MODULE 06

MIDTERM EXAM REVIEW AND INSTRUCTIONS

AND
TIPS TO WRITING THE MIDTERM EXAM
SOC 606
© Kelly Train, PhD, 2025

The copyright to this original work is held by Professor Train and students
registered in course SOC 606 can use this material for the purposes of this
course but no other use is permitted, and there can be no sale or transfer or use
of the work for any other purposes without explicit permission of Professor Train.

Midterm Exam Instructions

• This Module 06 is the Midterm Exam

• The exam covers the lectures and readings for Modules 01 through 05
• The midterm exam will become available for the week of Module 06 (see the
last page of the course outline for dates).
• Once students open their exam, they must write the entire exam in one sitting;
the exam cannot be closed and re-opened
• Make sure that you save your answers as you complete each question
• Choose the BEST ANSWER to each question.
• The exam is 50 questions; Students have 90 minutes to write the exam
• Students should set an alarm if they need to keep track of time
• The exam program will not notify you of any time remaining
• You should understand that you are responsible for keeping track of time.
• The exam is a closed book exam; should you write the exam open book, you
will not complete the exam in time
• At the 90 minute mark, the exam will automatically close; in the event that it does
not close, the program tells me exactly how long it has taken for you to write the
exam; I will be subtracting 1 mark for every five seconds that students exceed
the exam timeframe of 90 minutes
• Good Luck

Module 07 Essay Proposal Reminder

• Students should also remember that the Essay Proposal is due in Module 07
• Please read Module 07 carefully and follow the instructions in the Essay
Proposal and Essay Writing Guidelines.

Review for Midterm Exam

Defining Work and Families

• Who is the family?

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• How do we define the family today?
• How did we define the family historically?
• How is “work” defined in a capitalist patriarchal society?
• How do feminists define women’s work?
• What does it mean that the family was a unit of production?
• What does it mean that the family is today a unit of consumption (in the West)?
• What is the family wage?
• What is the reserve army of labour?
• What is Taylorism?
• What is another term for Taylorism?
• What is the deskilling of work?
• What is Fordism?
• What is dual labour market theory?
• What is the restructuring of work?
• What is the primary labour market?
• What is the secondary labour market?
• What is patriarchy?
• What is domestic labour?
• What is organizational work?
• What is consumption work?
• What is emotional work?
• What is sexual work?
• What is post-Fordism?
• What is the third sector?
• Why is it difficult to measure women’s unpaid labour?

Sociological Theories of Work and Families

• What is structural functionalism?

• What is mechanical solidarity?
• What is organic solidarity?
• What did Marx and Engels argue about the family and work?
• What did Parsons argue about the family and work?
• What is the instrumental leadership role?
• What is the expressive role?
• What did second wave feminists argue about motherhood?
• What do third and fourth wave feminists argue about motherhood?
• What do Black feminists argue about motherhood?
• What issues were liberal feminists fighting for?
• What are liberal feminist concerns?
• What issues do radical feminists fight for?
• How do radical feminists identify the source of women’s oppression?
• How do socialist feminists identify the source of women’s oppression?
• What were radical feminist concerns?

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• What were socialist feminist concerns?
• What do political economy feminists argue about women and work?
• Why are women’s movements that are part of the New Right (or alt-Right) not
feminist?
• What is R.E.A.L. Women?

History of Work and Families – Pre-Industrial Era 1500 – 1880

• What is patriarchy?
• What is matriarchy?
• What is patrilineage?
• What is matrilineage?
• What is patrilocal/patrifocal?
• What is matrilocal/matrifocal?
• Who was the family in pre-colonial Indigenous societies?
• How were foraging communities organized?
• How were women and their work viewed in pre-colonial Indigenous societies?
• How were small scale agricultural Indigenous communities organized?
• How were fisher Indigenous societies organized?
• How were women and their work viewed in pre-colonial Indigenous societies?
• How did all of these communities regard women generally?
• What was the life expectancy of men and women in early settler societies?
• What did the life expectancy of men and women in early settler societies reflect?
• Who were the filles du roi and what was their purpose?
• What was the role and work of women in pre-industrial settler societies?
• What was the role and work of men in pre-industrial settler societies?
• What was the status of women in pre-industrial settler societies?
• What was the role and work of children in pre-industrial settler societies?
• What was the experience of Black women in pre-industrial settler societies?

History of Work and Families – Industrialized Era 1880s – 1940s

• How did farms transform from family farms to industrialized farms?

• How was work organized in urban industrialized working class families?
• What is piecework?
• What kinds of jobs were open to white working class women?
• What kinds of jobs were open to Indigenous and Black women?
• How were children’s wages viewed in working class industrialized families?
• How did Catholic women avoid marriage and motherhood and gain access to
higher levels of education and male dominated jobs?
• How did World War I create job opportunities for women? What kinds of jobs
opportunities?
• How did the Depression eliminate job opportunities for women?
• How were women encouraged to work in paid labour during World War II?
• What is the private sphere?

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• What is the public sphere?
• How did the private and public spheres become separated?
• What is the cult of domesticity?
• Who could embrace the tasks involved in the cult of domesticity?
• How did middle class and affluent women’s work change with the cult of
domesticity?
• Who were fallen women?
• Why did the birth rate begin to decline in the early 20th century?
• What women worked in paid labour outside the home prior to World War II?
• If a family was in need of money, what kind of work did married women take on?
• What occupational opportunities were available to women outside the home
between the 1880s and 1940s?
• What were the majority of occupations open to women between 1880 and 1940?
• What kinds of jobs encouraged women workers in the 1920s that had previously
been male occupations only?
• What were the conditions of work for women in the various occupations open to
them?

Tips to Writing the Midterm (and Final) Exam

You should approach the exam by thinking about how you would write an essay

exam. What would be the key points you would talk about in an essay exam on each

topic? In other words, what would be the sub-issues or key points you would be

discussing in an essay exam? Sometimes there is one specific answer. Sometimes

there are several sub-issues or key points that are each part of the answer. In the latter

case, is there one answer that allows you to choose to answer more than one key point

or sub-issue?

Here are some tips to writing the multiple choice exams (midterm and final):

• Read the question entirely.

• Treat each answer as separate.

• Go through each answer asking yourself "yes" or "no" to the question.

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• If you have more than one "yes" when you have finished going through all the

potential answers, is there an answer that allows you to answer more than one

answer.

• If yes, does it address the answers you answered "yes"?

• If so, there is your answer.

• If, however, you only said "yes" to one answer provided, then your answer is only

that one answer option.

Multiple choice is for confident people. Make sure that you study, feel confident

that you have studied.

Once you have reviewed the question and all the answers, choose the BEST

answer. The BEST answer is the one that answers the question fully. If you believe

that more than one answer provided is correct and there is an option to pick an answer

that includes all the answers you have chosen as correct for that question, then that is

the BEST answer. If you have identified only one answer provided as the correct

answer, then the BEST answer is the one with only that answer.

Once you choose the BEST answer, move on to the next question.

With multiple choice, the more you sit and stare at all the answers, the more they

all look good. Do NOT do this.

There is nothing tricky about the exams. The questions and answers are clearly

written and straightforward. Only you are playing tricks on yourself. Do NOT overthink

the answers. Read the question, read all the answers, choose the BEST answer.

Then move on to the next question. Do NOT second guess yourself.

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Here are the ways students who study find they obtain disappointing exam

marks:

• they answer only one correct answer but not the answer with ALL the correct

answers (the BEST answer)

• they go over the exam multiple times and change their initial answer which was

correct to an incorrect answer

The multiple choice exams are written as if you are writing an essay exam. The

BEST answer reflects all of the key points I would expect you to talk about in an essay

exam.

Please note: This is not high school. Effort and studying is necessary but not

enough to do well if you do not choose the BEST answer. The answers are

straightforward. Take the exam reviews seriously and understand all aspects of the

question. Choose the BEST answer that contains all of the correct answers.

Follow these tips. Take them seriously. Students who follow these tips end up doing

well.