MAASAI MARA UNIVERSITY
REGULAR UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS
2016/2017 ACADEMIC YEAR
THIRD YEAR SECOND SEMESTER

SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
BACHELOR OF ARTS IN SOCIOLOGY

COURSE CODE: SOC 311 
COURSE TITLE: CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGICAL 
                                 THEORY

DATE:  31ST JANUARY, 2017		       TIME: 0830 – 1030HRS 
INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
1.	Answer Question ONE and any other TWO questions
2.	Question one is compulsory and carries 30% Marks
3.	Answer any other two questions, each carries 20% Marks

		This paper consists of TWO printed pages. Please turn over.

SECTION A:
1  (a). Explain the background of the Contemporary sociological theory	 									(10 Marks)
  (b). Describe the reasons why classical theoretical sources are considered to be significant in the development of contemporary theories 	          								     (5 Marks) 
  (c). Discuss the contributions of Robert Merton in the structural functional theory                     			 (15 Marks)

SECTION B:
2. Discuss the conflict school of thought under the following headings:
    (i). Power of the realm 					(5 Marks)
    (ii). Brute force and theoretical intrigue   	(5 Marks)
    (iii). Social contract and the state  			(5 Marks)
    (iv). Individualism and group interests       (5 Marks)
3.	Discuss the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl in the intellectual development of contemporary sociological theories. (20 Marks)
4.	Assess the Neo-Marxist approaches, especially the contributions of Gramci and Althusser in sociological spheres.		(20 Marks)				     
5.	Discuss the intellectual place of the following personalities in reference to the Frankfurt school of thought  				
(i). Marx Horkheimer 						(7 Marks)
(ii). Theodore Adorno  					(7 Marks)		 
(iii). Jurgen Haberman 						(6 Marks)
6.	Articulate the similarities between the consciousness and ideological approaches and the modernism and post-modernist perspective		            							 		(20 Marks) 

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