Study Guide Final Exam Sociology 3701

I. Concepts and theories.

experiment, random assignment, experimental control, cognitive dissonance theory, techniques of neutralization, initiation effect, social implosion, stigma, discredited vs discreditable, normals and stigmatized, allies, "the wise," moral career, normal deviance, body troubles, marked identity, hegemonic ideas, double consciousness, social movements and social realities, postmodernism, deconstructionism, mindful (re)construction of reality, ossification, authenticity, cultural scripts, revolution of rising expectations, rampage shootings,
double consciousness, talking back, "passing" vs. "coming out," desocialization, Buddhist sociology, ethnomethodology.
Videos: "Anybody's Son Will Do ," "Mask," "The Power of 504," "After Stonewall"

II. Essay questions. As usual, the key to a good essay will be your ability to support your arguments with course materials.

1. One of the officers in "Anybody's Son Will Do," suggests that basic training provides recruits with the means for "building a marine." Discuss the changes that recruits experience, using both cognitive dissonance theory and symbolic interactionism.

2. One of the most important social psychological aspects of stigma is the effect it has one someone's self and identity. What are some of the strategies individuals with stigmas use to resist or minimize such effects, and why might a social movement strategy be more effective in the long run?

3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of experiment as a means of developing theories in social psychology? Give examples relating to the development of cognitive dissonance theory.

4. When you are asked to think about the social psychological dimensions of some institution, event, or process, what does that mean? In other words, what is social psychology about, compared with other sociological specialties--for example, social stratification, or criminology, or formal organizations?

5. Social movements focus on changing the world (the reconstruction of social reality) but in the process they may have just as much impact in terms of changing the people making the movement (the reconstruction of self); draw on course materials to illustrate this point.

6. We began and ended our course with readings from Bernard McGrane/Inge Bell about experiments in desocialization. Compare and contrast their approach to social psychology with that of the symbolic interactionists or with that of experimental psychology as represented by Elliott Aronson's treatment of congitive dissonance theory.