Chapter 7 Qu

Recent research by the Pew Research Center on attitudes about the government's responsibility to help those in poverty revealed that

Americans are largely divided on this issue, with those favoring government aid for those in poverty decreasing.

Which of the following is one of the basic principles of social stratification?

It is maintained through beliefs that are widely shared in a society.

What do most Americans claim about their class status?

They are middle class.

What sort of jobs can support a middle-class lifestyle in America today?

jobs in the service, information, and technology sectors

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 Atlantic Records signed her, her advance allowed her to rent a house and buy a new car. Of what class-based phenomenon is this an example?

social mobility

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. To what class would you expect him to belong?

upper-middle class

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

wealth, property, power, and prestige

One cost-of-living indicator shows that a salary of $40,000 in Santa Barbara, California, is equivalent to $14,000 in Wichita, Kansas. This is primarily because of the cost 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 flaw in the way the government calculates the poverty line as the standard is uniformly applied without regard to regional differences.

What is realistic about so-called Cinderella stories like the film Pretty Woman, where a low-status woman marries a wealthy, powerful man?

When class boundaries are crossed, women usually marry up while men marry down.

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?

a measure of absolute deprivation

According to Karl Marx, what social relations matter MOST in a capitalist system?

economic relations

Being born into a lower social class means that an individual will be more likely to

feel at risk of being harassed by law enforcement.

Which system of social stratification was in the final stages of breaking down when Karl Marx developed his ideas?

feudalism

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 society rather than a reflection of individual differences.

What do sociologists call it when large numbers of people move up or down the social class ladder as a result of changes to society as a whole?

structural mobility

A homeless shelter in Illinois held a "sleep out" to protest cutting funding for homeless shelters. The organizers of the rally suspected that most residents did not realize just how many homeless people existed in their community. This was a result of what sociologists would call

the invisibility of poverty.

A black man in the United States was convicted of a felony when he was 17. He is now 58 and has not committed any crimes since his release. However, he is still not permitted to vote. Michelle Alexander would describe this as an example of

the new Jim Crow.

José has been working hard for the past ten years, but most of the wealth he has is the result of inherited properties. Erin has also been working hard for the past ten years, but since she is paid the federal minimum wage and also supports her elderly mother, Erin is below the federal poverty line. José and Erin demonstrate

the wealth gap.

Which of the following set of characteristics can be categorized as the average minimum-wage worker?

thirty-six years old, female, white, and working full-time