Deck 9: Middle Eastern and North African Americans

Question 1

North Africans and Middle Eastern immigrants __________.

A) come from a part of the world predominantly governed by Eastern thought
B) have come since the 1965 Immigration Act
C) have cultures that are as monolithic as their religious affiliation (Islam)
D) have never voluntarily come to the United States

Answer 1

have come since the 1965 Immigration Act

Question 2

Immigration legislation after 1965__________.

A) effectively limited the number of immigrants from both Western and non-Western world
B) were based on the restrictive national-origins quota system
C) allowed more non-Western immigrants to gain approval to migrate
D) has consistently restricted immigration for non-Christians

Answer 2

allowed more non-Western immigrants to gain approval to migrate

Question 3

__________was/were often a push factor for nonwestern immigrants.

A) Overpopulation
B) Job opportunities
C) Rapid air travel
D) Religious freedom

Answer 3

Overpopulation

Question 4

How long do most sojourners remain in the U.S.?

A) 10 years
B) 2 to 5 years
C) 1 year
D) 4 to 5 years

Question 5

Interaction surveys of Americans and nonwestern newcomers in professional, managerial, or technical fields show__________.

A) widespread social distance
B) much less social distance than in past years
C) extensive social distance for Africans but not Asians
D) extensive social distance for all but the Arabs

Question 6

Many of today's professional Arab immigrants do not fit past acculturation patterns because they__________.

A) need not become Americanized to enjoy the lifestyle they want
B) have a religion different from the three major faiths
C) do not physically fit into the melting pot theory
D) do not fit into theories about behavior in the western world

Question 7

Malik and his immediate family came to the United States a few years ago. They have managed to carve out a nice, middle class lifestyle that they could never have imagined for themselves in their home country. Over the course of letters and phone calls, they convince some of their friends and extended family to come as well. This is a pattern known as __________ migration.

A) acquaintance
B) chain
C) legal
D) gradual

Question 8

In terms of median income, Arab men earn an average of __________ more than the national median for all males.

A) $2500
B) $4500
C) $3000
D) $5000

Question 9

Settlement patterning of recent Arab immigrants tends to be__________.

A) in tight clusters in the inner city
B) widespread and in loose clusters
C) almost exclusively on the West Coast
D) in rural and suburban areas

Question 10

What percentage of Arab Americans have a post graduate degree?

A) 10%
B) 15%
C) 18%
D) 20%

Question 11

The push factors for Syrian immigrants included__________.

A) low unemployment
B) disease
C) Chinese oppression
D) job opportunities

Question 12

The term used for the gradual replacement in a neighborhood of one group by another is__________.

A) block-busting
B) invasion-succession
C) migration
D) gradated sequencing

Question 13

The occupation of __________ helped speed up Syrian acculturation.

A) peddling
B) mechanic
C) nursing
D) teaching

Question 14

Syrian adjustment, acceptance, and upward mobility were fairly rapid because of their __________.

A) wide dispersal which negated any significant opposition to their presence
B) propensity to do low paying factory work
C) lower class status which meant they were not seen as a threat
D) religious values

Question 15

Syrian-Lebanese assimilation is nearly complete because they now have __________, which is what Milton Gordon calls the last stage of assimilation.

A) financial security
B) upward mobility
C) large-scale intermarriage
D) representation in all jobs and professions

Question 16

Most Egyptian Americans __________.

A) live within well-defined urban ethnic communities when they first arrive
B) have children who experience great difficulty adjusting to American culture
C) do not marry outside their ethnic community
D) live in Louisiana

Question 17

Why did most Egyptians leave Egypt?

A) Economics and educational reasons
B) Political unrest
C) Religious reasons
D) Political and religious reasons

Question 18

The experiences of Iraqi immigrants in Detroit illustrates __________.

A) a persistent subculture despite changes in the homeland
B) changes in the homeland changing immigrant orientations
C) a village-oriented community nestled in an urban region
D) hostility against them because of the oil crisis

Question 19

Most Palestinian Americans are __________.

A) Buddhist
B) Muslim
C) Hindu
D) Atheist

Question 20

The largest concentration of Palestinian Americans is in __________.

A) Illinois
B) Texas
C) Georgia
D) Massachusetts

Question 21

The local and regional association that helps Palestinian immigrants adjust to life in the United States is called the__________.

A) Chain Migration Association
B) Arab Nation
C) American Federation of Ramallah
D) Nation of Islam

Question 22

A common social center for working-class Palestinian Americans is the__________.

A) neighborhood bar
B) local coffeehouse
C) corner grocery store
D) parish church

Question 23

Their __________ helps Palestinians living in the United States maintain their ethnic identity.

A) language
B) priests and churches
C) political cause
D) cultural institute program

Question 24

Early Iranian immigrants who opted to stay in the United States permanently called themselves Persian Yankees or __________

A) mandegar
B) belataklif
C) cosmopolitans
D) globalizers

Question 25

In explaining what her life as an immigrant is like to her U.S. friends, Shariz stresses the importance of the __________, which serves a religious purpose, an educational purpose, a social purpose and acts as a kind of social service agency.

A) YMCA
B) mosque
C) Arab League
D) community school

Question 26

Many Iranians kept to themselves for fear of__________.

A) the SAVAK
B) religious persecution
C) violence
D) disease

Question 27

Today's second-generation Iranian Americans are mostly__________.

A) living in poverty
B) born to working-class parents
C) living in the southeastern United States
D) born to middle-class professional parents

Question 28

Iranian Americans experiencing mixed feelings about no longer living in the homeland call themselves __________.

A) mandegar
B) belataklif
C) slyasi
D) Now-Ruz

Question 29

Iranian immigration, which peaked in the 1980s, __________.

A) more than doubled the number from the 1970s
B) dropped in the 1990's before picking up again in the 2000s
C) has been more or less steady since the 1950s
D) is currently at record low levels

Question 30

What two metropolitan areas account for approximately half of all Israeli Jews living in the U.S.?

A) San Antonio and El Paso
B) New York City and Los Angeles
C) Upper Marlboro and Chevy Chase
D) Dallas and Austin

Question 31

In what ways do Jewish Israeli immigrants maintain their identity?

A) Become naturalized U.S. citizens
B) Marry U.S. citizens
C) Remain active in Israeli organizations
D) Live in mixed communities

Question 32

Turkish emigration to the United States was low because__________.

A) the United States was a Jewish country
B) the traditional Turkish pattern of migration involved only small groups emigrating
C) Turkish law barred any emigrant from ever returning
D) very few states allowed their entry

Question 33

Anti-Turkish sentiment in the United States prior to World War I was due primarily to__________.

A) the suppression and massacre of Armenians
B) the heroin traffic from Turkish poppy fields
C) anti-American actions in Turkey
D) Turkish support of the Russian pogroms

Question 34

An important component of adjustment, acceptance, and assimilation is__________.

A) arranged marriages
B) length of U.S. residence
C) older age at immigration
D) recent visits to the country of origin

Question 35

__________ assimilation is much more likely for Arab Americans to the extent that they have lived in the U.S. for a long time, were younger at the age of immigration, and are Christian.

A) Straight-line
B) Segmented
C) Structural
D) Similar

Question 36

A __________ would stress the undercurrents of resentment and tension against the visible presence of nonwestern minorities and their successes.

A) conflict theorist
B) functionalist
C) interactionist
D) exchange theorist

Question 37

The conflict perspective would emphasize that __________.

A) industrialists often used Syrian/Lebanese men to strengthen unions in the Northeast
B) the Syrian/Lebanese offered factory owners a more expensive and more skilled labor alternative
C) economic competition between two wage level groups generated ethnic antagonism and violence
D) better-educated immigrants become functionally integrated fairly easily

Question 38

For recent ethnic tensions __________.

A) conflict is usually more intense than toward previous waves of immigrants
B) the majority of conflict is between recent immigrants
C) the fear of further terrorist attacks and racial profiling add to underlying tension
D) the extreme violence has slowed immigration to a trickle

Question 39

__________ theory explains ethnic conflict as economic exploitation of minority groups.

A) Functionalist
B) Conflict
C) Social interactionist
D) Ecological

Question 40

__________ theory explains ethnic discrimination as a social dysfunction.

A) Functionalist
B) Conflict
C) Social interactionist
D) Ecological

Question 41

Functionalists would say that__________.

A) newcomers exacerbate the competition for scarce resources and set up class divisions
B) the split-labor market theory explains the antagonism and violence early newcomers faced
C) immigration laws ensure a support system in relative preference
D) social integration follows workplace integration

Question 42

According to the functionalist view, the better educated, better skilled, and better connected immigrants__________.

A) are typically welcomed immediately upon arriving into a new country
B) are celebrated by their host countries
C) quickly adjust
D) actually have a harder time leaving their old country behind

Question 43

According to the functionalist view, less skilled non-Westerner newcomers __________.

A) fill a population void in inner-city neighborhoods
B) live in middle-class neighborhoods
C) bring upheaval to neighborhoods
D) like the openness of rural communities

Question 44

__________ theory explains ethnic stereotypes as the dominant group's premature response to minority groups.

A) Functionalist
B) Conflict
C) Social interactionist
D) Ecological

Question 45

According to __________, North African and Middle Eastern immigrants have benefitted from immigration laws that ensure sufficient earning power in occupational preference or priority for those with a social support system already in place such as an extended family.

A) functionalists
B) conflict theorists
C) interactionists
D) feminists

Question 46

Bill, a city planner, is working to promote his town as a place for immigrants because his urban and exurban neighborhoods need the stability. As a(n) __________, he knows that these groups will help prevent neighborhood decline and maintain racial balance.

A) functionalist
B) conflict theorist
C) interactionist
D) feminist

Question 47

__________ theorists often find validity with the split-labor-market approach and point to the experiences of Syrian/Lebanese men in the United States as strikebreakers as further evidence to support that theory.

A) Functionalist
B) Conflict
C) Interactionist
D) Feminist

Question 48

Andrew understands that any immigrant group faces problems, but he is struck by the relative ease with which the groups in this chapter managed to integrate into U.S. society. As someone whose views align with the __________ perspective, he points to the high levels of education and professionalization that many of these immigrants brought with them as key factors in making this possible.

A) functionalist
B) conflict
C) interactionist
D) feminist

Question 49

__________ theorists viewed the terrible actions of 9/11 as a real threat to reducing prejudice because the already existing social distance of Arab Americans would make it easy to stereotype all of them as radical extremists.

A) Functionalist
B) Conflict
C) Interactionist
D) Feminist

Question 50

In seeking to explain the experiences of Middle Eastern and North African immigrants to the United States, Diadra, an immigrant from Syria, talks about how she gets along with everyone at work, but socially, she is not well integrated beyond her own compatriots. __________ stress that this increases opportunities for ethnic stereotypes and division to emerge.

A) Functionalists
B) Conflict theorists
C) Interactionists
D) Feminists

Question 51

Arab Americans are more likely to be married than the total U.S. population.

Question 52

Educational attainment translates into occupations and income.

Question 53

Greater acculturation appears to be associated positively with satisfaction with life in the U.S. for Arabs but negatively associated with family satisfaction.

Question 54

Arab Americans appear to be generally unconcerned about racial differences in the United States.

Question 55

Many of today's Arab Americans are less sophisticated than other middle-class U.S. citizens.

Question 56

Predominantly Arab nations are political enemies of the United States.

Question 57

Syrian males usually came alone and then sent for their wives and children.

Question 58

Syrian and Lebanese people speak Arabic.

Question 59

Most Palestinian Americans are Hindus.

Question 60

Israeli Americans typically experience a smoother transition to American life than any other immigrant group.

Question 61

Terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, in New York City and Washington, DC increased suspicions about __________, although their social acceptance remains fairly strong.

Question 62

Of all the Arab American groups, __________ have the highest level of educational attainment.

Question 63

__________ is a broad term covering people of diverse nationalities, religions, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Although Americans described by this term may share a sense of peoplehood, they come from 22 nations of North Africa and the Middle East.

Question 64

As with most immigrant groups, __________ links play an important role in stabilizing community life for the Arab Americans.

Question 65

Failure to grasp the humanity of the Arab people increases the __________ between non-Arabs and Arabs.

Question 66

__________ means one group experiencing upward mobility gradually moves out of its old neighborhood.

Question 67

The early immigrants formed a __________ of village-oriented entrepreneurs whose religious traditions served as their self identification.

Question 68

Middle Easterners and Western Asians usually settle in urbanized areas near their __________, with whom they develop close primary social contacts.

Question 69

Among the push-pull factors contributing to Israeli immigration was __________.

Question 70

__________ occurs when there is large-scale entrance of minority group members into primary-group relationships with the host society in its social organizations and institutions. It is rarely seen among first-generation immigrant groups.

Question 71

How are temporary visitors such as students, workers, and business people different from immigrants in terms of assimilation?

Question 72

Many of the new middle Eastern immigrants do not fit the acculturation patterns that worked for other immigrant groups. Explain this trend by using Saudi Arabians as an example.

Question 73

Explain residential patterning of Arab Americans.

Question 74

Explain how Syrian/Lebanese immigrants could easily assimilate into U.S. society before 1950.

Question 75

Explain the factors that contributed to the lack of societal animosity toward Iraqi Americans.

Question 76

How did September 11, 2001 impact the acceptance of Arab Muslims?

Question 77

How does the residential patterning and community life of today's Arab Americans differ from that of past European immigrants?

Question 78

Discuss how Arab Americans deal with stereotypes and group blame.

Question 79

What were the settlement and acculturation patterns of Egyptians in America?

Question 80

Apply the three major sociological perspectives to the experiences of the groups discussed in this chapter.