Exam 1 Review* a) lectures b) contexts & other readings *subject to change 9/18/15General Guidance Exam will include material from the following: •Lectures •Readings (contexts Reader, pdf articles/excerpts posted on eCampus, e.g. Kristoff) • Exam questions will be from readings (about 50%) and lecture (about 50%) • Exam will consist of 40-50 questionsGeneral Guidance • Focus on: • concepts (e.g. social strucutre, anomie, status, social mobility, triangulation, etc.) • Sociological Paradigms (Conflict, Functionalism, Symbolic Interactionism) • E.g. How do functionalists view stratification in modern class societies? • Names: but only for Founding Fathers (Durkheim, Marx & Weber)Exam 1 Review • Mills & sociological imagination; Berger & debunking • Developing a Sociological Perspective (4 key themes: social structure, social construction, social order, social change) • Classical Social Theory (Durkheim, Marx, & Weber) • Key ideas of each theorist • Contribution to 3 paradigms • Omit the neglected founders • Key concepts: solidarity, anomie, rationalizationSample Question Which early theorist saw class conflict as the main source of social change? • a. Émile Durkheim b. Max Weber c. Karl Marx d. all of the above e. none of the aboveUnit 1 • Is sociology a science? Causation and Correlation • Variables (Independent, Dependent, Controls) Research Methods (3 main approaches: • ethnography, surveys, experiments) -- strengths & weaknesses of each • triangulation • nb: Lovaglia reading on experiments: Know key findings of the experiments discussed by author.Sample question • What is the dependent variable in the following hypothesis? “If college students live with their parents, the students are less likely to engage in binge drinking than if they live in the dormitory.” a. college students b. parental supervision c. binge drinking d. dormitory life e. college lifeUnit 2: Stratification • Systems of stratification (slavery, caste & class) • Theories of Stratification: Conflict (Marx, Weber, Bourdieu), Functionalism, Symbolic Interactionism) • Key concepts: Class, status, cultural capital, life chances, intergenerational mobility, inequality (income & wealth) •Social Mobility (nb: know the Brookings reading on social mobility!)Unit 2: Stratification con’t • Education & Stratification: Biological & Sociological Explanations (Between- School & Within School) • • Know the criticisms of inherited (or biological) understandings of intelligence (e.g. teacher’s self-fulfilling prophecy)In-class Discussion QuestionsDeveloping a Sociological Imagination • N. Kristof, “So Similar, So Different” • Two Women: Nicole Sganga & Sajan (both 20 yrs old) • Question for your classmate: what are the key events that affected Nicole & Sajan’s life chances? 11Kristof • Question for Discussion: what are the key events that affected Nicole & Sajan’s life chances? • Counter-factual: – What would have happened to Sajan if her father had lived? – What would have happened to Nicole had her father died when she was 10 yrs old? 12Paxton on trust • Questions (Try to cover briefly with your classmate) • 1. What is Paxton’s argument (in one or two sentences)? • 2. What are the trends in trust in individuals? ...trust in institutions? • 3. What one factor explains the decline in trust? • 4. Why should we be careful about claiming that trust is in decline? 13Experiments & Surveys: Schuman • What is a sample? What is probability sampling? • Why did Gallup do a better job than Literary Digest of predicting the outcome of the presidential election of ‘36? • How does form & wording of a survey affect the results? • What are some solutions to “the wording problem”? -E.g. “principle of form resistant correlations”Berkman, “the health divide” (nb: written prior to passage of ACA) • What is the paradox of health care (and spending) in the US? • Will increasing access to health care improve health of the poor? • Will it affect health disparities? • Does being poor make you sick? (or is it the reverse?) • The author states, “the accumulation of disadvantge over decades significantly impairs health.” (contexts Reader, p. 392) • What does she mean? 15Cedric Herring, Is Job Discrimination Dead? • What is Herring’s answer to the question in the title? • What is social audit research? • What are advantages of social audit research (v. surveys &/or self-reports)? • What are the results of social audit research on discrimination? • How do discriminating employers deny opportunities to minority job-seekers?Downey & Gibbs • What is the common sense or conventional wisdom about schools & inequality? • Why is it wrong? • What is the upshot, i.e. main conclusion, of Seasonal Comparison Research? • What would happen to inequality if we lived in a world with no schools at all? 17Beaver, “a matter of degrees” • What is the conventional wisdom regarding how college degrees prepare college grads for work? • What are the criticisms of the conventional wisdom? • What is credentialism? • What does it mean for you and your future?
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