Exam 1 Review Guide
Topics
What is Sociology?
 Sociology – “The systematic study of human society” (Macionis, John J. 2003. Sociology, 9th edition. Prentice
Hall)
 Society – “organized interaction of people” (Macionis)
 Culture – “values, beliefs, behavior, and material objects that, together, form a people’s way of life”; includes
both ideas and things (Macionis)
 Values – “Culturally defined standards by which people assess desirability, goodness, and beauty and that serve
as broad guidelines for social living” (Macionis)
 Norms – “Rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members”; what we should and
should not do (Macionis)
 We have membership in a society/communities/groups (common identity)
 We internalize cultural values and norms through interaction with others (socialization)
 There are benefits to membership, but there are also costs; We are bound by cultural values and norms
 People develop and maintain culture through social interaction
o Social structure – repeated interaction creates enduring forces; not tangible, but with real effects
 Social construction implies an ongoing process, change
 Sociology focuses on the interactions between people and society, how people are shaped by society, how society
shapes people
 Sociologists recognize that we are embedded within a variety of communities / groups / life experiences (race,
class, gender, age) that shape our understanding of and reaction to the world
 Sociologists recognize that various institutions are involved in this overall process: the economy and work,
politics and government, the family, religious, educational
Why is Risk Sociological?
 Three approaches to risk
o Probabilistic
o Psychometric/psychological
o Sociological
 Three ways that risks are social (from Arnoldi)
o Risks are social and political problems (Risk society theory)
o Risks are understood against a social and cultural background (Cultural theories of risk)
o Risks impact how people are governed and society is structured (Governmentality)
What is Risk?
 Chance/fortune/fate
 Risk
 Uncertainty
 Be able to describe changes in the meaning of risk over time – from the Middle Ages to the modern and postmodern period
Objective probability
 Be able to calculate a simple probability for an equal probability process (e.g., flipping a coin, rolling a die, etc.)
 Be able to apply the ‘and’ and ‘or’ rules when calculating simple probabilities (e.g., what is the probability of
obtaining a 6 on two straight rolls of a die?)
 Be able to identify some common biases that impact our ability to understand objective probabilities
Subjective probability
 Be able to discuss the difference between an objective and subjective probability
 Be able to provide an example of how to estimate a subjective probability
 Be able to describe a de Finetti game – how might you objectively measure a subjective probability?
o When does this type of game tend to fail?
Real and perceived risks
 Be able to describe the cognitive science perspective
 Realist/objective view of risks and micro focus
 Risk assessments versus risk perceptions
 How do experts develop risk assessments? On what are they based?
 Biases that influence risk perceptions
 Factors that organize how laypeople think about risks (what are the two dimensions?)
o What are some of the other issues?
 What are ‘higher order impacts’ and ‘signal potential?’
The Normalization of Deviance at NASA
 I would encourage you to read the piece by Vaughan and to reflect on the connections to various topics and
concepts covered thus far – for example:
o Assessing risk of the solid rocket boosters and the calculation of subjective probabilities
o Biases that shape the perception of risk
o Sociology’s focus on individuals embedded within contexts and the interplay between them
 I see these as the main themes in the reading
o Overall view of risk regarding space travel and the space shuttle system
o Risk assessment
 Organizational structure of NASA – engineers, project managers, contractors
 Basic rules and procedures for dealing with risk (i.e., Acceptable risk process and the flight
readiness review)
 How actors dealt with engineering disagreements
 Sources of engineering disagreements
 Stages of risk regarding the solid rocket boosters (e.g., failsafe, concerns over joint rotation,
escalated risk, review of evidence, formalization of risk)
 The basic idea of the chapter (and book) is that the post tragedy review simplified the causes of the tragedy; the
decision to launch and failure to redesign were not based on deviant acts by actors within NASA, but reflected the
overall culture at NASA and were embedded within/products of the organization and process for evaluating risk
 You should be able to summarize the reading in a few paragraphs
Exam Format
 I may pull exam questions from the content of the lectures as well as the readings
 The exam will involve a combination of short answer questions and essays; you will be given a choice (2 of 3
short answers; 1 of 2 essays)
 Short answer questions will focus on smaller themes and concepts (e.g., briefly define… and use one example to
illustrate your point).
 Essays will focus on large themes – to get a good grade, you will have to incorporate examples from the readings
Tips
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Don’t panic!
Read the questions carefully; be sure to address all parts of the questions.
This is an essay exam, so remember to elaborate – your job is to convince me that you know your stuff. I do not
expect you to write a dissertation in an hour and twenty minutes. At the same time, a bulleted list is not sufficient.
I will focus more on the content of your answers than on the grammar and spelling. That being said, the clarity of
your answer matters and I need to be able to understand your argument. I typically drop the grade by about half a
letter grade when there are numerous spelling errors and numerous grammatical problems.
Please write as neatly as you can.