Go to pp. 17-23
Theoretical Perspectives
What do sociologists study?
In sociology, what is a theory?
What did Durkheim find?
What is “social solidarity”?
What do “Grand Theories” (aka macro level theories) attempt to explain?
What do micro-level theories attempt to explain?
Why do you think that middle class teenage girls communicate using text rather than
phone?
When can a hypothesis become a theory?
What are “paradigms”?
What three paradigms have come to dominate sociological thinking?
How does functionalism see society?
What did Spencer liken society to?
By “parts of society”, what was Spencer referring to?
In a healthy society, what is a stable state called?
What are “social facts”?
What are “manifest functions”?
What are “latent functions”?
What is a manifest function of a college education?
What are latent functions of going to college?
When did structural-functionalsm prevail?
Why did the influence of the structural functionalist approach decline in the 1960’s and
1970’s?
Read “A Global Culture” on p. 19
In your opinion, how is the online world contributing to the creation of an emerging
global culture?
How does conflict theory see society?
What did Karl Marx focus on?
In what way did Max Weber disagree with Karl Marx?
More recently, what has conflict theory been used to explain?
How has conflict theory been criticized?
What does symbolic interactionism provide?
What is this perspective centered on?
What do sociologists who apply symbolic interactionist thinking look for?
What has the symbolic interactionist perspective been criticized for?
Go back to p. 21 and read “Farming and Locavores: How Sociological Perspectives
Might View Food Consumption” and then answer the following three questions:
-
What might a structural functional approach to the topic of food consumption
be interested in?
` What might a conflict theorist be interested in (in terms of the topic of food
consumption?
-
What might a sociologist viewing food consumption through a symbolic
interactionist lens be more interested in?
Why Study Sociology?
Beside desegregation, what other social reforms has sociology played a crucial role in?
By looking at themselves and society from a sociological perspective, how does
sociology help people?
Sociology In The Workplace
In terms of careers, what can even a small amount of training in sociology be an asset in?
Read “Please Friend Me: Students and Social Networking” on p. 23 and answer the
following questions:
How has Facebook changed?
What does LinkedIn focus on?
What does Foursquare do?
What has Twitter cornered the market on? Explain your answer.
What are two harmful consequences of these newer modes of social interaction?
Opinion question: What might be the long-term effects of replacing face-to-face
interaction with social media? Explain.