Deck 7: The Great Divide Ranking and Stratification

Question 1

Social scientists assume that stratification is a consequence of the way resources are distributed in a society.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

In the classical liberal view inequality is considered part of the law of nature.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The view that humans are basically selfish and greedy is at the bottom of conflict theory.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Functionalist theorists view stratification systems as mechanisms of coercion.

Question 5

Max Weber agreed with Karl Marx that stratification included the dimensions of life chances, status, and power.

Question 6

In American society, positions of high status are awarded on merit alone.

Question 7

The desire to obtain a high status is universal, at least in our society.

Question 8

Stratification disappears in societies that are able to produce a surplus.

Question 9

Social mobility refers to the society's willingness to change the system of stratification.

Question 10

Education is the most important variable in upward mobility.

Question 11

At the two extremes of the stratification system, vertical mobility is common.

Question 12

Part of the reason for greater mobility in industrial societies is the effect of the upgrading of the work force.

Question 13

All human social systems are characterized by inequalities stemming from social differentiation.

Question 14

stress the needs of the society over those of the individual because individual needs can only be satisfied within a society.

Question 15

Everyone agrees about what are the essential functions in a society.

Question 16

Marx pointed out that the existence of inequality was a motivating force for people, making them work harder to acquire wealth, status, and power.

Question 17

The President of the United States possesses social power which, since it is exercised legitimately, is called authority.

Question 18

The estate system permitted more social mobility than the caste system.

Question 19

To determine social class, researchers use either the occupational prestige approach, or such measures as the SES.

Question 20

Child-rearing practices differ according to religion rather than according to social class.

Question 21

Members of the upper classes believe that luck and forces beyond their control govern their lives, whereas middle-class people tend to think that they are in control of their lives.

Question 22

The "New Class" is a term that describes a professional middle class consisting of journalists, academics, writers, media commentators, and others who have skills important in an information society.

Question 23

Vertical mobility means that a person obtains a better or worse job than the previous one, whereas horizontal mobility means that the person changes jobs, but at no greater salary and with no greater status.

Question 24

It has been suggested that in the 1990s, the restraints of class that had eased following World War II began to emerge again.

Question 25

In the United States, poverty does not mean absolute deprivation, as it does in the Third World, but rather relative deprivation, or a comparison to others in the society.

Question 26

According to Karl Marx:

A) classes are the result of different life styles
B) status is also a phenomenon of stratification
C) classes are determined by the relationship of a group in society to the means of production
D) classes are composed of the have-nots who eventually revolt against the haves

Question 27

All systems of stratification display the following characteristics except:

A) differentiation
B) segmentation
C) ranking
D) institutionalization

Question 28

Negative life chances correspond to:

A) a high position in the stratification system
B) a low position in the stratification system
C) lack of talent
D) lack of desire for an education

Question 29

"The ability of one individual or group to control the actions of another individual or group without the latter's consent" is a definition of:

A) coercion
B) violence
C) power
D) force

Question 30

If a janitor got a job as a security guard because it was closer to home, he would be experiencing:

A) horizontal mobility
B) vertical mobility
C) intragenerational mobility
D) interstructural mobility

Question 31

Social ranking is based on:

A) age
B) sex
C) wealth
D) none of the above
E) all of the above

Question 32

Among preliterate peoples::

A) food is hoarded by a few
B) food is shared by all
C) hunting lacks prestige
D) none of the above

Question 33

In stratified societies, categories of people are ranked by:

A) wealth
B) power
C) prestige
D) none of the above
E) all of the above

Question 34

Stratification occurs in societies that have a:

A) surplus
B) shortage of everything
C) equality
D) capitalistic system

Question 35

Social Darwinists believed that:

A) resources belong to all the people
B) only the strongest persons should control the resources of a society
C) the weak shall inherit the earth
D) natural selection was a hoax

Question 36

The classical conservative approach to stratification is that:

A) inequality is the law of nature
B) stratification must be legislated
C) inequality results from exploitation
D) none of the above

Question 37

The structural functionalist explanation of social stratification asserts that:

A) nature demands the existence of social classes
B) there is a limited number of skilled, talented people; thus, they should be rewarded
C) resources are plentiful, so there is enough for all
D) people were not meant to work

Question 38

Criticisms of structural functionalism include:

A) who says that a football player is more important than a college professor?
B) sons of talented persons are privileged even if they themselves lack talent
C) is a stable society better than an unequal society?
D) none of the above
E) all of the above

Question 39

Marx's view of social class is that:

A) private ownership of the means of production perpetuates class divisions
B) talented people will always rise to the top
C) religion helps fight social inequality
D) the bourgeoisie will eventually triumph

Question 40

Which of the following is a criticism of Marxist theory?

A) Inequality is a motivating force for people to rise in the stratification system
B) Everyone is talented equally
C) Marxism tries to explain all social problems
D) Democracy delivers equality better than Marxism does

Question 41

Max Weber believed that:

A) property was the only determinant of class
B) class was based on exploitation of the masses
C) class is closely related to life chances
D) societies should have at least three classes

Question 42

A modern definition of class maintains that social class is constituted by:

A) the owners of the means of production
B) persons who have similar forms of power, prestige, or wealth
C) categories of people set up by governments
D) people especially endowed by nature

Question 43

Martin Luther King's status was based on his:

A) wealth
B) property
C) social influence
D) color

Question 44

The following people enjoy both status and wealth in our society:

A) professors
B) physicians
C) ministers
D) research scientists

Question 45

In the Soviet Union, most physicians are women; however, they earn less than skilled male machinists. This situation is an example of:

A) status attainment
B) status inconsistency
C) status equality
D) status mastery

Question 46

Power is:

A) the most important feature of stratification
B) restricted to a small elite in traditional societies
C) widely distributed and diffused in industrial societies
D) none of the above
E) all of the above

Question 47

Which is characteristic of a strictly closed society?

A) Estate
B) Class
C) Caste
D) Strata

Question 48

In an open, or class, society:

A) status is always achieved
B) status is always ascribed
C) status is both achieved and ascribed
D) status has no importance

Question 49

Which society lacks social classes totally?

A) The Soviet Union
B) China
C) The United States
D) none of the above
E) all of the above

Question 50

An upwardly-mobile American is apt to:

A) marry late
B) be born into a high class family
C) have as much schooling as his/her parents
D) have little ambition

Question 51

The concentration of wealth in the United States:

A) increased greatly between 1932 and 1968, due to Democratic policies
B) decreased during the Reagan Administration
C) greatly increased during the 1990s
D) has steadily increased since WWII as a result of massive technological changes

Question 52

The objective approach to determine social class membership is based on:

A) income
B) years of education
C) prestigious position
D) none of the above
E) all of the above

Question 53

The American trend toward the concentration of wealth and structural changes in the occupational sector:

A) are unique to the United States
B) are closely matched in Third World countries
C) reflect a global restructuring of trade, technology, and finance
D) will eliminate the underclass by the year 2010

Question 54

The modern approach to studying social classes, based on several dimensions of the stratification system, is the:

A) SES
B) BES
C) CES
D) TES

Question 55

Discipline by middle class parents generally consists of:

A) paddling or smacking the child
B) saying "Mother doesn't love a nasty boy"
C) loss of food
D) making the child sleep outdoors in foul weather

Question 56

In the United States, the upper classes tend to be:

A) Protestant (Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Anglican)
B) Roman Catholics
C) Jewish
D) Southern Baptists

Question 57

Divorce is more common among Americans belonging to the:

A) upper class
B) professional class
C) lower class
D) college-educated group

Question 58

When a bricklayer gets a job as a carpenter, the job switch exemplifies:

A) vertical mobility
B) horizontal mobility
C) intragenerational mobility
D) upward mobility

Question 59

Among the factors that favor individual mobility are:

A) late marriage
B) rural residence
C) one of many children
D) none of the above
E) all of the above

Question 60

Joe is president of United Airlines. His father was an aircraft mechanic. Joe's position represents:

A) horizontal mobility
B) intragenerational mobility
C) intergenerational mobility
D) immobility

Question 61

The similarity in patterns of mobility of the U.S., Britain, and Germany, are based on:

A) structural mobility
B) biological factors
C) closed systems
D) economic alliances

Question 62

The son of a blue collar worker is more likely to become a top manager in:

A) Italy
B) Sweden
C) the U.S.
D) Denmark

Question 63

The most likely factor to overcome the low status of a father's occupation is:

A) education
B) religion
C) hard work
D) belonging to organized crime

Question 64

Open stratification systems are associated with:

A) industrialization
B) agriculture
C) pastoralism
D) hunter-gatherers

Question 65

Rates of poverty tend to be highest among:

A) female headed households
B) children
C) minorities
D) none of the above
E) all of the above

Question 66

The most fundamental factor(s) propelling people to rise in the stratification system is (are):

A) the ability to make someone do what you want
B) education and income
C) access to economic resources
D) an ambitious mother and later marriage

Question 67

Poverty is related to:

A) technological changes only
B) lack of work ethic
C) patterns of prejudice and technological change
D) discrimination only

Question 68

The overall poverty rate is highest among:

A) women
B) children under 6
C) the elderly
D) black males

Question 69

Modern industrial societies such as the United States most nearly approximate the modelof:

A) an open or class society
B) a closed or caste society
C) an estate system
D) a master slave system

Question 70

Most researchers today use only two approaches to determine social class. They are the:

A) life style approach
B) reputational approach
C) subjective approach
D) objective approach
E) occupational prestige and socioeconomic status (SES)

Question 71

Power is exercised in:

A) complex industrial societies
B) simple farming societies
C) hunting and gathering societies
D) all social systems

Question 72

Power is defined by Max Weber as the ability to:

A) be the strongest in mind and body
B) carry out one's wishes in spite of resistance
C) gain consent
D) do as one pleases

Question 73

The highest status in American society is held by persons:

A) with the highest paid occupations
B) with high morals and reputation
C) who are aged and wise
D) who have good taste

Question 74

Status inconsistency is defined as:

A) the condition of persons who are ranked higher in one variable of status than another
B) the order of importance given to status variables
C) the mechanism high status persons use to protect themselves from competition
D) the least important dimension of stratification

Question 75

People who suffer from status inconsistency:

A) usually do not worry about it
B) tend to suffer more frustration and dissatisfaction than those whose status is consistent
C) work hard to accumulate wealth to make up for it
D) willingly accept a lower status in return for social recognition

Question 76

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of an upwardly mobile individual?

A) Urban resident
B) More educated than parents
C) Comes from a large family of several brothers and sisters
D) Marries later and limits family to no more than two children

Question 77

Which are the dimensions of stratification?

A) Class, status, and power
B) Family background, attractiveness, wealth
C) Talent, service, goodness
D) Caste, estate, feudalism

Question 78

The ultimate effect of stratification systems is to:

A) create inequality
B) help people decide whom they should marry
C) provide a work force for society
D) fulfill the laws of nature

Question 79

Conflict theorists view stratification systems as:

A) resulting from class struggles
B) effects of the law of nature
C) mechanisms of coercion
D) none of the above
E) BOTH coercive and resulting from class struggles

Question 80

Functionalist theorists view stratification systems as:

A) resulting from a need for order
B) providing a stabilizing influence on society
C) preventing conflicts among individuals
D) all of the above
E) none of the above