Deck 13: Social Inequality and Stratification

Question 1

Anthropologists studying inequality are interested in how culturally valued material and social rewards are unevenly distributed. Cross-culturally, these rewards do each of the following EXCEPT

A) vary in form from one society to another.
B) generally fall into one of three basic categories.
C) get valued to varying degrees within different societies.
D) get unevenly distributed in preindustrial societies.

Answer 1

get unevenly distributed in preindustrial societies.

Question 2

Ownership of and access to valued material goods, plus the resources necessary to produce those goods, is termed

A) wealth.
B) status.
C) power.
D) income.

Answer 2

wealth.

Question 3

The respect, admiration, and approval of others in the group is a social reward that anthropologists call

A) reverence.
B) reputation.
C) prestige.
D) social position.

Answer 3

prestige.

Question 4

Anthropologists use a classification system for the amount of inequality in a society, developed by Morton Fried. In this system the categories

A) refer to all types of inequality, including that based on gender, age, and ethnicity.
B) are points along a continuum; most societies fit somewhere between the specific points.
C) are caste, class, and egalitarian.
D) are atemporal.

Question 5

Morton Fried's three classifications for degree of inequality refer to differences in

A) social rewards distributed to individuals based on skill and age.
B) social and material rewards allocated on the basis of age and sex.
C) how social and material rewards are distributed among family and kin groups.
D) the amount of social and material rewards a society has to allocate to its members.

Question 6

The oldest of the categories for degree of inequality in a society is

A) caste.
B) stratified.
C) ranked.
D) egalitarian.

Question 7

Which of these is the best description of an egalitarian society?

A) A society within which all men are considered equal.
B) A society in which there are few differences between families and kin groups in access to resources.
C) A group in which females and males receive equal or nearly equal rewards.
D) A group in which all members received nearly equal rewards regardless of age.

Question 8

Which of the following is NOT part of the explanation for egalitarian societies among foragers?

A) A system of exchange based on reciprocal sharing
B) Many options about where and with whom to live
C) A system of inherited wealth
D) High degree of mobility

Question 9

Which of these societies was egalitarian?

A) Native Americans of the Northwest Coast
B) The Tikopians of Polynesia
C) The foraging BaMbuti
D) Late industrial society

Question 10

The main difference between egalitarian and ranked societies is that in ranked societies

A) there are marked differences in wealth between the classes.
B) an individual's social rank is not influenced by his or her kinship relations.
C) there are a limited number of formal positions that grant authority.
D) leadership statuses are less formal and more open to all.

Question 11

Within ranked societies, one's social position is

A) normatively inherited.
B) earned through special skill, such as hunting.
C) based on how much wealth one accumulates.
D) based on age and gender only.

Question 12

What is the difference between stratified and ranked societies?

A) In ranked societies rewards are inherited; in stratified societies they are earned.
B) The nobility in ranked societies are not generally a great deal wealthier than the general population.
C) In stratified societies, wealth is the only type of reward that matters.
D) The size of the population is the only significant difference between stratified and ranked societies.

Question 13

Which of these is NOT a distinguishing characteristic of stratified societies?

A) Marked and enduring inequalities between strata in access to all types of rewards
B) Inequality based on unequal access to productive resources necessary for making a living
C) Strata consisting of families with roughly the same amount of access to rewards
D) Inequality based primarily on differences in talent and personal character.

Question 14

The major difference between class and caste systems is that caste systems

A) are strongly and normatively exogamous.
B) are entirely based on inherited status, theoretically.
C) don't have norms and laws regulating contact between members of different castes.
D) encourage upward mobility.

Question 15

Today in India, the caste system

A) still functions in rural areas, though in a weakened form.
B) is still fairly strong in both rural and urban areas.
C) has decreased in the number of castes that are recognized.
D) is the source of social harmony since the different castes are interdependent.

Question 16

Global inequalities

A) are fairly recent, emerging with free trade agreements beginning in the 1990s.
B) began as early as the 1500s with the plunder of resources from the "new" world.
C) only affect the standard of living of the nations and peoples of the developing world.
D) decreased during the twentieth century.

Question 17

Which of these statements about class within industrial societies is FALSE?

A) Classes are not organized as classes; there are no occasions for coming together as a class.
B) Most people have a very clear understanding of their class based on their interests as well as income.
C) People cannot say how many classes there are in their society.
D) There is considerable debate within the social sciences about the meaning of the concept of class.

Question 18

Within stratified societies, the members of a particular class have all of the following EXCEPT:

A) comparable levels of rewards.
B) similar access to influential social relationships.
C) the ability to move up or down in class within their lifetime.
D) the ability to easily identify other members of their class.

Question 19

In ordinary interaction between people in the United States, ____ is commonly believed to be an indicator of one's class membership.

A) occupation
B) accrued assets
C) family name
D) household income

Question 20

Over the past few decades, what has happened to the distribution of yearly income in the United States?

A) Most American households got a smaller percentage of the total income.
B) The wealthiest one-fifth of the population received a smaller percentage of total income.
C) Members of the middle class increased their percentage of total income earned.
D) The income gap between the richest and poorest members of society narrowed considerably.

Question 21

The poorest one-fifth of the U.S. population

A) owns about 2 percent of the total wealth.
B) has negative net worth.
C) is the only group that has increased the amount of their wealth.
D) is continually increasing in size.

Question 22

Which of these statements is true about the use of force by the elite in society to maintain their position?

A) The use of force is not necessary because the poor and powerless rarely resent their position.
B) Elites do sometimes use coercion and force to maintain their access to resources.
C) It is not possible for elites to mobilize an army sizeable enough to put down a rebellion.
D) The elite never use coercion or force against those with less power.

Question 23

In the study of inequality, how do anthropologists use the term ideology?

A) Beliefs that explain inequality as desirable or legitimate
B) Any set of ideas held by group
C) A radical perspective on any social issue
D) Ideas that challenge the status quo in terms of social inequality

Question 24

Ideologies that justify inequality

A) are always religious.
B) are always secular.
C) do not involve coercion or force.
D) are unusual within industrialized societies like the U.S.

Question 25

Two major sets of ideas are used to justify the high degree of inequality in the contemporary United States. What are these?

A) The beliefs that Christian values are rewarded with success and that "money isn't everything"
B) The assumptions that differences in wealth are God-given and that nothing can be done to change them
C) The ideas that inequality serves to motivate people to do their best and that success is the result of hard work
D) The beliefs that current wealth differences are only temporary and that sound economic policy will eliminate them

Question 26

Functionalist theories about inequality

A) emphasize that elites exploit others in order to achieve wealth.
B) stress that talents and skills are not uniformly distributed throughout any given population.
C) emphasize the dysfunctional aspects of stratification.
D) hold that inequality is not necessary in a large and complex society.

Question 27

Which of these is a criticism of the functionalist theory of inequality?

A) No one knows how much inequality is needed to motivate people.
B) There is evidence that inequality does not motivate people.
C) Only extreme inequality is motivating, but inequality is common even when not extreme.
D) A little inequality is motivating, but inequality is more commonly very extreme.

Question 28

Conflict theorists of inequality argue that

A) inequality ensures that the most qualified will occupy all positions.
B) those who earn the most are the most deserving.
C) the elite exploit others in order to enrich themselves and protect their own interests.
D) inequality motivates people.

Question 29

Wealth and power are correlated with each other; that is, they always go together in similar amounts.

Question 30

The actual distribution of wealth and other rewards is strongly correlated with people's opinions about the distribution of resources in any society.

Question 31

Even in egalitarian societies, there are social distinctions based on gender, age, and personal qualities.

Question 32

All foragers are or were egalitarian.

Question 33

In ranked societies, the high-ranking or elite do not generally have a great deal of wealth.

Question 34

The nobility in the ranked society of Tikopia used the tribute they collected largely to increase their own wealth.

Question 35

Castes have more permanent membership than classes.

Question 36

Most individuals in stratified societies do not move very far up or down the social ladder during their lifetimes.

Question 37

People's standards of living are determined more by wealth than by their annual income.

Question 38

According to conflict theorists, the sense of national unity and social responsibility is undermined by an increase in inequality.

Question 39

Most archaeologists agree that significant inequalities did not exist until after the evolution of civilization.

Question 40

Coercive force alone is seldom solely responsible for maintaining inequality.

Question 41

It is possible for complex societies to be organized without a hierarchical structure.

Question 42

Stratification has costs for those at the bottom of society, but does not negatively impact those at the top.

Question 43

A key difference between functionalism and conflict theory is that the former holds a largely positive view of inequality while the latter holds a largely negative view.

Question 44

Describe the three types of inequality found among the world's cultures and give an example of each.

Question 45

Explain the key differences between ranked and stratified societies.

Question 46

Discuss the differences and similarities between the two systems of stratification: caste and class.

Question 47

Define what social scientists mean by the concept of class. Explain the difficulties of defining class.

Question 48

Explain why the distribution of wealth is the most useful variable for discussing stratification within the United States.