Study guide for Giddens et al. Chapter 17, Religion in Modern Society

religion
sociological definition of religion
theism
sociological questions about religion
relationship between religion and norms and values
appeal of religion
New Age religious movement
Karl Marx
Emile Durkheim
Max Weber
alienation
sacred
profane
religious economy approach
“spiritual shopping sprees” (Roof)
church
sect
cult
new religious movements
denomination
charismatic leaders
world-rejecting movements
secularization
women
monotheism
Christianity
Islam
Hinduism
Judaism
Buddhism
polytheism
Lipset
Bellah
liberal Protestant denominations
conservative Protestant denominations
Catholics
Evangelicals
fundamentalists
September 11, 2001
civil religion
women in Afghanistan
relationship between Islam and political nationalism
John Kerry
relationship between religion and politics in the United States
liberation theology
connection between religion and violence
ultimate goal of Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda
Robert Wuthnow
Ora Mae
Islamic revivalism

Study guide/discussion question questions for "From The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" by MAX WEBER:

Study guide and discussion questions for for articles on religion. Come prepared to discuss the discussion questions next week (for the online class, discuss these questions this week on our discussion board).

Study guide/discussion question questions for "From The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" by MAX WEBER:

What is the protestant ethic?
What is the spirit of capitalism?
Discuss Martin Luther’s idea of a “calling.”
Discuss asceticism.
Discuss modern capitalism.


Study guide/discussion question questions for "Religious Community and American Individualism" (from Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life) by ROBERT N. BELLAH, RICHARD MADSEN, WILLIAM M. SULLIVAN, ANN SWIDLER, and STEVEN M. TIPTON:
What kind of relationship do people have with their church?
How actively religious are Americans?
What is the emphasis of many religious beliefs?
Discuss the comparison that Bellah et al. makes between the liberal and conservative church.
What is pantheism?
Discuss the religious beliefs of many influential 19th century Americans.

Discussion questions:
To what extent is the religion you practice about expressing yourself and self-realization?

To what extent does religion provide clear unambiguous order and security in your life?

To what extent does the church you go to separate you from the rest of the world?

To what extent is the emphasis on love in your church not shared with the rest of the world except through missionary outreach?

Bellah et al. imply that for religious individualists, their links to churches are tenuous, to some extent fortuitous and ones of convenience. To what extent does that characterize your relationship to your church?

Study guide and discussion questions for the internet lecture on the family by Giddens. Come prepared to discuss the discussion questions next week (for the online class, discuss these questions this week on our discussion board).

Study guide/discussion question questions:

Discuss the key changes affecting the family. Discuss the democratic family.

Discussion questions:

Giddens talks about how the family is transforming. Do you see the tranformations that he mentions in your family? Giddens tends to be pretty optimistic about these transformations. He sees them as positive trends. What do you think?

Study guide and discussion questions for "Love, Arranged Marriage, and the Indian Social Structure" by GIRI RAJ GUPTA. Come prepared to discuss the discussion questions next week (for the online class, discuss these questions this week on our discussion board).

Study guide/discussion questions:

What is the attitude toward love and arranged marriage in India?

Describe the attitudes and norms associated with marriage and mate selection in India.

Discussion question:

What can we learn about how we do love in the United States from how Indians do love?

Study guide for Giddens et al. Chapter 15, Families and Intimate Relationships

Know about the following:

Talcott Parsons
feminism
the traditional American family
changes in family systems in the developing world
changes affecting family systems worldwide
cohabitation
trend toward later marriages
Bumpass et al.
family composition
African American families
Hispanic families
Asian American families
Native American families
trends in the divorce rate
Lenore Weitzman
factors that increase the likelihood of divorce
Diane Vaughan
Judith Wallerstein
factors related to the likelihood of marriage
stepfamilies
Cherlin
the effects of divorce on children
single-parent families
child abuse
David Popenoe
Judith Stacey
Arlie Hochschild
families in the past
characteristics of the family in the United States today
female-headed African-American families
patterns of remarriage
the second shift
changes in household size throughout the history of the United States
gay-parent families
Betty Friedan

Study guide for Giddens et al. Chapter 13, Government, Political Power, and Social Movements

Know about the following:

government
politics
power
authority
state
traditional state
nation-state
civil rights
political rights
social rights
welfare state
democracy
participatory democracy
constitutional monarchy
political party
liberal democracy
two-party system
multiparty system
interest group
lobbyist
democratic elitism
Max Weber
pluralist
C. Wright Mills, the power elite
revolution
social movement
Marx
James Davies
Charles Tilly
Theda Skocpol
Smelser
Touraine
new social movements
globalization
legitimation crisis
political action committee
Internet democracy
Dwight D. Eisenhower
women’s movement
World Trade Organization
Irish Republican Army
old-style terrorism
postmaterialist values

Study guide and discussion questions for “Democracy, Capitalism, and Transformation” by Immanuel Wallerstein. Come prepared to discuss the discussion questions next week (for the online class, discuss these questions this week on our discussion board).

Possible final exam essay question

The following question concerns “Democracy, Capitalism, and Transformation” by Immanuel Wallerstein. How does Wallerstein interpret the history of democracy? What is the relationship between capitalism and democracy? What does he see as the future of the present world system? This question is worth 12 points.

Discussion questions:

Do you think that the United States is a democracy? Why or why not?

What is your assessment of Wallerstein's understanding of democracy?

Let's talk about the future of democracy. Where do you see it going?

Here is the link: http://fbc.binghamton.edu/iw-vien2.htm

Study guide and discussion questions for "The Rise and Fall of Mass Rail Transit" (from Building American Cities: The Urban Real Estate Game) by JOE R. FEAGIN and ROBERT PARKER. Come prepared to discuss the discussion questions next week (for the online class, discuss these questions this week on our discussion board).

Study guide/discussion questions:

How do Feagin and Parker explain the decline in mass rail transit in the United States?
Discuss Feagin and Parker’s comparison of the rail transit systems in the US and Germany.
How does Feagin and Parker characterize urban politics?
Discuss urban development in Los Angeles.
What is are the various forms of mass transit?

Discussion questions:

What is your assessment of Feagin and Parker's argument that the rise of the automobile is largely due to corporate manipulation?

Do you think that corporations have that kind of power today?

Midterm 4 study guide for Giddens et al. Chapter 11, Ethnicity and Race

Know about the following:

racial literacy
race
racialization
ethnicity
situational ethnicity
symbolic ethnicity
prejudice
discrimination
racism
institutional racism
new racism
stereotypical thinking
displacement
scapegoating
projection
current status of immigration patterns to the United States
economic impact of new immigrants
genocide
ethnic cleansing
segregation
assimilation
pluralism
multiculturalism
global migratory patterns
classical model of immigration
systems approach
diaspora
waves of immigrants to the United States
potato famine
Brown v. Board of Education
1964 Civil Rights Act
Jake Najman
Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton
Robert Blauner
William Juilus Wilson
David Wellman
Minority group
colonial model of migration
feminization of migration patterns
Robin Cohen
cultural racism

Study guide for "Laissez-Faire Racism: The Crystallization of a 'Kinder, Gentler' Anti-Black Ideology."

Study guide for "Laissez-Faire Racism: The Crystallization of a 'Kinder, Gentler' Anti-Black Ideology."

Describe laissez-faire racism. Compare with Jim Crow racism.

When reading the article, focus on the following sections:

Introduction
Racism in the Modern Era
Is Racism an Appropriate Label?
The Decline of Jim Crow Racism
Opposition to Progressive Social Policy
The Decline of Biological Racism
The Emergence of Laissez Faire Racism (introduction and The Link to Mass Racial Attitudes)Conclusions


Possible essay question:

Referring to Lawrence Bobo et al.’s article “Laissez Faire Racism: The Crystallization of a 'Kinder, Gentler' Anti-Black Ideology,” discuss laissez-faire racism. Compare with Jim Crow racism. Provide as much detail as possible. (This question is worth 12 points.)


Here is the link:
http://www.russellsage.org/sites/all/files/u4/Bobo%2C%20Kluegel%2C%20%26%20Smith_Laissez%20Faire%20Racism.doc

Midterm 4 study guide for Giddens et al. Chapter 10, Gender Inequality

Know about the following:

sex
gender
gender socialization
the social construction of gender and sex
Margaret Mead
the !Kung
berdache
patriarchy
gender inequality
women's participation in the paid labor force
the pay gap between men and women
comparable worth
the glass ceiling
the glass escalator
sexual harassment
the gendered division of labor in the home
Talcott Parsons
liberal feminism
radical feminism
black feminism
postmodern feminism
sex segregation
human capital theory
Susan Brownmiller
rape
the second shift

Study guide and discussion questions for "Boyhood, Organized Sports, and the Construction of Masculinities" by MICHAEL A. MESSNER. Come prepared to discuss the discussion questions next week (for the online class, discuss these questions this week on our discussion board).

Why do men play organized sports?

Compare the athletic careers of middle-class and working-class men.

Talk about your experience participating in organized sports. Can you relate to the athletes that Messner describes?

Midterm 4 study guide for Giddens et al. Chapter 8, Stratification, Class, and Inequality

Know about the following:

social stratification
slavery
the caste system
the estate system
the class system
life chances
Kuznets curve
historical trends in the real income of blue-collar workers in Western societies
racial disparities in wealth and income
the wealthiest 20% of the American population
educational attainment
cultural capital
the new urban poor
William Domhoff
the wealth gap in the income gap between blacks and whites
social mobility
Pierre Bourdieu
Peter Blau and Otis Dudley Duncan
downward mobility
homelessness
Karl Marx
Max Weber
Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore
Eric Olin Wright
globalization
the poverty line
the feminization of poverty

Study guide and discussion questions for Code of the Street Chapter 4

Study guide and discussion questions for Code of the Street Chapter 4. Come prepared to discuss the discussion questions next week (for the online class, discuss these questions this week on our discussion board).

According to Elijah Anderson, why is the teen pregnancy rate so high in inner-city Philadelphia? Discuss the following: poverty, the “game” that young men play, the “dream” that young women have, “baby clubs,” and the influence of peers.

Compare the attitudes that exist about teen pregnancy in the middle class world with the attitudes that exist in inner-city Philadelphia.

What kinds of attitudes do you have about teen pregnancy? How is it different from the attitudes that Anderson describes?


Possible midterm essay question:

According to Elijah Anderson, why is the teen pregnancy rate so high in inner-city Philadelphia? In your answer, discuss the following: poverty, the “game” that young men play, the “dream” that young women have, “baby clubs,” and the influence of peers. (This question is worth 12 points.)

Study guide and discussion questions for Code of the Street Chapter 3. Come prepared to discuss the discussion questions next week (for the online class, discuss these questions this week on our discussion board).

In Anderson’s discussion of crime in inner-city Philadelphia, how does he describe the stickup?

According to Anderson, in his discussion of crime in inner-city Philadelphia, why do inner-city community members do little about the drug trade?

According to Anderson, in his discussion of crime in inner-city Philadelphia, what factors explain why young people get involved in the drug trade?

What is your experience with drugs and crime?

How is the drug trade in the middle-class world different from the inner city?

How are crime and criminals different in the middle-class world?

Study guide and discussion questions for "Nickel and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich. Come prepared to discuss the discussion questions next week (for the online class, discuss these questions this week on our discussion board).

Discussion questions:

Have any of you worked at a minimum wage job? Talk about the experience. Was it like Ehrenreich's?

Study guide questions:

1. Why did Barbara Ehrenreich do this study?
2. What did Ehrenreich do in order to write this article?
3. What job did Ehrenreich plan not to do, but ended up doing anyway?
4. What did Ehrenreich find in want ads in the newspaper?
5. What must the employer do, according to the law, if a waitress’s tips and salary fall below the minimum wage?
6. What did Ehrenreich try to do after two weeks “in the field”?
7. What were the two biggest problems Ehrenreich found in the low-wage workforce?
8. What does Ehrenreich conclude from her study?

Study guide and discussion questions for "From When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor" by WILLIAM JULIUS WILSON. Come prepared to discuss the discussion questions next week (for the online class, discuss these questions this week on our discussion board).

Study guide and discuss questions:

How does Wilson explain poverty in the inner city?

How is poverty in the inner city similar to and different from poverty in SLO county?


Study guide, know about the following:

residential segregation
changes in the labor market
unemployment
urban black poverty
Bronzeville

Study guide for lecture on stratification.

1. According to the lecture, what are the social classes that exist in the United States? Describe them.

2. What is the role of ideology in sustaining the class system?

Midterm 3 study guide for chapter on groups (chapter 6) in Giddens et al.

know about:

social group
social aggregate
in-group
out-group
primary group
reference group
Stanley Milgram study
social networks
organizations
formal organizations
Max Weber
bureaucracies
ideal type
formal relations
informal relations
Peter Blau
John Meyer and Brian Rowan
bureaucratic ritualism
Michel Foucault
surveillance
social capital
Robert Michels, iron law of oligarchy
Judy Wajcman
Japanese corporations
corporate culture
Manuel Castells
networked organizations
women in executive positions
disadvantages of telecommuting
Robert Putnam
television

Midterm 3 study guide for chapter on interaction (chapter 5) in Giddens et al.

Know about:

Erving Goffman
civil inattention
staring (including gender differences)
facial expressions of infants and adults
nonverbal communication
Paul Ekman
Charles Darwin
ethnomethodology
Harold Garfinkel
Mitchell Duneier and Harvey Molotch
interactional vandalism
response cry
unfocused interaction
focused interaction
an encounter
impression management
social role
social status/social position
front region
back region
disadvantages of electronic communication
Elijah Anderson
social constructionism
globalization and tourism

Midterm 3 study guide for Giddens et al. Chapter 2, "Asking and Answering Sociological Questions"

Have knowledge of the following:

hypothesis
causation
correlation
variable
control
independent variable
dependent variable
ethnography
survey
life history
experiment
historical analysis
fieldwork
pilot study
sample
open-ended questions
representative sample
randon sample
triangulation
reflexivity
measures of central tendency
correlation coefficient
standard deviation
mean
median
mode

Study guide/discussion question for "Telling the Truth about Damned Lies and Statistics" by JOEL BEST. Come prepared to discuss this question during the second part of this week (for the online class, discuss this question this week on our discussion board).

According to Best, what kind of attitude should we have toward statistical research?

midterm 3 reminder

You will need a scantron form for this exam. You do NOT need a bluebook. There IS a take-home portion to this exam. See the syllabus for the link to the take-home questions.

There are no changes to your syllabus, and as indicated on your syllabus, here is the material that will be covered on the exam:

In Giddens et al.:

Chapter 5. Social Interaction and Everyday Life
Chapter 6. Groups, Networks, and Organizations
Chapter 2. Asking and Answering Sociological Questions

On the internet:

“Shame and the Social Bond: A Sociological Theory” by Thomas Scheff (article on the internet: http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/scheff/2.html)

In the Massey reader:

14. CHRISTINE HORNE, MARY KRIS MCILWAINE, AND KRISTIE A. TAYLOR,
Civility and Order: Adult Social Control of Children in Public Places
25. “‘Getting’ and ‘Making’ a Tip” by Greta Paules
45. “The McDonald’s System” by George Ritzer
5. “The My Lai Massacre” by Herbert C. Kelman and V. Lee Hamilton
34. “Police Accounts of Normal Force” by Jennifer Hunt
6. “Telling the Truth about Damned Lies and Statistics” by Joel Best

In Code of the Street:

Introduction, Chapters 1 and 2

You are responsible for all lecture material since midterm 2.

This is the take-home portion to our third exam. Read the introduction and chapters 1 and 2 in Code of the Street. Answer the following questions. Your answers are due the day of the exam. Do NOT work together on this assignment. These essays should be written completely independently.

Soc 1A
Midterm 3
Take-home Essay Questions

Part 1.

Read the Introduction in Code of the Street. According to Elijah Anderson, what is the “code of the street”? This part is worth two points. The suggested length of your answer is one paragraph (about five sentences).

Part 2.

Read Chapter 1 in Code of the Street. According to Elijah Anderson, who are the “decent” and who are the “street?” How does he describe both groups? This part is worth four points. The suggested length of your answer is one-half page double-spaced.

Part 3.

Read Chapter 2 in Code of the Street. According to Elijah Anderson, how do young people in inner-city Philadelphia campaign for respect? This part is worth four points. The suggested length of your answer is one-half page double-spaced.

Part 4.

Read Chapter 2 in Code of the Street. According to Elijah Anderson, what is “the dilemma of the decent kid?” This part is worth four points. The suggested length of your answer is one-half page double-spaced.

Study guide/discussion questions for three articles for midterm 3. Come prepared to discuss these questions next week (for the online class, discuss these questions this week on our discussion board).

The McDonald’s System (from The McDonaldization of Society) by GEORGE RITZER

Describe the McDonald’s system. What does Ritzer think is some of its disadvantages?

Where do you see McDonaldization occurring? How is Cuesta College McDonaldized?

The My Lai Massacre: A Crime of Obedience? (from Crimes of Obedience: Toward a Social Psychology of Authority and Responsibility) by HERBERT C. KELMAN and V. LEE HAMILTON

Summarize Kelman and Hamilton’s analysis of the My Lai massacre. In their formulation, what were the social processes that explain the massacre?

Have any of you served in the military? Can any of you speak to the processes that Kelman and Hamilton argue are features of the military?

Police Accounts of Normal Force JENNIFER HUNT

Discuss how police officers are socialized to create an interpretation of questionable behavior that makes it appear to be a natural and acceptable response to particular situations.

What is the difference between legally permissible, normal, and excessive force? Discuss normal force.

According to police officers, should they ever lose control of their emotions?

Using examples from “Police Accounts of Normal Force,” discuss how sanctions can be used to make individuals conform (this question concern lecture material).

Have any of you been involved in law enforcement? Is the situation that Hunt describes the situation that you have observed?

Study guide/discussion questions for “Shame and the Social Bond.” Come prepared to discuss these questions next week (for the online class, discuss these questions this week on our discussion board).

Discuss the criticisms that Scheff has of the various works of sociologists and psychologists in his essay.

What were Scheff's criticisms of Freud?

Explain Cooley’s concept of the “looking glass self.”

According to Norbert Elias, what kind of transformation occurs in the last five centuries in the Western world with respect to shame?

According to Richard Sennett what are two injuries that the working class suffer?

According to Helen Lewis, what is the difference between overt, undifferentiated shame and bypassed shame?

What is a “feeling trap”?

According to Helen Lewis, what is the relationship between shame and the social bond?

What is your assessment of Scheff’s arguments?

Code of the Street, Intro., Ch. 1 and 2

Discussion/study guide questions concerning Code of the Street

Read the Introduction in Code of the Street. According to Elijah Anderson, what is the “code of the street”? Compare the code of the street to norms about interpersonal behavior that exist in the middle-class world.

Read Chapter 1 in Code of the Street. According to Elijah Anderson, who are the “decent” and who are the “street?” How does he describe both groups? Do you find that there are decent and street in San Louis Obispo County?

Read Chapter 2 in Code of the Street. According to Elijah Anderson, how do young people in inner-city Philadelphia campaign for respect? How do young people in SLO county campaign for respect?

According to Elijah Anderson, what is “the dilemma of the decent kid?” Do you ever experience the dilemma of the decent kid?

Study guide/discussion questions for "Getting and Making a Tip." Be prepared to discuss the following questions next week (or on the discussion board for this week for the online class).

According to Greta Foff Paule, how do waitresses often see the customer?

What do waitresses do to maximize the size of the tips they receive?

In Greta Foff Paules’ discussion of waitressing, to what does she attribute their success in getting tips?

What is the relationship among waitresses?

How do waitresses interpret low tips or the failure to be tipped?

According to Greta Foff Paules, how do most waitresses seem themselves?

Many of you have probably worked as a waiter or waitress. What has been your experience?

Discussion questions for next week’s (this week for the online class) lecture on interaction (for the online class, post your comments to our discussion board this week):

How can understanding the social structure, the social positions, and the social roles that are relevant to an interaction help us to understand the behavior of individuals? Do you have any examples?

Do people put on performances in everyday interaction? In what ways? Give examples.

Do you think that style is important in conveying validity? That is, do you think that people with better style are more believable? Do you have any examples of this?

According to Goffman, we can have a cynical or sincere attitude toward our own performance. Are people that are cynical (in Goffman’s sense of the word) bad people? Why? Give examples from your own observations.

Have you yourself manipulated your own emotions? Have you seen other people manipulate their emotions? Again, Hochschild argues that there are legitimate reasons for doing this.

midterm 2 reminder

You will need a scantron form for this exam. You do NOT need a bluebook. There is NO take-home essay.

There are no changes to your syllabus, and as indicated on your syllabus, here is the material that will be covered on the exam:

In Giddens et al.:

Chapter 20. Globalization
Chapter 3. Culture and Society

On the internet:

“Globalization” by Anthony Giddens (article on the internet: http://www.lse.ac.uk/Depts/global/Publications/1ReithLecturesGlobalisation.pdf)
“The Original Affluent Society” by Marshall Sahlins (article on the internet: http://www.primitivism.com/original-affluent.htm)

In the Massey reader:

48. “Job on the Line” by William M. Adler
9. “McDonald’s in Hong Kong” by James L. Watson
8. ROBERT GOLDMAN AND STEPHEN PAPSON, From Nike Culture: The Sign of the Swoosh
41. “Shared Paternity” by Kim McDonald
47. From Amish Society by John Hostetler
43. KATHLEEN E. HULL, From Same-Sex Marriage: The Cultural Politics of Love and Law

Midterm 2 Study guide for Giddens et al. Chapter 3. Culture and Society

Have knowledge of the following:

culture
values
norms
material goods
society
“cultural turn”
sociobiology
subculture
Nacirema
ethnocentrism
cultural relativism
cultural universals
language
Sapir and Whorf, linguistic relativity hypothesis
hunting and gathering societies
pastoral societies
agrarian societies
nonindustrial civilizations
empires
industrialization
traditional civilizations
industrial societies
nation-state
colonialism
first world societies
second world societies
developing societies
newly industrializing economies (NIEs)
globalization
the dominant American value system

Here is the link for the globalization lecture by Anthony Giddens. It is from your syllabus.

http://www.lse.ac.uk/Depts/global/Publications/1ReithLecturesGlobalisation.pdf

You will need the adobe acrobat reader installed on your computer. Here is the link to the reader if you need it:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html?promoid=BONRM

Study guide/discussion questions for “The Original Affluent Society” by Marshall Sahlins. Be prepared to discuss the discussion questions next week (or on the discussion board for this week and next for the online class).

How does Sahlins characterize the hunting and gathering societies that he describes?

Is there much starvation?

Do they work long hours?

Do they practice infanticide, senilicide, sexual continence for the duration of the nursing period?

Do they eat whatever they have as if there is no tomorrow?

Do they take good care of their possessions?

What can we learn from looking at hunting and gathering societies?

Study guide/discussion questions for "Growing Up as a Fore Is to Be 'In Touch' and Free" by E. RICHARD SORENSON. Be prepared to discuss the discussion questions next week (or on the discussion board for this week and next for the online class).

Describe child-rearing among the Fore.

How did the Fore respond to modernization?

What can we learn from observing the Fore?

Study guide and discussion questions questions for "Greenpeace and Political Globalism" by PAUL WAPNER. Be prepared to discuss the discussion questions next week (or on the discussion board for this week and next for the online class).

Discussion questions:

What is the relationship between culture and social change?

Discuss legal and cultural factors in understanding social change.

How does an ecological sensibility lead to social change?

Discuss Greenpeace and their strategy for protecting the environment.

Study guide questions:

How does Wapner describe Greenpeace?

How is Greenpeace organized?

What is Greenpeace concerned with?

What is Greenpeace’s major goal?

Study guide/discussion questions for "From Amish Society" by JOHN A. HOSTETLER. Be prepared to discuss the discussion questions next week (or on the discussion board for this week and next for the online class).

How does Hostetler characterize Amish society?

What can we learn from looking at Amish society?

Study guide/discussion questions for "Modernization’s Challenge to Traditional Values: Who’s Afraid of Ronald McDonald?" by RONALD INGELHART AND WAYNE E. BAKER. Be prepared to discuss the discussion questions next week (or on the discussion board for this week and next for the online class).

Describe the traditional/secular-rational and survival/self-expression dimensions.

According to Ingelhart and Baker, what may account for differences in values?

How is the United States a deviant case?

Study guide/discussion questions for "Shared Paternity" by KIM A. MCDONALD. Be prepared to discuss the discussion questions next week (or on the discussion board for this week and next for the online class).

What is McDonald's criticism of sociobiology?

According to McDonald, why do women in some societies in South America have multiple sex partners?

Is her argument convincing to you?

Link to syllabus

If you need a copy of the syllabus, here it is.

Study guide and discussion questions for “McDonald’s in Hong Kong: Consumerism, Dietary Change, and the Rise of a Children’s Culture” (from Golden Arches East) by JAMES WATSON. Be prepared to discuss the discussion questions next week (or on the discussion board for this week for the online class).

Here are some discussion questions that you can think about:

What is Watson’s assessment of the Americanization of the world?

Have the people of Hong Kong become Americanized?

Discuss the differences in mental categories with respect to hamburgers in the U.S. and Hong Kong.

Discuss the differences between the U.S. and Hong Kong with respect to consumer preferences for food at McDonald’s.

Discuss the transformation of attitudes about McDonald’s in Hong Kong.

Discuss cultural differences with respect to friendliness between the U.S. and Hong Kong.

Discuss the busing of trays, speedy consumption, the queue, “hovering,” and “Napkin Wars.”

What have you noticed in your travels around the world or from meeting people from other places here in the U.S? Has the world become Americanized?

Study guide questions:

In what ways is McDonald’s in Hong Kong similar or different from McDonald’s in other Asian countries?

According to Watson, McDonald’s restaurants in Hong Kong have attracted what group(s) of customers?

How is McDonald’s reinterpreted by the Hong Kong people?

What is the main reason people in Hong Kong eat at McDonald’s?

How do customers’ typically behave in Hong Kong’s McDonald’s restaurants?

Study guide and discussion questions for "Jihad vs. McWorld" by BENJAMIN R. BARBER. Be prepared to discuss the discussion questions next week (or on the discussion board for this week for the online class).

Study guide/discussion questions:

What does Barber mean by the terms Jihad and McWorld? Summarize his thoughts.

Do you agree with his analysis?

Study guide and discussion questions for “Job on the Line “ by WILLIAM M. ADLER. Be prepared to discuss the discussion questions next week (or on the discussion board for this week for the online class).

Here are some discussion questions:

What is the relationship between Molly James and Balbina Duque Granados?

How are their life stories similar?

Do you see similarities between the actions of MagneTek, Archie Sergy, and the mill owners of Patterson around 1913?

What motivated Balbina to work in a maquila?

What is the role of the state (e.g., NAFTA) and the living conditions of the workers in the maquiladora?

Do you think low prices and high profits justify the damage to the environment and the exploitation of workers?

How can the high rates of anencephaly and spina bifida in Brownsville and Matamoros be explained?

Study guide questions:

What is “Job on the Line” about?

What kinds of people do MegnaTek prefer to hire?

What are maquiladors?

Probably the strongest conclusion to be drawn from Adler’s “Job on the Line” is what?

Study guide and discussion questions for the globalization lecture on the internet by Anthony Giddens. Be prepared to discuss the discussion questions next week (or on the discussion board for this week for the online class).

Study guide/discussion questions:

Discuss the skeptics and the hyperglobalizers. What is Giddens’s position?

What is the weightless economy?

Discuss the communications revolution.

What does Giddens mean when he says that globalization pushes up, down and sideways?

How does globalization affect our personal lives?

What does Giddens mean when he says that globalization is much more decentered?

Compare the power that nation states have with the power that corporations have.

What is your assessment of Giddens's analysis?

Midterm 2 study guide for chapter on globalization in Giddens et al.

know about:

social change
writing
capitalism
nation state
Daniel Bell
Alain Touraine
codified knowledge
postindustrialism
postmodernism
Ulrich Beck
weightless economy
skeptics
hyperglobalizers
transformationalists
“new individualism”
cultural imperialism
manufactured risk
World Trade Organization
campaign for global justice

midterm 1 reminder

You will need a bluebook and a scantron form for this midterm. There will be an in-class essay.

There are no changes to your syllabus, and as indicated on your syllabus, here is the material that will be covered on the exam:

In Giddens et al.: Chapter 1. What is Sociology?

In Massey: 27. “Upward Mobility Through Sport?” by D. Stanley Eitzen
In Massey: 36. MICHAEL POLLAN, America’s National Eating Disorder (from
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals)
In Massey: 50. JENIFER FLURI AND LORRAINE DOWLER, House Bound: Women’s
Agency in White Separatist Movements
In Massey: 4. “Public Sociologies” by Michael Burawoy
In Massey: 2. From The Sociological Imagination by C. Wright Mills
In Massey: 3. “What Makes Sociology Different?” by Emile Durkheim
In Massey: 37. “Size Does Count, at Least for French Fries” by Robert Glennon
In Massey: 31. “Uses of the Underclass in America” by Herbert J. Gans
In Massey: 23. “Manifesto of the Communist Party” by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
In Massey: 38. “The Foundations of Third World Poverty” by John Isbister
In Massey: 29. “The Saints and the Roughnecks” by William J. Chambliss
In Massey: 15. JULIA TWIGG, The Body and Bathing: Help with Personal Care at

Also, you are responsible for all lecture material.

Study guide for "Theoretical Perspectives" lecture

What is the Davis-Moore thesis? What are some criticisms of it?

Understand the importance of the symbolic interactionist claim that we create the world that we live in.

According to Howard Becker how does a person become a marijuana user?

Study guide and discussion questions for week 3. Be prepared to discuss the discussion questions at our next class meeting (or on the discussion board for the online class).

12. "The Dynamics of Welfare Stigma" by Robin Rogers-Dillon

Study guide/discussion questions:

How did most women in Rogers-Dillon’s study feel about receiving welfare and using food stamps?

How did the women in Rogers-Dillon’s study deal with the stigma of receiving food stamps?

Study guide and discussion questions for week 3. Be prepared to discuss the discussion questions at our next class meeting (or on the discussion board for the online class).

31. "The Saints and the Roughnecks" by WILLIAM J. CHAMBLISS

Study guide/discussion questions:

Who were the Saints and who were the Roughnecks?

How did Chambliss characterize these two groups?

How does this article illustrate labeling theory?

What eventually happened to the Saints and the Roughnecks?

Do you think that Chambliss is correct in his assessment that what matters is not the person being labeled, but the people doing the labeling when it comes to understanding delinquency?

Study guide and discussion questions for week 3. Be prepared to discuss the discussion questions at our next class meeting (or on the discussion board for the online class).

34. "The Foundations of Third World Poverty" (from Promises Not Kept: The Betrayal of Social Change in the Third World) by JOHN ISBISTER.

Study guide/discussion questions:

How does Isbister understand global inequality? Do you agree with his assessment?

What is the role of imperialism?

Why is Canada not typical of colonial nations?

Before contact with Europeans, how was the land distributed in poor countries?

What happened to local crafts and manufacturing in many poor countries due to imperialism?

Study guide and discussion questions for week 3. Be prepared to discuss the discussion questions at our next class meeting (or on the discussion board for the online class).

23. "Manifesto of the Communist Party" by KARL MARX and FREDERICH ENGELS

Discussion questions:

Discuss the emergence and development of the bourgeoisie and capitalism.

According to Marx and Engels, what is the relationship between the bourgeoisie and the state? Do you agree?

According to Marx and Engels, how has the bourgeoisie transformed relationships? In your answer, discuss self-interest and exploitation. Do you agree?

According to Marx and Engels, how has the bourgeoisie revolution transformed work, the family, and personal worth? Do you agree?

Compare the exploitation of the past with the exploitation of the present.

Discuss the relationship between capitalism and innovation.

Discuss globalization.

What is Marx and Engels referring to when they use the phrase "epidemic of over-production." How does overproduction lead to crises?

Discuss the development of the proletariat. What happens to the other classes?

Why did Marx and Engels believe that the bourgeoisie produced their own "graver-diggers"? Do you agree?

Possible in-class essay question for midterm 1:

How do Karl Marx and Frederic Engels describe the capitalist system in "The Communist Manifesto"? In your answer, discuss the rise of the bourgeoisie, the relationship the bourgeoisie has with the state, how capitalism transforms relationships, globalization, the relationship between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, and the rise of the proletariat.

Study guide and discussion questions for week three. Be prepared to discuss the discussion questions at our next class meeting (or on the discussion board for the online class).

25. "Uses of the Underclass in America" by HERBERT J. GANS

Study guide/discussion questions:

What does Gans mean when he writes that the poor are labeled as undeserving?

What positive functions does labeling the poor as undeserving perform?

Have you ever participated in labeling the poor?

Study guide and discussion questions for week 3. Be prepared to discuss the discussion questions at our next class meeting (or on the discussion board for the online class).

"Size Does Count, at Least for French Fries: Minnesota’s Straight River" (from Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America’s Fresh Waters) by ROBERT GLENNON

Study guide/discussion question:

How does the consumer preference for perfect fries lead to environmental damage?

Discussion question:

Have you ever thought about how your preference for perfect fries leads to environmental damage?

How does this article represent the functionalist perspective? In particular, how does this article illustrate the concept of latent function?

Study guide and discussion questions

From The Sociological Imagination by C. WRIGHT MILLS

Study guide/discussion questions:

What does Mills means by the term sociological imagination? What is the relationship between personal troubles and public issues? history and biography? Have any of you thought of how your personal biography is shaped by history?

"What Makes Sociology Different?" (from The Rules of Sociological Method) by ÉMILE DURKHEIM

Study guide/discussion questions:

What is a social fact?

What is a social ‘current’?

Here is a study guide for chapter 1 of Giddens et al.

Have knowledge of the following:

the sociological perspective
social structure
globalization
the context in which the discipline of sociology emerges
organic solidarity
Marx
Weber
Durkheim
Mead
Baudrillard
functionalism
symbolic interactionism
Marxism
postmodern theory
power
microsociology
macrosociology
science
the practical benefits of studying sociology
public sociology

Study guide and discussion questions for “Public Sociologies: Contradictions, Dilemmas, and Possibilities" by MICHAEL BURAWOY

Discussion questions:

What does Burawoy mean when he writes that "over the last 35 years there has been a scissors movement." What is your sense of it?

According to Burawoy, when and how should sociologists engage politically? What do you think?

Discuss the various politcal stances that sociologists can have: self-defense, public engagement, policy intervention, and a political venue unto itself.

What does Burawoy mean when he writes: "To fail to do so is to take a stance by default." What is Burawoy's criticism of those sociologists that argue that the ASA should not take political stances such as the one they took on Iraq? What do you think?

According to Burawoy, what is the role of values in sociology? Do you agree?

Compare public sociology to policy sociology and professional sociology.

According to Burawoy, what should be the relationship between sociology, civil society and the state? Do you agree?

Study guide questions:

What does Burawoy mean by public sociology?

What are the versions of sociology that Burawoy discusses?

In which sphere of higher education does Burawoy believe public sociology is most often found?

Unlike the academic disciplines of economics and political science, sociology’s most distinct object of interest and support is what?

Discussion questions for "Upward Mobility Through Sport?"

Does sport provide a free education?

Does sport lead to a college degree?

Is a sports career probable?

What is the influence of race on attitudes toward sport?

Is sport a way out of poverty? Is sport the best way out of poverty?

With Title IX, is there gender equality in college sports?

What does Eitzen mean when he writes that "sport contributes to the ideology that legitimizes social inequalities...." Do you agree?

Study guide questions for “Upward Mobility Through Sport?”

What is the likelihood of upward mobility as a consequence of successful sports careers in school?

Does the spectacular material success of a few athletes does reflect the situation of most athletes?

study guide for "What is Sociology?" lecture

Here are some study guide questions for the lecture "What is Sociology?"

Compare the sociological perspective with other ways of knowing, such a religious ways of knowing, common sense, the physical sciences, other perspectives in the social sciences, and the biological perspective.

What is the sociological imagination? How might one’s understanding of the cause of a problem influence one’s plan for solving the problem?