Sociology - Real World - Ch 7
simplicity movement
A loosely knit movement that opposes consumerism and encourages people to work less, earn less, and spend less, in accordance with nonmaterialistic values (page 215)
convince themselves that nothing bad has happened
According to social psychologists, when people encounter a situation that seems to be unfair, and they cannot or will not act to make things right, what do they tend to do?
structural mobility
Although the United States lost many jobs in the recession of the late 2000s, many people are optimistic that the lost jobs will be replaced with others. However, even if the optimists are right, this shift in the economy may permanently alter the class status of many, as jobs being lost are largely in manufacturing, and new jobs are often in information technology, suggesting that the newly unemployed will have trouble competing for newly created jobs. If this is the case, what is it called?
structural mobility
Although we usually think of social mobility as a result of individual effort, during the "dot-com boom" of the late 1990s, many people became instant millionaires. This is an example of:
culture of poverty
Antrenched attitudes that can develop among poor communities and lead the poor to accept their fate rather than attempt to improve their lot (page 209)
casete
Apartheid is a specific example of what system of social stratification?
15.7 percent
Approximately what percentage of the United States population falls below the federal poverty line
15.7 percent
Approximately what percentage of the United States population falls below the federal poverty line?
just-world hypothesis
Argues that people have a deep need to see the world as orderly, predictable, and fair, which creates a tendency to view victims of social injustice as deserving of their fates (page 210)
ascribed status
Ascribed status is usually involuntary and often assigned at birth. Achieved status is voluntary and often based on merit, ability, or achievement. What sort of status would you expect to find in a closed system?
heterogamy
Choosing romantic partners who are dissimilar to us in terms of class, race, education, religion, and other social group membership (page 205)
middle class
Composed primarily of "white collar" workers with a broad range of incomes; they constitute about 30 percent of the U.S. population white collar a description characterizing workers and skilled laborers in technical and lower-management jobs (page 191)
everyday class
Consciousness awareness of one's own social status and that of others (page 198)
Just World Hypothesis
Drew Westen, in "The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation," argues that, when advocates of health care reform talk about universal health care as a way to help "the uninsured" or "the underinsured," they turn many people against universal health care because there is an underlying assumption that poor people are getting what they deserve. What do sociologists call this assumption?
moving the homeless out of high profile locations
How do law enforcement policies make the poor less visible?
social class
How is Max Weber's idea of social class different from Karl Marx's? Weber believed that wealth, power, and prestige could all affect a person's __________.
cultural capital
If an individual takes adult education classes, attends lectures and concerts, or travels to Europe, what might he be trying to gain more of?
working class or lower-middle class
Mostly "blue collar" or service industry workers who are less likely to have a college degree; they constitute about 30 percent of the U.S. population (page 191)
upper-middle class
Mostly professionals and managers who enjoy considerable financial stability, they constitute about 14 percent of the U.S. population (page 190)
social inconsistency
Mother Teresa was a person with tremendous power and prestige, yet she was very poor. Mother Teresa is an example of which of the following?
status inconsistency
Mother Teresa was a person with tremendous power and prestige, yet she was very poor. Mother Teresa is an example of which of the following?
intergenerational mobility
Movement between social classes that occurs from one generation to the next (page 203)
feudalism
Which system of social stratification was in the final stages of breaking down when Karl Marx developed his ideas?
Homogamy
______ or the tendency to choose romantic partners based on similarities in background and group membership, is very common, because we tend to have more access to people like ourselves.
open system
A social system with ample opportunities to move from one class to another (page 203)
closed system
A social system with very little opportunity to move from one class to another (page 203)
A Closed System
A society where social mobility is highly restricted through formal or informal rules, like those of a caste system, is called
closed system
A society where social mobility is highly restricted through formal or informal rules, like those of a caste system, is called:
feudal system
A system of social stratification based on a hereditary nobility who were responsible for and served by a lower stratum of forced laborers called serfs (page 194)
social class
A system of stratification based on access to such resources as wealth, property, power, and prestige (page 189)
part of the simplicity movement
A young doctor fresh out of medical school, who looks for a position where he can work about twenty hours a week and make much less money than other doctors, might be:
academic achievement
Greg J. Duncan and a team of researchers analyzed the effect of parental income on the academic achievement of children. Given what you've read about socioeconomic status and life chances, what do you think that Duncan found? Parental income is strongly correlated with _________, especially in low-income families.
taking care of their children after work
Given what you have read about socioeconomic status and life chances, what activity is most likely to take the place of a yoga class for a working-class woman?
aren't doing enough
Given what you know about poverty in America, how would you explain this relationship? Americans don't want to spend as much on welfare because they think poor people ___________.
split second judgments
It is often said that you can always tell a millionaire by her shoes. She may dress like a slob in every other respect, but someone from the upper class is bound to have expensive, custom-made footwear. Whether this is true or not, it helps demonstrate the way that we make ________about who people are and what social status they occupy based on their appearances.
t points to a flaw in the way the government calculates the poverty line, as the standard is uniformly applied without regard to regional differences.
One cost of living indicator available on the Internet shows that a salary of $40,000 in Santa Barbara, California is equivalent to $14,000 in Wichita, Kansas. This is primarily because of housing, which is much less expensive in Wichita. What does this difference say about how the federal government calculates poverty?
social inequality
The modern laborer . . . instead of rising with the process of industry, sinks deeper and deeper below the conditions of existence of his own class. He becomes a pauper, and pauperism develops more rapidly than population and wealth. This statement represents Karl Marx's view that __________ will continue to grow and expand.
slavery
The most extreme form of social stratification, based on the legal ownership of people (page 187)
vertical social mobility
The movement between different class statuses, often called either upward mobility or downward mobility (page 203)
intragenerational mobility
The movement between social classes that occurs during the course of an individual's lifetime (page 203)
social mobility
The movement of individuals or groups within the hierarchal system of social classes (page 203)
horizontal social mobility
The occupational movement of individuals or groups within a social class (page 203)
underclass
The poorest Americans who are chronically unemployed and may depend on public or private assistance; they constitute about 5 percent of the U.S. population (page 191)
reclining
The practice of refusing mortgages for houses in poor and minority neighborhoods is called:
disenfranchisement
The removal of the rights of citizenship through economic, political, or legal means (page 211)
prestige
The social honor people are given because of their membership in well-regarded social groups (page 194)
social reproduction
What does Pierre Bourdieu call the tendency of social class to be passed down from one generation to the next and consequently remain relatively stable over time?
meritocracy
What is a form of stratification in which all positions are awarded on the basis of merit
Cinderella stories
What is realistic about "______________" like the film Pretty Woman? Answer - When class boundaries are crossed, women usually marry up, while men marry down.
five years
What is the maximum length of time a family can collect welfare based on the welfare reforms provided in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act?
simplicity mobility
What is the movement that encourages people to work less, consume less, and generally "downshift" their lifestyles called?
simplicity movement
What is the movement that encourages people to work less, consume less, and generally "downshift" their lifestyles called?
It tends to blame the victims of poverty for their own misfortunes while ignoring the structural causes of inequality.
What is the principal sociological critique of the culture of poverty?
Strictly speaking, social class is determined by socioeconomic status, but there is often overlap between class and these other variables
What is the relationship between social class and race, ethnicity, gender, and age in the United States today?
Oprah represents the exception, rather than the rule
What is wrong with treating Oprah Winfrey as the ultimate symbol of the American Dream?
Asian Americans
What population group is NOT associated with higher rates of poverty?
symbolic interactionism
What school of social thought insists that all social structures, including systems of stratification, are built out of everyday interactions?
middle class
What social class do "white-collar" workers (workers employed in technical and lower-management positions) belong to?
the middle class
What social class do "white-collar" workers (workers employed in technical and lower-management positions) belong to?
there is no chance of social mobility
What sort of social mobility is possible in a caste system?
blue collar jobs / manual labor
What sorts of jobs are usually available to members of the lower middle class?
feudalism
What system of social stratification was in the final stages of breaking down when Karl Marx developed his ideas?
population density and anomie
What variable has the greatest impact on crime rates?
false consciousness
When individuals fail to see the ways in which they are oppressed by the social system they live in, Karl Marx calls it:
relative deprivation
When poverty is measured by age groups, a graph is demonstrating ____________
intergenerational mobility
When the children of working-class parents manage to attend college and get a job in a professional field, it is an example of:
relative deprivation
When we compare the salaries of the worst paid members of a corporation with the salary of the CEO, what sort of measure of poverty are we using?
class consciousness
When young people go away to college, it's often the first time that they make friends with people of substantially different class statuses. Sometimes this leads to tension when the wealthier member of a friendship is oblivious to his friend's class status and suggests activities that are beyond the friend's means. This tension results from a lack of _________
meritocracy
Which of the following is a form of stratification in which all positions are awarded on the basis of merit?
Asian Americans
Which of the following population groups are NOT associated with higher rates of poverty?
other homeless men
Who acted kindly toward John Coleman when he went undercover as a homeless person and lived on the street for ten days?
people have more access to individuals who are like themselves
Why are people more likely to marry individuals with social and cultural backgrounds very similar to their own?
Luxury
Why don't members of the lower class exercise more often? Answer - Exercise is a _________ accessible only to those who don't have to struggle with day-to-day existence.
class boundaries are blurry
Why should you remain cautious when using a representation of the class system in a table or graph?
culture of poverty
"It tends to blame the victims of poverty for their own misfortunes while ignoring the structural causes of inequality." This statement is a critique of the ______________
Just World Hypothesis
"Most people have a strong need to believe that the world is orderly, predictable, and fair." This statement shows how _________ is appealing to most people.
upper class
"They are a largely self-sustaining group and rarely add new members." This statement is true of the _________ in the U.S.
blue collar
A description characterizing workers who perform manual labor (page 191)
political dis-enfranchisement
In a six-to-three vote, the Supreme Court upheld an Indiana law that required voters to present photo identification when voting. Advocates of the law believe that it will help to prevent voter fraud. Opponents believe that it is targeting the poor, who are less likely to have photo identification. As justice David Souter put it, "The onus of the Indiana law is illegitimate just because it correlates with no state interest so well as it does with the object of deterring poorer residents from exercising the franchise." What would a sociologist call this?
political disenfranchisement
In a six-to-three vote, the Supreme Court upheld an Indiana law that required voters to present photo identification when voting. Advocates of the law believe that it will help to prevent voter fraud. Opponents believe that it is targeting the poor, who are less likely to have photo identification. As justice David Souter put it, "The onus of the Indiana law is illegitimate just because it correlates with no state interest so well as it does with the object of deterring poorer residents from exercising the franchise." What would a sociologist call this?
middle class lifestyle
Jobs in the service, information, and technology sectors support a _____________ in the U.S. today
economic relationships
Karl Marx spent much of his life attempting to describe and understand how capitalism worked. In one particularly vivid passage, he described the turbulence that he saw as inherent in capitalism in this way: "All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his real condition of life and his relations with his kind." What sort of relationships did he think that his readers had with other people?
social stratification
Low-level groups often have access to all the rewards and privileges of higher level groups. This statement does not reflect a principle of the ______________
cultural capital
Many sociologists in the 1960s noticed that economic obstacles alone were not sufficient to explain disparities in the educational attainment of children from different social classes. Which concept was designed to explain these disparities?
flaw
One cost of living indicator available on the Internet shows that a salary of $40,000 in Santa Barbara, California is equivalent to $14,000 in Wichita, Kansas. This is primarily because of housing, which is much less expensive in Wichita. What does this difference say about how the federal government calculates poverty? It points to a _________ in the way the government calculates the poverty line, as the standard is uniformly applied without regard to regional differences.
the culture of poverty
Oscar Lewis was the first to suggest that, because they are excluded from mainstream social life, the poor develop a way of life with fundamentally different values and goals, which make it much less likely that they will ever join the middle class. This way of life is usually called:
society
Sociologists often point out that systems of stratification in the United States systematically favor white men. Sometimes people contest this, pointing to wealthy and powerful black women like Oprah Winfrey or Toni Morrison. A valid counterpoint to this argument is that stratification is a characteristic of a ________, rather than a reflection of individual differences.
residential segregation
Some municipalities in the Los Angeles area have zoning rules that prohibit multifamily dwellings and require that all homes be built on lots of a certain size. What is the effect of these policies?
Welfare Reform Act of 1996
The ________ ended the concept of entitlements by requiring recipients of welfare to find work within two years of receiving assistance. How has this changed the lives of the poor? Moving from welfare to work did not substantially increase income levels, it simply shifted the poor from welfare to low-paying jobs.
American Dream
The belief that some people must fail so that others can succeed is NOT a component of the ___________according to sociologists.
intergenerational mobility
The difference between a person's ascribed status and his achieved status is measured in terms of his
intergenerational mobility
The difference between a person's ascribed status and his achieved status is measured in terms of his:
intragenerational mobility
The difference between a person's ascribed status and his achieved status is measured in terms of his:
social stratification
The division of society into groups arranged in a social hierarchy (page 187)
social mobility
The folk-pop singer Jewel is famous for having lived in her van when she first moved to San Diego and started performing in a coffee shop. Soon after she was signed by Atlantic Records, her advance allowed her to rent a house and buy a new car. What class-based phenomenon is this an example of?
residential segregation
The geographical separation of the poor from the rest of the population (page 210)
vertical mobility
The idea of the American Dream is most closely related to which of the following?
wealth, property, power, prestige
What criteria does a social class system use to stratify its members?
they are middle class
What do most Americans claim about their class status?
horizontal social mobility
What do sociologists call it when an individual changes her career but remains within the same social class?
social class
What does Paul Fussell's living room scale attempt to measure?
status inconsistency
a situation in which there are serious differences between the different elements of an individual's socioeconomic status (page 191)
meritocracy
a system in which rewards are distributed based on merit (page 213)
political disenfranchisement
n a six-to-three vote, the Supreme Court upheld an Indiana law that required voters to present photo identification when voting. Advocates of the law believe that it will help to prevent voter fraud. Opponents believe that it is targeting the poor, who are less likely to have photo identification. As justice David Souter put it, "The onus of the Indiana law is illegitimate just because it correlates with no state interest so well as it does with the object of deterring poorer residents from exercising the franchise." What would a sociologist call this?
white collar
A description characterizing workers and skilled laborers in technical and lower-management jobs (page 191)
caste system
A form of social stratification in which status is determined by one's family history and background and cannot be changed (page 188)
upper class
A largely self-sustaining group of the wealthiest people in a class system; in the United States, they constitute about 1 percent of the population and possess most of the wealth of the country (page 190)
socioeconomic status (SES)
A measure of an individual's place within a social class system; often used interchangeably with "class" (page 189)
wealth
A measure of net worth that includes income, property, and other assets (page 194)
relative deprivation
A relative measure of poverty based on the standard of living in a particular society (page 204)
horizontal social mobility
A reporter, who covers the police beat at a newspaper, changes careers. She becomes an editor of nonfiction books and is paid the same salary as she was at the newspaper. What has she experienced?
cost of living
A serious flaw in the way that the federal government defines poverty is that it doesn't take into account regional differences in the _________.
economic relations
According to Karl Marx, what social relations matter in a capitalist system?
upper middle class
An accountant with a college degree and a license from the state accounting board works for the Department of Defense as a senior auditor. He makes about $100,000 a year and will soon retire with benefits and a pension. What class would you expect him to belong to?
absolute deprivation
An objective measure of poverty, defined by the inability to meet minimal standards for food, shelter, clothing, or health care (page 204)
poverty
Given what Chapter 7 said about defining poverty, research indicates that only looking at those who have no jobs underestimates the actual extent of __________ in the United States
there is no way to move out of poverty
Barbara Ehrenreich studied the working poor, people with service jobs that paid mostly minimum wage or slightly more. Based on your study of poverty, what do you think that she recommended such workers do to move out of poverty?
lower social class
Being born into a ___________ means that an individual will be: a. more likely to become a victim of violent crime. b. more likely to feel at risk of being harassed by law enforcement. c. more likely to be caught if he commits a crime. d. more likely to encounter the criminal justice system in some way.
structural mobility
Changes in the social status of large numbers of people due to structural changes in society (page 203)
homogamy
Choosing romantic partners who are similar to us in terms of class, race, education, religion, and other social group membership (page 205)
social class
Each of the following predictions can be made about a person's life chances if all that is known is her ________. a. what sort of education she will receive b. what sort of job she will work in c. what sort of person she will marry d. how long she will live
Greg J. Duncan
Greg J. Duncan and a team of researchers analyzed the effect of parental income on the academic achievement of children. Given what you've read about socioeconomic status and life chances, what do you think that Duncan found? Parental income is strongly correlated with academic achievement, especially in low-income families.
their speech and gestures
How do observers determine someone's socio?economic status when meeting them for the first time?
$21.954
In 2009, the U.S. Census Bureau defined the poverty threshold for a family of four at:
a measure of absolute deprivation
In the United States, the federal poverty line is calculated using food costs, based on the cheapest possible diet that can still provide basic nutrition. What sort of measure of poverty is this?
the American Dream is an ideology
Manohla Dargis called the movie The Pursuit of Happyness "a fairy tale in realist drag . . . the kind of entertainment that goes down smoothly until it gets stuck in your craw. . . . It's the same old bootstraps story, an American dream artfully told, skillfully sold. How you respond to this man's moving story may depend on whether you find Mr. Smith's and his son's performances so overwhelmingly winning that you buy the idea that poverty is a function of bad luck and bad choices, and success the result of heroic toil and dreams." What idea is being expressed here
that the American Dream is an ideology
Manohla Dargis called the movie The Pursuit of Happyness "a fairy tale in realist drag . . . the kind of entertainment that goes down smoothly until it gets stuck in your craw. . . . It's the same old bootstraps story, an American dream artfully told, skillfully sold. How you respond to this man's moving story may depend on whether you find Mr. Smith's and his son's performances so overwhelmingly winning that you buy the idea that poverty is a function of bad luck and bad choices, and success the result of heroic toil and dreams." What idea is being expressed here?
vertical social mobility
Many workers at auto plants in Michigan have recently lost their jobs as plants close. For the vast majority of these workers, this has resulted in _________
Vertical Social Mobility
Many workers at auto plants in Michigan have recently lost their jobs as plants close. For the vast majority of these workers, this has resulted in:
vertical social mobility
Many workers at auto plants in Michigan have recently lost their jobs as plants close. For the vast majority of these workers, this has resulted in:
hypogamy
Marrying "down" in the social class hierarchy (page 205)
hypergamy
Marrying "up" in the social class hierarchy (page 205)
cultural capital
Pierre Bourdieu explained the data in research about those ging to college using the concept of ________.
working poor
Poorly educated workers who work full-time but remain below the poverty line; they constitute about 20 percent of the U.S. population (page 191)
by asking who has minimal food, shelter, clothing and medical care
Poverty can be defined in either relative or absolute terms. How does absolute deprivation measure poverty?
large-scale social change
Roger & Me is a sociological movie because it tries to make connections between ____________ and individual lives.
absolute
Several members of the Indian government have argued that poverty in India should be calculated according to how many calories a day people consume, not in relation to their incomes. What sort of measure of poverty would this be?
digital divide
The experience of unequal access to computer and internet technology, both globally and within the United States (page 207)
Anthony Giddens
The social theorist ____________ has argued that "social structures are both constituted by human agency, and yet at the same time are the very medium of this constitution." In other words, individual interactions produce social structures, but at the same time those social structures limit, constrain, and direct individual actions. This means that ________ believes the structural perspective and the interactionist perspective are not mutually exclusive; structure shapes interaction, and interaction generates structure.
conapartheid
The system of segregation of racial and ethnic groups that was legal in South Africa between 1948 and 1991 (page 189)
cultural capital
The tastes, habits, expectations, skills, knowledge, and other cultural dispositions that help us gain advantages in society (page 197)
social reproduction
The tendency of social classes to remain relatively stable as social class status is passed down from one generation to the next (page 196)
homogamy
The tendency to choose romantic partners based on similarities in background and group membership is called
homogamy
The tendency to choose romantic partners based on similarities in background and group membership is called:
social inequality
The unequal distribution of wealth, power, or prestige among members of a society (page 187)
self sustaining
The upper class in the U.S. is largely a a largely ___________ group and rarely add new members.
90%
The upper class makes up just 1 percent of the total U.S. population, but its total net worth is greater than that of ____________ of the rest of the population.
