Sociological Theory Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The wrongly matched pair is Alexander - Structuralism.

Jeffrey Alexander is the leading figure of neo-functionalism, the 1980s attempt to revive and revise Parsons's structural-functional theory. Structuralism, the study of underlying structures of language and myth, is associated with Saussure and Levi-Strauss.

The other three pairs are correct. Anthony Giddens developed structuration theory, Jacques Derrida developed deconstruction, and Jurgen Habermas, of the Frankfurt School's second generation, is usually classed as a neo-Marxist critical theorist.

Answer: D

The heading is neo-functionalism.

In the 1980s Jeffrey Alexander and Paul Colomy set out to revive the structural-functional theory of Talcott Parsons, keeping its idea of society as a system while answering its critics: they allowed for conflict, change, agency and the links between micro and macro levels. They called the project neo-functionalism.

Structuralism and post-structuralism come from linguistics and French philosophy, not from functionalism, and structuration is Giddens's own theory of structure and agency rather than a revival of Parsons.

Answer: B

This is the view of Habermas.

In The Theory of Communicative Action (1981), Jurgen Habermas describes the lifeworld as the everyday world of shared meanings in which people interact and reach understanding through communication. He contrasts it with the system of money and power, which he argues has 'colonised' the lifeworld.

Garfinkel studied everyday practices through ethnomethodology but did not build a theory of the lifeworld, Alexander is a neo-functionalist and Giddens a theorist of structuration.

Answer: C

Neo-Marxism reacts chiefly against economic determinism.

Neo-Marxist thinkers such as Gramsci, the Frankfurt School and Althusser rejected the mechanical reading of Marx in which the economic base determines everything in the superstructure. They gave independent weight to culture, ideology, consciousness and the state.

They kept class conflict and exploitation at the centre of their analysis, so neither is what they reacted against. The state was a subject they developed further, not a component they rejected.

Answer: A

It is Giddens who argues this.

Anthony Giddens's theory of structuration, set out in The Constitution of Society (1984), holds that structure and agency are a duality, not a dualism: social structures are both the medium and the outcome of the actions that reproduce them, so neither can be understood apart from the other.

Foucault wrote about discourse and power, Derrida about deconstruction, and Alexander about the revival of functionalism; none of them made the inseparability of agency and structure his central claim.

Answer: D

The correct matching is (a)-(2), (b)-(4), (c)-(1), (d)-(3), the code (2) (4) (1) (3).

Liberal feminism seeks equality of the sexes through equal rights and opportunities. Radical feminism sees patriarchy, male power and male violence as the root of women's oppression. Marxist feminism ties women's subordination to class and capitalism, analysing class and gender together. Post-modernist feminism uses deconstruction and attends to language and metaphor.

The other codes misassign liberal or Marxist feminism: (1) (2) (3) (4) gives liberal feminism the class analysis, and (4) (1) (2) (3) gives it masculinity and violence.

Answer: C

The correct matching is (a)-(1), (b)-(3), (c)-(2), (d)-(4), the code (1) (3) (2) (4).

Giddens wrote The Constitution of Society (1984), the main statement of structuration theory. Derrida wrote Writing and Difference (1967), the paper's 'Writing and Differences'. Louis Althusser wrote For Marx (1965), and Foucault wrote Madness and Civilization (1961, English 1965).

The other codes misplace Derrida and Althusser: (1) (2) (4) (3) gives Derrida For Marx, and the codes starting (2) or (4) misplace Giddens.

Answer: A

The correct matching is (a)-(1), (b)-(3), (c)-(2), (d)-(4), the code (1) (3) (2) (4).

Anthony Giddens is the author of structuration theory. Jacques Derrida developed deconstruction. Jurgen Habermas, heir to the Frankfurt School's critical theory, is classed with neo-Marxism, and Jeffrey Alexander led neo-functionalism.

The code (1) (2) (3) (4) swaps Derrida and Habermas, giving deconstruction to Habermas. The codes (3) (2) (1) (4) and (4) (3) (1) (2) take structuration away from Giddens, whose name is most closely tied to it.

Answer: C

Habermas focuses on knowledge and human interests.

In Knowledge and Human Interests (1968), Jurgen Habermas argued that all knowledge is shaped by underlying human interests: a technical interest behind the empirical-analytic sciences, a practical interest behind the historical-hermeneutic sciences, and an emancipatory interest behind critical social science.

Structure and institution are the concerns of structural functionalism, the macro-micro link is a central theme of Alexander and Ritzer, and culture and agency are associated with cultural sociology and Giddens.

Answer: A

The theory is structuration.

Anthony Giddens developed structuration theory through the 1970s and set it out fully in The Constitution of Society (1984). It draws together his work on classical theory, agency and structure, time and space and social reproduction, and is widely regarded as the summary of his sociological writing.

Structuralism, from Saussure and Levi-Strauss, is a tradition Giddens criticised. Deconstruction is Derrida's method, and post-modernism is a position Giddens rejected, arguing that we live in 'high' or 'late' modernity rather than a post-modern age.