Sociology

Sociology

Required Texts:
Introduction to Sociology: Second Edition by George Ritzer: ISBN: 978-1-4833-0294-2. Sage Publications: 2015
From Ritzer, page 32 (most of these are your instructor’s interpretations of his questions)
1.    What kind of technology and/or social media do you use to communicate with others?
2.    There are McDonald’s and Prada, Coca-Cola and Louis Vuitton, Pizza Hut and Mercedes-Benz all over the world. Do you think that these stores are changing the local culture?
3.    What is the Sociological Imagination? (How do private troubles sometimes become public issues?)
4.    “What is the difference between structure and agency?” (Ritzer 2015)
5.    What is the social construction of reality? (Give a brief example.)
From Ritzer, page 64 (most of these are your instructor’s interpretations of his questions)

1.    What is the conflict theory?
2.    Why does Karl Marx fit into conflict theory?
3.    What is structural-functionalism?
4.    How does Durkheim fit into the structural-functionalist theory?
5.    What is symbolic interactionism?
6.    How does W.I. Thomas fit into the symbolic interactionist theory? (There will be a link to something in EO that will help you answer this question.)
Required Texts:
Contemporary Readings in Sociology by Kathleen Odell Korgen ISBN: 13; 978-1-4129-1. Pine Forge Press (An imprint of Sage Publications): 2008.
From Korgan, page 202
1.    “What does Turk mean when he says that terrorism is a “social construct?”  (Korgen 2008)
From Eagle Online (Chapter 1)
1.    Quick Quiz, page 12
2.    Something to Ponder, page 32
1.    What makes the sociological perspective different from other ways of looking at the world?
2.    What issues or topics do you think lend themselves to sociological inquiry and the use of the sociological imagination?
3.    How would you “do” sociology? (You will learn about this in the next chapter.)

Theories for Discussion Questions
In Ritzer—
1. The Changing Nature of the Social World—and Sociology (p. 6)
2. Central Concerns for a Twenty-First Century for Sociology (p. 7)
3. Sociology: Continuity and Change (p. 18-24)
4. The Social Construction of Reality (pp. 25-26)
5. Sociology, the Other Social Sciences and Common Sense (pp. 29-31)

In Ritzer—
1.    Classic Sociological Theory (pp. 38-48)
2.    Contemporary Sociological Theory (pp. 49-52)
3.    Conflict/Critical Theories (pp. 54-57)
4.    Interactionist Theories (pp. 60-63)

In Korgen—
From Part VII (Pick 1 of the following from Part VII: The readings are the same for the “Doing Sociology” (DS1-DS4) Forums and the “Answers to the Required Questions” (Q1-Q4) Forums) • Reading 26—Sociology of Terrorism by Austin T. Turk (pp. 197-203)
Reading 27—Free Market Ideology and Environmental Degradation: The Case of Belief in Global Climate Change by Yuko Heath and Robert Gifford (pp. 203-209)
Reading 28—Glocommodification: How the Global Consumes the Local—McDonald’s in Israel by Uri Ram (pp. 209-216)

In Korgen—

From Part VIII (Required Readings: The readings are the same for the “Doing Sociology” (DS1-DS4) Forums and the “Answers to the Required Questions” (Q1-Q4) Forums) •
Reading 33—Corporate Citizenship and Social Responsibility in a Globalized World by Juan José Placios (pp. 250-257)