STUDY GUIDE – FINAL EXAM
INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
SPRING 2002 - KESSLER

The final exam will be longer than the first two exams, however the format will be similar - definitions and short essays.  This exam will cover Chapters 9, 11, 13-14, 16, and 20 in Macionis (chapter 12 will not be included on the exam), all of Fast Food Nation, all lecture materials since the second exam, all supplemental readings assigned to you since the second exam (see your on-line syllabus), and the video, Modern Meat.

The following study guide is not a list of final exam essay questions.  It is a series of study questions designed to help you prepare for the essay questions on the exam.

You will be expected to incorporate information from the supplemental readings and video into your essay responses

Chapters 9 and 13 – Sexuality and Gender Stratification

Be able to identify and discuss:

• The differences between sex, gender, sexual orientation, and sexuality

• Differences in sexual orientation, and both the social and biological explanations for sexual orientations other than heterosexuality

• The structural-functional, symbolic interaction, and social conflict analyses of sexuality

• The relationship between gender and culture

• How, as children, we are socialized into our respective gender roles, including the agents of gender socialization

• Patterns of gender stratification in the institutions of society

• The basic tenets of feminism

Chapter 11- Social Class in the United States

Be able to identify and discuss:

• The dimensions of social inequality in the United States

• Factors that determine our social position in life

• Social class division in the United States

• The difference between downward social mobility and structural downward social mobility

• The impact of recent trends in the US economy on stratification and mobility

• The categories of people at highest risk for homelessness, and why

• The two explanations for poverty presented in your text

Chapter 14 – Race and Ethnicity

Be able to identify and discuss:

• The difference between the concepts of race and ethnicity, as well as how they are interrelated

• The manifestations of prejudice and the theories of prejudice

• Discrimination and its history in the United States, and the relationship between prejudice and discrimination

• The majority and minority group patterns of interaction

• The history of one racial and ethnic minority group discussed in your text

• The "Movers and Shakers" from your on-line syllabus

Chapter – 16- The Economy and Work

Be able to identify and discuss:

• The three technological revolutions that organized society’s production and their defining characteristics

• The transformation of US society from industrial to postindustrial and its implications for the social organization of work and production

• The major consequences of the emergence of a global economy, and their impact on work and production in the United States

• The economic systems of capitalism and socialism and the advantages and disadvantages of each

• The nature of work in postindustrial society, and how it differs from work in industrial society

• The "collar" categories of work

Chapter 20 – Education

Be able to identify and discuss:

• A comparison of schooling in Great Britain and schooling in the United States

• How formal education contributes to the operation of society and how it perpetuates social inequality (functional and social conflict analyses)

• Explanations for passivity on the part of students in US schools, as well as possible solutions to the problem

Fast Food Nation

Be able to discuss:

• Fast food as a metaphor for today’s society

• How the growth of fast food has been both a symptom and catalyst of larger economic trends

• The proliferation of fast food and how it relates to life in postindustrial society

• Fast food and the postindustrial US workforce

• How and why the fast food industry has changed the nature of restaurant and food processing work and the composition of their workforces

• The similarities between assembly line manufacturing and production in fast food restaurants

• How the fast food industry has changed the environment and the health of US society

• How the nature of foodborne illnesses has changed with the transformations in food production

Be able to define the following:

Sex

Gender

Sexual orientation

Sexuality

Heterosexuality

Bisexuality

Homosexuality

Asexuality

Transsexuality

Rape

Date or Acquaintance rape

Sexism

Patriarchy

Sexual harassment

Minority

Feminism

Race

Ethnicity

Prejudice

Stereotypes

Racism

Scapegoat theory

Authoritarian personality theory

Culture theory of prejudice

Conflict theory of prejudice

Discrimination

Pluralist pattern of majority/minority interaction

Assimilation pattern of majority/minority interaction

Segregation

Genocide

Postindustrial economy

The primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors of the economy

Dual labor market

Labor Unions

Underground economy

School tracking

The hidden curriculum

Credentialism

Functional illiteracy

Escherichia coli 0157:H7 (E. coli 0157:H7)