Deck 10: Social Stratification

Question 1

Structural social mobility refers to an individual's upward or downward social movement due to personal effort or,in some cases,good or bad luck.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Compared with people in United States,people in Great Britain are more likely to experience social mobility.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The more a society is a meritocracy,the greater the society's level of social mobility.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Class systems assign social position based on both birth and individual achievement.

Question 5

The concept of social mobility refers to changes in people's positions in the social hierarchy.

Question 6

Caste systems encourage the commitment to long-term labor required by agriculture.

Question 7

The former Soviet Union was a classless society without social stratification.

Question 8

In class systems,social categories are more clearly and rigidly defined than they are in caste systems.

Question 9

People living in societies with class systems,compared with those living in societies with caste systems,tend to think of others in terms of social categories instead of as individuals.

Question 10

For most people in the United States,social standing remains much the same over the course of a lifetime.

Question 11

Ideology refers to ideas that support social stratification.

Question 12

Social stratification is found in most-but not all-societies.

Question 13

Compared to the U.S.society,Japanese society exhibits more caste elements.

Question 14

China stands out as a country without any social classes.

Question 15

Individuals in class systems typically exhibit more status inconsistency than people in caste systems.

Question 16

Caste systems encourage romantic love and personal choice as the basis of marriage.

Question 17

Great Britain has eliminated all aspects of its historic aristocracy.

Question 18

Caste systems are typical of high-income societies.

Question 19

Social stratification is a matter of not only inequality,but also beliefs about fairness.

Question 20

In the United States,social inequality is determined only by people's talents and abilities.

Question 21

The point of the story about passenger deaths that accompanied the sinking of the ocean liner Titanic is that

A)advanced technology cannot prevent tragedy.
B)all people have the same right to life.
C)social stratification is important and can sometimes be a matter of life and death.
D)social stratification often has little to do with everyday life.

Question 22

The Davis-Moore thesis implies that societies without social inequality would be the most productive.

Question 23

Today,U.S.workers have far fewer legal protections than U.S.workers had a century ago,when the industrial age was just beginning.

Question 24

Social stratification shapes our patterns of interaction by encouraging people to socialize with others of similar social position.

Question 25

The socialist revolution Karl Marx predicted took place in most industrial-capitalist societies about a century ago.

Question 26

Weber agreed with Marx that a socialist revolution would result in complete social equality.

Question 27

Social stratification is a concept that refers to

A)specialization in productive work.
B)ranking categories of people in a hierarchy.
C)the idea that some people are more talented than others.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 28

Max Weber said social stratification involved three distinct dimensions: economic class,social prestige,and political power.

Question 29

Davis and Moore base their claim that stratification is not inevitable on the fact that it does not exist in every society.

Question 30

Comparing societies in history and around the world,we see that social stratification may involve

A)individual differences.
B)inequalities that are universal.
C)differences in what is unequal.
D)stable patterns of social mobility.

Question 31

What concept describes a person who moves from one occupation to another that provides about the same level of rewards?

A)upward social mobility
B)downward social mobility
C)horizontal social mobility
D)This is not social mobility at all.

Question 32

The Davis-Moore thesis states that social stratification has consequences that are beneficial to society.

Question 33

Using the sociological perspective,we see that social stratification

A)gives some people more privileges and opportunities than others.
B)places everyone on a level playing field .
C)ensures that hard work will lead people to become wealthy.
D)means that what people get out of life is pretty much what they put into it.

Question 34

Conspicuous consumption refers to the fact that rich people and poor people generally shop for different products,such as food and clothing.

Question 35

In general,income disparity is greater in lower-income nations than it is in higher-income nations.

Question 36

Karl Marx claimed that social stratification in high-income nations,such as the Great Britain and the United States,reflect a capitalist economy.

Question 37

In all societies,kinship plays a part in social stratification because

A)children determine their own social position based on their personal talents and efforts.
B)parents pass their social position on to their children.
C)children usually end up with a social position higher than that of their parents.
D)all children begin life with about the same social standing.

Question 38

Social stratification

A)is a reflection of individual differences.
B)looks the same in every society.
C)typically changes a great deal from generation to generation.
D)is a matter of inequality and beliefs about why people should be unequal.

Question 39

Weber described stratification as a complex socioeconomic status ranking.

Question 40

The Kuznets curve shows that industrial societies have the greatest social stratification.

Question 41

The historical practice in England of passing on property to only the first-born male descendant is called

A)the law of the estates.
B)the law of meritocracy.
C)the law of status consistency.
D)the law of primogeniture.

Question 42

Why do societies with class systems keep some elements of caste

A)because too many people would be poor if society were based only on merit
B)because some caste elements increase productivity
C)because a pure meritocracy would eliminate families and other social loyalties that tie a society together
D)because some caste elements increase social mobility

Question 43

In Japan,as in other societies with a long history of caste,today people may not always discuss _____ openly,but it is never far from the surface when people size up one another socially.

A)family background
B)personal talent
C)educational degree
D)the economy

Question 44

England's aristocracy contained about what share of the entire country's population?

A)about one-tenth of 1 percent
B)5 percent
C)25 percent
D)50 percent

Question 45

In English history,the aristocracy included

A)the hereditary nobility,the highest church officials,and the royal family.
B)wealthy merchants,the hereditary nobility,and the royal family.
C)the hereditary nobility and the royal family.
D)the royal family only.

Question 46

Half of all the people in the United Kingdom today consider themselves to be in the

A)upper class.
B)middle class.
C)working class.
D)lower class.

Question 47

Ravi was born into a caste system in a small village in Sri Lanka.He can expect to

A)earn his social position through his own efforts.
B)change his social position many times throughout his life.
C)have the same social standing as his parents.
D)choose his life's work for himself after finishing college.

Question 48

In general,societies that have caste systems have economies that are

A)based on hunting and gathering.
B)industrial.
C)agrarian.
D)postindustrial.

Question 49

A college professor with advanced degrees,moderate salary,and little power to shape national events can be described as having

A)high status consistency.
B)horizontal social mobility.
C)downward social mobility.
D)low status consistency.

Question 50

If you were born into a traditional caste system,you would expect that,based on birth,you would be

A)raised to do a certain type of job.
B)encouraged,but not required,to marry someone of your own social category.
C)encouraged to socialize with people across other categories.
D)able to move between social categories.

Question 51

The concept "meritocracy" refers to social stratification

A)with no social mobility.
B)in which people "know their place."
C)based entirely on personal merit.
D)as found in the United States.

Question 52

A category of people defined as "untouchable" because they perform work that is viewed as "unclean" has been part of social stratification in

A)India.
B)Canada.
C)Sweden.
D)the former Soviet Union.

Question 53

A caste system is defined as

A)social stratification based on ascription,or birth.
B)social stratification based on personal achievement.
C)a meritocracy.
D)any social system in which categories of people are unequal.

Question 54

If you lived in a society with a traditional caste system,you would expect your marriage to be

A)polygamous.
B)exogamous.
C)based on romantic love.
D)endogamous.

Question 55

The ending of apartheid in South Africa has led to

A)that society becoming a meritocracy.
B)little improvement for millions of poor,black people.
C)complete social mixing by people of all races.
D)the election of the first white president.

Question 56

For more than 1,500 years,Japanese society operated with a

A)class system.
B)meritocracy.
C)caste system.
D)large middle class.

Question 57

At the lowest level of social stratification in ancient Japan were the

A)shogun.
B)burakumin or "outcasts."
C)samurai or "warriors."
D)Shudra.

Question 58

The degree of status consistency is

A)greater in caste than class systems.
B)the same in all types of social stratification.
C)greater in class than caste systems.
D)greater the more productive a society is.

Question 59

One good indication that caste still operates in the United Kingdom is the importance people attach to

A)graduating from college.
B)social mobility.
C)money.
D)accent in speech.

Question 60

The historical replacement of caste systems with class systems

A)brings an end to most social inequality.
B)replaces one kind of inequality with another.
C)means that individuals experience less social mobility.
D)means that categories of people become more clearly unequal.

Question 61

According to the Davis-Moore thesis

A)complete equality is functional for every society.
B)the more inequality a society has,the more productive it is.
C)more important jobs must provide enough rewards to attract the talent necessary to perform them.
D)meritocracy is less productive than a caste system.

Question 62

At the top of the system of inequality in the former Soviet Union were the

A)industrial capitalists.
B)intelligentsia,or educated professionals.
C)apparatchiks,or high government officials.
D)hereditary nobility.

Question 63

In Karl Marx's analysis,another name for the capitalist class is the

A)nobility.
B)aristocracy.
C)proletariat.
D)bourgeoisie.

Question 64

Work involving mostly mental activity is called

A)blue-collar work.
B)white-collar work.
C)pink-collar work.
D)agrarian work.

Question 65

The concept of structural social mobility refers to

A)cultural beliefs that justify social stratification.
B)change in social position due to people's own efforts.
C)change in the social position of many people due to changes in society itself.
D)change in a family's social position from one generation to the next.

Question 66

In the People's Republic of China

A)a new set of social classes is gradually emerging.
B)there is no longer any social inequality.
C)social standing reflects only a person's position in the Communist Party.
D)social stratification is identical to Japan's.

Question 67

According to Karl Marx,social stratification in a capitalist society always involves

A)class conflict.
B)negotiation and compromise leading to stability.
C)the abolition of work itself.
D)a working class revolution.

Question 68

One reason Marx's predicted socialist revolution never took place in capitalist societies is that

A)inequality is more or less obsolete.
B)living standards for the majority have gone up.
C)wealth is no longer concentrated in the hands of a few.
D)his theory of social-conflict was completely wrong.

Question 69

Compared to other high-income nations,the United States has

A)the same level of economic inequality.
B)almost no economic inequality.
C)a classless society.
D)more economic inequality.

Question 70

If you have a job that involves manual labor,you are doing

A)blue-collar work.
B)white-collar work.
C)service work.
D)farming.

Question 71

The common ideology of a class system states that success and wealth result mainly from

A)sheer luck.
B)family background.
C)flaws in society.
D)personal talent and effort.

Question 72

While the Davis-Moore thesis suggests "to each according to the importance of one's work," Karl Marx supported the idea

A)"to the victor goes the spoils."
B)"to each according to the degree of schooling."
C)"from each according to ability,to each according to needs."
D)"productivity is more important than equality."

Question 73

Olga works as a district sales manager for a small corporation.This category of work can be described as

A)blue-collar.
B)white-collar.
C)capitalist.
D)agrarian .

Question 74

Who coined the concept "survival of the fittest"?

A)Charles Darwin
B)Karl Marx
C)Herbert Spencer
D)Max Weber

Question 75

The idea that social inequality benefits society is associated with the

A)structural-functional approach.
B)social-conflict approach.
C)symbolic-interaction approach.
D)social-exchange approach.

Question 76

In 1917,the Russian Revolution transformed the feudal aristocracy and placed productive property under the control of

A)the capitalists.
B)a meritocracy.
C)the nobility.
D)the state.

Question 77

When Marx argued that capitalism "reproduces the class structure," he meant that

A)it is really ordinary people who create social inequality.
B)society operates and carries class differences from one generation to the next.
C)class differences are the same throughout human history.
D)society could never abolish class inequality.

Question 78

Davis and Moore point out that an egalitarian society

A)could never exist.
B)could exist,but only if people are willing to allow anyone to perform any job.
C)would be more productive than a stratified society.
D)has existed in many societies at various times in history.

Question 79

According to Davis and Moore,a system of unequal rewards increases productivity by

A)provoking revolutionary change.
B)motivating people to work longer,harder,or better.
C)encouraging people to work only according to their own perceived abilities.
D)ensuring highly paid individuals contribute substantially to society.

Question 80

Ideology,or beliefs that support social stratification,is found in

A)caste systems.
B)class systems.
C)both class and caste systems.
D)only U.S.society.