Deck 10: Minority Groups and Us Society: Themes, Patterns, and the Future

Question 1

The paternalistic, oppressive systems used to control the labor of minority groups in the ______ system were abolished and replaced by competitive systems of group relations.

A) industrial
B) agrarian
C) postindustrial
D) horticultural
E) pastoral

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The newer systems of group relations evolved from more rigid forms to more fluid forms as industrialization and ______ progressed.

A) automation
B) urbanization
C) mechanization
D) computerization
E) systematization

Answer 2

B

Question 3

According to the chapter text, racial minority groups, particularly African Americans, Mexican Americans, and Puerto Ricans, began to enter the urban working class after ______ had moved up the occupational structure, at a time when the supply of manual, unskilled jobs was dwindling.

A) Japanese Americans
B) European Americans
C) Korean Americans
D) Vietnamese Americans
E) Native Americans

Answer 3

B

Question 4

According to the chapter text, ______ distinction between immigrant and colonized minority groups is fundamental, a distinction that helps clarify minority group situations centuries after the initial contact period.

A) Blauner's
B) Noel's
C) Blau's
D) Gordon's
E) Park's

Question 5

______ hypothesis states that if ethnocentrism, competition, and a differential in power are present in the contact situation, ethnic or racial stratification will result.

A) Blauner's
B) Noel's
C) Blau's
D) Gordon's
E) Park's

Question 6

Contemporary immigrant groups who are non-White and bring few resources and low levels of human capital, such as ______, may experience segmented assimilation and find themselves in situations resembling those of colonized minority groups.

A) Cubans
B) Italians
C) Haitians
D) Canadians
E) Indians

Question 7

Noel's hypothesis states that if three conditions are present in the contact situation, ethnic or racial stratification will result. Which of the following is one of these conditions?

A) ethnocentrism
B) stratification
C) racial differences
D) financial resources
E) cultural differences

Question 8

Which of the following groups is most likely to be limited in its political potential by its small group size?

A) Latinos
B) African Americans
C) Asian Americans
D) European Americans
E) White ethnic groups

Question 9

In general, ______ groups are at a greater power disadvantage than ______ groups.

A) immigrant; colonized
B) colonized; immigrant
C) White; non-White
D) European; non-European
E) enclave; integrated

Question 10

According to the text, the ______ view of social mobility is consistent with the human capital perspective and the traditional melting-pot view of assimilation.

A) collectivist
B) individualistic
C) socialist
D) communal
E) Maoist

Question 11

"The marginalization of the minority group labor force is a reflection of the essence of globalization and modern American capitalism." This statement supports which theoretical perspective?

A) the Noel hypothesis
B) the importance of the contact situation
C) Blauner's hypothesis
D) Marxism
E) the segmented assimilation perspective

Question 12

Which of the following statements is true?

A) The United States owes its prosperity and position of prominence in the world more to the dominant group than to the labor of minority groups.
B) The property of minority groups has reached levels of equality with the dominant group, and the patterns of poverty, discrimination, and marginality no longer limit the lives of millions.
C) The United States has become more tolerant and open, and minority group members can be found at the highest levels of success, affluence, and prestige.
D) By harnessing the labor and energy of minority groups, the United States has grown prosperous and powerful, and the benefits have flowed evenly to both the dominant group and the minority groups.
E) Increasing diversity in the United States will threaten the stabilization of the social, economic, and political spheres of the nation.

Question 13

The creation of minority group status for African and Native Americans reflected the dynamics of ______.

A) a society in the early stages of industrialization
B) an agrarian society
C) a society that was extremely racist from the very beginning
D) a society dominated by labor unions and ultranationalist groups like the KKK
E) European-based snobbery

Question 14

The Industrial Revolution most benefited ______.

A) African Americans
B) Native Americans
C) Mexican Americans
D) European Americans
E) Asian Americans

Question 15

Consistent with Noel's hypothesis, which factor today illustrates the differential power of minority groups?

A) lack of voting strength
B) minorities accessing political positions
C) ethnic and racial pride
D) cultural differences
E) improvements in access to education

Question 16

Evidence presented in the chapter text supports the view that minority groups may ______.

A) assimilate in a linear, step-by-step process
B) acculturate only after integration
C) prefer ethnic enclaves and pluralism
D) become increasingly committed to their ethnic and/or racial group over time
E) not integrate prior to acculturation

Question 17

Which of the following groups is the most likely to be acculturated?

A) Mexican Americans
B) Chinese Americans
C) Cuban Americans
D) African Americans
E) Korean Americans

Question 18

Which of the following groups is the least likely to be acculturated?

A) African Americans
B) Japanese Americans
C) Cuban Americans
D) Native Americans
E) Mexican Americans

Question 19

Which of the following groups both formed ethnic enclaves?

A) Cuban Americans and Puerto Ricans
B) Japanese Americans and Native Americans
C) Japanese Americans and Korean Americans
D) Jewish Americans and Mexican Americans
E) African Americans and Mexican Americans

Question 20

The chapter text argues that the most serious problems facing contemporary minority groups are ______.

A) problems of prejudice and discrimination
B) cultural problems, such as inappropriate or self-destructive values
C) structural or institutional problems, such as the lack of jobs in the inner city
D) the individualistic pursuit of success that has been typical of American minority groups
E) the continuous presence of "color consciousness"

Question 21

Which of the following groups are most likely to be disadvantaged in contemporary society?

A) Asian Americans
B) Native Americans
C) White ethnics
D) Indian Americans
E) Cuban Americans

Question 22

Which of the following statements is true?

A) Pluralism has increased in prominence since the 1960s.
B) The goal of assimilation has been completely abandoned in modern American society.
C) Assimilation has become much more popular among American minority groups since the 1960s.
D) The goal of a pluralistic society has been abandoned as completely unrealistic.
E) Assimilation is not an effective strategy for minority groups.

Question 23

Which of the following is reflective of ongoing discrimination in the lives of minorities today?

A) The United States has become more tolerant and open.
B) Some minority groups still work in ethnic enclaves.
C) The strong racism of the past is no longer primary.
D) Jim Crow laws no longer exist.
E) The overt bigotry of the past has been replaced with indifference.

Question 24

The ______ saw a reassertion of ethnicity and loyalty to old identities among some groups, even as other groups developed new coalitions and invented new ethnic identities.

A) 1940s
B) 1950s
C) 1960s
D) 1970s
E) 1980s

Question 25

"The mostly Anglo industrialized nations of the Northern Hemisphere have continuously exploited the labor and resources of the mostly non-White, undeveloped nations of the Southern Hemisphere." This observation would most likely be made by which social theorist?

A) Weber
B) Noel
C) Lenski
D) Blauner
E) Marx

Question 26

______ was a sociologist who argued for the importance of understanding the relationship between stratification and a society's subsistence technology.

A) Weber
B) Noel
C) Lenski
D) Blauner
E) Marx

Question 27

Immigrants from ______ benefited the most from the industrialization of the economy.

A) Europe
B) India
C) Cuba
D) Africa
E) Asia

Question 28

The emerging information-based, high-tech society is ______ to offer many opportunities to people with lower levels of education and few occupational skills.

A) likely
B) unable
C) going
D) unlikely
E) created

Question 29

It seems highly likely that, at least for the near future, a substantial percentage of racial and colonized minority groups and some recent immigrant groups will be participating in the mainstream economy at lower levels than will the dominant group and the more advantaged recent immigrant groups. This outcome would be consistent with ______.

A) human capital theory
B) the importance of the contact situation
C) the traditional assimilation perspective
D) Myrdal's vicious cycle
E) the segmented assimilation perspective

Question 30

Minority groups in the urban underclass often seek economic opportunity in alternative structures such as crime due to ______.

A) the culture of poverty
B) prejudice from White Americans
C) opportunities for economic advancement through crime
D) being barred from fully participating in the mainstream economy
E) the likelihood of accessing more resources

Question 31

Which of the following is a benefit of urban space for LGBTQ communities?

A) LGBTQ communities are able to access better-paying jobs.
B) Urban space allows for the achievement of structural integration.
C) LGBTQ communities are able to avoid discrimination.
D) Urban space provides opportunity for cross-racial interactions.
E) Urban space provides opportunities to develop a sense of community and form organizations.

Question 32

The assimilation experiences of minorities in the United States challenge which of the following conclusions that Gordon makes?

A) Conflict will inevitably lead to assimilation and equality.
B) Assimilation is not a linear process.
C) Minority groups must undergo acculturation before structural integration.
D) Assimilation can be segmented for different groups.
E) Assimilation and pluralism can occur simultaneously.

Question 33

Which theorist would argue that racial inequality will inevitably be resolved?

A) Park
B) Myrdal
C) Gordon
D) Lenski
E) Noel

Question 34

Which group best fits the traditional model of assimilation?

A) African immigrants
B) Mexican immigrants
C) European immigrants
D) Indian immigrants
E) African Americans

Question 35

The intersectionality perspective analyzes how multiple statuses link together and form ______.

A) systems of oppression
B) gender inequality
C) institutional racism
D) stratification
E) a matrix of domination

Question 36

The ______ is an example of the significance of kinship and group cohesion for immigrant groups.

A) ethnic enclave
B) effect of discrimination
C) shift to fluid competitive relations
D) continued inequality
E) shift to rigid competitive relations

Question 37

Immigration typically flows from the Global South to the Global North due to ______.

A) Global South nations constantly being at war
B) racism experienced in Global South nations
C) the demand for cheap labor in the North
D) Global North nations having more advanced democracies
E) poor farming conditions in the Global South

Question 38

Modern racism maintains structural inequalities by ______.

A) creating a climate of individual prejudice
B) preventing minority groups from pursuing pluralistic politics
C) discouraging racial pride
D) concealing the operations of institutional discrimination
E) promoting aggression toward minority groups

Question 39

Key to modern racism and sexism is the belief that ______.

A) routes of upward mobility in American society are equally open to all
B) racial inequality is rooted in biological differences
C) institutional racism has a significant impact on inequality
D) the history of the United States informs the present
E) overt prejudice is acceptable in some situations

Question 40

Which theory can be used to best explain the experiences of Black queer women?

A) Gordon's model of assimilation
B) intersectionality
C) Marxism
D) the Blauner hypothesis
E) the Noel hypothesis

Question 41

The diversity within a minority group is minimal in comparison to the diversity between the dominant group and a minority group.

Question 42

African Americans are highly acculturated but not highly integrated into American society.

Question 43

Among Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans, the amount of assimilation may vary significantly, depending on newness of immigration, language skills, and to which generation they belong.

Question 44

Assimilation is the most sensible goal for minority groups.

Question 45

The United States can be best described as a melting pot--people of different cultures coming together to create a unique society.

Question 46

Assimilation in the United States has generally been a coercive and one-sided process described as Anglo-conformity.

Question 47

The problems and issues of minority women are tied to the patterns of inequality in the larger society and within their own groups.

Question 48

By the 1960s, the consensus that assimilation was the best solution and the most sensible goal for all of America's minority groups was shattered.

Question 49

Only women are harmed by gender stratification.

Question 50

The United States is the most diverse country in the world.

Question 51

The Industrial Revolution and technological innovations have changed not only the manufacturing process but also agricultural practices.

Question 52

Contemporary immigrant groups who are non-White and bring high levels of human capital find themselves in situations resembling those of colonized minority groups.

Question 53

The ethnic enclave economy helped Cubans resist assimilation and therefore move closer to equality, unlike Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans.

Question 54

Racial minority groups benefited from the continuing industrialization of the economy, but this has failed to work for European Americans.

Question 55

African Americans best represent the idea of an ethnic enclave.

Question 56

The idea that assimilation is a linear, inevitable process has tremendous support, according to the chapter text.

Question 57

The sense of a personal link to particular groups and heritages within American society is fading quickly.

Question 58

Group membership continues to be important because it continues to be linked to fundamental patterns of exclusion and inequality.

Question 59

According to the chapter text, Hispanic American groups are generally more acculturated than African Americans.

Question 60

Women of the dominant group as well as minority women have had equal access to leadership roles and high-status positions.

Question 61

Group networks, which assist new immigrants in adjusting to their new country, no longer operate in the United States.

Question 62

There is no "contact situation" for women and men or people of different sexual orientations.

Question 63

The strong racial and ethnic sentiments and stereotypes of the past remain the primary drivers when discussing race relations among dominant group members, even in public.

Question 64

Since the U.S. Supreme Court legitimized same-sex marriage in the summer of 2015, there has been no more prejudice and discrimination toward LGBTQ people in the United States.

Question 65

Ethnocentrism can lead to misunderstanding and conflict through the belief that one's culture is superior to another's.

Question 66

Negative intergroup feelings have largely disappeared as society has become more diverse.

Question 67

Current public opinion on matters of race and discrimination makes the creation of programs to address inequality unlikely.

Question 68

Women in more agrarian societies face especially formidable barriers to gender equality.

Question 69

Each of the groups discussed in the chapter text (except for the White ethnic groups) still controls relatively few resources and is limited in its ability to pursue its self-interests.

Question 70

Dominant groups are often unaware of the systems of privilege they benefit from.

Question 71

Select two minority groups from the chapter text and identify the major contemporary issues faced by the groups. What steps are necessary to improve their condition? What strategies should they take up? What does a path toward equality look like for these groups?

Question 72

Consider the patterns of acculturation and integration experienced by the major U.S. minority groups. How would you account for the patterns? Why do groups vary in levels of acculturation and integration? Be sure to apply Blauner and Noel's hypotheses in your explanation.

Question 73

What major modes of assimilation into American society have been followed by minority groups? Which of these different modes are associated with higher levels of success and affluence in the United States? Which are associated with lower levels of success and affluence? Why?

Question 74

Imagine that a new minority group, one with no ethnic or racial ties to any groups discussed in the chapter text, is entering U.S. society. What factors would you expect to be especially important in shaping the contact period? Why? What advice would you give to this group? What pathways into U.S. society or strategies for adaptation would you recommend? Of all the groups we have discussed in this course, which one would you recommend as a model to a new minority group? Why?

Question 75

All things considered, is a sense of ethnicity (a sense of identification with and loyalty to one's group) good or bad? Harmful or helpful? What would be lost if Americans lost their sense of ethnicity? What would be gained? How would the society be strengthened? Weakened?

Question 76

Explain the benefits of discussing race and the experiences of U.S. minority groups in an era characterized by modern racism.

Question 77

The chapter text paraphrases the words of the historian Oscar Handlin (1951): "Once I thought to write a history of the minority groups in America. Then, I discovered that the minority groups were American history." Explain this statement and provide examples.

Question 78

What does an "equal" United States look like? Can it be equal? What needs to happen in order for equality to occur?

Question 79

Explain what is meant in the chapter text by the following statement: "As the globe continues to shrink and networks of communication, immigration, trade, and transportation continue to link all peoples into a single global entity, the problems of diversity will become more international in their scope and implications."

Question 80

Explain the significance of intersectionality and data disaggregation when studying the experiences of minority groups. What are the potential harms of one-size-fits-all narratives?