The final exam will be focused on the 2nd half of the course - i.e. that part after the midterm.  However, some questions will refer to concepts and topics from the first half of the course and some of the essay questions will cover themes that we covered throughout the semester.  I recommend looking at the midterm review guide to make sure you are still familiar with these concepts.

The major theme of the whole semester has been the relationship between culture and structure and how this has changed over time (and across different groups) in American society.  The second half of the course examined especially the (inter)relationships between culture, structure, and freedom.  Thinking about the readings for the 2nd half of the class in terms of these inter-relationships will help you prepare for the final.

Below are some of the concepts and questions with which you should be familiar for the final - May 11th at 8:00 am.

Classical Liberal Theory

What is the classical liberal definition of freedom?
What does it look like (what is its structure)?
What does it require?
What then is the problem of liberalism?
What are some possible solutions to this problem?

Are Human Beings Free?

How does Charon define freedom?
What limitations to freedom does Charon outline?
What does this say about the classical liberal notion of freedom?
What do social forces have to do with freedom?
Are human beings free?

Bauman - Modernity and the Holocaust

builds on Max Weber's notion of "rationalization" (what is it?)
epitomized by bureaucracy - what are the 6 main components of bureaucracy, according to Weber?
means and ends

Milgram - "Obedience"

What factors mattered in determining whether people went to the end of the "shock board"?
What does this video suggest about freedom and the structures in which we are placed?

Ritzer - "McDonaldization"

also builds on Weber's "rationalization"
formal rationality
6 characteristics of bureaucracy

"Why do we Believe What we do?"

What is culture?
How does modernization change our consciousness, our culture?
Why does the individual accept the culture of his or her social organization?
How does our position in social structure change what we believe (or our perspective)?
    What are some examples of this?
What is the relation between power and our perspective/culture?
How is the past implicated in what we believe?
Do individuals form their own ideas?

Bellah - Habits of the Heart

What are the 4 central strands of American culture?
How does each of these strands conceive of freedom, success, and justice?
public and private
representative characters - Tocqueville's times, turn of the century, and the present
How do the representative characters map onto the 4 strands of culture?
What explains the shift from the old to the new representative characters?
How does this shift affect our consciousness, our culture?  How does it affect the way we interact with each other(social structures)?
How can we relate this shift to Weber? Ritzer? Charon?

Putnam - "Bowling Alone"

Physical, human, and social capital
individual interests versus public interests
how does social capital make democracy function better?
What else is it good for?
What evidence to show that social capital is declining?
What possible countertrends are there?  why don't they make up for the lost social capital?
What are the 4 possible explanations for the decline of social capital?  Which one does Putnam think is most important?
How can we relate this shift to Bellah? Weber? Ritzer?
How does Putnam's discussion of public and private fit with Bellah's discussion of public and private cultures?

Essay Questions (Take home) - Please answer essay #1 and either essay #2 or essay #3.  Essay questions should be approx. 2 pages each, typed and double-spaced.   They are due at the beginning of the exam period at 8am on May 11.

1) [Required] In Habits of the Heart, Bellah et al trace the cultural move from the older representative character of Tocqueville's time to an intermediate one to the present.  Describe this shift in culture illustrated by the change in representative characters.  Several of the authors we have read or discussed (Ritzer, Weber, Bauman, Putnam, Simmel) have examined the parallel shift in structure - the way we connect up to one another.  Using several authors we have studied, explain this structural shift and how it connects up with the cultural one that Bellah describes.

and either

2) According to the classical liberals, what is freedom?  Describe the limits on freedom outlined by Charon.  What does this say about the liberal definition of freedom?  Are human beings free?

or

3) Bauman, Charon, and Milgram ("Obedience") describe how the structures in which we are placed affect the way we think and act.  Explain this for two of the three authors mentioned above.  What does their work say about human freedom?
 
 

Good luck and I enjoyed this class.