Sociology 571 - Assignments, Spring 1999

                ASSIGNMENT FOR January 28 (Soci 571)

For Thursday, January 28
Read:

1) The handout on the Enlightenment (by George Kouvetaris)
   (library Reserve)

2) ANY TWO of the following:

   a) Ralf Dahrendorf. 1958. "Out of Utiopia: Toward a
      Re-orientation of Sociological Analysis."
      American J. of Sociology, Vol. 64 (Sept): 115-127.

   b) Herbert J. Gans. 1972.  "The Postive Functions of Poverty."
      American J. of Sociology, Vol 78 (Sept): 275-289.

   c) Harold Fallding. 1972. "Only One Sociology." British J.
      of Sociology. Vol. 23 (March): 93-101.

   d) Dusky Lee Smith. 1966. "Robert King Merton: From Middle
      Range to Middle Road." Catalyst, Vol. 2 (Summer): 11-40.

   e) C. Wright and R.E. Hilbert. 1980. "Value Implications of
      the Functional Theory of Deviance." Social Problems,
      Vol. 28 (December): 205-219.

   f) Shils and Young, 1953. (Coronation/Functionalism), Sociological 
      Review (Dec): 63-81.

3. LIBRARY DETECTIVE WORK: You are to find the following
   articles, and read AT LEAST ONE. The exercise is intended to
   develop skills at finding "vague" references that theorists
   (and grad students who work for them) must often track down.

   a) There is an article by two prominent sociologists
      on the "functions" of the coronation rituals of England.
      The data is Queen Elizabeth's Coronation. (Hint: The article
      was written at the time of the coronation in a major sociology
      journal. The first author's last name rhymes with a pro
      football team from Buffalo).

   b) A famous sociologist wrote an article on the positive functions
      of poverty. What are these functions? (Hint: The author was
      an urban scholar and this was a top sociology journal. The
      author's last name is similar to the name of the main bad guy
      in the movie "48 Hours."

   c) A criminologist wrote about the social functions of lynching
      in the antebellum (post Civil War) south. What were these
      functions? (Hint: The author's first name is James and he does
      work in the sociology of law).

HINTS:

1) YOU SHOULD WORK AS A TEAM---share phone numbers and talk
with each other out of class. If a single person does not fulfill
this assignment, the entire class receives a ZERO for it. SHARE!

2) The articles were written before 1980.

3) The articles are in prominent, widely-read sociology journals.

If you cannot find them by Friday, call me and I will give two more
hints.

PAPER TOPIC:  Select any two articles from this list and explain
why they are considered within the Enlightment tradition.

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