Deck 18: Social Stratification: Class, Ethnicity, and Racism

Question 1

A __________ is a category of persons who all have about the same opportunity to obtain economic resources, power, and prestige.

A) social group
B) class
C) open class
D) caste

Answer 1

class

Question 2

Which of the following is considered a rank society?

A) Nimpkish Native Americans
B) Mbuti Pygmies
C) the Yanomamo
D) the !Kung

Answer 2

Nimpkish Native Americans

Question 3

The probability that an individual will change class levels in an open class system is

A) high.
B) extremely low.
C) about even.
D) impossible.

Answer 3

extremely low.

Question 4

In the United States, college-educated individuals have on average __________ percent more income than those without a college education.

A) 40
B) 75
C) 80
D) 100

Question 5

In ranked societies, chiefs are never

A) granted more prestige than others in the society.
B) considered the "owners" of the group's land.
C) allowed to accumulate significantly more wealth than commoners.
D) set off from the others by special markings or clothes.

Question 6

Modern industrial societies are noted for having disparate access to economic resources and prestige. What type of stratification exists in these societies?

A) egalitarian
B) caste
C) class
D) rank

Question 7

In egalitarian societies, people may differ in prestige, but these differences are not related to

A) personal abilities.
B) age.
C) the economic status of one's parents.
D) sex.

Question 8

Egalitarian societies are least likely to be found among

A) pastoralists.
B) food collectors.
C) societies with tree agriculture.
D) societies with intensive agriculture.

Question 9

Manumission was built into which system?

A) United States
B) Egypt
C) Rome
D) Nupe

Question 10

The Mbuti pygmy of Zaire practices which form of social stratification?

A) egalitarian
B) caste
C) class
D) rank

Question 11

__________ are persons who do not own their own labor, and as such they represent a class.

A) Peasants
B) Serfs
C) Slaves
D) Prisoners

Question 12

A society with equal access to wealth and power, but unequal access to prestige, is called

A) egalitarian.
B) ranked.
C) a closed class society.
D) a caste system.

Question 13

If all social groups in a society have equal access to wealth, prestige, and power, then anthropologists call that society

A) socialistic.
B) communistic.
C) a chiefdom.
D) egalitarian.

Question 14

Of the following, which is not a major advantage of the upper castes in the Indian caste system?

A) economic gain
B) gain in prestige
C) sexual gain
D) performance gain

Question 15

Which of the following societies is not considered to be egalitarian?

A) Nimpkish Native Americans
B) Mbuti Pygmies
C) the Yanomamo
D) the !Kung

Question 16

A society is practicing which form of stratification when the members of the society have equal access to economic resources but not to prestige?

A) egalitarian
B) caste
C) class
D) rank

Question 17

A __________ is a ranked group in which membership is determined at birth and marriage is restricted to members of one's own group.

A) class
B) caste
C) social group
D) open class

Question 18

Which of the following is not characteristic of the chief?

A) His people invest him with "ownership" of the land.
B) His position may be hereditary.
C) He is set apart from the others by the special regalia he wears.
D) His position carries considerable prestige.

Question 19

Sharing is most common in

A) egalitarian societies.
B) societies suffering from severe famine.
C) stratified societies.
D) pastoral societies.

Question 20

Attending a university and gaining an education can result in the upward __________ of a student.

A) reeducation
B) training
C) restructuring
D) mobility

Question 21

Racial classifications are

A) biological categories.
B) cultural categories.
C) economic categories.
D) social categories.

Question 22

How is chiefly status obtained among the Ifaluk culture?

A) war
B) purchase
C) genealogically in the female line
D) genealogically in the male line

Question 23

In many countries, like the U.S., educational attainment predicts one's social class better than parent's occupation does because

A) the more education you have it is harder to find work and thus the poorer you will be.
B) the more education you have the higher the average lifetime income you will earn.
C) parent's occupation never means much in understanding social class.
D) these countries have complex social systems which make it difficult to predict social class.

Question 24

There are actually three types of advantages in society. They include

A) wealth.
B) power.
C) prestige.
D) all the above.

Question 25

Social stratification may be less likely in societies with

A) fixed settlements.
B) agriculture or herding economies.
C) at least some full-time craft specialization.
D) generalized reciprocity as the primary form of exchange.

Question 26

As in the past, today we still see "racial" classifications being used to justify maltreatment. This can include

A) discrimination.
B) genocide.
C) accepting people for who they are.
D) a and b are correct.

Question 27

In ranked societies the position of chief is very important. A person becomes a chief

A) through a societal vote.
B) as a reward to an outsider for some good they did.
C) at least partly through heredity.
D) mostly by accident.

Question 28

Slavery

A) is most common in societies with intensive agriculture.
B) is extremely rare in the anthropological record.
C) has been found most often in horticultural societies.
D) has existed in various forms in many times and places.

Question 29

Before the caste system in Rwanda was overthrown, which was the ruling caste?

A) Hutu
B) Tutsi
C) Twa
D) none of the above

Question 30

Egalitarian societies imply equality, but it actually does not mean that all people within such societies are the same. This is because

A) there are always differences in people such as gender and age.
B) equality can never be achieved.
C) people might be intellectually the same.
D) even partial egalitarian societies have never existed.

Question 31

In the U.S. many people deny the existence of social classes because

A) we have a culture of denial.
B) we don't fully understand what a social class is.
C) we have an ideology that hard work and strong character can transform anyone into a success.
D) we compare ourselves only with the most stratified societies, so we look equal in comparison.

Question 32

Which of the following would a male Nupe slave of central Nigeria NOT be permitted to do?

A) will his belongings to his children
B) acquire slaves of his own
C) have children who could become free men and women
D) acquire property and wealth

Question 33

Define social stratification. How does it come about? How are the barriers between classes in the United States maintained?

Question 34

Ethnicity in many countries is how groups of people define themselves because

A) while they do not share a history, they share the present.
B) usually they don't share a religion but have the same supernatural beliefs.
C) it involves people emphasizing common origins and language.
D) they see themselves as the same as other groups.

Question 35

In ancient Greece, slaves were

A) conquered enemies.
B) inferior human beings.
C) granted many different rights.
D) passing on their slave status to all descendants throughout eternity.

Question 36

Caste systems are the most rigid of class systems because

A) membership is by birth.
B) you are in the caste your entire life.
C) marriage is restricted to members of one's own caste.
D) all of the above.

Question 37

Which of the following would anthropologists not consider a caste?

A) the Eta of Japan
B) Blacks in the American South in segregation days
C) the Camar (leather-workers) of India
D) Anthropologists would classify all of these groups as castes.

Question 38

Class societies may have social problems related to economics because

A) groups of people have substantially greater or lesser access to economic resources and power.
B) nobody does very well economically in class societies.
C) everyone has the same amount of power but not economic resources.
D) everyone has the same economic resources but not power.

Question 39

Societies can be stratified by "race" and in the extreme can be racist when

A) people are divided by skin color and other physical features often used to describe "race."
B) not everyone is so defined in the society.
C) there is a way of moving up or down.
D) everyone can easily change the way society sees them.

Question 40

Anthropologists are reasonably certain that social stratification

A) emerged relatively recently in human history.
B) is as old as Homo sapiens.
C) does not exist in the United States.
D) has occurred only in industrial societies.

Question 41

What is a caste? What social mechanisms are used to block mobility in these types of societies? How successful are they at maintaining the social order?

Question 42

What forces led to the emergence of stratification?

Question 43

How did ancient Greek slavery differ from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American slavery?

Question 44

How does the role of chief or headman differ from such roles as Congressman or President?

Question 45

What social and economic mechanisms keep egalitarian societies egalitarian?

Question 46

What forces (economic, social, and technological) have led to the almost complete elimination of slavery, worldwide?

Question 47

In open class systems, which class is difficult to move into from a lower class? Why?