Section Quiz
17.1 Power and Authority
1. Which statement best expresses the difference between power and authority?
a. Authority involves intimidation.
b. Authority is more subtle than power.
c. Authority is based on the perceived legitimacy of the individual in power.
d. Authority is inherited, but power is seized by military force.
2. Which of the following types of authority does not reside primarily in a leader?
a. Dictatorial
b. Traditional
c. Charismatic
d. Legal-rational
3. In the U.S. Senate, it is customary to assign each senator a seniority ranking based on years of government service and
the population of the state he or she represents. A top ranking gives the senator priority for assignments to office space,
committee chair positions, and seating on the senate floor. What type of authority does this example best illustrate?
a. Dictatorial
b. Traditional
c. Charismatic
d. Legal-rational
4. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. used his public speaking abilities and magnetism to inspire African Americans to stand up
against injustice in an extremely hostile environment. He is an example of a(n) __________ leader.
a. traditional
b. charismatic
c. legal-rational
d. illegitimate
5. Which current world figure has the least amount of political power?
a. President Barack Obama
b. Queen Elizabeth II
c. British Prime Minister David Cameron
d. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un
6. Which statement best expresses why there have been so few charismatic female leaders throughout history?
a. Women have different leadership styles than men.
b. Women are not interested in leading at all.
c. Few women have had the opportunity to hold leadership roles over the courseof history.
d. Male historians have refused to acknowledge the contributions of female leaders in their records.
17.2 Forms of Government
7. Many constitutional monarchies started out as:
a. oligarchies
b. absolute monarchies
c. dictatorships
d. democracies
8. Which nation is an absolute monarchy?
a. Oman
b. Great Britain
c. Denmark
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d. Australia
9. Which of the following present and former government leaders is generally considered a dictator?
a. David Cameron
b. Barack Obama
c. Qaboos bin Said Al Said
d. Kim Jong-Un
10. A(n) _________________ is an extremely oppressive government that seeks to control all aspects of its citizens’ lives.
a. oligarchy
b. totalitarian dictatorship
c. anarchy
d. absolute monarchy
11. Which is not a characteristic of a democracy?
a. People vote to elect officials.
b. A king or queen holds the majority of governmental control.
c. One goal of this type of government is to protect citizens’ basic rights.
d. A constitution typically outlines the foundational ideas of how this government should operate.
12. Which statement best expresses why the United States is not a true democracy?
a. Many politicians are corrupt.
b. Special-interest groups fund political campaigns.
c. Citizens elect representatives who vote on their behalf to make policy.
d. Ancient Greece was the only true democracy.
17.3 Politics in the United States
13. In the past, Southern states discouraged African Americans from voting by requiring them to take a
_____________________ test.
a. blood
b. literacy
c. lie detector
d. citizenship
14. Which president signed the Voting Rights Act?
a. Lyndon Johnson
b. John F. Kennedy Jr.
c. Barack Obama
d. Franklin D. Roosevelt
15. Which factor does not influence voting practices?
a. Race
b. Social class
c. Ethnicity
d. Voting booths
16. The U.S. Supreme Court case _________________ led to the revision of voting districts to account for differences in
population density.
a. Roe v. Wade
b. Reynolds v. Sims
c. Brown v. Board of Education
d. Marbury v. Madison
17. Which statement best explains the meaning of “one person, one vote”?
a. One person should not be allowed to vote twice.
b. A voter deserves one chance to vote.
c. A voter should vote only once a year.
d. All people’s votes should count equally.
17.4 Theoretical Perspectives on Government and Power
18. Which concept corresponds best to functionalism?
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a. Happiness
b. Interdependence
c. Revolution
d. Symbolism
19. Which sociologist is not associated with conflict theory?
a. C. Wright Mills
b. G. William Domhoff
c. Karl Marx
d. George H. Mead
20. Karl Marx believed social structures evolve through:
a. supply and demand
b. enlightenment
c. conflict
d. cooperation
21. The Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street protests, and the Tea Party movement have the following in common:
a. They sought to destroy central government.
b. They are examples of conflict theory in action.
c. They can only occur in a representative democracy.
d. They used violence as the means of achieving their goals.
22. Which is not one of functionalism’s four main purposes of government?
a. Maintaining law and order
b. Meeting social needs
c. Equally distributing resources
d. Planning and directing society
23. Sociologist G. William Domhoff’s Who Rules America? asserts that wealth is often necessary to exert the most
influence over social and political systems. This is a ____ perspective.
a. conflict theory
b. symbolic interactionist
c. functionalist
d. feminist
24. Which of the following paradigms would consider movements such as Occupy Wall Street undesirable and
unnecessarily forcing social change?
a. Symbolic interactionism
b. Functionalism
c. Feminism
d. Conflict theory
