View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. By what percent did union membership rates decline between 1953 and 1997 in the mining industry?

2. How much had states spent on "motor voter" registration?

3. By how much did Greenpeace's membership drop when they stopped using direct-mail solicitation?

4. In surveys, how many Americans said that they believed in immortality?

5. What publication ran an article about the challenge of free time and Americans in 1964?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Putnam say that rising mobility wasn't the central reason for civic disengagement?

2. What analogy did Putnam use to show how frequent moves disrupt civic engagement?

3. What did time diaries from 1965, 1975, 1985, and 1995 reveal about participation in religious activities?

4. Why did the Charity League of Dallas have to hold their last meeting?

5. What cards games used to be popular?

6. How did America compare with other democracies in the rate of political participation?

7. What was the mystery about the erosion of social capital?

8. Why aren't voting and following politics, strictly speaking, social capital?

9. What did surveys show about schmoozing?

10. What does it take to be a member of AARP?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss bridging and bonding and provide some examples of how these types of social capital work in society.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the value and problems of social networks. What areas of life benefit from these networks? Do the benefits outweigh the problems?

Essay Topic 3

There was a debate in the book regarding trends in religious behavior. Argue whether society was increasingly becoming secularized in the twentieth century or not.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 639 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample