Deck 3: Elites in America

Question 1

Which best describes an open elite system?

A) Social Darwinism
B) Absorption of anti-democratic leaders into the elite
C) Slow and continuous modification of the ruling class
D) Reality show style contest for positions of power

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Industrialization in the late 1800s was characterized by

A) rapid growth in the number of industrial concerns.
B) rapid growth in ownership of industry.
C) the spread of small-scale manufacturing.
D) the accumulation of family fortunes.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following have kept the elite system open in the United States?

A) Popular elections
B) Elite competition
C) Affirmative action
D) All of the above

Answer 3

A

Question 4

After the economic collapse of 2008,

A) the administration of George W Bush took no economic action.
B) the administration of Barack Obama took over two automobile companies and seized bailed banks.
C) the administration of George W. Bush purchased the nations largest insurance company (AIG).
D) Both options a and c are true.

Question 5

Once in power, the Anti-Federalists (or Democratic Republicans) changed which of Hamilton's policies?

A) Promoting Western land speculation
B) Promotion of commerce and industry
C) Repayment of state and national debts
D) None of the above is true; the Democratic Republicans made very few changes in Hamiltonian policy.

Question 6

Power in the United States requires an elite member to be

A) in an institutional position.
B) born in to the elite.
C) wealthy and a celebrity.
D) white and male.

Question 7

The largest non-financial corporation in America is

A) Conoco Phillips.
B) General Electric.
C) Wal-Mart.
D) Exxon-Mobil.

Question 8

Alexander Hamilton recognized that the United States would require __________ to bind the wealthy elite to the new nation.

A) low income taxes
B) a sound financial basis
C) repression of mass uprisings
D) French styled economic policies

Question 9

Pluralism treats business elites as

A) leaders of just another interest group.
B) central actors in the economy.
C) more powerful than government elites.
D) talented and resourceful individuals.

Question 10

Industrial elites came to prominence in large part because

A) the Civil War removed competing Southern planter elites.
B) war profits allowed them to be independent of government spending.
C) canals and railroads brought in foreign competition.
D) None of the above is true.

Question 11

The principle that all (white) men should have the right to vote and hold office, even if they don't have property was advocated by

A) George Washington.
B) Andrew Jackson.
C) Thomas Jefferson.
D) Abraham Lincoln.

Question 12

The New Deal is best characterized as

A) a reform of the capitalist system.
B) a carefully planned set of programs.
C) an attempt to use socialist ideas to prevent revolution.
D) all of the above.

Question 13

Which of the following contributed to elite willingness to reform the American system in the 1930s?

A) The rise of communism in Russia
B) The rise of fascism in Germany
C) The rise of discontent in America
D) All of the above are true.

Question 14

The Anti-Federalists were a coalition of

A) manufacturers and large landowners.
B) state elites and commercial elites.
C) Southern planters and shipbuilders.
D) none of the above.

Question 15

Northern Elites in the 1800s saw the West as important to them because it was

A) a substantial source of raw materials.
B) a lucrative market for manufactured goods.
C) an area for the development of non-slave states to fight Southern political power.
D) All of the above are true.

Question 16

The Supreme Court ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford protected slavery as a form of

A) economic production.
B) property.
C) cultural expression.
D) racism.

Question 17

Slavery ended in the United States as a result of

A) demands of the people.
B) demands of the slaves.
C) a revolutionary President seeking to promote freedom.
D) a conservative President trying to keep order.

Question 18

Corporate power is generally wielded by the ______________ of the nation's large industrial corporations and financial institutions.

A) shareholders
B) creditors
C) founders
D) managers

Question 19

Jacksonian democracy was concerned with ___________.

A) absolute equality.
B) opening up the elite.
C) social justice.
D) voting rights for women.

Question 20

________________ may have been the last national leader to publicly acknowledge elitist views.

A) Thomas Jefferson
B) Richard Nixon
C) Alexander Hamilton
D) Gerald Ford

Question 21

There has only been one breakdown of elite consensus in American history; it resulted in the ___________________.

Question 22

The dominant policy-planning group for domestic policy has been the

A) Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
B) Brookings Institute.
C) Cato Institute.
D) Reagan Institute.

Question 23

More than half of American exports before the Civil War were ___________________.

Question 24

The man who led the opposition to Hamilton's economic program was___________________.

Question 25

Executive elites assume government jobs out of a sense of __________.

A) public service
B) financial need
C) lust for power
D) boredom

Question 26

New elites who accept elite consensus on ___________ are welcomed.

A) private enterprise
B) limited government
C) individualism
D) all of the above

Question 27

Elite theory suggests that the initial resources for research, study, planning, and formulation of national policy are derived from

A) various non-profit organizations.
B) anonymous sources.
C) corporate and personal wealth.
D) none of the above.

Question 28

In 2010, the median pay package of a corporate CEO was ______ greater than the average worker's pay.

A) 25 times
B) 138 times
C) 343 times
D) 525 times

Question 29

The media's role in the policy-making process is largely

A) opinion making.
B) decision making.
C) research.
D) financing.

Question 30

Power in the United States is organized into large ___________________.

Question 31

The Supreme Court case of ________________ upheld Hamilton's broad definition of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

Question 32

Elites communicate with the masses and each other through newspapers such as the

A) New York Times.
B) National Enquirer.
C) Washington Times.
D) All of the above are true.

Question 33

In the elite model of public policymaking, opinion making is performed by

A) foundations and universities.
B) think tanks.
C) government commissions and the media.
D) corporations.

Question 34

Politicians specialize in

A) running the government.
B) office seeking.
C) economics.
D) all of the above.

Question 35

Large control blocks of stock in corporations are usually held by which of the following institutions?

A) Banks
B) Mutual funds
C) Pension trusts
D) All of the above

Question 36

Anyone who participates in decisions that allocate values for society is ___________________.

Question 37

___________________ is the term for the movement of talented and ambitious individuals into the elite.

Question 38

The median pay package of a corporate CEO in 2007 was ________ greater than the average worker's pay.

A) 40 times
B) 168times
C) 344 times
D) 525 times

Question 39

Which of the following is an example of a business elite in the Bush administration?

A) Colin Powell
B) Alberto Gonzales
C) Dick Cheney
D) John Kerry

Question 40

Changes in policy in American government are best described as ___________________ in nature.

Question 41

The economic collapse of the ___________________ undermined the faith of both elites and nonelites in the ideals of the old order.

Question 42

American national debts had mostly been purchased by speculators by the time of the start of the nation.

Question 43

Policy-planning groups are also known as ___________________.

Question 44

Lincoln's ___________________ freed the slaves of the South.

Question 45

The notion that the elite have a responsibility for the welfare of the masses is called ___________________.

Question 46

The welfare of the masses is an important consideration in elite decision making.

Question 47

The Homestead Act and the Transcontinental Railroad Act of 1862 both promoted ___________________.

Question 48

In terms of market capitalization, the world's most valuable corporation is ______________.

Question 49

The term ___________________ describes elites moving from one power position to another among the private and public sectors.

Question 50

The basic beliefs of American elites have been able to change rapidly to adapt to new circumstances.

Question 51

___________________ provide a link between wealth and the intellectual community.

Question 52

Governmental elites must respond to media definitions of social problems.

Question 53

___________________ refers to directors of corporations sitting on multiple boards.

Question 54

Many of the largest institutions that own stocks in corporate America are the ______________ pension funds.

Question 55

In a free-market economy, most key economic decisions are made by ___________________.

Question 56

Bank of America is the largest financial Corporation in America.  The largest non-financial corporation in America is _________________.

Question 57

Person in positions of power at large public and private institutions like corporations, banks and financial institutions, universities, law firms, religious institutions, professional associations, and military and government bureaucracies are the _________________.

Question 58

Alexander Hamilton was the single most influential man in the creation of the United States as a commercial nation.

Question 59

The Bank of the United States was successful at stabilizing the currency.

Question 60

By the 1930s control of most large corporations had passed to ___________________.

Question 61

Is the idea of the "circulation of elites" real in America today?

Question 62

Woodrow Wilson believed that elites must function in the public interest.

Question 63

Most large corporations in America are controlled by the men who created them.

Question 64

Another name for the "necessary and proper" clause regarding Congressional power is the elastic clause.

Question 65

Think tanks reflect a variety of ideological perspectives.

Question 66

The economic elites in America function under considerable transparency.

Question 67

Formal control of the nation's economy rests in the hands of the Congress and the President.

Question 68

Corporate executive elites often staff key government positions.

Question 69

American elites tried many compromises before cleavage and conflict resulted in the Civil War.

Question 70

The Democratic Republicans defeated the Federalists by eliminating their programs once taking control of the government.

Question 71

Discuss how Alexander Hamilton's policies helped commercial interests.

Question 72

The largest 500 corporations in American collectively take in about $2.5 billion each year.

Question 73

In the slave-owning South, only half of the (white male) population owned more than 50 slaves.

Question 74

Why is the concentration of industrial and financial power into a smaller number of companies significant?

Question 75

Public Employee pension funds are an important part of many hedge funds.

Question 76

The nation's largest insurance companies invest nearly half of all investment funds.

Question 77

Lincoln had as his primary concern the ending of the terrible practice of slavery.

Question 78

Private equity funds and hedge funds are mostly owned by top political leaders.

Question 79

The rapid development of the American West made the new political struggle in the 1800s one of the settler masses against the financial elites.

Question 80

The Heritage Foundation promotes a progressive, liberal agenda.