Deck 6: Social Mobility: The Societal Context

Question 1

______ is the extent to which people move up or down in the class system.

A) Social mobility
B) Social movement
C) Structural mobility
D) Structural movement

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Most studies of social mobility have focused on ______.

A) men
B) women
C) White women
D) Black men

Answer 2

A

Question 3

In recent years, ______.

A) downward social mobility has decreased
B) upward social mobility has decreased and downward social mobility has increased
C) upward social mobility has increased
D) downward social mobility has decreased and upward social mobility has increased

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The type of social mobility where some must lose for others to gain is referred to as ______.

A) circular mobility
B) circulation mobility
C) structural mobility
D) circumstantial mobility

Question 5

The type of mobility where technological and occupational changes occur in a way that creates jobs at a faster rate in the middle and upper levels of the occupational structure than in the lower level is referred to as ______.

A) strategic mobility
B) circulation mobility
C) structural mobility
D) successful mobility

Question 6

Most sociological studies of social mobility have focused on ______ as opposed to other stratification outcomes such as income or wealth.

A) occupation
B) inheritance
C) education
D) net worth

Question 7

A common way to measure intergenerational mobility is to compare the occupations of ______ and ______.

A) fathers; sons
B) fathers; daughters
C) mothers; daughters
D) mothers; sons

Question 8

How does the United States compare to other countries in terms of social mobility?

A) The advantage the son of a high-earning American father carries to adulthood is nearly half that of a Canadian son.
B) Mobility prospects for boys born to families in the middle of the income distribution are similar to those for low-income boys in other wealthy countries.
C) In terms of social mobility, the United States is about average among high-income countries.
D) The differences seen among American mobility as compared to other countries are a result of the middle-class structure in the United States.

Question 9

According to the "outflow" table that starts with fathers and asks about the mobility of their sons, we learn that the higher the father's occupation level, by a considerable margin, ______.

A) sons are less likely to move up than down the occupational ladder
B) sons and daughters are equally likely to move up than down the occupational ladder
C) sons are equally likely to move both up and down the occupational ladder
D) sons are more likely to move up than down the occupational ladder

Question 10

Occupation is a convenient variable to use in sociological studies of social mobility because ______.

A) adults can more easily recall parental occupation than wealth or income level
B) individuals do not like to discuss their income and wealth
C) adults are more likely to lie about their income
D) wealth is difficult to measure

Question 11

Total mobility is inflated by what we might call ______: If a new job is created near the top of the hierarchy, it is likely to be filled by someone from the middle, and that person's job in turn is taken by someone from below. One opening can create two or more moves in a step-by-step progression.

A) mobility updraft
B) circulatory updraft
C) multiplier circulation
D) the multiplier effect

Question 12

When a society begins to modernize, what sectors begin to expand?

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

Question 13

According to the "outflow" table that starts with fathers and asks about the mobility of their sons, upper-white-collar fathers are most likely to have ______ sons.

A) upper-white-collar
B) lower-white-collar
C) upper manual
D) lower manual

Question 14

According to the "outflow" table that starts with fathers and asks about the mobility of their sons, lower manual fathers are most likely to have ______ sons.

A) upper-white-collar
B) lower-white-collar
C) upper manual
D) lower manual

Question 15

The sons of upper- and lower-white-collar workers are a little less likely to inherit their fathers' positions. This tendency indicates that the decline in structural mobility is being somewhat offset by an increase in ______.

A) strategic mobility
B) circulation mobility
C) structural mobility
D) successful mobility

Question 16

What type of social mobility is movement up or down in the class system from one generation to the next?

A) intergenerational
B) social movement
C) structural mobility
D) structural movement

Question 17

What are the two perspectives which can be used to look at mobility?

A) inflow and outflow
B) structural and social
C) societal and individual
D) macros and micro

Question 18

Which of the following is NOT true about intergenerational income mobility?

A) The mobility machine has ground to a halt.
B) There is now only downward occupational mobility when we compare the mobility status of young men (25-44) in the 1970s and in the years around 2000.
C) Upward mobility used to be more frequent than downward mobility, but now that is not true.
D) The proportion of upwardly mobile sons has dropped from 1970 to 2000.

Question 19

If technological and organizational changes occur in a way that creates jobs at a faster rate in the middle and upper levels of the occupational structure than in the lower levels, then some lower ranking sons and daughters will have the chance to climb into the new positions without displacing others. This is known as ______.

A) inward mobility
B) outward mobility
C) structural mobility
D) circulation mobility

Question 20

Which of the following is NOT true about women's social mobility?

A) Women's occupational attainment, like men's, is powerfully influenced by class origins.
B) There is little evidence of social mobility among women in the past four decades.
C) Daughters of lower manual workers are more likely to hold clerical, sales, technical, and service jobs.
D) Over half of daughters of upper-white-collar men hold a broad range of managerial and professional jobs.

Question 21

What are the two basic factors that allow for more or less mobility up or down the occupational hierarchy?

A) circulation mobility; structural mobility
B) intergenerational mobility; intragenerational mobility
C) inward mobility; outward mobility
D) none of these

Question 22

Which of the following is NOT a reason that studying women's mobility presents a special set of problems?

A) unsure whether to compare daughters to mothers or fathers
B) Women's occupations tend to be different from men's.
C) Data on women's occupations are not as readily available.
D) If we see that many daughters of lower manual workers have moved "up" to white-collar work, are we looking at a difference between generations or between genders?

Question 23

Which is not an example of a lower manual occupation?

A) service workers
B) farmers
C) operatives
D) laborers

Question 24

According to Chetty et al., what percentage of adults born in the 1980s earned more than their parents?

A) 25%
B) 50%
C) 70%
D) 90%

Question 25

Why were opportunities slimmer for the next generation entering the labor force during the Age of Growing Inequality?

A) Men and women were starting from a higher base in their parents' occupational distribution.
B) Economic growth was generally faster.
C) Circulation mobility was increasing.
D) School quality decreased for upper-middle-class children.

Question 26

Circulation mobility is not at work in modern societies.

Question 27

In recent years, upward social mobility has decreased and downward social mobility has increased.

Question 28

There is a high level of occupational inheritance.

Question 29

Women's occupational attainment, unlike men's, is not powerfully influenced by class origins.

Question 30

Structural mobility is understood as a "zero-sum game," meaning some must lose for others to gain.

Question 31

Circulation mobility is understood as a "win-win" situation since some do not have to experience downward social mobility for others to experience upward social mobility.

Question 32

A common way to measure intergenerational mobility is to compare the occupations of fathers and sons.

Question 33

Occupation is a convenient variable to use in sociological studies of social mobility because adults can more easily recall parental occupation than wealth or income level.

Question 34

According to the "outflow" table that starts with fathers and asks about the mobility of their sons, we learn that the higher the father's occupation level, the better the son's chances for occupational achievement.

Question 35

The American Dream is dead.

Question 36

In the Age of Growing Inequality, families have grown increasingly dependent on women's paid labor.

Question 37

Men's occupational attainment, like women's, is powerfully influenced by class origins.

Question 38

The United States is a uniquely open society.

Question 39

The concept of the American Dream was named in The Epic of America.

Question 40

Studying women's mobility presents special problems.

Question 41

On average, the advantage the son of a high-earning American father carries to adulthood is almost twice that of a Canadian son.

Question 42

Social mobility is defined as the extent to which people move up or down in the class system, in a single generation.

Question 43

A common way to measure intergenerational mobility is to compare the occupations of fathers and their sons and daughters.

Question 44

Studies of intergenerational social mobility have largely focused on men.

Question 45

In 1970 and 2000, about one third of the men were at the same occupational level as their fathers.

Question 46

Compare and contrast circulation mobility and structural mobility.

Question 47

Explain why sociologists studying social mobility more commonly compare fathers and sons. What special problems arise when they study the social mobility of women?

Question 48

Why were opportunities slimmer for the next generation entering the labor force during the Age of Growing Inequality?

Question 49

Explain what impact a father's occupation has on his son's life success.

Question 50

Explain the multiplier effect. Use an example to illustrate it.