Sociology Matters 6th edition by Richard Schaefer - Test Bank

Sociology Matters 6th edition by Richard Schaefer – Test Bank

 

Instant Download – Complete Test Bank With Answers

 

 

Sample Questions Are Posted Below

 

Chapter 05

Stratification in the United States and Global Inequality

 

 

Multiple Choice Questions

1. A condition in which members of a society have different amounts of wealth, prestige, or power is called
   A.socialization.
   B. status.
   C. social structure.
   D. social inequality.

 

Type: D

2. Which term is used by sociologists to refer to a structured ranking of groups of people that perpetuates unequal economic rewards and power in society?
   A.social mobility
   B. stratification
   C. hypergamy
   D. status

 

Type: D

3. An individual’s salary and wages are called
   A.wealth.
   B. income.
   C. prosperity.
   D. finances.

 

Type: D

 

 

4. A panhandler makes $15 to $20 per day on the streets. This is an example of
   A.status.
   B. prestige.
   C. income.
   D. wealth.

 

Type: C

5. Wealth is
   A.all of a person’s material assets, including land, stocks, and other types of property.
   B. salaries and wages.
   C. a term used by Max Weber to refer to people who have a similar level of income and prestige.
   D. a term used by Thorsten Veblen for people who have the same lifestyle, independent of their class position.

 

Type: D

6. A well-known Hollywood actress owns homes in Beverly Hills and the French Riviera, and she owns her own movie production company along with a large portfolio of stocks. The accumulation of the different things that she owns is considered
   A.income.
   B. wealth.
   C. esteem.
   D. caste.

 

Type: C

7. An ascribed status is a social position
   A.attained by a person largely through his or her own effort.
   B. “assigned” to a person without regard to the person’s unique characteristics or talents.
   C. based solely on income and wealth.
   D. based solely on lifestyle.

 

Type: D

 

 

8. An 83-year-old woman is placed at a small table in a dark corner of a trendy nightclub and is ignored by the staff. Her shoddy treatment is probably due to her age, which is a(an) ______________ status.
   A.achieved
   B. ascribed
   C. horizontal
   D. structural

 

Type: C

9. Which of the following would be an example of ascribed status? A high school student is given a college scholarship
   A.based on his outstanding football skills.
   B. because he is a Native American.
   C. because of the amount of time that he has performed community service work.
   D. all of these

 

Type: C

10. Achieved status is a social position
    A.attained by a person largely through his or her own effort.
    B. “assigned” to a person by peers, without regard to the person’s unique talents or characteristics.
    C. assigned to an individual at birth.
    D. given to an individual based upon his or her age, race, or gender.

 

Type: D

 

 

11. Which of the following is an example of achieved status?
    A.A Native American athlete spends months preparing for a big track meet, which she wins.
    B. A young lawyer loses his first three cases and comes to work late and unprepared regularly; the law firm fires him.
    C. A female umpire earns a spot in the major leagues during spring training, but after several serious judgment mistakes she is demoted to the minor leagues.
    D. All of these

 

Type: C

12. The most extreme form of legalized social inequality is
    A.slavery.
    B. a class system.
    C. a caste system.
    D. feudalism.

 

Type: I

13. A system of enforced servitude, in which people are legally owned by others, is known as
    A.feudalism.
    B. slavery.
    C. communism.
    D. a caste system.

 

Type: D

14. Which term is used to refer to hereditary systems of rank, usually religiously dictated, which are relatively fixed and immobile?
    A.tenure
    B. slavery
    C. castes
    D. feudalism

 

Type: D

 

 

15. Some sociologists have suggested that in the southern United States in the pre-civil rights era, an African American individual was born into a status that would always be subordinate to all of the white members of the community. This is an example of a(an)
    A.estate system.
    B. class system.
    C. caste system.
    D. feudal system.

 

Type: C

16. Peasants required to work land they leased from nobles in exchange for protection defines which type of stratification system?
    A.class system
    B. socialist system
    C. estate system
    D. caste system

 

Type: D

17. A class system is a social ranking based primarily on
    A.age.
    B. caste.
    C. economic position.
    D. religious and ethnic background.

 

Type: D

18. Which type of stratification theoretically allows for the greatest amount of movement from one stratum or level of society to another?
    A.slavery
    B. class system
    C. estate system
    D. caste system

 

Type: I

 

 

19. A woman is born into a homeless single-parent family. She is very talented and as an adult, becomes a wealthy, world-acclaimed pianist. This scenario most closely represents which type of stratification system?
    A.caste
    B. class
    C. estate
    D. slavery

 

Type: C

20. An individual is born into great wealth, but she is lazy, unmotivated, carelessly loses her fortune and dies in poverty. This scenario is most typical of a(an)
    A.caste system.
    B. estate system.
    C. slavery system.
    D. class system.

 

Type: C

21. Sociologist Daniel Rossides
    A.noted that poverty was functional for many wealthy members of society.
    B. created a five-class typology of the U.S. class system.
    C. used Marxist theory to analyze gender discrimination in the U.S.
    D. coined the term underclass.

 

Type: S

22. In sociologist Daniel Rossides’s model of the class system of the United States, which social class contains the smallest portion of the population?
    A.upper class
    B. lower-middle class
    C. working class
    D. lower class

 

Type: I

 

 

23. John works as a clerk in the accounting department of a large law firm. In sociologist Daniel Rossides’s model of the class system in the U.S., John would be considered a member of the
    A.upper class.
    B. upper-middle class.
    C. lower-middle class.
    D. lower class.

 

Type: I

24. Which one of the five social classes outlined by Daniel Rossides is noticeably declining in size?
    A.upper-middle class
    B. lower-middle class
    C. working class
    D. lower class

 

Type: I

25. In Karl Marx’s view, social relations during any period of history depend on who controls the
    A.mass media.
    B. primary mode of economic production.
    C. legislature.
    D. most powerful religious organizations.

 

Type: I

 

 

26. Capitalism is an economic system in which
    A.the means of production are largely in private hands, and the main incentive for economic activity is the accumulation of profit.
    B. all property is communally owned and no social distinctions are made on the basis of people’s ability to produce.
    C. the means of production and distribution are collectively owned.
    D. none of these

 

Type: D

27. Which term is used by Karl Marx to refer to the capitalist class, which owns the means of production?
    A.bourgeoisie
    B. prolétariat
    C. peasantry
    D. oligarchy

 

Type: D

28. Karl Marx used the term proletariat to refer to
    A.the capitalist class
    B. the owners of the means of production
    C. the working class
    D. the middle class

 

Type: D

29. In Karl Marx’s view, members of each class share their own
    A.dominant ideology.
    B. distinctive culture.
    C. prestige rankings.
    D. all of these

 

Type: I

 

 

30. Karl Marx used the concept of “class consciousness” to refer to
    A.an attitude held by members of a class that does not accurately reflect its objective position.
    B. the reputation that a particular individual has within an occupation.
    C. a subjective awareness held by members of a class regarding their common vested interests and the need for collective political action to bring about social change.
    D. the respect and admiration with which an occupation is regarded by society.

 

Type: D

31. A factory worker organizes a protest against unsafe working conditions after realizing that the owners care more about profits than about the health and safety of the workers. In Karl Marx’s terms, the factory worker can be said to have
    A.class consciousness.
    B. true consciousness.
    C. caste consciousness.
    D. proletariat consciousness.

 

Type: C

32. Which term is used by Karl Marx to refer to an attitude held by members of a class that does not accurately reflect the class’s objective position?
    A.false consciousness
    B. bourgeoisie consciousness
    C. class consciousness
    D. proletariat consciousness

 

Type: D

 

 

33. In Marx’s view, a worker who identifies with the wealthy, and believes that he or she can achieve great wealth through hard work, is likely to have developed a
    A.bourgeoisie consciousness.
    B. class consciousness.
    C. false consciousness.
    D. caste consciousness.

 

Type: C

34. David, who works as an editorial assistant at a large publishing company, believes that editorial assistants deserve relatively low pay because the company must turn a profit. In Karl Marx’s terms, David can be said to have
    A.unconsciousness.
    B. false consciousness.
    C. caste consciousness.
    D. bourgeoisie consciousness.

 

Type: C

35. One shortcoming of Karl Marx’s work is that he failed to anticipate the
    A.end of feudalism.
    B. extent to which political liberties and relative prosperity could contribute to a false consciousness.
    C. effects of alienated labor on the working class.
    D. conflict between various capitalist nations.

 

Type: I

 

 

36. Which of the following did Max Weber suggest were analytically distinct components of stratification?
    A.conformity, deviance, and social control
    B. class, status, and power
    C. class, caste, and age
    D. class, prestige, and esteem

 

Type: I

37. Max Weber uses the term “class” to refer to people who share a similar level of
    A.culture.
    B. wealth and income.
    C. power.
    D. esteem.

 

Type: D

38. A status group refers to
    A.people who share a similar level of wealth and income.
    B. people who share the same prestige or lifestyle, independent of their class position.
    C. a subjective awareness held by members of a class regarding their common vested interests and need for collective political action to bring about social change.
    D. a feudal class.

 

Type: D

39. Every evening at a neighborhood bar, the clientele, which consists of construction workers, police officers, plumbers, and factory workers, watches sports events on the big screen television set and play pool. The people who “hang out” in this bar are an example of a
    A.status group.
    B. power group.
    C. class.
    D. caste.

 

Type: C

 

 

40. On a cold night a group of homeless people build a fire and gather around it. They talk about their past lives and how they cope with their current conditions. According to Max Weber, this group constitutes a
    A.status group.
    B. power group.
    C. class.
    D. all of these

 

Type: C

41. The owner of a major league baseball team can fire employees for not winning a pennant, have the city build him/her a new ballpark, and refuse to permit companies that compete with his/her own team to air advertisements during the team’s televised games. This owner would most likely be considered to have
    A.power.
    B. class.
    C. esteem.
    D. status.

 

Type: C

42. In Max Weber’s view
    A.people hold three distinct positions in society.
    B. our position in a stratification system reflects some combination of class, stigma, and power.
    C. our rank in society is determined by four separate variables.
    D. all of these

 

Type: I

 

 

43. Which sociologist maintained that a person’s position in a stratification system reflects some combination of their class, status, and power?
    A.Max Weber
    B. Ralf Dahrendorf
    C. Gerhard Lenski, Jr.
    D. Karl Marx

 

Type: S

44. Thorstein Veblen suggested persons at the top of the social hierarchy convert wealth into conspicuous consumption while the behavior of the lower classes is often subjected to ridicule. Veblen’s views are from the
    A.functionalist perspective.
    B. conflict perspective.
    C. interactionist perspective.
    D. feminist perspective.

 

Type: P

45. Which term did Thorstein Veblen use to describe the behavior of persons at the top of the social hierarchy when converting wealth?
    A.consumption flow
    B. inconspicuous ridicule
    C. conspicuous leisure
    D. consumptive frivolity

 

Type: D

 

 

46. Which sociological perspective would be most likely to argue that most talented people would not go to school for many years to become physicians if they earn equal money and respect working as street cleaners?
    A.functionalist perspective
    B. conflict perspective
    C. interactionist perspective
    D. feminist perspective

 

Type: P

47. Which sociologist(s) argue(s) that stratification is universal and that social inequality is necessary so that people will be motivated to fill functionally important positions?
    A.Ralf Dahrendorf
    B. Karl Marx
    C. Pitirim Sorokin and William Ryan
    D. Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore

 

Type: S

48. Which sociological perspective argues that competition for scarce resources results in significant political, economic, and social inequality?
    A.functionalist perspective
    B. conflict perspective
    C. interactionist perspective
    D. feminist perspective

 

Type: P

49. Sociologist Ralf Dahrendorf suggests that among the most powerful groups in society are
    A.managers of industry.
    B. heads of the government bureaucracy.
    C. legislators.
    D. all of these

 

Type: I

 

 

50. Which sociologist has merged Marx’s emphasis on class conflict with Weber’s recognition that power is an important element of stratification?
    A.William Julius Wilson
    B. Ralf Dahrendorf
    C. Gerhard Lenski, Jr.
    D. Kingsley Davis

 

Type: S

51. Lenski argues that social inequality may have once served the overall purposes of society, but the degree of social and economic inequality that now exists far exceeds the need to provide for goods and services. This facet of the Lenski’s analysis is consistent with which perspective?
    A.functionalist perspective
    B. conflict perspective
    C. interactionist perspective
    D. global perspective

 

Type: P

52. Which critic of the functionalist analysis of stratification notes that while a system of rewards for filling highly expert professions demanding long years of education and skill may once have served the overall purposes of society, this situation no longer exists?
    A.Gerhard Lenski, Jr.
    B. Ralf Dahrendorf
    C. D. Stanley Eitzen
    D. David Featherman

 

Type: S

 

 

53. The objective method of assessing social class assigns individuals to classes on the basis of
    A.criteria such as occupation, education, income, and place of residence.
    B. self-assessment.
    C. assessments by friends and colleagues.
    D. the neighborhood in which they reside.

 

Type: D

54. An objective method of measuring social class in the U.S. may be based upon evaluation of
    A.the value of a family’s home.
    B. the number of years spent working in the same occupation.
    C. the annual income and education of family members.
    D. all of these

 

Type: I

55. Prestige refers to the
    A.reputation that a particular individual has within an occupation.
    B. ability to exercise one’s will over others.
    C. respect and admiration with which an occupation is regarded by society.
    D. people who have similar levels of wealth and income.

 

Type: D

56. Which term is used to refer to the reputation that a specific person has within an occupation?
    A.power
    B. prestige
    C. esteem
    D. status

 

Type: D

 

 

57. In national surveys of occupational prestige rankings in the United States, __________ receive among the highest scores and __________ receive among the lowest scores.
    A.librarians; janitors
    B. sociologists; street-corner drug dealers
    C. physicians; newspaper vendors
    D. dentists; waiters and waitresses

 

Type: I

58. The federal tax policies of the last four decades, especially in the 1980s, has favored
    A.poorer people.
    B. lower class income earners.
    C. middle class income earners.
    D. affluent people.

 

Type: I

59. The wealth of the top _____ percent in the United States exceeds the collective wealth of the bottom _______ percent.
    A.10, 90
    B. 1, 90
    C. 5, 20
    D. 5, 95

 

Type: I

60. Which of the following refers to a floating standard of deprivation by which people at the bottom of a society are judged to be disadvantaged in comparison to the nation as a whole?
    A.absolute poverty
    B. elementary poverty
    C. relative poverty
    D. dramatic poverty

 

Type: I

 

 

61. Which sociologist suggests that it is functional for society to have poor people to do society’s dirty work at low wages, to provide middle-class jobs for people who serve the poor, and to serve as a measuring rod of status for those with higher positions?
    A.Herbert Gans
    B. Émile Durkheim
    C. Peter Blau
    D. Daniel Rossides

 

Type: S

62. Max Weber referred to people’s opportunities to provide themselves with material goods, positive living conditions, and favorable experiences as
    A.power.
    B. wealth.
    C. life chances.
    D. status.

 

Type: I

63. Which of the following refers to the movement of individuals or groups from one position of society’s stratification system to another?
    A.social mobility
    B. life chances
    C. relative poverty
    D. social distribution

 

Type: I

 

 

64. Some analysts suggest that inner-city riots have frequently occurred when poor people realize that their chances of climbing out of poverty are unlikely, based on the structure of our social system. Their frustration is based on their perception that they are living in a(an)
    A.open stratification system.
    B. closed stratification system.
    C. egalitarian class system.
    D. fractured class system.

 

Type: C

65. A woman works as a college professor teaching applied sociology for 25 years and decides to retire and work full-time as a marriage and family therapist. This is an illustration of which type of social mobility?
    A.intergenerational mobility
    B. intragenerational mobility
    C. horizontal mobility
    D. vertical mobility

 

Type: C

66. A poor inner-city youth spends many hours in the neighborhood playground, shooting baskets on the basketball court and engaging in every game that he can play. His skills become outstanding, and he receives a college scholarship and then signs a lucrative contract to play in the National Basketball Association. This is an example of
    A.vertical mobility.
    B. ascribed status.
    C. horizontal mobility.
    D. structural mobility.

 

Type: C

 

 

67. Which of the following is an example of vertical mobility?
    A.A person loses his or her job as a corporate vice president because of downsizing and remains unemployed for 14 months.
    B. An African president is overthrown in a bloodless coup and flees to a neighboring country where he works as a farmer.
    C. A National Football League star suffers a career-ending injury and gets a job as an auto mechanic.
    D. All of these

 

Type: C

68. Which of the following is not true regarding the feminization of poverty?
    A.The proportion of impoverished women in the United States has increased since World War II.
    B. Women “in transition” comprise about half of all women living in poverty.
    C. The rise in poverty associated with women is not a problem in the United States.
    D. A major factor contributing to women’s poverty is an increase in single women as heads of households.

 

Type: S

69. A woman who was born and raised in a poor family begins her career as a postal clerk and later becomes a regional supervisor for the U.S. Postal Service. She has experienced
    A.structural mobility.
    B. horizontal mobility.
    C. upward intergenerational mobility.
    D. downward intragenerational mobility.

 

Type: C

 

 

70. Research concerning the degree of social mobility within the occupational structure of the United States indicates that
    A.occupational mobility has been common among males.
    B. much of the social mobility in the United States covers a very “great distance”.
    C. occupational mobility among African Americans is no longer sharply limited by racial discrimination.
    D. all of these

 

Type: I

71. According to the Schaefer text, which level of college degree serves as less of a guarantee of upward mobility than in the past?
    A.A.A./A.S.
    B. B.A./B.S.
    C. M.A./M.S.
    D. Ph.D.

 

Type: I

72. Which of the following statements is not correct?
    A.Women’s employment opportunities are more limited than employment opportunities for men.
    B. When compared with men, women are more likely to withdraw from the labor force if their skills exceed the job offered them.
    C. Self-employment and entrepreneurship is easier for women to attain than men.
    D. Women experience lower rates of upward mobility compared to men.

 

Type: I

 

 

73. The maintenance of political, social, economic, and cultural dominance over a people by a foreign power for an extended period of time is known as
    A.dependency theory.
    B. neocolonialism.
    C. colonialism.
    D. modernization.

 

Type: D

74. Neocolonialism is
    A.the maintenance of political, social, economic, and cultural domination over a people by a power for an extended period of time (e.g., French control over major parts of northern Africa).
    B. the dependence of former colonies on foreign countries since the 1980s.
    C. the invasion of Third World countries by the military forces of the United States or Russia since 1965.
    D. all of these

 

Type: D

75. The world systems analysis is
    A.Karl Marx’s view that the bourgeoisie nations, such as England, would dominate the proletariat nations, such as India.
    B. Erving Goffman’s view that world peace would result from many types of nations interacting with one another.
    C. Talcott Parsons’s view that the inequality that exists between nations is necessary for world stability.
    D. Immanuel Wallerstein’s view of the global economic system as divided between certain industrialized nations that control wealth, and developing countries that are controlled and exploited.

 

Type: D

 

 

76. According to the world systems analysis, a “core” nation is a nation that
    A.is socially, economically, and politically dominant over all other nations on the periphery (e.g., the U.S. and Germany).
    B. has a marginal economic status (e.g., Israel and South Korea).
    C. is a poor, developing nation exploited by more powerful nations and corporations (e.g., Honduras and Ethiopia).
    D. none of these

 

Type: D

77. According to the world systems analysis, a “periphery” nation is a nation that
    A.along with its multinational corporations dominates all other nations socially, economically, and politically (e.g., the U.S. and Germany).
    B. has a marginal economic status (e.g., Israel and South Korea).
    C. is a poor, developing nation exploited by more powerful nations and corporations (e.g., Honduras and Ethiopia).
    D. none of these

 

Type: D

78. The worldwide integration of government policies, cultures, social movements, and financial markets through trade and the exchange of ideas is known as
    A.globalization.
    B. dependency.
    C. colonialism.
    D. neocolonialism.

 

Type: D

 

 

79. Which of the following statements about multinational corporations is true?
    A.The 10 largest multinational corporations all have their headquarters in the United States.
    B. The value of sales of the largest multinational corporations exceeds the total value of goods and services of many peripheral nations.
    C. They are all state-owned (i.e., public as opposed to private) businesses.
    D. All of these

 

Type: I

80. Which perspective would most likely suggest that multinational corporations help create social stability within a society by creating jobs and global enterprise?
    A.functionalist perspective
    B. conflict perspective
    C. interactionist perspective
    D. feminist perspective

 

Type: P

81. Which sociological perspective would most likely compare the relationship between a colonial nation and the colonized people to the relationship between the dominant capitalist class and the proletariats?
    A.functionalist perspective
    B. conflict perspective
    C. interactionist perspective
    D. global perspective

 

Type: P

 

 

82. Modernization refers to the
    A.elimination of old housing and its replacement with modern skyscrapers.
    B. process by which a society moves from traditional or less developed institutions to those characteristic of more developed societies.
    C. colonial domination of Third World nations by Western powers.
    D. process of development that, at this time, has occurred only in core nations, such as England, France, Japan, and the United States.

 

Type: D

83. The process by which a society moves from traditional or less developed institutions to those characteristic of more developed societies is called
    A.world systems analysis.
    B. developmental theory.
    C. reconstructionism.
    D. modernization.

 

Type: D

84. Which sociologist(s) note(s) that modern societies tend to be urban, literate, industrial, and have sophisticated transportation and media systems, and that families in such societies are organized within the nuclear family unit rather than the extended family model?
    A.Wendell Bell
    B. Immanuel Wallerstein
    C. Karl Marx
    D. all of these

 

Type: S

 

 

85. Sociologists are quick to note that terms such as modernization and development contain a(an) __________ bias.
    A.economical
    B. class
    C. ethnocentric
    D. scientific

 

Type: I

 

True / False Questions

86. Beginning in 2011, the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) will replace the poverty line in determining a household’s eligibility for governmental benefits.
    FALSE

 

87. The digital divide refers to a new aspect of social inequality, referring to differential access to internet and technological resources.
    TRUE

 

88. The most extreme form of legalized social inequality for individuals or groups is a caste system.
    FALSE

 

89. Peasants required to work land leased to them by nobles in exchange for military protection and other services is referred to as a caste system.
    FALSE

 

 

 

90. According to Karl Marx, a worker with class-consciousness may feel that he or she is being treated fairly by the bourgeoisie, and a worker with false consciousness realizes that all workers are being exploited by the bourgeoisie and have a common stake in revolution.
    FALSE

 

91. Max Weber argued that actions of individuals and groups could be understood solely in economic terms.
    FALSE

 

92. Even if stratification is inevitable, the functionalist explanation for differential rewards does not explain the wide disparity between the rich and the poor.
    TRUE

 

93. Conflict sociologists argue that stratification will inevitably lead to instability and to social change.
    TRUE

 

94. Wealth in the United States is more evenly distributed than income.
    FALSE

 

95. Men are more likely than women to withdraw from the workforce when their skills far exceed the jobs offered them.
    FALSE

 

96. The division between core and periphery nations has changed significantly over the last 100 years, according to a study by the International Monetary Fund.
    FALSE

 

 

 

97. Modernization suggests positive change, yet change usually occurs slowly and often benefits only the wealthiest segments of a population.
    TRUE

 

 

Essay Questions

98. Describe the differences between ascribed status and achieved status. Give examples to support your answer.

Answers will vary

 

99. Discuss Karl Marx’s view on class differentiation. Define the terms bourgeoisie and proletariat. Describe what Marx termed as a “false consciousness” and give an example to support your answer.

Answers will vary

 

100. Compare and contrast the functionalist and conflict views of social stratification. Give examples to each view to support your answer.

Answers will vary

 

101. Describe the various issues surrounding the definition of poverty. Define the difference between absolute and relative poverty.

Answers will vary

 

 

 

102. Discuss Immanuel Wallerstein’s world system analysis. Define dependency theory as it relates to Wallerstein’s views. Give examples to support your answer.

Answers will vary