UNIVERSITY OF THE COMMONWEALTH CARIBBEAN

SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND LAW

FALL SEMESTER 2023

MID-SEMESTER ASSESSMENT

COURSE NAME: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY

COURSE CODE: SOC 100

TOTAL MARKS ON THIS PAPER = 20

MAXIMUM SCORE (WEIGHTING) = 20

DATE: October 24, 2023

OPENING TIME: 9:00 am

CLOSING TIME: 11:30am

DURATION: 2hour and 30 minutes

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Please read all instructions carefully before attempting any question.

2. This assessment consists of TWO sections
3. Complete ALL questions IN Section A
4. ANSWER FOUR (4) questions from Section B
5. Where questions have multiple parts, all parts must be answered.
6. This assessment is worth 30% of your final grade.
Section A: Multiple Choice
Answer ALL questions

1) By culture change we mean:

a. The change in fashions like that of dress, ornaments, music etc.

b. The system of political governance and economic organisation do not remain the
same.
c. The latest technology is adopted like fax, Internet etc.
d. Alternation in the actual ways of behaving of people as a result of change in ideals,
ideas and ideology.

2) Cultural Lag refers to:

a. A situation where the pace of change between symbolic and material culture is
uneven.
b. The state when symbolic culture does not change at all.
c. The phenomenon indicating lesser pace of change in symbolic culture compared to
material one
d. When people actively resist change

3) Socially approved ways of behaving are called:

a.Cultural- traits
b.Folkways
c. Social norms
d. Mores

4) _________are defined as anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by

people who share culture.

a. symbols
b. values
c. beliefs
d. subjects
5) When the researcher asks the respondent a face to face question, this method is
called ________.

a. Interview
b. Questionnaire
c. Observation
d. Profile guide

6) Which sociologist introduced the concept of sociological imagination to the

discipline?
a. Max Weber
b. Herbert Spencer
c. Émile Durkheim
d. C. Wright Mills

7. _________________ is a class that labours without owning the means of production;

those who labour for the bourgeoisie

a. Proletariat
b. Capital
c. Anomie
d. Bourgeoisie

8. The _____________________________approach is a framework for building theory that

sees society as the product of the everyday interactions of individuals.

a. Social-conflict
b. Structural- functional
c. Symbolic-interaction
d. Gender- conflict

9. In order for measurement to be useful, it must have two important characteristics,

what are they?

a. Valid & Effective

b. Authentic & Relevant
c. Reliable & Efficient
d. Reliability & Validity

10. Diffusion is the process of change that stands for:

(a) Transmission of culture from one generation to the other.
(b) Combining existing cultural elements to take a new form
(c) Process of the spreading of the cultural traits from one culture to another
(d) A process that eliminates the confusions leading to conflict.

11. _________________occurs when an individual suffers personal

disorientation when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life.
a. Culture shock
b. Material culture
c. Nonmaterial culture
d. Cultural transmission

12. Which of the following is not a data collection method?

a. Research questions
b. Interviews
c. Ethnography
d. Surveys

Section B: Essay
Answer any TWO questions. ( 9 marks each )

13a) Define the term cultural ethnocentrism. ( 2 marks)

13b) Discuss, with the use of no less than THREE examples, how cultural
ethnocentrism can be bad as well as good. (7 marks)

14a) List and briefly explain each step of the Scientific Method. One research example
should be used to explain each step. ( 9 marks)

15) Evaluate Karl Marx’s contribution to the concept of Alienation. Discuss different
types of Alienation given by him. (9 marks)

Section B
Question #14

Scientific Methods to carry out research

 The scientific method is a method that researchers use to conduct investigations and
test theories about the social world.These scientific methods are: Asking a question,
Researching Existing Sources, Formulating a Hypothesis, Designing and conducting a
study, Drawing a conclusions, and Reporting Results.This essay will discuss and
explain each step used in the scientific methods by researchers and give an example of
used to explain each step.
The first step of the scientific method is to ask a question, describing the issue and
determining the precise area of interest.The topic must be narrowed enough to study
with geography and timeframe.An example of this method of research is “What impact
does TikTok have on students at the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean”.
After asking a question the researcher will research existing sources, this is the
conduct that they undertake through analyzing literature reviews, visiting the public
library and browsing the internet for information on the topic of study. To study
mental illness and the causes of me mental illness, a researcher might sort through
existing research and excavate studies about depression in teenagers age 15-19,
suicidal behaviors in young adults and schizophrenic individuals.
The third step in the scientific method is to develop a hypothesis. This involves
formulating a scientific theory on the research questions based on information
gathered from literature reviews. For instance, a sociologist studying the impact of the
online platform ‘TikTok’ on teenagers’ mental health may hypothesize that using
TikTok can lead to a decrease in mental health.
After making a hypothesis on the research question the researcher will then Design
and conduct a study. A research design serves as a comprehensive framework or
approach for field work aimed at testing a hypothesis and data collection can be done
in a variety of ways, everything depends on the subject matter being researched. An
example of this would be based on whatever is being studied like a sociologist
researching if men in prison are having sex, the designing and conducting the study
would be based on this.
When designing and conducting the study is over the researcher will then move onto
data collection. Data collection is based on whatever information is being collected.
For example, a researcher will use an interview if they are talking to the person who is
being researched face to face.
Drawing a conclusion or conclusions is where the researcher seeks the answers to
the research question, they summarize and formulate the data in ways to collect as
much information as possible. An example of this is when the researcher draws a
conclusion from contextual information and experimental results to determine the
results of the study.
After drawing the conclusion the researcher will report the results. This is when the
researcher communicates their findings to the general public and their colleagues. For
instance, a sociologist finished doing his/her research on same sex relationships in
prison and shared the information she has collected with her colleagues without
sharing personal information on the people being researched.
In conclusion there are six scientific methods necessary in order to carry out a
sociological study. Asking a question, researching existing sources, formulating a
hypothesis, designing and conducting a study, drawing a conclusion/s and reporting
results.

Question #15
 Alienation

Karl Marx’s concept of Alienation created in 1844 is a concept in which workers are
faced with the negative consequences of industrial capitalism where they feel foreign
from production created by their labor. This essay will be evaluating Karl Marx’s
contribution to the ideology of Alienation while discussing types of Alienation given by
him.
Karl Marx introduced the idea of alienation in his theory of historical materialism,
which argues that the economic framework of society was the base for all social
relations. Marx defined Alienation as the process by which people lost control over
their own lives and cut themselves off from other people, society in general