The exam addresses course materials from throughout this course. In separate in-depth, written-format answers (using paragraphs, not bullet points), with the number of the question at the beginning of each separate answer, please address 3 of the 5 final exam questions.
This exam is NOT a short-answer essay exam – each answer is worth 50 points so it is important to thoroughly address each question with a full, in-depth answer, using course materials only for this final exam on course materials. Be sure to include material from both the lectures and the text.
Please use standard margins, double spacing, and 12-point type.
Do not include the same sociological theory or research results in your answer to more than one question addressed.
Remember that this is an exam, so the focus is on showing that you understand the course material and can use it analytically. Throughout this written exam you should be including sociological info from course materials as evidence, course materials that are thoroughly explained and used correctly.
In sociology we cite using the last name of authors. You will always benefit from demonstrating that you have done your research by citing your sources throughout, and your answers will also benefit from greater specificity and depth from looking up the course materials as you write the answers. It is not necessary to quote (use the words of your sources) in order to use course material – simply explain that course material correctly (paraphrase) and cite (author: page). Of course you MUST cite author and page numbers for all quotes, and carefully include quotation marks on both ends of any quotes if you quote directly.
Be careful to cite chapter material that you include like this: (Conley: page number), as well as me for my lectures – my last name is Chap, so lectures should be cited as: (Chap, lecture title: slide number). Cite for all specifics you include – whether you explain it yourself, also called paraphrasing, or quote (meaning use the words of your source). If you include any quotes you need to put quotation marks at the beginning and end of the quoted material. If you use material from a video, cite that as well (video name, or video on…). If you choose to include anything from our discussion forums, do not include material from a discussion forum more than one time per answer – the majority of each answer should be from lectures and the text, as most discussion forums are examples rather than primary explanations of sociology concepts.
This exam on course materials is NOT to include material from any sources other than our course materials: the readings, lectures, and posted videos. No student may share work on this exam with fellow students (that is cheating).
All exams are to be typed (double spaced, 12 point). Each answer should be complete, addressing all parts of the question.
Please answer 3 of the following 5 questions for your open-book, extended time written exam.
The best answers will normally contain material from both lectures and the text.
1. Relying on Chapters 1 and 2 and the second lecture, identify, and with one sentence, each, correctly describe 3 major contemporary sociological theories. THEN fully explain 3 specific sociological research methods (NOT forms of research results such as qualitative and quantitative), including how researchers use them when they conduct research, and what each is best suited to enable researchers to find out and why. Find two research studies from anywhere in our Conley text that can serve as good examples of two of the methods you described, tell what was done, and explain why those 2 research methods were especially suited to enable the researcher(s) to gain the information (data) they needed to address the question/issue they were investigating in the particular studies that they conducted.
2. Using materials from the lecture on families and Chapters 12 (on families) and the lecture on social class and Chapter 7 (on social class), and answers can also include material from the online readings for those weeks, “Invisible Inequality: Social Class and Childrearing in Black Families and White Families” by Annette Lareau, and “As American As Apple Pie, Poverty and Welfare,” by Mark R. Rank fully describe 2 major ways that social class has an impact on families. As part of that description, include whatever sociological theories or findings from the course you think best accounts for this impact on families. In addition, explain what sociologists have found with regards to differences in parenting practices by different social classes, and the results of those differences.
3 Using material from my lecture on gender as well as Chapter 8 and my lecture on race and Chapter 9, (and if you wish you can also include relevant material from the readings “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh, and Sexual Harassment, Workplace Authority, and the Paradox of Power, by McLaughlin, Uggen and Blackstone) examine results for women and men, as well as racial and ethnic groups in terms of social as well as economic outcomes, and include 2 sociological explanations for gender inequality, and 2 sociological explanations for racial inequality, regarding why those outcomes have occurred, including forms of discrimination involved.
4. Examine the forms and impacts of inequality in the context of education, health, and the criminal justice system, as addressed by my lecture on Education and Chapter 13, my lecture on health and Chapter 11 and my lecture on deviance as well as Chapter 6. Be sure to include data on results, and sociological theories and/or research that help explain the issues you include that are related to inequalities in education, health, and the criminal justice system, including white collar crime.
5. Using material from my lecture on work and the economy and Chapter 14 as well as my lecture on government and Chapter 15, examine power and its operation in the U.S. in the context of the government. As part of that explanation, analytically examine the development of influence demonstrated by corporations, and the effects of that influence and power on in the context of the government, the economy, on workers, and on other parts of society. What sociological theories best aid an explanation of the operation and results of the present political system, and the economy, including inequality?