SOC 312
Spring 2011
Hogan
First Exam: What is Sociology
True/False (circle one): One point each
1.
T
F
Sociology was defined by Max Weber as the study of society
2.
T
F
Weber said that sociologists study action that is subjectively
meaningful (that means something to the actors)
3.
T
F
C. Wright Mills was a conservative, functionalist
4.
T
F
C. Wright Mills thought that sociologists needed to make better
use of psychology
5.
T
F
Mills thought that the promise of sociology was the ability to
connect personal problems with public issues
6.
T
F
Mills thought that Parsons’ Social System was an excellent
example of what Mills called “Grand Theory”
7.
T
F
Mills thought that Parsons’ theory provided useful typologies and
concepts that could be readily applied in empirical analysis
8.
T
F
Mills identified two types of integration: common values versus
superimposed discipline
9.
T
F
Mills argued that “common value” integration has never existed in
the U.S. or anywhere else
10.
T
F
Mills criticizes “Grand Theory” for its inability to deal with
conflict and change
11.
T
F
Mills argues that the U.S. has gradually evolved toward a more
democratic nation
12.
T
F
Like Parsons, Mills rarely mentions and never discusses or cites
the writings of Karl Marx
13.
T
F
Like conservatives, Mills seems (to Hogan at least) to share in the
myth of a peaceful past (e.g., Tocqueville’s America)
14.
T
F
Organizations are composed of persons, including different
categories of individuals
15.
T
F
Groups are impersonal
16.
T
F
Sociologists do not study couples—only groups of three or more
17.
T
F
Institutions are more or less permanent groups
18.
T
F
Race and gender divide individuals into groups
19.
T
F
Some sociologists study inter-personal relations
20.
T
F
Sociologists do not study religion
21.
T
F
Some sociologists focus on republican capitalism
22.
T
F
Most sociologists focus on a particular realm of social life
23.
T
F
Mills argues that “Abstract Empiricism” is well integrated with
“Grand Theory” in the scientific testing of hypotheses
24.
T
F
Mills suggests that most methodologists are more concerned with
appearances, particularly the appearance of “scientific” procedures
25.
T
F
Mills argues that use of the “Scientific Method” severely limits
sociological analysis
26.
T
F
Mills concedes the fact that Abstract Empiricism greatly facilitates
historical and comparative research
27.
T
F
Mills argues that theory and method are inherently contradictory or
at least conflicting enterprises
28.
T
F
Mills sees the problems in both theory and method as rooted in
their lack of application to the analysis of concrete social problems
29.
T
F
Most sociologists in the American Sociological Association
(A.S.A.) and here at Purdue are radicals
30.
T
F
Both the A.S.A. and the Purdue sociology program are
sectionalized
31.
T
F
Hogan (using Weber) explained that sociologists join sections for a
variety of rational and irrational reasons
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32..
T
F
Weber distinguished two types of rationality: legal rational and
illegal rational
33.
T
F
Weber’s types of social action includes emotional behavior
34.
T
F
Mills distinguishes the “liberal practicality” of the early years as
reformist
35.
T
F
Mills views the more modern (circa 1950) liberalism as more
“administrative”
36.
T
F
Mills identifies the “new illiberal practicality” as a radical praxis,
most evident in the Soviet Union
37.
T
F
Mills sees the twentieth century shift in sociology as a move
toward more bureaucratic research organizations
38.
T
F
Mills sees the shift from academic to bureaucratic as a product of
the rise of state socialism, both in the U.S.S.R. and in the U.S.
welfare state
39.
T
F
Mills views the development of bureaucratic sociology as inspiring
new types of sociologists
40.
T
F
Mills characterizes the new types of sociologists as similar to
business executives and technical workers of the modern
corporation
Multiple Choice (circle one): two points each
1. Max Weber defined the topic or field of sociology as the study of
a. groups
b. organizations
c. society
d. social action
2. Sociologists study
a. categories of individuals
b. groups
c. organizations
d. institutions
e. all of the above
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3. C. Wright Mills was classified (in lecture) as a
a. conservative
b. liberal
c. radical
d. reactionary
4. C. Wright Mills was classified (in lecture) as
a. a functionalist
b. a conflict theorist
c. a Marxist
d. a phenomenologist
5. Talcott Parsons was
a. Mill's teacher
b. Mill's favorite example of "grand theory"
c. Mill's favorite example of "abstracted empiricism"
d. Hogan's mentor
6. Talcott Parsons was classified (in lecture) as
a. conservative
b. liberal
c. radical
d. reactionary
7. Talcott Parsons was classified in lecture as
a. a functionalist
b. a conflict theorist
c. a Marxist
d. a symbolic interactionist
8. Mills described the promise of the sociological imagination as
a. gaining political power
b. obtaining government grants
c. connecting personal troubles with public issues
d. connecting social science with the human sciences
9. Mills argues that in order to "formulate issues and troubles we must ask"
a. "what values are cherished yet threatened"
b. "which functions are existing institutions failing to meet"
c. "which instincts are inadequately controlled"
d. "how social organization manages to effect social control"
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10. Mills characterizes grand theory as
a. "drunk on epistemology [but] blind to ontology
b. "drunk on syntax [but] blind to semantics"
c. "long on verbiage [but] short on verstehen"
d. "long on context but short on essence"
11. Mills distinguishes types of social integration, namely,
a. common value and superimposed discipline systems
b. normative and value systems
c. consensus and conflict systems
d. traditional and modern systems
12. Sociologist at the most micro level
a. focus on categories of individuals
b. focus on groups
c. focus on intra-organizational relations
d. focus on mass psychology
13. Groups are composed of
a. individuals with routine social access to each other
b. positions and relationships created for some purpose
c. people who share social identities
d. people who share a collective consciousness
14. Organizations are composed of
a. individuals with routine social access to each other
b. positions and relationships created for some purpose
c. people who share social identities
d. people who share a collective consciousness
15. Institutions are
a. individuals with routine social access to each other
b. organizations that have achieved some degree of permanence
c. people who share social identities
d. people who share a collective consciousness
16. Sociologists
a. usually focus on a particular realm of social life
b. do not study religion or politics
c. usually focus on republican capitalism
d. only study interpersonal relations
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17. Mills argues that
a. Abstract Empiricism and Grand Theory are not well integrated
b. methodology is unnecessary
c. the scientific method should be abandoned by sociologists
d. theory and method are inherently contradictory
18. Mills thinks that social science theory and method
a. should be more scientific and disciplined
b. should be abandoned in social sciences
c. should be applied to the analysis of concrete social problems
d. should be based on more micro, psychological principles and procedures
19. Weber calls the most common and stable base of social action
a. habitual
b. affective
c. value rational
d. instrumental rational
20. When parents tell their children to go to college in order to get a good job, the motive
for going to college is what Weber would call
a. habitual
b. affective
c. value rational
d. instrumental rational
21. Mills sees a shift in Mid-Twentieth Century (~1950) American sociology from
a. conservative to liberal
b. practical to theoretical
c. liberal practicality to radicalism
d. liberal reform to bureaucratic administration
22. Mills argues for
a. comparative work in theory and method
b. increasing independence of theory and method
c. integrating theory and method in analysis
d. adopting Marxist theory and qualitative methods
23. In lecture it was suggested that
a. some of the most interesting sociological questions involve multiple levels of
analysis
b. sociological analysis cannot span multiple levels of analysis
c. sociological analysis cannot span multiple realms
d. the best work is focused on a particular level of analysis and realm of social life
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24. Functional models explain forms of social organization
a. by traditional values and the habit of obedience
b. by interests of elites
c. by values imposed by elites
d. by ability to achieve some necessary or desirable condition
25. Functional models of social organization predict change in response to
a. internal contradictions or conflicts
b. external threats
c. social movements
d. liberal enlightenment
26. Mills
a. rejects the Enlightenment values of reason and freedom
b. defends value free sociology
c. views “reason” and “freedom” as conflicting values
d. worries that modern man may not pursue reason and freedom
27. Mills
a. advocates sociologist awakening people to the relationship between private
troubles and public issues
b. advocates a radical change in the institutional order of the U.S.
c. advocates a society in which freedom is sacrificed to reason
d. advocates a society in which reason is sacrificed to freedom
28. Hogan characterizes sociological theory as divided into competing camps by
a. levels of analysis
b. realms of social action
c. cliques or sections
d. assumptions and models
29. Hogan identifies political attitudes in the debate between Mills and Parsons as
a. liberal versus conservative
b. radical versus reactionary
c. radical versus liberal
d. conservative versus reactionary
30. Ultimately, according to Hogan, Mills laments the shift in sociology from
a. micro to macro
b. conservative to radical
c. craft to corporate/bureaucratic
d. political to economic
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