Society and Culture 2017 Exam: Multiple Choice answers + explanations

[beatroot]

The answers for the 2017 Society & Culture Exam has already been posted on the NESA website about a week ago. If anyone is still confused with the multiple choice section, here is my explanation for each multiple choice question. (I've been wanting to post the answers to the multiple choice answers after the exam but wanted to wait until the official answers were out because I didn't want to give out the wrong answers)

Section 1: Multiple Choice Answers + Explanations

1. The Australian Government mandates that all primary school students attend a ‘learn to swim’ program. Which concept is this action an example of?

A. Culture
B. Environment
C. Persons
D. Time

To be fair this was a weird question but the answer is definitely A! Swimming is an essential aspect of Australian culture which is reflected by the Australian government. It can’t be time because there isn’t one part of the question that alludes to continuity and change. It couldn’t be persons because the programme isn’t specifically designed for a person or a group of people. It’s a general concept that can refer to anyone in the micro, meso and macro worlds. It’s not environment because swimming can be practiced anywhere and not specific to the Australian environment. It’s a global activity. Therefore culture is the right answer as the ‘learn to swim’ programme has been integrated into Australian culture and has been initiated by the Australian government.

2. Which set of communication types features in a person’s macro world ?

A. Diary, newspapers, study notes
B. Facebook, text messages, email
C. Television, documentaries, home movies
D. Textbooks, academic articles, celebrity biographies

The macro world is a reflection of public knowledge rather than personal experience. Out of all the options, D is the most appropriate option.

3. Which of the following best demonstrates conflict between authority and individual empowerment?

A. A female student leads an online campaign for her school’s uniform to be abolished.
B. A woman is sacked from her employment for inciting racist actions against a colleague.
C. A school principal is publicly criticised for allowing the school canteen to sell soft drinks.
D. A trade union delegate meets with building developers to protest unsafe conditions on construction sites.

The key terms in the question are authority and individual empowerment, therefore your answer MUST allude to both concepts. B is incorrect as encouraging racist actions isn’t individual empowerment. The school principal in C doesn’t allude to individual empowerment (selling soft drinks is not empowerment) so C is incorrect too. Again D doesn’t allude to individual empowerment. Therefore A is correct as the restrictions of the school’s uniform policy (authority) creates conflict with individual empowerment.

4. Sustainability at a macro level is best demonstrated by

A. a council initiating a community recycling program.
B. a school uniform shop offering an incentive to recycle old clothes.
C. a television station providing free commercials to an environmental group.
D. a restaurant chain offering a discount to customers who reuse takeaway cups

Just like Q3, both concepts must be alluded to in your answer. A is incorrect because a community is technically apart of the meso world. B is incorrect too as school isn’t apart of the macro world (it’s apart of the meso world). C doesn’t promote sustainability. The environmental group in itself promotes sustainability but the free commercials are not sustainable. D promotes discounts for reusable cups. In a way, the way you can view this question as “reusable cups > free commercials”.

5. For which action would the data be most useful?

A. Making predictions about future health budgeting
B. Funding anti-smoking campaigns for young people
C. Making generalisations about why people have stopped smoking
D. Analysing the effectiveness of Australia’s plain packaging legislation

From the stats alone and the other options you can see why A is the correct answer. From the data, you can automatically see continuity (people still smoking) and change (decline in smokers). From the stats, you can easily make predictions on budgeting future health budgeting (A). B is incorrect because there is a lesser demand for anti-smoking campaigns because of a decline in smokers throughout time. C is too broad and you can’t make generalisations on stats alone. There is insufficient information for D to be correct because just like C, you can’t make generalisation on stats alone.

6. The data best demonstrates the relationship between

A. evolutionary change and identity.
B. transformative change and identity.
C. evolutionary change and generations.
D. transformative change and generations.

Evolutionary change is defined by change that occurs slowly throughout time whilst transformative change is change just comes out of nowhere. B and D are incorrect because transformative change doesn’t apply to the data. Therefore you can narrow it down to A and C. However, from the data you can’t really apply the concept of identity as the stats don’t reflect the smokers’ identity. But instead the data given is a reflection of ‘generations’. This is possibly due to the generational gaps between the individuals in 1960, 1985 and 2010.

7. Which of the following best demonstrates the interaction between modernisation and authority?

A. The automation of car manufacturing
B. Rising wages for government employees
C. The digital collection of Australian census data
D. Public protests about a planned motorway construction

Like mentioned previously, answer must allude to both aspects in question (modernisation and authority). A applies to modernisation but NOT authority (Power does not equal to Authority. Power = ability to control. Authority =the right to control). There is no reference to modernisation in B. D doesn’t show a reference to authority (public protesters have the ability to control (power) but don't have the right (authority)). Therefore C is correct as Australia’s right to control the census (authority) through modernisation (digital collection).


8. Each of the following actions relates to changes in income distribution in Australia. Which action is best explained by conflict theory?

A. Australian airlines engage in a price war resulting in lower prices for customers.
B. Farmers form a cooperative to prevent supermarkets controlling the price paid for milk.
C. Digital technology allows individual Uber drivers to compete with licensed taxi drivers.
D. Tax concessions for property investors are reduced after a review of housing affordability.

The conflict theory refers to power imbalance in society between privileged and under privileged people. From the theory, it doesn’t matter how long the conflict will occur for, in the end a synthesised version of society is created and an agreement is made between the two conflicting groups. A is a perfect example of the functionalist theory as the price war is seen be to a catalyst for change. Both the Australian airline and customers work together to maintain balance in society. The price war has resulted in the lower prices for the customers and society goes back to normal. C relates to the evolutionary theory because the social change in this situation is heading in an unilinear direction. Both Uber drivers and licensed taxi drivers travel in one direction which can encourage social change. Although C can also relate to the functionalist theory too. D relates to the functionalist theory because change (the review) maintains the balance in society (between the tax concessions and society). B relates to the conflict theory as there is conflict between the farmers and the supermarkets. From this, the change (cooperative) can eventually lead to an agreement between the farmers and the supermarkets.

Not gonna lie, the multiple choice questions were a bit confusing and some of the questions could've had two or more correct answers. But at the end, you just have to pick the most correct option. If anyone else has a different explanation of any question, please contribute to this thread After all, SAC is a very abstract subject.

[Mada438]

The answers for the 2017 Society & Culture Exam has already been posted on the NESA website about a week ago. If anyone is still confused with the multiple choice section, here is my explanation for each multiple choice question. (I've been wanting to post the answers to the multiple choice answers after the exam but wanted to wait until the official answers were out because I didn't want to give out the wrong answers)

Section 1: Multiple Choice Answers + Explanations

1. The Australian Government mandates that all primary school students attend a ‘learn to swim’ program. Which concept is this action an example of?

A. Culture
B. Environment
C. Persons
D. Time

To be fair this was a weird question but the answer is definitely A! Swimming is an essential aspect of Australian culture which is reflected by the Australian government. It can’t be time because there isn’t one part of the question that alludes to continuity and change. It couldn’t be persons because the programme isn’t specifically designed for a person or a group of people. It’s a general concept that can refer to anyone in the micro, meso and macro worlds. It’s not environment because swimming can be practiced anywhere and not specific to the Australian environment. It’s a global activity. Therefore culture is the right answer as the ‘learn to swim’ programme has been integrated into Australian culture and has been initiated by the Australian government.

2. Which set of communication types features in a person’s macro world ?

A. Diary, newspapers, study notes
B. Facebook, text messages, email
C. Television, documentaries, home movies
D. Textbooks, academic articles, celebrity biographies

The macro world is a reflection of public knowledge rather than personal experience. Out of all the options, D is the most appropriate option.

3. Which of the following best demonstrates conflict between authority and individual empowerment?

A. A female student leads an online campaign for her school’s uniform to be abolished.
B. A woman is sacked from her employment for inciting racist actions against a colleague.
C. A school principal is publicly criticised for allowing the school canteen to sell soft drinks.
D. A trade union delegate meets with building developers to protest unsafe conditions on construction sites.

The key terms in the question are authority and individual empowerment, therefore your answer MUST allude to both concepts. B is incorrect as encouraging racist actions isn’t individual empowerment. The school principal in C doesn’t allude to individual empowerment (selling soft drinks is not empowerment) so C is incorrect too. Again D doesn’t allude to individual empowerment. Therefore A is correct as the restrictions of the school’s uniform policy (authority) creates conflict with individual empowerment.

4. Sustainability at a macro level is best demonstrated by

A. a council initiating a community recycling program.
B. a school uniform shop offering an incentive to recycle old clothes.
C. a television station providing free commercials to an environmental group.
D. a restaurant chain offering a discount to customers who reuse takeaway cups

Just like Q3, both concepts must be alluded to in your answer. A is incorrect because a community is technically apart of the meso world. B is incorrect too as school isn’t apart of the macro world (it’s apart of the meso world). C doesn’t promote sustainability. The environmental group in itself promotes sustainability but the free commercials are not sustainable. D promotes discounts for reusable cups. In a way, the way you can view this question as “reusable cups > free commercials”.

5. For which action would the data be most useful?

A. Making predictions about future health budgeting
B. Funding anti-smoking campaigns for young people
C. Making generalisations about why people have stopped smoking
D. Analysing the effectiveness of Australia’s plain packaging legislation

From the stats alone and the other options you can see why A is the correct answer. From the data, you can automatically see continuity (people still smoking) and change (decline in smokers). From the stats, you can easily make predictions on budgeting future health budgeting (A). B is incorrect because there is a lesser demand for anti-smoking campaigns because of a decline in smokers throughout time. C is too broad and you can’t make generalisations on stats alone. There is insufficient information for D to be correct because just like C, you can’t make generalisation on stats alone.

6. The data best demonstrates the relationship between

A. evolutionary change and identity.
B. transformative change and identity.
C. evolutionary change and generations.
D. transformative change and generations.

Evolutionary change is defined by change that occurs slowly throughout time whilst transformative change is change just comes out of nowhere. B and D are incorrect because transformative change doesn’t apply to the data. Therefore you can narrow it down to A and C. However, from the data you can’t really apply the concept of identity as the stats don’t reflect the smokers’ identity. But instead the data given is a reflection of ‘generations’. This is possibly due to the generational gaps between the individuals in 1960, 1985 and 2010.

7. Which of the following best demonstrates the interaction between modernisation and authority?

A. The automation of car manufacturing
B. Rising wages for government employees
C. The digital collection of Australian census data
D. Public protests about a planned motorway construction

Like mentioned previously, answer must allude to both aspects in question (modernisation and authority). A applies to modernisation but NOT authority (Power does not equal to Authority. Power = ability to control. Authority =the right to control). There is no reference to modernisation in B. D doesn’t show a reference to authority (public protesters have the ability to control (power) but don't have the right (authority)). Therefore C is correct as Australia’s right to control the census (authority) through modernisation (digital collection).


8. Each of the following actions relates to changes in income distribution in Australia. Which action is best explained by conflict theory?

A. Australian airlines engage in a price war resulting in lower prices for customers.
B. Farmers form a cooperative to prevent supermarkets controlling the price paid for milk.
C. Digital technology allows individual Uber drivers to compete with licensed taxi drivers.
D. Tax concessions for property investors are reduced after a review of housing affordability.

The conflict theory refers to power imbalance in society between privileged and under privileged people. From the theory, it doesn’t matter how long the conflict will occur for, in the end a synthesised version of society is created and an agreement is made between the two conflicting groups. A is a perfect example of the functionalist theory as the price war is seen be to a catalyst for change. Both the Australian airline and customers work together to maintain balance in society. The price war has resulted in the lower prices for the customers and society goes back to normal. C relates to the evolutionary theory because the social change in this situation is heading in an unilinear direction. Both Uber drivers and licensed taxi drivers travel in one direction which can encourage social change. Although C can also relate to the functionalist theory too. D relates to the functionalist theory because change (the review) maintains the balance in society (between the tax concessions and society). B relates to the conflict theory as there is conflict between the farmers and the supermarkets. From this, the change (cooperative) can eventually lead to an agreement between the farmers and the supermarkets.

Not gonna lie, the multiple choice questions were a bit confusing and some of the questions could've had two or more correct answers. But at the end, you just have to pick the most correct option. If anyone else has a different explanation of any question, please contribute to this thread After all, SAC is a very abstract subject.

Thanks so much, these questions are very abstract!