DISCUSS AND PRESENT HOW Simmel accomplishes this goal.
SOC 331 – TEST 2 ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS IN A FORM OF SHORT ESSAYS (800 WORDS MINIMUM). YOUR ANSWERS SHOULD BE SEEN AS CRITICAL RESPONSES/PRESENTATIONS OF THE TEXTS’ THEORETICAL ARGUMENTS. WHEN YOU QUOTE FROM THE ORIGINAL TEXTS, PLEASE REPORT THE PAGE NUMBERS. Q1: SIMMEL “The Metropolis and Mental Life” focuses on elucidating the “modern aspects of contemporary life with reference to their inner meaning.” DISCUSS AND PRESENT HOW Simmel accomplishes this goal. CRIRICAL REVIEW: In reviewing/assisting you to develop your essay, please focus on: first, noting the adjustments and modifications made by people in response to external forces, and second, by detailing how social structures prescribe certain relationships. NOTE: develop an argument about how Simmel theorizes about, Metropolitan Individuality, and how the lifestyle of the Metropolis affects one’s personality (objective and subjective spirits) Q2: SIMMEL According to Simmel, fashion derives from a basic tension specific to the social condition of the human being. Furthermore, for Simmel “… fashion represents nothing more than one of the many forms of life by the aid of which we seek to combine in uniform spheres of activity the tendency towards social equalization with the desire for individual differentiation and change.” In his theoretical analysis, he argues that in each social relation there are opposite forces at work. Identify and present the sociological pairs related to fashion. NOTE: some themes to review and study: Imitation-Distinction, Universality-Particularity, Submission-Sense of Power, Heredity-Individual Variation, Stillness-Movement, Creation-Destruction, Individualism-Collectivity, Antagonism-Neutrality (“the classic”). Q3. Thorstein Veblen “Conspicuous Consumption” How Veblen defines Conspicuous Consumption? Present/Discuss the main theoretical arguments of this text. Q4. C.W. Mills – The Sociological Imagination What C.W. Mills means by the term “Sociological Imagination” What is “the Promise”, and how he documents it?
