Chapter 9 Quiz

Symbolic interactionists have come to the conclusion that:

Most people only socialize with people in their same social class.

What is the most significant threat to the relatively high standard of living people are accustomed to in the United States?

The decline of the middle class

Mohit spent his days combing through garbage in Mumbai, India with his brothers and sisters. Sometimes he would find food, or something to sell for money. He never tried to overcome his lower-class status because he had seen his friends try and fail. So, he accepted his fate, and tried to live life as best he could in a closed society. Mohit is an example of someone living under:

A caste system

Since the social classes in the United States do not have any clear boundaries, how is a sociologist supposed to determine whether their subjects are in the upper class or the upper-middle class?

Upper class is often defined as having control over one's life and the lives of people around you, while the upper-middle class is often defined as having control only over one's own life.

A person's position in a country's social stratification is determined by:

Wealth, power, income, race, education

Which factor is considered when evaluating someone's standard of living?

All of the above (education, wealth, class)

Hope is desperate for the new designer purse that she saw while window shopping at her local mall. She knew every girl in school would covet her bag and wish to be like her. When she walked in, she whipped out her credit card, and purchased the $5,000 bag. This kind of purchasing is called:

Conspicuous consumption

In 2008 the United States, as well as the rest of the world, felt the effects of the recession. After the collapse of the housing market, people lost their jobs and they quit spending money. Many people could not afford their mortgages anymore and their homes went into foreclosure. For many people, it was a time of __________.

Downward mobility

Cate is the daughter of a Senator and the former CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Harry grew up on a farm, tilling the land for a living. They are planning a June wedding. They will have a(n)___________ marriage.

Exogamous

What seems to be the key (although not the rule) to upward social mobility?

How much education you have.

The Davis-Moore Thesis states:

That the more society values a particular profession, the more the people in that profession will make.