Sociology in our times – the Essentials ..Kendall Chapter 4 1. Think of a person you know well who often irritates you or whose behavior grates on your nerves (it could be a parent, friend, relative, teacher). First, list that person’s statuses and roles. Then analyze the person’s possible role expectations, role performance, role conflicts, and role strains. Does anything you find in your analysis help to explain the irritating behavior? How helpful are the concepts of social structure in analyzing individual behavior? 2. You are conducting field research on gender differences in nonverbal communication styles. How are you going to account for variations among age, race, and social class? 3. When communicating with other genders, races, and ages, is it better to express and acknowledge different styles or to develop a common, uniform style? Chapter 5 1. Who might be more likely to conform in a bureaucracy, those with power or those wanting more power? 2. Do the insights gained from Milgram’s research on obedience outweigh the elements of deception and stress that were forced on its subjects? 3. How would you organize a large-scale organization or company for the twenty-fi rst century? Chapter 6 1. Does public toleration of deviance lead to increased crime rates? If people were forced to conform to stricter standards of behavior, would there be less crime in the United States? 2. Should so-called victimless crimes, such as prostitution and recreational drug use, be decriminalized? Do these crimes harm society? 3. As a sociologist armed with a sociological imagination, how would you propose to deal with the problem of crime in the United States and around the world? .

1. Sociology in our times – the Essentials ..Kendall
Chapter 4
1. Think of a person you know well who often irritates you or
whose behavior grates on your nerves (it could be a parent,
friend, relative, teacher).
First, list that person’s statuses and roles. Then analyze the
person’s possible role expectations, role performance, role
conflicts, and role strains.
Does anything you find in your analysis help to explain the
irritating behavior? How helpful are the concepts of social
structure in analyzing individual behavior?
2. You are conducting field research on gender differences in
nonverbal communication styles.
How are you going to account for variations among age, race,
and social class?
3. When communicating with other genders, races, and ages, is
it better to express and acknowledge different styles or to
develop a common, uniform style?
Chapter 5
1. Who might be more likely to conform in a bureaucracy, those
with power or those wanting more power?
2. Do the insights gained from Milgram’s research on obedience
outweigh the elements
of deception and stress that were forced on its subjects?
3. How would you organize a large-scale organization or

2. company for the twenty-fi rst century?
Chapter 6
1. Does public toleration of deviance lead to increased crime
rates? If people were forced to
conform to stricter standards of behavior, would there be
less crime in the United States?
2. Should so-called victimless crimes, such as prostitution and
recreational drug use, be decriminalized? Do these crimes harm
society?
3. As a sociologist armed with a sociological imagination, how
would you propose to deal
with the problem of crime in the United States and
around the world?