Complete Test Bank 4th Edition Ch.15 Postmodernism

Test Bank

Chapter 15: Postmodernism

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following best defines hyperreality?

a. the condition where simulations of reality are more real than reality itself

b. the increasing speed at which information is disseminated

c. the process of copying objects that lack true originals

d. the inversion of technology in the pursuit of individual creativity

2. Baudrillard distinguished himself from Marxist theory by ______.

a. focusing on production performed by the proletariat

b. showing how signs adhere to social classes

c. exploring the capitalist mode of consumption

d. analyzing consumer alienation

3. Jean Baudrillard’s concept of simulacra refers to ______.

a. copies of objects for which there is no true original

b. the reproduction of reality

c. consumer goods bought over the internet

d. the mass production of signs

4. According to Baudrillard, why have signs become more complex over time?

a. There is a disconnect between citizens and their respective governments.

b. Consumer goods have created a world of unstable meaning.

c. Technology has prompted the rise of more languages and signs.

d. People are interacting with more diverse people due to globalization.

5. For Lyotard, what is the underlying problem we suffer in “the postmodern condition”?

a. The inability to form universal truth

b. All interaction stems from capitalist relations.

c. The inability to generate a plurality of voices

d. All relations are governed by rationality.

6. According to Lyotard, how are metanarratives used?

a. to challenge non-paradigmatic systems of knowledge

b. to stand in for governmental authority

c. to provide a basis for truth claims to be made

d. to analyze how power shapes truth

7. A company prioritizes developing a new medicine that will be highly profitable. This is an example of ______.

a. the decline of metanarratives

b. the mercantilization of knowledge

c. the computerization of society

d. multivocality

8. When people are able to decide if a scientific statement constitutes acceptable scientific discourse, they are engaging in ______.

a. the computerization of society

b. multivocality

c. the mercantilization of knowledge

d. legitimation

9. When the same historical event is interpreted in conflicting ways by different involved parties, they are engaging in ______.

a. legitimation

b. multivocality

c. language games

d. the mercantilization of knowledge

10. According to Baudrillard, what happens to signs in the age of simulation?

a. They reflect reality.

b. They mask or hide reality.

c. They denote the absence of reality.

d. They have no connection to reality.

11. According to Baudrillard, what happens when the divine is represented via icons?

a. People use the icons in their religious practices.

b. People begin to fear that there was never a god.

c. People create new religious groups.

d. People try to commodify the icons.

12. Why is Disneyland the perfect example of simulation?

a. Disneyland distinguishes between the virtual and reality.

b. Disneyland provides instant entertainment.

c. Disneyland makes us believe that everything else is real.

d. Disneyland causes us to question the simulations in our lives.

13. What does the example of a fake hold up illustrate?

a. Simulations cannot be isolated from reality.

b. Trained people can distinguish simulation from reality.

c. We should always rehearse before doing things for real.

d. Metanarratives continue to define law.

14. When simulation no longer refers to an original reality or object, it becomes a(n) ______.

a. hyperreality

b. alternate reality

c. simulacra

d. falsehood

15. The authors argue that Baudrillard’s orientation to action is profoundly ______.

a. rationalistic

b. collectivistic

c. nonrationalistic

d. individualistic

16. For Butler, ________ is a kind of persistent impersonation that passes as the real.

a. knowledge

b. gender

c. sex

d. justice

17. One of the basic concepts of queer theory is that ______.

a. queer scholarship is fundamentally different from straight scholarship

b. homosexual persons are as “natural” as heterosexual persons

c. sexual behaviors, identities, and categories are social constructs

d. the heterosexual matrix is naturally constructed

18. According to the authors, what is the postmodernist view of metatheoretical frameworks?

a. They believe they reflect the metanarrative of science.

b. They find them useful for connecting to other authors.

c. They eschew them as being too essentializing.

d. They modify them to fit postmodernist understanding.

19. What does Butler argue about sex?

a. Sex is shaped by nature and informs how we perform gender.

b. Cultural changes rarely affect understandings of sex.

c. Sex is a gendered and culturally constructed category.

d. Sex is a binary due to biological features.

20. According to Butler, discrimination against gay men and women is a function of what?

a. their sexuality

b. their failure to perform heterosexual norms

c. misrecognizing sex as a natural category

d. juridical systems

21. The normative idea that “proper” men and women are straight reflects which concept?

a. heterosexual matrix

b. gender performativity

c. essentialism

d. queer theory

22. What fundamental question does Butler raise about the existence of women as subjects?

a. Do women really exist if sex is also socially constructed?

b. How can we create a universally understood definition of women?

c. Do women exist only through the construction of feminism?

d. Can women as a group be understood outside the context of oppression?

23. According to Butler, what is the relationship between juridical systems and the subjects?

a. The subjects create juridical system that empowers them.

b. The subjects use laws to self-govern.

c. The juridical systems create the subjects by regulating them.

d. The juridical systems empower existing subjects.

24. Which of the following is a primary critique of the concept of universal patriarchy?

a. The concept overlooks how cultural contexts shape oppression.

b. The concept is created by juridical systems.

c. The concept acts as a metanarrative.

d. The concept is only a social construct.

25. According to Baudrillard, the shift from working in manufacturing to working in ______ contributed to the rise of postmodernism.

a. agriculture

b. service industries

c. small, local shops

d. technology industries

True/False

26. Hyperreality refers to the postmodern condition where simulations of reality are more real than reality itself.

27. Postmodernism is a clearly understood and singularly defined concept.

28. “Buy this cell phone because it is long-lasting” is an example of imagistic advertising.

29. In a postmodern society, symbols no longer refer directly to concrete reality.

30. According to Baudrillard, Disneyland is “real,” and the rest of America is a simulation.

31. In the age of simulation, illusion becomes more effective.

32. Baudrillard argues that reality can no longer be proven.

33. In the current age, a fake robbery would elicit the same response as a real robbery.

34. Postmodernists tend to overlook the inequality that accompanied modernization.

35. The movement of workers into service industries helped give rise to postmodernism.

36. Postmodernists believe that the legitimacy of science is derived from its ability to uncover truth.

37. For Lyotard, it is no longer important what one knows but whether one can afford to buy what one needs to know.

38. Meaning has become more obscured as more connotations emerge.

39. According to Butler, categories of normative and deviant sexual behavior are socially constructed.

40. Butler challenges widely accepted feminist conceptualizations of sex and gender.

41. Butler argues that there is a universal basis for feminism.

42. Butler argues that sex as a biological feature produces gender.

43. Juridical power produces, rather than represents, its subjects.

44. The heterosexual matrix reinforces flawed biological understandings of sex and gender.

45. Much feminist theorizing has focused on Western ideas of oppression.

46. Butler argues that by creating the identity of the feminist, women can destabilize existing ideas about gender.

47. The gender binary assumes that both sex and gender are socially constructed

48. Lyotard argues that language is governed by a set of rules shaping how utterances are understood.

49. A major change supporting the rise of the postmodernism is the blurring of fact and fiction in virtual reality.

50. Baudrillard argues that particular advertised items—such as Nike shoes—are often hyperreality.

Essay

51. Define postmodernism.

52. Outline and define Baudrillard’s two most important contributions to postmodern theory.

53. Summarize the progression of simulacra over time.

54. What are the two qualitative changes that contributed to the emergence of postmodernism?

55. Define and provide a contemporary example of a Lyotard metanarrative.

56. Define the concept of “language games” and its use within Lyotard’s conception of metanarratives.

57. Define Lyotard’s conception of the postmodern condition, and explain how it pertains to our understanding of science.

58. What does Butler say about heterosexuality? How does it connect to understandings of normativity?

59. Why does Butler distinguish between gender as performance and gender performativity?

60. Explain postmodernism and provide contemporary real-world examples of postmodern content.

61. What do queer theorists argue about “sex as norm”?

62. Analyze the extent to which you interact with reality as opposed to hyperreality in your daily life.

63. Explain how Marxist theory influenced Baudrillard.

64. Why do postmodernists reject metatheoretical frameworks?

65. Explain why the notion of a universal patriarchy has been critiqued.