Wichita State University - SOC

CHAPTER 7: Stratification, Class, and Inequality

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1)Sociologists study     when they are looking at the structured inequalities in a society.

1. 1. social stratification                                 c.   social inequity
   2. social disapproval                                   d. strategic sociality

2. In systems of stratification, people are typically ranked by:
   1. personality                                              c.   intelligence
   2. social categories                                     d. social capital

3. Which of the following is NOT true of systems of social stratification?
   1. People are ranked according to social categories, such as race and gender.
   2. One’s social category significantly influences his or her life chances.
   3. Ranks of social categories tend to change slowly over time.
   4. If a person no longer identifies with the other members of his or her category, he or she is no longer classified at that level.

4. According to the textbook, what is the main reason that slavery does not exist in most societies around the world today?
   1. It is an inefficient economic system.
   2. Slaves are too expensive to buy.
   3. Human rights became an important concept in industrial societies.
   4. A postindustrial society required a different economic system.

5. Today people are taken against their will and forced to work as bricklayers in Pakistan or sex workers in Thailand. According to the textbook, these examples are best described as:
   1. modern-day slavery
   2. a caste system based on occupation
   3. cheap labor in a capitalist system
   4. the worst occupations in a class system

6. A stratification system in which certain people are owned as property is known as:
   1. capitalism                                               c.   estates
   2. caste                                                        d. slavery

7. Which of the following is NOT an example of a caste system?
   1. forcing rural women in Thailand into sex work
   2. giving political and economic rights in South Africa only to white people
   3. forcing children to accept their parents’ status as their own in India
   4. denying all civil rights to blacks in the United States

8. The caste system of stratification can be best classified as:
   1. an open system in which a person’s intelligence and hard work determine social position
   2. an open system in which individuals can move out of the social position in which they are

born

1. 3. a closed system in which all individuals stay within the social position they are born into
   4. a closed system in which people are able to own other individuals as property

9. Which country has a caste system based on occupation groupings?
   1. India                                                        c.   South Africa
   2. the United States                                    d.   a and b only

10. Caste systems require that individuals marry within their social group. This is referred to as:
    1. caste marriage                                       c.   social marriage
    2. endogamy                                               d. endomarriage

11. Scholars believe that                 has encouraged a shift to class-based systems in countries such as India that have been traditionally caste-based systems.
    1. morality                                                  c.   the Internet

1. 2. globalization                                           d. high divorce rate

12. In an industrialized society, which term is most often used to analyze stratification?
    1. occupation                                              c.   class
    2. slavery                                                     d.   caste

13. What do sociologists call a large group of people who occupy a similar economic position in society?
    1. workers                                                   c.   caste
    2. laborers                                                   d.   class

14. In class systems, the boundaries between classes are:
    1. stable and very clear-cut                        c.   determined and set at birth
    2. fluid and not very clear-cut                    d. based on religion and tradition

15. Oprah Winfrey was born into poverty and raised by a single mother, yet today she is one of the richest women in America. According to the textbook, her life story demonstrates that in a class system, the social position we are born into affects our life chances, but our class position is also:
    1. based on luck
    2. based on looks
    3. in some part achieved
    4. determined in part by affirmative action for women and racial minorities

16. Which of the following concepts Max Weber introduced says the idea that your probability of economic success is largely dependent on the social position you are born into?
    1. caste                                                        c.   life chances
    2. life course                                               d. status

17. According to Karl Marx, the working class in industrialized countries would remain poor and live near subsistence level. Marx was right about the persistence of poverty in industrialized countries, but he was wrong in thinking that:
    1. there would be very few poor people in most industrialized countries
    2. most people would own the means of production collectively in capitalist countries
    3. the income of most of the population would remain extremely low
    4. industrial capitalism would bring about a decreasing gap between the wealth of the capitalist minority and the poverty of the large proletarian population

18. According to Karl Marx, a class is made up of people who have the same relationship to the:
    1. means of production                               c.   means of consumption
    2. means of employment                            d. government

19. Karl Marx called those who own the means of production               and those who make their living by selling their own labor power for a wage            .
    1. capitalists; the working class                  c.   merchants; consumers
    2. producers; consumers                            d. the working class; capitalists

20. Workers picking strawberries can pick 100 baskets an hour, but it costs the employer only a value of 20 baskets to pay them their hourly wages. The income the employer collects from the extra baskets is

                  , according to Karl Marx.

1. 1. extra wages                                            c.   wage theft
   2. surplus value                                           d. surplus income

21. According to Karl Marx, because workers produce more than is actually needed to pay them, the relationship between workers and capitalists in an industrial society is:
    1. motivational                                            c.   equal
    2. easy to negotiate                                    d. exploitative

22. Max Weber argued that class divisions can derive from resources such as people’s:

23. Max Weber believed that                are equally as important as class distinctions in understanding social stratification.
    1. status distinctions                                   c.   ethnic distinctions
    2. religious distinctions                               d. gender distinctions

24. The social honor or prestige that other members of society accord to individuals is referred to as:
    1. status                                                       c.   social class
    2. reputation                                               d. fame

25. According to the textbook, Jewish people have been considered a          throughout most of European history.
    1. capitalist group                                       c.   contradictory class
    2. uneducated class                                    d. pariah group

26. Which of the following theorists would be most likely to argue that a medical doctor achieved the position solely based on his or her own talent and efforts?
    1. Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore     c.   Karl Marx
    2. Max Weber                                             d. Liz Murray

27.                    argued that social stratification is functional and ensures that the most talented people fill the roles they are best suited for by rewarding them accordingly.
    1. Karl Marx                                                c.   Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore
    2. Max Weber                                             d. Émile Durkheim

28. Wealth and income are both important determinants of social class. Which of the following best characterizes the relationship between wealth and income in the United States?
    1. Income disparities between rich and poor have increased in the past three decades, whereas

wealth disparities have decreased during the same time.

1. 2. Wealthy people almost always inherited their money; thus there is no relationship between wealth and income.
   3. The same factors that limit people’s incomes also limit their ability to accumulate wealth.
   4. Whereas race, education, and age influence income, wealth is independent of these variables.

29. Income inequality has increased dramatically since the 1970s as the income of the richest 20 percent saw its incomes rise   , while the poorest 20 percent saw its incomes rise by           .
    1. 70 percent; 1 percent                             c.   100 percent; 5 percent
    2. 15 percent; 60 percent                           d.   75 percent; 25 percent

30. The money a person gets from a wage or salary or from investments is       ; the assets an individual owns are                 .
    1. wealth; property                                     c.   wealth; income
    2. income; wealth                                       d. income; income

31. According to the textbook, some scholars argue that           , not                   , is the main determinant of class position.
    1. income; wealth                                       c.   wealth; income
    2. education; wealth                                   d. home ownership; income

32. Wealth refers to:
    1. the value of one’s home
    2. all the assets an individual owns
    3. how much money one makes in a year
    4. the estimated earnings over one’s life

33. Which of the following is a strong predictor of one’s occupation, income, and wealth in later life?
    1. one’s willingness to work hard
    2. the religious background of one’s parents
    3. the performance of the stock market
    4. one’s educational attainment

34. An economy based on computer and information technology has had what effect on social stratification in recent years?
    1. It has made a college education more expensive.
    2. It has made a college education more accessible.
    3. It has increased the importance and value of a college education in the job market.
    4. It has made it more difficult to attend college.

35. In 2012, which group had the lowest percentage for achievement of a high school diploma, at 62 percent?
    1. Latinos                                                     c.   whites
    2. African Americans                                  d. Asian Americans

36. In studies where individuals were asked to rank the prestige of an occupation, they ranked jobs that required            as having the highest prestige.
    1. the most professional clothing               c.   the most education
    2. the most work hours                               d. the most titles

37. According to the textbook, the upper class in the United States:
    1. is made up of the wealthiest 20 percent of the population

1. 2. has a distinctive lifestyle and is politically influential
   3. does not include people who get their wealth from investments
   4. is accessible to all Americans with a college education

38. The super-rich in the United States were able to accumulate vast amounts of wealth partly because globalization enabled them to:
    1. exploit low-wage labor in other countries
    2. sell products to consumers in the United States
    3. make investments locally
    4. produce their products in one place

39. When people are asked to identify which class they belong to, most respond that they are:
    1. underclass                                               c.   upper class
    2. poor                                                         d. middle class

40. According to the textbook, members of the lower middle class today:
    1. work at primarily blue-collar jobs
    2. make up about 90 percent of American households
    3. are racially and ethnically diverse
    4. make over $200,000 annually

41. Which of the following occupations is LEAST likely to be held by a lower-middle-class individual?
    1. police officer                                           c.   school teacher
    2. nurse                                                       d. upper-level manager

42. A farmer with a high school diploma who makes $115,000 a year, lives in a large home, and drives an expensive car is most likely to be in which class category?

1. 1. upper middle class                                  c.   upper class
   2. lower middle class                                  d. middle class

43. Eddie is a factory worker who makes about $32,000 a year. Eddie’s husband, Dustin, works part-time as a dental assistant and makes about $15,000. Their combined income is just enough to pay their mortgage and make ends meet. Eddie and Dustin are considered:
    1. lower middle class                                  c.   old middle class
    2. upper middle class                                  d. working class

44. People in blue-collar occupations, such as plumbers and hotel workers, make up the:
    1. lower middle class                                  c.   old middle class
    2. working class                                          d. new middle class

45. Working-class children are most likely to do which of the following after graduating from high school?
    1. travel around Europe                              c.   attend a two-year college
    2. attend a four-year college                      d. immediately start working

46. The lower class has a higher percentage of             than any other class in the United States.
    1. bilingual speakers                                   c.   men
    2. educators                                                d. nonwhites

47. Workers in dead-end jobs that pay low wages are most likely found in the:
    1. lower class                                              c.   lower middle class
    2. working class                                          d.   upper middle class

48. In the U.S. class system, the poorest of the poor, who are structurally disadvantaged and are least likely to move out of their class position, are called the:
    1. poor class                                                c.   left-behind class
    2. lower class                                              d. underclass

49. Today, the gap between rich and poor in the United States is the largest it has been since:
    1. 1929, after the stock market crash
    2. 1970, when the United States started to outsource jobs
    3. 1947, when the United States started to measure the gap
    4. Never; the gap has been getting smaller

50. Inequality and the gap between rich and poor have been steadily growing in the United States. The richest 20 percent has                of the total income, while the poorest 20 percent has            of the total income.
    1. 51 percent; 3.2 percent                          c.   25 percent; 25 percent
    2. 3.2 percent; 51 percent                          d. 33 percent; 34.3 percent

51. Which of the following best explains why Latino household income has stagnated and fallen far behind that of white households?
    1. a culture of poverty among Latinos that discourages achievement and saving money
    2. the large number of immigrants from Mexico and Latin America that are in low-wage jobs
    3. high unemployment among Latinos
    4. high divorce rate among Latinos

52. According to the textbook, what factor accounts for racial disparities in wealth and income?
    1. higher social and cultural capital           c.   genetics
    2. education                                                d.   luck

53. While the average income of               households has been increasing, that of             

households has been declining in the past decade.

1. 1. black and Latino; white                           c.   white; black and Latino
   2. lower class; middle class                        d. Latino; black

54. Social mobility refers to:
    1. the movement of individuals and groups between class positions
    2. the migration of people from the countryside to town
    3. the movement of people between caste positions
    4. the change in racial or ethnic identification when individuals intermarry

55. Intergenerational mobility is best described as when:
    1. a person achieves a different class position than the one he or she thought they would have
    2. a person maintains the same class position as his or her parents or grandparents
    3. a person has a different class position from that of his or her parents or grandparents
    4. a person achieves a different class position from his or her siblings

56. Who among the following is most likely to experience intergenerational mobility?
    1. the child of a high school teacher
    2. the child of two university professors
    3. the child of the CEO of a large corporation
    4. the child of a school janitor

57. When sociologists examine how far an individual moves up or down the socioeconomic scale in his or her lifetime, they are studying:
    1. optimal mobility                                     c.   life change

1. 2. intergenerational mobility                     d. intragenerational mobility

58. Researchers of social mobility, including Peter Blau and Otis Dudley Duncan in the 1960s and William Sewell and Robert Hauser in the 1980s, have shown that:
    1. educational attainment has a great deal to do with ultimate social status
    2. the family’s social status has little to do with social mobility
    3. social position is not inherited but solely achieved
    4. all of the above

59. Which of the following is an example of what Pierre Bourdieu refers to as cultural capital?
    1. the ability to pay for cultural events, such as art museums, opera companies, and symphony orchestras that charge for admission
    2. parents paying for school tutoring
    3. parents reading to their children and encouraging them to do well in school
    4. learning more than one language

60. According to Pierre Bourdieu, working-class parents are just as interested in their children’s education as middle- and upper-class parents, but they lack the      to help their children experience social mobility.
    1. social capital                                           c.   tuition capital
    2. cultural capital                                        d. educational capital

61. Downward mobility is when:
    1. retired people stop receiving Social Security
    2. the whole economy declines and all people see a decline in their income
    3. when a person chooses a lower occupation than he or she is qualified for
    4. when a person’s income, wealth, or status is lower than that of his or her parents

62. When a person moves from one position in a class structure to a nearly identical position, the person is said to experience:
    1. short-range downward mobility             c.   declining mobility
    2. long-range downward mobility              d. across-position mobility

63. In which of the following countries is the poverty rate the highest?
    1. Germany                                                 c.   United States
    2. Norway                                                    d. Sweden

64. How does the government determine the poverty line?
    1. It multiplies the cost of an adequate, nutritious diet by three.
    2. It multiplies the cost of an average household’s rent by three.
    3. It calculates the average cost of living in each of four regions of the United States and divides that number by the average cost of rent in those places.
    4. Because the cost of living varies across the country, it calculates the cost of living in each

region and determines a poverty line for each U.S. region.

65. At the beginning of her sophomore year of high school, Janis’s family cannot afford to buy her new clothes and shoes or enough supplies for school. Janis feels poor compared to her classmates who can afford these things. Janis is experiencing:
    1. absolute poverty                                     c.   downward mobility
    2. relative poverty                                      d. exchange mobility

66. When a person does not have adequate resources to maintain his or her health, such as enough food to eat, the person is said to be in:

1. 1. absolute poverty                                     c.   downward mobility
   2. relative poverty                                      d. exchange mobility

67. Of those who are currently in poverty in the United States, how many are working?
    1. 50 percent                                               c.   90 percent
    2. 25 percent                                               d.   none

68. What is meant by the phrase feminization of poverty?
    1. the fact that women are more likely not to marry until they find a rich man
    2. the fact that a majority of the poor are women
    3. the notion that women are not as likely to pursue education or other skill development and

end up in lower-paying jobs

1. 4. the idea that women do not work as hard as men and are therefore more likely to be poor

69. According to the textbook, child poverty rates in the United States are:
    1. relative to the poverty rates of men      c.   the lowest in the industrialized world
    2. the highest in the world                          d. the highest in the industrialized world

70. According to the textbook, which phenomenon erased many of the gains in child well-being made in the past twenty years?
    1. The 2008 economic recession                c.   Student debt
    2. The war in Afghanistan                           d. Increases in welfare benefits

71. Although official estimates show that relatively few elderly people live in poverty, these statistics may be misleading because:
    1. they do not consider the large number of elderly people who go hungry
    2. they do not consider the large number of elderly people who live alone
    3. they do not consider the vast gender, race, and marital status differences of older adults
    4. they do not consider the high cost of rent

72. The income of most elderly people is dependent on:
    1. their part-time jobs                                c.   pensions
    2. money from their children                     d. Social Security

73. According to the textbook,                 in addition to Social Security ,has/have helped lift many of the elderly out of poverty.
    1. food banks                                               c.   unemployment
    2. Meals on Wheels                                    d. Medicare

74. Those who believe that poverty results from structural factors beyond the control of individuals would see which of the following as a source of poverty?
    1. unequal distribution of educational resources
    2. universal health care
    3. decreasing income inequality
    4. immorality of the poor

75. If a person believes that people are poor because they have been socialized into a set of values, beliefs, and norms that result in behavior that leads to poverty, then that person is said to believe which of the following theories of poverty?
    1. culture of poverty                                   c.   value poverty
    2. structural poverty                                   d. dependency poverty

76. Those who believe that the culture of poverty theory explains why most people are in poverty would most likely favor which of the following antipoverty programs?
    1. subsidized housing                                  c.   welfare-to-work programs
    2. universal health care                              d. food stamps

77. According to the sociologist Charles Murray, there are groups among the poor who do not enter the labor market and rely on government interventions, which undermines self-help and personal ambition. He says that these poor are part of:
    1. the unambitious culture                         c.   the least motivated poor
    2. the dependency culture                          d. the poverty problem

78. Individuals living in rural communities cut off from resources and opportunities and individuals living in inner cities with high crime rates are both likely to experience what sociologists call:
    1. social exclusion                                       c.   unequal education
    2. social deprivation                                   d. economic exclusion

79. One of the most distressing signs of the growing stratification in the United States is the growth in the number of:
    1. substance abusers                                   c.   women with college degrees
    2. mentally ill individuals                            d. homeless people

ESSAY

1. Compare and contrast slavery, caste, and class as systems of stratification. What is the basis of inequality in each? How much social mobility exists in each? What system of stratification best describes the United States?

2. According to the textbook, what three main characteristics do social systems of stratification share? Provide an example of each.

3. Compare and contrast Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore’s explanations for the basis of social stratification in society. Which explanation do you think best describes social stratification in the United States today?

4. What is the difference between income and wealth? How are income and wealth related? Which is more important in determining one’s position in the system of stratification in the United States? Why?

5. How has the distribution of income in the United States changed over the past thirty years? Apply one of the stratification theories discussed in the chapter to explain the reason for this change.

6. What are the differences in average income and wealth between whites, African Americans, and Latinos? What are the sociological explanations for why these gaps exist?

7. What is social mobility, and what is the difference between intergenerational and intragenerational mobility? Do you think you will experience intragenerational mobility in your lifetime? Explain why or why not.

8. Who are the working poor? What are the explanations for why those who are working are still in poverty?

9. Explain how the official definition of poverty is calculated. According to critics, what are some of the problems with this way of calculating poverty today? What factors do you believe should be considered in the calculation of poverty and why?

10. Why do sociologists say we are seeing the feminization of poverty? Which social groups are most likely to be represented among poor women? How has this affected the number and percentage of children living in poverty in the United States?

11. Compare the “blame the victim?” explanation of poverty with the “blame the system” explanation. Which explanation do you think best explains poverty in the United States today?