Major Themes in Industrialised Societies: Exam Guidelines

 

Here are some guidelines for the examination in Introduction to Sociology.

 

Good exam scripts consist of:

·        Relevance to the question

·        Well written and structured

·        Easy to read and legible

·        Evidence of scholarly reading outside lecture and seminar materials

·        Extensive use of sociological language

·        Examination of theoretical ideas and arguments

·        Several criticisms of theoretical approaches

·        Examples and illustrations from contemporary society

·        Some original points arising from other modules and other readings

·        Some references to topics from other modules

 

Poor exam scripts consist of:

·        Not well expressed

·        Hard to read

·        Non-sociological concepts and ordinary language

·        Incorrect ideas and arguments

·        Incomplete discussion and not relevant to the question

·        Lecture materials

 

Illustrations

·        Society – Marxism and Liberalism

·        Social networks – instrumental (strong/weak ties) and intrinsic (morality) approaches

·        Organisations– Weberian (impersonal) and embedded (identity-sensitive/gendered) approaches

·        Markets – Adam Smith, Marx, Durkheim and Simmel

·        Family – Marxism, Feminism and moral critique (care ethics)