Introductory Sociology (SC110) Student-Driven Test Questions

Thought Leader: Dr. Lee Garth Vigilant

Midterm S.D.T.Q

Questions from The Meaning of Sociology (Eighth Edition)

Chapters 1 & 2

  1. What is socialization, and how does it make us who we are? –Perry G.
  2. Why can’t humans exist without society? –Britta S.
  3. What are the six (6) ways humans are social? –Will B.
  4. Explain how sociology is an academic discipline. –Ashley F.
  5. What are three (3) questions that sociology asks? –Ketey W.
  6. Do you think the criticizers of Durkheim’s suicide study had valid arguments? Why or why not? –Nicole T.
  7. Why do you think some social patterns hold up for thousands of years but some die out? –Nicole T.
  8. Why is sociology a “scientific discipline”? –Nana F.
  9. Why do sociologists believe that people are much “less free” than we think? –Ashley P. & Sarah C.
  10. Why do sociologists say that the human being is not fully developed or “human” at birth? –Ashley P.
  11. What are the four (4) extremes of social change and social solidarity in Durkheim’s theory? –Sara F. & Zachary T.
  12. What was one profound or major change during the 19th Century brought on by the expanse of the Industrial Revolution? –Huston W.
  13. What are the five (5) topics that sociology focuses on? –Ann S.
  14. What did Durkheim find as an important cause for the rising rates of suicides in Industrial Societies? –Alex H.
  15. Weber pointed out that there will almost always be new evidence found to question, alter, refine, or replace what we believe to be true. If so, when do we know the exact answer or truth behind something? Never? –Tiara B.
  16. In chapter 2, I read the following quote: “Society exists before we are born; it continues after we die.” Does this statement imply society defines us or do we define society? Explain your answer. –Ruvimbo C.
  17. What did Karl Marx mean when he described religion as “the opium of the people”? –Ruvimbo C.
  18. It has been said that individuals become society. What does this mean? –Brittany O.
  19. How are our individual qualities shaped by those around us? –Chris L.
  20. Regarding the quote on page 9, “…sociology would be the focus of a new religion, and sociologists, as the bearers of knowledge, would be the “priests of the new order,” moral leaders, solvers of the ills of mankind,” Auguste Comte made a bold prediction. Would scientists as a whole agree with him today? Why or why not? –Addy B.
  21. What is the importance of “social patterns”? –Sarah C.
  22. Auguste Comte, Karl Marx, and Ferdinand Toennies believed that after people achieve a certain level of living standard, they tend to be less religious or lose their religious faith altogether? Why is this so? Is this ALWAYS true? Why or why not? -Chu Yi
  23. How are human beings social? –Megan S.
  24. What does it mean that sociology must be a “value free” science? Why is this an important aspect of sociology? –Simone L.
  25. Why do you think there was an increasing interest in studying face-to-face interaction (microsociology) in the late 1970s and early 1980s? –Kelsey M.
  26. Do you think that the U.S.’s high divorce rate encourages couples who are going through rough times to simply follow the trend and take the “easy way out”? Why? Would divorce be less acceptable if it wasn’t such a prevalent social pattern in the U.S.? –Kelsey A.
  27. Why would religion decline as people become more urban? –Jenessa L.

Chapter 6 (Culture)

  1. What are the differences between counterculture and subculture? –Emily B.
  2. What are two (2) reasons why culture is important? –J. Maddock
  3. In what ways is culture a social inheritance? –Andrew M.
  4. What does it mean to be “ethnocentric”? Moreover, if culture is a prison, aren’t we all “naturally” ethnocentric? – Perry G. & Dr. V
  5. Describe the difference values and goals. –Mary B.
  6. Why is it hard for people to adopt/accept different values than their own? –Trisaunia A.

Chapter 3 (Humans are Embedded)

  1. On page 18 the text states, “In a very basic sense, we become human through society.” Explain this quote. –Jenessa L.
  2. What are two qualities to identify any social organization? –Jasmine F.Rebecca H. & Joe L.
  3. “The key to social action is acting with others in mind.” This includes what we wear, how we talk, and where we orient ourselves in a room. Give three (3) examples of social actions from your day so far. –Janessa A.
  4. What is patterned social interaction? –Kelly E. & April S.
  5. Explain the concept of “mutual social action.” –Mary B.
  6. Why is interaction a very important part of our socialization? –Marshal W.
  7. How does Max Weber define the phrase “social action”? –Ahamed C.

Chapter 9 (Social Order)

  1. What are the differences between a dyad and a group? –Kevin B.
  2. What is “social control,” and what are some of its various forms? –Alice E.
  3. What are the differences between Durkheim’s concept of social order and Marx’s concept of social control? How did their unique emphasis align with their respective vision of the core problem of the great social transformation(i.e., Industrial Revolution)?–Marshal W.Nicole T. & Andrew M. & Monty H.
  4. What are some forms of social control a college professor, like Dr. Vigilant, might use to get the best performance out of his/her students? –Monty H.
  5. What are the six (6) ways social order is established? –Megan S.

Chapter 5 (Inequality in Society)

  1. How is social stratification protected by society’s institutions? –Ashley F.
  2. What does a person’s class position depend on? –Katie U. Kelly G.
  3. What are the six ways class, race, and gender are special? –April S.
  4. What is the difference between ascribed and achieved qualities? Which one of these types, ascribed or achieved, do you think affects one’s social mobility more? Explain your answer. –Kelsey A. & Mary B.
  5. At the top of page 72 the authors state that “poverty imprisons people, and it is difficult for those caught up in to do much more than survive.” Do you agree with this statement? Explain your reasoning. –Brittany O.
  6. How is inequality built into the American social system, and why is it so difficult for us to see this? –Samantha B.
  7. How does the social class of a child’s parents influence the child’s life path and opportunities? –Marshal W.

Chapter 4 (Social Structure)

  1. What are some status positions from our identity? –Katie W.
  2. What are some of the main causes of role conflict? –Kelsey A.
  3. Why is friendship likely to be the only social structure that is characterized by equality? –Janessa L.
  4. List and briefly describe that three (3) different qualities sociologists identify as arising from positions that cause inequality? –Mary B.
  5. What is social structure, and how is it like a map? –Trisaunia A.
  6. How does one’s class position affect their social role in society? –Megan N.

Questions from The Meaning of Sociology: A Reader (Ninth Edition)

C.W. Mills’ The Sociological Imagination

  1. According to C.W. Mills, what is the ‘sociological imagination,’ what does it do for us, and why is the ‘sociological imagination’ beneficial in terms of perspective? –Nicole T. & Taylor S.
  2. What is the difference between troubles and issues? –Chris L.
  3. Sociologists often times will try to ask and answer three (3) sets of questions about society when trying to employ the sociological imagination. What are they, and why? –Alex H.

McNamee’s The American Dream

  1. What is the ideal ideology from the point of view of those in power? –Allen N.
  2. Explain the four (4) tenants of the American Dream? –J. Maddock
  3. What does the meritocracy idea have to do with the “American Dream”? Joe L.
  4. What is the irony behind the ideology of meritocracy? –Andrew M.
  5. What belief of the Calvinists made a large impact on why Americans believe so strongly in meritocracy? –Sara F.
  6. What does it mean to be driven by “salvation anxiety”? And how does it connect to the American Dream? –Sellby Z.
  7. In feudal societies, “birthrights” and “divine right of kings” were the explanation for inequalities of power. Do you think we still have “birthrights” to some extent in American culture today? If so, explain. –Marshal W.
  8. Explain how meritocracy came to be the driving force behind the American Dream. –Heather N.
  9. How do you interpret Hochschild’s quote from Facing Up to the American Dream that says “Virtue leads to success, success makes a person virtuous, success indicates virtue, or apparent success is not real success unless one is also virtuous”? –Janessa H.

Kelman & Hamilton’s The My Lai Massacre

  1. Even though they were ordered to, why did troops go so far as to rape and massacre innocent civilians? What happened to their morals? –Trisaunia
  2. What two (2) functions does routinization fulfill? –Rebecca H.
  3. The My Lai Massacre was termed a “crime of obedience.” What is a “crime of obedience” and which socialization theory closely relates to such a situation? –Ruvimbo C.& Sarah C.
  4. Why might sociology offer a more accurate explanation for events of mass violence like the My Lai Massacre (and genocides, autocides, political killings, etc.) than psychology? –Ryan B.
  5. Describe the three (3) processes that tend to facilitate violence, mass killing, and crimes of obedience. –Heidi O. & Nicole J. & Ahamed C.
  6. What does dehumanization mean in the context of the My Lai incident, and why is it dangerous? –Kelsey A. & Marshal W.
  7. During the My Lai Massacre, only a select few American military men refused to carry out the order of murdering the villagers. Why do you think these men chose to do this? Moreover, what stage of moral development do their act of resistance implicate in Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development? –Anonymous & Dr. V
  8. Why does a “sanctioned massacre” enhance people’s readiness to commit certain unlawful actions? –Zach T
  9. What does Kai Erikson mean by “collective trauma” when referring to the events at Buffalo Creek? –Monica N.

Erikson’s Collective Trauma at Buffalo Creek

  1. Can there be such a thing as too much communality? If yes, do you think this was the case at Buffalo Creek? –Kelsey A.
  2. Why do you suppose survivor’s remorse is more common in survivors of large catastrophes than survivors of smaller accidents or acts of nature? –Janessa A. & Marshal W.
  3. What did the destruction of belief in social order do to the Buffalo Creek survivors? –Brittany O.
  4. Why did the people at Buffalo Creek feel they lost their morale and moral anchors? –Trisaunia
  5. Why is being part of a community so important to humans? –Sarah C. & Jacque M.
  6. After the tragedy at Buffalo Creek, why did “less moral” people begin to emerge in the face of the town’s loss of community? Moreover, why were the residents so unable to function as individuals after the flood? –Mary B. & Alex P.
  7. How did the people of Buffalo Creek lose connection, and how does this tragedy supportEmilie Durkheim’s idea of anomie and its causes? –Will B & Dr. V.
  8. On page 51, Kai Erickson states that “Where one finds death on a large scale, one also finds guilt.” What does the author mean by this? –Ashley F.Emily B. & Ann S.
  9. What is “demoralization,” and what was behind the systematic demoralization of the residents at Buffalo Creek? –Anna K.

Berger’s Society, Social Control, and the Individual

  1. Why (in some communities) is gossip needed to keep the social fabric of that community together? –Marshal W.
  2. Why do you think ridicule is more devastating to the self than more formal types of punishment (I.e., jail time, suspension, etc.)?
  3. “The ultimate and oldest means of social control is physical violence. In the savage society of children, it is still a major one.” This quote suggests physical violence as a basic and natural tendency. What has prevented social control from being based on physical violence in most sophisticated human societies today? And why is violence, on any level, the oldest means of social control? –Simone L. Zach T.
  4. There are many systems and means for social control including physical violence, political and legal controls, economic pressure, morality, customs, manners, occupational controls, and one’s family and personal friends. Which of these social controls do you think has the most control over our lives(as Americans) and why? –Kelsey A.
  5. Why are ridicule and gossip such powerful instruments of social control? And why would the risk of “disintegration” in their “sphere of the intimate” be more detrimental to someone than “losing face” at their job? –Brittany O & Mary B.
  6. Why are economic sanctions so effective? –Sarah C.
  7. Give an example of each of the following forms of social control: violence, opprobrium & ostracism, economic pressure, and ridicule. –Jacque M.

Meyer’s If Hitler Asked You to Electrocute a Stranger, Would You? Probably

  1. Why does Milgram feel people are obedient? –Megan N.
  2. To explain the Holocaust, Stanley Milgram planned to scientifically prove that German people were more obedient than the rest of us. What was ironic about the “Germans are different” theory to explain the Holocaust? –Simone L.
  3. What is the Shirer thesis, and what was its fundamental flaw? –Kelly G. & Amy O & Danae I.
  4. Why would human decency, mercy, humanity, or common sense fall short of the power of authority over an individual? –Jenessa L.
  5. What does their willingness to administer increasing shocks say about the participants’ social integration? Moreover, what does Milgram’s study have to say about the potential extremes of social control? –Brittany O & Trisaunia A.

Perrucci & Wysong’s The New American Class Structure

  1. How is the “privileged class” defined, and what does it take to join this class of Americans? –Katie U
  2. What is the difference between the privileged class and the new working class? –Meghan S. & Elena B.
  3. What are the seven (7) class positions in class structure in America, and which one do most people fall under? –April S.
  4. Is it possible for someone in the excluded class to work themselves into the privilege class? If so, what would they have to do to accomplish this? –Jenessa L.
  5. Why, according to Perrucci & Wysong’s conception of class structure, is there no middle class in America? What function does the idea of having a large middle class serve for society and its politicians? –Samantha B.
  6. Why is the middle class disappearing? –Sarah C.
  7. What are the “rules” that shape the American class structure, and what does it have to do with the idea of the “intergenerational permanence” of class? –Haina K.

Gans’ The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay All

  1. List and describe a few reasons why society cannot exist without the poor. –Ashley F.
  2. Explain why many of the functions currently served by the poor would be replaced if poverty were eliminated. Why is the political function of poverty much more difficult to replace according to Gans? –Anna K.
  3. If poverty is essential for the economy, why would people try to eliminate it? –Jammie M.
  4. What does functionalist theory say about poverty, and what are the 13 positive functions? –Brittany O. & Amy O.
  5. Is poverty more dysfunctional than functional? Explain your response. –Jasmine
  6. How do you and I personally benefit from the existence of poor people in society? –Heidi O.
  7. How does poverty help guarantee the status of those who are not poor? –Marshal W.

Suarez-Orozco’s Children of Immigrants: Adaption and Identity

  1. What social stresses do children of immigrants have, and why is the experience of immigration one of the most acute forms of stress? –Monica N.
  2. Why is it that for many immigrant families their length of residency in the United States is associated with declining health, learning disabilities, emotional difficulties, risk-taking behavior, and obesity? –Jenessa L.
  3. What is acculturation stress, and how does it affect immigrants? – Rebecca H.
  4. How does the labeling theory on deviance apply to the social mirroring effect that many immigrants experience? –Allie E.

Lee’s Yellow Face: Asian Americans in Popular Culture

  1. List and explicate the six (6) images of the oriental. Why is the term “Oriental” derogatory? –Meghan S.
  2. What particular ideas and fears led to the conceptualization of Asians as “pollutants”? –Kelsey A.
  3. What do the inconsistent rulings of Ozawa v. US and US v. Thind say about the definition of race in the United States? –Simone L.
  4. Alienness is both a formal legal status and an informal cultural status. Give an example of both. –Marshal W.
  5. According to the reading, why are Asians the least likely of all ethnic/racial groups to be considered as “true Americans”? –Anthony L.

Questions from Dr. Lee Garth Vigilant’s Lectures

  1. How did the Industrial Revolution change the way people lived and worked, and what were some of the “new” social problems that emerged? –Perry G. & Danae I.
  2. Why, according to Durkheim, did Jews have lower suicide rates than both Protestants and Catholics? –Justin L.
  3. Why can’t sociologists accept ideas on the basis of faith or common sense? –Britta S.
  4. Why is sociology the “science of the Industrial Revolution”, and how did it come to be? –Will B.
  5. Ferdinand Toennies describes a structural shift from a gemeinschaften social order to a Gesellschaften on. What do these terms mean, and what is the difference between these societies? –Katey W.
  6. Why did the Industrial Revolution threaten Gesellschaften? –Nicole T.
  7. Auguste Comte describes two (2) types of social forces in society. What were these forces, and why were they in conflict during the Industrial Revolution? –Alexandra P.
  8. What is social structure and why is it important to human societies? –Monica N. & -Krista O.
  9. What is organized skepticism, and why is it important in science? –Monica N.
  10. Why did Toennies believe that when people move to the city from villages that suicide, crime, family disintegration, and poverty will increase? –Joel K.
  11. How and why did sociology emerge as “the science of social problems”? –Simone L.
  12. Describe Max Weber’s three (3) types of power/authority. If charismatic power ends when the leader dies, how can you explain why we want to get up and dance whenever we hear certain “Elvis” songs on the radio? –Monty H.
  13. What was Ferdinand de Saussure’s perspective on language’s affect on social reality? –Ahamed C.
  14. What is culture and what are some of its characteristics? –Allen N.
  15. Durkheim stated that there are two (2) types of societies.