Review Sheet for Exam 1 (Fall 2008)

Soc 360: Social Theory

I. General Topics to Review (that have been discussed in both lecture and in your readings):

A. Setting the Historical Context

1. Three Great Revolutions (Political, Scientific, Industrial)

a. “Reason”

2. Birth of Modern Society & Birth of Social Science

B. Karl Marx (Readings: Marx: Full Chapter in Ritzer and Goodman; Walsh, in Kivisto: “Working Longer”

1. Historical Materialism (what kind of theory/explanation is this?)

2. Social Class

a. Bourgeoisie & Proletariat (stratification): who are they? What is their relationship?

3. Mode of Production

a. Means, Relations, “Superstructure”

i. superstructure: family, religion, the state, consciousness itself

4. Alienation (know what it is, and alienation from what/whom?)

5. Class Consciousness (leading to what?)

6. Walsh (in Kivisto): what is the point to this article? How does it illustrate Marx’s ideas? (Does the article support or contradict Marx? How?)

C. Max Weber (Readings: Weber: Full Chapter in Ritzer and Goodman; Ritzer (in Kivisto): “McDonaldization”

1. W’s contributions to sociological method

a. verstehen

b. value neutrality/relevance

c. the subject matter of the discipline

2. Ideal types (know what ideal types are, what they are for, and the components of each of the ideal types listed below)

a. social action: 4 main types of action

b. authority: three types of authority & difference between power and authority

c. rationality: formal and substantive (know what these are)

d. bureaucracy: (know the characteristics, & how they’re connected with rationalization)

e. stratification: Three dimensions (what are they? What is the “scarce resource” by which people are ranked?)

3. Culture’s role in social change (how is this a response to Marx?)

a. The Protestant Ethic & the Spirit of Capitalism

b. explanation for the rise of capitalism (how does it explain?)

i. asceticism

ii. two main contributions to the rise of capitalism

4. Rationalization: what is this? Why did Weber consider it important?

The exam will consist of essay questions. The best way to prepare is to write out, in your own words (and drawing on lecture and reading notes), answers to the items on this review sheet. This will give you practice at expressing complex ideas clearly, and writing it out in this way helps you to remember the information better than simply staring at text pages or reading/lecture notes.

Back to main page