The questions that comprise the second critical response paper are based on our discussion of Chapters 8, 9 and 10 of the Conley text. Your response to these questions should be your response. This means two things:

The questions that comprise the second critical response paper are based on our discussion of Chapters 8, 9 and 10 of the Conley text. Your response to these questions should be your response. This means two things:

you are expected to complete this assignment independently and
you should not use quotations from the readings in answering these questions.
Please type your responses, double spaced, using a size-12 font. You should limit your response to each question to no more than one page of text, though for many questions you will find that a paragraph is sufficient. Your responses must be written in complete sentences (and edited!). Because you have several days to formulate and revise your answers to the questions you are asked to address, you will be graded on both the clarity of your response and the quality of your writing. You do not need to type out the question you are answering but should indicate the number of the question you’re addressing. Finally, you do not need to include a reference list for the assigned readings. If you decide to draw on additional material in formulating your responses – which is certainly not required to do well on this assignment – you must include a reference list for this material. I recommend using the style guide of either the American Sociological Association or the American Psychological Association, but this is not a requirement.

Please submit your response paper using the digital dropbox available through our course website.

Please answer any TEN of the following 20 questions. Each of the questions you select is worth 10 percent of your grade for this assignment.

Women represent a minority group in the military. Men are in the minority as nurses and paralegals. How are women and men treated differently in these positions, and what does this suggest about the way gender structures social relations?

How does the case of John/Joan support the view of sex as a category based on nature? How does the case of John/Joan support the view of sex as socially constructed and enforced?

How does Talcott Parsons describe the role of men and women in his “sex role theory”? Explain how conflict theories can be seen as a critique of structural functionalism and describe some limitations of each approach.

What is the difference between homosexual “acts” and a homosexual “identity”? How did the historical development of the latter, according to Michel Foucault, affect how one sees oneself?

More differences seem to exist among boys and girls than between them. Nonetheless, we tend to think of them as different. What are “deceptive distinctions” and how do they create gender differences? Use an example from RosabethKanter’s work to support your answer.

What is “essentialism”? Explain how John Gray’s book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus could be described as essentialist.

How does Gayle Rubin’s “sex/gender system” help us understand the position of women in Egyptian society as described at the beginning of Chapter 7? According to Nawal el Saadawi, how are sexism and patriarchy present in both the Arab and Western worlds?

What does real estate value have to do with school segregation? With this link in mind, how have inequalities in wealth contributed to long-term inequality between blacks and whites in the United States?

Although the validity of the term “race” is debatable, why do sociologists study race as it relates, for example, to the likelihood of going to prison? What does this mean about what is “real,” the way people understand the world, and what sociologists should study?

How has science been informed by culture (including racist beliefs) and, in turn, how has science fueled racism?

As the saying goes, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” How do eugenics and physiognomy contradict this saying (in regard to people)? Are the principles behind these pseudosciences still with us today?

What is “racialization” and how has it differed between Muslims and the Irish?

How is stating your ethnicity more similar to stating you like the Beatles than describing your race?

Thinking about the history of race, what do you predict for the future of “race” and “ethnicity” as social categories? Will they stay the same? What do demographic trends and history lessons suggest might happen in the coming decades in the United States?

The case of Ozzie and Harry at the beginning of the chapter brings to mind the variety of family arrangements. Describe the “nuclear family” and three other family forms. Does sociological research suggest that one such arrangement is necessarily the right one?

How do historical cultural ideals relate to current rates of marriage and divorce in the United States? Name one reason why the likelihood of being currently married might be lower among those with low incomes.

Sometimes what’s considered “normal” is far from what’s most prevalent currently or historically. How does this statement relate to perceptions about the “traditional” family?

Describe how a gendered division of labor arose after the Industrial Revolution. How was this change tied to kinship networks?

What is the second shift, and how does it relate to a leisure gap between husbands and wives?

What is a pecking order, and what does the term mean for children in a family? According to this concept, does your birth position in the family or number of siblings matter to your life chances for success in school and beyond?
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