CH 7-10 CONCEPTS

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?

Absolute

Which racial group has the highest median income?

Asian Americans

Being born into a lower social class means that an individual are more likely to:

Become a victim of violent crime Feel at risk of being harassed by law enforcement Be caught if he commits a crime Encounter the criminal justice system in some way

What has modern science determined about racial categories?

Biologically there is no such thing as a pure race.

The tastes, habits, and expectations that children "inherit" (or learn) from their parents that help to achieve material success in life are called:

Cultural capital

The tendency to choose romantic partners based on similarities in background and group membership is called:

Homogamy

Basic principles of social stratification

It persists over time. Different societies base their stratifications on different criteria. It is maintained through beliefs that are widely shared in a society. It is a general trend, but, within a society, can have exceptions.

How do schools socialize children into gender roles?

Textbooks often contain sexist language. Women are rarely treated as appropriate objects of study. Women tend to be concentrated in the lower levels of the teaching profession. Books by women are rarely assigned.

Why are doctors and parents so quick to seek a surgical "fix" for babies born intersexed?

The prospect of an ambiguously gendered person seems threatening and disturbing.

What sort of social mobility is possible in a caste system?

There is no chance of social mobility

What do most Americans claim about their class status?

They are middle class.

What are the positive consequences of racial and ethnic categories?

They create a sense of identity and lead to feelings of solidarity.

What sort of social mobility often results from losing a job?

Vertical social mobility

What general predictions can be made about a person's life chances if all that is known is her social class?

What sort of education she will receive, job she will work, person she will marry, and how long she will live.

How do sociologists define a minority group?

a group whose members suffer from unequal treatment

How do sociologists define ethnicity?

a group with a shared ancestry or shared cultural heritage

The roles, traits, and behaviors that are associated with a particular gender are called:

gender identity

The "Jim Crow" laws in the American South, which mandated separate facilities for whites and blacks, were an example of:

institutional discrimination

What two roles did the structuralist Talcott Parsons identify within the family?

instrumental and expressive

How is patriarchy defined?

male domination

The belief that Asians are genetically predisposed to be more intelligent than Europeans is an example of:

racism

The process of learning behavior and meanings through social interaction is called:

social learning

Displays of ethnic identity that only occur on special occasions are called:

symbolic ethnicity

Women are more likely than men to live in poverty, a situation often referred to as:

the feminization of poverty

What criteria does a social class system use to stratify its members?

wealth, property, power, and prestige