Soc 2
Fall 07
midterm 1, take-home essay questions

Take-home essay questions for midterm 1. Must be typed and double-spaced. Must be turned in on the day of the midterm before the start of the exam. Answer all four parts.

Part 1. Referring to our discussions in class, chapter 1 in Mooney et al., “An Introduction to the Study of Social Problems” by Charon, and “How do we Decide what are Social Problems?” by Gusfield, answer the following questions: What is a social problem? Discuss functionalism, the conflict theories (Marxism, the varieties of feminism, the anti-racist perspective) and symbolic interactionism in understanding social problems. (This part is worth 15 points.)

Part 2. Referring to our discussion in class and “Comparative Perspectives and Competing Explanations: Taking on the Newly Configured Reductionist Challenge to Sociology" by Troy Duster, compare the sociological perspective to biological ways of knowing in studying social problems. (This part is worth 8 points.)

Part 3. Referring to our discussion in class and from your reading of “Seeing the Population Issue Whole” by Meadows, answer the following questions: Discuss the sociological imagination and its application in understanding social problems. Discuss how each perspective mentioned in the article demonstrates the sociological imagination and/or lacks the sociological imagination. (This part is worth 8 points.)

Part 4. How is the sociological imagination demonstrated in “A Climate Culprit In Darfur” by Ban Ki Moon? (This part is worth 4 points.)