CSUN – SOC 368&368S – FALL
2013 – Karageorgis
Question Menu for Exam 3: Complete one
essay of no more than 800 words in response to one of the following
topics (Due on OR BEFORE Nov 5; in-class and via e-mail; you may turn it in
earlier via e-mail)
1. In broad
terms, compare and contrast Marx, Weber, Durkheim and Simmel on the ‘advantages
and disadvantages’ of modernity (extensive division of labor, differentiation
of functions, specialization, larger political and legal units, formal
rationalization, market-exchange, etc.) for individual human beings.
2. Present
Weber’s argument (drawing from the excerpts from “The Protestant Ethic and the
Spirit of Capitalism” and from “The Social Psychology of the World Religions”)
regarding the effects of religious doctrines and practices (of the religious
virtuosos and the ‘masses’) on everyday/workaday (including economic) lives and
conduct.
3. Explain
the meaning, and discuss the broader implications, of the following passage
from Weber’s “The Distribution of Power within the Political Community: Class,
Status, Party”:
“Therefore
all groups having an interest in the status order react with special sharpness
precisely against the pretensions of mere economic acquisition. In most cases [,]
they react the more vigorously the more they feel threatened. As to the general
effect of the status order only one
consequence can be stated, but it is a very important one: the hindrance of the
free development of the market.”
4. Based
on the ideal-type of bureaucratic administration presented by Weber, analyze
your current or most recent workplace. How are ‘duties’ and ‘rights’ distributed?
How ‘impersonal’ are recruiting, task-assignment, task-fulfillment, etc? How
rule-bound are ‘areas of jurisdiction’? Is it efficient and how so? What is it
chronically, systematically good at? Not so good at? Who/what sets the overall
goals for the organization? Is the current set-up conducive to their fulfillment?
5. Analyze
the relationships of ‘domination’ (as defined by Weber) between you (the students)
and me (the instructor) in our class. To what extent are these relationships of
‘domination’ premised on your belief that my ‘commands’ are ‘rightful’ and that
‘obedience’ to them is morally or legally obligatory, quite apart from
questions of coercion or utility? Is the ‘social order’ of this class different
from that in other classes, and along which dimensions (e.g. ‘external’
(coercion, utility) vs. internal (legitimacy) bases; tradition vs. charisma vs.
reason as sources of legitimacy)?
6. Drawing
as necessary from Weber’s general discussion about the connection between
trends towards, and demands for, equality, equal treatment, equal
participation, etc. and bureaucratization, rationalization, and impersonality, broadly
discuss one or more of the following issues at CSUN: evaluation and grading,
admission criteria, major requirements, graduation requirement, course
availability and enrollment, etc..
7.
According to Simmel, what effects does living in a large metropolis (such as
the greater
8. Compare
and contrast Durkheim and Simmel on the relationship between the number and kind
of social groups in which people participate and of which they are members, and
the degree of ‘individuality’ (distinctiveness, uniqueness) and
freedom/autonomy that is allowed and expected of them.
9. Compare
and contrast Simmel and at least one of Marx, Durkheim and Weber on the (positive
and negative) effects of the development and spread of a money economy on
individual human beings and their relationships (of various kinds).
10.
Summarize Simmel’s definition and discussion of the social type/social form of ‘the
stranger’, and types of social relations with ‘the stranger’. Present examples
of your own private (family, romantic relationships, friendships) and public
(e.g. work, school, etc.) experiences that exemplify and are illuminated by
Simmel’s analysis.
11. Examine
Weber’s stylized presentation of social action within a bureaucracy using
Simmel’s sensitizing concepts and analyses in The Metropolis and Mental Life.
12.
Examine Simmel’s analysis of fashion from the perspective of his analytical
description of the individual’s quest for ‘individuality’ and differentiation
in a ‘metropolitan’/modern cultural and social structural context in The Metropolis and Mental Life.
13.
Explore the use of sociability, as
the play- or art-form of sociation, in interactions and institutional contexts
in which serious and consequential matters, interests and issues are ostensibly
and officially occurring, pursued and addressed. (E.g. what are the uses and
functions (effects) of apparently idle or unserious sociability between and
among peers and super-ordinates and sub-ordinates in formal work settings,
formal professional settings – such as medical examinations, etc. – based on
your own experiences?)
14.
Compare and contrast Simmel and at least one of Marx, Durkheim and Weber on the
cognitive, emotional and moral life of individuals under modern, urban,
capitalist(ic),
rationalistic conditions.