“quick check on your reading” quiz



|Quiz and Essay Questions | |

|for |Your |

|Talcott Parsons & Robert Merton |Name__________________________________ |

This is a combination Take-Home Quiz and Essay Questions (worth 20 points).

Be sure to respond to all four questions.

1) What is the significance of Merton’s promotion of “middle range theory”?

2) Using as many of Merton’s six dimensions of functionalism as you think relevant, elaborate on and analyze the recent social phenomenon of “Occupy Portland.” Use any firsthand knowledge you have along with information available through the media. The selection from Merton in the Farganis reader (pp.176-195) contains some helpful case studies.

3) Accompanying this quiz/exam is an outline of Parsons’ theory of social change. Using it as a framework, concisely apply it to what you know or can find out about the “Occupy Portland movement” as an instance or example of social change. The purpose of doing so is to appreciate the utility of the model in examining an actual instance of social change. The model is, in effect, an ideal type; using it against an empirical event it may do one or both of two things: critique the event because it does not conform to the model and/or correct the model because it does not conform to the event. State any conclusions you draw from your analysis. There is a link on the course page to an analysis of “Occupy Portland” by Bob Liebman (sociologist at PSU) and David Sarason (political historian and editorial writer for The Oregonian). (The direct link is: ).

4) Also accompanying this quiz/exam is a diagram of the “fat pencil” status-set. Fill out as much as you can with the statuses you actually occupy. Select any two which qualify as significant statuses and elaborate on them using at least several of the terms that are described in the handout on Merton’s concepts, being sure to identify which ones you use. It may amplify your knowledge and familiarize your understanding of these concepts by seeing them applied in the analysis of a restaurant/nightclub by reading the on-line article “Interface Analysis: Exchange Transactions Within an Implicit Functional Group.” You can access it via a link on course web page (or directly at ) and you will also find a link on the course web page to a PowerPoint presentation on status sets that may be helpful (it may take time to download and you must have PowerPoint on your computer).

PARSONS’ MODEL OF SOCIAL CHANGE

(countering the systemic tendency toward equilibrium)

RECONNECTION TO THE DOMINANT SOCIAL SYSTEM

• Introduction of internal discipline

• Institutionalization of new core values

• Adaptive concessions to external realities

DEVELOPMENT OF MEANINGFUL IDEOLOGY

• Acceptable claim to legitimacy

• Symbols with wide appeal

• Coherent

• Relevant

SUB GROUP ORGANIZATION

• Emergence of expressive leadership

S: Situation (chaotic, unstable)

I: Individual (charismatic leader)

S: Symbols (resonating with previous traditions)

A: Audience (marginal, experiencing anomie)

• Creation of alternative set of normative expectations and sanctions

• Evasion of current cultural sanctions

INCREASED SOCIAL STRAIN

• Critical mass

• Dissatisfaction

• Value inconsistencies

THE EXTENDED

STATUS SET

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SELF

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