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Free Practice Quiz Question List

2 Theories of Institutions Online Quiz Questions

Use this free practice quiz with 20 questions to review 2 Theories of Institutions, test your knowledge, and prepare for your next test or exam.

20 questions
01
Choose one
1 point

A student compares education as a broad system of shared expectations with one particular school. Which description best distinguishes the institution from the organization?

  1. A

    The school is the institution, and education is an organization.

  2. B

    Education is the institution, and the school is an organization operating within it.

  3. C

    Both education and the school are institutions, but neither is an organization.

  4. D

    Education and the school are both organizations, not institutions.

02
True or false
1 point

A researcher studies how teachers and students interpret instructions and respond to one another during ordinary classroom encounters. This is consistent with the interactionist perspective.

  1. A

    True

  2. B

    False

03
Fill in the blank
1 point

In functionalist analysis, an intended and recognized consequence is a function, while an unintended or less obvious consequence is a function.

04
Written response
1 point

A school’s schedule unintentionally gives students regular opportunities to form friendships. What kind of function is this?

05
Choose one
1 point

A school introduces a policy intended to improve organization, but the policy repeatedly causes severe stress among students. Which consequence would a functionalist identify as a dysfunction?

  1. A

    The rule transmits shared expectations and coordinates activity.

  2. B

    The rule makes one group’s influence over school policies visible.

  3. C

    The rule increases stress and undermines students’ well-being.

  4. D

    The rule becomes familiar through repeated encounters.

06
Choose one
1 point

A researcher compares which social groups can access advanced courses and how those differences shape later opportunities. Which perspective most directly guides this investigation?

  1. A

    How shared routines help the school coordinate activities.

  2. B

    How unequal access to advanced courses affects students’ later opportunities.

  3. C

    How students interpret teachers’ instructions during class.

  4. D

    How the school’s rules became familiar and widely accepted.

07
Choose all
1 point

Several organizations end up with similar policies. Which circumstances described here can help explain that similarity? Select all that apply.

  1. A

    A law requires organizations to adopt the same policy.

  2. B

    Organizations imitate peers when they are uncertain about what to do.

  3. C

    Professional standards encourage organizations to use similar procedures.

  4. D

    Each organization independently chooses practices solely to maximize technical efficiency.

  5. E

    Organizations adopt practices at random, without reference to rules or beliefs.

08
Written response
1 point

What term describes the quality organizations may seek when familiar policies or structures help them appear appropriate and secure support?

09
True or false
1 point

Because institutions are durable, people and organizations cannot adapt or contest their rules, and social movements cannot help reshape institutional patterns.

  1. A

    True

  2. B

    False

10
Fill in the blank
1 point

Conflict theory examines how unequal access to and shapes institutions.

11
Choose one
1 point

An organization follows written regulations but also changes its routines to match widely shared ideas about appropriate conduct. Which claim best fits an institutional approach?

  1. A

    Only written rules determine how organizations behave.

  2. B

    Organizations follow familiar practices only when those practices are technically efficient.

  3. C

    Shared beliefs and assumptions about appropriate conduct can guide behavior alongside formal rules.

  4. D

    Every organization’s practices arise from everyday interactions alone.

12
Choose all
1 point

A long-established institutional practice begins to change. Which developments could contribute to reshaping what people take for granted? Select all that apply.

  1. A

    A change in law.

  2. B

    A shift in professional expectations.

  3. C

    A social movement challenging an established practice.

  4. D

    A change in public ideas about what is appropriate.

  5. E

    The fact that a practice has been familiar for a long time, by itself.

13
Choose one
1 point

Which statement best explains how institutions can help reproduce norms over time?

  1. A

    Institutions are identical to the particular organizations that operate within them.

  2. B

    Institutions can reproduce norms by teaching expectations, rewarding conformity, and responding to violations.

  3. C

    Institutions consist only of written regulations.

  4. D

    Institutions remain stable because people never interpret or contest their rules.

14
Open ended
1 point

A hospital introduces a policy limiting when visitors may see patients. Explain how a functionalist, a conflict theorist, an interactionist, and an institutional approach could each analyze this policy. Give a distinct focus for each perspective.

15
Choose one
1 point

Why might organizations facing uncertainty adopt policies or structures similar to those used by other organizations?

  1. A

    Organizations adopt the same policies because laws require them to do so.

  2. B

    Organizations imitate others facing uncertainty.

  3. C

    Organizations adopt policies only when those policies are technically more efficient.

  4. D

    Organizations avoid familiar patterns so they can appear legitimate.

16
True or false
1 point

Institutional influence can come through norms and assumptions about appropriate behavior as well as through formal rules.

  1. A

    True

  2. B

    False

17
Choose one
1 point

A school uses a shared daily schedule so that classes and activities can proceed in an organized way. Which perspective would most directly analyze how this arrangement coordinates activity and contributes to social order?

  1. A

    It examines how unequal power determines which students may set the schedule.

  2. B

    It studies how students and teachers interpret the meaning of being on time in daily encounters.

  3. C

    It considers how coordinated schedules help organize teaching and learning.

  4. D

    It asks how schools came to treat a particular schedule as legitimate.

18
Written response
1 point

What sociological term describes a consequence of an institution that disrupts social life or undermines people's well-being?

19
Choose one
1 point

A researcher compares school funding across social groups and traces how those differences affect students’ later opportunities. Which perspective most directly guides this analysis?

  1. A

    A functionalist study of how school routines help coordinate learning.

  2. B

    A conflict-theory study of how unequal school funding affects students’ later opportunities.

  3. C

    An interactionist study of how classmates interpret a teacher’s instructions.

  4. D

    An institutional study of how professional standards become established.

20
Written response
1 point

A school facing uncertainty about a new policy adopts an approach used by other schools. What term describes this process?