Midterm Date: Tuesday, March 30, 1999
MIDTERM EXAM REVIEW
This midterm will be closed book.
Part I: Identify and explain -- 25 points (five points each)
Identify and explain the significance of five of the following. Give examples. (You will have little choice on the actual exam.)
Second Dimension of Power (Ness)
Third Dimension of Power (Ness)
"concentric circles of social control" (Chafe)
proletariat
"State of Nature"
bourgeoisie
discourse
capitalism
ideology
superstructure
forces of production
means of production
relations of production
"the underclass"
status
income class
property class
social class
the paradox of discrimination
race
ethnicity
the interest theory of discrimination
dual/double consciousness
internal colonialism
institutionalized racism
individualism
tacit consent
political society
pluralism
the power elite
a regime of truth
social Darwinism
PART II: Essay -- 25 points
You will be asked to answer one of the following essay questions (25 points each). (You
will have no choice on the actual exam.)
Marx wrote, "The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie" (From the "Manifesto of the Communist Party," p. 83). Explain. Give examples.What advantages do the concepts of institutionalized racism and internal colonialism have over the concepts of individual prejudice and the interest theory of discrimination? Explain. Give examples of each.
What has the term, "the underclass," come to signify, according to Stephen Steinberg? How have value judgments come to play a role in the very definition of the underclass? Do structural explanations about "the underclass" have more explanatory power? Why or why not?What are some of the anomalies in the relationship among wages, women, and paid work? How do advocates of comparable worth critique market explanations for women's low pay? What are some of the implications of this critique?
How have changes in U.S. social welfare policy reflected changes in society's beliefs and prejudices about poor people in this century? What might account for these shifts?
Describe in detail the development of race-based slavery in the US.
PART III: Essay -- 50 points
You will be asked to answer one of the following essay questions. (You will have two questions from which to choose on the final exam.)Max Weber wrote, "The division of society into classes based purely on property is not `dynamic': that is, it does not necessarily lead to class struggle and revolution." Discuss this statement with reference to Marx's theory of class and Weber's own analysis of class and status groups. Is Weber's theory an improvement? Why or why not?
Explain the differences between Locke and Marx's view of private property. How does that difference lead to different theories of the role of the state?
How does a social scientist or social theorist's view of human nature affect their understanding and definition of power? Discuss with reference to at least two of the writers we have looked at this semester.
"Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me" -- so goes the common sense children's saying. Is this correct according to the readings presented in the section on the "fourth dimension of power"? Discuss with reference to either Katz's article on the emergence of the concept of heterosexuality or Steinberg's account of the "culture of poverty" school's qualitative definition of the underclass.
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