Deck 10: Class and Inequality

Question 1

A chief in a ranked society performs an act of gift giving that shares accumulated wealth while also enhancing the chief's prestige. What do anthropologists call this process?

A) redistribution
B) reciprocity
C) tribute
D) reintegration

Answer 1

redistribution

Question 2

In a populous market town, a small number of merchants and landholders have accumulated wealth and extreme stratification arises. Which is the best explanation for this?

A) Economic relations are based on the exchange of money rather than reciprocity.
B) Wealth is often acquired by those who have great skill with money.
C) The absence of legal controls allowed a small subset of the population to control the market.
D) The absence of central banks prevented the redistribution of wealth.

Answer 2

Economic relations are based on the exchange of money rather than reciprocity.

Question 3

In some societies, the social rank of each member is determined by who his or her parents are. What can we probably say about this society?

A) It is egalitarian.
B) It is ranked.
C) It is authoritarian.
D) It is reciprocal.

Answer 3

It is ranked.

Question 4

Which society is based on the sharing of resources to ensure group success and has relatively low hierarchy and violence?

A) matriarchal
B) stratified
C) ranked
D) egalitarian

Question 5

The increasing concentration of wealth into the hands of a smaller number of persons, in part due to globalization, is part of which accelerating process?

A) egalitarianism
B) stratification
C) social ranking
D) social prestige

Question 6

What is true about systems of class and inequality?

A) They no longer exist in postindustrialized nation-states such as the United States.
B) They create an unequal distribution of a society's resources.
C) They are a natural feature of human culture.
D) They are most often exemplified by hunter-gatherer societies.

Question 7

What does recent archaeological evidence suggest about hierarchy, violence, and aggression?

A) All have been key to increasing an individual's life chances.
B) They are not the basis of evolutionary success.
C) All were central to the evolutionary success of early humans.
D) They are the natural state of human culture.

Question 8

Which of these usually results from the unequal distribution of a society's resources within a class system?

A) Surpluses move steadily downward into the hands of the poor.
B) Surpluses move steadily upward into the hands of the elite.
C) Resources are shared or redistributed through random lotteries.
D) The unequal distribution itself does not affect individuals' life chances.

Question 9

A few modern societies such as the Amish have attempted to forge a more egalitarian society. Based on the information in the text, we can attribute this success to what aspect of human interaction?

A) ranking
B) recidivism
C) reciprocity
D) redistribution

Question 10

Egalitarian societies depend on sharing which of the following in order to ensure group success?

A) children
B) resources
C) weaponry
D) sexual partners

Question 11

How do systems of class affect an individual's life chances?

A) They affect the chance for upward mobility.
B) They are unrelated to the chance for upward mobility.
C) They lead to social stagnation.
D) They encourage rebellious behavior.

Question 12

Which of the following is a system of power based on wealth, income, and status that creates an unequal distribution of a society's resources?

A) class
B) ethnicity
C) sexuality
D) gender

Question 13

In a ranked society, what two characteristics are stratified?

A) prestige and kinship
B) wealth and prestige
C) prestige and status
D) wealth and status

Question 14

Which of these is stratified in a ranked society?

A) gender
B) race
C) status
D) wealth

Question 15

What is a significant defining characteristic of a ranked society?

A) Wealth is inherited but prestige and status are determined by individual merit.
B) Wealth is redistributed according to each person's status and prestige.
C) Wealth, prestige, and status are equal among all members of the group.
D) Wealth is not stratified but prestige and status are.

Question 16

What is significant about the Amish and Hutterite communities in contrast to today's highly stratified social structures?

A) It is an example of a successful effort to establish an egalitarian system of economic and social relations within highly stratified societies.
B) It is an example of a failed effort to establish an egalitarian system of economic and social relations within highly stratified societies.
C) It is an example of a successful effort to establish a hierarchical religious society.
D) It is an example of a successful effort to establish an authoritarian system of economic and social relations within highly stratified societies.

Question 17

The advent of intensive agriculture as a primary means of subsistence signaled a change in what aspect of human social structures?

A) an increase in the number of egalitarian societies
B) a decline in the number of egalitarian societies
C) a rise in the amount of food sharing that took place between different groups
D) an increase in the number of people that were overweight

Question 18

Of all the systems of stratification and power in a society, which of the following is often considered the most difficult to see clearly and to discuss openly?

A) race
B) ethnicity
C) gender
D) class

Question 19

How is the prestige and status of a chief in a ranked society reinforced?

A) democratic elections
B) generosity
C) the accumulation of wealth
D) demonstrating skills and wisdom

Question 20

Which of the following members of a ranked society may not accumulate great wealth but enjoy high prestige?

A) women
B) elders
C) men
D) chiefs

Question 21

Pierre Bourdieu worked to understand the relationship between class, culture, and power by studying schools in France with the expectation of finding that social mobility was the result of meritocracy. What did he discover instead?

A) Social isolation took place due to the high rate of parental involvement.
B) Social reproduction tended to disappear after one generation of children had completed school.
C) Social mobility did not affect the relationship between parent and child.
D) The educational system helped reproduce existing social relations by passing class positions from generation to generation in a family.

Question 22

Why is Karl Marx considered an important theorist in the study of class?

A) Marx developed the concept of the bourgeoisie.
B) Marx was the first thinker to consider the role of the economy in society.
C) Marx built on the work of Max Weber.
D) Marx focused on capitalism as it pertained to workers and inequality.

Question 23

What might Max Weber suggest is the primary difference between a lawyer in the United States and the self-made billionaire of a U.S.-based manufacturing company?

A) The lawyer has high prestige by virtue of occupation, while the self-made millionaire has only wealth.
B) The lawyer wields a great deal of power by virtue of occupation, while the self-made millionaire has high prestige due to accomplishment.
C) The lawyer suffers low prestige by virtue of occupation, while the self-made millionaire enjoys high prestige by virtue of being self-made.
D) The lawyer has high wealth by virtue of occupation, while the self-made millionaire does not.

Question 24

Carmen's parents enroll her in AP Honors French, where the content of the class is more academically demanding than the general French class. They also spend their summer vacation in France and hire a tutor to help Carmen study for the AP Honors French test. What are Carmen's parents attempting to help her acquire?

A) French resources
B) habitus
C) cultural capital
D) group ideology

Question 25

According to Karl Marx, the bourgeoisie consisted of a capitalist class of individuals who owned what part of society?

A) distribution channels
B) means of production
C) means of control
D) factories

Question 26

What common result occurs when patterns of social stratification emerge?

A) egalitarianism
B) the redistribution of money
C) upward mobility
D) unequal access to resources

Question 27

Karl Marx examined social inequality by distinguishing between which two distinct classes of people?

A) bourgeoisie and proletariat
B) bourgeoisie and elite
C) proletariat and impoverished
D) elite and privileged

Question 28

What do we call the movement, both upward and downward, of one's class position in a society?

A) social inertia
B) social achievement
C) social reproduction
D) social mobility

Question 29

How did Karl Marx refer to the group of people who lacked land and sold their labor?

A) bourgeoisie
B) capitalists
C) industrialists
D) proletariat

Question 30

According to Marx, why were the proletariat unable to develop a political awareness of their class position while the bourgeoisie were able to do so?

A) The proletariat lacked interest or motivation to do so, while the bourgeoisie were well connected politically and able to exploit their class position.
B) The proletariat were continually occupied with the struggle to make ends meet, while the bourgeoisie developed ways to keep the proletariat divided.
C) The proletariat were not as intelligent as the bourgeoisie.
D) The proletariat were entirely accepting of their position in society and recognized that class division is innate in any society.

Question 31

A young man decides to take an art history class, a topic in which he has been interested ever since his parents began taking him to museums when he was a child. He believes that art appreciation and knowledge are good qualities to have. What is the term Pierre Bourdieu coined to describe this young man's attitudes about classic art?

A) bourgeoisie
B) habitus
C) social mobility
D) social reproduction

Question 32

As a ritual ceremony, the potlatch serves to establish prestige and social status by demonstrating a chief's capacity for which of the following?

A) power
B) obligation
C) generosity
D) violence

Question 33

Which of the following consists of wages earned from work, plus dividends and interest on investments along with rents and royalties?

A) investments
B) wealth
C) income
D) profits

Question 34

Since the mid-1970s, how has class inequality in the United States changed?

A) It has decreased as income and wealth have been disbursed from the wealthy elite down to the middle- and lower-class social strata.
B) It has increased due to decreasing tax rates for the wealthy and stagnating salaries for the middle class.
C) It has held steady, as tax breaks for the wealthy have been balanced by increased salaries in the middle class.
D) It has decreased as a result of increased tax rates on the wealthy and redistribution of benefits to the poor.

Question 35

Aside from access to financial resources, what most influences an individual's life chances?

A) intellectual ability and physical strength
B) access to social and cultural resources such as education
C) ambition to seize the means of production
D) access to gainful employment

Question 36

When the Kwakiutl of the Pacific Northwest perform a potlatch, there may be times when the excess of gifts is actually destroyed rather than given away. Why is this done?

A) It avoids giving excess resources to those who do not need them.
B) It avoids giving excess resources to others who may be future enemies.
C) It can reinforce the generosity of the chief by demonstrating his willingness to waste resources.
D) It can reinforce the prestige of the chief by demonstrating his capacity.

Question 37

Leith Mullings's work using intersectionality emerges out of a long history of anthropological fieldwork. What characterizes this variety of fieldwork?

A) It is holistic.
B) It is interpretive.
C) It is class based.
D) It is global.

Question 38

The work of anthropologist Leith Mullings has examined the connections between class, race, and gender, which resulted in the development of which useful analytical framework?

A) intersectionality
B) interpretive anthropology
C) theory of class
D) systems of power

Question 39

Why might theorist Pierre Bourdieu have decided to examine his theory of social mobility-the interrelationships between culture, class, and power-in the French school system as opposed to, say, the workplace of adults?

A) Schools afforded him the opportunity to study how children entered the workplace.
B) Schools offered the chance to look across multiple generations.
C) Schools afforded a quieter, more stable environment.
D) In theory, success in school does not depend on individual students' talent and motivation.

Question 40

Leith Mullings argues that class cannot be studied in isolation but rather must be considered together with race and gender as interlocking systems of what?

A) class
B) status
C) power
D) prestige

Question 41

The culture of poverty theory suggests that poverty is the result of an individual's dysfunctional behaviors, attitudes, and values. Anthropologists have strongly challenged this idea, arguing that poverty is a structural problem. What do they say this results from?

A) It results from uneven access to a college education.
B) It results from partisan political infighting.
C) It results from poor decisions around urban renewal in the 1960s and 1970s.
D) It results from dysfunctional aspects of the entire economic system.

Question 42

Cochabamba street vendors, known as ambulantes,

A) participate in the informal economy.
B) have permanent stalls in the Cancha market place.
C) help the fijos when they are harassed by police.
D) are staunch defenders of the official economy.

Question 43

The dramatic increases in debt and student loan costs have helped perpetuate what aspect of life in U.S. society?

A) the housing crisis
B) access to quality education
C) the culture of consumption
D) maintaining a good credit rating

Question 44

In Mumbai, how do people without permanent, legally-recognized residences gain access to water?

A) Bottled water is the cleanest, most inexpensive option.
B) They use social relationships to access water and illegally take water from public pipes.
C) They get it from hotels when guests accidentally leave the taps running.
D) City officials make municipal water supply is made available to poor people living in shanty towns.

Question 45

The Harlem Birthright Project revealed how health problems and infant mortality:

A) demonstrate the limits of intersectional thinking.
B) are linked to inequality of resources, institutionalized racism, and gender discrimination.
C) are caused by Sojourner Syndrome.
D) have been solved by the intersectional approach.

Question 46

Which of the following is true about inequality on a global level?

A) The poor are more vulnerable to natural disasters caused by climate change in poor countries, but not rich ones.
B) Lifespans are increasing in poor countries and people in poorer countries no longer die from preventable infections.
C) Technological advances allow everyone around the world to profit in world economy.
D) There is enough food in the world to feed everyone and the technological ability to ship it anywhere, yet millions of people are malnourished.

Question 47

Reciprocity:

A) depletes groups resources.
B) has been completely replaced by capitalism.
C) promotes aggression between relatives.
D) has long-term benefits for the group.

Question 48

Which of the following is a criticism of the "culture of poverty" approach?

A) Things assumed to be characteristics of a culture of poverty may actually be reactions to poverty.
B) The "culture of poverty" approach glorifies the bad, dysfunctional behaviors that cause poverty.
C) There is no single culture of poverty; there are many cultures of poverty.
D) Social mobility is difficult for poor people due to their dysfunctional behaviors, values, and attitudes.

Question 49

Pem Davidson Buck's Worked to the Bone (2001) found that in Kentucky,

A) white privilege is severely limited by class.
B) historical events such as slavery, Jim Crow laws, and the dispossession of Native Americans of their land encouraged poor white laborers to identify with laborers of other races rather than white elites.
C) historically, poor, working-class whites embraced Jewish and Catholic immigrants as allies in their struggle for fair wages.
D) elite whites who owned tobacco fields and coal mines did not pay low wages to poor white workers .

Question 50

Egalitarian societies are likely to practice:

A) hierarchy.
B) violence.
C) stratification.
D) reciprocity.

Question 51

At a reception for the new junior associates, Matthew bonded with a partner of his law firm over their shared passion for fine French wines, a taste his parents instilled in him. Mathew was assigned to work with that partner, which resulted in Matthew receiving a promotion. How would Pierre Bourdieu explain this?

A) Matthew never loses the opportunity to show off his wealth.
B) This case demonstrates that the United States is a meritocracy.
C) Matthew used his cultural capital to benefit his career.
D) Intersectionality can explain Matthews privileged treatment.

Question 52

What do we call the total value of what someone owns, including stocks, bonds, and real estate, minus any debt?

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

Question 53

Mr. Turner owns a nuclear power plant that sells electricity to the residents of Springville. He is a member of the:

A) bourgeoise.
B) proletariat.
C) Habitus.
D) middle class.

Question 54

A factory that manufactures cars for sale and land to grow food on are examples of:

A) means of production.
B) surplus value.
C) capitalist relations.
D) industrialization.

Question 55

Toma is a Ju/Huansi, who grew up in a hunter-gatherer society. He tells you about a successful hunt he went on as a young man during which he killed an animal large enough to supply many meals. When he returned home, he most likely:

A) smoked and dried the meat to store it in case of future scarcity.
B) bartered it for the food gathered by the women in his band.
C) divided it among the members of his band.
D) threw a feast in order to increase his status and prestige.

Question 56

Your roommate always offers you a slice of pizza when he orders delivery. Sometimes you wash all the dishes, even though you didn't use them all. Neither of you ask for money. Your actions are examples of:

A) patterns of reciprocity.
B) flexible accumulation.
C) patterns of stratification.
D) patterns of generosity.

Question 57

Hydraulic citizenship is:

A) the right to water.
B) increasingly common due to global migration.
C) a legal granted to resident aliens in Mumbai.
D) granted to every resident of Mumbai.

Question 58

According to Karl Marx, the capitalist class increase their wealth through:

A) intense competition.
B) extracting surplus labor value from the workers.
C) selling labor to the bourgeoisie.
D) meritocracy.

Question 59

Young Bobby opened a lemonade stand in his front yard. He used $4 worth of lemons, sugar, and cups, and paid his little sister $1 to operate the stand while he played. She sold 7 cups of lemonade for $1 each. What was the surplus value?

A) $4
B) $1
C) $7
D) $2

Question 60

The Ju/Hoansi of the Kalihari are:

A) ranked.
B) egalitarian.
C) hierarchical.
D) stratified.

Question 61

Economic relations in many societies today are organized around the exchange of money for services rather than around patterns of reciprocity; however, patterns of reciprocity still exist, even within highly stratified societies. Give three examples of reciprocity that are likely to occur in your society. What purpose do they serve within or between social groups? How does gift giving fit into these patterns of reciprocity? What may be some underlying motivations in gift giving that are related to group survival or benefit? Do you think members of your society will continue to practice these forms of reciprocity and gift-giving in the future? Why or why not?

Question 62

Briefly describe the "poverty as pathology" and the "poverty as a structural economic problem" approaches to poverty and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. Which is a better explanation of the causes of poverty in the United States? Explain your conclusion.

Question 63

Although the United States is one of the wealthiest nations in the world, poverty continues to be a societal issue. What are two key theories that developed in the social sciences to identify the roots of poverty in the United States? How do these theories differ and what do they have in common?

Question 64

Compare the water crises of the poor urban settlers in Mumbai, India, and the residents of Flint, Michigan.

Question 65

Karl Marx, Max Weber, Pierre Bourdieu, and Leith Mullings are four theorists who have examined class as a system of social stratification. Which of the four approaches do you find the most effective tool for examining class in society today? Briefly describe the approach and compare it to the other approaches. Why is this one more convincing? Given the increasingly global nature of our societies and economies, do you believe this approach will continue to be useful in examining class systems in future societies? Or, will additional approaches will be needed to more fully examine class systems in the future? Explain,

Question 66

The potlatch is a ceremony of Kwakiutl people of the Pacific Northwest that serves both practical and ceremonial functions, in that it redistributes resources for the benefit of the group and it establishes the chief's social status and prestige by displaying his capacity for generosity. Give two examples of similar gift-giving practices in your own society. What is the function of gift giving in these examples -how does it benefit the giver, the receiver, and the social group generally? What would happen if an individual did not give a gift? What influences may be changing these gift-giving practices? Do you think they will continue in the future?

Question 67

In the nineteenth century, Karl Marx argued that capitalist societies consisted of two distinct classes of people: those who own the means of production and those who must sell their labor in return for wages. What did he call these classes? What other resources or factors distinguished these two classes, according to Marx? Give an example of a way Marx's theory could be applied to understanding societies living in a global economy today? Do you find Marx's theory helpful in understanding class and social inequality today? Why or why not?

Question 68

How does Pem Davidson Buck's work on the history of poor white people in rural Kentucky reflect how income and wealth are affected by other forms of social stratification?

Question 69

Pierre Bourdieu argued that in addition to a family's economic circumstances, two additional key factors affect an individual's social mobility. What did he call them? Give two examples that illustrate each factors. How can they limit or improve one's social mobility? How do you think they affect your own social mobility? Are there individuals who are not affected in any way by either factor?

Question 70

The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, is an example of how:

A) flexible accumulation often funds investment in city infrastructure.
B) the circulation of water is a natural process that man cannot truly control.
C) the distribution of water is related to social power along intersecting lines of class, race, gender, and age.
D) hydro-social processes increase the level of lead in drinking water.

Question 71

Class is not commonly discussed in the United States; yet, it is a system of stratification that profoundly affects peoples' lives. In what class position would you classify yourself and your family? What criteria did you use to determine your class position? Does your class position differ from that of your grandparents? What about your friends? What do you do to increase your social mobility? Do you think your efforts will improve your class position at some point in your lifetime? What other forms of social stratification affect your social mobility?

Question 72

Economists report that the income and wealth gaps in the United States are widening. What is the difference between income and wealth? Can an individual have high income but little wealth? What are some explanations for the income and wealth disparities that exist in the United States today? Why are the U.S. income and wealth gaps widening despite economic globalization and access to educational opportunities? How do income and wealth affect one's social mobility? How do other systems of social stratification affect an individual's income and wealth??

Question 73

The concept of the American Dream emphasizes and promotes the notions of meritocracy and social mobility as central to both national identity and the experiences of U.S. citizens. These notions assume that all citizens have equal opportunity for upward social mobility regardless of current class position. What is meritocracy, and how does it relate to social mobility? Are both concepts experienced equally by U.S. citizens today regardless of class position? What are three examples of how class can affect individuals' experiences with meritocracy and social mobility? Given what you have read in the chapter on class and inequality, do you believe the American Dream is equally attainable to all U.S. citizens? Why or why not? Do you think the American Dream will become more equally attainable in the future? Why or why not?