Ch7 Inequality, Mobility And Social Change Exam Questions

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 1

1) Inequality is

Page reference: p. 180 “What is Inequality?”

a. the unequal distribution of money, power, or status

b. a person’s movement up or down the socioeconomic hierarchy

c. your sense of mobility compared to your peers’ mobility

d. spending money in order to impress others

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 2

2) What explanation of social inequality did Aristotle offer?

Feedback Aristotle argued that inequality was good for society because it allowed more talented people to rise to leadership in society.

Page reference: p. 181 “What is Inequality?”

a. Inequality reflects natural differences in people’s abilities.

b. Inequality is a consequence of the exploitation of the powerless by the powerful.

c. Inequality is a motivation for people who have less to work harder.

d. Inequality is the result of rewarding jobs that are more important to society more than ones that are less important.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 3

3) Who argued that the existence of social relationships leads to social comparisons and, ultimately, to the desire for personal gain and advantages?

Page reference: p. 181 “What is Inequality?”

a. Jean-Jacques Rousseau

b. Aristotle

c. Charles Tilly

d. Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 4

4) Compared to categorical inequality, relative deprivation

Page reference: p. 182 “What is Inequality?”

a. is less of a source of poor quality of life

b. is a greater source of poor quality of life

c. has no impact on quality of life

d. has an equivalent impact on quality of life

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 5

5) Societies with higher levels of inequality also tend to have higher levels of all of the following EXCEPT

Page reference: p. 182 “What is Inequality?”

a. infant mortality

b. mental illness and drug addiction

c. literacy

d. incarceration rates

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 6

6) Each of the following saw inequality as a positive force in society EXCEPT

Page reference: p. 181 “What is Inequality?”

a. Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore

b. Aristotle

c. Adam Smith

d. Karl Marx

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 7

7) Mr. Denniston owns a mid-sized business. He sets wages based on the contribution that the employee makes to the business. Mr. Denniston subscribes to which theory of inequality?

Page reference: p. 182 “What is Inequality?”

a. Marginal productivity theory

b. World systems theory

c. Davis theory of inequality

d. Moore theory of inequality

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 8

8) What field of study do sociologists draw the metaphor of stratification from?

Page reference: p. 183 “What is Inequality?”

a. Geography

b. Astronomy

c. Geology

d. Anthropology

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 9

9) Marx argued that societies were divided into two classes:

Page reference: p. 183 “What is Inequality?”

a. the self-sufficient and the dependent

b. the private sector and the public sector

c. the business owners and the property owners

d. the dominant and the dominated

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 10

10) Each of the following is an example of a caste system EXCEPT

Page reference: p. 184 “What is Inequality?”

a. the slave system in the American colonies and, later, the U.S. South

b. the apartheid system in South Africa

c. the junior college and four-year college system in the U.S.

d. the caste system in India for the previous 3,000 years, though it was made illegal in 1950

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 11

11) _______________ describes inequality between groups of people who are very different from each other, whereas _______________ describes our sense of inequality between ourselves and others like us.

Page reference: p. 182 “What is Inequality?”

a. categorical inequality, relative deprivation

b. relative mobility, absolute mobility

c. cultural capital, degree and inequality

d. contentious politics, structural mobility

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 12

12) What is stratification, sociologically speaking?

Page reference: p. 183 “What is Inequality?”

a. Small differences between people who are relatively alike to which those people assign little meaning.

b. The effort to reduce inequality using social policy.

c. A combination of educational attainment, occupational prestige, and wealth and income that determines where you stand in comparison to your peers.

d. A description of structured patterns of inequality between different groups of people.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 13

13) To calculate your net worth, you should

Page reference: p. 189 Types of Stratification

a. estimate the total cost of living from birth through college graduation

b. multiply the total amount you spend on food in a year by three

c. subtract the total of your property, and sales taxes paid in a year from your annual income

d. add your income and your wealth and subtract your debts

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 14

14) Traditionally, Indian culture divided people into more than 3,000 different social groups and 25,000 sub-groups, with strict social segregation between groups. Such a system is known as a

Page reference: p. 184 Types of Stratification

a. class system

b. status system

c. caste system

d. party system

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 15

15) In what decade did India’s laws change to prohibit strict discrimination based on what social group you were born into?

Page reference: p. 186 Types of Stratification

a. 1930s

b. 1950s

c. 1970s

d. 1990s

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 16

16) South Africa’s apartheid system divided people into the following racial groups:

Page reference: p. 185 Types of Stratification

a. white, Bantu (black Africans), Colored (people of multiple races), and Asian

b. Brahmin, Shudra, Dalit

c. white, black, mixed race

d. native African, Dutch

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 17

17) South Africa won its freedom from Great Britain in 1910. What year did apartheid begin and end in that nation?

Page reference: p. 185 Types of Stratification

a. 1910–1990.

b. 1932–1969

c. 1948–1994

d. 1955–1998

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 18

18) How did defenders of South African’s racist regime try to undermine the authority of the African National Congress in the international community as the ANC fought against apartheid?

Page reference: p. 185 Types of Stratification

a. They called them communists.

b. They called them capitalists.

c. They called them racists.

d. They called them descendant of slave traders.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 19

19) Which statement about class systems below is accurate?

Page reference: p. 186-187 Types of Stratification

a. The world has fewer class-based societies than in the past.

b. Many advanced democracies have achieved economic equality in their societies.

c. In today’s global economy, the advantages that were once available to people who control economic means of production are disappearing.

d. In today’s global economy, the people who control the means of economic production have more advantages than ever.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 20

20) According to Max Weber, class systems function most effectively when they are

Page reference: p. 187 Types of Stratification

a. highly diverse

b. organized around status groups

c. in competition with each other

d. open to innovation from newcomers

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 21

21) Which of the following is an example of a status group?

Page reference: p. 187 “Types of Stratification”

a. Members of Costco, a store where you are able to buy items in bulk

b. A college fraternity

c. Members of a book club who meet together regularly to read literary novels

d. Members of a Dungeons and Dragons club who meet together regularly to play the fantasy game

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 22

22) Those who engage in high-status behavior and who form, protect, and benefit from institutions that create a community of privilege and control are said to be

Page reference: p. 187 “Types of Stratification”

a. a party system

b. elites

c. vertically mobile

d. conspicuous consumers

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 23

23) Compared to class systems, status systems display

Page reference: p. 187 “Types of Stratification”

a. lower levels of rigidity and ascriptiveness, and somewhat higher levels of crystallization across categories of privilege

b. higher levels of rigidity but lower levels of ascriptiveness, and much lower levels of crystallization across categories of privilege

c. equivalent levels of rigidity but lower levels of ascriptiveness, and much lower levels of crystallization across categories of privilege

d. equivalent levels of rigidity but higher levels of ascriptiveness, and much higher levels of crystallization across categories of privilege

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 24

24) In what kind of system does power and privilege come from the effective leadership of important organizations?

Page reference: p. 187 “Types of Stratification”

a. Class system

b. Party system

c. Caste system

d. Status system

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 25

25) Compared to other stratification systems, a party system is

Page reference: p. 188 “Types of Stratification”

a. more rigid and more ascriptive

b. more rigid but less ascriptive

c. less rigid but more ascriptive

d. less rigid and less ascriptive

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 26

26) In a meritocracy, you advance in status based on

Page reference: p. 188 “A Portrait of Stratification Today”

a. your family history

b. your abilities on exams and other formal tests of your ability

c. your nation of origin

d. your dedication

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 27

27) Consumerism encourages people to

Page reference: p. 188 “Types of Stratification”

a. buy only items that have value to them

b. buy items with the lowest negative effect on the health of the planet

c. buy items that are made in ways that provide dignified livings for the workers who created them

d. buy more than what they need

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 28

28) Maxwell is a rising real estate agent. He wants to signal to his clients and potential clients that he is successful so that they trust him with their business. In order to do this, he leases an expensive luxury car to drive when he gives them tours of houses. Maxwell is participating in

Page reference: p. 188 “A Portrait of Stratification Today”

a. structural mobility

b. conspicuous consumption

c. philanthropy

d. ascriptiveness

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 29

29) In a “culture of upscale spending,”

Page reference: p. 189 “Types of Stratification”

a. wealthier people do not engage in luxury spending in order to protect their wealth

b. people consume media images of luxury but moderate their own desires based on their incomes so that they do not spend beyond what they can afford

c. people set unrealistic consumption goals and often obsess about things they cannot afford

d. people select friend circles who spend more modestly than they can afford in order to ensure that they do not face peer pressure to engage in conspicuous consumption

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 30

30) Philanthropy is the

Page reference: p. 191 “A Portrait of Stratification Today”

a. donation of large sums of money by the superrich to causes they care about such as libraries, education, and public health

b. large donations from partisan political groups to causes that appear to be “grassroots” but are actually deeply connected to elite political actors

c. transferring wealth from a parent to an adult child while that parent is alive as a gift in order to avoid inheritance taxes

d. the distribution of corporate profits not just to stockholders but to company employees

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 31

31) Each of the following defines the middle class EXCEPT

Page reference: p. 191 “A Portrait of Stratification Today”

a. the ability to live off profit from investments rather than salary

b. those whose income matches the median income for households in the U.S.

c. those whose annual income is between 66% and 200% of the median income for their household size

d. the social expectations, personal aspirations, and consumption patterns we associate with people of the middle class, such as home ownership and college attendance

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 32

32) What kinds of occupations do people in the upper-middle class hold?

Page reference: p. 191-192 “A Portrait of Stratification Today”

a. Physicians, lawyers, engineers

b. Fast food line cook, telemarking and call center jobs, cashier

c. Branch managers, accountants, oil drill operators

d. Nail salon technician, hotel housekeeper, wait staff

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 33

33) What kinds of occupations do people in the middle class hold?

Page reference: p. 192 “A Portrait of Stratification Today”

a. Physicians, lawyers, engineers

b. Fast food line cook, telemarking and call center jobs, cashier

c. Branch managers, accountants, oil drill operators

d. Nail salon technician, hotel housekeeper, wait staff

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 34

34) What kinds of occupations do people in the lower-middle class hold?

Page reference: p. 192 “A Portrait of Stratification Today”

a. Physicians, lawyers, engineers

b. Fast food line cook, telemarking and call center jobs, cashier

c. Branch managers, accountants, oil drill operators

d. Nail salon technician, hotel housekeeper, wait staff

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 35

35) The first poverty line measurement was calculated by

Page reference: p. 193 “A Portrait of Stratification Today”

a. calculating the minimum amount of food it would cost to feed each member of a family and considering other costs, such as housing, relative to food, and making the poverty line

b. calculating the minimum amount of food it would cost to feed each member of a family and considering other costs, such as housing, relative to food, and multiplying it by three, and then making that the poverty line

c. calculating the minimum amount of food it would cost to feed each member of a family and considering other costs, such as housing, relative to food, and multiplying it by five, and then making that the poverty line

d. calculating the minimum amount of food it would cost to feed each member of a family and considering other costs, such as housing, relative to food, and multiplying it by eight, and then making that the poverty line

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 36

36) From the list below, what is the least amount of money a family of four could earn and not be considered poor by the federal government?

Page reference: p. 193 “A Portrait of Stratification Today”

a. $20,000

b. $30,000

c. $40,000

d. $50,000

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 37

37) According to the U.S. Census, about what percentage of Americans fall below the poverty line?

Page reference: p. 193 “A Portrait of Stratification Today”

a. 10%

b. 12%

c. 15%

d. 18%

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 38

38) People in the working poor are poor

Page reference: p. “A Portrait of Stratification Today”

a. because they took the risk of a well-paying job in an unstable industry and were eventually laid off

b. because they frequently quit jobs

c. by choice in order to avoid paying income taxes

d. despite being employed for at least half of the year

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 39

39) Which group of people was described by urban sociologist William Julius Wilson as experiencing long-term unemployment, social isolation, and segregation into impoverished urban neighborhoods?

Page reference: p. 193 “A Portrait of Stratification Today”

a. Underclass

b. Working poor

c. Willful poor

d. Unwitting poor

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 40

40) Which of the following statements is true about stratification today?

Page reference: p. 193 “A Portrait of Stratification Today”

a. It is more pronounced between nations than within them.

b. It is more pronounced within nations than between them.

c. The inequality between nations is equivalent to the inequality within them.

d. It has lessened over the last 200 years.

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 41

41) Worldwide, 1% of the global population owns what percentage of all household wealth?

Page reference: p. 193 “A Portrait of Stratification Today”

a. Slightly more than 15%

b. Slightly more than 25%

c. Slightly more than 40%

d. Slightly more than 50%

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 42

42) The world’s poor are disproportionately

Page reference: p. 194 “A Portrait of Stratification Today”

a. North American

b. white

c. male

d. young

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 43

43) On what continent today is poverty most concentrated?

Page reference: p. 194 “A Portrait of Stratification Today”

a. Asia

b. South America

c. North America

d. Africa

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 44

44) Which sociologist developed world systems theory?

Page reference: p. 194 “A Portrait of Stratification Today”

a. Karl Marx

b. Max Weber

c. Adam Smith

d. Immanuel Wallerstein

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 45

45) World systems theory

Page reference: p. 194 “A Portrait of Stratification Today”

a. defends colonialism as the best means of providing humans with the full use of the Earth’s resources

b. emphasizes the relative positions of countries in the world economy as crucial determinants of inequality

c. seeks to rectify inequality through the mandatory redistribution of wealth across national lines through a global tax system

d. argues that it is a nation’s geography and topography that shapes whether it is a “have more” or a “have less” nation

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 46

46) “Rags to riches” tales that tell the story of people moving from poverty to wealth are stories of

Page reference: p. 196 “Social Mobility”

a. vertical mobility

b. horizontal mobility

c. relative mobility

d. intergenerational mobility

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 47

47) In real life, upward mobility is usually

Page reference: p. 196 “Social Change and the Attempt to Create More Equality”

a. common and quick

b. rapid and within a class rather than across class lines

c. slow but dramatic over the course of a lifetime

d. slight and slow

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 48

48) Kaitlyn’s job has transferred her within the company to a new city, where she will do the same work for the same pay. Here, she will have to meet new friends and form new social relationships. What kind of mobility is Kaitlyn experiencing?

Page reference: p. 196 “Social Mobility”

a. Horizontal mobility

b. Vertical mobility

c. Absolute mobility

d. Relative mobility

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 49

49) You are purchasing a new home. You complain to your grandmother that the house is only 2,600 square feet. She points out that this is twice the size of the average house when she was buying her first home 50 years ago. Your grandmother’s point is that you have experienced

Page reference: p. 196 “Social Mobility”

a. horizontal mobility

b. vertical mobility

c. absolute mobility

d. relative mobility

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 50

50) Candace purchased her first home in 2008, right before the Great Recession. During the Great Recession, the value of her home plummeted, and she has never been able to fully recover financially. In contrast, her younger sister purchased her first home in 2013, and it has increased steadily in value and quickly came to surpass the value of Candace’s home. This change in her sister’s status compared to her own has frustrated Candace since they made similarly wise financial decisions and were equally responsible about home ownership. What form of mobility is causing Candace distress?

Page reference: p. 196 “Social Mobility”

a. Horizontal mobility

b. Vertical mobility

c. Absolute mobility

d. Relative mobility

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 51

51) Compared to European social welfare programs, U.S. policies to address poverty are

Page reference: p. 203 “Social Change and the Attempt to Create More Equality”

a. decentralized

b. robust

c. unpopular among those who rely on them

d. open to more people

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 52

52) A tax system that taxes wealthy people at a higher rate than poor people is called a

Page reference: p. 202 “Social Change and the Attempt to Create More Equality”

a. flat tax

b. regressive tax

c. progressive tax

d. luxury tax

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 53

53) Linking Social Security payments to a person’s employment history,

Page reference: p. 203 “Social Change and the Attempt to Create More Equality”

a. distinguished between people who were considered deserving and undeserving of government financial support in their old age

b. ensured that people would not take more in Social Security benefits than they put in

c. ensured that people paid their own Social Security benefits rather than relying on future earners for it

d. ensured that all people would be eligible for Social Security benefits

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 54

54) In what decade did the U.S. introduce widespread social welfare policies?

Page reference: p. 203 “Social Change and the Attempt to Create More Equality”

a. 1860s

b. 1900s

c. 1930s

d. 1960s

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 55

55) Which of the following is an example of violent contentious politics?

Page reference: p. 202 “Social Change and the Attempt to Create More Equality”

a. Labor strikes

b. Civil disobedience

c. Rioting

d. Voting

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 56

56) Contentious politics attempt to draw attention to an issue in order to

Page reference: p. 202 “Social Change and the Attempt to Create More Equality”

a. work through respectful and familiar channels for social change

b. engage in public debates about an issue

c. educate people on the multiple sides of an issue

d. force people to take a side in a conflict

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 57

57) The Occupy Wall Street movement attempted to address

economic inequality.

Page reference: p. 204 “Social Change and the Attempt to Create More Equality”

a. economic inequality, especially between the corporate world and working people

b. gross disparities in land ownership in South Africa

c. mistreatment of the lowest castes of people in India

d. the human trafficking that the world’s poorest people are at risk of falling victim to

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 58

58) What did the Wagner Act of 1935 guarantee?

Page reference: p. 204 “Social Change and the Attempt to Create More Equality”

a. the right to unionize, engage in collective bargaining, and to strike

b. the right to a minimum wage

c. the right to a safe working environment

d. the right to basic food, safety, and shelter as part of citizenship

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 59

59) Because our socioeconomic status is comprised of more than just our economic standing,

Page reference: p. 205 “Case Study: Crystallizing Stratification on TV”

a. a person can be privileged in some ways but not in others

b. a person’s privilege in one area makes their privilege in another inevitable

c. there is rarely a connection between privilege in different areas

d. privilege is in the eye of the individual experiencing it

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 7 Question 60

60) By presenting only affluent men as contestants on The Bachelor, the show reinforces the idea that

Page reference: p. 205 “Case Study: Crystallizing Stratification on TV”

a. men of more modest means are less handsome

b. a man is desirable as a husband because he is wealthy

c. men who are wealthy will be more loving fathers

d. women today are not seeking a mate to provide for them financially since women are able to be financially independent