Study Guide: Foundations

 

Readings:

 

Instructor Presentations:

Introduction

Change & Problems

World Problems

The Sociological Imagination

Glossary:
Look these words up at the following web site: Glossary of Social Science

experiment	causation	mores
sampling	Survey	deviance
social change	science	norms
symbols	vested interests	stigma
sociology	interest groups	values
objectivity	research methods	power
manifest functions	dysfunctions	ideology
microsociology	latent functions	subcultures
theory	macrosociology	authority
sociological imagination	hypothesis	ethnocentrism

Names to Know: 

Karl Marx

Emile Durkheim

Max Weber

Practice Quiz

Links:

C. Wright Mills Home Page

American Sociological Association

The Marx/Engels Internet Archive

Essays:

1. According to Becker (Whose Side are We On?), under what conditions are sociologists accused of being biased?

2. What role should values play in sociology?

3. What is the hierarchy of credibility?  Provide an example from your own life to illustrate this concept.

4. According to Mills (The Promise), what is the difference between a personal trouble and a public issue?  Why is this distinction important?

5. What is the sociological imagination?  What promise does it offer?

6. According to The Sociological Imagination,  where is decision making power located?  How does this differ today from past societies?

7. What is "legitimatization"?  What are its functions and dysfunctions in the modern world?

8. Compare and contrast Mills' use of the terms "rationality" and "reason."  How does this define the central dilemma of our time?  How does it relate to the concept of alienation?

9. What is the "classical" tradition in the social sciences?  How does Mills relate this tradition to the problems confronting modern society?

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Continuously updated. ©Frank Elwell