Deck 1: The Gordian Knot of Race, Class, and Gender

Question 1

Postindustrial economies are dominated by

A) rival gangs
B) heavy industry
C) the service sector
D) illegal immigrants

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The Kuznets curve implied that as societies fully industrialized, they would

A) disintegrate
B) become more equal
C) have less mobility
D) destroy their environment

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Viewed sociologically, race and gender can be viewed as special types of

A) social status
B) socialization
C) biological categories
D) behavior predictors

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Some refer to hunter-gatherers as the original affluent society because they

A) often amassed great wealth
B) often made millions leasing their vast natural resources
C) often raided their farming neighbors
D) often worked no more than 20 hours per week

Question 5

A system of inequality that involves discrete levels of privilege is called

A) class consciousness
B) social stratification
C) a Gordian knot
D) a gathering society

Question 6

The example of the Iroquois society illustrates that a number of horticultural societies:

A) enslaved women
B) were highly patriarchal
C) organized lineage and household around the women
D) practiced human sacrifice

Question 7

Most sociologists consider the dimensions of inequality to be

A) inevitable
B) facts of nature
C) grounded in natural law
D) social constructions

Question 8

Inequality grew in many simple horticultural societies with the greater prominence of

A) emperors and warrior-kings
B) money lenders and brokers
C) talented artisans
D) redistributors and big men

Question 9

The use of simple horticulture allowed the

A) establishment of permanent settlements
B) invention of the wheel
C) penetration of arctic and desert environments
D) rise of the great world empires

Question 10

Some of the most egalitarian societies in human experience have been

A) reforming socialist societies
B) laissez-faire capitalist societies
C) hunting-and-gathering societies
D) advanced agrarian societies

Question 11

Where a worker is placed on the "disassembly" line in the Robeson County slaughterhouse depends a great deal on

A) what type of educational credentials the worker has
B) the worker's race, ethnicity, and gender
C) the amount of seniority the worker has
D) whether the worker is a union member

Question 12

Women's status in hunting-and-gathering societies is often:

A) less subordinate (more equal) than in agricultural societies
B) dominant and matriarchal
C) one of virtual slavery
D) more subordinate than in herding societies

Question 13

C. Wright Mills refers to the sociological imagination as:

A) a quality of mind that helps people place their personal troubles in a broader social and historical context
B) the ability to think of interesting and informative sociological research
C) the ability to imagine oneself as someone else in a different social class or position
D) a literary device using fictional accounts to reflect social realities

Question 14

One would expect to find the least job specialization in a

A) hunting-and-gathering society
B) horticultural society
C) industrial society
D) pastoral society

Question 15

A society in which people belong to well-established social classes is referred to as:

A) egalitarian
B) ranked
C) stratified
D) patriarchal

Question 16

Many agrarian societies could be typified as:

A) patriarchal deference societies
B) simple horticulturalists
C) highly matriarchal
D) very egalitarian societies

Question 17

Maritime societies were often dominated by

A) traders and merchants
B) powerful kings
C) powerful mounted armies
D) priests and religious orders

Question 18

Many of the world's most unequal current societies are in

A) the advanced industrial world
B) the Pacific basin
C) Latin American industrializing agrarian societies
D) small countries of Eastern Europe

Question 19

Inequality reached its extremes in many

A) advanced capitalist countries
B) hunting-and-gathering societies
C) agrarian societies
D) horticultural barter societies

Question 20

Frontier societies have greater equality in their early stages in part because

A) it is written into their constitutions
B) labor is scarce and valuable
C) harmonious relations are often established between natives and newcomers
D) natural resources are scarce

Question 21

Humans have always lived in extremely unequal societies.

Question 22

How has inequality varied over human experience and history? What characterized the divides of other societies? Is inequality likely to grow or diminish in the future? Explain.

Question 23

The sociological imagination is a skill that allows one to understand one's own experience in the context of history and society.

Question 24

Every society divides itself by race. This is a fact of human nature.

Question 25

Large agrarian empires were some of the world's most unequal societies.

Question 26

Men have always been highly dominant in all societies.

Question 27

Because there are multiple dimensions to inequality, these often cancel each other out, making everyone more or less equal.

Question 28

How do race, class and gender, along with other dimensions of inequality, interact to affect a person's life chances? Provide some concrete examples.

Question 29

Which types of workers are hardest hit by deindustrialization?

Question 30

What are the key dimensions of inequality that are emphasized by sociologists?

Question 31

As complex civilizations emerged, societies became more unequal.

Question 32

The Kuznets curve predicted that all societies would inevitably become more unequal over time.