Deck 7: Inequalities of Race and Ethnicity

Question 1

Racial categories utilized in the United States originally derived from a purely scientific basis.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Ethnic identities are often "constructed" by their bearers.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

While recent studies show that traditional forms of prejudice have dramatically declined, a new form of prejudice called symbolic racism has appeared.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

One reason sociologists study the concept "race" is to understand the social significance people attach to various traits such as skin color.

Question 5

The critical characteristic that distinguishes minority groups from other groups is that minority groups lack power.

Question 6

Racial formation is a process that occurs only at the macro level.

Question 7

Assimilation refers to the process whereby the dominant group becomes culturally more like the minority group.

Question 8

Races are generally characterized by fixed, clear-cut differences.

Question 9

In Omi and Winant's theory, racial formation occurs as the biological underpinnings of race develop in the growing child.

Question 10

Jewish Americans, Italian Americans, and Hispanics are examples of ethnic groups within the United States.

Question 11

The civil rights laws passed during the mid-1960s resulted in immediate conformity to the principle of equal treatment for all.

Question 12

Environmental racism is a form of institutional discrimination.

Question 13

The term "socially marginalized group" refers to any vulnerable and frequently victimized populations who typically lack power in the society.

Question 14

Gatekeeping helps to reduce institutional discrimination.

Question 15

Symbolic racism has declined in recent years because of the feeling among whites that African Americans finally have been getting what they rightly deserve.

Question 16

Discrimination is a state of mind - a feeling, opinion, or disposition-while prejudice is action.

Question 17

On an institutional level, racism involves discriminatory policies and practices that result in unequal outcomes for members of different racial groups.

Question 18

It is a relatively simple task to determine with certainty where individuals with "white" ancestry end and individuals of "black" ancestry begin, particularly when utilizing such traits as skin color, hair form, stature, and head shape.

Question 19

The willingness among whites to support policies that would reduce racial inequality in America has increased dramatically over the past decade.

Question 20

The consensus in the scientific community today is that the biological factors that presumably underlie race do not cause race differences in intelligence.

Question 21

The largest ethnic minority group in the United States is the Hispanic/Latino group.

Question 22

About half of the U.S. population is now African American.

Question 23

According to conflict theorists, communication serves as the mechanism by which one group dominates and subjugates another group.

Question 24

Genocide refers to a deliberate and systematic effort to increase the population of a particular racial or ethnic group.

Question 25

American Indians and Alaskan Natives are the least disadvantaged minority group in the United States.

Question 26

The text points out that white ethnicity has become symbolic.

Question 27

Acculturation, or cultural assimilation, occurs when cultural elements of one group change in the direction of another group.

Question 28

Genocide is a milder form of inequalitarian pluralism in action.

Question 29

The poverty rate for Cuban Americans is the highest among all Hispanic/Latino groups.

Question 30

Seventy-seven percent of African American families live in poverty.

Question 31

One sociological explanation for successful ethnic groups is that the United States provides a great deal of government assistance at the federal, state, and local levels to ethnic minorities.

Question 32

As viewed by functionalists, a function of ethnic conflict is the promotion of group cohesion.

Question 33

According to symbolic interactionists, the world we experience, including ethnic groups, is socially constructed.

Question 34

By integration, sociologists mean that members of different ethnic and racial groups participate with one another in the major institutional structures of society.

Question 35

Asian Americans have the highest median family income of the nation's ethnic groups.

Question 36

English is the official language of the United States, with 99 percent of the U.S. population speaking English as their primary language at home.

Question 37

According to conflict theorists, competition provides the motivation for systems of social inequality.

Question 38

The leading cause of death among African American males is homicide.

Question 39

Pluralism exists when diverse groups coexist while maintaining separate identities.

Question 40

Mexicans are the only American minority to enter the society through the conquest of their homeland.

Question 41

History shows that

A) passing anti-discrimination laws has an immediate impact on human behavior.
B) passing anti-discrimination laws results in lower levels of prejudice.
C) passing anti-discrimination laws does not immediately translate into equal treatment for all.
D) fewer acts of symbolic racism occur as more laws against discrimination are passed.

Question 42

Minority status generally is

A) voluntary.
B) achieved.
C) exogamous.
D) ascribed.

Question 43

When sociologists observe that minorities are typically endogamous, they assert that minorities

A) tend to marry within their group.
B) tend to marry outside their group.
C) have sexual desire for members of other groups.
D) are often separatist in their outlooks.

Question 44

Groups defined in terms of such characteristics as language, folk practices, dress, gestures, religion, or mannerisms are called

A) nationality groups.
B) ethnic groups.
C) racial groups.
D) oppressed minorities.

Question 45

Socially marginalized groups

A) tend to be vulnerable and frequently victimized.
B) are typically distinctive groups but are not necessarily lower in status than other groups.
C) include the one percent of the U.S. population who are extremely wealthy.
D) refers to groups of people who have trouble with everyday social interactions.

Question 46

____________ groups are identified mostly on cultural grounds.

A) Social class
B) Racial
C) Ethnic
D) Gender

Question 47

When minority groups are identified as a "self-conscious social group," this means

A) they are always afraid that other people are looking at them.
B) their members feel a social and psychological closeness with others like themselves.
C) they sense that other people's attention is to be blamed for their suffering and burdens.
D) they lack any real sense of identity as a group.

Question 48

Polish Americans, Russian Americans, and Greek Americans are examples of

A) racial groups.
B) ethnic groups.
C) nationality groups.
D) organic groups.

Question 49

According to the scientific community,

A) there is a clear-cut relationship between physical traits associated with race and such characteristics as intelligence and moral character.
B) there is no connection between physical traits associated with race and such characteristics as intelligence and moral character.
C) the findings in The Bell Curve represent an accurate social reality.
D) race is a totally unusable and worthless concept.

Question 50

According to sociologists, which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a minority group?

A) A minority group suffers discrimination.
B) A minority group has no sense of self-consciousness.
C) A minority group has distinguishable physical or cultural traits.
D) A minority group tends to be endogamous.

Question 51

"A racially or culturally self-conscious population, with hereditary membership and a high degree of in-group marriage, that suffers oppression at the hands of a dominant group" is the definition of a(n)

A) in-group.
B) bureaucracy.
C) reference group.
D) minority group.

Question 52

Races

A) are characterized by rather fixed, clear-cut differences.
B) involve physical characteristics that never change over time.
C) are groups whose physical traits make it a relatively easy task to determine where one racial population ends and another racial population begins.
D) are groups that are not easily identified by cut-and-dry classifications.

Question 53

The ethnicity choices for the Census 2010 were

A) Jewish American, Hispanic or Latino, white ethnic, and other.
B) African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, Caucasian, and other.
C) Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin; Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano; Puerto Rican; Cuban; and other.
D) Italian American, Greek American, Irish American, Jewish American, Hispanic American, Asian American, African American, and other.

Question 54

A group of people who see themselves, and are seen by others, as having hereditary traits that set them apart is called a(n)

A) ethnic group.
B) ethnocentric group.
C) race.
D) society.

Question 55

Minority status primarily is a matter of

A) racial identity.
B) who has power and privilege and who doesn't.
C) the heritage of racial memory.
D) nationalism and patriotism.

Question 56

For most social scientists, the most significant aspect of race is its

A) effect on brain capacity.
B) effect on athletic ability.
C) well-supported relationship to intelligence and musical ability.
D) significance as a social definition.

Question 57

A split labor market is an economic arena in which the members of different minority groups are split into different competitive teams.

Question 58

The Bell Curve study

A) argued that racial groups differ in intelligence.
B) has never been adequately refuted.
C) is believed by many sociologists to discourage stereotyping.
D) is a book about curving class grades.

Question 59

Ethnic identities are

A) often "constructed" by their bearers.
B) defined by the government.
C) connected directly to racial traits.
D) independent of religion, country of origin, or culture.

Question 60

Institutional racism

A) focuses on the belief that racial groups are essentially the same.
B) depends on the idea that people cannot be reliably classified into racial groups.
C) involves discriminatory policies and practices that result in unequal outcomes for members of different racial groups.
D) gives rise to better corporate and government workplace environments.

Question 61

Discrimination is

A) entirely dependent on individual attitudes.
B) not connected with attitudes.
C) not affected by anti-discrimination laws.
D) not entirely dependent on individual attitudes.

Question 62

Recent sociological research about prejudice shows

A) all forms of prejudice have dramatically declined over the past 40 years.
B) symbolic prejudice has declined somewhat in the past 25 years.
C) traditional forms of prejudice declined following the 1960s civil rights movement.
D) institutional discrimination has declined dramatically.

Question 63

Which of the following is NOT a component of the paradox associated with symbolic racism?

A) The continued unwillingness of whites to support anti-discrimination policies
B) The finding that whites increasingly embrace the principle of racial equality
C) The fact that whites increasingly embrace both the principles of racial equality and the continued establishment of anti-discrimination policies
D) The finding that traditional prejudice no longer has much effect on whites' support for racial policies

Question 64

Feelings that African Americans ask for too much, don't play by the rules, and exploit welfare could be referred to as

A) "Deep South" racism.
B) symbolic interactionism.
C) symbolic racism.
D) institutional discrimination.

Question 65

Generally, those known as gatekeepers have been

A) those who are in line to receive welfare checks.
B) welfare cheats.
C) white males.
D) those who report welfare frauds to the authorities.

Question 66

Which of the following is NOT typically held by dominant group members?

A) a feeling that developing an understanding of the nature and meaning of intergroup differences and similarities is important
B) a sense that they are superior to members of minority groups
C) a feeling that minority group members are by their nature different and alien
D) a belief that they have an in-born claim to privilege, power, and prestige

Question 67

Which of the following is NOT a component of symbolic racism?

A) The feeling that African Americans got more than they rightly deserve
B) The belief that African Americans don't value hard work and individualism like whites do
C) The sense that African Americans have made great strides in becoming more like whites, but still have a long way to go
D) The belief that African Americans would rather be on welfare than work

Question 68

Sociologist Robert Merton noted that we expect prejudiced people to discriminate and unprejudiced people not to discriminate, and that

A) sometimes unprejudiced people discriminate anyway.
B) this is in fact always true.
C) there is no such thing as an unprejudiced person.
D) prejudiced people always discriminate.

Question 69

Prejudice is an attitude; discrimination

A) is a belief based on fact.
B) is an emotional feeling.
C) is action.
D) is an unchanging state of mind.

Question 70

America's "melting pot" tradition illustrates

A) pluralism.
B) legal protection of minorities.
C) assimilation.
D) diversity subjugation.

Question 71

__________ is defined as the decision-making process whereby people are admitted to offices and positions of privilege, prestige, and power within a society.

A) Pluralism
B) Assimilation
C) Gatekeeping
D) Diversity subjugation

Question 72

A(n) ______________ represent(s) institutional discrimination.

A) white supremacist hitting an African American in the face
B) university application specifying a prerequisite of graduation from a private high school
C) African-American gang beating up a white youth because of his race
D) Asian-American student overcoming problems with the English language in a reading class for ESL students

Question 73

Prejudice and discrimination

A) are mutually exclusive.
B) always occur together.
C) may or may not occur together.
D) never occur together.

Question 74

Equality of opportunity

A) does not necessarily produce equality of outcome.
B) (if realized in American life) automatically produces equality of outcome.
C) has no affect on outcomes.
D) historically has produced equality of outcome, but not in recent years.

Question 75

The blending of peoples and cultures to form a new people and culture is

A) the melting pot perspective.
B) the Anglo-conformity view.
C) population transfer.
D) symbolic racism.

Question 76

The practice of deliberately locating hazardous waste sites near minority communities is called

A) gatekeeping.
B) symbolic interactionism.
C) environmental racism.
D) symbolic racism.

Question 77

An attitude that insists that immigrants give up their cultural traits for those of the dominant American group is called the

A) melting pot tradition.
B) Anglo-conformity view.
C) pluralistic view.
D) institutional racism view.

Question 78

_________________ refers to the arbitrary denial of prestige, privilege, and power to members of a minority group whose qualifications are equal to those of members of the dominant group.

A) Prejudice
B) Discrimination
C) Ethnocentrism
D) Cultural relativism

Question 79

When the institutions of society in their daily operations produce unequal outcomes for different groups, it is called

A) symbolic racism.
B) old-fashioned discrimination.
C) institutional discrimination.
D) timid bigotry.

Question 80

Attitudes of aversion and hostility toward a minority group are termed

A) prejudice.
B) discrimination.
C) cultural relativism.
D) syncretism.