Deck 5: Power and Sociology: the Importance of Social Class

Question 1

Americans generally believe in "equality of opportunity" in society and the economy.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Classifying people and ranking the classifications on a superiority-inferiority scale is called

A) social stratification.
B) operationalization.
C) socialization.
D) social objectification.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Family reliance on human labor, high infant mortality rates, the low status of women, and the absence of birth control information or technology all contribute to high birth rates in less-developed nations.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Individuals who have acquired higher education tend to enjoy higher incomes.

Question 5

Occupations differ in their reputational prestige, or the general level of respect associated with a specific job title.

Question 6

The conflict theory focuses on the struggle among competing groups in society over plentiful resources.

Question 7

Social mobility refers to the opportunity people have to move from one class to another.

Question 8

Subjective reality is the interpretation of events by two or more people.

Question 9

Postmodernism is a reaction to explain reality through subjective theories that assert a common truth for all individuals.

Question 10

Deindustrialization has been accompanied by economic globalization.

Question 11

Prestigious occupations, in addition to paying well, also tend to involve substantial authority.

Question 12

Pluralists emphasize the role that individuals play in influencing public policy.

Question 13

Queer theory comes from feminist theory and views sexual identity and behavior as belonging to discrete categories.

Question 14

Throughout the twentieth century, Americans experienced less upward mobility than downward mobility.

Question 15

Functionalism and conflict theory both attempt to explain social stratification.

Question 16

The stratification of society involves the classification of individuals and the ranking of classifications on a similarity-dissimilarity scale.

Question 17

Globalization is the decrease in the exchange of goods and services by firms in different countries.

Question 18

Most national leaders in the United States come from the upper and upper middle classes.

Question 19

People who are future oriented have values most consistent with the lower class.

Question 20

According to C. Wright Mills, power in the United States is concentrated at the top of the nation's corporate, government, and military organizations.

Question 21

The examination of the role that symbols play in creating meaning for communication between individuals is a key component of

A) Marxism.
B) conflict theory.
C) functional theory.
D) symbolic interaction theory.

Question 22

The increase in income inequality may be attributed to all of the following EXCEPT

A) an increase in the number of two-wage families.
B) demographic trends that include fewer older workers.
C) the relative decline of the manufacturing sector.
D) global competition.

Question 23

Equality of results refers to the equal sharing of income and material rewards regardless of one's condition in life. Equality of results means that everyone

A) starts together, but some finish at different levels.
B) starts at different places on the course.
C) starts and finishes the race together.
D) gets a trophy, but some are grander than others.

Question 24

Some sociologists believe that which of the following is the most important single factor influencing occupational prestige rankings?

A) Income
B) Place of residence
C) Education
D) Make of car one drives

Question 25

Which of the following might be an argument made by a sociologist who subscribes to the functional theory of social stratification?

A) People who possess power want to protect it.
B) Wealth is not the only way of motivating people.
C) Stratification negatively affects the thinking of members of the lower class.
D) Certain positions are more important to a society's survival than other positions and require special skills.

Question 26

The concept of class consciousness is best described as

A) awareness of class membership that is held by individuals in order to create a common culture.
B) the belief that all members of one's social class have similar political and economic interests, adverse to those of other classes.
C) the belief that all members of one's social class are like oneself and are likely to share the same core values.
D) an awareness of adversity caused by members of the other classes who wish to impose the values of their class onto individuals of all classes.

Question 27

Postmodern societies typically have certain characteristic traits, including

A) an information explosion.
B) an emphasis on consumerism.
C) an increase in globalization.
D) All of the above are true.

Question 28

The acknowledged and expected function of societal relations or an institution are called

A) manifest functions.
B) dysfunctions.
C) deviated functions.
D) symbolic interaction theories.

Question 29

Equality of opportunity means that everyone comes to the same starting line in life with the same chance of success and that whatever differences develop over time do so as a result of

A) hard work.
B) abilities and talents.
C) initiative.
D) All of the above are true.

Question 30

The idea that inequality is imposed on society by those who want to retain their wealth and power is a key component of

A) democratic theory.
B) conflict theory.
C) functional theory.
D) symbolic interaction theory.

Question 31

The biggest factor determining income is education. Higher levels of educational achievement are linked to higher earnings across which of the following?

A) Gender lines
B) Family lineage
C) Racial groups
D) Age groups

Question 32

When the population is broken up into four categories, which is the largest?

A) Upper class
B) Middle class
C) Working class
D) Lower class

Question 33

C. Wright Mills saw society as competition between groups. He argued that the United States has a small ruling class composed of power elites that included

A) the lower and working class elite.
B) business executives and movie stars.
C) business executives, media moguls, and government and military leaders.
D) revolutionary thinkers.

Question 34

If individuals and institutions perform their tasks, society can remain stable. Merton identified various aspects of functions within society, including

A) manifold functions.
B) disparity functions.
C) deviated functions.
D) dysfunctions, and manifest and latent functions.

Question 35

In the twentieth century in the United States there was generally more

A) plateau mobility.
B) downward mobility.
C) upward mobility.
D) income stabilization.

Question 36

Which of the following is not a principal objective criterion of social class?

A) Income
B) Occupation
C) Education
D) Religion

Question 37

Methods of identifying and measuring stratification do not include

A) societal assessment.
B) reputational prestige.
C) objective criteria.
D) subjective identification.

Question 38

The most common path to social mobility is

A) education.
B) heredity.
C) institutional affiliations.
D) family connections.

Question 39

Income is a key component of stratification, and income is unequally distributed in all societies. The inequalities of income will exist as long as

A) societies reward skills, talent, knowledge, hard work, innovation, initiative, and risk taking.
B) the rich keep the power to themselves.
C) the poor are denied access to resources.
D) humans are in control of rewards.

Question 40

The idea that inequality is necessary to get people to work harder in more demanding jobs that require longer training and greater skill is a key component of

A) Marxism.
B) conflict theory.
C) functional theory.
D) symbolic interaction theory.

Question 41

Explanations for the absence of class conflict in America include all of the following EXCEPT

A) a relatively high standard of living for all Americans.
B) a great deal of upward social mobility.
C) the existence of a large upper class.
D) many cross-cutting allegiances that interfere with class solidarity.

Question 42

Describe traditional upward mobility.

Question 43

Describe the extent and severity of poverty in less-developed countries.

Question 44

The category of less-developed countries encompasses societies with different languages, diverse people, and distinct culture. Nonetheless, there are common characteristics among these countries, including all but which of the following?

A) Poverty
B) Inequality
C) High fertility
D) Advanced technology

Question 45

Factors in American life reducing class conflict do not include

A) a low standard of living.
B) upward mobility.
C) a large middle class.
D) widespread belief in the system.

Question 46

Explain Merton's aspects of function within society.

Question 47

Describe the concept of class consciousness.

Question 48

The lower-class family is frequently headed by a __________.

Question 49

In many less-developed countries where there is a caste system, women are commonly denied

A) education.
B) landownership.
C) participation in politics.
D) All of the above are true.

Question 50

__________ asserts that the functionalist theory, conflict theory, and symbolic interaction theory have proven inadequate in analyzing societies in a post industrial world.

Question 51

Explain traditionalism in less-developed countries.

Question 52

The __________ refers to the Sociology Department at the University of Chicago-the first Sociology Department in the United States.

Question 53

Symbolic interactionists view social class as the result of individuals' __________.

Question 54

__________ is a form of conflict theory, a theory of social stratification that uses a gendered prism and emphasizes the struggle for equality of women with men.

Question 55

The lower class lifestyle is characterized by which of the following?

A) High self-confidence
B) Strong attachment to the community
C) Respect for authority
D) None of the above is true.

Question 56

How can the reputational prestige of occupations be used as a measure of the stratification system of modern societies?

Question 57

The fact that in a democracy the upper social classes tend to hold political office means the masses are

A) necessarily oppressed, exploited, or powerless.
B) not necessarily oppressed, exploited, or powerless.
C) necessarily inferior to the ruling class.
D) not necessarily inferior to the ruling class

Question 58

Explain the reasons for high fertility in less-developed countries and describe China's solution to unfettered population.

Question 59

Most energy in less-developed countries is directly supplied by human and animal muscle power. This means that

A) a lifetime of good health is enjoyed by most people of the world.
B) a lifetime of hard manual labor with good income is the way of life for most people of the world.
C) a lifetime of hard manual labor, just to meet minimum needs, confronts most of the people in the world.
D) the less-developed nations contribute less to the environmental deficit.

Question 60

Describe how the factors that stabilize the class system also stabilize the existing distribution of power in America.

Question 61

Explain the relationship between deindustrialization and the shrinking U.S. middle class.

Question 62

Describe the differences between equality of opportunity and equality of results. Which do Americans tend to favor? Why?

Question 63

Compare and contrast the ways that conflict, functionalist, and symbolic interactionist theories help to explain the uneven distribution of wealth and power in societies.

Question 64

Apply the functionalist theory to the concept of economic globalization to analyze the positive and negative outcomes for America's workers.

Question 65

Analyze the similarities and differences in lifestyles among the American middle, working, and lower classes.

Question 66

Analyze the effect of the Great Recession on American's self-classification between 2008 and 2010.

Question 67

Use the symbolic interactionist perspective to evaluate and subjectively compare your own social class to that of the next social class below yours.

Question 68

Describe feminist theory and the emergence of queer theory over the past several decades. How is queer theory manifested in society today?

Question 69

The text describes three factors that moderate the impact of upper social classes in politics so that the masses in a democracy are not necessarily oppressed, exploited, or powerless. Apply each of these three factors to analyze how any successful U.S. presidential candidate from the last two centuries mitigated the impact of membership in the upper social class to win the popular vote in order to be elected.