Paper details:
Instructions: Be sure to define and explain all relevant concepts that you use and give concrete examples to support your statements.
Answers to ALL questions should be in essay form, approximately two paragraphs each. If a question includes multiple parts (a,b,c), be sure to answer all parts or points will be deducted
Paraphrase in YOUR own words. Do not copy directly from the text or from your colleagues!
Your answers should be typed, double spaced (font of 11 or 12).
In addition to our textbook and other eReserve or online readings from class, you are welcome to use outside sources. If you do, be sure to include footnotes and a bibliography. When you use the readings from class, be sure to include page numbers. For example: (Dillon, 122)
Section I: Answer 3 of the following (1, 2, 3, or 4).
1.
a. How does Shearing and Stenning’s analysis in “From Panopticon to Disneyland” demonstrate Foucault’s ideas concerning the disciplinary society?
b. Discuss this article in relationship to the ideas of any one other theorist (besides Foucault) who we went over this semester. (You can answer this in any way as long as the ideas are aptly demonstrated: compare, contrast, critique…..)
2. Using readings from class (the textbook and Callero’s eReserve piece, write an essay that supports either a functionalist or conflict perspective on globalization processes. (Hint: for functionalists, globalization might be considered advantageous and necessary, while conflict theorists would likely focus on the economic and cultural disadvantages.)
3. Turkle’s ideas (“Nearest Neighbors”) about contemporary robotics have implications in terms of how we view the “Self” and what it means to be human.
a. Briefly explain how GH Mead (symbolic interaction) might address Turkle’s concerns.
b. Next, compare her ideas to those of Baudrillard’s postmodern perspective.
c. End your essay with a brief discussion of your thoughts on this. What are the social implications of the increasing use of technology (like robotics), where objects are now being given “human” qualities?
4. Marina Gorbis’s essay (“Governance Beyond Government”) asks the question (p.98), what would the society be like if citizens were really participating in community governance.
a. In your own words, explain what she means by socialstructed governance.
b. Briefly assess her ideas on the possibility of true participatory governance using TWO theoretical ideas that we have encountered this semester (from Mills, Parsons, Homans, or any others…).
Section II:
Answer ONE (5 or 6):
5. Several months ago, the Press reported on a group of hotel employees who were suing their employer for allegedly placing hidden cameras in the employee washroom. Which concept(s) that we have studied this semester do YOU think best relates to this event? Explain how and why. (Pick one or two and give details.)
Note: There may be more than one answer to this……Some possibilities: Hochschild’s commercialization of feeling, Foucault’s normalizing judgments, Foucault’s microphysics of power, Goffman’s impression management, CW Mills on the rise of rationalized work, and so forth.
6. These days, some cities are “employing” cardboard police officers to sit in police cars at busy intersections. If a needy citizen attempts to attract the officer’s attention, they soon realize that they had better look elsewhere for help.
Discuss this phenomenon using TWO theorists (or theories) we have gone over this semester. Be sure to explicitly demonstrate the theorists’ basic ideas. Your answer can be as creative as you would like.
Answer ONE ( 7, 8, or 9):
7. As Granovetter (p.255 textbook) highlights, weak ties can serve many important individual and societal functions. Read the NYT article, “Study finds strong social factor in quitting smoking” (5/22/08, A18.) Here is the link: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/science/22smoke.html
Based on this article, discuss the positive and negative sociological consequences of social networks.
8. Parsons’ pattern variables can be used to evaluate the degree of modernization evident in any particular society. Using his set of five contrasting paired categories, identify specific features of your local community that match or deviate from the modernization criteria outlined by Parsons. Discuss, using illustrative examples.
9. Discuss the difference between Mills’s ideas on the power elite and Dahrendorf ‘s ideas about the democratization and “normalcy” of group conflict? How do both of their views compare to those of Dumhoff (“Who Rules America”)? Which perspective(s) do YOU think is most accurate?