Midterm 2
Soc 2
Fall 07

Take-home essay questions. In all your answers, make sure you refer to lecture notes when appropriate. Please double-space.


Part 1. Answer any four. Each question is worth 3 points. The suggested length for each answer is two paragraphs.

A. Discuss rankism. How prevalent is rankism? How does this perspective help us to understand social problems such as the various forms of bigotry and school violence? How does it impact those that are perceived as of lower rank?

B. According to Jennifer Hochschild, what are the four tenets of the American dream? What is her assessment of these four tenets? How much social mobility is there in the United States?

C. How stratified is the United States? How much poverty is there in the United States? Compare with other nations. (refer to Iceland and Mooney et al.)

D. Discuss the importance of wealth in transmitting social class. (refer to Shapiro)

E. Discuss the role of the state in explaining poverty in the United States. (refer to Iceland)

F. According to Arlie Hochschild, why did many working class men vote for George W. Bush?


Part 2. Answer any three. Each question is worth 7 points. The suggested length for each answer is one page.

A. How can ghetto poverty be explained? (refer to Iceland)

B. Referring to “A Public Sociology for Human Rights” by Michael Burawoy, discuss the three wave of marketization and the related counter movements.

C. What does Charles Reich mean when he refers to the corporation as invisible government?

D. Referring to “Resurrecting a Civil Society” by Charles Derber, what suggestions does Derber make for resurrecting a civil society? What does Derber mean by the term social market? In your answer, discuss individualism, communism, the free market, and compare the United States with other countries.

E. Referring to “The Global Economy, the Privileged Class, and the Working Class” by Perrucci and Wysong, “The Vanishing Middle Class” by Witte, “Globalization and The Race to the Bottom” by Brecher and Costello, Chapter 6 in Mooney et al., discuss the relationship between globalization, the state, corporations, and inequality in the U.S. and the world.