Sociology 211

Social Problems

Fall 2001

Dr. Scott Schaffer

Midterm Examination Prep Sheet - Thursday Oct 4/2001

Technical Details: This examination will take place on Thursday Oct 4/2001 at the start of class. You will have the entire class period to complete this exam; however, I doubt you will need it. You must submit your paper in order to receive an exam sheet; you must also take the exam in order to have your paper evaluated, save in the case of absences excused prior to Thursday Oct 4/2001. In any case, there will be no makeup exams; in the event of your excused absence, your paper will be counted as covering both the paper and exam portions of your course grade.

Supplies: You will need to have the following supplies with you on the day of the exam:

• Your completed paper;
• A large-size blue book;
• A blue or black pen - do not write your exam responses in pencil;
• One 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper with your notes on it. You may prepare all of the responses for the concepts listed below and bring them into class with you. Your notes must be submitted with your blue book and exam sheet when you complete it.

Rules of the Game: Following are twenty-five (25) of the concepts listed on the discussion questions to date. Any of these concepts can appear on the exam; fifteen (15) of the will appear on the exam. From these, you will choose eight (8) for your response.

• Identify the author who discusses this concept - in the event that it's not discussed explicitly by one author, you should report me as the discussant;
• Give the definition of the concept as best you can in your own words;
• Identify the importance this concept has for the development of the author's argument or for the study of social problems;
• And identify any concepts you think are related to that concept and how they are related.

You are not required to respond to each of these in paragraphs and/or complete sentences - point form responses are perfectly acceptable.

Evaluation of Responses: Your responses will be evaluated on the basis of their correctness (for the author and definition sections) and their completeness (for the importance and related concepts sections). The author and definition sections will each be work one (1) point; the importance and related concepts will each be work two (2) points. Points will be totaled, and the total scores will be curved in order to yield the exam grade.

The Concepts: Of the 25 concepts listed below, 15 will appear on the exam, from which you'll choose 8 for your response. The criteria for your response will be listed on the exam as below:

Below, you'll find fifteen (15) concepts we've discussed in class. From these, choose eight (8) and respond to the following aspects of each concept:

• Identify the author who discusses this concept - in the event that it's not discussed explicitly by one author, you should report me as the discussant;
• Give the definition of the concept as best you can in your own words;
• Identify the importance this concept has for the development of the author's argument or for the study of social problems;
• And identify any concepts you think are related to that concept and how they are related.

You are not required to respond to each of these in paragraphs and/or complete sentences - point form responses are perfectly acceptable.

Good luck.

1. Job availability and welfare reform
2. Surplus labor pool
3. Rationalization of labor
4. "McDonaldization of society"
5. "Ladder theory" of development
6. Accessibility to "public goods"
7. Social prioritization
8. Ideology
9. Tensions between work and care-giving
10. Individualism vs. Collectivism
11. Stigmatization
12. Nostalgia trap
13. Welfare for the poor vs. welfare for the rich
14. "Family values"
15. Socialization process
16. Vocational vs. educational training
17. Social problem
18. Sociological problem
19. Thomas Theorem
20. Ethnocentrism
21. Relative deprivation
22. Imperialism and Neoimperialism
23. Inequality
24. Differential group membership
25. Poverty