Deck 4: Sport and Social Stratification

Question 1

Which of the following would NOT be considered a key consequence of the increasing role of technology in affecting levels of income inequality in Canada?

A) Consumers have benefitted from lower prices
B) The demand has been reduced for low-paid and unskilled Canadian workers, which has facilitated a decline in their wages
C) The proportion of work outsourced to other countries has declined
D) Many middle-income jobs have been eliminated as technology has reduced them to routine tasks not requiring a specialized skill set

Answer 1

C

Question 2

According to the text, among other things, "equality of condition" refers to:

A) the idea that all of a sport's participants have access to facilities, coaches, and programming that is similar in quality
B) the idea that all sport participants are in similar physical condition as young children
C) equality of opportunity in general
D) equality of access to and control over valued sport resources

Answer 2

A

Question 3

A good definition of the relevant German term Gemeinschaft would be:

A) A proposition or set of propositions about the nature of the social world and people's active engagement in that world
B) Consent among the general populace through 'common sense' ideas or common assumptions, which benefit and maintain the power of dominant classes
C) Groups held together by an emotional solidarity
D) The function of different elements, institutions, and values and norms of a social system in terms of their ability to contribute to the stability of the structure of society

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The most recent income data for Canadians (from 2017) shows that:

A) 26% of Canadians live below the poverty line
B) Median total income for a household has declined between 2005 and 2015
C) 17% of Canadians below the age of 19 live below the poverty line
D) Expenditures on sport for the average Canadian family have tripled in the last 10 years

Question 5

Examining historical data of changes in the percentage share of total income in Canada of the richest 1% reveals that:

A) The richest 1% are now approaching an income share similar to 1929 when the Wall Street Crash occurred
B) The richest 1% saw a notable increase in their share of total income between 1940 and 1980
C) The share of total income of the richest 1% in Canada now stands at approximately 35%
D) The share of total income of the richest 1% has steadily declined since the 1980s

Question 6

Sport is often considered a meritocracy, because:

A) An athletes' performances determine their relative ranking among the other competitors
B) The best players are most likely chosen as captains of sports teams
C) Coaches are always objective in their selection of players, based solely on merit
D) Rarely are the most talented unable to become professional athletes

Question 7

The group of people most affected by income inequality are:

A) Women
B) Young unskilled workers with little education
C) Senior citizens
D) Manual labourers

Question 8

Statistics Canada showed in 2015 that the richest 1% of Canadians had an average annual income in the region of:

A) $250,000
B) $500,000
C) $750,000
D) $1,000,000

Question 9

Due to their various ownership interests in Canada, the Rogers family are able to influence all of the following, EXCEPT:

A) The quality of the team that the Blue Jays can field
B) Public perceptions of the Blue Jays and Maple Leafs
C) The selection of referees and officials for Blue Jays and Maple Leafs games
D) The shaping of consumer interest in their various sports products

Question 10

What is the Gini Index?

A) a measure of equality of condition in sport in Canada
B) a measure of equality of opportunity in sport in Canada
C) the accepted measure of sport participation in Canada
D) the standard measure of income inequality in Canada

Question 11

Karl Marx understood society to be divided into three great social classes, comprising:

A) Labourers, economists and landlords
B) Clergy, landlords and capitalists
C) Capitalists, landlords and labourers
D) Economists, clergy and Landlords

Question 12

Among the factors noted in the text as affecting economic inequality in Canada are:

A) technology, the minimum wage, the decline of unions, and the increasing use of temporary workers
B) technology, tax loopholes for corporations, increasing part-time employment, and discrimination against women and visible minorities
C) the minimum wage, the decline of unions, discrimination against women, and the existence of a welfare system
D) employment insurance, the outsourcing of production, the increasing use of temporary workers, and tax loopholes for corporations

Question 13

The Gini Index ranges from:

A) 0 to 1
B) 1 to 14
C) 0 to 100
D) low to high

Question 14

Two fundamental equalities are needed for sport to be considered a genuine meritocracy. These are equality of _____ and equality of _____.

A) opportunity; condition
B) race; gender
C) social class; opportunity
D) income; condition

Question 15

Max Weber wrote, in 1910, that the immutable shell of capitalism is more than 'certain objective political and economic preconditions'. What did he mean by this?

A) Power cannot be held by more than one party or group at the same time
B) Capitalism also involves an overall 'spirit' that dominates an individual's subjective approach to the world
C) Alongside economic forms of power are also cultural social and symbolic forms of power
D) One's habitus determines their access to various forms of capital

Question 16

According to Marx, the most significant structural factor determining, and individual's life chances is their relationship to:

A) the social relations of production
B) the people in their society with most of the political power
C) those who make decisions on a societal level
D) their family and friends

Question 17

Class consciousness involves a class recognizing and struggling for its own interests and is brought about by three necessary developments. Which of the following would NOT be one of those developments?

A) The realization of a class's common circumstances
B) The formation of a political party representing class interests
C) The presence of an opposing class
D) Engaging in a struggle against an opposition class

Question 18

The Gini Index has revealed that:

A) Marginal decreases in market income inequality occurred during the economic recessions in the early 1980s and early 1990s
B) The economic recessions of the early 1980s and early 1990s affected all Canadians equally, irrespective of their social class or income bracket
C) After the economic recessions of the 1980s and 1990s, income inequality returned to their previous levels
D) Sharp increases in market income inequality occurred during the economic recessions in the early 180s and early 1990s

Question 19

According to Statistics Canada, when age, gender, education, industry, and occupation are held constant, unionized workers:

A) Earn 20-30% more than non-unionized workers
B) Earn the same as non-unionized workers
C) Earn less than 2% more than non-unionized workers
D) Earn 7-14% more than non-unionized workers

Question 20

Wilson's (2002) research showed that _____ is/are 'positive predictor(s) of sport involvement'.

A) Age
B) race and ethnicity
C) gender
D) indicators of social class

Question 21

Pierre Bourdieu would NOT argue that our day-to-day choices in life:

A) Are made independent of any conscious thought
B) Are structured according to our access to different types of capital
C) Are structured according to, and associated with, our habitus
D) Are structured according to what field we are working within

Question 22

Pierre Bourdieu identified four different types of 'capital', including all of the following EXCEPT:

A) Economic capital
B) Political capital
C) Cultural capital
D) Social capital

Question 23

A good example of how we can understand Bourdieu's concept of social capital in a sporting context would be to consider:

A) How our access to positions of power might be related to our personal relations and connections
B) How our access to sport is determined by the skill sets we develop as children
C) How our knowledge of a sporting culture can be transformed into actual resources, i.e. money, power or prestige
D) How the symbolic value of our qualifications or achievements have practical value when we others seek to determine our access

Question 24

According to a recent Ipsos poll, on average, Canadian families spend approximately how much per year and per child on extracurricular, community and sport activities?

A) $4,100
B) $3,320
C) $2,000
D) $1,100

Question 25

Rafael is explaining to his daughter that the sorting or competitive process in sport is partly about skills, but it also depends on resources. Using Bourdieu's terms, Rafael is discussing:

A) allocative and distributive resources
B) community
C) economic, symbolic, and cultural capital
D) power, prestige, and party

Question 26

Children's sport has arguably become more professionalized over the last few decades. What is meant by this argument?

A) A push for child athletes to be paid to compete, to introduce prize-money allocations for tournaments, and for 'amateur' status in sports like golf to be removed altogether
B) A push for broadcasters to focus more on children's sports and to provide children with a share of profits made from television and advertising revenue
C) A push for better trained and specialized coaches, which has led to higher performance expectations, year-round season and sport becoming more 'work-like'
D) A push for physical education in schools to be replaced entirely with competitive, intra-mural sports and leagues

Question 27

Bourdieu refers to a system of dispositions representing a practical sense of how to conduct one's actions as:

A) Field
B) Community
C) Structuration
D) Habitus

Question 28

Bourdieu's two key concepts integrating human agency and social structure are:

A) community and habitus
B) field and status
C) habitus and field
D) field and community

Question 29

Hockey in Canada has become an increasingly class-based sport and it is the hockey system, consisting of leagues, that has added to this increased cost. This hockey system is, in Bourdieu's terms, the:

A) Habitus
B) Field
C) Community
D) objective element

Question 30

Statistics suggest that the percentage of Canadians 16 years and older actively involved in sport, between 1992 and 2004:

A) Has stayed, more or less, the same
B) Has decreased from 76% to 54%
C) Has decreased from 45% to 31%
D) Has increased from 49% to 59%