Sociology Homework Assignment

Answer the following questions in full sentences (either handwritten or typed is fine). Your answers should be 4-6 sentences, depending on the question. Include page numbers in your responses so that you can refer back to the reading during the discussion or when asking questions.

Questions for Blumer ([1962] 1969), “Society as Symbolic Interaction”, in Symbolic Interactionism, pages 78-89:

1. What are the key ideas that Blumer (1969) draws from George Herbert Mead?

2. How does Blumer view social interaction and society?

3.  According to Blumer (1969, 84), how does his theory differ from “general sociological views”? [By “general sociological views”, Blumer (1969 84) was referring to the dominant theories at the time that he wrote this article, the early 1960s.]

Questions for Berger and Luckmann (1966), The Social Construction of Reality, pp. 1-3, 53-62, 72-79, 89-91, 129-137:

4. How do Berger and Luckmann (1966) define the terms institutions and roles? How are they related? (Note: They are using the concept of roles in a different way than functionalist theories).

5. Interpret the following quote: “…institutions, as historical and objective facticities, confront the individual as undeniable facts. The institutions are there, external to him, persistent in their reality, whether he likes it or not. He cannot wish them away” (Berger and Luckmann 1996, p. 60).

6. What is reification (as Berger and Luckmann [1966] define it)? How does the concept fit into their overall argument?

7. How do they define socialization? What are the two stages of it? How does the concept of socialization fit into their overall argument?

8. What is an example of something that is ‘socially constructed’ that is relevant to your own life experiences, or is relevant to current events/issues? In what way (or ways) is it socially constructed?