Chapter 9: Work and the Economy

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. During the Industrial Revolution, family production was replaced with which of these?

a. market production

b. bartering

c. hunting and gathering activities

d. collective living

Learning Objective: 9-1: Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Changing Nature of Work

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. An economic shift toward service and information occupations is known as which of these?

a. industrial revolution

b. service revolution

c. technological revolution

d. green revolution

Learning Objective: 9-1: Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Changing Nature of Work

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. A widespread, systematic disinvestment in our nation’s manufacturing and production capacities is referred to as which of these?

a. the industrial revolution

b. deindustrialization

c. the service revolution

d. deinstitutionalization

Learning Objective: 9-1: Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Changing Nature of Work

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Which of these is NOT a reason deindustrialization occurred in the United States?

a. Manufacturing jobs and plants have transferred to other countries.

b. Factories closed because of mergers and acquisitions.

c. Technological advances changed the nature of work.

d. Immigrant labor replaced American labor.

Learning Objective: 9-1: Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Changing Nature of Work

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Women entered the workforce in record numbers during which of these time periods?

a. World War I

b. women’s liberation movement of the early 1970s

c. Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s

d. World War II

Learning Objective: 9-1: Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Changing Nature of Work

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Which of these is a significant change in the U. S. workforce?

a. the record numbers of women in the workforce

b. the record numbers of immigrants leaving the workplace

c. the record numbers of elderly Americans returning to work

d. the record numbers of children being forced to work to support their families

Learning Objective: 9-1: Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Changing Nature of Work

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Which of the following is NOT among the factors contributing to higher rates of elder American employment?

a. economic recession

b. insufficiency of retirement income

c. lack of a sufficient labor pool of young Americans to fill their positions

d. increased life expectancy

Learning Objective: 9-1: Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Changing Nature of Work

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Compared to native-born workers, foreign-born workers are more likely to be which of these?

a. male

b. older

c. more educated

d. more skilled

Learning Objective: 9-1: Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Changing Nature of Work

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. In 2016, foreign workers made up about ______ of the American workforce.

a. 1 percent

b. 17 percent

c. 27 percent

d. 37 percent

Learning Objective: 9-1: Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Changing Nature of Work

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Frederick Taylor tried to identify the fastest, most efficient way to complete a work task. This is called ______.

a. scientific management

b. service work

c. deindustrialization

d. service management

Learning Objective: 9-2: Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Functionalist Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. With which of these would Frederick Taylor agree?

a. Efficiency will dehumanize employees.

b. Efficiency is more profitable for workers than owners.

c. Efficiency will be enhanced if workers receive bonuses.

d. Efficiency will decrease worker individuality.

Learning Objective: 9-2: Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Functionalist Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. According to Max Weber, what would workers lose in exchange for the efficiency and predictability of bureaucracy?

a. their wages

b. their masculinity and femininity

c. their norms and values

d. their individual freedom

Learning Objective: 9-2: Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Functionalist Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. Karl Marx believed that power is determined by one’s relationship to which of these?

a. the means of production

b. education

c. political office

d. status at work

Learning Objective: 9-2: Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Conflict Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. With which of these would Karl Marx agree?

a. Capitalism is a system where workers are rewarded for their hard work.

b. Capitalism is a system that socially connects workers according to their field of work.

c. Capitalism is a system that leads to worker alienation and exploitation.

d. Capitalism allocates power according to one’s relationship to education.

Learning Objective: 9-2: Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Conflict Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. Which theoretical perspective points out that women and men are segregated into different occupational categories in the workforce?

a. functionalist

b. interactionist

c. feminist

d. conflict

Learning Objective: 9-2: Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Feminist Perspective

Difficulty Level: Easy

16. In 2016, women earned about ______ for every dollar a man earned.

a. 50.5 cents

b. 60.5 cents

c. 70.5 cents

d. 80.5 cents

Learning Objective: 9-2: Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Feminist Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. Which of these have feminists critiqued about the Family Medical Leave Act?

a. It assumes that men can afford to take leave.

b. It assumes that all women want children.

c. It perpetuates stereotypes that men are the primary caregivers.

d. It perpetuates stereotypes that women are dependent on men as providers.

Learning Objective: 9-2: Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Feminist Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. Which of these groups had the highest median weekly wages in 2016?

a. Asian women

b. white women

c. black women

d. Hispanic women

Learning Objective: 9-2: Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Feminist Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

19. Faculty in your major are concerned that it is being labeled as the “easy major.” Which perspective would be interested in analyzing this process?

a. functionalist

b. interactionist

c. feminist

d. conflict

Learning Objective: 9-2: Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Interactionist Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

20. In a study of nurses’ perceptions of patients and resultant nurse–patient communication, researchers Byrne and Heyman found that nurses defined which of these as valuable and satisfying?

a. work with patients who needed minimal care

b. work with patients who needed major care

c. interactions with patient’s friends who came to visit patients who needed major care

d. interactions with patient’s families

Learning Objective: 9-2: Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Interactionist Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

21. What is the term for the type of employment that is characterized by insufficient pay, mismatched skill levels, and fewer working hours than desired?

a. underemployment

b. unemployment

c. part-time employment

d. sweatshop employment

Learning Objective: 9-3: Discuss common economic issues including unemployment, worker insecurity and workplace hazards.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Unemployment and Underemployment

Difficulty Level: Easy

22. This phenomenon is responsible for both creating a world market for labor and for creating winners and losers in that world market.

a. globalization

b. deindustrialization

c. living wage reform

d. scientific management

Learning Objective: 9-4: Identify federal policies and social movements that connect to workplace protections.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Globalization

Difficulty Level: Medium

23. The current federal minimum wage is ______.

a. $5.25

b. $6.25

c. $7.25

d. $10.10

Learning Objective: 9-4: Identify federal policies and social movements that connect to workplace protections.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Minimum Wage

Difficulty Level: Medium

24. Which of these occupations had the highest number of people earning below minimum wage in 2016?

a. transportation

b. service

c. management

d. natural resources

Learning Objective: 9-4: Identify federal policies and social movements that connect to workplace protections.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Minimum Wage

Difficulty Level: Medium

25. Which organization defines job stress as the harmful emotional or physical responses that occurs when one’s job characteristics do not match with the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker?

a. Department of Labor

b. Department of Commerce

c. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

d. Department of Health and Human Services

Learning Objective: 9-4: Identify federal policies and social movements that connect to workplace protections.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: A Hazardous and Stressful Workplace

Difficulty Level: Medium

26. The Upper Big Branch Mine and Deepwater Horizon incidents both point out the need for which of these?

a. mental health help on the job

b. attention to occupational safety for industrial workers

c. mass shooting training

d. background checks for employees

Learning Objective: 9-4: Identify federal policies and social movements that connect to workplace protections.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: A Hazardous and Stressful Workplace

Difficulty Level: Medium

27. Yi works in a factory that pays $2 per hour. Her co-workers have developed vision and breathing problems from the workplace and her supervisor often yells at her and her co-workers. Which of these terms from your text would best describe Yi’s workplace?

a. a toxic environment

b. a deindustrialized worksite

c. a scientifically managed operation

d. a sweatshop

Learning Objective: 9-4: Identify federal policies and social movements that connect to workplace protections.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: A Hazardous and Stressful Workplace

Difficulty Level: Easy

28. Which type of organization would be LEAST likely to support increasing the minimum wage?

a. a not-for-profit group dedicated to ending poverty

b. a labor union

c. a small business

d. an agency dedicated to finding employment for homeless men

Learning Objective: 9-4: Identify federal policies and social movements that connect to workplace protections.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Federal Policies

Difficulty Level: Medium

29. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employment discrimination based on ______ is prohibited.

a. age

b. sex

c. disability

d. sexual orientation

Learning Objective: 9-4: Identify federal policies and social movements that connect to workplace protections.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Federal Policies

Difficulty Level: Medium

30. Which president created the U.S. Department of Labor?

a. Franklin D. Roosevelt

b. Theodore Roosevelt

c. Harry S. Truman

d. William H. Taft

Learning Objective: 9-4: Identify federal policies and social movements that connect to workplace protections.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Federal Policies

Difficulty Level: Medium

31. Which of these is TRUE of discrimination based on sexual orientation?

a. It is not prohibited by federal law.

b. 49 of 50 states have passed state laws prohibiting it.

c. President Trump passed an executive order to prohibit it.

d. Discrimination based on sexual orientation is not prohibited by federal law but discrimination based on gender identity is.

Learning Objective: 9-4: Identify federal policies and social movements that connect to workplace protections.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Federal Policies

Difficulty Level: Medium

32. According to your text, which of these are the two major labor issues that the U.S. Congress continues to debate?

a. gender gap pay equity and immigrant rights in the workplace

b. workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and raising the minimum wage

c. worker safety and union regulations

d. living wage laws and sexual harassment laws

Learning Objective: 9-4: Identify federal policies and social movements that connect to workplace protections.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Federal Policies

Difficulty Level: Medium

34. Improving working conditions and protecting healthcare benefits are the goals of the which of these?

a. U.S. Department of Labor

b. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

c. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

d. Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act

Learning Objective: 9-4: Identify federal policies and social movements that connect to workplace protections.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Federal Policies

Difficulty Level: Easy

35. Which statement is NOT true about living wages?

a. The term “living wage” was first used in the 1800s.

b. Some state and local governments have passed higher minimum wage laws instead of waiting on a national law.

c. Research has confirmed that higher living wages hurt the local economy.

d. Living wages have been promoted as a policy tool to address economic and social inequality.

Learning Objective: 9-4: Identify federal policies and social movements that connect to workplace protections.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Living Wage Movement

Difficulty Level: Medium

36. President Obama signed an executive order to raise the minimum wage for individuals working on new federal service contracts to ______ per hour.

a. $10.10

b. $12.10

c. $15.10

d. $20.10

Learning Objective: 9-4: Identify federal policies and social movements that connect to workplace protections.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Living Wage Movement

Difficulty Level: Medium

37. Unions have shifted their strategy in obtaining members. Which of these groups have they targeted?

a. construction workers

b. high school students

c. service and public sector workers

d. miners

Learning Objective: 9-4: Identify federal policies and social movements that connect to workplace protections.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Organized and Fighting Back

Difficulty Level: Easy

True/False

1. Between 2008 and 2009, the U.S. experienced the largest job loss since the Great Depression.

Learning Objective: 9-1: Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. The 2016 U.S. median household income was approximately $79,039.

Learning Objective: 9-1: Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. The widespread, systematic disinvestment in our nation’s manufacturing and production capacities is known as the Industrial Revolution.

Learning Objective: 9-1: Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. In agrarian societies, economic production was based primarily on family agriculture and hunting or gathering activities.

Learning Objective: 9-1: Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Changing Nature of Work

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. The focus of today’s U.S. economy is producing goods.

Learning Objective: 9-1: Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Changing Nature of Work

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. The number of elderly Americans in the workforce has decreased over the last decade.

Learning Objective: 9-1: Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Changing Nature of Work

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. In 2016, foreign-born workers earned 80% of the median wage that American workers earned.

Learning Objective: 9-1: Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Changing Nature of Work

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Foreign-born workers are overrepresented in low-paying occupations.

Learning Objective: 9-1: Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Changing Nature of Work

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Functionalists point out that technology can lead to job displacement and wage loss.

Learning Objective: 9-2: Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Functionalist Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Though employers report positive attitudes toward people with disabilities, actual hiring rates reveal that employers are concerned about the perceived costs of accommodations and the possibility of other workers demanding special consideration themselves.

Learning Objective: 9-2: Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Interactionist Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. The terms unemployment and underemployment can be used interchangeably.

Learning Objective: 9-3: Discuss common economic issues including unemployment, worker insecurity and workplace hazards.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Unemployment and Underemployment

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. Unemployment and underemployment are both measured by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Learning Objective: 9-3: Discuss common economic issues including unemployment, worker insecurity and workplace hazards.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Unemployment and Underemployment

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. Long periods of unemployment are associated with increased rates of suicide and domestic violence.

Learning Objective: 9-3: Discuss common economic issues including unemployment, worker insecurity and workplace hazards.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Unemployment and Underemployment

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. Workplace homicides accounted for less than one percent of all work related fatal occupational injuries in 2016.

Learning Objective: 9-4: Identify federal policies and social movements that connect to workplace protections.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A Hazardous and Stressful Workplace

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on sexual orientation has been introduced every year in Congress since 1994 but has never passed.

Learning Objective: 9-4: Identify federal policies and social movements that connect to workplace protections.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Federal Policies

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. Efforts to increase the minimum wage are supported by unions and poverty organizations which argue that doing so will help the nation’s working poor and low-income families.

Learning Objective: 9-4: Identify federal policies and social movements that connect to workplace protections.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Federal Policies

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. Though opponents claim that higher living wages will hurt the local economy, research has not confirmed these negative consequences.

Learning Objective: 9-4: Identify federal policies and social movements that connect to workplace protections.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Living Wage Movement

Difficulty Level: medium

18. Many of the worker benefits advocated by early labor unions are now mandated through federal, state, and local labor laws.

Learning Objective: 9-4: Identify federal policies and social movements that connect to workplace protections.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Organized and Fighting Back

Difficulty Level: Easy

Essay

1. Work has undergone a transformation in the types of work done and who is doing that work. Discuss the three major workforce transformations, beginning with World War II and their impact on the current labor force.

Learning Objective: 9-1: Describe the transition from agricultural to industrial production.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Changing Nature of Work

Difficulty Level: Medium | Hard

2. All four sociological perspectives focus on different aspects of work and its related socially problems. Pick two of these perspectives, explain their focus as it relates to work, and explain what social problems they help us see. Which of these two do you think is most important to the problems you may encounter in the workforce and why?

• Functionalists examine the functions and dysfunctions of work and employment. They point out the benefits and challenges of technology and bureaucracy.
• Conflict or feminist theorists focus on how economic, ethnic, and gender inequalities are perpetuated in the economy and the workplace. They focus on the inequities of capitalism and point out worker alienation.
• Interactionists investigate how our work experiences are created through interaction and shared meanings. They can also show how jobs are valued or devalued based on labelling.

Learning Objective: 9-2: Compare how the sociological perspectives explain social problems related to work.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis | Application

Answer Location: Functional, Conflict, Feminist, and Interactionist Perspectives

Difficulty Level: Hard

3. Define globalization and describe how it has changed the nature of work and economic activity. In your opinion (informed by evidence), is globalization a negative or positive force as it related to work and the economy? Be sure you cite evidence from the text to back up your opinion.

Learning Objective: 9-4: Identify federal policies and social movements that connect to workplace protections.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis | Application

Answer Location: Globalization

Difficulty Level: Medium