Review
for Exam #2: Social Theory (Fall 2008)
A.
Readings: In Ritzer & Goodman: “Emile
Durkheim,” and pp. 167-194: “Structural
Functionalism & Neo-functionalism”; Hornsby, in
Kivisto: “Surfing the Net for Community”
B. Emile Durkheim
1. Social Facts (what are these? What
are their characteristics?)
a. material and non-material
2. Moral Regulation, Social
Integration, and Solidarity
3. Sociological Theory & Method
a. What should sociology’s
subject matter be?
b. How should it be studied?
4. The
Division of Labor in Society
a. Central concern of this
study?
b. Types of societies &
types of solidarity (know what these are, and how and why they are different)
c. Modern, industrial society
& solidarity (what kind? Based on what?)
5. Suicide
a. What was the central issue
with which this book was concerned?
b. What did the study reveal
about suicide?
c. Types of societies and
types of suicide: know these and be able to explain them
6. The Elementary Forms of the
Religious Life
a. Sacred & Profane (what
is this & why is it significant?)
i. how is this
distinction related to social organization?
ii. to moral
regulation and social integration?
b. Totemic Religion (what is
this? what did Durkheim study about them?)
c. What were the key
questions addressed in this book? What did he find? (what conclusions did he reach?)
d. Functions of Religion in
society
i. relating to
integration and regulation
7. Hornsby
a. typology of normal vs.
pathological states of social groups
i. weak &
strong degrees of integration and regulation (and corresponding societal
states: e.g., pathologically
weak regulation = anomie)
b. examples of integration
and regulation in electronic “communities”
c. cyborg societies?
i. changing
division of labor? Changing collective conscience?
C.
Functionalism (
1. Key themes and premises in
functionalist theory
a. Durkheimian roots
b. Deviance as functional
(how? What functions?)
2. Talcott Parsons’ structural
functionalism
a. AGIL (adaption,
goal-attainment, integration, and latency (pattern maintenance)
b. Four mechanisms for achieving patterns
maintenance: know what pattern maintenance is and what the four mechanisms are.
3. The logical fallacy at the core of
functionalist theory (what is this fallacy? Why is it important?)
a. Davis and
b. Herbert Gans’ “The Uses of Poverty”:
Critique of functionalism. How is it a critique and how is it related to
functionalism’s logical fallacy?
4. Robert Merton: Manifest and Latent;
Function and Dysfunction (Why did Merton introduce these concepts as part of
functionalist theory?)
a. Examples of the various combinations of
these concepts (e.g. Manifest function/Latent dysfunction; Manifest
function/Latent function, etc.)
b. How is Merton’s conceptualization of
anomie actually, although not often seen this way, a critique of “pure”
functionalism?
5. Neo-functionalism (What is it? What
does it try to do?)
As
with the first exam, this test 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.
