Sociology Ch.8

While the Davis and Moore thesis suggests "to each according to the importance of one's work," Karl Marx supported the idea

"from each according to ability, to each according to need."

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

35%

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

Intragenerational social mobility

One good indication that caste still operates in the United Kingdom is the importance people attach to ________

accent in speech

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

marrying and staying married

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

parents pass their social position on to their children.

The lowest-earning 20 percent of all U.S. families receive __________ of all income.

4.0 percent

In 2013, how many people were counted by the U.S. government as having income below the official poverty line?

45 million

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

65%

In the United States, the wealthiest 20 percent of families own about ___________ of the country's privately owned wealth.

85 percent

Marx claimed social stratification would end with the creation of a socialist economy. What was Weber's view?

Weber thought socialism would reduce economic differences but also create political elite, increasing differences in power.

The anthropologist Oscar Lewis suggested the cause of poverty lies in ________

a lower-class culture of poverty.

At the top of the system of inequality in the former Soviet Union were the ________

apparatchiks, or high government officials.

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

economic; social

One-third of all homeless people are ________

entire families

As surprising as it may seem, in the United States, poor people typically have better health than rich people.

false

In the United States, there are many more people in the upper class than in the lower class.

false

In the United States, wealth is distributed more equally than income.

false

People with high social standing tend to be conservative on both social and economic issues.

false

Recent welfare reform has greatly reduced the poverty rate in the United States.

false

The Davis-Moore thesis suggests that the more equal a society is, the more productive it is.

false

Today, U.S. workers have far fewer legal protections than U.S. workers had a century ago, when the industrial age was just beginning.

false

U.S. society does not have social stratification.

false

Using the sociological perspective, we see that social stratification ________

gives some people more privileges and opportunities than others.

Ravi was born into a caste system in a small village in Sri Lanka. He can expect to ________

have the same social standing as his parents.

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

increasing

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

latin america

The formal ending of apartheid in South Africa has led to

little improvement in the lives of millions of poor, black people.

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

more economic inequality

Since the United States lacks a history of nobility, as in Europe, many people in this country think of it as ________

mostly middle-class.

A common micro-level pattern involving social interaction is that ________

people tend to socialize with others of about the same social position.

According to Lisa Keister's research, ________

social mobility is lowest for people at the top and the bottom of the wealth hierarchy.

A caste system is defined as

social stratification based on ascription, or birth.

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

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

The chapter-opening story of passenger deaths that accompanied the sinking of the ocean liner Titanic shows that

social stratification is sometimes a matter of life and death.

The Davis-Moore thesis states that

society must attach enough rewards to important jobs to attract the talent needed to perform these jobs well.

In the history of France and other European countries, the term "second estate" referred to

the nobility

In 1917, the Russian Revolution transformed the feudal aristocracy and placed productive property under the control of ________

the state

Following Karl Marx's analysis, we would expect to find alienation among which category of people?

the working people, or proletariat

Sociologist William Julius Wilson suggests the cause of poverty lies in ________

too few available jobs

Caste systems are more typical of agrarian societies.

true

Hispanic families, on average, lag behind non-Hispanic white families in income.

true

In general, white-collar occupations have more prestige than blue-collar occupations.

true

Karl Marx understood social stratification in high-income societies such as Great Britain and the United States as the product of capitalism.

true

Max Weber saw social stratification as a combination of three distinct dimensions: economic class, social prestige, and political power.

true

The age category of the U.S. population most likely to be poor is children under the age of eighteen.

true

The wealth of rich people is not only greater, but more of it is in the form of investments that typically increase in value and generate income.

true

Weber described stratification as a multi-dimensional ranking.

true

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

women make up an increasing percentage of the poor.

About half of all the people in the United Kingdom today consider themselves to be in the ________

working class