
141
According to "A New End, a New Beginning," one indication of the changing status of the United States is:
A)the enormous global influence of President Obama.
B)Singapore's attempts to reposition the nation away from the U.S. dollar.
C)President Obama's move away from conventional processes of economic growth.
D)the increase in U.S. consumerism and Americans' increased use of revolving credit.
142
As claimed in "A New End, a New Beginning," President Obama is currently presiding over:
A)an epochal economic contraction.
B)a pause in the growth epic.
C)a period of new U.S. economic growth.
D)an excess of wealth available for future generations.
143
As noted in "A New End, a New Beginning," the current global financial system is highly simplistic and easily understood by trained economists and political leaders.
A)True
B)False
144
As defined in "A User's Guide to the Century," the era of modern economic growth is:
A)on the horizon.
B)already a fading ember.
C)coincidental with the post-World War II era.
D)two centuries old.
145
As explained in "A User's Guide to the Century," during the 1800s, the military dominance of the United States and Western Europe resulting from vast industrial power, and then colonial dominance over Africa and Asia were among the factors that contributed to a century of:
A)expansionism.
B)isolationism.
C)economic divergence.
D)cultural diversity.
146
As asserted in "A User's Guide to the Century," in geopolitical terms, the uni-polar world of the North Atlantic is over.
A)True
B)False
147
According to the author of "Can America Fail?", a simple empirical test to see whether people are giving back more than they take from their own society is to ask whether citizens:
A)are more likely to volunteer than be drafted into military service.
B)are willing to make sacrifices in time of war.
C)pay back the interest on such government loans as student loans and small business loans.
D)pay more in taxes than they receive in government services.
148
As given in "Can America Fail?", the Doha Round of world trade talks might be successfully concluded if there were a willingness to sacrifice on the part of currently subsidized U.S.:
A)cattle ranchers.
B)citrus growers.
C)wheat farmers.
D)cotton farmers.
149
In the opinion of the author of "Can America Fail?", American thinkers and policymakers are engaged in an incestuous, self-referential, and self-congratulatory discourse that keeps them from seeing how many of the world's problems have been created by American policy.
A)True
B)False







Contemporary Learning SeriesOnline Learning Center

Home > Social Problems > 11/12 38e > Practice quiz