CSUN –– SOC 468&468S – EXAM 1 PREP - KARAGEORGIS

Exam 1: Pick any combination of the following questions - provided the sum-total of possible points does not exceed 300 - and write your responses, in class and in ink, in a large-sized blue-book. During the exam, you may use one letter-sized single-sheet (front and back) of hand-written notes/outlines (to be turned in along with your blue-book). For the actual exam, please number your responses by the question/topic addressed and write as LEGIBLY as possible.

1. List and briefly discuss a. the basic characteristics and b. main elements of scientific theories, according to Appelrouth & Edles (S.T.C.E., Ch. 1), (CLICK HERE for -->) Allan, and/or the Instructor's Introduction. (50 points)

2. Briefly compare and contrast the 'scientific' and 'interpretist’ perspectives on the nature of society and how it can be studied and theorized, based on (CLICK HERE for -->) Allan and/or the Instructor's Introduction. (50 points)

3. Briefly compare and contrast the ‘critical’ and ‘descriptive’ (or detached and non-evaluative) perspectives on social/sociological theory, according to (CLICK HERE for -->) Allan and the Instructor's Introduction. (50 points)

4. List, define, and briefly discuss the five role-adaptations to the U.S.’s cultural and social structures according to (S.T.C.E.: 66-74 or CLICK HERE for the original (1938) version of the essay by-->) R.K. Merton. (50 points)

5. Define and briefly discuss the concepts of “status”, “role”, “role-set” and “status-set”, according to Merton (CLICK HERE for RKM.3 (esp. pp. 110-118)) (50 points)

6. Present a summary of Malinowski’s contributions/legacy to modern functionalism, according to Turner and Maryanski (CLICK HERE for: T&M esp. pp. 113-114) (50 points)

7. List and briefly discuss a. “the basic and irreducible functions of the family” and b. “the conditions under which effective socialization can take place”, according to T. Parsons (CLICK HERE for: Online TP.2, esp. pp. 16 – 19 [up to the end of the 1^st full paragraph]) (75 points)

8. List, define and briefly discuss the pattern-variables, according to Parsons (and collaborators). (S.T.C.E.: 39– 47 and CLICK HERE for: TP.4 – esp. pp. 4-5) (75 points)

9. List and briefly discuss the sources of structural change in social systems, according to Parsons (CLICK HERE for: TP.1 esp. pp. 436-439) [Be sure to also discuss a. what the structure of social systems consists in and b. what structural change in and of social systems entails, for T. Parsons] (75 points)

10. Summarize and briefly critically evaluate Merton's critique of abstract, analytical grand-theorizing (producing all-inclusive conceptual schemes) and his argument in support of concentrating on “developing theories of the middle range” as the appropriate theory-building strategy for Sociology. (CLICK HERE for: Online RKM.1) (75 points)

11. List and briefly discuss the causes (factors) and mechanisms whereby deviant individual role-adaptations to the U.S.’s cultural and social structure are generated according to Merton (S.T.C.E.: 66-74 or click here for the original 1938 version of Social Structure and Anomie). (75 points)

12. List, define, and briefly discuss the four types of independently variable “components” (or “categories”) in terms of which Parsons claims the structure of social systems may be analyzed (CLICK HERE for: TP.3, esp. the text in green font; supplement and enhance the preceding discussion by using Parsons’ discussion of “collectivity” in TP.4 Page 1 and of “role” and “collectivity” in TP.1: Social Interaction and Roles (pp. 428-431) esp. The Concepts of Role and Collectivity (p. 430)). (75 points)

13. List, define, and briefly discuss “the [four] essential functional imperatives of any system of action, and hence of any social system”, according to Parsons (CLICK HERE for TP.4 esp. Page 2 and Page 3). (75 points)

14. Present Parsons’ argument in support of conceptualizing and analyzing social systems as cybernetic systems of control over personality systems (and through them of actual human behavior). (CLICK HERE for TP.1, esp. p. 424) (75 points)

15. List, define, and briefly discuss the social mechanisms, the presence and operation of which may reduce conflict and incompatibility in the role-expectations faced by incumbents of a particular social status or position, according to Merton (CLICK HERE for RKM.3 (esp. pp. 110-118)) (75 points)

16. Present, discuss and critically evaluate the “analytical frame or map” Appelrouth and Edles put forth and use to “explore, compare and contrast the work of each [contemporary social/sociological] theorist” (S.T.C.E.: 13 and ff). (100 points)

17. Discuss the functions and dysfunctions for bureaucratically structured public and private organizations and their personnel of the patterns of negative attitudes towards (and actual behavioral reactions to) them that are widespread among, and accepted by, most Americans. (You must consult and apply Merton's RKM.2 functional analysis of bureaucratic social structures for this item). (100 points)

18. Critically evaluate whether (if at all) and how identifying the latent functions of a cultural item, institution or social practice ("a standardized practice or belief") for specified systems (personality or social) aids a sociologist in causally explaining its genesis and/or persistence. (S.T.C.E.: 60 – 66; CLICK HERE for: C.C.) (100 points)

19. Use Parsons’ pattern-variable conceptual scheme (S.T.C.E.: 39 – 47) [you may ignore the self – collectivity pair] to describe and compare/contrast the “role-expectations” in the role-set (as defined by Merton: RKM.3) of the status/position of “college student” and “high-school student” (Consider at least TWO role-relationships in which incumbents of each status/position MUST enter; e.g. student-instructor/teacher and student-student). (100 points)

20. Summarize and briefly critically evaluate Merton’s middle-range theory of the “role-set” (CLICK HERE for RKM.3 (esp. pp. 110-118)). (150 points)

21. Use Parsons’ analytical framework for describing and analyzing the “American Family” (in S.T.C.E.: 51-54 and CLICK HERE for: TP.2) to compare and contrast today’s “effective kinship unit” (its role structure, relationship to broader kinship structures, other institutions and institutional spheres, cultural patterns, etc.) to the one Parsons described and analyzed in the 1940s and 1950s. What are the contributions of contemporary families to meeting the functional requirements of today’s adults and minor children and of non-family institutions in which today’s adults and minor children participate (at their current or later stage of their life-cycle)? If those functional requirements are no longer primarily or exclusively met by, and in, families, how are they met and to what extent are they met? (150 points)