chapter 5, 7 and 8 social inequality

Which of the following concepts is most closely aligned with America's contemporary conservative ideology (associated with the current Republican Party)?

advocates government regulation on social issues in order to maintain traditional moral values

Which of the following is a means in which members of the public can freely express their political opinions?

all are examples of expressing free public opinion.

C. Wright Mills and G. William Domhoff would say that the social solidarity of the upper class is maintained by all of the following EXCEPT:

all of the above

Individuals and groups can participate in the political process by:

all of the above

The group most likely to vote is _____ than the average citizen.

all of the above

Davis and Moore's theory [=structural functionalism] says that:

all of the above are correct.

A member of the power elite, according to C. Wright Mills, possesses overlapping bases of power. A typical member of Mills' "power elite" could be:

an Episcopalian Harvard graduate, in a successful career in the State Department

A bank president may sit on the Board of Trustees for a university, or a CEO in business may also serve as a government representative to important committees. From a sociological perspective this creates:

an interlocking directorate

What is the primary benefit for a candidate who emerges as a frontrunner in a political party's campaign for president?

Media coverage of the candidate tends to increase significantly.

Which of the following is NOT consistent with the main arguments in the film, People Like Us-Social Class in America?

The higher a family's income, the more white bread they eat.

Which of the following is not an explanation for low voter turnout?

The rise in "social capital"

The lack of control experienced by the lower classes has been linked to their occupational experiences.

True

Which of the following are NOT parts of the policy formation process?

University faculty having control of funding for research

Which of the following is true of voter turnout?

Women are slightly more inclined to vote than men.

In contemporary societies the government is called _____ and is the political entity that possesses a legitimate monopoly over the use of force within its territory.

state

Voter turnout can be defined as _____.

the percentage of eligible voters that vote in an election

In the United States, groups such as the National Organization for Women (NOW) and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) have an impact on what legislation is created. This process is an example of:

the pluralist model

Today, the most common method used to determine public opinion is _____.

the public opinion poll

What do the Roosevelt family, the Rockefeller family, and the Kennedy family show us about America's upper class?

the ruling class controls or greatly influences American's political apparatus

In the United States, what is the mechanism used to ensure that the majority will rule _____.

voting in elections

It can be argued that ordinary citizens have little influence over the exercise of political power because:

voting is not the most influential form of participation.

The system in the United States whereby a candidate with a plurality of the votes wins the seat, is referred to as _____.

winner-take-all

Skilled blue-collar workers, which include electricians, plumbers, and carpenters, and unskilled blue-collar workers which include janitors and gardeners, are all members of the _____, according to the Marxian model of class.

working

Which of the following contribute(s) the greatest amount of money to political campaigns?

business

According to Forbes magazine, the richest people in the world are Mexican entrepreneur Carlos Slim Helu, Bill Gates (co-founder of Microsoft Corporation), and investor Warren Buffet. In Wright's Marxian model these men would be members of the _____ class.

capitalist

The perception that a class structure exists and the feeling of shared identification with others in one's class is referred to as:

class conciousness

The degree of social inequality within a community is linked to the health status of its residents in that:

communities with lower average incomes report higher rates of chronic health problems.

When analyzing social class, _____ are most likely to consider the degree of control that workers have over the decision-making process and their ability to plan and implement their own work.

conflict theorists

The _____ make(s) up the top level of C. Wright Mill's pyramidal model of the power elite.

corporate rich

Which of the following is NOT a factor contributing to corporate crime?

legislation that is favorable to consumers and employees

Which of the following is not a factor in motivating people to vote?

mandatory requirement of registered citizens

Marx argued that within every mode of production are:

means of production and social relations of production

According to Mills, the power elite is made up of high-ranking members of:

military, political, and economic institutions

Which is true relative to members of the U.S. Congress?

most have business, banking, or legal backgrounds

C. Wright Mills' power elite theory states that given individuals and groups are powerful because:

of the positions they hold in major institutions

Which of the following is the most central criterion for class position in Marx's theory?

ownership or nonownership of property

Some people believe that the government is run by the wealthy and serves the needs of the wealthy. This would be an example of which model of power?

power elite

In the Marxian model of Erik Wright, business owners and craftspeople that may hire a small number of employees but largely do their own work would be considered _____ class.

small-business

Who is famous for writing: "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles."

karl marx

_____ is a political system in which the people hold the ruling power either directly or through elected representatives.

Democracy

Which of these statements about class consciousness in the U.S. is false?

Despite the absence of class consciousness, most Americans are aware that there is little upward social mobility

_____ is the formal organization that has the legal and political authority to regulate the relationships among members of a society and between that society and those outside its borders.

Government

Which of the following statements supports a conflict perspective of social stratification?

Physicians are scarce because it is in the medical profession's interests to ensure that they are.

Which of the following is NOT true?

Preventive care is less likely among those with high incomes.

The class perspective views voting and elections as _____.

designed as a façade to placate the masses and to keep power and control over government resting in the hands of the capitalists who control the means of production

The corporate elite in the United States

disproportionately shapes the agenda and boundaries of political debate.

The _____ model highlights how power in political systems is concentrated in the hands of a small group and the masses are relatively powerless.

elite

Which perspective views voting and elections as designed as a façade to placate the masses and to keep power and control over government resting in the hands of the titans of business, government, and military?

elite

Barry Bonds has talent we don't have, and so he is going to receive a greater income. This approach fits _____ theory.

functional

The corporate rich influence the political system by______________.

helping to finance campaigns and grant favors to political candidates

Karl Marx used the concept _____ to explain why people who do not benefit from a capitalist system would still support it.

ideology

according to marx, the proletariat:

sell their labor power

When one speaks of "the means of production," one is referring to:

the type of technology used to produce goods

When members of the subordinated classes internalize the views of the dominant class and justify inequality, Karl Marx termed this:

false consciousness

Which of the following is NOT consistent with the Davis-Moore thesis in addressing why groups such as doctors have higher incomes than do others, such as garbage collectors?

Doctors have much more organizational power to determine their incomes than do garbage collectors.

Hispanics make up 13 percent of the population, but there are only _____ Hispanic senators.

3

The recent poll shows that _____ percent of people believe the country is ready to elect a female president.

80

Why is public opinion central to America's system of government?

America has a democratic type of government and public opinion can influence government decision making.

Sociologist _____ applied the term power elite to the most powerful in society, who are those at the top of business, the executive branch of the federal government, and the military.

C. Wright Mills

Which sociological theory argues that the elite shape societal beliefs and practices in order to make their own privileges appear legitimate and fair?

Conflict theory

In Mills' view of the power-elite:

Congress has little to do with decisions of national consequence

_____ is defined as an ideological orientation that opposes social change and supports tradition.

Conservatism

_____ is defined as an ideological orientation that supports social change and social progress.

Liberalism

Which of the following is correct?

Low-income individuals, regardless of race or ethnicity, are more likely than their higher-income counterparts to rate their own health as only fair or poor.

According to William Domhoff, what is the role of the media in politics?

Media tend to reflect the biases of those with the greatest ability to access the media.

_____ are organizations of special interest groups that solicit contributions from donors and fund campaigns to help elect (or defeat) candidates who share their stances on specific issues.

Political action committees

_____ is the social institution through which power is acquired and exercised by various groups and individuals.

Politics

_____ is the ability of persons or groups to achieve their goals despite opposition from others. Through the use of persuasion, authority, or force, some people are able to get others to submit to their demands.

Power

Which of the following statements regarding structured inequality is NOT consistent with the ideas of social stratification as structured social inequality?

Social mobility in the social stratification is primarily determined by individual characteristics, including intelligence, hard work, and personality.

According to the Davis-Moore thesis, which of the following is true?

Social stratification has beneficial consequences for a society.

Which of the following is FALSE regarding social class in the United States?

Tax policies favor the middle and lower classes

How do voting patterns in the U.S. compare with those of other democratic countries?

The U.S. has one of the lowest voter turnouts of any democratic country.

The 2008 U.S. Presidential election was unusual in terms of voter turnout. In which of the following ways did the 2008 voter turnout not differ from other elections?

The less educated had higher voter turnout rates than previous elections.

What is meant by the term battleground state?

The state is not reliably Democrat or Republican; either party has a chance of winning in the presidential election.

The functionalist theory views social stratification as:

a device to motivate talented individuals to do important tasks.

Marx used the term _____ for the feeling of powerlessness and estrangement from other people and from oneself that he suggested resulted from continually being exploited.

alienation

Sociologist Karl Marx believed that the workers are exploited as capitalists maximize their profit by paying the workers less than the resale values of what they produce. Marx believed that this resulted in a feeling of powerlessness and estrangement that he called

alienation

According to the lecture, the ideal of democracy assumes:

all of the above

A review of campaign costs for political races at the national level reveal that:

all of the above are true

Davis and Moore's theory predicts that a doctor will have a higher income than a garbage collector primarily because:

all of the above.

Lobbying and lobbyists

all of these

Political participation is correlated with which of the following?

all of these

The pluralist perspective disagrees with both the class perspective and the power elite perspective on

all of these

Historical studies of Cabinet members reveal that:

almost all held top corporate positions before or after being Cabinet members

Research on cabinet members reveals that:

almost all held top corporate positions before or after being cabinet members.

William Domhoff used the term _____ to refer to a small, fixed, privileged group of people with the power to constrain the political system and serve the interests of capitalism.

ruling class

The ruling-class perspective differs from the power-elite perspective in that it:

emphasizes the economic institution as dominant

Which of the following best illustrates a "corporate" crime?

securities fraud

Sociologists who analyze class using a conflict perspective

see class as defined by the relationship of the classes to the larger system of economic production.

According to the conflict perspective, the functional theory of inequality

ignores the role of power in shaping social inequality.

FBI statistics on crime:

include "street crimes" but not "white-collar crimes."

Sociological studies would suggest that:

increases in the number of White police results in more arrests of non-Whites but not of Whites.

As a whole, white-collar crime:

is handled by civil rather than criminal courts.

According to Marx, alienated labor:

is when one's labor belongs to the capitalist

Recent analysis of data from numerous advanced democratic nations revealed that greater income inequality:

lowers voter participation among all but the wealthy.

According to Marx, in capitalist societies, the state:

serves the interests of the ruling class

Marx believed that the dominant ideology:

serves to legitimize the position of the capitalist class

In Wright's Marxian model, persons who have substantial control over production and over workers but do not participate in key corporate decisions such as how to invest profit are the _____.

managerial class

According to Marxian conflict theory, as capitalism progresses

many of those in the middle class will drop into the working class as they are pushed out of managerial jobs into working class jobs

Workers have not overthrown capitalism as Marx had predicted because:

many workers have experienced a rising standard of living

Marx believed that a full-fledged class (i.e., class-for-itself) is characterized by:

organization of the class into a political group fighting for its interest

According to the _____ model of state power, political power is diffused broadly throughout society and derives from the activities of interest groups.

pluralist

In a recent book Professor Curry argues that in American society power is diffused throughout society and that different groups contend with each other for control. He is expressing which position on politics and power?

pluralist

Which perspective views voting and elections as a staple of democracy that allows competing interest groups to vie for ability to influence, shape, and enforce public policy?

pluralist

Which of the following is most closely aligned with contemporary American liberal ideology (associated with the current Democratic Party)?

prefers that government take a more assertive role in the redistribution of economic resources

Which of the following is NOT included in the FBI's Crime Index?

price fixing

According to Karl Marx, the human relationships within a given means of production are the:

relations of production

[*The review questions for the book, The Price of Inequality, are not complete. Read the handouts.] In the book, The Price of Inequality, Joseph Stiglitz discusses _____ as many of the ways by which our current political process helps the rich at the expense of everyone else, including transfers and subsidies from the government and laws that allow C.E.O.'s to take a disproportionate share of corporate revenue.

rent seeking

In the United States, the political system is a _____ in which people have a voice in the government elected representatives who serve as bridges between themselves and the government.

representative democracy

According to Marx, the capitalist class maintains its position at the top of the class structure by control of the society's _____, which is composed of the government, schools, churches, and other social institutions.

superstructure

According to Marxian theory, a society's ideas (e.g., its religious or political notions) are located in its:

superstructure

Working women are most likely to _____.

support Democratic candidates

Men are most likely to _____.

support Republican candidates

Research on incarceration in jails and federal and state prisons tells us that:

the U.S. has the largest rate of incarceration in the world.

Marx believed that:

the bourgeoisie has created the very conditions that will eventually destroy it

Studies of crime and social class suggest that:

the causes of Black crime are similar to the cause of crime by any group.

C. Wright Mills described the power base of the United States as a power elite. David Riesman felt that power was concentrated in the hands of a few groups but that competition among these various "veto groups" kept a reasonable balance of power. C. Wright mills and David Riesman have a difference of opinion concerning which aspect of the political process?

the concentration of power

According to Marx, the profits of capitalists are fundamentally derived from:

the exploitation of workers

Marx and his proponents posited that under capitalism:

the exploitative nature of class relations is masked, making capitalism appear natural

For Davis and Moore, among the important determinants of rewards is:

the functional importance of the task performed for the society.

generally, marx argued that classes are defined by their relationship to:

the means of production

The American political system primarily works to benefit:

the wealthy and the powerful.

The examination of campaign financing as well as of lobbying reveals that

there is an inextricable link between money and political power.

Regarding the U.S. media, the reading suggests that:

they select how issues will be covered.

The traditional view of democracy assumes that citizen participation is equated with citizen power. Evidence in the lecture suggests that:

this assumption is ill-founded.

Erik Wright argues that:

those who do not own the firms they manage occupy a contradictory location in the U.S. class structure.

Beginning in early 2009, what was the purpose of the Tea Party Movement?

to protest government's increase in spending

Marx's superstructure consisted of people's belief systems. T OR F

true

In Wright's Marxian model, the _____ is made up of a number of subgroups, including blue-collar workers, some of whom are highly skilled and well-paid and others of whom are unskilled and poorly paid.

working class