Principles of Sociology
Study guide for Exam 1
Start Here
Please review this study guide carefully. It is a study guide in the full sense of the term. Here are the steps I suggest
for studying for the exam.
1. Get your bearings
a. Begin early. You should start studying for this exam at least three days in advance.
b. Review the Background and Reminder sections below.
c. Read the section, then reread the grading criteria and review the bank of readings.
2. Gather your materials
a. Review the PowerPoints, your notes, and annotations. Virtually all of the important concepts are
addressed in the materials on Blackboard.
3. Focus and draft
a. Look for connections between the readings to anticipate potential questions.
b. Draft your own responses to questions, based on the PowerPoints and your notes.
c. Re-read sections of the readings, and refine or correct your essay responses.
4. Fine-Tune
a. Consult others and give feedback to one another on your responses.
b. Re-read the criteria for excellent responses.
c. Develop acronyms or other mnemonic devices to remember your responses for the day of the exam.
Background
There are two important things for you to know about my exams. First, like the reading assignments and journals, I
see exams as both an invitation to think sociologically and an assessment of that work. As I write the study guide,
I’m less focused upon evaluating what you already know than encouraging you to see new connections in our
readings. So, even excellent students won’t immediately know the answers to the themes on the study guide. I trust
that, as you review the readings, PowerPoints, and other class materials, you’ll find that you have the concepts to
address them effectively.
Reminders
1. On the day of the exam, you should arrive ready to complete the exam without leaving the room. You must
then submit your exam prior to leaving the classroom for any reason. If this is not reasonable for medical
reasons, please let me know before the day of the exam. You are responsible for making sure that your cell
phone is never used, and that your study materials are not visible to you or to anyone else in the classroom.
2. Please communicate with me if you have registered with Accessibility Services at NWC for specific
academic accommodations. I am happy to communicate with you about how to best approach exams for
this course.
3. This exam will follow NWC’s commitment to academic integrity, as expressed in the Student Handbook.
Sources for Exam 1
These are the sources for the exam. I have listed important concepts or themes for each.
Eiseley, Loren. n.d. "The Starfish Story." Adapted from *The Star Thrower*. Retrieved October 3, 2025
(https://starfishstory.org).
“making a difference”; agency, individualistic understandings of problems and social change
Anonymous. n.d. "The River Children Story." Retrieved October 3, 2025
(https://upstreamdownstream.org/riverchildren).
going upstream; structural sources of problems; tensions among people trying to solve problems
Mills, C. Wright. “Personal Experiences and Public Issues,” pages 13-18 in Readings for Sociology
sociological imagination; life as a series of private “traps”; troubles and issues
Vos, Matthew. 2017. Sociology, pages 5-17. Faithful Learning Series.
Sociological imagination; troubles and issues; counter-narration
Babbie, Earl. 1986. “Concepts, Indicators, and Reality”.
concepts as “figments of our imagination”; the value of multiple indicators for measuring a concept
(love; alienation, prejudice, etc.).
Walls, Andrew. “The Gospel as Prisoner and Liberator of Culture.”
Indigenizing principle and pilgrim principle; theology as a situated understanding of Scripture’s
relevance for a specific place and time.
Stackhouse Jr., John. 2002. “In the World, But…” Christianity Today.
Christ of culture; Christ against culture; Christ above culture; Christ transforming culture; Christ and
culture in paradox.
Warren Harrison, Tish. 2016. "Making the Bed: Liturgy, Ritual, and What Forms a Life." From Liturgy of the
Ordinary. Intervarsity Press.
Culture as “in our gut”; habits as countercultural; habits as pointing to a notion of the “good”
Scheff, Thomas. 2006. “Human Bonds: Love, Pride, and Shame.” Pages 141-169 in Goffman Unbound: A New
Paradigm for the Social Sciences. Routledge.
Strained bonds in Western society; attunement and alienation; pride & shame; engulfment and
isolation
Rosen, Hannah. “How to Have a Healthy Argument.” The Atlantic (podcast). November 23, 2023.
Goals of conflict; looping; understories
Walton, Emily. “Asian Americans in Small Town America.” Contexts, December, 2018.
Strategies for navigating difference: colorblindness; connecting with other marginalized groups;
educating dominant culture
Waters, Mary. “Optional Ethnicities: For Whites Only? Pages 252-261 in Readings for Sociology
Symbolic ethnicity; asymmetries of ethnicity on college campuses; institutional responses
Lareau, Annette. “Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life” In Readings for Sociology, edited by
Garth Massey. 8th edition.
Concerted cultivation; accomplishment of natural growth; importance of class for shaping families
Messner, Michael. “Boyhood, Organized Sports, and the Construction of Masculinities.” Pages 145-160 in
Readings for Sociology.
Sports as a rite of passage to masculinity; ambivalence toward relationships; class and sports;
conditional self-worth, effect of sports on masculinity through the life-course.
General Themes and Question Types
There will be three questions on the exam. You will be required to answer two of the three (you can skip one).
1. One question will be about the sociological imagination and how it relates to one or more specific readings.
You will want to understand the concept of the sociological imagination and how it applies to various readings.
For example, I could ask a question like this:
The families in Scheff’s chapter experience their quarrels as personal, immediate conflicts---what Mills
would call “troubles.” How does Scheff help readers understand the “issues” that shape family
quarrels?
2. One question will be about how social factors shape how Christians relate to culture.
You will want to understand the Christ and Culture categories. I will not ask you to list all of them, but so you
can “think with them”
For example, I could ask a question like this:
According to Lareau, how might socio-economic status shape how Christians relate to mainstream
institutions, such as schools and the workplace?
OR
Walls argues that theology is produced in and for specific social circumstances (through the
indigenizing principle and pilgrim principle). Based on Messner’s essay, how do you think Christian
athletic teams might understand themselves theologically?
3. One question about how one author might interpret another author’s essay.
You will want to have working knowledge of each author’s thesis and a few of their ideas.
For example, I could ask a question like this:
Imagine Walton reads Waters’s essay about optional ethnicities and multi-ethnic relations on college
campuses. Based on Walton’s own essay, what similarities or differences do you think Walton might
notice?
Assessment
I will use a rubric like this to assess your essays
Question Criterion
#
Conceptual
understanding
Synthesis (relates
concepts across
readings, applies
concepts)
Points
out of 10
Comments:
Very good
Satisfactory
Clear,
nuanced, and
accurate,
many
references to
concepts.
insightful and
rich relations
across
readings and
applications.
General and
accurate
understanding
of concepts
obvious and
general
relations
between
readings and
or
applications.
Needs
Improvement
Vague or
inaccurate
understanding
Vague or thin
relations across
readings or
applications.