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?