Stratification And Social Mobility In The – Exam Prep – Ch.8

Sociology: Brief, 13e (Schaefer)

Chapter 8 Stratification and Social Mobility in the United States

1) A condition in which members of a society have different amounts of wealth, prestige, or power is called

A) socialization.

B) status.

C) social structure.

D) social inequality.

2) Which of the following terms is used by sociologists for a structured ranking of groups of people that perpetuates unequal economic rewards and power in society?

A) Social mobility

B) Stratification

C) Hypergamy

D) Status

3) An ascribed status is a social position

A) attained by a person largely through his or her own effort.

B) assigned to a person without regard to the person's unique characteristics or talents.

C) based solely on income and wealth.

D) based solely on lifestyle.

4) An 83-year-old woman is placed at a small table in a dark corner of a trendy nightclub and is ignored by the staff. Her shoddy treatment is probably due to her age, which is a(n) ________ status.

A) ascribed

B) achieved

C) horizontal

D) structural

5) A system of enforced servitude in which people are legally owned by others is known as

A) feudalism.

B) slavery.

C) communism.

D) a caste system.

6) Which of the following statements about slavery is true?

A) It is considered the most extreme form of social inequality.

B) The only recorded examples of slavery occurred in the U.S. and in ancient Greece.

C) Slavery was considered a permanent status in ancient Greece.

D) Slavery in the U.S. was considered an achieved status.

7) Which of the following terms refers to hereditary systems of rank that are relatively fixed, immobile, and generally religiously dictated?

A) Tenures

B) Slavery

C) Castes

D) Feudalism

8) Some sociologists have suggested that in the southern U.S. in the pre-civil rights era, an African American individual was born into a status that would always be subordinate to the status of all of the White members of the community. This is an example of a(n)

A) estate system.

B) class system.

C) caste system.

D) feudal system.

9) A system of stratification under which peasants were required to work land leased to them by nobles in exchange for military protection is known as a(n)

A) estate system.

B) slavery system.

C) caste system.

D) peonage system.

10) A class system employs a social ranking based primarily on

A) age.

B) caste.

C) economic position.

D) religious and ethnic background.

11) Which of the following types of stratification systems required peasants to work land leased to them by nobles in exchange for military protection and other services?

A) Caste

B) Class

C) Estate

D) Slavery

12) A woman is born into a homeless, single-parent family. She is very talented, and as an adult she becomes a wealthy, world-acclaimed pianist. This scenario most closely represents which type of stratification system?

A) Caste

B) Class

C) Estate

D) Slavery

13) In sociologist Daniel Rossides's model of the class system of the U.S., which social class contains the smallest portion of the population?

A) Lower class

B) Lower-middle class

C) Working class

D) Upper class

14) A single mother who works in a factory sewing large sheets of canvas would be considered

A) upper class.

B) middle class.

C) lower middle class.

D) working class.

15) Less affluent professionals, such as elementary school teachers, are included in which of the following social classes?

A) Upper class

B) Middle class

C) Lower middle class

D) Working class

16) Which of the following factors have contributed to the shrinking size of the middle class?

A) Increasing opportunities for those with little education

B) Independence of the temporary workforce

C) Global competition and rapid advances in technology

D) The decline of new growth industries and nonunion workplaces

17) Which of the following social classes is declining in size?

A) Upper class

B) Middle class

C) Lower-middle class

D) Working class

18) Karl Marx argued that social, economic, and political inequalities are dependent on

A) class differentiation.

B) achieved status.

C) the Protestant work ethic.

D) religious factors.

19) Capitalism is an economic system in which

A) the means of production and distribution are collectively owned.

B) all property is communally owned, and no social distinctions are made on the basis of people's ability to produce.

C) the means of production are largely in private hands, and the main incentive for economic activity is the accumulation of profit.

D) the means of production are largely in public sector hands and are collectively owned.

20) Susan owns and profits from her own business. She is a part of a capitalist class, which is also referred to as a

A) bourgeoisie.

B) proletariat.

C) peasant.

D) oligarch.

21) Karl Marx used the term proletariat to refer to the

A) capitalist class.

B) owners of the means of production.

C) working class.

D) middle class.

22) In Karl Marx's view, social relations during any period of history depend on who controls the

A) mass media.

B) primary mode of economic production.

C) legislature.

D) most powerful religious organizations.

23) Karl Marx used the concept of class consciousness to refer to

A) an attitude held by members of a class that does not accurately reflect its objective position.

B) the reputation that a particular individual has within an occupation.

C) a subjective awareness held by members of a class regarding their common vested interests and the need for collective political action to bring about social change.

D) the respect and admiration with which an occupation is regarded by society.

24) Which of the following terms did Karl Marx use to refer to an attitude held by members of a class that does not accurately reflect the class's objective position?

A) False consciousness

B) Bourgeoisie consciousness

C) Class consciousness

D) Proletariat consciousness

25) In Karl Marx's view, a worker who identifies with the wealthy and believes that she can achieve great wealth through hard work is likely to have developed a

A) bourgeoisie consciousness.

B) class consciousness.

C) false consciousness.

D) caste consciousness.

26) One shortcoming of Karl Marx's work is that he failed to anticipate the

A) end of feudalism.

B) extent to which political liberties and relative prosperity could contribute to a false consciousness.

C) effects of alienated labor on the working class.

D) conflict between various capitalist nations.

27) Max Weber uses the term class to refer to people who share a similar level of

A) culture.

B) wealth and income.

C) power.

D) esteem.

28) Which of the following did Max Weber suggest were analytically distinct components of stratification?

A) Class, caste, and power

B) Class, status, and power

C) Class, caste, and age

D) Class, prestige, and esteem

29) In Max Weber's view,

A) people hold three distinct ranks in society.

B) our position in a stratification system reflects some combination of class, stigma, and power.

C) our rank in society is determined by four separate variables.

D) all people fall under the same social class.

30) Status group refers to

A) people who share a similar level of wealth and income.

B) people who share the same prestige or lifestyle, independent of their class position.

C) members of a class who have a subjective awareness regarding their common vested interests and need for collective political action to bring about social change.

D) a feudal class.

31) Max Weber defined ________ as the ability to exercise one's will over others.

A) control

B) status

C) class

D) power

32) Every evening at a neighborhood bar, the clientele—which consists of construction workers, police officers, plumbers, and factory workers—watches sports events on the big screen television set and play pool. The people who hang out in this bar are an example of a

A) status group.

B) power group.

C) class.

D) caste.

33) The owner of a major league baseball team can fire employees for not winning a pennant, have the city build him a new ballpark, and prevent organizations that compete against his own team from airing advertisements during the team's televised games. In Max Weber's view, this owner would most likely be considered as having

A) power.

B) class.

C) esteem.

D) status.

34) Thorstein Veblen suggested persons at the top of the social hierarchy convert wealth into conspicuous consumption, while the behavior of the lower classes is often subjected to ridicule. Veblen's views are from the

A) functionalist perspective.

B) conflict perspective.

C) interactionist perspective.

D) feminist perspective.

35) What term did Thorstein Veblen use to refer to the behavior of those at the top of the social hierarchy when they engage in such activities as jetting off to a remote destination for dinner?

A) Consumption flow

B) Inconspicuous ridicule

C) Conspicuous leisure

D) Consumptive frivolity

36) Purchasing goods not to survive, but to flaunt one's superior wealth and social standing is known as

A) presumptive consumption.

B) inconspicuous ridicule.

C) conspicuous consumption.

D) consumptive frivolity.

37) Which sociological perspective would be most likely to argue that most talented people would not go to school for many years to become biochemists if they could make as much money and gain as much respect working as elevator operators?

A) Functionalist perspective

B) Conflict perspective

C) Interactionist perspective

D) Feminist perspective

38) Which sociological perspective argues that competition for scarce resources results in significant political, economic, and social inequality?

A) Functionalist perspective

B) Conflict perspective

C) Interactionist perspective

D) Feminist perspective

39) Gerhard Lenski argues that social inequality may have once served the overall purposes of society, but the degree of social and economic inequality that now exists far exceeds the need to provide for goods and services. This facet of Lenski's analysis is consistent with which perspective?

A) Functionalist perspective

B) Conflict perspective

C) Interactionist perspective

D) Global perspective

40) The objective method of assessing social class assigns individuals to classes on the basis of

A) criteria such as occupation, education, income, and place of residence.

B) self-assessment.

C) assessments by friends and colleagues.

D) the neighborhoods in which they reside.

41) Prestige refers to the

A) reputation that a particular individual has within an occupation.

B) ability to exercise one's will over others.

C) respect and admiration with which an occupation is regarded by society.

D) people who have similar levels of wealth and income.

42) Which term is used to refer to the reputation that a specific person has within an occupation?

A) Power

B) Prestige

C) Esteem

D) Status

43) Which sociological perspective would be most likely to suggest that studies of social class have tended to neglect the occupations and incomes of women as determinants of social rank, thereby elevating the status of males?

A) Functionalist perspective

B) Conflict perspective

C) Interactionist perspective

D) Feminist perspective

44) A measure of social class that is based on income, education, and occupation is known as

A) socioeconomic status.

B) political status.

C) demographic characteristics.

D) socio status.

45) ________ is often blamed for this growing inequality, because it has forced less skilled workers to complete with lower-paid foreign-born workers.

A) Industrialization

B) Vertical mobility

C) Social mobility

D) Globalization

46) The fact that an unemployed coal miner in Appalachia has a higher standard of living than a doctor in Congo illustrates the idea that

A) poverty is absolute.

B) poverty is relative.

C) being a doctor is not a high-prestige occupation in all countries.

D) Americans are ethnocentric.

47) Which of the following is an example of absolute poverty?

A) A homeless man in tattered clothes begs in the streets for money and food.

B) A dual-career couple lives in a suburban community and struggles to pay their monthly bills.

C) A family owns only two luxury automobiles, although their friends and neighbors own three such vehicles.

D) None of these answers is correct.

48) The commonly used "poverty line" measure of poverty used by the federal government measures which type of poverty?

A) Relative poverty

B) Absolute poverty

C) Elementary poverty

D) Dramatic poverty

49) Which of the following refers to a floating standard of deprivation by which people at the bottom of a society are judged to be disadvantaged in comparison to the nation as a whole?

A) Absolute poverty

B) Elementary poverty

C) Relative poverty

D) Dramatic poverty

50) Which of these factors affects whether a person becomes poor?

A) Age

B) Education

C) IQ

D) Mental health

51) Which sociological perspective suggests that the higher rates of poverty among single mothers are due to the difficulty women have finding affordable child care, to sexual harassment, and to sex discrimination in the labor market?

A) Functionalist perspective

B) Conflict perspective

C) Interactionist perspective

D) Global perspective

52) A family lives in a remote area of Appalachia, where coal mines that once employed many workers have been idle for years. There are no jobs in the area, the distant schools are poorly funded, and because of the remote location, there are no churches or medical facilities nearby. These poor, chronically unemployed people who barely survive from winter to winter are an example of

A) the underclass.

B) structural mobility.

C) an estate.

D) false consciousness.

53) Which of the following statements is true regarding women living in poverty?

A) About half of all women living in poverty in the United States are in transition.

B) About half of all women living in poverty in the United States are employed at least part-time.

C) The other half tend to be economically independent from friends or the welfare system.

D) The death of a husband does not impact a women's poverty status.

54) The long-term poor who lack training and skills are referred to as

A) the unequal.

B) the bourgeoise.

C) the upper class.

D) the underclass.

55) Max Weber referred to people's opportunities to provide themselves with material goods, positive living conditions, and favorable experiences as

A) power.

B) wealth.

C) life chances.

D) status.

56) Which sociological perspective would be most likely to emphasize that a person's health and educational opportunities are affected by his or her class position in important ways?

A) Functionalist perspective

B) Conflict perspective

C) Interactionist perspective

D) Global perspective

57) Higher loan balances are typically held by

A) White and Asian students.

B) Middle Eastern and Black students.

C) Asian and Latino students.

D) Black and Latino students.

58) Which of the following refers to the movement of individuals or groups from one position of society's stratification system to another?

A) Social mobility

B) Life chances

C) Relative poverty

D) Social distribution

59) A stratification system that implies that the position of each individual is influenced by the person's achieved status is referred to as a(n)

A) open stratification system.

B) closed stratification system.

C) egalitarian class system.

D) fractured class system.

60) Some analysts suggest that inner-city riots have frequently occurred when poor people realize that their chances of climbing out of poverty are unlikely because of the structure of our social system. Their frustration is based on their perception that they are living in a(n)

A) open stratification system.

B) closed stratification system.

C) egalitarian class system.

D) fractured class system.

61) An inner-city youth spends many hours in the neighborhood playground shooting baskets on the basketball court and engaging in every game that he can play. His skills become outstanding, and he receives a college scholarship and then signs a lucrative contract to play in the National Basketball Association. This is an example of

A) vertical mobility.

B) ascribed status.

C) horizontal mobility.

D) structural mobility.

62) A woman who was born and raised in a poor family becomes a regional supervisor for the U.S. Postal Service. She has experienced

A) structural mobility.

B) horizontal mobility.

C) upward intergenerational mobility.

D) institutional mobility.

63) Which sociologist first made the distinction between vertical and horizontal mobility?

A) Ferdinand Tönnies

B) Émile Durkheim

C) Pitirim Sorokin

D) Wilbert Moore

64) Which level of college degree serves as less of a guarantee of upward mobility today than it did in the past?

A) A.A./A.A.S.

B) B.A./B.S.

C) M.A./M.S.

D) Ph.D.

65) Sociologists have documented that the class system is more rigid for

A) Whites.

B) African Americans.

C) Asian Americans.

D) Hispanics.

66) The most extreme form of legalized social inequality for individuals or groups is a caste system.

67) Wealth is an inclusive term encompassing all a person's material assets.

68) Peasants being required to work land leased to them by nobles in exchange for military protection are a part of a caste system.

69) The working class tends to identify with manual workers and their long history of involvement in the labor movement.

70) The lower class disproportionately consists of minority groups.

71) According to Karl Marx, a worker with class consciousness may feel that he or she is being treated fairly by the bourgeoisie, and a worker with false consciousness realizes that all workers are being exploited by the bourgeoisie and have a common stake in revolution.

72) Max Weber argued that the actions of individuals and groups can be understood solely in economic terms.

73) Stratification is universal in that all societies maintain some form of social inequality among members.

74) The study of tax policy and its relationship to the stratification system is known as fiscal sociology.

75) Social scientists have found that inequality only exists in developed societies.

76) Alice has established her reputation as the best banker in her town. This reputation is also known as prestige.

77) The study of stratification is a study of inequality.

78) Income in the United States is distributed evenly.

79) While the salaries of highly skilled workers and professionals have continued to rise, the wages of less skilled workers have increased when controlled for inflation.

80) A common measure of absolute poverty is the federal government's poverty line, a money income figure that is adjusted annually to reflect the consumption requirements of families based on their size and composition.

81) Feminization of poverty is only evident in the United States.

82) Occupying a higher social class in a society improves your life chances and brings greater access to social rewards.

83) Wealth, status, and power ensure happiness.

84) The child of a laborer may become an artisan or a technician, but he or she is less likely to become a manager or a professional.

85) Men are more likely than women to withdraw from the workforce when their skills far exceed the jobs offered them.

86) Interactionist theorists question not only the relatively high levels of executive compensation, but also the process through which executives' pay is determined.

87) Clauses that protect executives who bail of out of failing companies are referred to as "golden parachutes."

88) Describe the differences between ascribed status and achieved status. Give examples to support your answer.

89) Explain the reasons why the working class is declining in size.

90) Explain class warfare. Provide an example.

91) Discuss Karl Marx's view on class differentiation. Define the terms bourgeoisie and proletariat. Describe what Marx termed a false consciousness, and give an example to support your answer.

92) Compare and contrast the functionalist and conflict views of social stratification. Give examples of each view to support your answer.

93) Describe how Lenski's view of stratification can represent a synthesis of the conflict and functionalist views of stratification and poverty.

94) Explain how social class is measured. What measures are generally used?

95) Explain income and wealth inequality in the United States.

96) Describe the various issues surrounding the definition of poverty. Define the difference between absolute and relative poverty.

97) Explain poverty. Who are the poor?

98) How are life chances linked to stratification? Explain your answer.

99) Analyze the impact of ascriptive characteristics such as race, education, and gender in the occupational structure of our society.

100) Discuss compensation in the private sector via the sociological perspectives: functionalist, conflict, and interactionist.