The Department of Sociology & Anthropology is committed to engaging students intellectually at all times. We often challenge our students in multiple ways. One of such ways is our monthly brain teaser quiz. This knowledge-and-content-based quiz will sometimes contain questions directly from instructors, sociological textbooks, peer-reviewed journal articles, magazines, newspapers, etc. The quiz may contain puzzles as well. The goal is to engage our students intellectually to assess the extent of their reading and understanding of the field of sociology and other related subject matters.

A student who first submits the correct answer(s) to every quiz will receive an award or price either in cash or kind. Answers to the quiz should be emailed to sociology-anthropology@ul.edu.lr & sociologydepartment.ul@gmail.com and ‘cc’ sent to the Department Chairman at foedayjk@ul.edu.lr.

 

FEBRUARY BRAIN TEASER QUESTION: (Passed Already)

Question: Who are considered the classical founding fathers of sociology, and why are they considered so?

Answer: Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber are considered the classical founding fathers of sociology. The three major theoretical perspectives or paradigms (conflict theory, functionalism, and symbolic interactionism) sociologists use today in explaining how the social world influences us and how we influence the social world are heavily attributed to each of them respectively.

MARCH BRAIN TEASER QUESTIONS: (Current)

Question 1. Who made this statement?

“People who like to avoid shocking discoveries, who prefer to believe that society is just what they were taught in Sunday School …, who are content to admire scenery without wondering about the people who live in … houses on the other side of [the] river, should … stay away from sociology.”

[ ] Becker, Howard[ ] Cooley, Charles Horton[ ] Goffman, Erving[ ] Mead, George Herbert[ ] Spencer, Herbert
[ ] Berger, Peter Ludwig[ ] Du Bois, W. E. B. [ ] Gramsci, Antonio[ ] Merton, Robert K.[ ] Tocqueville, Alexis de
[ ] Bourdieu, Pierre[ ] Durkheim, Emile[ ] Habermas, Juergen[ ] Mills, C. Wright[ ] Weber, Max
[ ] Collins, Patricia Hill[ ] Foucault, Michel[ ] Martineau, Harriet[ ] Parsons, Talcott
[ ] Comte, Auguste[ ] Giddens, Anthony[ ] Marx, Karl[ ] Simmel, Georg

Question 2.

Understanding and explaining social phenomena from sociological perspective or point of view is critical in sociology. One way Berger (1963) defines ‘sociological perspective’ is “seeing the strange in the familiar”. What does Berger mean? Explain with at least one specific example.

 

REMINDER: Email your answers to sociology-anthropology@ul.edu.lr & sociologydepartment.ul@gmail.com and ‘cc’ sent to the Department Chairman at foedayjk@ul.edu. Thank you for attempting the quiz. The correct answers will be posted at the end of the month here and on the Department Bulletin Board at Fendall Campus.