What is the sociological perspective? Does it favor an individual-deviance or a structural approach? How does the sociological perspective challenge popular American ideology or public opinion? What are the main postulates of this prevailing ideology? What are the dangers of person-blaming? What are some possible dangers of system-blaming?
What are social problems? What is social structure? How do the European social democracies and the United States differ in their definitions of social problems and their approaches to solving them?
What are the elements of democracy? Should economic justice (a just and equitable allocation of economic resources) be one of the objects of democracy?
What is capitalism? What is socialism? How do some societies achieve a mix of capitalism and socialism? How does the U.S. compare with the European social democracies in this regard?
Is the U.S. economy really a free enterprise system based on competition and the laws of supply and demand? What do you think Adam Smith, Karl Marx or Milton Friedman would say in this regard?
Explain megamergers, interlocking directorates and transnational corporations. What is globalization?
What is the difference between wealth and income? What, in your opinion, is the best way of measuring inequality?
Why has inequality grown so much in the U.S.?
Is the U.S. a democracy or an oligarchy? How does (a) the system of campaign financing, (b) the structure of the Senate, (c) the lobbying industry hurt the cause of democracy in the U.S.?
Who are the power elite? What is power? Who benefits from the way power is concentrated in the U.S.?
What are "trickle down" solutions?
Explain the two great population shifts that are transforming U.S. society.
What is the new immigration? What changes has it brought about in the society? What are the historical circumstances and the social consequences of the new immigration?
What is the "graying of America" all about? Why does it constitute a problem or a challenge for the society? What are the predominant social characteristics of the old?
What are the successes and the failures (or strengths and weaknesses) of Social Security?