SOCW 6002 Wright Mills Sociological Imagination
SOCW 6002 Wright Mills Sociological Imagination essay assignment
SOCW 6002 Wright Mills Sociological Imagination essay assignment
This midterm consists of short essay questions. From the selection below, you will pick four of the following questions to answer. Each question is worth 10 points, and your answers should be around 300-350 words. Make sure that you answer all parts of each question fully. We’re not grading you on your word counts, but if you are writing a lot less than 300ish you are probably not giving us enough of an answer for a good grade. You can go longer, too, if you feel you need to. But longer doesn’t always mean better. We expect that the test will take less than two hours if you are well-prepared.
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The questions are taken directly from things that we have covered in class. Between your lecture notes, discussion & lecture activities, the readings we have done, and the slides posted on Canvas you should have plenty of material to answer these questions. We don’t expect you to use outside sources, but if you do for any reason, please make sure to cite it (give enough information for us to know where it came from – we do not require any specific citation system for this test). In general, using your notes and other course materials to answer these questions is going to be a better strategy that will result in a better grade than relying on internet searches for any concepts or ideas. The test is closely aligned with what we have been teaching, meaning that your notes and knowledge will be better guides to answering these questions than more generic accounts in other sources.
You are welcome to consult with anyone you like about the test, including classmates. Everyone must write their own unique answers to the test questions, however, and copying someone else’s answers is cheating. Letting someone else copy your answers is too.
Please be sure to put your name on the top of the test and your GE’s name. Please be sure to copy the question that you are answering, and paste it into your word document and write your answer below it. You will submit your exam via Canvas. Your paper should be uploaded by 5pm PST on Monday April 27th. There is a 2% penalty per day that the exam is late.
Grading: An answer that receives full credit (10 points) will demonstrate a strong understanding of the full range of concepts, ideas, and issues that a question raises in connection to what we have covered in the course. Concepts and key arguments included in course material will be fully defined and explained in your own words, and – where they are called for – examples will be well-explained and clearly and explicitly connected to the concepts, arguments, and issues that you are writing about. In general, these answers will be thoughtful.
Points will be deducted where concepts and ideas are not explained clearly or well (or that rely solely on copying the definitions provided in the book or PP slides), and where examples or arguments are not tightly connected to course material. For example, an 8/10 would be given to an answer that competently answers the full range of questions, but that lacks an engagement with the question and relies mostly on repeating textbook definitions and examples. While adequate, these answers are generally not all that thoughtful.
Even more points will be deducted where an answer is confusingly worded, makes significant mistakes, or fails to fully answer all parts of the question. It will help you to proofread your answers and to check that your answers address all parts of a question.
In general, we expect you to be able to figure out what the questions are asking. This is part of what you are being tested on. If you cannot figure it out, you may want to pick a different question that makes more sense to you. In general, we won’t be able to help clarify the questions. If you do have questions, please email your section leader or Professor Harrison (jah@uoregon.edu). Keep in mind that I am slower to answer questions that come in on the weekend. Below is the score table for the total point tally.
| 37-40 | 36 | 34-35 | 33 | 32 | 31 | 29-30 | 28 | 27 | 25-26 | 24 | 0-23 | ||
| A | A- | B+ | B | B- | C+ | C | C- | D+ | D | D- | F | ||
Midterm Questions
Please be sure to copy the question that you are answering, and paste it into your word document and write your answer below it.
CHOOSE FOUR !!! from the list.
1.Mills writes, “Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both.” What does he mean by this? Why does he think this is true? Your answer should use as an example one of the following to explain your answer: the COVID-19 pandemic, first generation or working-class college students, or unemployment.
2.How does an effort to understand the mass incarceration phenomena in the U.S. benefit from a sociological perspective? Please answer in as much detail as you can using relevant sociological concepts – a good answer won’t be a short answer.
3.Elijah Anderson’s concept of code switching is a powerful one, showing how parts of Black Americans’ identities can be mobilized in order to suit particular social needs. It is a wonderful illustration of just how culture is practiced and repurposed in every interaction. There are social situations where we all might code switch. Think of two different scenarios wherein you might use a different set of language, manner, and gestures, depending upon the social situation. Using concepts from class, provide an explanation for why code switching is functional.
4.First, watch this short sketch from Key and Peele (link at the end of the question), and then use sociological concepts to explain what and why it is happening. Your explanation should use at least three sociological concepts that we’ve learned to far. Be thorough here. LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXH5CD3O7Oc
5.Provide an example of a moral panic, being sure to fully define and discuss what a moral panic is. Next, apply either a conflict perspective or a functionalist perspective to your moral panic to explain it. How might we understand it from that perspective? (Think: how might a conflict theorist [like Marx or Mills] understand your example? How might a functionalist [like Durkheim])? You only need to describe one of these, but your answer should be thorough and use concepts and ideas related to the perspective you choose. Be sure to define/explain all concepts used.
6.According to Figure 1 in the chapter on Culture (see below), the lower 49% of Americans (those who make less than $50K in family income) were only 14% of the attendees of ballet, classical or jazz music, arts museums, opera, musicals or plays. And Figure 2 notes an overall decline in those activities. Use a perspective or concepts from this chapter to discuss the issues around access to high culture arts activities like the opera and ballet. Then discuss why should we care about whether or not certain populations have access to high culture while others do not?
7.Using a sociological perspective, explain how we develop our self-concept. What part do agents of socialization play in the process of establishing our identity? How do our perceptions of others factor into our sense of self (Mead)? Your answer should include an example of at least one way that some aspect of your self-concept is connected to social structure.
8.Describe how sociological ways of knowing are different from other ways of knowing (common sense, tradition, opinions, etc). How might a sociologist’s understanding of COVID-19 be different from somebody who argues that it is common sense that COVID-19 is no different from the normal flu? Your answer should include reference to the differences between quantitative and qualitative research – what can each type of research design tell us about the nature of the pandemic?
9.Pick a group you are a part of and use Durkheim’s ideas to analyze it. The group can be large or small. What are the norms of the group? Which of those norms are strong (that is, most powerful) and which are weak (that is, you may be able to break them without much consequence)? Be sure to use the terms from deviance that describe differences in degrees of norms. Do the norms of this group make you feel connected and valued? Or do they feel overwhelming and limiting? Is the group characterized by mechanical solidarity, where all the members know each other and each member is important? Or does it have organic solidarity, with weak or distant connections between some members and the ability to replace individual members if needed? Be sure to discuss the differences in detail.