Directions: I have provided the articles for each question. The length of each question should be approximately TWO pages, depending on the point total. 15-point questions can be longer than 10-point ones. If a question has parts, label each part a)…b)…etc. Number the questions. Begin each question by naming the author and the title of the article.
1. Mills: “The Sociological Imagination” p.8 (10 points)
•Define what Mills means by “the sociological imagination.”
•Name two things that it enables its possessor to do.
•Explain what is meant by the term “troubles”, by the term “issues”; give two examples that indicate the distinction between the two.
•Mills says that “… the ordinary individual in his restricted milieu will be powerless … to solve the troubles this system or lack of system imposes upon him.” [p.12] Explain what Mills means by this. Explain why Mills believes that a private solution or personal ingenuity will not solve the type of problem Mills calls an “issue.”
2. Zimbardo: “Pathology of Imprisonment” p.68 (10 points)
•Describe the essential facts of the experiment, e.g. where, when, how, why, etc.
•Explain what actually happened. [What did the guards do? the prisoners?]
•Describe what Zimbardo feels is the principal lesson or finding of his experiment.
•Sociologically, why did the guards and prisoners act the way they did? Was it something in their backgrounds that led them to act the way they did? Explain.
3. Meyer: “If Hitler Asked You To Electrocute a Stranger, Would You? Probably” p.71 (10 points)
•Briefly explain this experiment, focusing on the different roles and what happened.
•Why didn’t Milgram ever take his experiment to Germany, even though he had originally planned to? Explain.
•What forces are at work in social situations like this which lead the individual to do things that he or she might not normally do? Explain.
•” What happened in Nazi Germany could never happen here in America, we are after all a democratic society, and Germany was undemocratic, even autocratic.” Respond to this statement.
4. Dunphy: “The Importance of Primary Groups” p.33 (10 points) Based on your reading of this article, but in your own words, answer the following questions:
•Why did the German army continue fighting even after it was obvious that Germany was going to lose the war?
•True or False? During World War II, the average American soldier was motivated to defeat Nazism and this is what drove him to fight? Explain your answer.
•Explain how the idea of group as family and one’s real family can both contribute to group solidarity and also be a threat to it.
5. Erikson, “Collective Trauma at Buffalo Creek” p.49 (15 points)
•Erikson’s article is about social structure/social organization but only in the sense that it examines what happens to people when social organization/social structure, i.e. their community, is lost, which can lead to psychological trauma. Explain how the physical disaster had psychological and social consequences for the residents of Buffalo Creek.
6. Anderson: “The Code of the Street,” p.225 (15 points)
•Describe the cultural adaptation called the “code of the street” by sociologist, Elijah Anderson. * Explain why this adaptation has developed, the two common adaptations to the common problem, the nature the code, and the most significant reason why, especially young people, commonly embrace this code.
7. Karp: “American Culture: Individualism and Community,” p.227 (15 points)
•Based on your reading of Karp’s thoughtful article, explain how American culture believes in BOTH community and individualism but how individualism often threatens our most cherished institution, i.e. the family.
8. Skolnick and Skolnick: “Family in Transition,” p.286 (15 points)
•Name and describe the three myths regarding family life.
•Name and describe the three aspects of the Triple Revolution in family life.
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