Exam 1: Introduction

When we now study society we must study both the "real" and "virtual" worlds we inhabit. Is there a clear distinction between these worlds? - or are they becoming one and the same? Explain your answer.

Explain the distinction between sociological theories and those from the other branches of science.

Define theories and explain how they differ from ideas found in religion and philosophy. Next, use these definitions as a foundation for the contemporary debate about evolution, "intelligent design" and the separation between church and state in U.S. schools.

Social facts are true because:

So-called facts are based on implicit assumptions and unacknowledged presuppositions.

First, briefly explain the Industrial Revolution's impact on the birth of sociology. Discuss the role that this era played in the development of sociology while applying sociological concepts to your discussion.

Your textbook argues Abdel Rahman Ibn-Khaldun, Confucius, and Aristotle can best be understood as pre-modern sociologists.

Discuss the Enlightenment and its impact on sociology.

Many of the seeds for what would become sociology were first planted with

One of the most important aspects of the new attitude from the Enlightenment was an emphasis on

Explain the connection between reason and science.

In general, it is relatively easy to fashion universal laws to explain societal dynamics.

The four coordinates used in the authors' table of theorists' basic orientation should be considered by the student as:

According to the authors' metatheoretical actors seen as relatively free to reproduce the patterns and routines of social life is categorized as

Your authors argue that most scholars, researchers, and students view these theorists in exactly the same light, thus validating the fixed points of the theorists' basic orientation table.

Which of the following is not true of scientific theories?

Define theory and its use in science.

When a student starts thinking and writing about material presented in a secondary reading, she is how many steps removed from the original text?

Secondary texts do not merely translate what the theorist wrote into simpler terms; rather, in order to simplify, they must revise what an author has said.