Deck 6: Social Stratification

Question 1

Power refers to the ability of individuals and groups to realize their will in human affairs even if it involves the resistance of others.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Max Weber is given credit for developing the roles that conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption have in revealing social ranking.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Max Weber took a single-dimensional view of stratification by identifying social class as the only concept of significance in the social ranking of people and groups.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Social differentiation sets the stage for the social ranking of people in a society.

Question 5

Social respect, admiration, and recognition associated with a particular social status are examples of the sociological view of prestige.

Question 6

A closed class system is supported by stratification that is based primarily on achieved status.

Question 7

The ideal that people in America should experience rewards that they earn through their merit and competence is not totally realized because America also places some degree of reliance on ascribed statuses.

Question 8

Social stratification is the term used to describe the ranking or grading of people and groups into hierarchical layers.

Question 9

Our social positions change throughout the life cycle, and so do the status symbols of these positions.

Question 10

Social differentiation is another word for social stratification.

Question 11

Karl Marx believed that the key to social stratification in capitalist societies is the separation between those who own and control the means of production and those who are the laborers.

Question 12

Inequality in the incomes of American citizens is greater than inequality in wealth.

Question 13

The United States serves as a good example of a relatively open class system.

Question 14

Surveys show that most Americans typically are optimistic about the future, believing they have a good chance for "getting ahead."

Question 15

Based on current figures that show the percentages of aggregate income of each economic layer in the United States, we live in a highly egalitarian society.

Question 16

From a social stratification perspective, social arrangements essentially are neutral because they serve and promote the goals and interests of people in a roughly egalitarian manner.

Question 17

Income refers to what people own at a particular point in time, while wealth refers to the amount of new money people receive within a given time frame.

Question 18

The United States is founded on the idea that all people should enjoy equal status within the confines of a classless society.

Question 19

Prestige determines the ability of people to make the world work on their behalf even when the world may not want to work on their behalf.

Question 20

For every dollar in wealth owned by a white household, the average African American household owns 10 cents and the average Hispanic household owns 12 cents.

Question 21

Elman and O'Rand found that education increased adult wages equally for whites and blacks.

Question 22

In the reputational method of identifying social classes, an independent researcher ranks people based on what he or she has heard of their reputations.

Question 23

The poverty rate is higher for African Americans than for whites, but there is a greater total number of non-Hispanic whites living in poverty than there are African Americans living in poverty.

Question 24

Research shows that about a third of Americans who were raised in the middle class "fall out" of the middle class as adults.

Question 25

Sociologists use the term "underclass" to refer to people who are temporarily in poverty.

Question 26

Social class affects people's style of life.

Question 27

According to the functionalist perspective, social stratification is a structural feature of all societies.

Question 28

The self-placement method of identifying social classes (also known as the subjective method) views class as a social category in which people perceive themselves as sharing certain attributes in common with others.

Question 29

Race interacts with gender to affect status attainment.

Question 30

Being poor makes a person part of the underclass.

Question 31

Class distinctions in the United States were once based on many dimensions, but in today's society a single dimension is sufficient to assign people to classes.

Question 32

Inequality tends to occur in a random fashion, and differences in wealth and income develop primarily by chance.

Question 33

Being rich or poor is a permanent condition in the United States.

Question 34

During the Vietnam War, 80 percent of the 2.5 million men who served in Southeast Asia came from working-class and impoverished backgrounds.

Question 35

The Federal Reserve Board Survey of Consumer Finances showed that in 2007 the wealthiest one percent of U.S. households owned 34.3 percent of all private wealth, more than the bottom 90 percent of households combined.

Question 36

Achievements largely determine a person's life chances.

Question 37

The objective method of identifying social classes uses numerically measurable characteristics to assign class.

Question 38

Wealth inequality in the United States is not as extreme as it is in the other industrialized nations of the world.

Question 39

Factors that affect individual attainment in the United States are different for whites and African Americans.

Question 40

Adult males are increasingly overrepresented in the population of Americans living in poverty.

Question 41

The social respect, admiration, and recognition associated with a particular social status is known as

A) wealth.
B) power.
C) prestige.
D) income.

Question 42

Which of the following is not among the beliefs of most Americans?

A) They have a good chance of getting ahead.
B) They have a better standard of living than their parents.
C) No matter how hard anyone works, there is no chance of life improving.
D) Their children will have a better chance of succeeding than they had.

Question 43

Max Weber's three dimensions of social stratification include all of the following EXCEPT

A) class.
B) party (power).
C) education.
D) status (prestige).

Question 44

Societies with open social stratification systems have a greater reliance on

A) ascribed statuses.
B) achieved statuses.
C) caste statuses.
D) inverted class statuses.

Question 45

A good example of a closed stratification system is the

A) British class system.
B) American class system.
C) American caste system.
D) Hindu caste system.

Question 46

About two-thirds of the chief executives of large U.S. corporations grew up in poor families and worked their way to success.

Question 47

____________________ requires that people be distributed within the social structure so that statuses are filled and their accompanying roles performed.

A) Social differentiation
B) Social gradation
C) Social degradation
D) Social stratification

Question 48

The amount of money people receive from jobs is referred to as

A) wealth.
B) income.
C) investment potential.
D) K-1 retirement plans.

Question 49

When we speak about the things that people own, we are referring to their

A) wealth.
B) income.
C) prestige.
D) power.

Question 50

Which of the following is TRUE?

A) Social stratification depends upon but is not the same as social differentiation.
B) Social stratification is another term for social differentiation.
C) Social differentiation depends upon but is not the same as social stratification.
D) There is no relationship between social stratification and social differentiation.

Question 51

Regarding social stratification,

A) the process of stratification results in benefits to all members of society.
B) social arrangements are neutral.
C) most societies of the world are organized so that their institutions systematically distribute benefits and burdens unequally among different categories of people.
D) categories of people receive benefits and burdens according to their contributions to society.

Question 52

Thorsten Veblen's concept of conspicuous consumption asserts that

A) we must merely possess power and wealth in order to gain social prestige.
B) wealth and power must be put on public display.
C) little evidence of wealth is required.
D) we must engage in appropriate conspicuous buying rituals to maintain our personal identity.

Question 53

In discussing inequality in ancient Egypt, the text points out that

A) unlike the rest of history, life in ancient Egypt involved very little inequality.
B) social stratification affected the type of mummification a client received.
C) ethnicity, prestige, and wealth were irrelevant in ancient Egypt.
D) only the kings and queens of ancient Egypt were mummified.

Question 54

Karl Marx believed the key to social stratification is the

A) prestige of the "haves" compared to the "have-nots" in socialist societies.
B) division between those who own and operate the means of production and those who sell their labor in capitalist societies.
C) informal communication network between workers and owners.
D) bureaucratic structure of modern times.

Question 55

The economic dimensions of social stratification include

A) wealth and income.
B) prestige and power.
C) wealth and power.
D) power and status.

Question 56

Thorsten Veblen documented how

A) conspicuous consumption is an accurate measure of the total wealth of the individual.
B) relative success can become an established end.
C) self-esteem is not connected to high status.
D) conspicuous leisure has no role in the social ranking of the individual.

Question 57

Sociologists define _________ as the ranking or grading of individuals and groups into hierarchical layers.

A) social stratification
B) social structure
C) social status
D) social differentiation

Question 58

Societies with closed social stratification systems are characterized by

A) little social mobility.
B) a great amount of social mobility.
C) little social differentiation.
D) a great amount of social differentiation.

Question 59

According to most theorists, the United States is an example of

A) the ideal type of a closed social stratification system.
B) a relatively closed social stratification system.
C) a relatively open social stratification system.
D) the ideal type of an open social stratification system.

Question 60

The type of society in which people can change their social status is a(n)

A) open system.
B) closed system.
C) ascribed status system.
D) caste system.

Question 61

The ______________ approach to measuring social class focuses on the knowledge of who associates with whom and tends to be limited to small communities.

A) objective
B) occupational
C) reputational
D) distributional

Question 62

While status symbols may affect adult status, the core of adult status has to do with

A) clothing, jewelry, and housing.
B) clothing, computers, and cultural products.
C) wealth and income.
D) income, occupation, and lifestyle.

Question 63

The ____________ method of identifying social class views social class as a statistical category.

A) objective
B) self-placement
C) reputational
D) distributional

Question 64

__________ refer(s) to the likelihood that individuals and groups will enjoy desired goods and services, fulfilling experiences, and opportunities for living healthy and long lives.

A) Social stratification
B) Style of life
C) Social classes
D) Life chances

Question 65

The advantage of the self-placement approach to measuring social class is that

A) it is cheaper.
B) it is less complex.
C) it can be applied to large populations.
D) it is particularly effective when dealing with small communities.

Question 66

Lower-class people are more likely to drink beer, eat frozen pizza, and watch more television than are middle-class people. This is an example of

A) power and prestige.
B) innate intelligence.
C) good socialization.
D) differing styles of life.

Question 67

__________ is probably the most powerful single contributor to premature morbidity and mortality worldwide.

A) Low socioeconomic status
B) Race
C) Ethnicity
D) Religion

Question 68

__________ refer(s) to the magnitude and manner of consumption of goods and services.

A) Life chances
B) Social stratification
C) Style of life
D) Social classes

Question 69

One view of the U.S. class system sees classes as real, bounded strata that exist in conflict with one another. This is called the

A) reality model.
B) strata model.
C) distributional model.
D) relational model.

Question 70

The magnitude and manner in which we consume our society's goods and services is called

A) life chances.
B) style of life.
C) inducement theory.
D) the law of supply and demand.

Question 71

Which of the following is not one of the four characteristics of a caste system?

A) Caster membership is hereditary.
B) Marriage outside of one's caste is mandatory.
C) Moving out of one's caste is nearly impossible.
D) Occupation is strongly related to caste.

Question 72

"Status spheres" are

A) classes established on the basis of wealth and income.
B) based on subcultures.
C) areas within cities that form social class "islands."
D) less important in contemporary society than they were 200 years ago.

Question 73

The 2007 Federal Reserve Board Survey of Consumer Finances showed that the wealthiest 1 percent of U.S. households owned __________ percent of all private wealth.

A) 1.8
B) 10.2
C) 34.3
D) 72.7

Question 74

The _____________ is an approach to measuring social class that views social class as a social category in which people perceive themselves as sharing attributes with others.

A) objective method
B) self-placement method
C) reputational method
D) distributional method

Question 75

Social inequality in the United States

A) is much less than social inequality in other industrialized countries.
B) is a matter of some people working much harder than others for their goals.
C) does not occur randomly, but follows a relatively consistent and stable pattern.
D) does not depend on any ascribed statuses.

Question 76

The simplest and cheapest approach to researching social classes is usually provided by the

A) objective method.
B) self-placement method.
C) reputational method.
D) distributional method.

Question 77

In the United States,

A) white households have more wealth than both African American and Hispanic households.
B) race is unrelated to income or wealth.
C) Hispanic households have more wealth than African American or white households.
D) African American households have more wealth than Hispanic and white households.

Question 78

______________ is a social research method that asks people where other people are located within a class system and works best in small communities.

A) The objective method
B) The subjective method
C) The reputational method
D) The relativistic method

Question 79

Inequality is often measured in terms of wealth and income because it is difficult to reliably measure inequality in

A) money.
B) property.
C) power and prestige.
D) debt.

Question 80

When we talk about level of living and options for choice, we are considering

A) life chances.
B) social differentiation.
C) inducements.
D) status spheres.