Chapter 8: Social Stratification in the United States

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. The reality that the cost of college in the U.S. is a significant impediment for poor and middle-class students exemplifies which of these?

a. the low stratification in the U.S.

b. the differences between relative and absolute poverty in the U.S.

c. the importance of meritocracy in the U.S.

d. the high stratification in the U.S.

Learning Objective: 8.1: Describe the three dimensions of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Student “Haves” and “Have-Nots” in Higher Education

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Which of these are the three dimensions of social stratification?

a. lower, middle, and upper class

b. power, elite, and mobility

c. class, status, and power

d. status, symbolism, and ascription

Learning Objective: 8.1: Describe the three dimensions of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Dimensions of Social Stratification

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Which social theorist is credited with identifying the three dimensions of social stratification?

a. Karl Marx

b. Emile Durkheim

c. Erving Goffman

d. Max Weber

Learning Objective: 8.1: Describe the three dimensions of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Dimensions of Social Stratification

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Bill has worked as a Walmart cashier for 5 years and makes $28,000 annually, while Jane has worked as a customer service representative at Target for 4 years, making $32,000 annually. Bill and Jane appear to share which of these?

a. the same social strata

b. the same social environment

c. the same social class

d. the same economic division

Learning Objective: 8.1: Describe the three dimensions of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Social Class

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Karl Marx believed that social class was defined by which of these?

a. social status

b. ownership of the means of production

c. income and wealth

d. social status and social power

Learning Objective: 8.1: Describe the three dimensions of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Social Class

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Which of these is defined as the ability to get others to do what you want them to do?

a. status

b. social class

c. power

d. wealth

Learning Objective: 8.1: Describe the three dimensions of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Power

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Jennifer Lopez is a very wealthy television star, singer, and dancer, yet she has very little power in the political world. These differences exemplify which of these?

a. status consistency

b. status stratification

c. status inconsistency

d. status incompatibility

Learning Objective: 8.1: Describe the three dimensions of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Consistency/Inconsistency across Dimensions of Stratification

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Joe, the CEO of a major corporation, earns a salary of $500,000. His position affords him a great deal of respect and he is an active member of the community in which he resides. Joe is an example of which of these?

a. status consistency

b. status stratification

c. status inconsistency

d. status incompatibility

Learning Objective: 8.1: Describe the three dimensions of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Consistency/Inconsistency across Dimensions of Stratification

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. In the U.S. and many other countries which of these is the basis of stratification?

a. the money economy

b. symbolic exchanges

c. the ability to own the means of production

d. the prestige attached to a person’s position

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Economic Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Which of these is an exchange where both the process, itself, and the humans who are involved in it are equally valued?

a. money economy

b. value economy

c. economic exchange

d. symbolic exchange

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Economic Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. Owen makes $25,000 a year. He has just inherited $100,000 dollars. Owen owes 25,000 and has 25,000 in savings. What is his wealth?

a. $150,000

b. $125,000

c. $100,000

d. $25,000

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Economic Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. The income gap between the top 1% of earners in the U.S. and the bottom 20% of the population has ______ since 1979.

a. increased

b. decreased

c. stayed the same

d. not been recorded

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Income Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. Which of these refers to the loss of high-paying manufacturing jobs and the rise of low-paying service jobs?

a. deindustrialization

b. industrialization

c. McDonaldization

d. desegregation

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Income Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

14. Which of these is associated with recent increases in income inequality?

a. industrialization

b. increasing presence of labor unions

c. technological advances

d. decreasing power of people at the top

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Income Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. How are wealth and income linked?

a. Wealth produces sources of income.

b. Wealth is simply a more specific measurement of income.

c. Wealth includes one’s status, and status can help someone earn income.

d. They are only linked by being measures of money; disparities in one don’t influence inequalities in the other one.

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Wealth Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. According to Thomas Piketty’s book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, which is more important, income or wealth?

a. income

b. wealth

c. They are equally important.

d. Neither is important.

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Growing Wealth Disparities

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. According to Thomas Piketty, which of these is the only way to decrease wealth inequality?

a. a state tax on wealth

b. an inheritance tax on wealth

c. a federal tax on wealth

d. a global tax on wealth

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Growing Wealth Disparities

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. The top 10% of the U.S. owns ______ of the nation’s wealth, while the bottom 50% own ______ of the nation’s wealth.

a. 96%; 1%

b. 76%; 2%

c. 66%; 5%

d. 50%; 10%

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Growing Wealth Disparities

Difficulty Level: Medium

19. Research shows that people in the U.S. ______ the amount of upward mobility.

a. underestimate

b. overestimate

c. do not believe in

d. have no interest in

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Perpetuation of Wealth

Difficulty Level: Medium

20. Which of these is TRUE of middle-class decline?

a. Wages have not kept up with the cost of living and thus have led to middle class decline.

b. Workers are demanding jobs that pay more and, as a result, are unwilling to work in middle class jobs which has caused middle class decline.

c. Most of the middle class were not willing to take government assistance during the Great Recession which caused the numbers of middle class to decline.

d. Middle class decline is a myth—the upper class is declining.

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Decline of the American Middle Class

Difficulty Level: Medium

21. Which of these does the chapter text list as a major disadvantage of being in the lower class in the U.S.?

a. limited ability to move up in an occupation

b. increased likelihood of domestic issues

c. a shorter life expectancy

d. a higher likelihood of being affected by hard economic times

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Poverty

Difficulty Level: Medium

22. Fred has been homeless for over 10 years. He often does NOT have adequate food each day. Which of these best describes the type of poverty Fred is experiencing?

a. relative poverty

b. limited poverty

c. absolute poverty

d. comparative poverty

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Analyzing Poverty

Difficulty Level: Medium

23. Nathan and Cynthia are both factory workers who earn a combined annual income of $30,000. They have four children. They rarely go out to eat, and they rely on family and friends for help with day care and other needs. Their family would be considered to live in which of these?

a. relative poverty

b. limited poverty

c. absolute poverty

d. comparative poverty

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Analyzing Poverty

Difficulty Level: Medium

24. The poverty line in the U.S. is measured by the federal government using which of these formulas?

a. the median cost of rent based on one’s geographic region multiplied by two

b. the cost of a nutritionally adequate food plan multiplied by three

c. the median cost of rent in one geographic region plus the standard cost for a nutritionally adequate food plan times number of people in household

d. the sum total of the average cost for the four major household expenses: transportation, housing, food, and child care

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Poverty in the United States

Difficulty Level: Medium

25. According to the text, how many people in the U.S. were living below the poverty line in 2016?

a. 7.7%

b. 12.7%

c. 22.7%

d. 33.7%

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Poverty in the United States

Difficulty Level: Medium

26. What is the status of poverty in the U.S. since 1959?

a. It has stayed the same.

b. It has consistently grown.

c. It has grown in number but has become a smaller proportion of the population.

d. It has varied from year to year, from a share increase during the Great Recession to a slight decrease in recent years.

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Poverty in the United States

Difficulty Level: Medium

27. Which of these family types has the lowest rate of poverty?

a. married-couple families

b. divorced families with shared custody

c. male householders with no wife present

d. female householders with no husband present

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Poverty in the United States

Difficulty Level: Medium

28. Single-parent households headed by women are more likely to live in poverty compared to single-parent households headed by men. What does this exemplify?

a. feminization of poverty

b. poverty-gender threshold

c. feminist poverty line

d. stratification of poverty

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Feminization of Poverty

Difficulty Level: Medium

29. In 2016 what percentage of the women in the U.S. are below the poverty line?

a. 4%

b. 14%

c. 24%

d. 34%

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Feminization of Poverty

Difficulty Level: Medium

30. Which of these factors is the least likely to explain the feminization of poverty?

a. women’s longer life spans

b. men’s likelihood to live alone

c. men’s higher average earnings

d. the demographic shift to single motherhood

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Feminization of Poverty

Difficulty Level: Medium

31. The ability, or inability, to change one’s place within the social classes in a society is called which of these?

a. stratification

b. mobilization

c. social mobility

d. achievement status

Learning Objective: 8.3: Identify different types of social mobility.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Social Mobility

Difficulty Level: Easy

32. Upward and downward mobility are the key components of which of these?

a. horizontal mobility

b. vertical mobility

c. intragenerational mobility

d. intergenerational mobility

Learning Objective: 8.3: Identify different types of social mobility.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Types of Social Mobility

Difficulty Level: Medium

33. Mary is a real estate agent who makes $100,000 a year. The economy takes a downturn and she loses her job, then her home, and her vehicle. She becomes homeless. Which of these explains Mary’s situation?

a. upward mobility

b. relative poverty

c. intergenerational mobility

d. downward mobility

Learning Objective: 8.3: Identify different types of social mobility.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Social Mobility

Difficulty Level: Medium

34. Sean, 31, earns $10,000 a year as a seasonal worker at Macy's. His parents earn a combined income of $200,000 as lawyers. Which of these terms applies to Sean’s position relative to his parents?

a. upward intergenerational mobility

b. upward intragenerational mobility

c. downward intergenerational mobility

d. downward horizontal mobility

Learning Objective: 8.3: Identify different types of social mobility.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Types of Social Mobility

Difficulty Level: Medium

35. Sharon is a cashier at a grocery store, making $20,000 a year. When the store goes out of business, she takes a job at a department store making $21,000 a year. Which of these is exemplified by her change of position?

a. vertical mobility

b. occupational mobility

c. structural mobility

d. horizontal mobility

Learning Objective: 8.3: Identify different types of social mobility.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Types of Social Mobility

Difficulty Level: Medium

36. Lindsay is a part-time teacher at a local preschool. She decides to go to school and get her teaching certificate. Eventually, she becomes a full-time math teacher. Which of these is exemplified by her change of position?

a. vertical mobility

b. occupational mobility

c. structural mobility

d. horizontal mobility

Learning Objective: 8.3: Identify different types of social mobility.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Types of Social Mobility

Difficulty Level: Medium

37. The largest occupational category, from 1930 to today, has changed from which of these?

a. white-collar to blue-collar

b. blue-collar to white-collar

c. farming to white-collar

d. farming to blue-collar

Learning Objective: 8.3: Identify different types of social mobility.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Structural Mobility in the United States

Difficulty Level: Easy

38. Britain’s Prince William and Prince Harry, sons of Prince Charles, were born into royalty and thus gained instant notoriety. This is an example of which characteristic?

a. achievement

b. accomplishment

c. attainment

d. ascription

Learning Objective: 8.3: Identify different types of social mobility.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Achievement and Ascription

Difficulty Level: Medium

39. The caste system, found among the Hindus of India, is primarily based on which of these?

a. achievement

b. accomplishment

c. attainment

d. ascription

Learning Objective: 8.3: Identify different types of social mobility.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Achievement and Ascription

Difficulty Level: Medium

40. Which of these is compatible with is the structural–functional theory of stratification?

a. Stratification is needed because it ensures that people with the right abilities end up in the right positions.

b. Stratification is based on power relations that are structured into society.

c. Stratification is in all societies, but only becomes inequality at the face-to-face level.

d. When societies are structured poorly, they have dysfunctional ways to stratify people.

Learning Objective: 8.4: Discuss theories of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Structural/Functional Theories

Difficulty Level: Medium

41. Which perspective would be most likely to observe that certain occupations, such as surgeons and attorneys require a great deal of education and must be rewarded with higher salaries and extensive benefit packages?

a. conflict

b. inter/actionist

c. structural/functional

d. feminist perspective

Learning Objective: 8.4: Discuss theories of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Structural/Functional Theories

Difficulty Level: Medium

42. Which theorists advocate for narrowing the income gap between the very rich and the very poor?

a. structural/functional

b. conflict/critical

c. inter/actionist

d. feminist

Learning Objective: 8.4: Discuss theories of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Social Rewards and Status

Difficulty Level: Medium

43. Which perspective is likely to focus on what people do within a stratified structure, such as how they present their authority or lack of authority in their body language?

a. structural/functional

b. conflict/critical

c. inter/actionist

d. feminist

Learning Objective: 8.4: Discuss theories of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Inter/Actionist Theories

Difficulty Level: Medium

44. Which of these is TRUE of Matthew Desmond’s study of eviction?

a. Landlords lose substantial income when they rent to poor renters.

b. Women of color are most likely to be evicted.

c. People who are evicted tend to spend only about 25% of their income on housing before their eviction.

d. Most poor families receive public assistance but fail to manage it well.

Learning Objective: 8.4: Discuss theories of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Inter/Actionist Theories

Difficulty Level: Medium

45. What is exemplified when a lower-class person buys an imitation item of the upper class to imitate the upper-class position?

a. imitative stratification

b. conspicuous consumption

c. a cultural omnivore

d. stratified consumption

Learning Objective: 8.5: Explain the relationship between consumption and social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Stratified Consumption

Difficulty Level: Medium

46. What is exemplified when elites are copied by classes below them and then adopt a new fashion to differentiate themselves?

a. trickle-down theory

b. conspicuous consumption

c. a cultural omnivore

d. stratified consumption

Learning Objective: 8.5: Explain the relationship between consumption and social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Stratified Consumption

Difficulty Level: Medium

47. Which theorist argued that elite members of society want their social class membership to be obvious to others, and they accomplish this through conspicuous consumption?

a. Pierre Bourdieu

b. Jean Baudrillard

c. Erving Goffman

d. Thorstein Veblen

Learning Objective: 8.5: Explain the relationship between consumption and social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Stratified Consumption

Difficulty Level: Medium

48. Many actors and actresses earn millions each year and display their wealth by living in upscale mansions and driving expensive vehicles. What does their behavior exemplify?

a. stratified consumption

b. conspicuous consumption

c. trickle-down theory

d. ranked consumption

Learning Objective: 8.5: Explain the relationship between consumption and social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Stratified Consumption

Difficulty Level: Medium

49. Many celebrities purchase large mansions and expensive vehicles. In addition, they also often purchase designer clothing and wear lavish jewelry. According to Pierre Bourdieu, this is an example of which of these?

a. status inconsistency

b. status offense

c. distinction

d. consumption

Learning Objective: 8.5: Explain the relationship between consumption and social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Quest for Distinction

Difficulty Level: Easy

50. Which theorist focused on the cultural elements of consumption?

a. Pierre Bourdieu

b. Jean Baudrillard

c. Erving Goffman

d. Thorstein Veblen

Learning Objective: 8.5: Explain the relationship between consumption and social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Quest for Distinction

Difficulty Level: Medium

True/False

1. The three dimensions of social stratification are social class, income, and power.

Learning Objective: 8.1: Describe the three dimensions of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Dimensions of Social Stratification

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Karl Marx and Max Weber shared the same definition of social class.

Learning Objective: 8.1: Describe the three dimensions of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Social Class

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. High income is always associated with high status and high social power.

Learning Objective: 8.1: Describe the three dimensions of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Power

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. New York trash collectors who earn a higher income than local business owners exemplify status inconsistency.

Learning Objective: 8.1: Describe the three dimensions of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Consistency/Inconsistency across Dimensions of Stratification

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Wealth refers to money earned from wages and rents, whereas income refers to assets.

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Economic Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. A woman helps her elderly neighbor by running weekly errands for her and her elderly neighbor helps her by keeping an eye on her house while she is at work. This is an example of symbolic exchange.

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Economic Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Sociologists use a month-by-month measure to determine income.

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Economic Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. The greatest economic differences in U.S. society are due to differences in income.

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Income Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. The U.S.’ tax system is designed to decrease wealth inequality.

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Growing Wealth Disparities

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Wealth helps people buy or otherwise acquire high status and power.

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Status, Power, and Wealth

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. The sharing economy is a place where profit making is absent from decisions about goods and services.

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Status, Power, and Wealth

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. Families who inherit over one million dollars must pay estate taxes.

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Perpetuation of Wealth

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. The major reason for the decline of the middle class is the decline of middle-income jobs, often because of technological change.

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Decline of the American Middle Class

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. Stagnation of wages has led to a higher standard of living for low wage workers.

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Decline of the American Middle Class

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. Those who see poverty as a moral problem believe that poverty hurts the economy because the poor are unable to consume very much.

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Poverty

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. Relative poverty is a measure of what people need to survive.

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Analyzing Poverty

Difficulty Level: Easy

17. In 2018, Jenna, a single mom who heads a family of four had a pretax income of $15,100. Jenna would be above the poverty line according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Service guidelines.

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Poverty in the United States

Difficulty Level: Easy

18. Poverty disproportionately effects men.

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Feminization of Poverty

Difficulty Level: Easy

19. Social mobility is defined as the ability to move up higher in the social system.

Learning Objective: 8.3: Identify different types of social mobility.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Social Mobility

Difficulty Level: Medium

20. Given current economic patterns, contemporary youth are likely to be more well-off than their parents.

Learning Objective: 8.3: Identify different types of social mobility.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Social Mobility

Difficulty Level: Medium

21. A cashier at Walmart who eventually becomes the district regional manager exemplifies horizontal mobility.

Learning Objective: 8.3: Identify different types of social mobility.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Types of Social Mobility

Difficulty Level: Medium

22. Sam’s father is unemployed and living on welfare, whereas Sam is the president of his company, an auto parts warehouse. Sam exemplifies intergenerational mobility.

Learning Objective: 8.3: Identify different types of social mobility.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Types of Social Mobility

Difficulty Level: Medium

23. According to structural-functional theory, brain surgeons should earn higher salaries and more lucrative stock options than doctors who work in family practices.

Learning Objective: 8.4: Discuss theories of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Structural/Functional Theories

Difficulty Level: Medium

24. Occupational gender segregation results in the phenomenon of overwork for women in the labor market.

Learning Objective: 8.4: Discuss theories of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Gender, Race, and Class

Difficulty Level: Hard

25. Mike owns a collection business and sees his employees as servants who should adhere to all his rules. He pays them well below minimum wage. Symbolic Interactionists are the theorists who would be most interested in Mike’s sense of entitlement and how it impacts wage inequality.

Learning Objective: 8.4: Discuss theories of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Inter/Actionist Theories

Difficulty Level: Hard

26. Actors who wear expensive diamonds and pearl necklaces to award shows exemplify stratified consumption.

Learning Objective: 8.5: Explain the relationship between consumption and social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Stratified Consumption

Difficulty Level: Medium

27. The key difference between Georg Simmel and Thorstein Veblen’s theories of stratified consumption is that Simmel thinks the lower classes invent their own fashionable styles, while Veblen thinks they simply mimic the taste of the upper class.

Learning Objective: 8.5: Explain the relationship between consumption and social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Stratified Consumption

Difficulty Level: Medium

28. The trickledown theory of consumption is that elites distinguish themselves from others by their cultural tastes.

Learning Objective: 8.5: Explain the relationship between consumption and social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Stratified Consumption

Difficulty Level: Medium

29. Elites, according to the author, are cultural omnivores, who are varied in their tastes.

Learning Objective: 8.5: Explain the relationship between consumption and social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Elites as Cultural Omnivores

Difficulty Level: Medium

30. Cultural omnivores are people in the elite class who enjoy culture and consumption from across a wide range of available offerings.

Learning Objective: 8.5: Explain the relationship between consumption and social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Elites as Cultural Omnivores

Difficulty Level: Easy

Essay

1. Discuss the three main dimensions of social stratification. Give an example of how each dimension shapes one’s position within the stratified system.

Learning Objective: 8.1: Describe the three dimensions of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Dimensions of Social Stratification

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. How is the poverty line set in the U.S.? What purpose does a poverty line serve? Discuss one criticism of the current method for setting the poverty line. What is one strategy that families use to manage poverty?

Learning Objective: 8.2: Identify factors contributing to economic inequality.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Poverty in the United States

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Define the terms ascription and achievement. Give an example of a characteristic that fits with each one.

Learning Objective: 8.3: Identify different types of social mobility.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Achievement and Ascription

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Discuss the structural/functional theory of stratification. How does conflict/critical theory agree or disagree with this theory?

Learning Objective: 8.4: Discuss theories of social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Theories of Social Stratification

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Discuss the theories of Simmel, Veblen, Bourdieu, and the cultural omnivore theory on stratified consumption, addressing what each theory says elites are expressing through consumption. How would each of these theories describe how elites would consume music in contrast with the music consumption of those in other social classes?

Learning Objective: 8.5: Explain the relationship between consumption and social stratification.

REF: Cognitive Domain: Analysis and application

Answer Location: Consumption and Social Stratification

Difficulty Level: Hard