Deck 7: Confronting Economic Inequality

Question 1

In 2011, a protest movement formed in New York City's Wall Street district. The movement, known as Occupy Wall Street, garnered global attention as participants protested the unequal distribution of wealth, or ______, in the United States.

A) economic enfranchisement
B) economic inequality
C) the culture of poverty
D) the culture of wealth

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Economic inequality relates to and is affected by other forms of inequality, including ______.

A) social behavior
B) gender
C) work ethic
D) values

Answer 2

B

Question 3

When discussing economic inequality ______ refers to earnings, while ______ refers to assets people own.

A) income; wealth
B) wealth; income
C) capital; revenue
D) revenue; capital

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Fernando inherited stock in Google from his uncle, ensuring that he will likely have no financial troubles in his lifetime. This represents Fernando's ______.

A) income
B) wealth
C) revenue
D) capital

Question 5

What has been the result of the increase in CEO salaries over the past few decades?

A) Employee wages have been proportionately increased.
B) Employee wages have gone down to compensate.
C) CEOs have become more focused on short-term profits.
D) CEOs have a vested interest in the long-term results of the company.

Question 6

How does a high concentration of wealth at the top of the income pyramid impact the rest of the citizens in the United States?

A) It will improve the living standards of poorer citizens.
B) It will increase the number of citizens in the middle class.
C) It will leave fewer resources for the other citizens.
D) It will reduce competition for resources.

Question 7

How can wealth inequality be more pervasive than income inequality?

A) It is based on current employment opportunities.
B) It accumulates from one generation to the next.
C) It is based on gross rather than net pay.
D) It includes the value of benefits like health insurance.

Question 8

What is the Gini coefficient?

A) a measure of wealth inequality
B) a correlation between wealth and income
C) a measure of the causes of income disparities
D) a measure of income inequality

Question 9

Structural functionalists believe that inequality ______.

A) serves an important purpose in society
B) results in the wrong segment of society receiving the most rewards
C) is nonproductive and unnecessary for society
D) will not continue as globalization has more impact on society

Question 10

According to ______ theory, a young woman who starts her own medical practice in a town that was lacking one has a useful position in a society in which she should acquire wealth and prestige.

A) conflict
B) symbolic interactionism
C) structural functionalist
D) utilitarianism

Question 11

From a structural functionalist viewpoint, the positions most important to the functioning of society should gain the most in terms of income and prestige. This is a(n) ______.

A) meritocracy
B) capitalist utopia
C) socialist society
D) elite theory

Question 12

Bart has a doctorate degree and is managing a regional office of a pharmaceutical company. Brenda has a master's degree in biology and is a pharmaceutical sales rep. According to ______, Bart deserves to earn more money than Brenda.

A) the Gini coefficient
B) meritocracy
C) the qualifications scale
D) Karl Marx

Question 13

A recent graduate from Harvard medical school is the first child in his economically disfranchised home to receive a college degree. His talents have allowed him to enter a prestigious medical practice where he earns a large income. This is an example of ______.

A) oligarchy
B) meritocracy
C) democracy
D) socialism

Question 14

What is a critique of meritocracy theory?

A) Income does not reflect education levels.
B) Careers that fulfill functional roles are not adequately compensated.
C) One's social and economic advancement is due to family relations.
D) It assumes a level playing field for everyone in society.

Question 15

According to Marx, what is the key to wealth?

A) investing wisely
B) controlling the means of production
C) making a good living
D) a large inheritance

Question 16

Karl Marx argued that members of the proletariat class are convinced, through the control of media, that the bourgeoisies deserve their wealth and that if they work hard, they too can become rich. Marx termed this which of the following?

A) False consciousness
B) False dichotomy
C) False social construct
D) False ideology

Question 17

In Marx's conflict theory, those who owned the means of production were called ______.

A) the elite
B) the bourgeoisie
C) the proletariat
D) the capitalists

Question 18

Karl Marx cited the existence of two social classes in the modern society: the ______ who belong to the working class and the ______, or the wealthy owners of the means of production.

A) nouveau riche; serfs
B) proletariat; bourgeoisie
C) aristocrats; peasants
D) patricians; plebeians

Question 19

Max Weber's theory about class position focused on ______.

A) control of the means of production
B) salary and benefits
C) a person's own skills and social standing
D) inherited status

Question 20

According to Weber, the three traits that determine socioeconomic status are prestige, party, and ______.

A) wealth
B) income
C) family
D) class

Question 21

A student in an inner-city school works hard and gets good grades, but is not accepted into a prestigious college. A student in a wealthier school district does not work as hard or earn better grades, but is accepted to the prestigious college. How would Marx explain this?

A) Acceptance into a prestigious college is based on meritocracy, not grades.
B) Acceptance into a prestigious college is based on how well each student would function in that environment.
C) Acceptance into a prestigious college is based on which student most identifies as an honor student.
D) Acceptance into a prestigious college is based on social class.

Question 22

Society is based on a hierarchy organized according to social status and prestige, called ______.

A) social stratification
B) forced inequality
C) structured advantage
D) meritocracy

Question 23

All social institutions have advantages and disadvantages that create social stratification. These advantages and disadvantages are called ______.

A) systemic accumulation
B) fixed organization
C) structured inequalities
D) structured variables

Question 24

What is the most extreme form of stratification in that it offers no chance for mobility?

A) the estate system
B) slavery
C) the serf system
D) the class-based system

Question 25

A form of stratification in which individuals own other individuals as property and have the legal right to dispense with that property as they wish is called ______.

A) the estate system
B) slavery
C) the serf system
D) the class-based system

Question 26

In Elias's society, laws give people power based on social standing and there is limited social mobility. Most people have the same social position as their parents. This is ______.

A) the estate system
B) slavery
C) the serf system
D) the class-based system

Question 27

The form of social stratification prevalent in the United States is the ______ system.

A) estate
B) caste
C) serf
D) class-based

Question 28

Which social system confines individuals to a social group for life and sets strict parameters for relationships between these different social groups?

A) caste system
B) estate system
C) class-based system
D) gender stratification system

Question 29

A country has an estate system in place. How would social mobility occur in this country?

A) The lower levels of the system would likely remain in the same social position as their parents with little opportunity for advancement.
B) The lower levels of the system would be able to gain status with hard work and opportunity.
C) The lower levels of the system would have the freedom to vote and choose their professions.
D) The lower levels of the system would be confined to a specific lower class without the ability to improve.

Question 30

What term is defined as distinctions among people in terms of their income, occupation, and education?

A) class profiling
B) social structure
C) social class
D) status

Question 31

Members of the corporate community who dominate politics in Washington, D. C. are of which class?

A) middle class
B) power elite
C) upper class
D) entrepreneur class

Question 32

In a(n) ______ class, children are not typically exposed to people from other social classes.

A) lower
B) middle
C) upper-middle
D) upper

Question 33

The wealthy parents of two young children have enrolled them in private school, provided them with a private tutor, and offered many opportunities for extracurricular activities. This process is referred to as ______.

A) homogamy
B) social stratification
C) social class reproduction
D) economic equality

Question 34

How does the power elite impact the United States?

A) They have the strongest buying power and influence which products are sold.
B) They influence political decisions by influencing the politicians and their voters.
C) They make the most charitable contributions and have the greatest impact on lower status as a result.
D) They work to equalize the distribution of wealth in the country.

Question 35

Today, the middle class in the United States is ______.

A) in poverty
B) growing
C) shrinking
D) remaining steady

Question 36

The ______ class encompasses those who earn between $24,003 and $45,600 and comprises 20% of households.

A) working
B) poor
C) middle income
D) lower middle income

Question 37

To be considered "near poverty," you are earning ______ of the poverty level.

A) 101%
B) 110%
C) 150%
D) 200%

Question 38

Oscar Lewis's term ______ describes the beliefs, values, and attitudes of those living in poverty.

A) social regression
B) deep poverty
C) cycle of poverty
D) culture of poverty

Question 39

What theory suggests that the poor could move out of poverty if they just worked harder and changed their attitudes, or as some say, "pull themselves up by their bootstraps"?

A) conflict theory
B) feminist theory
C) culture of poverty
D) structural functionalism

Question 40

Which example demonstrates intergenerational mobility?

A) A young female graduates from college and gets a high paying job at her mother's law firm.
B) A young male grows up in poverty and eventually becomes CEO of a large company.
C) An older male is laid off due to a recession.
D) A female is promoted to CEO after working for the same company for 25 years.

Question 41

Which of these is an individual experiencing upward mobility?

A) A college graduate from a working-class family becomes a supervisor in a factory.
B) A woman works in business management until she has children and decides to stay home.
C) A man graduates from law school so he can become an attorney like his father.
D) An individual from a working-class family loses his factory job, but goes back to school to become an accountant.

Question 42

A company moves most of its production to another country in order to cut costs. As a result, most of the factory workers lose their jobs. What has occurred?

A) structural mobility
B) intergenerational mobility
C) upward mobility
D) downward mobility

Question 43

Which statement about college achievement is true?

A) There is an achievement gap between students at the top and the bottom of the economic pyramid.
B) The most important factor for achievement is the willingness to work hard; it's not where you start, it's where you finish that matters.
C) Test scores for high and middle income students are comparable, but they fall off for lower income students.
D) Students from middle income families are the most likely to attend and graduate from good colleges.

Question 44

Almost a third of students who take out loans for college ______.

A) complete their degrees
B) end up borrowing from their parents to pay it back
C) go on to add to their debt with graduate school
D) fail to complete their degrees

Question 45

One reason for historically high housing costs is ______.

A) the recent federal tax cut favoring the wealthy
B) policies that favor renters over homeowners
C) more landlords with fewer properties
D) the decline in public housing

Question 46

How does the neighborhood you live in affect your life expectancy?

A) It has very little effect; the geography you live in matters more.
B) The safer and healthier your environment is, the better chance you have to live a longer life.
C) The people you choose to surround yourself with impact your lifestyle, and hence your longevity.
D) Better neighborhoods offer more economic opportunity, which impacts life expectancy.

Question 47

Which of these nations is considered an upper middle-income nation?

A) the United States
B) Canada
C) Mexico
D) India

Question 48

Ronald Reagan's economic policies that cut corporate taxes and weakened regulations on businesses in the belief that it would benefit workers was called ______ economics.

A) laissez-faire
B) capitalist
C) trickle down
D) welfare

Question 49

The Trump administration's $2.3 trillion tax cut mostly benefited ______.

A) small businesses
B) middle income families
C) the top 1%
D) single parents

Question 50

Globally, even if individuals work hard to achieve, this success is largely impacted by ______.

A) trade practices
B) government policies
C) outsourcing
D) inherited wealth

Question 51

President Johnson carried out which of these programs under his War on Poverty?

A) the federal work study program
B) the Peace Corp
C) the right of unions to bargain with employers
D) the federal minimum wage

Question 52

What president established federal programs that established a safety net for the needy and put millions of people to work?

A) Roosevelt
B) Reagan
C) Truman
D) Obama

Question 53

What program, enacted in the 1930s, established unemployment insurance, social security, and the federal minimum wage?

A) the Great Experiment
B) the War on Poverty
C) the Great Society
D) the New Deal

Question 54

Two ways the text suggests for reducing inequality in the United States are raising the federal minimum wage or establishing ______, as Canada and Finland have implemented.

A) universal healthcare
B) Medicaid expansion
C) a universal basic income
D) mandatory early childhood education

Question 55

The poverty rate has ______ for the past 40 years, and economic inequality has ______.

A) remained low; decreased
B) remained high; increased
C) remained high; decreased
D) decreased; decreased

Question 56

Wealth refers to all earnings during a lifetime.

Question 57

Members of families with generational wealth and income have advantages over families with only income.

Question 58

The income gap in the United States is more significant than the wealth gap.

Question 59

According to the structural functionalist perspective, inequality impedes the ability to get the work of society done.

Question 60

In a meritocracy, movement to upper social classes occurs through hard work.

Question 61

Structured inequalities are the advantages and disadvantages built into social institutions.

Question 62

In an estate system there is no possibility of movement from one class to another.

Question 63

Intergenerational mobility occurs as an individual experiences a change in social class during their lifetime.

Question 64

Structural mobility occurs as a result of changes in the economy that create or end jobs for workers.

Question 65

Millennials are the only generation in which income has kept up with increasing rental and housing costs.

Question 66

The small number of people who are considered the richest in the world hold about half of the world's wealth.

Question 67

National and global policies can mitigate or increase inequality.

Question 68

Reagan's economic policies were successful in moving wealth from businesses to workers.

Question 69

More than half of taxpayers did not see any benefit from the Trump administration's changes in the tax laws.

Question 70

Nations in the EU have higher tax rates but better social support programs than the United States.

Question 71

What is one negative implication of wealth concentration at the top of the income pyramid?

Question 72

According to Marx, how does ideology influence inequality?

Question 73

Describe and give an example of the caste system.

Question 74

What are the five social classes delineated in the text, and which one has the most members in the United States?

Question 75

How does the United States compare to other nations in terms of potential for upward mobility?

Question 76

Compare Marx and Weber's views of inequality. How do these theories compare to those of structural functionalists?

Question 77

Define and explain the impact of structured inequalities on stratification systems.

Question 78

There is a diversity of opinion in the United States about whether the culture of poverty thesis is accurate. Describe the culture of poverty, and explain what your stand is on this debate. Support your position.

Question 79

What are some things that have increased structural mobility in the United States, and what is the impact of this?

Question 80

The United States has a higher rate of income inequality than many other nations. Using the information from the chapter, why do you think this is true? What can be done about it?