Deck 6: Social Inequality

Question 1

Social ________ may be defined as a change in the relative amount of all "power resources" held by a person or a group.

Answer 1

mobility

Question 2

According to the 2006 census, individual income levels of Aboriginals were about percent of the Canadian median.

Answer 2

87

Question 3

In the 1960s, during the "________", there was a move in Quebec to catch up with English Canada.

Answer 3

Quiet Revolution

Question 4

Suppose a young woman began her working career as a clerical worker. By taking night courses and demonstrating considerable competence at work, she was promoted to a managerial position much like the job held by her father before his retirement. In her case, a sociologist would conclude that she had experienced:

A) horizontal mobility
B) intragenerational mobility
C) intergenerational mobility
D) polarization
E) class consciousness

Question 5

Since 1931, blue-collar incomes have tended to remain about to percent below the national average.

Question 6

In terms of socio-economic status in Canada, the ________ ethnic group no longer enjoys the dominant position it once did.

Question 7

Virtually all societies are organized around the principle that the ________ is the means for creating and implementing laws, and thus the sanctions and rights that define power differences in society.

Question 8

Which of the following would not be an example of a status?

A) well-educated
B) female
C) junior management
D) married
E) pet owner

Question 9

Marx used the term ________ to refer to the class of capitalists.

Question 10

A Native female physician might be an example of status ________.

Question 11

The term "social class" is most closely identified with:

A) Durkheim's class for the people
B) Marx's class consciousness
C) Weber's class in the marketplace
D) Marx's class for itself
E) Marx's class in itself.

Question 12

Which of the following is an ascribed status?

A) occupation
B) academic performance
C) sports performance
D) age
E) education

Question 13

In 2005, the top quintile of the Canadian population held approximately ________ percent of Canada's wealth.

Question 14

________ mobility involves differences between the occupational status of child and parent.

Question 15

Modern societies are complex, filled with people living in different circumstances and engaging in a wide range of activities. Social scientists usually refer to this great diversity in social life as social ________.

Question 16

Structural functionalism generally avoids the concept of ________.

Question 17

Lenski asserted that social inequality is concerned mainly with who gets what and why, a ________ process, in which some people receive more of the valued things in life, such as wealth and power.

Question 18

An ________ status is one assigned by circumstance rather than by accomplishment.

Question 19

There are three major forms of structured power in society: ________, ________, and ________.

A) economic, status, religious
B) economic, political, educational
C) political, ideological, status
D) economic, political, ideological
E) economic consistency, stratum, skill

Question 20

In the ________ perspective, Canada's social structure involves a complex network of regions and communities in which rural areas or hinterlands are connected by a series of links to the few major urban centres or metropolises.

Question 21

For Marx, the source of the division into two opposing groups is the power that comes from the ownership or non-ownership of property, in particular, productive property, or what he called the "________".

A) capitalist system
B) means of production
C) essential productivity
D) gentleman and servant productivity
E) Lord and Serf system

Question 22

Studies show that differences in French and English income levels have been:

A) highest in Ontario
B) decreasing in recent years
C) increasing in recent years
D) highest in Quebec
E) highest in Atlantic Canada

Question 23

Which of the following was NOT identified by Marx and Engels as a key change required in the transition from capitalism to socialism?

A) heavy progressive or graduated income tax
B) equal distribution of land property among all citizens
C) confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels
D) centralization of the means of communication and transport
E) equal liability of all to labour

Question 24

The prospects for an improvement in social rank among Canadian Native people still largely hinges on:

A) their complete assimilation into Canadian society
B) their ability to hire good lawyers to press land claims
C) their ability to mount effective protests
D) intermarriage with non-Natives
E) the acceptance of Native rights by Canadians

Question 25

Weber offers one of the first ________ conceptions of power in social theory, meaning that it derives from more than one source.

A) pluralist
B) social
C) functionalist
D) conflict
E) cohesive

Question 26

Most research suggests that age has a/an ________ association with stratification position.

A) positive
B) negative
C) spurious
D) curvilinear
E) inverse positive

Question 27

The term which Porter used to describe a social structure involving many diverse racial and social groups, ranked along a hierarchy of power and privilege is:

A) stratification
B) the vertical mosaic
C) horizontal mobility
D) ethnicity
E) structural inequality

Question 28

In 2001, the largest twenty-five enterprises in Canada accounted for percent of all business assets.

A) 80
B) 50
C) 41
D) 20
E) 10

Question 29

In the ________ perspective, Canada's social structure involves a complex network of regions in which the peripheral areas are connected by a series of links to a few major urban centres.

A) rural-urban
B) metropolitan centre
C) hinterland
D) metropolis-hinterland
E) Indigenous-colonizer

Question 30

In opposition to Marx, Weber argued that:

A) economic class, status group, and party all serve as a source of power
B) the proletariat would revolt against the bourgeoisie
C) bureaucracy had no harmful effects upon society
D) economics were the sole basis of rank
E) the bourgeoisie would revolt against the proletariat

Question 31

Marx suggested two stages would follow the revolution: ________ and ________.

A) capitalism; socialism
B) socialism; communism
C) dictatorship; communism
D) military rule; socialism
E) socialism, feudalism

Question 32

According to structural-functionalist theorists, social inequality in society is based upon:

A) the relationship of social groups to the means of production
B) authority relations in a society
C) the ability of individuals to dispose of goods and services for income in the marketplace
D) societal agreement about the value of positions within the social structure
E) the ability of individuals to receive training for specific positions

Question 33

Marx believed that the overthrow of capitalism would be spurred on by all of the below except:

A) the concentration of workers in large cities
B) the concentration of workers in large factories
C) the decline of small capitalists
D) growing awareness of the bourgeoisie class
E) growing awareness of the proletariat class

Question 34

Canada's educational structure has become more ________, which means it is more accessible to people on the basis of ability rather than class background.

A) merocratic
B) bureaucratic
C) equalocratic
D) meritocratic
E) educratic

Question 35

The structural functionalist view of inequality emphasizes:

A) consensus, class action, and the pluralism of power in social structures
B) consensus, individual action, and the pluralism of power in social structures
C) centralization of credit, centralization of communications, and centralization of transport
D) progressive taxes, limits on inheritance, and the combination of agriculture with manufacturing
E) classless society, progressive taxes, and confiscation of property of all emigrants

Question 36

Goyder and Curtis concluded that there is an "impermanence of family status over non-adjacent generations," suggesting that Canada is "an ________ society rather than an ________ one."

A) adaptive; ascriptive
B) achievement; adaptive
C) adjustment; achievement
D) achievement; ascriptive
E) ascriptive; achievement

Question 37

The relative status a position in society receives is a product of ________, according to the functionalist school,

A) the lifetime achievement typically gained in that position
B) the amount of money the position pays
C) the number of persons available with the talent or training to fill the position
D) the amount of hard work that position requires in order that its function is successfully met
E) the decisions of a ruling class

Question 38

Porter criticized Canada's political leadership and maintained that the major political parties engaged in ________, making political decisions based on what will get then re-elected rather than what is best for the nation.

A) just-in time politics
B) Red Book politics
C) life expectancy politics
D) pervasive
E) brokerage politics

Question 39

In Canada, unemployment is usually:

A) fairly evenly distributed across the provinces
B) approximately the same in urban and rural areas
C) higher in urban areas
D) higher in rural areas
E) the reason that people leave big, crowded urban centres

Question 40

Evidence suggests that people from lower-class backgrounds in Canada:

A) are less likely to get post-secondary education than those from higher-class backgrounds
B) are less likely to get post-secondary education than in the past
C) are equally likely to get post-secondary education as compared to the past
D) achieve higher grades in post-secondary education than in the past
E) achieve higher grades in post-secondary education compared to those from higher-class backgrounds

Question 41

Since 1931, blue-collar incomes have tended to remain about 10 percent below the national average.

Question 42

Describe the metropolis-hinterland perspective.

Question 43

How does a class-in-itself become a class-for-itself, according to Marx?

Question 44

What recent developments suggest that the position of Canada's Native peoples may be improving? What barriers to further improvement remain?

Question 45

According to Marx, in the second stage after the revolution, the state as a political force would become unnecessary and would die away.

Question 46

Intragenerational mobility involves differences between the occupational status of child and parent.

Question 47

Virtually all societies are organized around the principle that the family is the means for creating and implementing laws, and thus the sanctions and rights that define power differences in society.

Question 48

An ascribed status is one achieved by accomplishment rather than circumstance.

Question 49

Education is an achieved status.

Question 50

Analyzing vertical intergenerational mobility is helpful in assessing how open or closed a system of inequality is.

Question 51

How has Canada's occupational structure changed in recent years within both the white-collar and blue-collar sectors?

Question 52

Life chances, lifestyles, and values and beliefs all affect one's social rank.

Question 53

In the metropolis-hinterland perspective, Canada's structure lacks links between the rural areas and the few major urban centres.

Question 54

As compared to Marx, how did Weber interpret the existence of "middle-classes" in capitalist society?

Question 55

In terms of socio-economic status in Canada, the British ethnic group no longer enjoys the dominant position it once did.

Question 56

Marx used the term bourgeoisie to refer to the working class.

Question 57

Economically, the metropolitan regions of Canada serve as sources of cheap labour.

Question 58

Briefly describe and explain the differences between the terms "power", "status", and "stratum".

Question 59

A white male physician might be an example of status inconsistency.