SPRING 2025 – SOC 430 EXAM 1 Topic/Question Menu Pick ONE of the following topics and write an es ...
SPRING 2025 – SOC 430 EXAM 1 Topic/Question Menu Pick ONE of the following topics and write an essay of no more than 1200 words in response. Save your essay as a .doc, .docx, .rtf, or .pdf file. Make sure you appropriately cite the source(s) of quoted passages and paraphrases. 1. Compare and contrast Marx (and Marx&Engels) to Durkheim on: A. the ‘causes’ of the development of the division of labor and specialization of functions in societies, and B. the effects/implications of the development of the division of social labor for societies, social groups within them, and their individual members. 2. Define ‘mechanical’ and ‘organic’ solidarity, according to Durkheim. Discuss the (reciprocal) relationship between: A. the extent (and flexibility) of the division & specialization of labor/functions in a society and B. the relative contribution of each type of solidarity in bonding/attaching individuals to each other and to society (overall and/or various societies), according to Durkheim. 3. Compare and contrast “alienation” (as defined and discussed by Marx) and “anomie” (as defined and discussed by Durkheim) as problematic features of societies like ours, or of certain important sectors (e.g., the economy or commerce, industry, and finance) of them. Discuss Marx and Durkheim’s proposed ‘remedies’ (or ‘solutions’) for the problematic feature each focused on. 4. Analyze Marx&Engels’s description of, and predictions about, the formation of proletarians into a solidary class (in the Communist Manifesto) using Durkheim’s concepts of ‘mechanical’ and ‘organic’ solidarity. 5. Define Durkheim’s notion of collective conscience (or consciousness). What determines the number of collective consciences that simultaneously exist in a society, and their relations with one another? What determines the strength of the effect of collective conscience(s) on (or control over) individual consciences? What determines the kind of effect such collective consciences have on the thoughts, sentiments and conduct of individuals? Discuss. 6. Is every social group, to some variable degree, ‘a Church’ according to Durkheim? What determines the degree to which a social group is ‘a Church’ (according to Durkheim’s definition of the term), its ‘Church-ness’, as it were? What are the effects on individuals (their thoughts, sentiments, actions) of the degree of “Church-ness” of the groups of which they are parts or members? Discuss. (The relative contribution of mechanical vs. organic solidarity in integrating a social group may be useful here) 7. Under what circumstances, and in which types of societies, are ‘egoism’ and ‘anomie’ (rather than ‘altruism’ – i.e., ‘groupism’ – and ‘fatalism’) likely to be regularly occurring problematic or pathological/abnormal social (and individual) states, according to Durkheim? What must such societies (allow or seek to) develop to prevent, minimize, and remedy such problematic social (and individual) states, according to Durkheim? (NB. This topic is NOT about Durkheim’s attempted typology of suicide, and explanation of suicide rates) 8. Compare and contrast Marx and Durkheim on the possible causes and effects of “nationalism”/patriotism in modern societies? Does the content of the national/country ideals matter for the possible effects of nationalism/patriotism? Discuss. 9. What are the ultimate causes of ‘alienated labor’ in capitalist societies, according to Marx? How are ‘alienated labor’ and the ‘fetishism of commodities’ connected according to Marx, and how may they have different (even contradictory) effects on the consciousness of ‘proletarians’? Discuss. 10. Summarize Engels’ argument regarding the positions of, and relations between, men and women in male supremacist ‘monogamous’ (i.e., indissoluble) marriages. Critically evaluate his analogizing of the relations between men and women in such marriages to the relation between capitalists and proletarians. How does it strengthen or weaken his analysis of gender, marriage and families? 11. Compare and contrast Marx and Durkheim on the ‘causes’ of ‘religion’ (as each defines it) and the ‘effects’ of religion and religious life on individuals, groups, and societies. 12. Compare and contrast Marx and Durkheim on the effects of ‘moral’ (social and cultural) regulation of economic (production, distribution, exchange, consumption) life on individuals, groups, and societies.
