Review for Exam #2, Introduction to Sociology

Since exam#1, we have examined both socialization and the impact of industrialization on the institution of economy. Exam #2 will focus exclusively on what we have discussed about those issues. You should know and be prepared to answer questions about and/or explain any material from the list of items below. The readings are still fair game for the exam, but, especially for the section on specialization and stratification the bulk of material was covered in class lecture and discussion.

 

I. Socialization (be able to define socialization, and know the following materials)

          A. Sigmund Freud

                   1. Psychoanalysis

                   2. Psychanalytic theory on the formation of identity

                             a. the three parts of the self

                             b. the three key developmental stages

                   3. Criticisms of Freud (know, and be able to explain, them)

          B. George Herbert Mead

                   1. Definitions of social action and social interaction

                   2. Stages of symbolic interaction in formation of the social self

II. Industrialization and Economy: you should know the following materials.

          A. Social Differentiation (definition)

                   1. Specialization (definitions, examples)

                   2. Stratification (     "          "    )

          B. Theories of Specialization

                   1. Smith, Durkheim, Marx

          C. The Household Economy and the Transition to Large-Scale Capitalism

                   1. Characteristics of the household economy

                   2. Transition to the market: the 3 essential characteristics of the market

                             a. differences with household economy

                   3. The commodity-production circuit

                             a. surplus value

                             b. impact on social relations of work

          D. Impact of Specialization on Stratification

                   1. two general predictions of this impact (know them)

                             a. Marx, Smith

                   2. Post-Industrial Society

                             a. Daniel Bell

                             b. what is post-industrial society? what do these theorists have to say?

          E. Measures of Stratification

1.      What measures, specifically? (i.e., at what indicators does one look to get a picture of the stratification system?)

2.      What are the “two stories” the data on stratification tell?

3.      What is the evidence about stratification? (be able to provide examples, illustrations, approximations [of the data themselves)

4.      What is the relationship between education and socio-economic status? How do we know?

5.      Whose prediction (Smith or Marx? Both? Neither?) is best supported by the data?

6.      Do the data support the idea that we have become a post-industrial society? How, specifically? 

7.      What are the five “functional” occupational categories? Which of the five is the most significant in the contemporary economy? How does this (or does it not) relate to both the notion of post-industrial society and to the stratification system?

 

II. Readings (for which you will be held responsible):

          A. Text. Pp 258-263 on Economic Systems; Chapters 4, 9

          B. Reader:

                   Mead, “The Self”

                   Kilbourne, “Socialization and the Power of Advertising”

                   Toennies, “Gemeinschaft and Gesselschaft

                   Weber, “The Disenchantment of Modern Life”

                   Simons, “The Price of Modernization”

                   Marx, “Alienated Labor”

                   Durkheim, “Anomy and Modern Life”

                   Davis and Moore,  Some Principles of Stratification”

                   Wilson, “When Work Disappears”

                   Newman, “Getting a Job in Harlem”

                   Hacker, “Who Has How Much…”