Get All Weeks Classical Sociological Theory Coursera Quiz Answers
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Classical Sociological Theory Week 01 Quiz Answers
Quiz 1: Classical Sociological Theory – An Introduction
Q1. Why are the precursors of modern social science still important? Their theories…
Q2. Why is it enlightening to make one’s own implicit theories explicit?
ViewQ3. What is the main issue that classical sociologists were concerned with?
ViewQ4. What is ‘sociology’?
ViewQ5. The liberal, socialist and conservatist strands within sociology:
ViewQ6. To understand contemporary society:
ViewQ7. Why can classical sociological theory be important to contemporary social scientists?
ViewQ8. The most important objective of this course is:
ViewQ9. In their ‘General Introduction’, Calhoun and others (2013, pp. 1-18) show multiple reasons why sociological theory can be helpful for both social scientists and ‘lay-people.’
Which of the summaries below fits these reasons best?
ViewQ10. Whereas sociology embraces the Enlightened message of reason and reliance on empirical evidence, Calhoun and others (2013, pp. 21-29) argue that most sociologists question some of Enlightenment’s basic assumptions.
What basic assumptions do they question?
ViewClassical Sociological Theory Week 02 Quiz Answers
Quiz 1: Bernard Mandeville (1670-1733) and Adam Smith (1723-1790)
Q1. In his work, The Fable of the Bees, Bernard Mandeville poses the idea of ‘private vices, public benefits’. What does he mean by that?
ViewQ2. What does Adam Smith mean by ‘The Invisible Hand’?
ViewQ3. What was the most important effect of the Division of Labour?
ViewQ4. What was the most important outcome of the rise of productivity?
ViewQ5. What premise about human nature underlies the theories of Adam Smith?
ViewQ6. How can social stratification be explained, according to Adam Smith?
ViewQ7. Why can Smith be seen as a precursor of modern social sciences?
ViewQ8. Which quote describes best Smith’s concept of ‘the division of labour’ (Smith 1776, cited by Calhoun et al. 2013, pp. 55-66)?
ViewAlternative reading:
Adam Smith, “The Wealth of Nations,” pp. 3-16, from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, edited by Edwin Cannan (New York, Random House, 1937).
Q9. Which quote refers best to the main consequence of the division of labour, as described by Smith (Smith 1776, cited by Calhoun et al. 2013, pp 55-66)?
Alternative reading:
Adam Smith, “The Wealth of Nations,” pp. 3-16, from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, edited by Edwin Cannan (New York, Random House, 1937).
ViewQ10. Which quote relates directly to Smith’s concept of the ‘invisible hand’ (Smith 1776, cited by Calhoun et al. 2013, pp 55-66)?
Alternative reading:
Adam Smith, “The Wealth of Nations,” pp. 3-16, from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, edited by Edwin Cannan (New York, Random House, 1937).
ViewClassical Sociological Theory Week 03 Quiz Answers
Quiz 1: Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
Q1. What is the relationship between religious and scientific knowledge, according to Comte?
ViewQ2. Why is The Law of the Three Stages of the Human Mind called an idealist theory?
ViewQ3. What was Comte’s main motive to write his classical book ‘The Course on the Positive Philosophy’?
ViewQ4. What is the connection between Comte’s ‘Law of the Three Stages of Human Mind’ and his ‘Hierarchical Classification of the Sciences’?
ViewQ5. Why does Comte consider the theological stage important?
ViewQ6. Why is religion indispensable in a ‘modern’ society, according to Comte?
ViewQ7. Why can Comte be called a precursor of functionalism?
ViewQ8. What distinguishes sociology from other sciences?
ViewQ9. Comte’s term ‘sociology’ was preceded by his term ‘social physics’ (Ritzer & Stepnisky 2013, p. 15). What did Comte refer to with this latter term?
ViewAlternative reading:
Q10. How does Comte define his Law of the Three Stages of Human Mind (Comte 1830/2000, cited on http://socserv2.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/comte/Philosophy1.pdf
ViewQ11. Comte outlines the two general aims of his work (Comte 1830/2000, pp. 27-42, cited on http://socserv2.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/comte/Philosophy1.pdf.
What aims are explicitly outlined in his work?
View2) to show that all sciences are branches of the same trunk
Q12. Comte describes “four points of advantage” (Comte 1830/2000, pp. 40, cited on http://socserv2.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/comte/Philosophy1.pdf that come to the fore with the establishment of a Positive Philosophy.
What are these four points?
View2) a general instruction based on the Positive Philosophy directed to regenerate education,
3) the progress of the respective positive sciences by their combination,
4) social reorganization by establishing an intellectual agreement
Classical Sociological Theory Week 04 Quiz Answers
Quiz 1: Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)
Q1. Why is Tocqueville mainly considered a political scientist?
ViewQ2. What makes Tocqueville’s perspective on democracy so unique within the social sciences?
ViewQ3. Why did Tocqueville consider a comparison between the US and France important?
ViewQ4. What can be distinguished as the main focus of Tocqueville’s work?
ViewQ5. What is the main pitfall of democratisation, according to Tocqueville?
ViewQ6. What is the best antidote against the overwhelming power of the central state?
ViewQ7. Why will revolutions become rare, according to Tocqueville?
ViewQ8. Why can ‘wrong’ predictions, made by scholars such as Tocqueville, still be useful today?
ViewQ9. In the ‘Introduction to Part II’, Calhoun et al. (2013) outline why democracy faces a dilemma, according to Tocqueville. What is the dilemma of democracy?
ViewQ10. Similar to Smith, Tocqueville argues that:
ViewQ11. Why does Tocqueville believe that literary genius will never exist in America?
ViewQ12. What is Tocqueville’s greatest concern with regard to democracy (Tocqueville, 1840, cited by Calhoun et al. 2013, pp. 122-131)?
Alternative reading:
Chapter XV: Unlimited Power Of Majority, And Its Consequences—Part I and II, Alexis De Tocqueville (H, Reeve, trans) (2006), https://www.gutenberg.org/files/815/815-h/815-h.htm#link2H_INTR
ViewClassical Sociological Theory Week 05 Quiz Answers
Quiz 1: Karl Marx (1818-1883)
Q1. What did Marx’s theories teach us about the force of social thought?
ViewQ2. How are the concepts of infrastructure and superstructure interrelated, according to Marx?
ViewQ3. Why is Marx often characterized as a materialist?
ViewQ4. Which four types of alienation can be distinguished?
Workers are alienated from:
Their fellow workers,
Themselves as human beings
Q5. How will the division between the classes develop when capitalism reaches its final stage?
ViewQ6. Why is the collapse of the capitalist system inevitable, according to Marx?
ViewQ7. What is the main critique of Marx’s theories?
ViewQ8. Why could Marx’s predictions still be valuable and legitimate today?
ViewQ9. Karl Marx’s central argument is now known as ‘historical materialism’. In his work The German Ideology (in Calhoun et al, 2013, pp 142-145), Marx elaborates on the relationship between ideas and consciousness (superstructure), and materialist conditions (substructure). Which quote captures this relationship best?
Alternative reading:
ViewQ10. In Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 ( in Calhoun et al, 2013, pp. 146-155), Marx criticises private property. What is his main concern with regard to private property?
Alternative reading:
ViewQ11. In Manifesto of the Communist Party, Marx & Engels argue the following: “What the bourgeoisie, therefore, produces, above all, is its own gravediggers. Its fall and victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable” (in Calhoun et al., 2013, pp. 165). Why is this fall inevitable, according to them?
Alternative reading:
ViewClassical Sociological Theory Week 06 Quiz Answers
Quiz 1: Émile Durkheim (1858-1917)
Q1. What is the societal importance of sociology, according to Durkheim?
ViewQ2. Why did Durkheim think that modern societies would not fall apart, while at the same time becoming increasingly differentiated?
ViewQ3. Why did Durkheim compare social sciences to biology?
ViewQ4. What did Durkheim try to establish with his quantitative study on suicide?
ViewQ5. What did Durkheim mean by ‘egoistic suicide’?
ViewQ6. Why is social regulation indispensable according to Durkheim?
ViewQ7. What is the omnipresent power that people do experience in a religious gathering, according to Durkheim?
ViewQ8. What are the most important functions of religion, according to Durkheim?
ViewQ9. In The Rules of Sociological Method (in Calhoun et al., 2013, pp. 201-219), Durkheim argues that a ‘social fact’ is always external to the individual. Why?
Alternative reading:
The Rules of Sociological Method (1895) (http://durkheim.uchicago.edu/)
ViewQ10. In The Division of Labour in Society (in Calhoun et al., 2013, pp. 220-242), Durkheim defines the term ‘collective consciousness’. Which quote denotes this definition?
Alternative reading:
The Division of Labor in Society (1893) (http://durkheim.uchicago.edu/)
ViewQ11. In his work Suicide (in Calhoun et al., 2013, pp. 255-264), Durkheim states that human beings, in contrast to ‘other’ animals, need social regulation to be happy. Why?
Alternative reading:
Suicide (1897) (http://durkheim.uchicago.edu/)
ViewQ12. What does religion express, according to Durkheim (Durkheim, 1912, in Calhoun et al., 2013, pp. 243-253)?
Alternative reading:
The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1912) (http://durkheim.uchicago.edu/)
ViewClassical Sociological Theory Week 07 Quiz Answers
Quiz 1: Max Weber (1864-1920)
Q1. Weberian value-free research means that:
ViewQ2. According to Weber, sociology is the study of:
ViewQ3. What is an ‘Ideal Type’?
ViewQ4. What is the main difference between the methodological approach of Durkheim and Weber?
ViewQ5. Weber states that goal-rational social action increasingly pushes aside the other types of social action. What does this imply about individuals in modern Western societies?
ViewQ6. Why will charismatic authority become rare in modern Western societies?
ViewQ7. With regard to bureaucratisation, what is Weber especially ambiguous about?
ViewQ8. Why can the Weberian theses of The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism be seen as a critique on the materialist assumptions of Marx?
ViewQ9. Max Weber argues that an ‘ideal type’ is a utopia. Why?
ViewQ10. In contrast to Durkheim’s methodological emphasis on ‘social facts’, Weber’s work can be characterised by ‘methodological individualism’. Which quote from Basic Sociological Terms (Weber 1914, in Calhoun et al., 2013, pp. 280-290) illustrates this distinction between Weber’s and Durkheim’s methodological approach?
Alternative reading:
The Definition of Sociology, 1897 (https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/weber.htm)
ViewQ11. Which quote in The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism (Weber, 1930, in Calhoun et al., 2013, pp. 291-309) reveals most the ‘idealist’ approach of Max Weber, in contrast to the ‘materialist’ approach of Karl Marx?
Alternative reading:
The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism, 1905 (https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/weber/protestant-ethic/index.htm)
ViewQ12. In The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism (Weber, 1930, in Calhoun et al., 2013, pp. 308), Max Weber describes modern capitalism as a ‘steel-hard casing.’ Which quote from his work Bureaucracy illustrates this steel-hard casing best?
Alternative reading:
The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism, 1905 (https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/weber/protestant-ethic/index.htm)
ViewClassical Sociological Theory Week 08 Quiz Answers
Quiz 1: Norbert Elias (1897-1990)
Q1. Why should Norbert Elias be considered a classical sociologist, rather than a modern scholar?
ViewQ2. What has the ‘loneliness of the dying’ to do with ‘civilisation’, according to Elias?
ViewQ3. What is the key transformation that human beings make in the civilising process?
ViewQ4. Why do citizens become less violent within a ‘civilised’ society, according to Elias?
ViewQ5. What does Elias mean by stating that “the ‘circumstances’ are the relationships between people themselves”?
ViewQ6. Why are processes of civilisation and de-civilisation closely connected?
ViewQ7. What is the main methodological difference between the work of Durkheim, Weber and Elias?
ViewQ8. What is the main difference between classic sociology and sociology after World War II?
ViewQ9. What is the connection between the two texts of Norbert Elias that are recommended for this week?
Norbert Elias (1978) ‘On Transformations of Aggressiveness’, in: Theory and Society, 5, pp. 229-242. http://www.scribd.com/doc/125467372/Elias-On-Transformations-of-Aggressiveness-pdf
Chapter 33, Norbert Elias, The Social Constraint towards Self-Constraint, in Calhoun et al. (2012), pp. 499 -509
Alternative reading:
ViewQ10. Which quote explains best the conditions for the development of self-constraint?
Alternative reading:
ViewQ11. Which concept is adopted by Elias to describe the characteristics of the Civilising Process?
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