Sample Questions PDF

**Sample questions** **I-1.** Referring to the dramaturgical analysis and using (not all, of course!) the conceptual framework of Erving Goffman, describe the performance of the individuals in the situation of a market place. **II-2. Explain why naturalistic explanations of human behaviour ("women...

**Sample questions** **I-1.** Referring to the dramaturgical analysis and using (not all, of course!) the conceptual framework of Erving Goffman, describe the performance of the individuals in the situation of a market place. **II-2. Explain why naturalistic explanations of human behaviour ("women are emotional", "men are rational", "black people are...", etc.,) can be dangerous.** **II-3.** Technically speaking, our socialisation processes contain "scientific accounts" / "objective series of phases". Explain the "**subjective"** dimension of this process. **II-4.** Explain the **violence** in everyday life according to 2 theories (Sigmund Freud and George Herbert Mead) of socialization. **II-6. Taking into consideration the debates around racism and sexism, explain the phenomenon of rape.** **III-7.** Taking into consideration the debates around the "social body" and the "commodification of the bodies" (and other related concepts, if necessary), and **using the [Text 1]**, write an essay on the "working class individual's body". **[Text 1]: Nearly 40 Employees Tattoo Their Bodies To Get A Raise** By Dan Fastenberg, Apr 26th 2013 In the new economy, with layoffs a regular occurrence, many employees feel that no jobs are permanent. One day, your boss can be celebrating your work, but the next he can hand you a pink slip (iştençıkarmabildirimi). So, would you be willing to tattoo the company\'s logo on your body if you were promised a 15 percent raise in return? Rapid Reality, a New York-based residential real estate brokerage firm, made that offer to its 800 employees, and nearly 40 employees permanently inked themselves with the company logo, according to Inman News, the online real estate news site. (Rapid Realty, a company with 800 employees, does not release brokers\' income but pays its brokers entirely in commission.) \"I don\'t see myself going anywhere, and if I have it on my arm, it\'ll force me to keep going and working hard,\" Brooklyn-based broker Adam Altman said while getting the tattoo, in a video that Rapid Realty posted to YouTube. \"It\'s there for life. Rapid for life, yo.\" The company\'s founder, Anthony Lolli, who came up with the idea, says the 36 employees who got the tattoo were demonstrating admirable commitment to their work. They \"get a lot of respect from the other agents with the amount of commitment that they have,\" he told Inman News. And the company\'s social media accounts proudly promote the employee body-branding campaign: In writing about the tattoos, the New York-based industry publication, The Real Deal, said the tattoos caught on thanks to Rapid\'s policy of giving brokers the \"chance to run their own businesses,\" as franchises. The practice sets Rapid apart from other New York firms that have a more centralized organization and \"may inspire the outsize dedication,\" the Real Deal said. With the housing collapse, real estate brokers have faced a tough few years, but a few big deals in New York can give brokers a big income. According to 2012 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the mean wage of real estate brokers in New York City is \$112,000. What do you think? Would you tattoo yourself with your company\'s logo for a raise? **III-8.** Taking into consideration the debates around "exclusion" and "discrimination" (and other related concepts, if necessary), and **using the [Text 2]**, write an essay on the process of multiple-leveled (class, ethnicity etc.) identity formation. **[Text 2]: Sweden shaken as riots continue in immigrant suburbs** **USA TODAY,** *May 25, 2013* [STORY HIGHLIGHTS] **Violence erupted May 19 after police shooting of 69-year-old man** **Unemployment is at 16% for residents of foreign origin; 7% for general population** **In suburbs engulfed in rioting, most residents are of non-Swedish origin** Days of rioting have left Sweden searching for answers, wondering what went wrong in a nation welcoming of foreigners and proud of its tradition of tolerance and social equality. It has also spurred a debate about the underlying causes, with some Swedes blaming the perpetrators for failing to integrate and other residents of these suburbs complaining they have been forgotten by mainstream society. The violence that erupted May 19 followed a police shooting of a 69-year-old man who, police say, was waving a machete as officers attempted to search his home in the largely immigrant enclave of Husby, a Stockholm suburb. The torching of cars and buildings, and attacks on police in multiple districts in the capital have shocked Swedes unused to such mass violence. \"This has shaken Sweden,\" said Peter Kadhammar, who covers immigration and integration issues for Swedish daily *Aftonbladet*. Swedish newspapers report more than 100 cars have been set on fire since the riots began and dozens of buildings --- including schools, stores and a police station --- have also been torched. The unrest in poor, immigrant suburbs is the latest to break out in Europe over the past decade following riots in Paris in 2005 and in London in 2011. Analysts say they have much in common. \"Whether it\'s the young black males in London who suffer from the highest unemployment rates of all sections of society or the young migrants on the outskirts of Paris who again are blighted by very high levels of unemployment and very low levels of formal education, a perceived sense of injustice marked the disturbances much in the same way that riots in Los Angeles or in London were sparked by police action.\" In Tensta, one of the Stockholm suburbs hit by rioting, the common complaint by young men gathered on the street was a lack of employment opportunities and activities for youth, along with police violence and racism, and a general feeling that no one cares. "They are trying to make their voices heard, and this is the only way to do this in Sweden right now,\" said HomaBadpa, a second-generation Swede of Iranian descent. Some blame the violence on the Swedish government: Administrations in the past two decades have been slowly dismantling the cradle-to-grave welfare benefit system known as the \"Swedish model.\" As a result, rising income inequality is hitting young and immigrant populations hard: Unemployment is running at 16% among residents of foreign origin and 7% for the general population. While Stockholm is one of the world\'s richest cities, it is also segregated, locals say. In the suburbs engulfed in the rioting, most of the residents are of non-Swedish origin, mainly from Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Somalia. Sweden has been traditionally welcoming of refugees and 15% of residents in the country are foreign-born, one of the highest ratios in Europe. But over the past two decades, Swedes have been increasingly worried about immigrants failing to integrate and the cost to the state in benefits. This concern has spurred the success of the anti-immigrant far right party, the Sweden Democrats, which won enough votes to enter parliament for the first time in 2010 and is polling in third place ahead of elections next year. \"Sweden is going through something of a transition,\" Goodwin said. \"It has seen the rise of explicitly anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim political movement. \... It is symptomatic of a view within a section of Swedish society not only concerned with immigration and the speed at which society is changing but also anxious at the unwillingness of mainstream parties to curb it or stop it altogether.\" \"We (have become) an immigrant country de facto today... but our systems are perhaps not made for an immigrant society,\" Kadhammar said. **II-2.** Taking into consideration (and explaining) the formula "taste classifies, and it classifies the classifier" of Pierre Bourdieu, write an essay on the usages of technological devices (such as mobiles phones) and the related products (such as facebook, twitter, instagram etc.). **II-3.** Weber argues that there is a strong relation between the **Protestant** (Calvinist) ethic and the **capitalism**. He thinks also that the world becomes increasingly "**disenchanted**". Discuss how a "religious world" can be "disenchanted"? **II-4.** Explain the following statement of Karl Marx: "People are born into history that is not of their making; but men also make history." How can we incorporate his theory about the "**alienation**" into this making of history in capitalist societies? 1\) Explain why explaining "familiar human traits" as "human nature" is terribly damaging. 2\) **Compare and discuss** the "continual combat" between "Id" and "superego" (Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic approach) and "cooperatively dialecticalprocess" between "I" and "Me" (George Herbert Mead's social behaviourist approach). Give examples. 3\) Explain the place of feelings or attitudes like "imitation / desire" and "**shame** /embarrassment" in the creation of modern / civilized bodies in modern times. 4\) Discuss the workings of the "homogeneous modern nation" in the production of both "equality" and "discrimination" between citizens. 5\) Explain why at the heart of the system of inequality and social exclusion stand the**assertions that one category is "inherently better" or more intelligent (or "worse" or "stupid")**. 6\) Write an essay, by discussing the learning processes of gender (patriarchy, "natural supremacy" of men etc.) on violence against women including for example "honour" killing or family violence. 8\) By taking into consideration and analysing one of the following texts,**explain why it is much more intelligible to use the term "racialisation" instead of "race" in order to understand the fundamentals of the racism.** **II-3.** Explain why at the heart of the system of inequality and social exclusion stand the**assertions that one category is "inherently better" or more intelligent (or "worse" or "stupid")**. What is the relation of these assertions with **"Scapegoat theory of prejudice" and "Thomas theorem"**? **II-4.** Turkey\'s population of nearly **75 million**, mostly Muslim, includes about 65,000 Armenian Orthodox Christians, 20,000 Jews, 15,000 Arameans (Syriacs) and about 3,500 Greek Orthodox Christians (a total of almost **100,000 non-Muslims**). Given these numbers, discuss the problematic relations of the Turkish-Muslim majority with these minorities by using appropriate theories on racism. **II-5.** Referring to the theories about identity and racism, explain why the disabled people are threatening routine order and why they are excluded from society. **III-6.** By taking into consideration and **analysing the following text**,**explain why it is much more intelligible to use the term "racialisation" in order to understand the fundamentals of the racism and / or hatred for others.** **The ordeal of a hermaphrodite in Turkey,** Gülden Aydın, *Hürriyet*, 23.5.2014 A hermaphrodite individual has spoken out about the lack of acceptance in Turkey of people who were born with both male and female sexual attributes, as well as the social pressure they face to choose genders. BülentCoşkun, 34, a hermaphrodite living in Istanbul, spoke about the daily social humiliation faced by hermaphrodites, in an interview with daily Hürriyet. Facing household attacks and constant social pressure, Coşkun's life is emblematic of the difficulties faced by others who live with two genders. "The state of having two genders should be taught at public schools. The Directorate of Religious Affairs should give sermons. The state should issue a freedom law and give heavy penalties to those who humiliate hermaphrodites," Coşkun told Hürriyet. The child of farmers living in the rural western province of Düzce, Coşkun's father was determined to have a boy after having two girls. He forced Coşkun to undergo six heavy operations 14 years ago to close the female reproductive organs. The medical intervention failed and when the doctor said eight other operations would be necessary, Coşkun refused to continue. The surgery mistakes had made Coşkun's life even more difficult until new medical interventions two years ago. "I came back home and told my family 'Look what you did to me.' I fell into depression. I fled home and came to Istanbul, found a doctor who I told everything to. He cured me. I brought my father to him. They talked in private and that day my father understood me," Coşkun said. **'In peace with both genders'** Coşkun regained the female reproductive organs after recently undergoing three operations. The doctor who conducted the surgery even proposed a [sex](http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/tag/sex) change to become a woman, but Coşkun said no. "I told him that I had no doubts about my feminity, but I am at peace with my masculinity. So I refused," Coşkun said. Coşkun does not work after receiving a disability report, and added that many questions remained unsolved for hermaphrodites. "I want to go on the Umra \[religious pilgrimage\], but will I cover my head as a woman, or go without a veil like a man?" Coşkun said. **I-1.** Using Goffman's theories e**xplain the importance of everyday life's rules in continuation of social orderand the resistance to it.** **I-4. Write an essay on the relationships between social classes and modern nation-state. Don't forget the place of national identity.** **II-6.** Discuss why does society treat **racial** and **ethnic groups** differently, and why is there **social inequality **between these groups? **II-7.**Discuss how are the social, racial and **ethnical divisions** and **inequalities** able to persist so stubbornly? **III-8. Please choose only one of the two following issues (A or B). And discuss it from the perspective of culture and racialisation. Take into consideration the dimensions of "identity", "protecting or defending one's own culture", "accepting the other" and "hybrid identities" in relation with each other. (Your political opinions are, sure, very valuable; but please don't bring ideological accusations or legitimations concerning people in the examples and don't forget to think sociologically.)** **A) "New Year" celebrations in Muslim countries becoming problematic and creating some tensions among some groups.** **B)**Three masked gunmen attacked the Paris offices of a satirical newspaper -*Charlie Hebdo*- Wednesday, January 7^th^and killing 12 people, before escaping in a car. It was France\'s deadliest postwar terrorist attack. According to witnesses, two armed and masked men walked into the headquarters of the *Charlie Hebdo* magazine and opened fire in the entrance hallway, killing people as they saw them. The gunmen reportedly sought out members of the newspaper\'s staff by name during the rampage through the 2nd floor office, which lasted between five and 10 minutes, according to witnesses. Security forces were hunting for the gunmen who spoke flawless, unaccented French in the military-style noon-time attack on the weekly newspaper, located near Paris\' Bastille monument. President Francois Hollande said it was a terrorist act \"of exceptional barbarism,\" adding that other attacks have been thwarted in France in recent weeks. Fears have been running high in France and elsewhere in Europe that jihadis returning from conflicts in Syria and Iraq will stage attacks at home. Charlie Hebdo has been repeatedly threatened for its caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad and other sketches. Its offices were firebombed in 2011 after an issue featured a caricature of the prophet on its cover. Nearly a year later, the publication again published Muhammad caricatures, drawing denunciations from the Muslim world because Islam prohibits the publication of drawings of its founder. **Whereas in Turkey:** **Some Turkish newspapers covered the issue with the titles like** "Attack on the magazine that provoked Muslims" or "Attack on the magazine that insulted our Prophet".  Several reader comments also appeared on these newspapers' Facebook page. "I hope they will continue \[to kill\] infidels," said one reader on the website, while another reader wrote "Thanks to those who did it." **I-2.**"Distributing resources unequally motivates each person to aspire to work better, harder". Make a **critical analysis** of the above functionalist statement about the **social stratification**. **I-3. Discuss why the body is not only biological but also social and political.** **II-4.** Explain why and how **racialization** lies at the heart of the system of **inequality** and **social exclusion**. **II-6.**Referring to the concepts of **gender stratification** and **sexism**, write an essay on **violence against women** including for example "honour" killing or family violence. **III-4.**Referring to your readings, explain the following statement of Goebbels, the propaganda minister of Nazi regime: "The propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated are confident that they are acting on their free will." **III-5.** Discuss critically the authoritarian and totalitarian tendencies in our societies and the "dehumanisation" process of some people by others. You are free to refer to any theory / or theories; but you have to refer. :) **Some excerpts from George Orwell's *1984*.** The frightening thing, he reflected for the ten thousandth time (...)---the frightening thing was that it might all be true. If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event, IT NEVER HAPPENED--- that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death? The Party said that Oceania had never been in alliance with Eurasia. He, Winston Smith, knew that Oceania had been in alliance with Eurasia as short a time as four years ago. But where did that knowledge exist? Only in his own consciousness, which in any case must soon be annihilated. And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed--- if all records told the same tale---then the lie passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past,' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.' And yet the past, though of its nature alterable, never had been altered. Whatever was true now was true from everlasting to everlasting. It was quite simple. All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. 'Reality control', they called it: in Newspeak, 'doublethink'. (p. 43, 44) And the Records Department, after all, was itself only a single branch of the Ministry of Truth, whose primary job was not to reconstruct the past but to supply the citizens of Oceania with newspapers, films, textbooks, telescreen programmes, plays, novels---with every conceivable kind of information, instruction, or entertainment, from a statue to a slogan, from a lyric poem to a biological treatise, and from a child's spelling-book to a Newspeak dictionary. And the Ministry had not only to supply the multifarious needs of the party, but also to repeat the whole operation at a lower level for the benefit of the proletariat. There was a whole chain of separate departments dealing with proletarian literature, music, drama, and entertainment generally. Here were produced rubbishy newspapers containing almost nothing except sport, crime and astrology, sensational five-cent novelettes, films oozing with sex, and sentimental songs which were composed entirely by mechanical means on a special kind of kaleidoscope known as a versificator. There was even a whole sub-section---Pornosec, it was called in Newspeak---engaged in producing the lowest kind of pornography, which was sent out in sealed packets and which no Party member, other than those who worked on it, was permitted to look at. (p. 54, 55) A few agents of the Thought Police moved always among them, spreading false rumours and marking down and eliminating the few individuals who were judged capable of becoming dangerous; but no attempt was made to indoctrinate them with the ideology of the Party. It was not desirable that the proles should have strong political feelings. All that was required of them was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever it was necessary to make them accept longer working-hours or shorter rations. And even when they became discontented, as they sometimes did, their discontent led nowhere, because being without general ideas, they could only focus it on petty specific grievances. The larger evils invariably escaped their notice. (p. 91, 92) **I-1.** Explain **the role of the ideology in the persistence of social stratification (social classes and social division).** **I-2. Explain how does the racialisation** process work in **everyday life**. Please give concrete examples. **II-3.** The debate over women and "**the Islamic headscarf**" has achieved an almost central role in many Western societies. There have been controversies about it in schools and workplace, such as freedom of belief, subordination of women etc. How can a **sociologist** help in such a passionate public debate? **II-4.** Describe the image of "**ideal female beauty**" created and disseminated by advertisers. Briefly describe [two] serious, real-life consequences for women that result from the repeated sexualisation and objectification of women's bodies in such advertising images. **III-5.** Below you have a real life story taken from a press release of a Turkish NGO. Referring to your theoretical readings, please discuss **different dimensions of stratification** observed in that story. An Ugandan refugee textile worker has been killed subsequent to group rape. The Ugandan JescaNankabirwa had been living in Turkey for one year, working in a textile plant in Sultangazi for a monthly salary of 900 Turkish liras, which she sent back home to Uganda for her children. Having been lost for four days after vanishing on September 6, 2014, she'd been found by her friends in the Yenibosna Hospital's mortuary. She's been recorded in the public prosecution's report as a case of 'suspicious death.' The suspect caught in connection to her death has been released due to lack of evidence. Jesca's is one of the gravest cases in which the refugee women have been exposed to discrimination practices. Forced into flight by poverty and war, refugee women who incidentally find themselves in Turkey are condemned to discrimination, maltreatment, cheap and unsafe working conditions and ridiculously high amounts of house rent for the most secluded abodes (*spaces of dirt and misery -izbemekan*). To make matters worse yet, they are exposed to sexual harassment and violence by men. Refugee women who live in this country without official identification dare not complain (*they have no courage to complain*) about the sexual harassment and rapes they go through lest they are deported out of Turkey. Jesca has also been killed in that vein as a woman rendered nonvalent (*değersiz*) and unprotected by the laws of this country.