SOC 101 FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS &
DETAILED COMPLETE SOLUTIONS
PASSED ALREADY GRADED A+
What is sociology? - Correct Answer ✔✔ The systematic study of society and social
interaction. Sociologists identify social forces and cultural patterns and determine how
they affect individuals and groups. They apply these findings to the real world.
The scientific, systematic study of society as a whole. A way of thinking about
individuals, the world, and how they relate.
The systematic study of human societies
The history of sociology - Correct Answer ✔✔ Sociology was developed as a way to
study and try to understand the changes to society brought on by the Industrial
Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. Some of the earliest sociologists thought that
societies and individuals' roles in society could be studied using the same scientific
methodologies that were used in the natural sciences, while others believed that it was
impossible to predict human behavior scientifically.
Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology - Correct Answer ✔✔ Sociologists develop
theories to explain social events, interactions, and patterns. A theory is a proposed
explanation of these social interactions. Theories have different scales. Macro-level
theories, such as structural functionalism and conflict theory, attempt to explain how
societies operate as a whole. Micro-level theories, such as symbolic interactionism,
focus on interactions between individuals.
Why study sociology? - Correct Answer ✔✔ By studying sociology people learn how to
think critically about social issues and problems that confront our society. The study of
sociology enriches' students lives and prepares them for careers in an increasingly
diverse world. Society benefits because people with sociological training are better
prepared to make informed decisions about social issues and take effective action to
deal with them.
Macro vs. Micro - Correct Answer ✔✔ Macro - big (like the forest), a system
Micro - small (like the tree)
sociological imagination - Correct Answer ✔✔ A way of thinking about macro/micro,
also known as the sociological perspective
the ability to understand how your own past relates to that of other people, as well as to
history in general and societal structures in particular
,History vs. Biography - Correct Answer ✔✔ History - social context, macro (ex: health of
the economy)
biography - individual experience, micro (ex: experiences of
employment/unemployment)
Troubles vs. Issues - Correct Answer ✔✔ Troubles - occur within the individual (ex:
takes me a while to get to work)
Issues - have to do with the institutions of the society as a whole, a public matter (ex:
the city has bad infrastructure)
How do history & biography/ trouble & issue relate? - Correct Answer ✔✔ Broad trends
impact individual lives, individual events reflect broader trends
How did we get sociology? - Correct Answer ✔✔ Western Intellectual Tradition. The
Catholic Church used to have complete control of social life & didn't like anything that
challenged it's authority. But then, the Black Death led to a decline in Church power &
the Protestant Reformation. There was a decline of monarchies due to revolutions like
the American Revolution and French Revolution. This led to changing power structures
and economic relations. This led to the enlightenment (reason, individualism), which led
to the development of modern science (objectivity, logic, testable theories). The
changes in Europe led to changes in how people related to each other, the government,
and the economy. It was a fundamental change in how society works.
Decline in religious and monarchical power, development of modern science
Sociology as a science - Correct Answer ✔✔ Comte's positivism - "information derived
from sensory experience, as interpreted through reason and logic, forms the exclusive
source of all certain knowledge"
Relationship to modern science
Early social thinkers (outside of Europe) - Correct Answer ✔✔ Ma Tuan-Lin (13th
century Chinese) - recognizes social factors in historical development
Ibn Khaldun (14th century Tunisian) - writes about social conflict, comparative study of
types of societies, interest in power
Academic v. Activist Sociology - Correct Answer ✔✔ Academic - study the social world
without affecting it
Activist - use what we learn to improve society
What is a theory? - Correct Answer ✔✔ An accepted explanation for a phenomenon,
tends to be general or abstract
, Sociological theory - Correct Answer ✔✔ A statement about how parts of the social
world work and how they fit together
Emile Durkheim's theory of suicide - Correct Answer ✔✔ Suicide rates depend on levels
of "social integration", religion contributes to the proper functioning of society, social
forces affect individual behavior
Karl Marx's theory - Correct Answer ✔✔ Factory owners exploit writers for their labor
power (specific)
The history of all existing society is the history of class struggle (general)
Theory & Sociological Imagination - Correct Answer ✔✔ Sociological imagination
(biography and history) influences theory
Marx: lives in early industrial era (history), theorizes capitalism
duBois - lives as a Black man in post Civil War USA, theorizes race relations (biography
is being Black, history is post Civil War)
Sociological Paradigms - Correct Answer ✔✔ Really big theories, theoretical
perspectives
The three classic ones are Symbolic Interaction, Functionalism, and Conflict theory
Symbolic Interaction - Correct Answer ✔✔ Symbols make shared meanings, one-to-one
interactions and communications - Micro
Structural Functionalism - Correct Answer ✔✔ Society has a structure and elements of
society have functions
Compare society to a building - parts fit together in a structure, each part has a job to do
- a function
Parts fitting right and doing jobs are ideal
Dysfunctions mean things aren't working right
The way each part of society functions together to contribute to the whole, macro
view society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and
social needs of individuals who make up that society.
Structural-Functionalism Manifest and Latent Functions - Correct Answer ✔✔ Manifest
are intended - building is a shelter
DETAILED COMPLETE SOLUTIONS
PASSED ALREADY GRADED A+
What is sociology? - Correct Answer ✔✔ The systematic study of society and social
interaction. Sociologists identify social forces and cultural patterns and determine how
they affect individuals and groups. They apply these findings to the real world.
The scientific, systematic study of society as a whole. A way of thinking about
individuals, the world, and how they relate.
The systematic study of human societies
The history of sociology - Correct Answer ✔✔ Sociology was developed as a way to
study and try to understand the changes to society brought on by the Industrial
Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. Some of the earliest sociologists thought that
societies and individuals' roles in society could be studied using the same scientific
methodologies that were used in the natural sciences, while others believed that it was
impossible to predict human behavior scientifically.
Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology - Correct Answer ✔✔ Sociologists develop
theories to explain social events, interactions, and patterns. A theory is a proposed
explanation of these social interactions. Theories have different scales. Macro-level
theories, such as structural functionalism and conflict theory, attempt to explain how
societies operate as a whole. Micro-level theories, such as symbolic interactionism,
focus on interactions between individuals.
Why study sociology? - Correct Answer ✔✔ By studying sociology people learn how to
think critically about social issues and problems that confront our society. The study of
sociology enriches' students lives and prepares them for careers in an increasingly
diverse world. Society benefits because people with sociological training are better
prepared to make informed decisions about social issues and take effective action to
deal with them.
Macro vs. Micro - Correct Answer ✔✔ Macro - big (like the forest), a system
Micro - small (like the tree)
sociological imagination - Correct Answer ✔✔ A way of thinking about macro/micro,
also known as the sociological perspective
the ability to understand how your own past relates to that of other people, as well as to
history in general and societal structures in particular
,History vs. Biography - Correct Answer ✔✔ History - social context, macro (ex: health of
the economy)
biography - individual experience, micro (ex: experiences of
employment/unemployment)
Troubles vs. Issues - Correct Answer ✔✔ Troubles - occur within the individual (ex:
takes me a while to get to work)
Issues - have to do with the institutions of the society as a whole, a public matter (ex:
the city has bad infrastructure)
How do history & biography/ trouble & issue relate? - Correct Answer ✔✔ Broad trends
impact individual lives, individual events reflect broader trends
How did we get sociology? - Correct Answer ✔✔ Western Intellectual Tradition. The
Catholic Church used to have complete control of social life & didn't like anything that
challenged it's authority. But then, the Black Death led to a decline in Church power &
the Protestant Reformation. There was a decline of monarchies due to revolutions like
the American Revolution and French Revolution. This led to changing power structures
and economic relations. This led to the enlightenment (reason, individualism), which led
to the development of modern science (objectivity, logic, testable theories). The
changes in Europe led to changes in how people related to each other, the government,
and the economy. It was a fundamental change in how society works.
Decline in religious and monarchical power, development of modern science
Sociology as a science - Correct Answer ✔✔ Comte's positivism - "information derived
from sensory experience, as interpreted through reason and logic, forms the exclusive
source of all certain knowledge"
Relationship to modern science
Early social thinkers (outside of Europe) - Correct Answer ✔✔ Ma Tuan-Lin (13th
century Chinese) - recognizes social factors in historical development
Ibn Khaldun (14th century Tunisian) - writes about social conflict, comparative study of
types of societies, interest in power
Academic v. Activist Sociology - Correct Answer ✔✔ Academic - study the social world
without affecting it
Activist - use what we learn to improve society
What is a theory? - Correct Answer ✔✔ An accepted explanation for a phenomenon,
tends to be general or abstract
, Sociological theory - Correct Answer ✔✔ A statement about how parts of the social
world work and how they fit together
Emile Durkheim's theory of suicide - Correct Answer ✔✔ Suicide rates depend on levels
of "social integration", religion contributes to the proper functioning of society, social
forces affect individual behavior
Karl Marx's theory - Correct Answer ✔✔ Factory owners exploit writers for their labor
power (specific)
The history of all existing society is the history of class struggle (general)
Theory & Sociological Imagination - Correct Answer ✔✔ Sociological imagination
(biography and history) influences theory
Marx: lives in early industrial era (history), theorizes capitalism
duBois - lives as a Black man in post Civil War USA, theorizes race relations (biography
is being Black, history is post Civil War)
Sociological Paradigms - Correct Answer ✔✔ Really big theories, theoretical
perspectives
The three classic ones are Symbolic Interaction, Functionalism, and Conflict theory
Symbolic Interaction - Correct Answer ✔✔ Symbols make shared meanings, one-to-one
interactions and communications - Micro
Structural Functionalism - Correct Answer ✔✔ Society has a structure and elements of
society have functions
Compare society to a building - parts fit together in a structure, each part has a job to do
- a function
Parts fitting right and doing jobs are ideal
Dysfunctions mean things aren't working right
The way each part of society functions together to contribute to the whole, macro
view society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and
social needs of individuals who make up that society.
Structural-Functionalism Manifest and Latent Functions - Correct Answer ✔✔ Manifest
are intended - building is a shelter
