Sociology 211
Social Problems
Fall 2001
Dr. Scott Schaffer

Discussion Questions, Weeks 9-10: Democracy Against Capitalism, second half

Due Date: Tuesday October 29/2001 at the start of class. Responses will be returned with feedback on Wednesday October 31/2001.

1. Identify the key elements of our society's ideology about the following social phenomena, making sure to identify those elements that appear in the social discourse and those that appear (or do not appear) in the social reality:

How do these aspects of our ideology manifest themselves at the three levels of social life (macro/structural norms, meso/interactional processes, micro/individual conceptions of self and experiences)?

2. What is the relationship identified by Wood between labor and democracy, in both ancient Greece and in the early years of the American republic? How does she go about developing this argument?

3. Wood argues that many aspects of Athenian democracy - the supposed basis for the development of American democracy - were "changed"by the Founding Fathers. How were they changed? What reasons does Wood give for these changes, and how did they impact on how democracy is actually practiced in the US?

4. Outline Wood's description of the separation of "civil society" and democracy. What difficulties does this separation present for us in how we think about the practice of democracy?

5. How does Wood talk about the issues of pluralism and identity politics? How do these impact on the practice of and/or our discourse about democracy?

6. Given the critiques Wood levels against our current conceptions and practices of democracy and capitalism, what kinds of sociological problems - issues every society has to deal with - do you think would be impacted by the US' versions of democracy and capitalism?