LSSS A312: Individuals, Groups and Institutions

University of Alaska Anchorage Fall 2010

Ann Jache Ph.D. Instructor

The mid-term exam is a closed book exam Covering Chapters 1-3 5,6,8 and 11 in
Ten Questions, The introduction and Chapters 1-5 in the Tipping Point, pages 1-44
in Mountains Beyond Mountains and the ‘Bridges” article by Williams. That seems
like a lot but when you studied for exam 1 you covered most of this material.

The exam is a closed- book exam and will be proctored by Distance Education.
Please call 786-4646 option one or 1 877-633-3888 (or your local site) to make
arrangements to take the exam during the week of October 11-15. Distance
Education makes the arrangements for these exams but please call me if you have
any problems with the exam or making arrangements to take the exam. 907-786-
1955 jache@uaa.alaska.edu

The mid-term exam will be similar in format to Exam 1. There will be three (20
point) integrative essays and 4 (10 point) concept essays. It will take most students
45-90 minutes to complete but please allow 2 hours in case you need that much
time. There is a two hour time limit for this exam.

You will need to present your student ID. Most sites do not allow food. Child-care is
not available at the exam sites.

Here are the 20 point exam questions. 14 points are provided for answers which
merely address the question. Up to six additional points are granted for answers
which appropriately describe theory, research, related concepts, provide examples
or integrate material from class.

1.How does reading Gladwell’s description of the “Power of Context” help us employ
our sociological imagination to study individuals and groups?

Gladwell’s power of context is the idea that all of us humans are greatly influenced
by our surroundings and environment. This idea, while not very hard to understand,
is very important to keep in mind when examining a culture or people. When
analyzing a behavior and then trying to answer the question why, the power of
context must be considered. Behaviors are influenced by the environment and the
context of the culture and by investigating the context we might be able to say why
the behavior occurred. For example, in Thailand there has been a lot of political
strife between the people and the government. There have been coups and
violence over the current administration and by looking, very simply, at the context,
we can see that there are the rich and the poor and can identify the areas where
each class exist. The poor are the ones upset with the government, obviously, and
the rich are the ones who are involved in the government.
2.Think back to either the Williams article or the Mountains Beyond Moutains.
Identify and describe one individual or subculture and the groups that are
associated with this individual or subculture. Describe whether these are these
primary, secondary or reference groups, in-groups or out-groups? Define terms.

3.What does Gladwell mean by environmental Tipping Points? Identify and describe
an environmental Tipping Point related to the category or culture you are studying. .

4.What is a “tipping point”? What characteristics do “tipping points share”? Provide

at least one example and then explain why the idea of a Tipping Point is
counterintuitive.

A tipping point is “that one dramatic moment in an epidemic when everything can
change all at once”. In different words it is the point in time that something
changes dramatically and quickly. Some characteristics involved in most tipping
points are the Law of the Few and the stickiness factor. The law of the few is
basically the idea that tipping points come about from a set of people that perform
a unique function very well. These people connect with others and socialize very
well, or they relay information far and fast thus causing the epidemic to spread.
The stickiness factor is the characteristic of tipping points that is basically the
memorability of the epidemic at hand. The epidemic in question will be impactful
and easy to remember. An example of a tipping point is the hush puppies boom in
94-95 when a relatively small number of people in Manhattan bought and wore the
shoes and this led to the hush puppies seeing its brand become a international
fashion trend from obscurity seemingly overnight. The idea of a tipping point is
counterintuitive in most peoples eyes because most of us believe in simple cause
and effect, and in most observable cases in our life effects are proportional to the
cause. Generally we do not see massive change from little cause.

5.Use insights from Symbolic Interaction, Conflict Theory or Functionalist thinking to

answer the question “How is society possible?”

These are the concepts which will be on the concept section. 7 points are granted
for simple definitions or examples. Up to 3 additional points are granted for
answers which integrate theory, research, provide examples or compare or
contrasting concepts and definitions.

Ethnocentrism
Groupthink
Leventhal’s “tetanus fear” experiment
By-stander behavior
Broken windows theory
Functions