SOCIOLOGY
FINAL EXAM REVIEW
Introduction to Sociology
1. The sociological perspective
2. The sociological imagination
3. Social sciences – what makes each different from sociology?
4. Archaeology – how does it contribute to the science of Sociology?
5. ASA – what is it, what does it do?
6. How did the Industrial Revolution contribute to Sociology?
7. What is the difference between culture and society?
8. What is the difference between material and nonmaterial culture?
9. What are examples of norms, folkways, mores.
a. What are the consequences if you break a more? Break a folkway?
10. What is a law?
11. Define taboo, recognize examples
a. What is the universal taboo?
12. Cultural universals: define and recognize examples
13. Compare ethnocentrism and cultural relativism
14. Subcultures and countercultures: definitions and example of each
a. Argot
b. Amish as a subculture or counterculture? Why?
i. Rumspringa –what is this?
ii. Retention rate of Amish?
Famous Sociologists
1. Functionalist Perspective—what was the focus of this perspective?
i. Manifest vs. latent functions of all social situations, etc.
b. Auguste Comte
i. Father of Sociology
ii. Static and Dynamic Forces
iii. Positivism—what does this encourage using when making conclusions?
c. Herbert Spencer
i. Social Darwinism, “survival of the fittest”
a. Who were the “survivors?” Who were the “least fit?”
b. Analogy of society to a living organism
c. His view on government providing aid to needy
d. Emile Durkheim
i. First to use what in sociological research?
a. Used this in study of causes of suicide
ii. Mechanical vs. organic solidarity
a. one is characteristic of modern societies
2. Conflict Perspective—what was the focus of this perspective?
a. Karl Marx
i. Father of conflict theory
ii. Bourgeoisie vs. Proletariat—who did these groups represent?
iii. Socialism
iv. What was Marx’s solution to social inequality?
3. Interactionist theory – what is involved in this theory?
a. Max Weber
i. Verstehen:
b. How are symbols important?
Discrimination
1. Race vs. ethnicity
a. Define each
b. Be able to identify examples of each
2. Racism—define
3. Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination
a. Compare and contrast
b. Examples?
4. What are the sources of prejudice? Where does it come from?
a. Social learning—parents modeling beliefs
b. Media influence
c. Personal experience (positive or negative)
5. Explicit vs. implicit prejudice
6. Stereotype threat
7. Reasons why people discriminate—note that this is not where prejudice comes from—once
prejudice has been learned, why do people discriminate?
8. Common interventions:
a. Simple contact approach—Features of and why it doesn’t work
b. Fact-based approach—Features of and why it doesn’t work
c. Goal-based approach—Why is this the best? What are its 5 main features?
i. Think of how The Breakfast Club a good example of this intervention
9. Self-fulfilling prophecy
10. Jane Elliott’s “Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes” experiment—what inspired her to do it?
a. How did she teach the children discrimination in an all-white class? What were the
results of her ‘experiment’?
11. Merton’s 4 Patterns of Prejudice & Discrimination
a. Timid bigot
b. All-weather liberal
c. Active bigot
d. Fair-weather liberal
12. Institutionalized discrimination
13. Patterns of minority group treatment
14. Characteristics of minority groups
15. Affirmative Action—what is it and what is its primary goal?
16. Racial profiling—provide a definition and be able to identify examples of
a. Bill 1070
17. Hate crimes
18. White privilege
19. Don’t ask Don’t tell
Agents of Socialization:
I. Feral Child – consequences on the individual
II. 4 Agents of Socialization
a. FAMILY
i. Cooley’s looking glass self
ii. Harlow’s Monkey’s – what did it show
b. School
i. When is school important for socialization?
ii. What are factors that contribute to Shanghai and Finland successful school
system?
c. Peers
i. What sets peers apart from the other agents?
d. Media
i. What different types of media exist?
ii. What percentage of women in society have the body type portrayed in the
media?
Development and Sociology
Adolescence
I. Define adolescence- is it present in every culture?
II. Three things that contributed to adolescence as a life stage?
III. Characteristics of adolescence
IV. Adolescence and dating
V. Difference between dating and courtship?
VI. 5 main things that contributed to the emergence of dating?
VII. Why do adolescence date, according to experts?
The adult in society
VIII. Describe the transition from adolescent to adulthood – how does identity change?
IX. What is the most common status of an adult?
X. Define labor force, unemployment, and unemployment rate
XI. How is the American labor force changing?
XII. How does gender affect job preference?
XIII. What contributes to job satisfaction?
Elderly
XIV. Define gerontology
XV. How do the majority of people respond to retirement?
XVI. What are the predictors of a successful transition to retirement?
XVII. What is the greatest desire of elderly people?