Important Note: You may consult books and notes, paper or online, but you must write answers in your own words. If you quote something briefly, you must give its source. Also, you may NOT communicate in any way with another person . Be sure to read the directions and the questions carefully. The exam is due as an attached Word document emailed to the instructor at on
You may answer the questions in any order, but please indicate by number which questions you choose to answer.
1. What is the difference between Karl Marx’s conceptualization of stratification and Max Weber’s?
2. How did the cultural attitude toward the proper role of racial, ethnic, and religious identity in America change from the early 20th Century to the early 21st Century?
3. What is the difference between “ascribed” and “achieved” characteristics, as these terms are used in sociology? Give a couple of examples of each.
4. Summarize Milton Gordon’s three models for understanding American diversity in one sentence each.
5. Explain: “The Jew is the antisemite’s Rorschach ink-blot.”
6. Explain “scapegoating” as part of the etiology of bigotry.
7. How did Emile Durkheim use the distinction between “sacred” and “profane” to explain social solidarity?
8. How do secularism and atheism differ from each other regarding the validity and social functions of religion?
9. What is the actual relationship between religion and the public realm in America?
