Introduction to Sociology

Yanıt Açıklaması: Conflict theories emphasize the importance of social structures in societies; however, unlike functionalism, which focuses on the consensus, they focus on power, social divisions, inequality and struggle among different groups pursuing their own interests. D is the correct answer.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Social values are the standards that we consult to know what is wrong and what is right. Empathy towards animals could be a social value in a society that respects creatures other than humans.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Fundamental differences between social class, slavery, caste and property ownership systems are: • Social class inequalities depend on economic reasons like job, poverty, prosperity and income. Inequality thrived with the belief system of religion, law, pressure and oppression. • Social classes are not clearly and obviously distinct from each other. Distinctions between classes are uncertain and vague. For example, it is difficult to say where the working class ends and middle class begins. • Social classes are not supported by legal inequalities. Everybody has equal rights before the law. Upper classes do not have legal authority on the lower classes. • Religious and legal restrictions or limitations are not imposed for marriages between people from different social classes. Actually, most people get married to people from similar class positions; besides, in theory, they can get married to whoever they wish. • Modern societies are open systems. There are no religious or legal restrictions for individuals or groups that may affect moving from a class to another. Social mobility between classes is possible. Individuals’ positions in social classes do not depend on inborn and ascribed (obtained) conditions. Qualities like knowledge or skill, which are earned by education, affect social class positions. At the same time, a child’s familial social position affects her/ his life and position of class in the modern society as well. Therefore, the correct option is E.

Yanıt Açıklaması: The field of study of economy as a sub-discipline of social sciences is based on some suppositions. The first hypothesis is that the sources are limited. The second is based on an assumption that human needs are infinite. The third presumes that people act rationally while they fulfill their needs on choice and preferance. Thus I and II are incorrect as the opposite of the statements is true in those ones. Thus, only III is a correct supposition.

Yanıt Açıklaması: According to Comte, in metaphysical stage, the human mind tries to explain all social and physical phenomena and events through abstract forces. D is the correct answer.

Yanıt Açıklaması: The most significant contribution of Saint-Simon to the development of sociology is the term industrial society, which successfully influenced both the radicals like Marx and the conservative theoreticians like Comte at same time by reflecting both socialist and conservative point of views.

Yanıt Açıklaması: The answer is D.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Durkheim, in his seminal study entitled “Suicide” (1897) shows that suicide rates are higher in men than women, higher for singles than people in a relationship and higher among Protestants than Catholics. He also found that suicide rates are higher in times of peace than times of war; and higher in times of economic crisis than times of economic welfare. The correct answer is Choice D.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Relative poverty is an individual’s, a family’s, or a social group’s deprivation of the necessary resources to get nourishment adequately, participate in social and cultural activities (at least the common and usual ones), and live a standard life of the societies they live in. Relative poverty involves the consideration of social needs besides the basic physical needs. The concept of absolute poverty only considers the basic physical needs, but relative poverty considers the social needs as well, and poverty is evaluated by referring to the living standards of the society.

Yanıt Açıklaması: There are four main approaches in sociology covering politics. First one is functionalist approach, second is pluralist approach, third is elite theory and fourth is Marxist-conflict theory.

Yanıt Açıklaması: In the caste system, distinctions and inequalities are created by some characteristics like religion, lineage, ethnic connection, or race, which an individual gets by birth and believed not to change.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Absolute poverty is an individual’s or a family’s lack of income and consumption by failing to meet the basic biological needs like food, shelter and clothing. Absolute poverty is also expressed as livelihood poverty because it is evaluated on the requirements for minimum living necessities. Absolute poverty measurements generally delimit the poverty with financial poverty.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Upward Mobility is an individual’s or a group’s move to another social position that is different from the older social position or status. Put differently, it expresses a movement of individuals or groups between social layers, which differ by prestige, reputation and income. Upward mobility may happen to upwards and to downwards. For example, a factory worker’s graduating from a university by studying in open education, becoming a banker, getting promoted in the same job and becoming a manager is an upward social mobility.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Weber, unlike positivism, also places social action into the center of sociology and sociological analysis. From this point of view, Weber’s ideas are associated with a general theoretical perspective in sociology called interactionism. The correct answer is E.

Yanıt Açıklaması: In the most general level, societies before the 18th century are called “traditional societies”. In the Western world, the majority of the traditional societies transformed through Enlightenment, Scientific and Political Revolutions and the Industrial Revolution, and a new society emerged. This new type of society is called “the industrial society” or “the modern society”. Therefore, the correct option is A.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Power is a social relation indeed. As Veysel Bozkurt (2006: 214) defines “power is a social relation where a person (or a group) controls others behaviors”. However, in most of the definitions of power, there is an assumption of mutual relationship. This might be often a unilateral relationship; sometimes a certain person or group may assert an unlimited power or have control mechanisms over others. In this regard, power is not a concept that is merely limited to political domain. Power relations can be seen in every social relation widely between parents and children, teachers and students, women and men, employers and employees. Power does not always need consent or strain, so power may use force and violence arbitrarily. The correct answer is A.

Yanıt Açıklaması: According to Foucault, power and knowledge are tied together, and serve to reinforce one another. Therefore, the correct answer is B.

Yanıt Açıklaması: It is emphasized that the most significant contribution of Saint-Simon to the development of sociology is the term industrial society , which successfully influenced both the radicals like Marx and conservative theoreticians like Comte at same time by reflecting both socialist and conservative point of views (Ritzer, 2011: 15; Swingewood, 2009: 37). The correct answer is A.

Yanıt Açıklaması: The answer is B. III is false because it is the view of the field of economics.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Comte considered sociology as the queen of sciences and the science of future due to its scientific power.