Introduction to Sociology

Yanıt Açıklaması: Functionalist Approach: Functionalism starts with society as a whole, rather than an individual in its analysis of deviance, and it seeks the sources of deviance in the nature of society. The functionalist approach focuses not only on personal instincts, but also on the product of deviance by social structure.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Option E is about Symbolic Interactionism.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Deviance in the daily language means departing from a recognized path and refers to actions that do not fit the expectations and norms of a particular social group. In general terms, deviance could be defined as the visible violation of cultural norms. The concept of deviance is much broader than the concept of crime, which describes incompatible behavior that violates only one law. Deviances do not always involve an action or preference. Even the presence of some people could be a problem to others. The social bases of deviance could be listed as follows: (1) Deviance varies depending on cultural norms. No thought or behavior is deviant by itself, but they become deviant in terms of their relation to certain norms. (2) People become deviant because the others qualify them as such. (3) The definition of norms and violations of rules by societies involves social power. The correct answer is Choice D.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Functional sociology in general, Durkheim in particular, suggests that forms of action, belief and emotion, that is culture, emerge from the organization of social structure or needs, rather than from the choice of the agent or his/her interpretation of the social world. Durkheim’s evolutionist view ignores traditional societies’ complexity and beliefs, assuming that traditional societies are “simpler” or “primitive” than industrial societies. Therefore, the correct option is E.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Marx considered religion inseparable from the worker and the economy.

Yanıt Açıklaması: The key concepts of the functionalist approach are order, balance, harmony, function and evolutionary (not revolutionary) change. For functionalist sociologists, every social institution has some functions and if they function well, society would operate smoothly. Although sometimes conflicts may occur, it is not a permanent phenomenon.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Social conflict theory has always focused heavily on the differential distribution of resources as reflected in the socioeconomic class structure of society. Marx also defined religion from that perspective. The answer is C.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Unlike Durkheim, Stark and Bainbridge see religion as meeting the needs of individuals rather than those of society as a whole. Unlike Marx,they see religion as meeting universal human needs rather than those which stem from class inequality and exploitation. The answer is C.

Yanıt Açıklaması: In its earliest formulations by Enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire, Marx, Comte, and Spencer, there is little doubt that secularization involved a linear and unstoppable decline of religion to the point of its disappearance. August Comte, pioneering French sociologist as a founder of discipline of sociology, suggests that human history passed through three stages, namely, theological, metaphysical and positive stage. Each stage was characterized by a different set of intellectual beliefs: In the first, theological stage, religious and superstitious beliefs would be dominant. These would be weakened as society passed into the second, metaphysical state, during which philosophy would become more important. Religious belief would disappear altogether in the final, positive stage, in which science alone would dominate human thinking and direct human behavior.

Yanıt Açıklaması: When comparing Weber and Durkheim, one might start simply by noting that whereas Durkheim was interested in the generic notion of religion, Weber was concerned with the historical and comparative importance of religions. Durkheim famously observed it to consist of a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things. Weber, by contrast, declared that defining religion is not possible at the start of a presentation such as this. Definition can be attempted, if at all, only at the conclusion of the study. While Weber examined the consequences of the ‘economic ethics’ of the world religions, Durkheim examined the ‘elementary forms’ of religious classification. The correct answer is C.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Norm: They are formal / written or informal / non-written rules that are deemed necessary for the integrity and continuity of a society, and regulate the behavior of individuals. Therefore, the correct option is A.

Yanıt Açıklaması: The people’s obligation to live as a community makes it imperative to overcome the inconsistencies caused by living as a community. The mentioned quests, have gained different dimensions in modern times along with the Age of Enlightenment. Sociology, which has emerged as a field of science independent from philosophy, has strived to analyze social life with a scientific point of view. In particular, the understanding of social order based on the scientific reality that was promised by modernity to humanity or the understandings in the form of the New Age of mankind set forth by a progressive approach have given rise to the opinion that an important step has been reached in the mentioned searches for harmony.

Yanıt Açıklaması: White-collar crimes are committed by individuals belonging to wealthy segments of society, such as tax evasion, illegal sales, securities and real estate frauds and embezzlement. Measuring the distribution of white-collar crimes is more difficult than other crimes because most of these types of crimes are not included in official statistics. These crimes are actually more harmful than other crimes and are more prevalent in industrial societies. The correct answer is B.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Max Weber’s (1864–1920) social action theory argues that human action is directed by meanings and motives. From this perspective, action can only be understood by appreciating the world view, the image or picture of the world held by its members Weber is most famous for arguing that Protestanism produced modern capitalism; later in his comparative studies he attempted to demonstrate that each of the great world religions laid down the tracks along which Europe, the Islamic world, India, and China moved in their distinctive directions. Weber is also the systematic sociologist of stratification, bureaucracy and other non-religious social institutions; but he worked out his entire sociology in the process of tracing the patterns of historical change connected to religion. According to Weber-in his classic book, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism -religion responds to the basic human need to understand the purpose of life. In doing so, religion must give meaning to the social world within which life occurs. This means creating a worldview that can have social, political, and economic consequences. For instance, consider the issue of whether salvation can be achieved through active mastery (hard work, for example) or through passive contemplation (meditation). Calvinism expresses the first approach, and the second is evident in several of the Eastern religions. Using these ideas, Weber theorized that Calvinism fostered the Protestant ethic of hard work and asceticism and that Protestantism was an important influence on the development of capitalism. Calvinism is rooted in the concept of predestination, which means that before people are born, some of them are selected for heaven and others for hell. Nothing anyone does in this world, Calvinists believe, can change this. Max Weber posited that, in Europe in his time, Protestants were more likely than Catholics to value capitalist ideology, and believed in hard work and savings. He showed that Protestant values directly influenced the rise of capitalism and helped create the modern world order. As also understood from the information given, the correct answer is D. The statement in the option V is about Durkheim, not Weber. When comparing Weber and Durkheim, one might start simply by noting that whereas Durkheim was interested in the generic notion of religion (specifically the classification of the sacred and profane) , Weber was concerned with the historical and comparative importance of religions. Durkheim famously observed it to consist of a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things. Weber, by contrast, declared in The Sociology of Religion that defining religion is not possible at the start of a presentation such as this.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Aesthetic, is a subdiscipline in philosophy that deals with art and beauty, and is closely related to philosophy of art. In general, the term aesthetic is concerned with the identification of general and universal principles that determine ‘art’ and ‘beauty.’) Therefore, the correct option is C.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Culture produced by cultural industries does not develop spontaneously , and it is a standardized and commodified culture aiming at reaching the widest masses . Mass culture is a culture that belongs mainly to industrial capitalism and is largely produced by mass media . It targets both more consumption and profit, as well as reproduction of capitalist values . The correct answer is C.

Yanıt Açıklaması: White-collar crimes: These crimes are committed by individuals belonging to wealthy segments of society, such as tax evasion, illegal sales, securities and real estate frauds and embezzlement.

Yanıt Açıklaması: The Chicago ècole is a symbolic interactionist approach that was firstly defined by its urban sociological studies, in general sociology, and then becomes influential in criminology and is also called the environmental approach. It is the theory arguing that the human behavior is determined not by genetic and personal factors, but by the social and physical environment.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Social norms could be basically classified into five groups; religious rules, moral rules, manners and customs, fashion rules and legal rules. The concept of anomie should be well understood to ensure a better understanding of norms.

Yanıt Açıklaması: The Birmingham School, which has an emphasis on cultural autonomy, is in the opinion that the culture is shaped primarily by dominant powers/power relations (Smith, 2001:208-227).