Introduction to Sociology
Part I. — Short answers. Choose eight questions. Answer them briefly, hitting the nail on the head and stopping. What counts is not only correctness but your ability to identify the essence of the matter. You may answer the questions in any order, but please indicate by number which questions you choose to answer.
1. What is the difference between Karl Marx’s conceptualization of stratification and Max Weber’s?
2. How did the cultural attitude toward the proper role of racial, ethnic, and religious identity in America change from the early 20th Century to the early 21st Century?
3. What is the difference between “ascribed” and “achieved” characteristics, as these terms are used in sociology? Give a couple of examples of each.
4. Summarize Milton Gordon’s three models for understanding American diversity in one sentence each.
5. Explain: “The Jew is the antisemite’s Rorschach ink-blot.”
6. Explain “scapegoating” as part of the etiology of bigotry.
7. How did Emile Durkheim use the distinction between “sacred” and “profane” to explain social solidarity?
8. How do secularism and atheism differ from each other regarding the validity and social functions of religion?
9. What is the actual relationship between religion and the public realm (“church” and “state”) in America?
10. Why can’t one prove a religion’s position on an issue by citing verses from its sacred literature?
11. What are some of the factors that make Uniform Crime Reports not really uniform?
12. What is “anomie,” and how is it a source of criminality?
13. How does imprisonment contribute to recidivism?
14. In what sense are we all, in Margaret Mead’s phrase, “immigrants in time?”
15. Explain and illustrate why we cannot predict the future simply by extrapolating current trends.
Part II. – Essay. Choose one of the following questions. Write a full and thoughtful essay, drawing on several of the ideas covered in the course.
16. Explain how Gordon Allport’s paradigm for understanding the etiology of prejudice can be used in studying all behavior (not only prejudice). Then give an illustration by applying it to some other behavior.
17. C. Wright Mills (a mid-20th Century sociologist) defined “the sociological imagination” as the ability to appreciate the links between individual motivations and sociocultural realities. Choose some behavior that interests you, and reflect on it with “sociological imagination.” (Don’t just say that we are influenced by our culture. We are, of course, but if you choose this question, be sure to go beyond that obvious observation.)
18. Choose a recent (during the past week or so) news story from the New York Times, Time Magazine, or CNN website. Write a sociological commentary on it, using relevant concepts to add perspective to what the story relates. Include a link to the story, or indicate the source, date, and headline. Choose a story that lets you show off your ability to do sociological analysis.
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