Sociological Analysis Exam: Week 9 Trinity Term (June 2020)
Part A Questions:
1) How can we explain social class differences in rates of attaining a university degree?
2) Describe, with application to at least two empirical studies, the logic of signalling theory. Mention the role of reputation, status, and repeated interactions.
3) How might an explanatory framework of 'values and identities' help explain the ballot box successes for Brexit and Trump in 2016?
4) Why are weak ties thought to be more effective than strong ties for 'getting ahead'?
5) How do neighbourhoods influence the lives of individuals? Delineate individual-level processes from neighbourhood-level processes.
6) How do protest movements diffuse?
7) To what extent can growing tolerance of homosexuality in Western societies be understood as a result of micro-level or macro-level processes?
Part B Questions:
8) Should sociologists invoke individual-level mechanisms for explaining macro-level phenomena? Why, or why not?
9) Give sociological explanations for seemingly non-rational sociological behaviours. Draw on literature on at least two topics such as violence, vote choice, education, or another topic of your own.
10) What is a 'social mechanism'? Discuss with examples.
11) “As soon as a social phenomenon can be explained as the outcome of rational individual actions, the explanation invites no further question: It contains no black boxes.” (Boudon 2003). What does Boudon mean by ‘black boxes,? And to what extent do you agree with Boudon,s statement?
12) In what ways can social networks be invoked as an explanatory mechanism in sociological studies? Draw on literature on at least two topics such as social movements, status attainment, attitude change, or other topics of your own.