Short Answers Test: Sociological Studies

Section 1: Interaction, embodiment, identity

This test involves writing four short answers of 400 words (excluding the reference list). Answer ONE question from each of the four sections (these correspond to the four sections of the course). You should list any works that you cite in a reference list at the end of your answer. Clearly write the section number and question letter on your test paper e.g. 1(d) Put your name on your test paper. Section 1: Interaction, embodiment, identity Explain what was innovative about Oakley's studies of housework, motherhood, and gender in the context of England in the late 1960s/early 1970s?

 

What were some of the limitations of her research? In the lecture based on a single video of e-scootering in Wellington (July 30), Lloyd began by saying ‘the aim is not to apply concepts’. Explain this aim and offer your reaction to it. Goodwin’s work on ‘co-operative action’ is not promoting a consensus model of social life. Discuss. What are the key differences between “concerted cultivation” and “the accomplishment of natural growth”? What insights does Lareau’s work give us on class mobility and transmission of privilege? Section 2: Capitalism and neo-liberalism What does Wallerstein mean when he talks about the modern world-system? What are its most important elements?

 

What does Gramsci mean by hegemony? And why is it important to him? What is social reproduction? (give description and examples of activities). What are the core contradictions that sit at the heart of social reproduction crisis? Why is this an important issue for gender equality? Section 3: Thinking from the margins How does Critical Race Theory (CRT) challenge binary and one-dimensional conversations when thinking/talking about race/ethnicity? How does CRT challenge "master narratives"? Think of a few examples within education; either an example from your own education or education broadly. How does intersectionality and intersectional failure link back to critical race theory and other forms of resistance? What are the key characteristics of transnationalism as an analytical lens to understand migrants’ experience?

 

Elaborate on its contribution to migration scholarship. Section 4: Exploring the Sociological Imagination: Bridging the micro-macro divide Charles Derber (2000, xxv) says that we need to use both a “zoom lens” and a “wide-angle lens” to explore the pursuit of attention. How does he bring these two perspectives together in his analysis of 'conversational narcissism'? Arlie Hochschild compares and contrasts the emotional labour undertaken by flight attendants and bill collectors. Provide two other examples of jobs that require emotional labour and describe the similarities and differences in the emotional labour that these jobs involve.

 

Your discussion should include, but not be limited to, consideration of feeling rules and practices of deep and surface acting. “Although the act of modifying, suppressing, or emphasizing an emotion is carried out by individuals, emotions are being managed to fit social expectations, which in turn often reproduce larger political and economic conditions” (Norgaard 2011, 92). Discuss in relation to Kari Norgaard’s work on the climate crisis.