Instructions: Answer any 2 of the 4 essay questions. You must post and email your answer no later than 6pm Thursday night. No minimum or maximum page requirement. THINK before you write. New Times Roman, double space, 12 font. Grammar and spell check. Post on canvass. No late submissions will be graded. Cite any source you use. Lecture notes and textbook readings are best to use. Number each page of your answer. Make sure your name is on every page.
One of the major theoretical controversies in sociology is to what extent people have control over their lives or are just the objects of larger social forces that structure their lives and determine their behavior. A more middle ground suggests that the degree of control varies across actors and time and one of the major tasks of sociology should be to study who has relatively more control and what circumstances lead to more or less control. Consider any three groups or institutions we have discussed thus far and for each group, what circumstances contribute to the ability of the group to alter society or their own situations within society? For each, what larger social forces outside their immediate control have had the most impact on their relative position in American society?
In many of the issues we have considered, education has been a central, if not the central factor in understanding inequality in America. Explain the role that education plays at the individual level in determining different outcomes and accounting for the effects of different origins (class, race, ethnicity and gender). What aspects of stratification are the most important for understanding inequality? Consider the roles of years of schooling, quality of schools, what is learned in school, and the economic status of classmates. How does education explain the trends in inequality by class, race, ethnicity and gender? Refer to your notes and powerpoint presentations in preparing this essay answer. Refer to specific key terms from your text when appropriate.
Comment on the quote below; How does race and ethnicity affect our religious institutions? Explain and Give Examples:
Religious people always asked gods for something by paying some fee, they felt was appropriate. Whether it was sacrificing of ritual animals or even human beings or monetary or any material donations or behaving the way the God requires, up to devoting the whole life to the God as a priest or a monk (a nun). Heaven is a symbol of unearthly felicity, therefore sometimes life on earth is considered short, temporary and unimportant in comparison with eternal afterlife. Some nations are more religious, than the others.
4.Understanding of individual and collective behavior in any society is made possible by sociologists by explaining folkways, mores, traditions, customs and laws enacted to ensure conformity to them and to have peace and order in the society. The problem of social living is sought to be solved through these mechanisms, to have readymade solutions and avoid situations where individuals do not know how to react. These mechanisms get evolved through the passage of time, trial and error, accident, and of course because of knowledge and expertise of certain individuals. Explain the differences between folkways and mores. Explain why it is significant to understand the differences. Give examples.
Use this book as a resource:
Basirico, Cashion, Eshelman, Understanding Sociology, Second Edition (Horizon Textbooks, 2007). Or any later edition
Site the resource that will be used.
Use an easy Grammer and a easy vocab words.
