Social structure and interaction

Humanities

(A) 1. Identify three social skills you learned from your parents. Describe how your parents reinforced your learning of these skills. Did the reinforcement change as you accomplished a particular skill?

2. Describe five skills you have learned through your interaction with other people. An example may be your ability to work at a computer, a skill learned at your job.

3. As you were growing up, what impact did your interactions with peers have on your self-esteem? Did you grow up feeling good about yourself? Did your peers make fun of you for any reason?

4. Describe your educational experiences as being either positive or negative. Give specific examples that reinforce both positive and negative. Overall, how would you remember your educational years?

5. With the explosion of computer technology, many people spend hours “surfing” the Internet. What role does the computer play in our socialization process? What are the benefits and dangers of spending a lot of time using the computer?

6, Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the type of discipline, which was used in your home as you were growing up.

(B)1. Describe your reactions to the electronic monitoring and social restitution programs? Do you think these programs offer viable alternatives to prisons? Explain your answer.

2. If you have been an inmate in a total institution describe the least effective aspect of any attempt to rehabilitate you and change the behavior responsible for your being in the institution.
3. If you have had a member of your family in jail or prison, describe the effect this has had on your family. Has most of the effect been positive or negative?
4. Describe factors, which contribute to a high recidivism rate.
5. What attitudes, practices, norms, or laws exist in your city that do not allow ex-offenders to escape the stigma of their imprisonment? Give specific examples.

(C)1. Write a self-assessment in which you describe your social class and support your placement with specific examples from your life, which illustrate your particular class level. Are there aspects of your lifestyle, income, or job that would place you in two social classes?
2. Describe the divisions that exist in your community between the working class and the upper class. What evidence illustrates the gap in income and lifestyle between the two classes?
3. When you were a child, did your parents or others put pressure on you to perform well in school? If so or if not, how did this affect your behavior, attitude, values, and other responses?
4. Describe an example of downward mobility you have observed.

5. Has your social-class position constrained or helped you in achieving your educational goals? Explain.