Chapter 1: Diversity in the United States: Questions and Concepts

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. The fastest-growing group in the United States is ______.

A. Asian and Pacific Islanders

B. non-Hispanic White Americans

C. Irish Americans

D. African Americans

E. Africans

Learning Objective: 1-1: Students will understand that increasing diversity contributes to continued debates about who is considered “American” and how the nation should move forward regarding questions of unity and diversity.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Increasing Diversity

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. By definition, a minority group is always ______.

A. smaller in number than the dominant group

B. residentially segregated from the dominant group

C. singled out for differential and unequal treatment

D. distinguishable from the dominant group by its racial characteristics

E. distinguished from the dominant group by its ethnic origins

Learning Objective: 1-3: Students will understand the defining characteristics of a minority group.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: What Is a Minority Group?

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. The social or physical characteristics that mark the boundaries between groups are usually ______.

A. selected for their visibility and convenience

B. selected by the minority groups themselves

C. scientifically significant

D. selected for their biological importance

E. indicators of biological difference

Learning Objective: 1-4: Students will be able to identify and dispel myths concerning biological ideas of race and gender and understand how they serve as visible distinguishing traits that denote group membership and affect life chances.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Visibility

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Miscegenation laws prevented ______.

A. people from passing as members of another race

B. people of different races from eating together in public restaurants

C. members of different races from intermarrying

D. members of different races from going to the same schools

E. members of the same gender from marrying

Learning Objective: 1-8: Students will explore the differences between forms of prejudice and discrimination at the individual and group levels of analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Intimate Relationships

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. “The most important source of inequality arises from a person's relationship to the means of production.” This statement is most likely to be heard from a ______.

A. capitalist

B. Weberian

C. libertarian

D. Marxist

E. Republican

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Karl Marx

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. According to Marx, the means of production in an agricultural society would include ______.

A. factories

B. social class

C. wealth

D. land

E. banks

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Karl Marx

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Which of the following is a defining characteristic of a minority group?

A. a smaller population than the dominant group

B. a pattern of disadvantage or inequality

C. cultural practices that do not lead to success in the new country

D. a tendency to form intimate relationships with different groups

E. a recent immigrant to the new country

Learning Objective: 1-3: Students will understand the defining characteristics of a minority group.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: What Is a Minority Group?

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Which theorist expands the interpretation of inequality by identifying three separate stratification systems: prestige, property, and power?

A. Max Weber

B. Patricia Hill Collins

C. Karl Marx

D. Milton Gordon

E. Gerhard Lenski

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Max Weber

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Max Weber thought that Marx's ideas about inequality were too ______.

A. narrow

B. optimistic

C. complex

D. abstract

E. pessimistic

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Max Weber

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Gerhard Lenski is important because he linked the nature of inequality to the ______ of a society.

A. group structure

B. amount of prestige

C. wealth disparity

D. level of development

E. caste system

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Gerhard Lenski

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. According to Lenski, inequality in an agricultural society centers on control of ______.

A. educational opportunities

B. factories and mines

C. colleges and universities

D. land and labor

E. status and prestige

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Gerhard Lenski

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. According to Lenski, inequality in a postindustrial society centers on control of ______.

A. educational opportunities

B. factories and mines

C. colleges and universities

D. land and labor

E. status and prestige

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Gerhard Lenski

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. ______ refers to how a person is layered or ranked in society according to how many valued resources they possess.

A. Social differentiation

B. Social stratification

C. Social capital

D. Social status

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Stratification

Difficulty Level: Easy

14. Women can be viewed as a minority group because ______.

A. there are fewer women than men in the United States

B. they have different job opportunities than men

C. they are conscious of being “inferior” to men

D. they have less property, prestige, and power in our society

E. they have less property in our society

Learning Objective: 1-6: Students will explore the social construction of gender and the role of patriarchy in maintaining inequality between men and women.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Gender

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. The thinking aspect of prejudice is called ______.

A. affective prejudice

B. emotional prejudice

C. behavioral prejudice

D. cognitive prejudice

E. racist prejudice

Learning Objective: 1-8: Students will explore the differences between forms of prejudice and discrimination at the individual and group levels of analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Prejudice

Difficulty Level: Easy

16. A person refuses to rent an apartment to a person of a different racial or ethnic group. This is an example of ______.

A. prejudice

B. institutional discrimination

C. individual discrimination

D. legal discrimination

E. prejudice leading to institutional discrimination

Learning Objective: 1-8: Students will explore the differences between forms of prejudice and discrimination at the individual and group levels of analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Institutional Discrimination

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. When entire groups are treated unfairly and unequally in the institutions of the larger society, this is called ______.

A. institutional discrimination

B. institutional prejudice

C. racism

D. societal prejudice

E. personal discrimination 

Learning Objective: 1-8: Students will explore the differences between forms of prejudice and discrimination at the individual and group levels of analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Institutional Discrimination

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. Which of the following social theorists argued that the most important source of inequality in society was the system of economic production?

A. Emile Durkheim

B. Patricia Hill Collins

C. Karl Marx

D. Max Weber

E. Talcott Parsons

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Karl Marx

Difficulty Level: Medium

19. Research indicates that we generally become aware of group differences at what age?

A. as early as 6 months old

B. when we enter elementary school

C. as preadolescents

D. when we enter high school

E. as we enter adulthood

Learning Objective: 1-9: Students will explore the origins of prejudice and the changes in how it is expressed over time.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Development of Prejudice in Children

Difficulty Level: Easy

20. The new form of prejudice that is often expressed in seemingly neutral language is known as ______.

A. new racism

B. blatant racism

C. modern racism

D. status quo racism

E. overt racism

Learning Objective: 1-9: Students will explore the origins of prejudice and the changes in how it is expressed over time.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Modern Racism: A New Face of Prejudice?

Difficulty Level: Medium

21. Prejudice and racism persist through ______ as a package of stereotypes, emotions, and ideas.

A. cultural heritage

B. racial heritage

C. genetic inheritance

D. biological imperative

E. historical underpinnings

Learning Objective: 1-9: Students will explore the origins of prejudice and the changes in how it is expressed over time.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Sociology of Individual Prejudice

Difficulty Level: Medium

22. Michelle is a poor African American woman. Her race, class, and gender may combine to produce a unique kind of inequality. The concept that describes this phenomenon is known as ______.

A. intersectionality

B. Marx’s class oppression

C. the matrix of discrimination

D. triple discrimination

E. the triple melting pot

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Patricia Hill Collins

Difficulty Level: Medium

23. The concept of ______ best reflects the degree of intimacy we are willing to accept in our relations with members of other groups.

A. segregation

B. prejudice

C. stratification

D. proximity

E. social distance

Learning Objective: 1-8: Students will explore the differences between forms of prejudice and discrimination at the individual and group levels of analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Social Distance Scales

Difficulty Level: Easy

24. Stratification refers to ______.

A. the extent to which different racial groups live in the same area

B. the changing meanings of social labels

C. the unequal distribution of valued goods and services

D. the level of development in a society

E. the degree of intimacy we are willing to accept in our relations with members of other groups

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Stratification

Difficulty Level: Easy

25. Recent advances in biological research show that ______.

A. there is less variation within gender categories than between groups

B. there is an equal amount of variation between and within gender categories

C. biology matters much more in thinking about gender than previously known

D. there are only two discrete gender categories: male and female

E. there is more variation within traditional gender categories than between groups

Learning Objective: 1-4: Students will be able to identify and dispel myths concerning biological ideas of race and gender and understand how they serve as visible distinguishing traits that denote group membership and affect life chances.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Race and Biology

Difficulty Level: Easy

26. Which statement is an example of the seventh degree of social distance?

A. Black Americans have historically been denied access to citizenship.

B. The Muslim Ban prevents immigrants from certain countries from coming to the United States.

C. Housing discrimination has created inequality in access to wealth.

D. Institutional discrimination prevents Black Americans from accessing certain jobs.

E. In recent years, Americans have become more accepting of interracial marriage.

Learning Objective: 1-9: Students will explore the origins of prejudice and the changes in how it is expressed over time.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Social Distance Scales

Difficulty Level: Hard

27. The Robber’s Cave experiment supports the idea that prejudice can be caused by ______.

A. inherent dislike for different groups

B. perceptions of a group’s inferiority

C. conflict situations between groups

D. competition between groups

E. conflict between individuals

Learning Objective: 1-9: Students will explore the origins of prejudice and the changes in how it is expressed over time.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Group Competition and the Origins of Prejudice

Difficulty Level: Easy

28. What is the social function of prejudice?

A. It creates solidarity within the minority group.

B. It is used to justify competition.

C. It rationalizes structures of domination.

D. It is used to create structures of domination.

E. It informs how conflict is created.

Learning Objective: 1-9: Students will explore the origins of prejudice and the changes in how it is expressed over time.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Group Competition and the Origins of Prejudice

Difficulty Level: Medium

29. Subsistence technology refers to ______.

A. the means by which a society satisfies basic needs

B. how a stratification system is organized

C. the systems that create social mobility in a society

D. the means by which a society produces information

E. how capital is shared in a society

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Gerhard Lenski

Difficulty Level: Easy

30. Which statement represents the use of modern racism?

A. White Americans intentionally live separately from other races.

B. African Americans are biologically inferior to Whites.

C. Institutional racism presents a barrier to success.

D. African Americans do not invest enough in education to get ahead.

E. White Americans fear they are losing their country to immigrants.

Learning Objective: 1-9: Students will explore the origins of prejudice and the changes in how it is expressed over time.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Modern Racism: A New Face of Prejudice

Difficulty Level: Medium

31. The intersectionality perspective analyzes how multiple statuses link together and form ______.

A. systems of oppression

B. gender inequality

C. institutional racism

D. stratification

E. a matrix of domination

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Patricia Hill Collins

Difficulty Level: Medium

32. ______ refers to a social system organized around the dominance of men and subordination of women.

A. Patriarchy

B. Sexism

C. Gender inequality

D. The social construction of gender

E. The gender binary

Learning Objective: 1-6: Students will explore the social construction of gender and the role of patriarchy in maintaining inequality between men and women.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Gender

Difficulty Level: Easy

33. Modern racism is also often called ______.

A. polite racism

B. color-blind racism

C. institutional racism

D. subtle racism

E. indirect racism

Learning Objective: 1-9: Students will explore the origins of prejudice and the changes in how it is expressed over time.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Modern Racism: A New Face of Prejudice

Difficulty Level: Easy

34. What is the third component of Myrdal’s vicious cycle?

A. The perception of inferiority establishes competition.

B. Prejudice becomes part of the nation’s cultural heritage.

C. The marginalized status of the minority group is used to validate prejudice.

D. The dominant group creates ways of thinking that justify the racial hierarchy.

E. The dominant group forces the minority group into an inferior position.

Learning Objective: 1-9: Students will explore the origins of prejudice and the changes in how it is expressed over time.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Culture, Socialization, and the Persistence of Prejudice

Difficulty Level: Medium

35. What makes social constructions significant?

A. They are often created by the minority group.

B. They represent different cultural backgrounds.

C. They are linked to biological differences.

D. They are used to create differences in power.

E. They are used to place people into categories.

Learning Objective: 1-5: Students will explore the social construction of race, racism, and conventional racial categories.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: What Is a Minority Group?

Difficulty Level: Medium

36. Marx theorized that society progressed through conflict between the ______.

A. dominant and minority groups

B. landowners and servants

C. bourgeoisie and proletariat

D. owners of prestige and powerless

E. subordinate group and oppressors

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Karl Marx

Difficulty Level: Easy

37. ______ is a society-wide belief system that asserts that a particular group is inferior.

A. Status quo racism

B. Individual prejudice

C. Ideological racism

D. Modern racism

E. Individual racism

Learning Objective: 1-8: Students will explore the differences between forms of prejudice and discrimination at the individual and group levels of analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ideological Racism

Difficulty Level: Easy

38. Which statement refers to how a racial minority group is primarily defined?

A. Irish immigrants faced early barriers to assimilation.

B. African Americans have distinguishing physical characteristics.

C. Hispanic Americans speak a different language than the dominant group.

D. Native Americans have different conceptions of gender than the dominant group.

E. African Americans have developed cultural practices in response to discrimination.

Learning Objective: 1-3: Students will understand the defining characteristics of a minority group.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Visibility

Difficulty Level: Medium

39. Which of the following is a component of modern racism?

A. the use of overt racism to maintain inequality

B. using selective perception to ignore processes that sustain inequality

C. acknowledging the impact of continuing discrimination

D. identifying institutional racism but not responding to it

E. attributing racial inequality to innate biological differences

Learning Objective: 1-9: Students will explore the origins of prejudice and the changes in how it is expressed over time.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Modern Racism: A New Face of Prejudice?

Difficulty Level: Medium

40. Which of the following statements supports the idea that gender is socially constructed?

A. Men and women tend to prefer different roles within the family.

B. There are standard traits associated with masculinity and femininity.

C. Women have a tendency toward caretaking positions.

D. Men are less likely to display emotions.

E. Gender expectations vary over time and from society to society.

Learning Objective: 1-4: Students will be able to identify and dispel myths concerning biological ideas of race and gender and understand how they serve as visible distinguishing traits that denote group membership and affect life chances.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Social Construction of Gender

Difficulty Level: Hard

True/False

1. Minority groups are usually disadvantaged as a result of the actions of another group or groups who benefit from the arrangement.

Learning Objective: 1-3: Students will understand the defining characteristics of a minority group.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Culture, Socialization, and the Persistence of Prejudice

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. The awareness of a minority group’s members of their differentiation from the dominant group provides a basis for strong bonds and a sense of group solidarity.

Learning Objective: 1-3: Students will understand the defining characteristics of a minority group.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Awareness

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. The descendants of European immigrants can be identified as an ethnic minority group in the contemporary United States.

Learning Objective: 1-3: Students will understand the defining characteristics of a minority group.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: What Is a Minority Group?

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Marxism, as a theory, has been completely disproven and is no longer important as a source of insight into group relations.

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Karl Marx

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Marx believed that the ultimate result of class struggle would be the victory of the working class and a classless society.

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Karl Marx

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. According to the chapter text, Max Weber thought it was important to analyze stratification within the level of development of a society, such as whether it is an agricultural or postindustrial society.

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Max Weber

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Max Weber distinguished three different sources of stratification in society.

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Max Weber

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. The major limitation of racial typologies is that they cannot provide clear dividing lines between racial groups.

Learning Objective: 1-5: Students will explore the social construction of race, racism, and conventional racial categories.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Race and Biology

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Prejudice has at least two dimensions: an affective, or emotional, dimension and a cognitive, or thinking, dimension.

Learning Objective: 1-8: Students will explore the differences between forms of prejudice and discrimination at the individual and group levels of analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Prejudice

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Discrimination and prejudice do not necessarily occur together.

Learning Objective: 1-8: Students will explore the differences between forms of prejudice and discrimination at the individual and group levels of analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Discrimination

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. Ideological racism is the societal equivalent of individual discrimination.

Learning Objective: 1-8: Students will explore the differences between forms of prejudice and discrimination at the individual and group levels of analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ideological Racism

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. Institutional discrimination is always obvious, overt, and consciously intended.

Learning Objective: 1-8: Students will explore the differences between forms of prejudice and discrimination at the individual and group levels of analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Institutional Discrimination

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. Gender roles and relationships vary across time and from one society to another.

Learning Objective: 1-6: Students will explore the social construction of gender and the role of patriarchy in maintaining inequality between men and women.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Gender

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. The skin color of any group can be traced to adaptations from human migration to different environments.

Learning Objective: 1-4: Students will be able to identify and dispel myths concerning biological ideas of race and gender and understand how they serve as visible distinguishing traits that denote group membership and affect life chances.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Race and Human Evolution

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. The term dominant group refers to a numerical majority.

Learning Objective: 1-3: Students will understand the defining characteristics of a minority group.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: What Is a Minority Group?

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. There are no internal divisions, such as those based on class, power, race, or ethnicity, among members of the same minority group.

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Minority Group Status and Stratification

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. Gender equality is generally highest in the more developed, industrialized nations of North America and Western Europe.

Learning Objective: 1-6: Students will explore the social construction of gender and the role of patriarchy in maintaining inequality between men and women.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Gender

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. Group names are social constructions, created in particular historical situations and reflective of particular power relationships.

Learning Objective: 1-5: Students will explore the social construction of race, racism, and conventional racial categories.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: What’s in a Name?

Difficulty Level: Medium

19. Group relations in the United States are shaped by economic, social, and political forces beyond our borders.

Learning Objective: 1-10: Students will learn that intergroup relations in the United States can be examined in a comparative and global perspective.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A Global Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

20. Ideological racism is a belief system that asserts that a particular group is inferior.

Learning Objective: 1-8: Students will explore the differences between forms of prejudice and discrimination at the individual and group levels of analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ideological Racism

Difficulty Level: Easy

21. State laws prevented miscegenation until they were declared unconstitutional in the late 1960s.

Learning Objective: 1-8: Students will explore the differences between forms of prejudice and discrimination at the individual and group levels of analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Intimate Relationships

Difficulty Level: Medium

22. Stereotypes are central to the affective dimension of prejudice.

Learning Objective: 1-9: Students will explore the origins of prejudice and the changes in how it is expressed over time.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Prejudice

Difficulty Level: Medium

23. Recent trends in immigration can be attributed to global processes, such as globalization.

Learning Objective: 1-10: Students will learn that intergroup relations in the United States can be examined in a comparative and global perspective.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: A Global Perspective

Difficulty Level: Easy

24. When using the intersectionality perspective, we can make the conclusion that White women are marginalized by their gender in similar ways as Black women.

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Patricia Hill Collins

Difficulty Level: Medium

25. Unlike race, some social differences between genders can be explained by examining differences in biological tendencies.

Learning Objective: 1-4: Students will be able to identify and dispel myths concerning biological ideas of race and gender and understand how they serve as visible distinguishing traits that denote group membership and affect life chances.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Social Construction of Gender

Difficulty Level: Medium

26. Because race and gender are social constructions, they do not have any real significance.

Learning Objective: 1-4: Students will be able to identify and dispel myths concerning biological ideas of race and gender and understand how they serve as visible distinguishing traits that denote group membership and affect life chances.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Race

Difficulty Level: Medium

27. The term vicious cycle refers to the perpetuation of inequality due to cultural adaptations of minority groups.

Learning Objective: 1-9: Students will explore the origins of prejudice and the changes in how it is expressed over time.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Culture, Socialization, and the Persistence of Prejudice

Difficulty Level: Medium

28. A decline in willingness to express overt prejudice is an indication that racial inequality will decrease.

Learning Objective: 1-9: Students will explore the origins of prejudice and the changes in how it is expressed over time.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Modern Racism: A New Face of Prejudice?

Difficulty Level: Medium

29. A recent study found that African Americans are disproportionately stopped and searched by the police. This is an example of ideological racism.

Learning Objective: 1-8: Students will explore the differences between forms of prejudice and discrimination at the individual and group levels of analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Institutional Discrimination

Difficulty Level: Medium

30. In the United States, ideals of femininity apply only to White women.

Learning Objective: 1-6: Students will explore the social construction of gender and the role of patriarchy in maintaining inequality between men and women.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Gender

Difficulty Level: Medium

Essay

1. What is a minority group? Cite and explain the defining characteristics, paying special attention to “patterns of inequality and disadvantage” and “visible characteristics.” By this definition, are women a minority group? Why or why not? How about left-handed people? Americans with disabilities? LGBTQ Americans? Could these groups be defined as minority groups? Justify your answer.

Learning Objective: 1-3: Students will understand the defining characteristics of a minority group.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: What Is a Minority Group?

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Explain what is meant by stratification. Summarize some of the important theories regarding the nature of stratification. Why is stratification an important concept in the study of minority groups? What are the significant connections between stratification and a minority group’s status?

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Minority Group Status and Stratification

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Explain the differences in contributions to the study of stratification offered by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins. Use specific examples from the chapter to support your answer.

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Theoretical Perspectives

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Using concepts from the chapter, explain why differences in skin color appear among human populations and how these differences have come to be associated with racial inequality.

Learning Objective: 1-4: Students will be able to identify and dispel myths concerning biological ideas of race and gender and understand how they serve as visible distinguishing traits that denote group membership and affect life chances.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Race and Human Evolution

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Describe the factors that create internal differences within a minority group. Use specific examples from the chapter text to support your answer.

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Minority Group Status and Stratification

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. What is meant by the concept of modern racism? How does that concept differ from traditional or old-fashioned racism? What makes modern racism racist?

Learning Objective: 1-9: Students will explore the origins of prejudice and the changes in how it is expressed over time.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Modern Racism: A New Face of Prejudice?

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. What is the competition approach to prejudice? What theoretical explanations of prejudice are included? What significant research has been conducted in this tradition, and what evidence has been established in support of these theories? What are the strengths and limitations of these theories?

Learning Objective: 1-9: Students will explore the origins of prejudice and the changes in how it is expressed over time.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Group Competition and the Origins of Prejudice

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Using concepts from the chapter text, explain how developments in technology shape social inequality. Identify resources at different stages of development that can enhance opportunities for minority groups.

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Gerhard Lenski

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. What is a social construction? How does a social construction become “real,” and what implications does this bring? Use discussions in the chapter text on race and gender to inform your answer.

Learning Objective: 1-4: Students will be able to identify and dispel myths concerning biological ideas of race and gender and understand how they serve as visible distinguishing traits that denote group membership and affect life chances.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Visible Distinguishing Traits: Race and Gender

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Max Weber identified three systems that produce stratification in a society. Describe these systems and how they operate to produce inequality in the United States.

Learning Objective: 1-2: Students will understand several theoretical perspectives concerned with stratification, including theories by Marx, Weber, Lenski, and Hill Collins.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Max Weber

Difficulty Level: Hard