Deck 3: Racial and Ethnic Inequality

Question 1

Marriage between people of different racial categories now accounts for about what portion of all marriages in the United States?

A)half of 1 percent
B)1.2 percent
C)8.2 percent
D)25 percent

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Which of the following terms refers to the physical and social separation of categories of people?

A)segregation
B)assimilation
C)pluralism
D)the melting pot

Answer 2

A

Question 3

A minority is defined as any category of people

A)who have a distinctive cultural identity.
B)who live with income below the poverty line.
C)that represents less than half of the society's population.
D)that is physically or culturally distinctive and socially disadvantaged.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

What was the landmark 1954 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that rejected the claim that black and white children could receive "separate but equal" schooling?

A)Roe v.Wade
B)Dred Scott
C)Brown v.The Board of Education of Topeka (Kansas)
D)Miranda v.Arizona

Question 5

In 2012, for the first time, most children born in the United States

A)were born to parents born abroad.
B)lived with single fathers.
C)were minorities.
D)were poor.

Question 6

If current trends continue, minorities will together make up a majority of the entire U.S. population by about

A)2016.
B)2023.
C)2043.
D)2063.

Question 7

Which of the following categories of people are descended from immigrants who were the first to settle in North America?

A)Hispanic Americans
B)African Americans
C)Native Americans
D)Asian Americans

Question 8

In inner-city areas, where African American people have little contact of any kind with people in the larger society, Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton described which of the following in 1989?

A)assimilation
B)pluralism
C)hypersegregation
D)institutional prejudice

Question 9

Which of the following concepts refers to a socially constructed category of people who share biologically transmitted traits that a society defines as important?

A)ethnicity
B)nationality
C)race
D)subculture

Question 10

Which of the following concepts refers to a shared cultural heritage?

A)race
B)ethnicity
C)multiculturalism
D)social class

Question 11

On average, African American families earn what percentage of the amount that white families earn?

A)97 percent
B)57 percent
C)77 percent
D)27 percent

Question 12

Some sociologists who are critical of racial classification argue that dividing humanity into racial categories amounts to a strategy that

A)allows some people to dominate others.
B)erodes national cultures.
C)slows economic development.
D)violates the beliefs found in most world religions.

Question 13

In 1776, the year the United States declared its independence from Great Britain, slavery was legal in

A)only the southern states.
B)about half of the states.
C)only the New England states.
D)every state.

Question 14

The remarkable racial and ethnic diversity of the United States is, most of all, a product of

A)multiculturalism in colleges.
B)intermarriage.
C)the formation of subcultures.
D)immigration.

Question 15

When minorities-especially new immigrants-enter a society, they typically change their styles of dress, language, cultural values, and sometimes even their religion, in a process called

A)segregation.
B)subculturation.
C)pluralism.
D)assimilation.

Question 16

Which of the following patterns refers to a society in which people of all racial and ethnic categories live with roughly equal social standing?

A)assimilation
B)pluralism
C)segregation
D)the melting pot

Question 17

The term that means segregation that is supported by law is

A)de facto segregation.
B)de jure segregation.
C)hypersegregation.
D)institutional prejudice.

Question 18

Overall, Asian Americans represent what portion of the U.S. population?

A)5.1 percent
B)10.1 percent
C)15.1 percent
D)20.1 percent

Question 19

Which of the following terms refers to the systematic killing of one category of people by another?

A)infanticide
B)genocide
C)patricide
D)homicide

Question 20

Following the abolition of slavery, this country enacted so-called Jim Crow laws, which

A)guaranteed equal social standing for former slaves.
B)established quotas for jobs and college admissions.
C)segregated trains, restaurants, hotels, and other public places.
D)forced the relocation of thousands of people to government reservations.

Question 21

According to the government, which of the following is this country's largest racial or ethnic minority?

A)African Americans
B)Hispanic Americans
C)Asian Americans
D)Arab Americans

Question 22

In a 2003 decision, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the University of Michigan

A)could no longer give minority applicants a numerical bonus as part of the university's point system for admissions.
B)could not consider applicants' race in admissions.
C)could continue to use rigid quotas to admit specific numbers of people in "protected classes."
D)could not consider sex, race, or class in admissions decisions.

Question 23

Which theory claims that prejudice develops among people who are frustrated over a lack of control in their lives?

A)authoritarian personality theory
B)scapegoat theory
C)cultural theory
D)multicultural theory

Question 24

Public facilities, such as bus stations and hotels, were racially segregated in much of the United States until

A)the end of the Civil War.
B)the end of World War II.
C)the 1960s.
D)the 1990s.

Question 25

A stereotype is defined as

A)hostility directed toward people in some category.
B)the experience we have dealing with people of some category.
C)an exaggerated description applied to every person in some category.
D)the fear of people within some category.

Question 26

The commonly heard claim that all members of a certain minority category have reduced intelligence and are therefore less worthy is a clear example of

A)prejudice.
B)discrimination.
C)segregation.
D)blaming the victim.

Question 27

In 2012, Hispanic Americans represented what percentage of the U.S. population?

A)2.9 percent
B)6.9 percent
C)16.9 percent
D)36.9 percent

Question 28

The Latinos in America who are considered the most advantaged are:

A)Puerto Ricans
B)Cuban Americans.
C)Columbians
D)Mexican Americans

Question 29

The most serious kind of prejudice is

A)racism.
B)avoidance.
C)discrimination.
D)stereotyping.

Question 30

Many Arab Americans choose to downplay their ethnicity

A)because their cultural values favor assimilation.
B)because they have been in the U.S.for so many generations.
C)as a strategy to avoid prejudice and discrimination.
D)because they are so frequently mistaken for Latinos.

Question 31

The term "Arab" is

A)a racial category.
B)a religious category.
C)an ethnic category.
D)a political category.

Question 32

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which

A)deported all people of Japanese ancestry living within the United States.
B)forcibly relocated all people of Japanese ancestry to military camps in remote inland areas.
C)placed all people of Japanese ancestry in existing U.S.prisons.
D)extended citizenship to all Japanese people in the hope of encouraging their loyalty.

Question 33

Racism at work in the operation of the economy, schools, hospitals, the military, and the criminal justice system is known as

A)categorical
B)segregated
C)discriminatory
D)institutional

Question 34

According to Vincent Parrillo's recent investigations using the social distance scale, today's college and university students (compared to those in decades past)

A)are more accepting of all minorities.
B)see greater difference between the various minorities.
C)express the most prejudice toward African Americans.
D)express the most prejudice toward people from European nations.

Question 35

Which population of Asian Americans has both the highest percentage of college graduates and the second-highest percentage of those living in poverty?

A)Korean Americans
B)Japanese Americans
C)Chinese Americans
D)Asian Indian Americans

Question 36

A landlord refuses to rent an apartment to an African American based on race, even though there are vacancies. This action is an example of

A)segregation.
B)pluralism.
C)discrimination.
D)prejudice.

Question 37

W. Adorno and his colleagues claimed that prejudice is strong in people who feel a lot of hostility, rigidly conform to conventional norms, and see the world in stark contrasts such as "us" versus "them." This statement describes which of the following theories of prejudice?

A)authoritarian personality theory
B)scapegoat theory
C)cultural theory
D)multicultural theory

Question 38

Which of the following theories states that prejudice is built into our way of life?

A)authoritarian personality theory
B)scapegoat theory
C)cultural theory
D)multicultural theory

Question 39

The percentage of Arab Americans with a four-year college degree is

A)about 40 points above the national average.
B)about 15 points above the national average.
C)about 15 points below the national average.
D)about half the national average.

Question 40

Early in the twentieth century, Emory Bogardus developed the social distance scale to measure

A)how far apart people stand when they speak to each other.
B)prejudice directed at various minority categories.
C)extremes of poverty and wealth.
D)the rate of intermarriage between people in various categories of the population.

Question 41

Define pluralism, assimilation, segregation, and genocide. Give an example of each from U.S. history. How prevalent has each pattern been in U.S. history?

Question 42

What does it mean to say that race and ethnicity are socially constructed? Provide specific examples to support your arguments.

Question 43

Social-conflict analysis argues that the unequal standing of various categories of people results from

A)the unequal talents and abilities of individuals.
B)the way society itself is organized.
C)social meanings that people attach to race.
D)the different importance people attach to wealth and achievement.

Question 44

How do conservatives, liberals, and radicals on the left understand racial and ethnic inequality? What does each political viewpoint claim we should do about this inequality?

Question 45

In your opinion, is affirmative action part of the problem or part of the solution? Provide evidence in support of your position.

Question 46

Which of the following is consistent with a Marxist analysis of race?

A)Members of almost all societies consider their own ways of life as superior to those of "others."
B)The rate of interracial marriage is rising due to the declining importance of race.
C)African Americans students take pride in their achievement after winning a prize in a science fair that is open to young people in categories underrepresented in science.
D)Black and white workers at a factory fall into conflict, which weakens the power of workers to negotiate a new contract with the factory owners.

Question 47

In Joan Albon's analysis, the lower social standing of many American Indians was due to

A)prejudice and discrimination.
B)non-competitive cultural values that discourage individual economic achievement.
C)institutional discrimination by this country's courts.
D)race operating as a master status in everyday life.

Question 48

According to the radical left view,

A)racial and ethnic inequality are one part of a larger pattern of exploitation in capitalist society.
B)the United States has made enormous strides towards ensuring that everyone has both legal rights and personal dignity.
C)minorities must overcome disadvantages through individual effort.
D)some ethnic categories have always outperformed others and this will likely continue

Question 49

Which of the following is a conservative criticism of affirmative action?

A)The policy calls into question the real achievement of minorities.
B)The policy has no basis in law.
C)Government should do more to make racial and ethnic categories equal.
D)There is very little racial or ethnic inequality to begin with.

Question 50

Geoff claims to his friends that a desire to achieve and personal effort are the keys to people's social standing. These claims come closest to expressing which political viewpoint?

A)radical left
B)liberal
C)conservative
D)religious

Question 51

Compare and contrast the structural-functional, social-conflict, and symbolic-interaction analyses of racial and ethnic inequality. What does each focus on as the cause of racial and ethnic inequality? What is one limitation of each approach?

Question 52

Using a symbolic interaction analysis, race

A)is used as a key building block of the reality we construct in everyday life.
B)is a biologically-rooted cause of social inequality.
C)is no longer relevant to today's everyday social experiences.
D)has ceased to be a part of people social identity.

Question 53

According to W.E.B. Du Bois in his classic work, The Souls of Black Folk,

A)since the end of legal slavery, there has been substantial improvement in the lives of most African Americans.
B)race does not operate as a master status.
C)U.S.society makes whites the standard by which others (including African Americans) should be measured.
D)African American people are morally superior to white people.

Question 54

Studying the Puerto Rican population in San Juan and New York, Oscar Lewis linked their relatively low social standing to a cultural orientation he called

A)pessimism.
B)fatalism.
C)optimism.
D)cynicism.

Question 55

The liberal solution to racial and ethnic inequality focuses on

A)encouraging changes in cultural patterns.
B)encouraging individual effort.
C)government efforts such as affirmative action.
D)changing the capitalist economic system.