UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
JANUARY 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC1001 Understanding Sociology
Tuesday 24th January 2012
9.15 – 11.15
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer any two questions. (50 marks each)
1. Discuss the relationships between 'methodology', 'research design', and 'methods'.
2. Despite the coming of globalisation, late modern societies are not classless. Discuss.
3. The contemporary epoch has been termed as the 'age of ageing'. Discuss.
4. Sociology is a social science. Discuss.
Page 1 of 24
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
JANUARY 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC1002 Introducing Research Methods in the Social Sciences
Monday 23rd January 2012
15.30 – 17.30
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer any TWO questions. READ THE QUESTIONS CAREFULLY, identifying their
various components. Take some time (not longer than 5 minutes each question) to PLAN and
STRUCTURE your essays, and remember that legible handwriting is essential.
1. Define and discuss the various stages of the following sequence:
Population - Sampling Frame - Theoretical Sample - Achieved Sample
2. Why are ethical considerations such an important aspect of sociological research, and how is
the individual researcher located within institutional, peer review, and state contexts?
3. In what ways is research design a sort of trade-off between research question and available
resources?
4. In what ways does ‘triangulation’ represent a compromise between the strengths and
weaknesses of various research design options?
5. Describe any four sampling techniques (random and/or non-random) and discuss the
limitations and applicability of each.
6. Using an example of your choice, describe two different ways in which one might approach
a sociological research question.
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UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
JANUARY 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC1004 Quantitative Research Methods in the Social Sciences
Friday 27th January 2012
10.30 – 12.30
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer any TWO questions. READ THE QUESTIONS CAREFULLY, identifying their
various components. Take some time (not longer than 5 minutes each question) to PLAN and
STRUCTURE your essays, and remember that legible handwriting is essential.
1. List and discuss the general principles of a properly-worded survey questionnaire.
2. Define and discuss the following terms in relation to experiments: random assignment;
control groups; internal and external validity; classic experimental design.
3. What do we mean when we say that statistics are rooted in processes of production, and how
might we assess the usefulness of a given statistic in terms of these processes?
4. Questionnaire construction is not just a matter of wording, but involves a number of
considerations of style, format, length, and so on. Discuss.
5. In what way/s, if at all, is Michel Foucault’s notion of ‘panopticism’ applicable to our
understanding of social statistics?
Page 3 of 24
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
MAY/JUNE 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC 1006 Theories of Social Policy
10.30 – 12.30
Friday 8th June 2012
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer one question. (100 marks)
1. Compare and contrast different at least 4 different feminist perspectives of social policy.
2. Neo-Liberalism believes that state welfare is ultimately harmful to society and to the individual.
Discuss.
3. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the concept of 'social exclusion' in relation to social
policy.
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UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
MAY/JUNE 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC 1007 The Sociological Imaginary in Practice
15.30 – 16.30
Thursday 31st May 2012
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer the following question. (100 marks)
Given any topic of your choice, suggest how one might go about developing a practical research
design (i.e. population, sampling, research questions, techniques, ethics).
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UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
MAY/JUNE 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC 1010 Contemporary Sociology
9.15 – 11.15
Tuesday 5th June 2012
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer two questions from the following. (50 marks each)
1. ‘Photos do more than replicate the real’ – discuss using semiological concepts to explore the
‘practice of looking’ in late modern society.
2. What makes ‘thinking sociologically’ different from using ‘common sense’? Use concepts
from Bauman’s text Thinking sociologically to give a reasoned answer.
3. ‘Risk is a fundamental aspect of our lives in late modern society’ - discuss with particular
reference to manufactured risks as highlighted in Giddens’ text ‘Runaway world’.
4. ‘Bodily orientations differ across social classes’ – expand on this statement using Bourdieu’s
concepts of habitus and physical capital to support your answer.
5. ‘Baudrillard claims that in the postmodern world the boundary between the image or
simulation and reality implodes’ – do you think that Baudrillard’s concept of ‘hyperreality’
can be applied to aspects of your life today? Refer closely to his concepts of simulation and
implosion to give a reasoned answer.
Page 6 of 24
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
MAY/JUNE 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC 1101 Introduction to Sociology
18.00 – 19.00
Thursday 14th June 2012
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Read each and every question thoroughly. Understanding what is being asked is the first step
toward a correct answer. Make sure to identify the issue that the question is directed toward.
Do not be distracted by background information contained in the question.
Answer any two questions. (50 marks each)
1. Show how Sociology provides a greater understanding of human behaviour.
2. The results of globalization are what we make of it. They depend on the policies, rules
and institutions which govern its course; the values which inspire its actors; and their
capacity to influence the process. Discuss.
3. ‘In the world we now live in, divisions into class are meaningless. We are all working
people now.’ Margaret Thatcher, 1988. Discuss.
4. What is the function of educating individuals in capitalist societies?
5. ‘Who we are’ is created in a social context. This reflects the basic sociological idea that
human beings are socially created. Discuss.
6. Sociological research is all about how to evaluate conclusions and claims in relation to
research design, data, measurement and analytic approach. Discuss.
7. What have been the social consequences of the changing patterns of family over the past
decades?
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UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
JANUARY 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC2002 Sociology of Social Welfare
Monday 23rd January 2012
11.45 – 12.45
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer one question. (100 marks)
1.
Frank Field's concept of 'stakeholder welfare' is ultimately self-contradictory. Do you agree?
2.
Critically engage with different interpretations of the concept of freedom in relation to welfare.
3.
Can the welfare state be compared to a panopticon?
4.
Discuss opportunities and risks which characterize the globalistation of welfare.
Page 8 of 24
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
JANUARY 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC2003 Qualitative Approaches in the Social Sciences
Tuesday 24th January 2012
14.15 – 16.15
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer any TWO questions. READ THE QUESTIONS CAREFULLY, identifying their
various components. Take some time (not longer than 5 minutes each question) to PLAN and
STRUCTURE your essays, and remember that legible handwriting is essential.
1. You have been commissioned to conduct qualitative research on the patterns, implications,
and meanings of the use of space in the home (feel free to refer to a context you are familiar
with, not necessarily to the Maltese one). Outline a practicable and resource-efficient
research design, taking care to define the population, to identify sampling possibilities, and
to describe the strengths and limitations of each technique you envisage using.
2. Productive ethnography depends very much on what Michael Agar calls the ‘professional
stranger’ stance in the field. Discuss the ways in which ethnography achieves this stance.
3. Describe and discuss the technique of focus groups, paying attention to uses, applications,
and limitations.
4. Rapport between researcher and researched is the essential ingredient of a productive
qualitative interview. Discuss, taking care to point out the various characteristics of
qualitative interviewing.
Page 9 of 24
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
JANUARY 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC2004 Sociology of Family Life
Thursday 2nd February 2012
10.30 – 11.30
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer one question. (100 marks)
1. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of functionalist theory with respect to family life in
contemporary western societies.
2. The cultural devaluation of women reinforces gender inequality within families. Elaborate.
3. Parenthood is a major experience related to gender identity. Discuss.
4. Technological innovations are likely to play an influential role in 21st century family policy.
Discuss.
Page 10 of 24
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
JANUARY 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC2010 Environmental Sociology
Monday 30th January 2012
18.00 – 19.00
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer one question. (100 marks)
1.
A poststructuralist reading of environmentalism may view the latter as a normalizing
discipline. Discuss.
2.
Consumers are key actors in the shift to a green society. Do you agree?
3.
Kovel makes the case for an eco-socialist society. Elaborate.
4.
‘Since the dangers posed by global warming aren’t tangible, immediate or visible in the course
of day-to-day life, however awesome they appear, many will sit on their hands and do nothing
of a concrete nature about them. Yet waiting until they become visible and acute before being
stirred to serious action will, by definition, be too late’ (Anthony Giddens). Discuss, in relation
to climate change.
Page 11 of 24
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
MAY/JUNE 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC 2013 Classical Sociology
Monday 4th June 2012
9.15 – 11.15
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer in essay form ONE question from each section. (50 marks each)
Section A
1. Through his Pattern Variables, Talcott Parsons wanted to show that an actor’s situation is
not entirely unstructured or uncertain. Elaborate.
2. Talcott Parsons’ Four Functional Paradigm is the cornerstone of his whole theoretical
framework. Discuss.
Section B
3. According to Emile Durkheim’s theory of division of labour, “the transition from an
agrarian to an industrial society would, unless regulated, result in an extreme moral
disorder”. Elaborate.
4. Compare the theories of class brought forward by Karl Marx and Ralf Dahrendorf.
Page 12 of 24
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
MAY/JUNE 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC 2031 Understanding Disability
9.15 – 11.15
Tuesday 12th June 2012
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer in essay form ONE question from each of the following Sections. (50 marks each)
Section A
1. “Persons with disabilities in the Maltese islands are not fully integrated in mainstream society”.
Discuss, substantiating your answer with suitable examples.
2. Discuss the differences in social policies and strategies as laid down by the Welfare State and the
Welfare Society ideologies vis-à-vis persons with disability.
Section B
3. The Persons with Disability (Employment) Act is a clear example of a top-bottom approach in
Social Policy. Discuss in detail.
4. Social integration of Persons with Disability goes beyond services and programmes. Discuss.
Page 13 of 24
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
JANUARY 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC2044 Sociology of Law I
Friday 27th January 2012
15.30 – 17.30
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer any two questions. (50 marks each)
1. In On the Spirit of Laws, Baron de Montesquieu outlines his ideas on how government
would work best. He thought it very important to create separate branches of government
with equal but different powers and in that way, each branch of government could limit the
power of the other two branches. Discuss.
2. In his essay on the functions of the law, Talcott Parsons states that “law should be treated as
a generalized mechanism of social control.” Discuss.
3. Karl Marx argued that law is the mechanism by which one social class keeps all other
classes in a disadvantaged position. Discuss in relation to the study on vagrancy laws by
William Chambliss.
4. According to Max Weber, politics and law are related because the legality of rational
domination is best expressed in the bureaucracy, which entails formal procedures and a
system of law. Discuss.
5. Analyse how law indicates the mode of integration of a society (Durkheim).
6. Write a critique on Michel Foucault’s mark on the contemporary sociology of law and
sociology of social control.
Page 14 of 24
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
JANUARY 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC2047 Understanding Nations and Nationalism
Tuesday 31st January 2012
16.45 – 18.45
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer any TWO questions. READ THE QUESTIONS CAREFULLY, identifying their
various components. Take some time (not longer than 5 minutes each question) to PLAN and
STRUCTURE your essays, and remember that legible handwriting is essential.
1. “We have made Italy. Now we must make Italians.” (Massimo d’Azeglio, 1866) Discuss.
2. Outline and discuss Ernest Gellner’s theory of nationalism.
3. How might things like gender, landscape, and ‘banal’ everyday life figure in contemporary
understandings of nationalism?
4. Using an example of your choice, outline Anthony D. Smith’s notion of ‘ethnie’ and discuss
its relevance with respect to the rise of nationalism.
5. In what way/s does Benedict Anderson’s theory of nationalism bring together a number of
historical processes?
Page 15 of 24
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
MAY/JUNE 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC 2050 Sociology of Law II
15.30 – 17.30
Friday 1st June 2012
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer two questions. (50 marks each)
1. ‘... to understand the origins of our current legal and social unease with same-sex marriage,
sexual orientation, and identity politics, we must first return to the site of their construction:
Oscar Wilde’s trials and punishment’ (Laura Appleman). Discuss.
2. Discuss the basic tenets of critical legal theory.
3. Critical race theorists argue that race does not occur independently of the histories of gender
or sexuality. Discuss with reference to Alabama's legal construction of gender and sexuality
in the context of racial subordination in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mocking Bird.
4. Women have made great advances in entering legal education and legal practice, but their
position in the legal profession continues to be marked by inequalities. Discuss.
5. ‘Many of the most serious antisocial and predatory acts committed in modern industrial
countries are corporate crimes’ (Laureen Snider). Discuss in relation to selection law
enforcement.
6. Just as important as laws that are passed, are laws that are not passed. Discuss.
Page 16 of 24
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
MAY/JUNE 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC 2056 Sociology of Governance
14.15 – 16.15
Tuesday 5th June 2012
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer two questions. (50 marks each)
1. Pluralism is the theory that a multitude of groups govern. Discuss.
2. According to CW. Mills, the power of the governing elite has been enhanced by the close
collaboration of politicians, corporate executives and military officers. Discuss.
3. ‘The traditional welfare state, especially in Europe, is essentially a passive risk management
system. It assumed that certain mishaps could befall: you got divorced, you got unemployed,
you got older — and the welfare state would be there to protect you. But now in our much
more open knowledge environment with the much more open lives that people lead, you
can't any longer have the welfare system as a passive system.’ (Anthony Giddens) Discuss
with reference to the second globalization debate.
4. Steven Lukes’ third face of power is inspired by Antonio Gramsci’s ideas about ‘hegemony’
and ‘manufacture of consent’. Discuss in relation to how the willing compliance of workers
is secured in capitalist societies.
5. In the book Power: A Radical View, Steven Lukes argues that the one-dimensional and the
two- dimensional views of power are inadequate. Lukes claims that the three-dimensional
view is a better means for the investigation of power relations in a society. Do you agree?
Give reasons for your answer.
6. Government bureaucrats play a crucial role in the decisions regarding what policies from an
elected political party’s electoral programme are implemented. Discuss with reference to
Max Weber.
Page 17 of 24
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
JANUARY 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC2058 Sociology of Health and Illness
Thursday 26th January 2012
8.00 – 9.00
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer one question. (100 marks)
1. ‘There has been a shift in the power dynamics driving the process of medicalization in late
modern societies.’ Discuss.
2. How has today’s preoccupation with ‘wellbeing’ affected the relevance of Parson’s ‘sick
role’ when exploring the issues of medical discourse and social control in late modern
society?
3. How can the concept of ‘social capital’ be used to explore the relationship between socioeconomic disadvantage and health status?
Page 18 of 24
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
MAY/JUNE 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC 2059 Scrutinizing the Body
9.15 – 11.15
Thursday 31st May 2012
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer one question. (100 marks)
1. The body of the king has a specific cultural meaning in the Grassfields of Cameroon. With
reference to this and/or any other example of your choice, discuss the relation between body
and society.
2. To what extent are skills transmittable, and how does this link up with the sociology of the
body?
3. According to Michel Foucault, disciplinary techniques have produced a new type of body.
With examples taken from his work and from other sources, explain how disciplinary
techniques proceed and what kind of body they produce.
Page 19 of 24
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
JANUARY 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC2060 Sociology of Eating and Cooking
Tuesday 31st January 2012
11.45 – 13.45
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer one question. (100 marks)
1. Does every society have an "Haute Cuisine"?
Develop your argument with references to the course, readings and real life examples.
2. Is the image of a food product automatically reproduced by its consumption?
Develop your answer with references to meta commodities and their consumption within a local
context.
Page 20 of 24
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
JANUARY 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC3011 Systems Theory
Tuesday 24th January 2012
9.15 – 11.15
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer in essay form ONE question from each of the following Sections (50 marks each)
Section A
1. Discuss the importance of socialisation within the Parsonian theory of systems.
2. “The concept of system has been central to my thinking from a very early stage”. Discuss this
statement of Talcott Parsons.
Section B
3. According to Niklas Luhman’s neo functionalist theory, structural differentiation takes
analytical primacy over functional differentiation. Elaborate.
4. Walter Buckley considers social systems as structures of meaningful relations. Elaborate.
Page 21 of 24
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
JANUARY 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC3027 Theories of Social Change
Monday 23rd January 2012
9.15 – 11.15
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer in essay form ONE question from each of the following Sections (50 marks each)
Section A
1. It has been suggested that Karl Marx’s theory of social stratification is also a theory of social
change. Discuss.
2. Structural change is assumed as a permanent aspect of every society.
Discuss this statement with reference to the theories proposed by Karl Marx and by
Ralf Dahrendorf.
Section B
3. Compare and contrast how Talcott Parsons and Karl Marx attempt to explain social structural
change within a society.
4. With reference to different types of movements discuss why the ideological thrust is the basis
of any social movement.
Page 22 of 24
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
MAY/JUNE 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC 3046 Encounters with the City
11.45 – 13.45
Monday 18th June 2012
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer any TWO questions. READ THE QUESTIONS CAREFULLY, identifying their
various components. Take some time (not longer than 5 minutes for each question) to PLAN
and STRUCTURE your essays, and remember that legible handwriting is essential. You are
encouraged to be original and innovative, as long as you can argue your case convincingly.
The use of examples, and evidence of private reading, will help you get a better grade.
(Each question carries 50 marks)
1. In what ways is the city a lived experience, and what might be some of the aspects of this
experience?
2. Why does the ‘Chicago school’ continue to be such an important reference point of urban
sociology?
3. Outline and discuss Georg Simmel’s contribution to the study of the ‘mental life’ of the
metropolis.
4. What are ‘world cities’, and what sort of ‘collisions and disjunctures’ do they represent?
5. In what ways is the notion of ‘community’ an important landmark of urban planning and
urban sociology, and why is it invariably embedded in politics?
6. With reference to examples of your choice, discuss Doreen Massey’s point that there is no
such thing as a purely public space.
7. What are ‘gated communities’ and why do so many people choose to live in them?
Page 23 of 24
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ARTS
MAY/JUNE 2012 SESSION EXAMINATIONS
SOC 3082 Issues in Social Policy
14.15 – 15.15
Tuesday 5th June 2012
NO DICTIONARIES ALLOWED
Answer one question. (100 marks)
1. Social policy should consider persons to be consumers who make rational choices.
Critically discuss.
2. Each social problem can be interpreted through different discourses. Elaborate, through a social
policy issue of your choice.
3. Compare and contrast different social policy perspectives which deal with the concept of
equality.
Page 24 of 24