UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI
JANUARY-APRIL 2006 SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS
EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS (REGULAR)
CSO 403: SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE
DATE: 14 APRIL 2006 TIME: 9.00 A.M. - 11.00 A.M.
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ANSWER ANY THREE QUESTIONS:
1. Define the following concepts, with appropriate examples to underscore your understanding:
(a) Paradigm Shift
(b) The Ladder of Inference
(c) Negative Entropy
(d) Tacit Knowledge.
1. Supporting your answer with appropriate examples, identify and discuss the seven questions at the root of all knowledge, with particular reference to what thinkers such as Aristotle, Durkheim and even Giddens have acknowledged as “the categories of the understanding”?
1. What do you consider to be the pre-requisites for an effective knowledge management system?
1. (a) Briefly discuss the structure of what we call simple knowledge structure.
(c) What is the significance of simple knowledge structure in the creation of scientific knowledge?
5. Critically discuss the following statement, attributed to Marshall McLuhan: “The only reason universities are so full of knowledge is that the students come with so much and ... leave with so little.”
6. Briefly discuss the five disciplines which Senge and others associate which the learning organization, showing which two you consider to be the most important.
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UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI
FIRST SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS 2004/2005
FOURTH YEAR EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS
(REGULAR)
CSO 403: SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE
DATE: 25TH APRIL 2005 TIME: 2.00 P.M. - 4.00 P.M.
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ANSWER ANY THREE QUESTIONS:
1. Define the following concepts, with appropriate examples to underscore your understanding:
(a) Epistemology
(b) The Digital Divide
(c) Entropy
(d) Semiotics
(e) Superego.
1. Identify any three “bodies of knowledge” which you consider to have significant impact on social life in the early 21st century, and outline the basic contents of each.
1. Bateson suggests three ways of knowing. Discuss.
1. Critically discuss the following statements:
(a) “not being known doesn’t stop the truth from being true” (Seagull)
(b) “Action is easy but knowledge is difficult” (Sun Yat Sen)
(c) “Imagination is more important than knowledge” (Einstein, allegedly)
(d) “The human brain is the only organ on earth that is aware of itself” (Henig)
5. Share with us your ideas about how humans learn, with particular reference to how they get to know: (a) what they know; (b) that they do know what they know; and (c) that they don’t know.
6. How does Habermas see the connection between knowledge and human interests, and to what extent do you agree with him?
7. “We strive mightily to accumulate knowledge, but all knowledge has a shelf-life – a fact which renders all our learning effort ultimately futile.” How do you respond to this claim?
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UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI
SECOND SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS 1997/98
FOURTH YEAR EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS
CSO 403: SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE
DATE: 17TH AUGUST 1998 TIME: 1.00 P.M. - 3.00 P.M.
Answer Any THREE Questions
1. Define and discuss each of the following concepts, illustrating your answer with concrete examples:
a) Memes
b) Ataraxy
c) Information.
2. What are the main aspects of symbolic interactionism as a theory, and how does the theory help us to understand social life?
3. Critically discuss the patterns of knowledge/information generation, transmission, storage and reception in traditional Africa.
4. Identify the main sources of knowledge in the world today, and discuss how these are tapped by different categories of individuals and organizations in developed and developing countries.
5. What role do the respective senses play in the acquisition of knowledge? In your answer, indicate if there are any alternative ways by which knowledge may be obtained.
6. What are the merits and demerits of quantitative and qualitative methodologies in knowledge generation? In your answer, discuss the problems of validity, reliability and significance.
7. What do you consider to be the main uses of knowledge in Kenya today, and why?
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UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI
SPECIAL/SUPPLEMENTARY EXAMINATIONS 1996/97
FOURTH YEAR EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS
CSO 403: SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE
DATE: 17TH NOVEMBER 1997 TIME: 1.00 P.M. - 3.00 P.M.
Answer Any THREE Questions
1. Define and discuss each of the following concepts, illustrating your answer with concrete examples:
a) Collective conscience
b) Norms
c) Induction.
2. What are the major sources of knowledge in contemporary African societies? In your answer provide an assessment of the quality of knowledge that one is likely to get from each source.
3. It has been argued that knowledge degrades over time. Do you agree? Support your answer with a discussion of the concept "negative entropy".
4. In what ways does the Marxian materialistic conception of history contribute to, or confuse, our understanding of social reality to-day?
5. Discuss the seven fundamental questions at the root of all knowledge, showing clearly the type of knowledge each question brings out.
6. "Ideas cause ideas". Discuss this statement with reference to the related notion of "virus- like sentences".
7. "Social life is a life of signs". Critically discuss this statement from either of the following perspectives:
a. Foucault's theory of "The sovereignty of the gaze"; or
b. Semiology.
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UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI
SECOND SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS 1996/97
FOURTH YEAR EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS
CSO 403: SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE
DATE: 4TH AUGUST 1997 TIME: 9.00 A.M. - 11.00 A.M.
Answer Any THREE Questions
1. Define and discuss each of the following concepts, illustrating your answer with concrete examples:
a) Ego
b) Experience
c) Epistemology.
2. Critically discuss the role of Verstehen in:
a) Sociological research
b) Social interaction.
3. Discuss the three types of knowledge suggested by Habermas and show their relationship, if any, with Comte's "Law of the Three Stages".
4. a) What are the main functions of language in social life?
b) How does technology affect these functions in contemporary society?
5. In Marxian theory, knowledge and material life are dynamically linked in a complex chain of:
Thesis!Antithesis!Synthesis/Thesis!Antithesis! ...
Critically discuss this dynamic link. Support your answer with appropriate examples.
6. For effective communication to occur, three problems must be overcome. Identify, rank and critically discuss these problems, with particular reference to the East African experience.
7. Discuss the impact of the written word on human knowledge, well-being and survival potential.
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UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI
SPECIAL/SUPPLEMENTARY EXAMINATIONS 1994/95/96
FOURTH YEAR EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS
CSO 403: SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE
DATE: 4TH NOVEMBER 1997 TIME: 2.00 P.M. - 4.00 P.M.
Answer Any THREE Questions
1. Define and discuss each of the following three concepts:
a) Norms
b) Deduction
c) Semiology.
2. Discuss the major sources of knowledge in contemporary Kenya, and show how knowledge is created at each source.
3. Critically discuss the Marxian materialistic conception of history.
4. Discuss the role and potential of Attitude Theory in social mobilization in developing countries.
5. It has been observed that knowledge degrades over time. In what ways can we preserve it against social and environmental dangers?
6. What is the role of common sense or understanding in:
a) Everyday life
b) Scientific inquiry?
7. What are the seven fundamental questions at the root of all knowledge?
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UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI
SECOND SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS 1994/95
FOURTH YEAR EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS
CSO 403: SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE
DATE: 3RD JULY 1996 TIME: 9.00 A.M. - 11.00 A.M.
Answer Any THREE Questions
1. Define and discuss each of the following three concepts: Negative entropy, Induction and Dialectics.
2. Critically discuss the linkage between knowledge and human interests suggested by Jurgen Habermas.
3. “Life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life.” Discuss.
4. What is the semiological significance of money in contemporary society?
5. “If we define behaviour as norm-driven social acts, and norms as rules governing social conduct – rules which must be learned in the course of living – then it is evident that we need to know both how behaviour is socially conditioned and how knowledge-resources are used to bring about the conditioning.” Discuss with close reference to key aspects of the relevant theory.
6. What is the role and future of the written or printed word as a method of preserving and transmitting knowledge?
7. “A class of classes cannot be one of the classes which are its members.” Discuss with reference to the structure of knowledge, or the process of social differentiation.
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UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI
SECOND SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS 1993/94
FOURTH YEAR EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS
CSO 403: SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE
DATE: 17TH JULY 1995 TIME: 9.00 A.M. - 11.00 A.M.
Answer Any THREE Questions
1. “As human beings, we do not have to know anything in order to live. All we need is air to breathe, water to drink and food to eat.” Critically discuss this remark.
2. Discuss any four of the following concepts, illustrating your answer with concrete examples:
Knowledge News
Information Truth
Belief Fact
3. Is there any role for common sense and understanding in:
a) Everyday life
b) Scientific enquiry?
Discuss your answer in terms of Verstehen and Ethnomethodology.
4. What role does “meaning”, as both a concept and a phenomenon, play in social integration and social conflict? Support your answer with empirical examples.
5. “The problem with academic researchers is that their reports and findings only end up in obscure shelves and gather dust. No one reads them. Soon they are out of date.” Critically discuss this view. In your answer, show how the shelf-life of knowledge varies under different conditions of knowledge “storage”.
6. Discuss the major sources of knowledge in African societies to-day, and show the main ways in which knowledge is created at each source.
7. Discuss Attitude Theory in terms of Information-Education-Communication (IEC) and Knowledge-Attitude-Practice (KAP) strategies for social mobilization.
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