Sociology Exam

Part 1: Sets of Concepts and Connections

All written work on the take-home must be that of the individual student; that is, exam answers should be prepared by you and, preferably, in your own words. There’s no need to document or source your answers, although you may do so, if you wish, but not to excess, please. Group preparation, a study group, say, is acceptable, but individual students, writing alone, must write the exam answers.

Part 1. Choose three (3) of the following sets of concepts, questions (a) through (l). Define each concept in the set and provide a relevant example. Discuss how the concepts, in the set, are connected and the possible implications of these connections. Try to limit each answer for each set to 193 words or so.

Here’s the break down of marks for this part. You may earn up to two (2) marks for each definition and relevant example in each set of three concepts. You may earn up to four (4) marks for your identification and discussion of the most important connections or links among the concepts and the implications of these links among the concepts. (Concepts, in each set, are connected. “No connection” is not an acceptable answer.) Each pair is thus worth ten (10) marks. This part of the examination is worth thirty (30) marks. Double Space! Think! Think!! Think!!! Define all terms used. 

(a) proletariat, bourgeoisie, exploitation 
(b) profane, sacred, social construction
(c) value emphasis, norms, sanctions 
(d) social class, class, life chances
(e) diffuseness, specificity, solidarity 
(f) statics, dynamics, societal analysis
(g) mode of, means of, instruments of production 
(h) function, latent function, dysfunction
(i) power, authority, socialisation 
(j) myth, conformity, folkways
(k) affective expression, neutrality, social rewards 
(l) innovation, retreatism, social progress

Part 2. Choose one (l) of the following, (m) through (q). Define all terms used. Try to limit your discussion to 642 words. Double Space. This part of the exam is worth thirty (30) marks.

(m) Briefly outline the forms of social conflict discussed by Vilfredo Pareto and Karl Marx. What similarities and differences do you see in their ideas? (10 marks) How might the ideas, expressed by Pareto and Marx, exist, today, and influence 21st century social life and social relations? (10marks) Whose ideas of social conflict do you prefer: Marx or Pareto and why? Define all terms used. Use examples.

(n) Emile Durkheim asserted the authority of social facts is coercion by reason. Please explain and discuss (15 marks) using three (3) examples from daily life, today (15 marks).

(o) Marvin Harris argued some seemingly inscrutable social practices are functions of definite and identifiable causes. Briefly, explain what Harris means, using the example of the sacred cow in India. (10 marks) Do you find the evidence, as used by Harris, convincing; briefly, explain why or why not. (10 marks) Why do you think elaborate social constructions emerge to protect these practices? (10 marks)

(p) What observations, of social, life led Mosca to decide stratification was inevitable? (5 marks) What observation, of social life, led Davis and Moore to develop the Functional Theory of Stratification? (5 marks) .Do these ideas, offered by Mosca as well as Davis and Moore, justify stratification, as it exists in Canada, today; explain why or why not, using examples. (10 marks) What criticism of Mosca as well as Davis and Moore do you think appropriate; explain, using examples. (10 marks)

(q) One core assertion John Porter makes, in the Vertical Mosaic (1965), is that Canadians believe they live in a classless society. Do you agree or disagree with this claim: why or why not? (10 marks) Do recent data support the general premise, of the Vertical Mosaic, when considering education and ethnicity: why or why not? (10 marks) Do you believe the inevitable social class system benefits the upper class and penalizes the working and lower classes in Canada; explain why or why not using two (2) examples. (10 marks)