Study
Guides
Exam
2
Sociology
4365
Topics
in Science and Religion
1. Who seems to score lower on
pseudoscientific beliefs, Europeans or
might this be expected? Which such beliefs are most common among
those in the
How do Americans feel about their competency re scientific
literacy? Why does this seem
to occur? (from
lectures)
2. Have men and women had difference
experiences with science and technology, generally
speaking?
Is so, are there any effects on their career
choices? Explain your answer. How
about for different racial or ethnic groups? (from lectures)
3.
From the Life magazine article about UFOs, what are the main
reasons advocated in the article
that cause people to believe in UFOs?
4. Who is most likely to believe in
UFOs, sociologically speaking?
5.
Is End-Times theology related at all to the Civil War for those in the
seem to tell his apostles to expect the
end-times? Who was John Nelson
Darby? What is
the current technical name given to his view of
the end-times?
6.
How pervasive IS belief in an imminent end-times for those in the mainstream of
today’s
U. S. variety of Christianity?
7.
Who is Tim LaHaye?
8.
About what percentage of U. S. Christians classify themselves as
“Fundamentalists?”
9.
Can you define “premillennial dispensationalism?”
8.
What proportion of believers
the number attending church in person?
10. What relationship is there between
Jews, the state of
timers?
12 How does the article “The Fellowship of
the Rings” explain the origin of most crop circles?
What proportion of believers accept this
explanation? Why does the author believe
that
most of the rings are created?
13. Is Christianity of the rise in
originate?
What does the author mean by terming Pentacostalism
as “A Fervent Response
to Rigidity?”
Does Pentacostalism in
of the Muslims there?
14.
What is Monsanto Corporations “Terminator Technology?” What are the main reasons
that some find the technology very worrisome?
15. Can you give a brief history of
had according to your reading? Are there any problems with the relationship
between
and current evangelicals? Explain.
16. According to the article “Paucity
of Aliens,” is there any hard evidence that aliens may have
visited the Earth? Explain.
17. What physical conditions might have
needed to exist in order for life to have developed on
other planets?
(From lecture: what aspect of physics appears to make it extremely
unlikely
aliens could
reach the Earth, even if they
exist?).
18. What is “sleep paralysis?” What does it have to do with a discussion of
beliefs about
aliens? When
does it occur? Who is most likely to
experience it?
19. When did stories about “Satanic
Ritualistic Abuse” first become highly popular?
What role may hypnosis play in the overall picture? How many cases do the
authors you have read for this course believe
to be valid cases?
20. What was the McMartin
pre-school case all about? How did it
turn out?
21. What is “false memory
syndrome?” Why is it important?
22. According to Stevens, what are the
primary causes of witch-hunting episodes?
23.
What primary elements appear in panics over alleged Satanism that seem
to have their
roots in ancient times? Why do these themes appear? Why do stories about children seem
the most emotion-laden?
24. What is the relation of images of
Satan to the culture of African-Americans and other blacks?
25. Can you describe Loftus’ research
design for investigating the false memory syndrome?
What were her main findings? What
is “imagination inflation?” If false
memories exist,
are
their any common mechanism by which they seem to form? Are false memories
related to the age of the believers in any way?
26. According to Scott, about what
percentage of those in the
creationism?”
Can you describe the various types of creationists Scott sets forth in
her Figure 1?
How have the various laws against the teaching of evolution or in
favor of the “two-model” approach faired in the
courts? What is “intelligent
design theory?”
Can you describe it’s basic elements? What does Scott predict about
the future of the debate on creationism vs.
evolution? How willing have academics
been to get involved in defending evolution?
27.
Where is
creationism vs. evolution? What is “the New Christian Right?” How much evidence
do Eve and Harrold
put forward the there is something pathological about the
thinking or personality of those who favor
creationism? What is “status politics?”
Can you define “cultural traditionalists” and “cultural modernists?”
Are creation scientists different from other creationists? If so, in what way/s?
What explanation do Eve and Harrold seem to
favor for explaining belief in
creationism or in evolution? Is authoritarianism a good answer as to
motive?
What event seems to have greatly fanned the flames of the debate during
the
second half of the 20th century?
28.
Why is
29. Regarding Rowe’s “School Daze:
A Critical Review of the ‘African
American
Baseline Essay’ for Science and Mathematics, list and
briefly
explain at least three claims made by the Baseline
essays
that Rowe believes to be incorrect.
30. Regarding “They Were Not Here before
Hyperdiffusionism in
the 1990s,” does the author believe that
the “Afrocentric” writers have any legitimate claims against the
“Eurocentric” scholars?
Explain your answer briefly.
31.
What are the basic claims associated with Afrocentric
Hyperdiffusionism?
32. In Johnson’s “Science, Technology,
and Black Community
Development,”
what does the author believe the effect of the
automobile was upon black people in the
other
major technological inventions that impacted the
black
community? In what
ways?
B. Sociology of Religion, Part IV – “Race,
Ethnicity, and
Religion”
34.
From Kurien’s “Becoming American by Becoming a
Hindu,” define
satsang
and bala vihars. How is each related to the
socialization
process of Hindu’s?
35. From Roof’s “Cultural Conflicts and Identity:
Second Generation
Hispanic Catholics in the
ways that the
Catholicism of Spanish immigrants in the U. S.
differs from
the practice of Catholicism as they found it
practiced by
others in the U. S.
What is “sidestream”
ethnicity?
36.
According to Nelson in the “Sacrifice of Praise: Emotion and
Collective Participation in an
African-American Worship
Service,” what is the real significance
of “shouting?”
37.
What is “response behavior?” When and
where does it occur?
38.
According to “Growing Up American: How Vietnamese Children Adapt
to Life in the
the
Characteristics of young people that made them most likely
to think of
themselves as “Vietnamese?”
What are the two most important religions
in the U. S.
Vietnamese community?
39. In Yinger’s
“Ethnicity: Source of Strength? Source of Conflict,”
does the author
think religion helps to promote conflict?
To
reduce
conflict? Explain.
40.
Can you briefly explain the nature of religious conflict in
Part
6: Social Class and Religion
41.
According to the Introduction to Part 6, what is religion’s function?
42.
In Mill hands and Preachers, what was the attitude and role taken by the “uptown
churches” in relation
to helping the
less fortunate create meaningful social change?
Explain.
43.
In Protestantism and the American Labor movement, what was the attitude of postmillennial
Christians
toward trade unions and radical reforms?
44.
Are the main conclusions in Cultures of Solidarity similar to those seen in
Mill Hands and Preachers?
Explain.
45.
According to the article about the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, who or what
was the FSNL?
What was it trying to accomplish?
Powerpoints seen in class:
41. Who wrote Frankenstein? Why was this surprising at the time?
42. How unreasonable was the idea of creating Frankenstein from dead body parts at
the time the story was written? Explain.
43. What two new technologies were much in the public's mind at the time Frankenstein
was written?
44. Who created the
first U. S. movie about Frankenstein?
45. From the class presentation on chaos and complexity theory, can you
explain what
is meant by “deterministic
chaos?” “A strange
Attractor?” A “phase
state?”
a “bifurcation
point?” How about “emergent properties” –
and how predictable are
these?
46. What implications does chaos
and complexity theory have for the argument that the
universe
must have had an “intelligent designer?”
Explain briefly.
47. From the Powerpoint on ID as a social
movement:
Can you identify the main social
movement organizations involved in the creationism
vs
evolution controversy? Can you briefly
characterize each? Which
is currently
the most influential?
What is the “wedge document” and why is it important?
What is the “irreducible complexity”
argument?
What are the main tactics used by the
Discovery Institute?
48.
What are the main points from the movie “Flock of Dodos?”
How does the filmmaker characterize the creationists?
Don’t forget that you are also responsible
for the added online reading about
“A Short History of Halloween” (found
at: http://www.darkecho.com/darkecho/features/halloween.html)
and for the main points in the movie “A
Haunted History of Halloween.”
For other topics in lecture, such as witch hunts, ufos, etc., you will need to reply
on your lecture notes.