Chapter 7: Confronting Economic Inequality

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. In 2011, a protest movement formed in New York City’s Wall Street district. The movement, known as Occupy Wall Street, garnered global attention as participants protested the unequal distribution of wealth, or ______, in the United States.

a. economic enfranchisement

b. economic inequality

c. the culture of poverty

d. the culture of wealth

Learning Objective: 7.1: What is the difference between income and wealth?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: What Is Economic Inequality?

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Economic inequality relates to and is affected by other forms of inequality, including ______.

a. social behavior

b. gender

c. work ethic

d. values

Learning Objective: 7.1: What is the difference between income and wealth?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: What Is Economic Inequality?

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. When discussing economic inequality ______ refers to earnings, while ______ refers to assets people own.

a. income; wealth

b. wealth; income

c. capital; revenue

d. revenue; capital

Learning Objective: 7.1: What is the difference between income and wealth?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Measuring Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Fernando inherited stock in Google from his uncle, ensuring that he will likely have no financial troubles in his lifetime. This represents Fernando's ______.

a. income

b. wealth

c. revenue

d. capital

Learning Objective: 7.1: What is the difference between income and wealth?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: What is Economic Inequality?

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. What has been the result of the increase in CEO salaries over the past few decades?

a. Employee wages have been proportionately increased.

b. Employee wages have gone down to compensate.

c. CEOs have become more focused on short-term profits.

d. CEOs have a vested interest in the long-term results of the company.

Learning Objective: 7.1: What is the difference between income and wealth?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Income Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. How does a high concentration of wealth at the top of the income pyramid impact the rest of the citizens in the United States?

a. It will improve the living standards of poorer citizens.

b. It will increase the number of citizens in the middle class.

c. It will leave fewer resources for the other citizens.

d. It will reduce competition for resources.

Learning Objective: 7.1: What is the difference between income and wealth?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Wealth Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. How can wealth inequality be more pervasive than income inequality?

a. It is based on current employment opportunities.

b. It accumulates from one generation to the next.

c. It is based on gross rather than net pay.

d. It includes the value of benefits like health insurance.

Learning Objective: 7.1: What is the difference between income and wealth?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Wealth Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. What is the Gini coefficient?

a. a measure of wealth inequality

b. a correlation between wealth and income

c. a measure of the causes of income disparities

d. a measure of income inequality

Learning Objective: 7.1: What is the difference between income and wealth?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Wealth Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. Structural functionalists believe that inequality ______.

a. serves an important purpose in society

b. results in the wrong segment of society receiving the most rewards

c. is nonproductive and unnecessary for society

d. will not continue as globalization has more impact on society

Learning Objective: 7.2: How do major sociological theories explain income inequality?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Meritocracy and the Functions of Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. According to ______ theory, a young woman who starts her own medical practice in a town that was lacking one has a useful position in a society in which she should acquire wealth and prestige.

a. conflict

b. symbolic interactionism

c. structural functionalist

d. utilitarianism

Learning Objective: 7.2: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Meritocracy and the Function of Inequality

Difficulty Level: Hard

11. From a structural functionalist viewpoint, the positions most important to the functioning of society should gain the most in terms of income and prestige. This is a(n) ______.

a. meritocracy

b. capitalist utopia

c. socialist society

d. elite theory

Learning Objective: 7.2: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Meritocracy and the Functions of Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. Bart has a doctorate degree and is managing a regional office of a pharmaceutical company. Brenda has a master's degree in biology and is a pharmaceutical sales rep. According to ______, Bart deserves to earn more money than Brenda.

a. the Gini coefficient

b. meritocracy

c. the qualifications scale

d. Karl Marx

Learning Objective: 7.2: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Meritocracy and the Functions of Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. A recent graduate from Harvard medical school is the first child in his economically disfranchised home to receive a college degree. His talents have allowed him to enter a prestigious medical practice where he earns a large income. This is an example of ______.

a. oligarchy

b. meritocracy

c. democracy

d. socialism

Learning Objective: 7.2: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Meritocracy and the Functions of Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. What is a critique of meritocracy theory?

a. Income does not reflect education levels.

b. Careers that fulfill functional roles are not adequately compensated.

c. One’s social and economic advancement is due to family relations.

d. It assumes a level playing field for everyone in society.

Learning Objective: 7.2: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Meritocracy and the Functions of Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. According to Marx, what is the key to wealth?

a. investing wisely

b. controlling the means of production

c. making a good living

d. a large inheritance

Learning Objective: 7.2: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Marx and Weber on Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

16. Karl Marx argued that members of the proletariat class are convinced, through the control of media, that the bourgeoisies deserve their wealth and that if they work hard, they too can become rich. Marx termed this which of the following?

a. False consciousness

b. False dichotomy

c. False social construct

d. False ideology

Learning Objective: 7.2: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Marx and Weber on Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

17. In Marx's conflict theory, those who owned the means of production were called ______.

a. the elite

b. the bourgeoisie

c. the proletariat

d. the capitalists

Learning Objective: 7.2: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Marx and Weber on Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

18. Karl Marx cited the existence of two social classes in the modern society: the ______ who belong to the working class and the ______, or the wealthy owners of the means of production.

a. nouveau riche; serfs

b. proletariat; bourgeoisie

c. aristocrats; peasants

d. patricians; plebeians

Learning Objective: 7.2: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Marx and Weber on Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

19. Max Weber's theory about class position focused on ______.

a. control of the means of production

b. salary and benefits

c. a person's own skills and social standing

d. inherited status

Learning Objective: 7.2: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Marx and Weber on Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

20. According to Weber, the three traits that determine socioeconomic status are prestige, party, and ______.

a. wealth

b. income

c. family

d. class

Learning Objective: 7.2: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Marx and Weber on Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

21. A student in an inner-city school works hard and gets good grades, but is not accepted into a prestigious college. A student in a wealthier school district does not work as hard or earn better grades, but is accepted to the prestigious college. How would Marx explain this?

a. Acceptance into a prestigious college is based on meritocracy, not grades.

b. Acceptance into a prestigious college is based on how well each student would function in that environment.

c. Acceptance into a prestigious college is based on which student most identifies as an honor student.

d. Acceptance into a prestigious college is based on social class.

Learning Objective: 7.2: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Marx and Weber on Inequality

Difficulty Level: Hard

22. Society is based on a hierarchy organized according to social status and prestige, called ______.

a. social stratification

b. forced inequality

c. structured advantage

d. meritocracy

Learning Objective: 7.3: What is social stratification and how does it work in society?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Understanding Social Stratification

Difficulty Level: Medium

23. All social institutions have advantages and disadvantages that create social stratification. These advantages and disadvantages are called ______.

a. systemic accumulation

b. fixed organization

c. structured inequalities

d. structured variables

Learning Objective: 7.3: What is social stratification and how does it work in society?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Understanding Social Stratification

Difficulty Level: Easy

24. What is the most extreme form of stratification in that it offers no chance for mobility?

a. the estate system

b. slavery

c. the serf system

d. the class-based system

Learning Objective: 7.3: What is social stratification and how does it work in society?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Systems of Stratification

Difficulty Level: Easy

25. A form of stratification in which individuals own other individuals as property and have the legal right to dispense with that property as they wish is called ______.

a. the estate system

b. slavery

c. the serf system

d. the class-based system

Learning Objective: 7.3: What is social stratification and how does it work in society?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Systems of Stratification

Difficulty Level: Easy

26. In Elias's society, laws give people power based on social standing and there is limited social mobility. Most people have the same social position as their parents. This is ______.

a. the estate system

b. slavery

c. the serf system

d. the class-based system

Learning Objective: 7.3: What is social stratification and how does it work in society?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Systems of Stratification

Difficulty Level: Hard

27. The form of social stratification prevalent in the United States is the ______ system.

a. estate

b. caste

c. serf

d. class-based

Learning Objective: 7.3: What is social stratification and how does it work in society?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Systems of Stratification

Difficulty Level: Easy

28. Which social system confines individuals to a social group for life and sets strict parameters for relationships between these different social groups?

a. caste system

b. estate system

c. class-based system

d. gender stratification system

Learning Objective: 7.3: What is social stratification and how does it work in society?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Systems of Stratification

Difficulty Level: Medium

29. A country has an estate system in place. How would social mobility occur in this country?

a. The lower levels of the system would likely remain in the same social position as their parents with little opportunity for advancement.

b. The lower levels of the system would be able to gain status with hard work and opportunity.

c. The lower levels of the system would have the freedom to vote and choose their professions.

d. The lower levels of the system would be confined to a specific lower class without the ability to improve.

Learning Objective: 7.3: What is social stratification and how does it work in society?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Systems of Stratification

Difficulty Level: Medium

30. What term is defined as distinctions among people in terms of their income, occupation, and education?

a. class profiling

b. social structure

c. social class

d. status

Learning Objective: 7.4: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Examining the Class System

Difficulty Level: Easy

31. Members of the corporate community who dominate politics in Washington, D.C. are of which class?

a. middle class

b. power elite

c. upper class

d. entrepreneur class

Learning Objective: 7.4: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Upper Class

Difficulty Level: Hard

32. In a(n) ______ class, children are not typically exposed to people from other social classes.

a. lower

b. middle

c. upper-middle

d. upper

Learning Objective: 7.4: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Upper Class

Difficulty Level: Medium

33. The wealthy parents of two young children have enrolled them in private school, provided them with a private tutor, and offered many opportunities for extracurricular activities. This process is referred to as ______.

a. homogamy

b. social stratification

c. social class reproduction

d. economic equality

Learning Objective: 7.4: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Upper Class

Difficulty Level: Hard

34. How does the power elite impact the United States?

a. They have the strongest buying power and influence which products are sold.

b. They influence political decisions by influencing the politicians and their voters.

c. They make the most charitable contributions and have the greatest impact on lower status as a result.

d. They work to equalize the distribution of wealth in the country.

Learning Objective: 7.4: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Upper Class

Difficulty Level: Medium

35. Today, the middle class in the United States is ______.

a. in poverty

b. growing

c. shrinking

d. remaining steady

Learning Objective: 7.4: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Middle Class

Difficulty Level: Easy

36. The ______ class encompasses those who earn between $24,003 and $45,600 and comprises 20% of households.

a. working

b. poor

c. middle income

d. lower middle income

Learning Objective: 7.4: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Working Class and the Poor

Difficulty Level: Easy

37. To be considered "near poverty," you are earning ______ of the poverty level.

a. 101%

b. 110%

c. 150%

d. 200%

Learning Objective: 7.4: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Culture of Poverty Theories and Policies Towards the Poor

Difficulty Level: Easy

38. Oscar Lewis’s term ______ describes the beliefs, values, and attitudes of those living in poverty.

a. social regression

b. deep poverty

c. cycle of poverty

d. culture of poverty

Learning Objective: 7.4: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Culture of Poverty Theories and Policies Towards the Poor

Difficulty Level: Medium

39. What theory suggests that the poor could move out of poverty if they just worked harder and changed their attitudes, or as some say, "pull themselves up by their bootstraps"?

a. conflict theory

b. feminist theory

c. culture of poverty

d. structural functionalism

Learning Objective: 7.4: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Culture of Poverty Theories and Policies Towards the Poor

Difficulty Level: Medium

40. Which example demonstrates intergenerational mobility?

a. A young female graduates from college and gets a high paying job at her mother’s law firm.

b. A young male grows up in poverty and eventually becomes CEO of a large company.

c. An older male is laid off due to a recession.

d. A female is promoted to CEO after working for the same company for 25 years.

Learning Objective: 7.5: How has social mobility changed in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Mobility Within and Across Generations

Difficulty Level: Hard

41. Which of these is an individual experiencing upward mobility?

a. A college graduate from a working-class family becomes a supervisor in a factory.

b. A woman works in business management until she has children and decides to stay home.

c. A man graduates from law school so he can become an attorney like his father.

d. An individual from a working-class family loses his factory job, but goes back to school to become an accountant.

Learning Objective: 7.5: How has social mobility changed in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Mobility Within and Across Generations

Difficulty Level: Hard

42. A company moves most of its production to another country in order to cut costs. As a result, most of the factory workers lose their jobs. What has occurred?

a. structural mobility

b. intergenerational mobility

c. upward mobility

d. downward mobility

Learning Objective: 7.5: How has social mobility changed in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Changes in the Economy

Difficulty Level: Hard

43. Which statement about college achievement is true?

a. There is an achievement gap between students at the top and the bottom of the economic pyramid.

b. The most important factor for achievement is the willingness to work hard; it's not where you start, it's where you finish that matters.

c. Test scores for high and middle income students are comparable, but they fall off for lower income students.

d. Students from middle income families are the most likely to attend and graduate from good colleges.

Learning Objective: 7.6: What are the impacts of class position on education, health, and other social outcomes?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Education

Difficulty Level: Hard

44. Almost a third of students who take out loans for college ______.

a. complete their degrees

b. end up borrowing from their parents to pay it back

c. go on to add to their debt with graduate school

d. fail to complete their degrees

Learning Objective: 7.6: What are the impacts of class position on education, health, and other social outcomes?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Education

Difficulty Level: Easy

45. One reason for historically high housing costs is ______.

a. the recent federal tax cut favoring the wealthy

b. policies that favor renters over homeowners

c. more landlords with fewer properties

d. the decline in public housing

Learning Objective: 7.6: What are the impacts of class position on education, health, and other social outcomes?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Housing

Difficulty Level: Medium

46. How does the neighborhood you live in affect your life expectancy?

a. It has very little effect; the geography you live in matters more.

b. The safer and healthier your environment is, the better chance you have to live a longer life.

c. The people you choose to surround yourself with impact your lifestyle, and hence your longevity.

d. Better neighborhoods offer more economic opportunity, which impacts life expectancy.

Learning Objective: 7.6: What are the impacts of class position on education, health, and other social outcomes?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Life Expectancy

Difficulty Level: Medium

47. Which of these nations is considered an upper middle-income nation?

a. the United States

b. Canada

c. Mexico

d. India

Learning Objective: 7.6: What are the impacts of class position on education, health, and other social outcomes?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Global Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

48. Ronald Reagan's economic policies that cut corporate taxes and weakened regulations on businesses in the belief that it would benefit workers was called ______ economics.

a. laissez-faire

b. capitalist

c. trickle down

d. welfare

Learning Objective: 7.7: What programs might address income inequality?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Addressing Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

49. The Trump administration's $2.3 trillion tax cut mostly benefited ______.

a. small businesses

b. middle income families

c. the top 1%

d. single parents

Learning Objective: 7.7: What programs might address income inequality?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Addressing Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

50. Globally, even if individuals work hard to achieve, this success is largely impacted by ______.

a. trade practices

b. government policies

c. outsourcing

d. inherited wealth

Learning Objective: 7.7: What programs might address income inequality?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Addressing Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

51. President Johnson carried out which of these programs under his War on Poverty?

a. the federal work study program

b. the Peace Corp

c. the right of unions to bargain with employers

d. the federal minimum wage

Learning Objective: 7.7: What programs might address income inequality?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Addressing Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

52. What president established federal programs that established a safety net for the needy and put millions of people to work?

a. Roosevelt

b. Reagan

c. Truman

d. Obama

Learning Objective: 7.7: What programs might address income inequality?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Addressing Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

53. What program, enacted in the 1930s, established unemployment insurance, social security, and the federal minimum wage?

a. the Great Experiment

b. the War on Poverty

c. the Great Society

d. the New Deal

Learning Objective: 7.7: What programs might address income inequality?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Addressing Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

54. Two ways the text suggests for reducing inequality in the United States are raising the federal minimum wage or establishing ______, as Canada and Finland have implemented.

a. universal healthcare

b. Medicaid expansion

c. a universal basic income

d. mandatory early childhood education

Learning Objective: 7.7: What programs might address income inequality?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Addressing Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

55. The poverty rate has ______ for the past 40 years, and economic inequality has ______.

a. remained low; decreased

b. remained high; increased

c. remained high; decreased

d. decreased; decreased

Learning Objective: 7.7: What programs might address income inequality?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Addressing Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

True/False

1. Wealth refers to all earnings during a lifetime.

Learning Objective: 7.1: What is the difference between income and wealth?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Measuring Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Members of families with generational wealth and income have advantages over families with only income.

Learning Objective: 7.1: What is the difference between income and wealth?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Wealth Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. The income gap in the United States is more significant than the wealth gap.

Learning Objective: 7.1: What is the difference between income and wealth?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Wealth Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. According to the structural functionalist perspective, inequality impedes the ability to get the work of society done.

Learning Objective: 7.2: How do major sociological theories explain income inequality?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Meritocracy and the Functions of Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. In a meritocracy, movement to upper social classes occurs through hard work.

Learning Objective: 7.2: How do major sociological theories explain income inequality?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Meritocracy and the Functions of Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. Structured inequalities are the advantages and disadvantages built into social institutions.

Learning Objective: 7.3: What is social stratification and how does it work in society?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Understanding Social Stratification

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. In an estate system there is no possibility of movement from one class to another.

Learning Objective: 7.3: What is social stratification and how does it work in society?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Systems of Stratification

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Intergenerational mobility occurs as an individual experiences a change in social class during their lifetime.

Learning Objective: 7.5: How has social mobility changed in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Mobility Within and Across Generations

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Structural mobility occurs as a result of changes in the economy that create or end jobs for workers.

Learning Objective: 7.5: How has social mobility changed in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Changes in the Economy

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Millennials are the only generation in which income has kept up with increasing rental and housing costs.

Learning Objective: 7.6: What are the impacts of class position on education, health, and other social outcomes?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Housing

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. The small number of people who are considered the richest in the world hold about half of the world’s wealth.

Learning Objective: 7.6: What are the impacts of class position on education, health, and other social outcomes?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Global Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. National and global policies can mitigate or increase inequality.

Learning Objective: 7.7: What programs might address income inequality?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Addressing Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

13. Reagan's economic policies were successful in moving wealth from businesses to workers.

Learning Objective: 7.7: What programs might address income inequality?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Addressing Inequality

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. More than half of taxpayers did not see any benefit from the Trump administration's changes in the tax laws.

Learning Objective: 7.7: What programs might address income inequality?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Addressing Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. Nations in the EU have higher tax rates but better social support programs than the United States.

Learning Objective: 7.7: What programs might address income inequality?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Addressing Inequality

Difficulty Level: Easy

Short Answer

1. What is one negative implication of wealth concentration at the top of the income pyramid?

Learning Objective: 7.1: What is the difference between income and wealth?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Wealth Inequality

Difficulty Level: Hard

2. According to Marx, how does ideology influence inequality?

Learning Objective: 7.2: How do major sociological theories explain income inequality?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Marx and Weber on Inequality

Difficulty Level: Hard

3. Describe and give an example of the caste system.

Learning Objective: 7.3: What is social stratification and how does it work in society?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Systems of Stratification

Difficulty Level: Hard

4. What are the five social classes delineated in the text, and which one has the most members in the United States?

Learning Objective: 7.4: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Examining the Class System

Difficulty Level: Hard

5. How does the United States compare to other nations in terms of potential for upward mobility?

Learning Objective: 7.5: How has social mobility changed in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Mobility Within and Across Generations

Difficulty Level: Hard

Essay

1. Compare Marx and Weber's views of inequality. How do these theories compare to those of structural functionalists?

For Weber, class position is not just about whether you own capital but also about your own “human capital” (skill sets) and social status. Weber suggested that three traits determine socioeconomic status or social standing: class, status (or prestige), and party (e.g. a person’s position in a political party). In this understanding of social class, we consider how much someone may earn in a job, the esteem in which others hold that position, and the power their political position exerts.

Structural functionalists suggest that inequality is functional for society. Our economic system should recognize and reward those who are talented and do the work that a society needs. We need inequality to make sure positions serving essential functions—caring for the sick, teaching children, disposing of trash, managing companies, ensuring public safety, and much more—are filled. The positions most important to the functioning of society garner the greatest rewards in terms of income and prestige.

Learning Objective: 7.2: How do major sociological theories explain income inequality?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Marx and Weber on Inequality

Difficulty Level: Hard

2. Define and explain the impact of structured inequalities on stratification systems.

Learning Objective: 7.3: What is social stratification and how does it work in society?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Understanding Social Stratification

Difficulty Level: Hard

3. There is a diversity of opinion in the United States about whether the culture of poverty thesis is accurate. Describe the culture of poverty, and explain what your stand is on this debate. Support your position.

Learning Objective: 7.4: How do we distinguish social classes in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Culture of Poverty Theory and Policies toward the Poor

Difficulty Level: Hard

4. What are some things that have increased structural mobility in the United States, and what is the impact of this?

Learning Objective: 7.5: How has social mobility changed in the United States?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Changes in the Economy

Difficulty Level: Hard

5. The United States has a higher rate of income inequality than many other nations. Using the information from the chapter, why do you think this is true? What can be done about it?

Learning Objective: 7.6: What are the impacts of class position on education, health, and other social outcomes?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Global Inequality

Difficulty Level: Hard