Sociological Theory
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Course Introduction
Sociological Theory explores the foundational and contemporary frameworks that shape the study of society, social structures, and human behavior. This course examines the works of key classical theorists such as Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim, alongside modern and postmodern contributions to sociological thought. Students will analyze the evolution of sociological ideas, considering how theory informs empirical research and helps interpret social phenomena. Through critical engagement with primary texts and current debates, the course provides the conceptual tools necessary to understand, compare, and apply sociological perspectives to contemporary issues.
Recommended Textbook Essentials of Sociology 6th Edition by Richard P. Appelbaum
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Chapter 1: Sociology: Theory and Method
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Q1) Adherents of ________ contend that there are no longer any "grand narratives" or overall conceptions of history or society that make any sense.
A) functionalism
B) postmodern theory
C) feminist theory
D) symbolic interactionism
Answer: B
Q2) Max Weber's theoretical contributions might be criticized for:
A) focusing narrowly on the individual.
B) not taking into account the role of bureaucracy in modern societies.
C) ignoring large social institutions.
D) ignoring collective forms of organization that are common in modern societies.
Answer: D
Q3) One possible criticism of functionalism might be:
A) that it is impossible to research large social bodies.
B) that it does not take into account society's major institutions.
C) that it has an anti-Western bias.
D) that societies are in conflict just as often as they are stable.
Answer: D
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Chapter 2: Culture and Society
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Q1) Danny is examining U.S. culture for the possibility that different immigrant communities in the United States maintain more or less separate cultures but might still manage to participate equally in economic and political life. His study focuses on which concept?
A) multiculturalism
B) assimilation
C) cultural resistance
D) nationalism
Answer: A
Q2) How does instinct differ from culture, and why is the distinction important to sociologists? Please answer in three to five sentences.
Answer: Instinct is genetic and is a fixed pattern that all normal members of a given species exhibit. Culture, however, is learned and typically differs widely between human communities. The distinction is important to sociologists for two main reasons: (1) studying what might be instinct gives sociologists-particularly those interested in sociobiology-an idea of what might be human nature; (2) sociologists use it to construct debates referred to as nature vs. nurture in attempts at mapping the social from the biological.
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Chapter 3: Socialization, the Life Course, and Aging
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Q1) The discipline concerned with the study of the social aspects of aging is known as:
A) social gerontology.
B) social chronology.
C) age studies.
D) elder studies.
Answer: A
Q2) At nine years old, Arjun began playing organized sports, learning that teams are supposed to play by the rules of the game. According to George Herbert Mead, Arjun is developing an understanding of:
A) the "I."
B) the "me."
C) the generalized other.
D) socialization.
Answer: C
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Chapter 4: Social Interaction and Everyday Life in the Age
of the Internet
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Q1) While grocery shopping, you run into your sociology professor. This creates an awkward interaction because you are not used to seeing her outside of class and you are not sure how to behave. The interaction is awkward because it violated your:
A) audience segregation.
B) status position.
C) sense of self.
D) stress-free space.
Q2) In three to five sentences, explain how technology has altered some of the ways in which individuals communicate their emotions to each other.
Q3) An example of audience segregation is:
A) being openly gay at home but pretending to be straight at work for fear of discrimination.
B) inviting both spouses' families over for a holiday, even though they are uncomfortable around each other.
C) a woman texting with her friend while sitting with her family.
D) taking a friend to a concert to introduce her to music she has never heard before.
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Chapter 5: Groups, Networks, and Organizations
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Q1) In a couple of sentences, explain how social networks facilitate the reproduction of existing inequalities for women, lower socioeconomic classes, and minorities. Give an example.
Q2) Max Weber was the first to develop a systematic interpretation of:
A) conformity.
B) primary groups.
C) modern organizations.
D) secondary groups.
Q3) One need not belong to a group in order for it to be a reference group. Why?
A) People with weak ties are more likely to rely on reference groups.
B) Reference groups must consist of at least ten people.
C) Modern life is full of alienation and anonymity.
D) People often identify with groups even if they don't belong to them.
Q4) Every day after school Maria goes to the local teen center. She is part of a group that is organizing a multicultural festival for the community. This activity is likely to produce:
A) bonding social capital.
B) bridging social capital.
C) community banks.
D) reference groups.
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Chapter 6: Conformity, Deviance, and Crime
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Q1) Which theory views crime as the outcome of an imbalance between impulses toward criminal activity and the social or physical controls that deter it?
A) labeling theory
B) strain theory
C) differential association theory
D) control theory
Q2) How is it possible that a person can be both a conformist and a deviant? Please explain your answer in two to three sentences.
Q3) Forms of activity that have some of the characteristics of orthodox businesses but are illegal are called:
A) white-collar crime.
B) corporate crime.
C) index crime.
D) organized crime.
Q4) In three to five sentences, explain how deviance is functional and draw on at least two specific examples to illustrate your argument.
Q5) Why have efforts to significantly decrease the supply of illegal drugs in the United States failed?
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Chapter 7: Stratification, Class, and Inequality
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Q1) Workers picking strawberries can pick 100 baskets an hour, but the value of 20 baskets is all it costs the employer to pay them their hourly wages. According to Karl Marx, the income the employer collects from the extra baskets is:
A) extra wages.
B) surplus value.
C) wage theft.
D) extra income.
Q2) When a person moves from one position in a class structure to a nearly identical position, the person is said to experience:
A) short-range downward mobility.
B) long-range downward mobility.
C) declining mobility.
D) across-position mobility.
Q3) Answer the following questions in a few sentences. What is the difference between income and wealth? How are income and wealth related?
Q4) In three to four sentences, consider why sociologists say we are seeing the feminization of poverty?
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Chapter 8: Global Inequality
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Q1) Sonyuchka studies countries that are located primarily in east and southeast Asia, the oil-rich countries of the Middle East and north Africa, the Americas (Mexico, Central America, Cuba, and other countries in the Caribbean and South America), and the once-communist republics that formerly made up the Soviet Union and its eastern European allies. She is likely studying ________ countries.
A) high-income
B) middle-income
C) low-income
D) Asian
Q2) Lloyd has been studying Uganda for decades. Based on his research, he believes that barriers to trade, minimum wage laws, and environmental regulations that affect Ugandan businesses are getting in the way of development and should be minimized or eliminated. His view is best described as:
A) Marxism.
B) social democracy.
C) neoliberalism.
D) anarchism.
Q3) In two to three sentences, describe how state-centered theories explain global inequality?
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Chapter 9: Gender Inequality
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Q1) Theorists who believe in the social construction of gender:
A) argue that only gender is socially constructed; sex is clearly biological.
B) argue that both gender and sex are socially constructed.
C) argue that neither gender nor sex is socially constructed.
D) accept that there are some gender differences that are biological.
Q2) Karen made an unwanted sexual advance on her date Sarah, persisting even though it was clear that Sarah was resistant. How would sociologists characterize this interaction?
A) matriarchy
B) gender typing
C) sexual harassment
D) gender profiling
Q3) Researchers have found that boys are responded to positively when they act in masculine ways, but when they act in feminine ways, they are either admonished or ignored. This finding provides the most support for which approach to gender?
A) the biological approach
B) the gender socialization approach
C) the economic reductionist approach
D) the social position approach
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Chapter 10: Ethnicity and Race
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Q1) Which of the following statements concerning minority groups is true?
A) Any group that is less than 50 percent of the population is considered a minority group.
B) All members of the group share the same physical features.
C) All members of the group have some sense of group solidarity.
D) Members have the ability to leave the minority group and assimilate into the dominant one.
Q2) Adolph Hitler was able to convince the German population that Jews were to blame for the country's economic troubles. Jews in this example can be considered a(n):
A) stereotype.
B) scapegoat.
C) victim.
D) minority group.
Q3) Which model best fits the experience of Switzerland?
A) assimilation
B) melting pot
C) segregation
D) multiculturalism
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Chapter 11: Families and Intimate Relationships
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Q1) What is the relationship between income and post-divorce situations?
A) Both men's and women's incomes tend to increase.
B) Both men's and women's incomes tend to decrease.
C) Men's incomes tend to increase, while women's incomes tend to decrease.
D) Men's incomes tend to decrease, while women's incomes tend to increase.
Q2) In 2015, the average age for first marriage was ________ for men and ________ for women.
A) 16; 14
B) 22; 20
C) 29; 27
D) 35; 33
Q3) Sociologists have identified seven important changes that characterize transformations in the global family structure over the past half century. In three to five sentences, name two of those changes that you find the most compelling and explain why.
Q4) Of people in a similar age group, who is most likely to get married?
A) LGBT people
B) men who have been married and divorced
C) women who have been married and divorced
D) people with incomes twice the poverty threshold
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Chapter 12: Education and Religion
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Q1) Rather than going to public or private schools, Pedro was taught by his parents. This is an example of:
A) feminist pedagogy.
B) complimentary holism.
C) homeschooling.
D) the Marxist method.
Q2) Briefly explain Karl Marx's, Émile Durkheim's, and Max Weber's theories of religion. Please explain each theory in two to five sentences.
Q3) Why have sociologists, at times, been critical of Jonathan Kozol's findings on public schools in his work Savage Inequalities?
A) Schools are not integral to the functioning of society and are, therefore, not worthy of empirical study.
B) Young students cannot be trusted as respondents for sociological studies.
C) Poor students are likely to lie about their educational experiences to fit into normative constructions of what it means to be educated.
D) He had no systematic way in which he chose the schools he studied, which allowed for selection bias.
Q4) What is religious nationalism? Please explain your answer in a short paragraph.
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Chapter 13: Politics and Economic Life
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Q1) What do Edna Bonacich and Richard Appelbaum mean when they write about a global "race to the bottom" in the retail-dominated production of clothing?
A) Clothing retailers and manufacturers race to get out new products before anyone else and thus foment innovation and increasing quality in the sector.
B) Retailers and manufacturers will go anywhere on earth to pay the lowest possible wages, which results in dismal wages for workers-who are often children.
C) As the manufacture of clothing for large retailers was increasingly centered on areas of the Southern Hemisphere, competition for workers gradually brought wages up in these parts of the world.
D) A manufacturing race has been on for more than twenty years, and it pits large northern retailers against southern manufacturers.
Q2) What was unique about voter participation in the 2008 presidential election?
A) Fewer women voted than in the past.
B) There was higher turnout among young voters than usual.
C) Voter participation was especially high among rural voters.
D) There was higher turnout among elderly voters than usual.
Q3) What are the main features of capitalism? Answer in two to four sentences.
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Chapter 14: The Sociology of the Body: Health, Illness, and Sexuality
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Q1) What is the biomedical model of health? Please explain your answer in three to five sentences.
Q2) In a short paragraph, discuss obesity as both a private trouble and a public issue, making sure to briefly distinguish between private trouble and public issue. What are at least two strategies identified in the textbook as possible approaches to treating obesity as a public issue? Illustrate how these are good examples of treating obesity as a public health issue.
Q3) The twentieth century witnessed which of the following trends in industrialized societies?
A) a significant increase in life expectancy
B) a rise in infant mortality rates
C) a decrease in standards of health and well-being
D) the virtual elimination of health inequalities
Q4) What term refers to the process by which we control phenomena regarded as natural, such as reproduction?
A) the socialization of reproduction
B) the socialization of the body
C) the socialization of health
D) the socialization of nature
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Chapter 15: Urbanization, Population, and the Environment
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Q1) Britain was the first country to undergo industrialization, which generated ________, the movement of population from the countryside into towns and cities.
A) urbanization
B) metropolization
C) megalomania
D) conurbation
Q2) Which of the following jobs most closely illustrates the informal economy?
A) a used-book vendor on the streets of New York City
B) a secretary at a multinational paper manufacturer based in Los Angeles
C) a sociology professor in Detroit
D) unionized garbage workers in the northeastern United States
Q3) Urban growth in less-developed countries is high because of higher birth rates as well as:
A) high crime in rural areas.
B) high rates of internal migration.
C) high rates of migration from other countries.
D) idealization of American life.
Q4) Why is rural America on the decline? In a short paragraph, explain at least one problem facing rural America today.
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Chapter 16: Globalization in a Changing World
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Q1) The growing influence of ________ has/have been among the political changes contributing to the intensification of globalization.
A) local mechanisms of government
B) national identity
C) international nongovernmental organizations
D) family
Q2) According to Neil Smelser, social movements are motivated by: A) political breakdown.
B) clashes of goals.
C) an inspirational leader.
D) a response to social conditions.
Q3) Discuss the cultural impacts of globalization. Do you think these are more a matter of "cultural imperialism" or "fragmentation of cultural forms"? Justify your position.
Q4) According to Ulrich Beck, globalization brings about a "risk society." Explain a "risk society" and the kinds of risks that are being "manufactured." What specific risks are you most concerned about? Why?
Q5) Compare and contrast the three schools of thought in the globalization debate. Which position do you find most compelling? Why?
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