Introduction to Sociology

Yanıt Açıklaması: Radical feminists share the claim that women suffer in the family, but they do not accept capitalism as the main exploiter. They argue that women are exploited by patriarchy. For radical feminists, the most fundamental and universal form of domination is the oppression of women. The society is patriarchal or a male dominated society and family is a very important institution in maintaining male power. Correct answer is D.

Yanıt Açıklaması: The concept of “culture industry” refers to rationally organized-bureaucratic structures that considerably control and supervise modern culture, such as television networks. The answer is E.

Yanıt Açıklaması: His (Durheim's) book titled "The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life" is based on existing studies of the religious life of the Australian Aboriginals.

Yanıt Açıklaması: When dealing with religion, sociologists mainly try to understand how religions shape society and conversely, how the historical and contemporary social conditions shape religions. Thus, according to sociological approach, religion should primarily be taken a social rather than theological or psychological phenomenon. The correct answer is A.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Saint-Simon is considered “the first sociologist, and the first socialist” (Meriç, 1995). The correct answer is B.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Le Play recognized three main kinds of family, present in all parts of the world and in all ages of history. These are the patriarchal family, the unstable family and the stem family. The patriarchal family is a very stable family in which children naturally take over the habits and customs of the former generations. The unstable family is a family where the father diverges from the traditions of his ancestors, and young men move o as soon as they can fund themselves. In stem families, only one of the married children (heirs) stays in the family house; the others are given some form of dowry for marriage and establish themselves new families elsewhere. The correct answer is C.

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 thevisible violation of cultural norms. Since the norms direct almost all human activities, the limits of the concept of deviance are as broad as possible. For this reason, deviance encompasses the violation of group norms that are not legally expressed or are not mentioned in the law. Deviance could be rewarded, punished or accepted without penalty or reward.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Although there are 164 definitions of culture, these definitions can be categorized into three general groups. In other words, hundreds of different cultural definitions can be classified into three categories as aesthetic definitions of culture, anthropological definitions of culture, culture as shared meaning systems.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Since religions vary widely in substantive teachings and practices, most sociological definitions attempt to identify religion in terms of functions rather than substance. Thus, sociology focuses on the social consequences and correlates of religion but no sociological explanations suggest the truth or falsity of any religious belief. The correct answer is C.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Max Weber’s 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 Protestantism 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, in his classic book titled as Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, underlined that the 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.

Yanıt Açıklaması: The concept of anomie, which refers to normlessness and irregularity, was firstly used by the Durkheim, a French sociologist, in his work “Suicide.”

Yanıt Açıklaması: The field of study of economy as a sub-discipline of social sciences is based on some suppositions. After looking at these assumptions, it is clear that scarcity and choice are the two main concepts of the economics discipline. The correct answer is B.

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. 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.

Yanıt Açıklaması: When we consider that in everyday life, the term culture is used in a very large area and has varying meanings in various situations, we have to admit that it is very difficult to describe culture briefly and simply . The correct answer is D.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Physiological and biological theories have argued that some individuals genetically tend to be more prone to deviance than others. The first work in this sense was provided in 1870 by Cesare Lombroso, an Italian criminologist (1835-1909), who suggested that the types of criminals could be detected by certain anatomical features. Lombroso, who made analyses at prisons, suggests that the criminals resemble humans’ ape-like ancestors. Lombroso examined the physical properties of criminals such as skull and forehead shape, jaw size and limb length, and suggested that they exhibit features from earlier stages of human evolution and that they return to primitive forms of humanity.

Yanıt Açıklaması: • Nuclear families are small and geographically isolated. Extended families are more crowded, include many members of the kin group and have geographic proximity. • For nuclear families, marital bonds are more important than blood ties, thus they are named “conjugal families”. On the other side, blood ties are more important than marital bonds for the extended families, thus they are called “consanguine families”. • Nuclear families are temporary units because they decompose with the death of the parents or the marriage of children, but extended families live much longer. Because of their shorter life, it is hard for nuclear families to transmit a family culture to the children. This process is easier in extended families. • In nuclear families, there is minimal contact with the kin group. However, kin group contact on a daily basis in extended families. Therefore, extended families can provide more support and assistance to its members, and can more easily overcome crisis arising from deaths or divorces. • Nuclear families are economically selfsufficient while economic dependence is high in extended families. • Because nuclear families are small sized, members can increase their personal development and freedom much more when compared to extended families. Since nuclear families are autonomous, individualization is easier in these families. On the other side, there is intergenerational authority in extended families which may limit personal development and freedom. • The members of the nuclear family have to get emotional support and protection from people outside the kin group. In respect of the extended family, the kin network within the family provides a source of emotional support and protection.

Yanıt Açıklaması: According to the groups in which the spouse is chosen from: Endogamy and exogamy Endogamy is the practice of marrying only within a specific ethnic, social or religious group and rejecting people out of this group. The most common subcategory under endogamy is cousin marriages. A cousin marriage may be a parallel cousin or a cross cousin marriage. A parallel cousin is a cousin from the parent’s same sex sibling, like the child of the father’s brother or the child of the mother’s sister. A cross cousin is a cousin from the parent’s opposite sex sibling, like the child of the fathers’ sister or the child of the mother’s brother. While the rule of endogamy obliges people to marry within their group, the rule of exogamybans to marry from the same group. In exogamic societies, people should choose their spouse from outside their kin group.

Yanıt Açıklaması: Religion could be described as the institutionalized system of symbols, beliefs, values, and practices that respond to the feelings of a certain group of people regarding the sacred one and provide answers to questions about final interpretations. Durkheim defines religion as a whole, all parts of which are comprised of 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. The concept of anomie, which refers to normlessness and irregularity, was firstly used by the Durkheim, a French sociologist, in his work “Suicide.” Durkheim defined anomie as a state of irregularity that prevents the individuals, who become incapable of knowing which norms to determine as criteria when they need to act, from integrating with society.

Yanıt Açıklaması: As a functionalist, Durkheim believes that religion promotes social cohesion and conformity by imposing meaning and purpose on life. According to Durkheim, religious ritual is an important part of this social cement. Religion, through its rituals, fulfills a number of social functions such as binding people together physically, promoting social cohesion, reaffirming the group’s beliefs and values. Those functions help maintain norms, mores, and prohibitions. Durkheim is generally considered the first sociologist who analyzed religion in terms of its societal impact. Above all, he believed religion is about community: It binds people together (social cohesion), promotes behavior consistency (social control) and offers strength during life’s transitions and tragedies (meaning and purpose). Social conflict theory has always focused heavily on the differential distribution of resources as reflected in the socioeconomic class structure of society. Unlike functionalist theory, conflict theory sees order and harmony as superficial entities. It claims that underneath a surface of apparent harmony, there is a form of balance of power or oppression. As a result, conflict theory looks at existing social conditions and social institutions with suspicion. Karl Marx believed religion reflects the social stratification of society and maintains inequality and perpetuates the status quo. For him, religion was just an extension of working-class’ (proletariat) economic suffering. He famously argued that religion “is the opium of people”.

Yanıt Açıklaması: The phenomenological approach is particularly associated with the work of Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann. Berger and Luckmann have put forward a phenomenological view of religion: Religion is produced by members of society subjectively interpreting and giving meaning to the world around them. According to Berger and Luckmann, religion helps to build, maintain and legitimate universes of meaning. Throughout human history religion has played a decisive part in the construction and maintenance of universes. According to Luckmann, the function of religion can be understood to reduce uncertainty and complexity. Berger and Luckmann argue that religion is probably the most effective mechanism for the legitimation of universes of meaning. The idea that religion promotes social unity and cohesion belongs to Durkheim, who adopts a functionalist perspective towards religion.