Deck 11: Stratification

Question 1

Social stratification is most characteristic of:

A)Rank societies.
B)Pastoral societies.
C)Fishing societies.
D)Horticultural societies.
E)Societies with high levels of social complexity.

Answer 1

Societies with high levels of social complexity.

Question 2

All of the following are true of a caste system except:

A)Caste-like systems occur only in India.
B)In a caste system it is almost impossible to change one's caste.
C)People tend to marry others in the same caste.
D)People in the same caste tend to have a similar range of occupations.
E)People in the higher ranks of a caste system are more satisfied than those in the lower ranks.

Answer 2

Caste-like systems occur only in India.

Question 3

Which of the following is not a primary dimension of stratification?

A)Wealth.
B)Personality.
C)Prestige.
D)Symbolic power.
E)Political power.

Answer 3

Personality.

Question 4

The view that it is necessary to pay a surgeon a large amount of money so that people will undertake the difficult training necessary to fill this job is this characteristic of:

A)Conflict theory.
B)Functional theory.
C)Symbolic theory.
D)Configurational theory.
E)Diffusion theory.

Question 5

According to Karl Marx,the basis of social stratification is:

A)The development of Protestantism in the 16th century.
B)The relationship of people to the means of production.
C)Prestige attached to occupations.
D)Wealth inherited from ancestors.
E)Sub-cultural differences.

Question 6

An example of an achieved status is:

A)Occupation.
B)Sex.
C)Ethnic group.
D)Caste.
E)Clan.

Question 7

Real wealth in the U.S.is measured as income plus:

A)Assets.
B)Retirement accounts.
C)Prestige.
D)Education.
E)Private property.
F)Power.

Question 8

An important change in the Indian caste system provoked by globalization is:

A)The social acceptance of Dalits.
B)The emergence of non-caste related occupations.
C)A widening cultural gap between the upper and lower castes.
D)The conversion of higher castes to Christianity.
E)The westernization of lower caste lifestyles.

Question 9

According to the text,how many Americans were living in poverty (defined as an annual income of $22,314 or less per family of four)in 2010?

A)6.4 million.
B)13.7 million.
C)37.6 million.
D)46.2 million.
E)79.8 million.

Question 10

The Burakumin in Japan are regarded by Japanese society as a(n):

A)Race.
B)Class.
C)Ethnic group.
D)Caste.
E)Clan.

Question 11

In pre-Communist China,one group that had very high prestige was:

A)Scholars.
B)Merchants.
C)Money lenders.
D)Farmers.
E)Craftsmen.

Question 12

The functionalist perspective on social stratification holds that:

A)The whole society benefits because the system provides motivation for people to take risks or to fill difficult jobs.
B)Only the upper class benefits from the system.
C)Class and caste systems are both based on economic exploitation.
D)Affirmative action programs have no justifiable role in a democratic society.
E)Class conflict is the major way in which a society changes.

Question 13

In India,lower castes:

A)Receive more benefits than do higher castes from the caste system.
B)Have been disadvantaged by the Indian constitution.
C)Are beginning to make collective efforts to improve their position as a group.
D)Mainly change their ranking as individuals move out of the caste and into higher caste.
E)May have lower prestige than higher castes but tend to have more wealth.

Question 14

According to Katherine Newman,job loss in the U.S.entails not only economic decline but also a decline in:

A)Education.
B)Power.
C)Prestige.
D)Occupation.
E)Social mobility.

Question 15

One basic rule of behavior among Indian castes is that:

A)Members of different castes do not eat together.
B)Members of lower castes must always prepare food for members of higher castes.
C)While castes are rigidly separated during religious ritual,at other times members of different castes mingle freely with each other.
D)Members of one caste must always marry members of another.
E)Children are always members of their father's caste,not their mother's caste.

Question 16

Social stratification is the result of:

A)The fact that people are born with different natural talents.
B)The fact that there are several different races.
C)Theft of property by the strongest in society.
D)Human nature.
E)Unequal distribution of resources.

Question 17

A conflict perspective on social stratification argues that:

A)Social stratification results from the constant struggle for scarce goods and services.
B)Stratification is good because it ensures that all of society's tasks get done.
C)The jobs that people take are in no way related to the income that they can earn.
D)Social stratification is in conflict with the American ideal of equal opportunity.
E)Social stratification is functional in agricultural societies but not in industrial ones.

Question 18

From an anthropological perspective,wealth is:

A)The distribution of material resources.
B)The accumulation of material resources.
C)The consumption of material resources.
D)The production of material resources.
E)Income disparity between classes.

Question 19

Conflict theory holds that the natural condition of society is:

A)Order and stability.
B)Sex and violence.
C)Conflict and change.
D)Happiness.
E)Misery.

Question 20

The overwhelming majority of Americans define themselves as:

A)Elite.
B)The working class.
C)Poor.
D)Middle class.
E)Classless.

Question 21

Which of the following correctly defines assimilation in the United States?

A)It is change in identity that a country makes when it opens its doors to immigrants.
B)It is a process in which immigrants were expected to leave behind their cultural distinctions in favor of an American identity.
C)It is a process in which two new cultures come together to form a very different types of third culture,including elements of both the immigrant's home culture and also the cultures of American citizens.
D)It occurs when one culture takes precedence over another and suppresses it.We saw this in the early part of U.S.immigration history.
E)It is a process in which immigrants are selected based on allowable quotas in the United States.

Question 22

Which of the following statements is correct?

A)Immigration in the United States today has very strict quotas by which it allows people entrance.
B)Assimilation is a positive experience,when it is carried out correctly,for both immigrants and the United States.
C)Assimilation is also a process of loss,as immigrants leave behind their language and cultures.
D)Although the melting pot analogy was useful in the early part of U.S.history,it is no longer used in describing immigration.
E)Assimilation is also a form of cultural divergence and diffusion.

Question 23

Which of the following is associated with the assimilationist model of immigrant adaptation in the United States?

A)The salad bowl.
B)The fondue pot.
C)The frying pan and skillet.
D)The melting pot.
E)The barbeque.

Question 24

The opportunities that people have to fulfill their potential in society is known as:

A)Social stratification.
B)Social mobility.
C)Life chances.
D)Arbitrariness.
E)Life exchanges.

Question 25

In the era 1880-1920,many immigrants came to the United States.It was also in this era that:

A)Racial prejudice almost disappeared from the United States.
B)Immigrants came to be defined in racial terms.
C)Economic opportunities were available to immigrants regardless of race.
D)All peoples of European origin began to be lumped together as white people.
E)Racial prejudice grew to levels never before seen in the U.S.

Question 26

Why is skin color not biologically adequate to distinguish a group of people?

A)Skin color is a continuum of difference.
B)Skin color is not visible to all people.
C)Color is a cultural category and not all people define color the same way.
D)Skin color is never the sole characteristics of race.
E)Skin does not technically hold or transmit color.

Question 27

Which of the following correctly identifies the effects of Hurricane Katrina and the government's response to it?

A)It allowed people to come together across racial and class lines.
B)It allowed people to come together across racial lines but not across class lines.
C)It deepened the divisions of race and class already present in New Orleans society.
D)It allowed the poor an access to wealth not previously available and allowed some to move into the middle class.
E)It created a "new racism" in a city that was among the least racist in America.

Question 28

In general,the attitude of the Brazilian government toward race has been:

A)To pursue a "separate but equal" policy.
B)To provide development budgets for each race proportionate to each race's percentage of the total population.
C)To make sure each race receives proportional representation in the legislature.
D)To defuse racial tensions by providing large,publically financed celebrations.
E)To deny that race is a social problem in Brazil.

Question 29

Important effects of China's movement toward capitalism has resulted in:

A)Increasing equality among Chinese families.
B)Diminishing importance of education.
C)Increased emphasis on agriculture.
D)Increasing attacks on bourgeois elements.
E)Increasing inequality.

Question 30

It was estimated in 2010 that approximately how many foreign-born residents were living in countries around the world?

A)78 million.
B)134 million.
C)214 million.
D)527 million.
E)716 million.

Question 31

John Ogbu,a Nigerian anthropologist,studied minority children in schools in the United States.His conclusion is that:

A)They do as well as non-minority children.
B)Their performance is better in the arts than in the sciences.
C)These children are held back primarily by their culture.
D)Minority schools are equal physically to non-minority schools.
E)Children from voluntary immigrant groups do better than children from involuntary immigrant groups.

Question 32

Among Brazilian individuals of African descent,about how many identify themselves as preta (black)?

A)5 percent.
B)15 percent.
C)45 percent.
D)65 percent.
E)85 percent.

Question 33

In an analysis of environmental pollution in the United States,Melissa Checker found that:

A)The most important factor was class: lower class people lived in more polluted environments.
B)The most important factor was race: middle class Hispanics and African Americans suffered more exposure to environmental pollution than lower class whites.
C)All Americans,regardless of class or race suffered about the same exposure to pollution.
D)African Americans and Hispanics were more likely to live near polluted ground but whites suffered higher levels of air pollution.
E)More federal money was spent cleaning up pollution located near African American communities than was spent cleaning up pollution located near white or Hispanic communities.

Question 34

During the Maoist era,China was ideologically committed to:

A)Eradicating social class.
B)Implementing a caste system.
C)Implementing global capitalism.
D)Eradicating ethnicity.
E)Establishing new racial categories.

Question 35

Which of the following ideas was promoted by Brazilian anthropologist Gilberto Freyre?

A)Brazil should really be considered an African country.
B)Brazil should really be considered a European country.
C)Brazilian national identity was the result of mixing people of European,African,and indigenous ancestry.
D)Races in Brazil should be allowed to develop their own cultures separately.
E)The relationship of races in Brazil could only be understood as a result of U.S.imperialism.

Question 36

Ethnicity as a national issue in the United States has mainly been discussed in relation to:

A)Indigenous peoples.
B)National origin of immigrants.
C)Gender.
D)Social class.
E)Religious adherence.

Question 37

About what percentage of the Brazilian population is composed of individuals of African descent?

A)10 percent.
B)25 percent.
C)45 percent.
D)70 percent.
E)90 percent.

Question 38

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965:

A)Increased restrictions on the number of immigrants permitted in the U.S.
B)Set immigration quotas on non-whites but allowed open-ended white immigration.
C)Greatly decreased the number of people allowed to legally emigrate from Mexico but increased the number of Asians permitted.
D)Greatly expanded the number of people permitted to immigrate to the U.S.and abolished quotas.
E)Almost completely eliminated immigration to the United States until 1980.

Question 39

All of the following are changes that China has faced recently due to global and domestic economic changes:

A)Increasing middle class.
B)Increasing gap between opportunities and services in rural and urban areas.
C)Increasing income disparity.
D)Decreasing amounts of competition.
E)Increasing vulnerability of factory workers.

Question 40

Melissa Checker's work on Hyde Park examined the environmental concerns of:

A)An African-American community in the suburbs of Augusta,Georgia.
B)A student and young professional community in Austin,Texas.
C)An African-American community on the south side of Chicago.
D)A wealthy white community in Dutchess County,NY.
E)Residents living in the streets surrounding a large urban park in London,UK.

Question 41

A good example of an achieved status in the United States is marriage.

Question 42

Inequality is inevitable in large-scale social systems.

Question 43

Changes in China since the death of Mao have resulted in increasing prosperity and increasing equality.

Question 44

The Camars of Agra were successful in changing their position in the caste system as soon as they made some money.

Question 45

The RACE project is an effort by the American Anthropological Association to challenge commonly held ideas about race.

Question 46

There is no such thing as a pure class or caste society.

Question 47

In a capitalist society,wealth is always a source of prestige.

Question 48

Generally speaking,Brazilians who identify themselves as having African ancestry are far worse off than those who identify themselves as white.

Question 49

Race and racism are highly correlated with industrial pollution.

Question 50

In the 19ᵗʰ century,many Americans were concerned that an influx of immigrants would lower wages and challenge American values.

Question 51

Conflict theory argues that specific cultural institutions function to support and serve the needs of its people even when there is no consensus.

Question 52

The distribution of assets in the United States greatly favors the middle class.

Question 53

In contemporary China,peasants are considered better off than urban dwellers.

Question 54

According to Melissa Checker's research in Hyde Park,Georgia,communities of color and poor in the United States have made very important advances in environmental protection laws and environmental oversight.

Question 55

China's recent economic experiences show the difficulty of producing prosperity without high levels of social stratification.

Question 56

Racial boundaries are very clear-cut in Brazil.

Question 57

In the United States,legislation in the 1920s limited immigration to people from the "Nordic" races of Northern and Western Europe.

Question 58

In a caste system,children are the same caste as both of their parents.

Question 59

Race is a term that is always linked to classifying people according to physical differences.

Question 60

Education plays a role in social mobility in the United States.

Question 61

Name the three main dimensions of stratification.

Question 62

How have global technology changes affected the process of immigration today?

Question 63

What are "life chances"?

Question 64

What is the RACE Project?

Question 65

Theoretically,class systems are marked by having what type of statuses (or social positions)?

Question 66

How are Burakumin racially distinguished in Japan?

Question 67

How have social stratification,economics,and politics interacted in China over the past century?

Question 68

Describe the three models of assimilation in the United States.

Question 69

What is social stratification?

Question 70

Compare and contrast a functionalist and conflict approaches to the understanding of stratification.

Question 71

What did Paul Bloomberg mean by the term "America's forbidden thought"?

Question 72

Define what is meant by the "one-drop rule" in racial stratification.

Question 73

How is the cultural construction of race in Brazil different from that of the United States?

Question 74

What is a "voluntary minority"?

Question 75

Define assimilation.

Question 76

How is a caste system different from a class system?

Question 77

How would you characterize income inequality in the United States? Use examples.

Question 78

How has globalization affected the India caste system?

Question 79

What is meant by "downward mobility"?

Question 80

What realities does the black-white racial dichotomy found in the United States ignore?