DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
Winter Term, 1945–1946
SOCIOLOGY 14
To what extent, as you understand it, is Europe inhabited by different races? What races?
Discuss the instability and impermanence of the immigrant community and of its mores, institutions and activities in the United States, pointing out (a) causes and characteristics, (b) advantages and disadvantages of such instability.
“What America needs is not more but fewer societies founded to perpetuate ethnic and historical distinctions — fewer ‘Sons’ and ‘Daughters’ of this, that or the other race, war, state or nation — in short, less remoteness, less snobbishness, less clannishness, and more concern with our common present and our common future.”
Analyze and discuss the above quotation in its various bearings upon American needs and conditions as you understand them.
“According to many critical observers, the year 1924 will mark a turning point in the long view of American history, because in that year the Congress of the United States, reflecting the newly appreciated immigrant-consequence of the country, passed a statute which definitely abandoned the asylum and economic bases of our national immigration-control policy, and adopted in their place a biological-based policy; henceforth, after 1924, the immigrant into the United States was to be looked upon, not as a source of cheap or competitive labor, nor as one seeking asylum from foreign oppression, nor as a migrant hunting a less strenuous life, but as a parent future-born American citizens. This meant that the hereditary stuff out of which immigrants are made would have to be compatible racially with American ideals.”
(This passage is taken slightly condensed from a report entitled “Conquest by Immigration” by Harry H. Laughlin of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.)
What do you think of the above interpretation of our present immigration laws?
5–6. Discuss the characteristics of the Color Line in the United States pointing out (a) the ideas which underlie it, (b) its relation to the problem of caste and class among both whites and negroes in the South, (c) its bearing upon the problems of national defense, and (d) of Economic reconversion.
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
Winter Term, 1945–1946
SOCIOLOGY 2
Write in ink.
Answer any five questions.
Discuss the relationships between social change and social problems, with particular reference to World War II as an agency of social change.
Discuss the relationships between the individual and society, illustrating with a specific individual problem.
Discuss the problem of divorce, pointing out its general social causes and its implications for the future of the family.
Discuss some of the representative social problems of the urban community, pointing out the nature of each as well as the factors in the urban environment which make for social problems.
Discuss the nature of social problems, illustrating with a discussion of racial prejudice as a central problem of modern society.
Discuss the central social problem of the atomic age, indicating the factors which combined to create the problem.
I never asked my paternal grandma how far she went in school. She was a typical Russian born in the Ukraine. Left after the Communist “revolution” because the Commies were so uncivilized. Went to China. Met my Belgian grandfather there. There they lived like Europeans in the European community until the Japanese invaded in 1939 and sent them to a concentration camp because they came from countries on the wrong side. Their Czechoslovakian neighbors did not have to report.
If you think American speech has slid from a “PG” to an “R” rating, you’re not alone. It appears that profane speech is becoming more common in America.
A corporate research company recently studied transcripts of conference calls. It found the use of expletives among call-attendees rose 80 percent between 2018 and 2021. And it appears younger generations are more expletive-prone. According to one report, Baby Boomers use profanity 10 times a day, but members of Gen Z swear 24 times a day.
Swearing certainly isn’t anything new to Americans. In the 1800s, Saturday Evening Post editors were denouncing the users of rough speech:
Profanity is as impolite as it is sinful.
Of all the vices…man has been able to invent, there is none that furnishes a more melancholy evidence of moral degradation and depravity of mind, than the practice of profane swearing in common conversation; because it is attended with no possible advantage or pleasure.
Among young men in particular it seems to be fashionable to swear even in ordinary conversation.
Habitual indulgence confirms bad practices, hence many have become notorious swearers who, a year or two ago, would shudder at the mention of an oath. All immoral practices, it may be said, are disreputable, but that of profanity is more disgusting than any, as it is so utterly devoid of sense, and so completely at variance with the rules of good breeding and politeness....
In 2021, the F-word was heard on television 13,261 times. In 2022, it was heard 17,801 times — a 34 percent increase. Streaming and cable services are largely responsible for the increase. - https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2024/11/do-americans-swear-more-than-they-used-to/
When children are exposed to violence on TV and in video games, studies show they tend to become more aggressive themselves. But a new study reveals that even just exposure to swear words in media may lead children to become more physically aggressive as well.more..In a study involving 223 middle-schoolers in Missouri, researchers at Brigham Young University asked the students about their exposure to profanity in the media — in particular on television and in video games — as well as their attitudes about swear words and their tendencies toward aggressive behavior...
Using statistical models, the researchers calculated that exposure to profanity had about the same relationship to aggressive behavior as exposure to violence on TV or in video games. In addition, they found that the more children were exposed to profanity, they more likely they were to use swear words themselves, and those who used profanity were more likely to become aggressive toward others. - https://time.com/archive/7140198/children-who-hear-swear-words-on-tv-are-more-aggressive/
How using of bad language fosters violence and unempathetic behaviour in youngsters
.. research from Cambridge University indicates that exposure to profanity, especially among male youth, correlates with higher levels of aggression and potentially abusive behavior. This effect is more pronounced in environments where aggressive language is normalised, reinforcing harmful gender norms.
Profanity usage often spikes in stressful or competitive environments, such as workplaces and educational settings, with younger generations adopting more casual language norms influenced by global media. This can lead to physical aggression in young boys and relational aggression (e.g., exclusion) in young girls. - https://apeejay.news/how-using-of-bad-language-fosters-violence-and-unempathetic-behaviour-in-youngsters/