Delta State University
SOC 101: Principles of Sociology
Fall Semester 2005

Study Questions, Week 13

 

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(1) What is meant by a political system?  What are the important functions of political institutions?

(2) What is the difference between power and authority?  Identify the characteristics of the three types of legitimate authority, according to Max Weber.

 

(3) Identify two contrasting views on how power is exercised in the United States.  What are the arguments presented by proponents of each view?  What evidence supports each view?

 

(4) Why is voter turnout so low in the United States?  Is this representative of political participation in general in the U.S.?  What other forms of political participation exist, and to what extent do Americans participate?

 

(5) What accounts for the fact that so few women hold political office?

 

(6) What is meant by an economic system?  What are the important functions of economic institutions?

 

(7) What are the distinguishing characteristics of capitalist economic systems?  What are the characteristics of a socialist economic system?  What do capitalists value more than socialists, and what do socialists value more than capitalists?

 

(8) What is the informal economy?  What are some examples of informal economic activities?  What are some of the benefits and costs of the informal sector?

 

(9) How have workplaces and the workforce changed in the past sixty years?   What is meant by deindustrialization?  Explain how deindustrialization and industrial concentration complement each other.

 

(10) What is meant by globalization?  How has globalization shaped changes in economic systems and workplaces over the past sixty years?