midterm guide

SOC 101 Principles of Sociology: Midterm Study Guide
This study guide is designed to alert you to the topics/issues that may appear on the midterm exam. You should use it to direct your studying. In other words, do not study from the guide, but from your in-class notes and reading notes, with the study guide as a roadmap. The midterm is on Thursday, October 11. All you need to bring is a pen or two.
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History of sociological thought o August Comte – stages of human understanding o Emile Durkheim
 Durkheim on suicide
 Mechanical and organic solidarity; collective conscience; division of labor; interdependence o Ferdinand Tönnies – Gesellschaft and Gemeinschaft relationships o Max Weber – bureaucracy; “iron cage”; verstehen o Karl Marx – Bourgeosie and Proletariat; economic determinism o What did Durkheim, Tönnies, Weber, and Marx think were the social consequences of the movement from pre-modern to modern societies?
Sociological imagination o C. Wright Mills – personal troubles vs. public issues o Levels of analysis – microsociology vs. macrosociology o Intersection of history and biography—what is meant by this? o Manifest vs. latent functions
Theoretical traditions o What is a theory? A paradigm? o Functionalist paradigm
 Assumption about the nature of human society?
 General propositions of theory: how can we explain social arrangements and social change?
 Problems with functionalism? o Conflict paradigm
 Assumption about the nature of human society?
 General propositions of theory: how can we explain social arrangements and social change?
 Problems with conflict perspective? o Symbolic interactionist paradigm (i.e. social constructionism)
 General propositions of theory: what is the origin of social reality?
 Thomas Theorem and self-fulfilling prophecies
 Looking-glass self and the generalized other
Research methods o What does it mean to say that sociology is probabilistic? To say it is empirical? o Variables: independent vs. dependent variables o Attributes of variables o What are hypotheses? o Correlations: positive correlations vs. negative correlations o Criteria for causation: correlation; temporal ordering, non-spuriousness—what does each mean? o Why do we need systematic research: problems in day-to-day reasoning? o Quantitative vs. qualitative methods o Experiments: random assignment; treatment and control groups; why used so infrequently in sociology? o Surveys: populations and samples; probability sampling; response rates; advantages and disadvantages of different modes of administration o Field research: detached vs. participant observation; ethnography issues: “going native,” gaining access,
Hawthorne effect o Content analysis: What is it and why use it? o Validity, reliability, and generalizability o Types of social research: exploratory, descriptive, explanatory, evaluative
Culture
o Material vs. non-material culture o Ethnocentrism vs. cultural relativism

Symbols
Language
 Sapir-Whorf hypothesis o Beliefs o Values o Norms
 Folkways
 Mores
 Taboos o Sanctions/social control
 Positive vs. negative sanctions; formal vs. informal sanctions o Cultural lag o Globalization and cultural exports o Subcultures and countercultures o Cultural appropriation o Be able to apply concepts to the cultures described in the readings (1) “Why Do People Get Tattoos?”, (2)
“The Decline of the Date and the Rise of the College Hookup,” and (3) “Code of the Street”
Social interaction o Dramaturgical approach o Interaction rituals o Proxemics o Impression management
 The “I” vs. the “me”
 Stigma management
 Front stage vs. backstage behavior
 Face o Impression formation o Emotion rules and emotional leakage o Be able to apply concepts to the impression management described in “Making It by Faking It”
Social structure o What is social structure? What are the two main points? o Statuses
 Ascribed vs. achieved statuses
 Master status
 Status sets
 Status inconsistency
 Status symbols o Roles
 Difference between statuses and roles?
 Role strain
 Role conflict o Social groups
 Difference between groups, aggregates, and categories?
 Primary vs. secondary groups
 In-groups vs. out-groups
 Reference groups
 What is conspicuous consumption? o Social networks
 Elements: Number of ties, heterogeneity, strength of ties
 Social capital
 Be able to apply concepts to the findings in “Social Networks: The Value of Variety”
Social institutions o What is a social institution? o Social institutions and societal needs o How do the findings in “Growing Up is Harder to Do” reflect changes in social institutions? o o

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