Sociology Ch 8
According to the Bureau of the Census, in 2011 a family of four was living in poverty if their income was below,
$22,350
Members of a social class usually have roughly similar lifestyles.
True
Since the passage of the Welfare Reform act in 1996, the number of families receiving aid has ....
decreased greatly
Mothers who are divorced are usually economically worse off than mothers who were never married.
false
The minimum wage in the United States is set so that a single parent of two children who works full time at a minimum wage job will have an income above the poverty index.
false
Bob is a carpenter. He holds a high-school diploma, owns a modest home, but struggles to give his family the things they need and want. he considers himself politically conservative and moderately religious. According to your text, what social class does he belong to?
lower-middle
According to functionalists theory, low paying jobs are low paying because they are not as necassary to the society as better paying jobs.
true
Poor people who work are often not eligible for the assistance that jobless poor people are eligible for.
true
Since the 1970's, the percentage of the elderly living in poverty has decreased while the percentage of children living in poverty has increased.
true
Social class is a fact of all industrialized societies, even in socialist and communist countries.
true
Most government agencies define a family as poor if its income is less than half of the average family income.
False
Rich-poor differences in health do not begin until late childhood. Babies of the poor are no more likely to die in the first year than are babies of the middle and upper class.
False
The upper class of the United States is approximately ______ of the population.
1-3%
About what proportion of the total amount of income in the United States goes to the poorest one-fifth of the population?
3%
Basically, poverty refers to a condition in which people maintain a standard of living that includes the basic necessities but none of the extras and luxuries.
False
Because most Americans work for a living, well over 50% of the population is usually considered the working class.
False
Because of the right to a free lawyer, a poor person charged with a crime is no more likely to be convicted than is a middle-class person.
False
Government assistance programs are generous enough that they provide a comfortable lifestyle for most of the poor.
False
Great Britain, with its long history of nobility and aristocracy, has a much greater gap between the rich and the rest of society than does the United States.
False
Historically, the members of the upper class in the united states have been predominately Jewish.
False
In the united states, members of the upper class, despite their great wealth, often live, work and associate socially with members of the upper and lower middle classes.
False
Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore contend that social stratification exists in most industrialized nations except the united states.
False
The crimes committed by the poor do much more financial harm to society than do the crimes of those in the middle and upper classes.
False
Conflict theories of inequality are often based on the ideas of
Karl Marx
In which social class are parents most likely to treat sons and daughters similarly?
Middle Class
According to Marx, what was the relation between the owners of the means of production (factories, land, and so on) and those who worked for them?
Owners exploited workers and paid them as little as possible.
According to functionalists theory, a society must pay some jobs more to attract people to important positions
True
According to the US census Report (2010), the richest one-fifth of Americans were responsible for 70% of the country's total earned income.
True
Even when a middle-class person and a poor person commit similar crimes, the poor person is more likely to be arrested.
True
In Marx's terms, the bourgeoisies compromises the owners of the means of production.
True
In the last quarter-century, the income gap between the rich and poor in the united states has generally increased.
True
Lower-class people typically share the American desire for advancement and achievement found in the other social classes.
True
Max Weber, unlike Marx, argued that status and power could be separated from economic position
True
More than one American in ten was below the poverty line in 2011.
True
Prison systems are heavily populated by the poor.
True
The amount of government benefits going to the middle class (social security, Medicare, and so on) is greater than the amount going to the poor in welfare programs.
True
The amount of government money going to female-headed families in poverty is less than one-tenth of the amount going to Social Security payments to the ederly.
True
The functionalist explanation maintains that inequality exists and persists because it benefits the society as a whole.
True
The poverty index includes only cash income and does not take into account noncash benefits such as medical and food stamps.
True
conflict theorists argue that inequality persists because those with wealth and power use that wealth and power to protect and further their own interests, even at the expense of the interests of others in the society.
True
In which of these countries is income inequality-the difference between rich and poor-greatest?
United States
of the following nations, the highest rate of poverty among children is found in
United States
Managers and other people who work in the professional and technical fields are members of the __________ Class.
Upper middle
The term for stocks, real estate, and other owned property not including the money a person earns at work is called?
Wealth
Because of the way the government computers the offical poverty index-the income level below which a family is defined as poor-this index can be affected by a change in the cost of...
a
If a government program is means tested, it is
available only to people who can prove that they earn below a certain income
Poverty is more frequent
in rural than in urban areas
Nearly all Sociologists agree that there are _____ social classes in the United States.
none of these; sociologists do not agree on the # of social classes
Which data would you look at if you wanted to show a larger degree of inequality between the rich and the rest of the population?
the distribution of wealth
U.S. government programs to combat poverty have been most successful among
the elderly
The feminization of poverty refers to
the trend in which females represent an increasing proportion of the poor
