Social Stratification

The point of the story about passenger deaths that accompanied the sinking of the ocean liner Titanic is that ______.

c. social stratification is important and can sometimes be a matter of life and death

Social stratification is a concept that refers to __________.

b. ranking categories of people in a hierarchy

Using the sociological perspective, we see that social stratification _________.

a. gives some people more privileges and opportunities than others

Which concept describes a person who moves from one occupation to another that provides about the same level of rewards?

Horizontal social mobility

In all societies, kinship plays a part in social stratification because _________.

b. parents pass their social position on to their children

A caste system is defined as _______

a. social stratification based on ascription, or birth

In general, societies that have caste systems have economies that are ____________.

c. agrarian

A category of people defined as "untouchable" because they perform work that is viewed as "unclean" has been part of social stratification in _____.

a. India

The ending of apartheid in South Africa has led to ______

a. that society becoming ameritocracy

The concept "meritocracy" refers to social stratification ___________.

c. based entirely on personal merit

The historical practice in England of passing on property to only the first-born male descendant is called ______.

d. the law of primogeniture

The concept of structural social mobility refers to ___________.

c. change in the social position of many people due to changes in society itself

In the People’s Republic of China ________

a. a new set of social classes is gradually emerging

Compared to other high-income nations, the United States has __________.

d. more economic inequality

Ideology, or beliefs that support social stratification, is found in __________.

c. both caste and class systems

Who coined the concept "survival of the fittest"?

c. Herbert Spencer

According to the Davis-Moore thesis _________.

c. more important jobs must provide enough rewards to attract the talent necessary to perform them

Davis and Moore point out that an egalitarian society ________.

b. could exist, but only if people are willing to allow anyone to perform any job

In Karl Marx’s analysis, another name for the capitalist class is the __________.

d. bourgeoisie

When Marx argued that capitalism "reproduces the class structure", he meant that _______.

b. society operates in a way that carries class differences from one generation to the next

According to Karl Marx, social stratification in a capitalist society always involves _______.

a. class conflict

Olga works as a district sales manager for a small corporation. This category of work can be described as _________.

b. white-collar

One reason Marx’s predicted socialist revolution never took place in industrial-capitalist societies is that ______.

b. living standards for the majority have gone up

The idea that social inequality is harmful and divides society is associated with the ________.

b. social-conflict approach

Max Weber claimed that social position was based on a person’s ___________.

a. economic class, degree of social status, and amount of power

To impress her friends, Laura wears an expensive designer dress to a party. A sociologist might say Laura is engaging in _______.

d. conspicuous consumption

Which of the following types of societies comes closest to being egalitarian?

a. hunting and gathering

Looking around the world today, income inequality is greatest in which region

b. Latin America

Based on what you have read, as the United States develops a postindustrial economy, economic inequality is _______.

d. increasing

In 2013, the median income for U.S. families was ________.

c. 63,815

Which concept refers to earnings from work or any investments?

a. income

Based on income statistics in the chapter, it is correct to say that the richest 20 percent of the population earns more than _________ times as much as the poorest 20 percent.

b. twelve

The total amount of financial assets, minus any debts, is referred to as _____________.

c. wealth

The richest 5 percent of U.S. families own about what percentage of privately owned property?

d. 65 percent

The wealthiest 1 percent of U.S. families (the "super-rich") controls about _______ of the nation’s privately held wealth.

b. 37 percent

Based on what you have learned in this chapter, about what percentage of all U.S. families have little or no wealth?

b. 40 percent

Working class people might also be described as ________.

a. lower-middle class

According to Karl Marx, which class forms the core of the industrial proletariat?

d. the working class

In general, people of low social class position _______________.

a. live in less safe and more stressful environments

People of low social position are more liberal on _______ issues and more conservative on __________ issues.

b. economic; social

The concept of "intergenerational social mobility" refers to change in social position…

d. when comparing children to their parents

Which concept refers to change in social position during a person’s lifetime?

a. Intragenerational social mobility

During the last twenty years, which category of the U.S. population has experienced the largest gains in average income?

c. the highest-paid 20 percent

Which of the following factors tends to raise your social standing?

c. marrying and staying married

Relative poverty is ______________.

a. found everywhere

In 2013, about what share of the U.S. population was officially counted as poor?

b. 14.5 percent

In the United States, which age category has the highest poverty rate?

a. Children under the age of eighteen

In terms of absolute numbers, most poor people in the United States are _____________.

a. African American

The concept "feminization of poverty" refers to the fact that, in the United States _____________.

c. women make up an increasing percentage of the poor

In 2013, the percentage of all poor families in the United States headed by single women was…

c. 51 percent

The anthropologist Oscar Lewis suggest the cause of poverty lies in ________________.

a. a lower-class culture of poverty

Sociologist William Julius Wilson suggest the cause of poverty lies in _______________.

c. too few available jobs

One-third of all homeless people are ______________.

d. entire families