Exam Review for 9/28

Question 1

What is sociology?

Answer 1

• Sociology is the systemic study of the relationship between the individual and society and of the consequences of difference.
  -As a discipline is committed to investigate and understand the full scope of our interdependence. (e.g. Hamburger miracle)
  -Tool to understand why we think and act the way we do (Wright Mills)

Question 2

Individual versus Society

Answer 2

-we create society by the choices and things we do
-we are the products of society- social position and unequally distributed resources determine the outcome
-private troubles and public issues

Question 3

Sociological imagination

Answer 3

-explore the interdependent relationship between who we are as individuals and the social forces that shape our lives
-allows us to see the influence of social class, gender, race, etc. (positional categories)

Question 4

Sociology as a discipline (history/origin)

Answer 4

-industrial revolution
-french origin
- comte: “basic laws of society”
- durkheim: suicide research => soc as a discipline
-Martineau => English sociology; methods; inequality and power; activism
-analysis of social order and social inequality

Question 5

(Question 1/5) How is social order maintained?

Answer 5

-Emile Durkheim (social integration and solidarity)
-August Comte (laws of society, stability and harmony)

Question 6

(Question 2/5) How do power and inequality shape outcomes?

Answer 6

-Karl Marx (power and control over resources; means of production)
-Max Weber (means of production, social status and organizational power)

Question 7

(Question 3/5) How does interaction shape our worlds?

Answer 7

-W.I. Thomas (Thomas theorem)
-Ervin Goffman (dramaturgical approach)

Question 8

(Question 4/5) How does group membership influence opportunity?

Answer 8

-W.E.B. Du Bois (power and inequality based on race)
-Ida Wells-Barnett (women and African Americans have less opportunities)

Question 9

(Question 5/5) How should sociologists respond?

Answer 9

-Jane Addams (helping immigrants)
-Pierre Bourdieu (can’t stand aside)