Imagine that you are a member of a noble family in the early Middle Ages. In 200 words or less, write a letter to the Pope thanking him for bringing order to your people. Tell him what you feared happening had God and the Catholic Church not intervened. Do you think that fighting between all of the different groups of people would have ever stopped?
Do you think your family would have survived for much longer?

Chapter 1 what is the sociological perspective? why did durkheim say that some people are more likely to commit suicide? what does it mean that sociology us to see that “things are not as they seem"? what is the "sociological imagination"? how did industrialization and urbanization lead to the development of sociology? who is the "father" of sociology (and coined the term sociology)? what was the major goal of sociology’s pioneers like comte and durkheim? what did herbert spencer say? what did karl marx think caused social change? when did sociology become established as an academic discipline in the u.s.? what did w.e.b. dubois say was the major problem of the 20th century? what is the functionalist view of society? what is the main focus of the conflict perspective? why are gender and race important to the conflict perspective? what is the symbolic interactionist perspective? chapter 2 why is culture vital to human survival, and how is that different from animal instinct? what is the sapir-whorf hypothesis? what is a norm? what are mores and folkways? how does the u.s. compare to other nations in terms of how multicultural or culturally diverse it is? what is a subculture? what is a counterculture? what is cultural lag? can you give an example? what is the ethnocentrism vs. cultural relativism debate about?