Midterm Exam

Midterm Exam

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Topic 1-Background 

• The Sociological Imagination
  • Definition: what makes sociology different from other disciplines?
  • Who coined this term?: C. Wright Mills
• Social structure VS. agency: what do we emphasize?
• Theories VS. theoretical approaches (or orientations)?
• Who created a term, sociology?
• The background of early sociology

Topic 2. Sociological Theories

• Three classical sociologists
  • Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, and Max Weber
• Emile Durkheim
  • Social facts
  • Social changes: Mechanical solidarity → organic solidarity (see the difference between two terms)
  • Division of labor: why is it important to understand modern society?
• Karl Marx
  • Social and economic changes
  • Capitalism VS. Communism
  • Two main classes and conflicts between two.
• Max Weber
  • How he criticized Karl Marx: social status VS. class
  • Rationalization
  • Bureaucracy
• E. B. Du Bois
  • Double consciousness
• Modern theoretical approaches: remember main points and differences and think about how we use each theory to analyze current issues.
  • Symbolic interactionism
  • Functionalism
  • Marxism
  • Feminism
  • Rational choice approach
  • Postmodern theory
• Macrosociology VS. microsociology: this brings us to the second topic – methods.

Topic 3 – Sociological Methods

• Sociological questions : understand each question through examples.
  • Factual question
  • Comparative question
  • Developmental question
  • Theoretical question
• Scientific methods: why is sociology science?
• Quantitative method VS. qualitative method
• The research process
  • You do not have to memorize each step, but try to understand how we, sociologists, plan for our own research and come up with outcomes.
• Causation VS. Correlation
• Variables
  • Independent variable VS. dependent variable
    • You should be able to identify independent and dependent variables from research questions.
  • Hypothesis
  • Methods in sociological research
    • Ethnography
    • Survey
    • Experiments
    • Remember these three sociological methods and advantages and disadvantages of each method.

Topic 4-Culture

• Culture and society
  • See the difference between two; and how they are related to one another.
• Sociological study of culture
• Started with Emile Durkheim. See topic 1 for further information about Durkheim.
• Connect the earlier studies to European colonial expansion.
• Material VS. Nonmaterial culture
  • Nonmaterial culture
    • Values VS. norms
  • Material goods
• New terms: cultural universals, cultural turn, cultural appropriation, cultural appreciation, counterculture and subculture.
• Assimilation and multiculturalism
• Ethnocentrism VS. cultural relativism
• Sociological debate: nature VS nurture
• Do sociologists highlight nature or nurture?
• Types of human society: each society’s traits.

Topic 5-Socialization

• Terms
  • Socialization, life course
  • Primary socialization VS. Secondary socialization
  • Agents of socialization
  • Family, school, peer, media, and work
  • Social reproduction, resocialization
• Identity: self identity VS. social identity
• Social roles and status
• Role conflict VS. role strain
• Theories
  • George H. Mead
    • Theory on social self
    • “I” and “me”
    • Generalized other
  • Charles Horton Cooley
    • The looking glass self
  • Jean Piaget
    • Stages in childhood – don’t have to remember all of them, but just try to understand Piaget also focused on stages of development.
  • Gender socialization and race socialization

Topic 6. Social Organization

• Groups
  • Social group
  • Social aggregate
  • Social category
• Groups
  • Primary groups VS. Secondary groups
• Conformity
• Organizations
  • Organization
  • Formal organization
• Networks
• In-Groups and Out-Groups
• Reference Groups
• The Effects of Size
  • Dyads
  • Triads
  • Larger Groups
• Theories
  • Bureaucracy
  • Granovetter: The Strength of Weak Ties
  • The “McDonaldization” of Society
• The Internet as Social Network