Sociology Final Exam Review

reviews Durkheim's study on religion include: sacred and profane

The sacred-profane dichotomy is an idea posited by French sociologist Émile Durkheim, who considered it to be the central characteristic of religion: "religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden."

list and define the different types of distinctive student subcultures

-The Academic subculture, identifying as much with ideas as with the institution, is for the most part composed of serious students who work hard, achieve high grades, and participate in campus life. -Nonconformists . Different from Academics, however, the Nonconformists maintain a critical detachment from the college they attend and its faculty, and have a generalized hostility to the administration. In sum, this subculture seems to value and reward individualistic styles, concern for personal identity and self-awareness, and, frequently contempt for organized society. - the Collegiate subculture tends to be loyal to their college but indifferent, if not resistant, to serious intellectual demands. They place at a premium campus social life, extracurricular activities, athletics, living group functions, and intimate friendships. Count on them to attend the homecoming parade and game but not the department discussion group. - Vocational subculture. These students care little about ideas or involvement in the institution. For Vocational students a college education is off-the-job training leading to a diploma and a better job than they could otherwise obtain. Ideas, scholarship, social life, and extracurricular activities are not particularly valued.

Apply the characteristics of a bureaucratic organization to education

A bureaucracy is a large, formal, secondary organization characterized by a hierarchy of authority, a clear division of labor, explicit rules, and impersonal interactions between its members.

tracking

An educational system in which the entire school population is assigned to classes according to whether the students' overall achievement is above average, normal, or below average and in which students attend academic classes only with students whose overall academic achievement is the same as their own.

function of bilingual education in the U.S.

Bilingual education is a form of education in which information is presented to the students in two (or more) languages. Technically, any educational system that utilizes more than one language is bilingual. This means that many, if not most, school programs are bilingual, in at least a literal sense of the word.

correspondence principle

Correspondence principle or correspondence thesis is a sociological theory that claims a close relationship between social standing and the educational system. Correspondence principle is the theory that the relationship between a person's social standing and the type of education that is received at school.

Conflict perspective to the study of education

Education promotes social inequality through the use of tracking and standardized testing and the impact of its "hidden curriculum." Schools differ widely in their funding and learning conditions, and this type of inequality leads to learning disparities that reinforce social inequality.

Functional Perspective to the study of education

Education serves several functions for society. These include (a) socialization, (b) social integration, (c) social placement, and (d) social and cultural innovation. Latent functions include child care, the establishment of peer relationships, and lowering unemployment by keeping high school students out of the full-time labor force. Problems in the educational institution harm society because all these functions cannot be completely fulfilled.

review Weber's views on religion

Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is a study of the relationship between the ethics of ascetic Protestantism and the emergence of the spirit of modern capitalism. Weber argues that the religious ideas of groups such as the Calvinists played a role in creating the capitalistic spirit.

know the manifest and latent functions of education

The manifest functions are the ones that society intends those institutions to have. The latent functions are the ones that are not intended, but which come about even so.

interactionist perspective to the study of education

This perspective focuses on social interaction in the classroom, on the playground, and in other school venues. Specific research finds that social interaction in schools affects the development of gender roles and that teachers' expectations of pupils' intellectual abilities affect how much pupils learn. Certain educational problems have their basis in social interaction and expectations.

Describe the Federal Title IX policies on education

a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and activities

credentialism

belief in or reliance on academic or other formal qualifications as the best measure of a person's intelligence or ability to do a particular job.

cirriculum

the subjects comprising a course of study in a school or college.