Review Notes – Sociology 101 – Morrisville State College – Exam 2

Major Ideas and Concepts to Review for Exam 2:

Chapter 4 - Social Construction

• How is food production related to social development?
• What types of food production have developed?
• What types of societies have developed in relation to food production?
• What is a Social Status? (what are: status set, ascribed status, achieved status?)
• What is a Social Role? (what are: role set, role conflict, role strain, role exit, role synchonicity?)
• Sociological Theories:
  • Who are the thinkers coming after Auguste Comte (1F2G -- one in France, two in Germany ) who founded sociology as an "enlightenment science"?
  • What are some deeper aspects of Structural-Functional Theory?
    (Durkheim; focus word = order; society as a "body"; institutional-scale, macro-level; organic and mechanical solidarity)
  • What are some deeper aspects of Social Conflict Theory?
    (Marx; focus word = power; society as arena, the combatants are social classes; group-scale macro-level; alienation and class consciousness)
  • What are some deeper aspects of Symbolic-Interaction Theory?
    (Weber; focus word = meaning; society built from human behavior in everyday life; individual-scale, micro-level; rationalization, the "iron cage of reason")
• What does the Social Construction of Reality mean?
• What is the Thomas Theorem?
• What is Ethnomethodology?

Chapter 5 - Socialization

- What is the definition of socialization?
- What is the definition of personality?
- What is the definition of identity?
- What is the nature vs. nurture debate?
- Who is Phineas Gage and what does his case demonstrate?
- What are "mirror neurons"?
- What effect does social isolation have on people and some animals? Give examples.
- Who and what are our agents of socialization?
- What is a "total institution"?
- What are the contributions of George H. Mead to understanding personality?
... What does it mean to have an "I" and a "me" form of personality?
... What does it mean to " take the role of the other"?
... What stages do we go through in developing the ability to take roles?

Chapter 6 - Social Groups and Conformity

- How do you define a group?
- How is a group different than a category of crowd of people?
- What is a primary group and what are its functions?
- What is a secondary group and what are its functions?
- What are in-groups and out-groups?
- What is a reference group?
- What does the phrase "six degrees of separation" mean?
- What is the Asch Conformity Experiment about?
- How likely is it that people will conform in small groups, even when consequences are reduced?
- What two types of conformity characterize the reasons why we go along with the group?
- What is the Milgram Obedience Experiment about?
- What factor does authority play in creating group conformity?
- How likely will people conform in a group with a strong authority figure?
- What was the Stanford Prison Experiment about?
- When presented with a powerful situation, how can people will rely on role-playing rather than core identity principles?
- What is a bureaucracy? Give examples.
- What are some probems with bureaucracies?
- What is McDonaldization?