Chapter 7: Social Class: The Structure of Inequality

The traditional caste system is based on what aspect of life?

heredity

middle class

highly skilled blue collar jobs

Sweden

A great number of social services are provided by the government in this country, The top tax rate in this country is 60 percent.

Place the professions in descending order of social prestige, from most to least prestigious, as measured by the National Opinion Research Center.

architect, veterinarian, firefighter, social worker, auto-body repair person

upper-middle class

creative class

lower-middle class

precarious work

lower class

precarious work, underemployment

upper-middle class

professionals and managers

Which of the following terms have been used to describe the racial hierarchy in Brazil?

racial democracy, polite racism

working poor

seasonal work

Movement through the hierarchy is nearly impossible.

slavery, caste

Status within the hierarchy is inherited.

slavery, caste, social class

This is a system primarily based on economics.

slavery, social class

Maxine comes from a working-class background. Her father worked in construction his whole life and her mother was a stay-at-home mom who dropped out of high school but later got her GED. Maxine becomes interested in computer programming at a young age and spends many hours in the school library teaching herself. Maxine attends the state university on a scholarship. While there, she develops a valuable algorithm for identifying neurological diseases that makes her a multi-millionaire. She drops out of college to continue her work. Which term related to social class best describes the example of Maxine?

social inconsistency

What term describes the division of society into groups arranged in a social hierarchy?

social stratification

12 percent

underclass

1 percent

upper class

14 percent

upper-middle class

Capitalists

want to see wages go down, control the assets used for production, earn money by taking a share of profits

What does Max Weber consider the ultimate basis of class divisions?

wealth, power, and prestige

13 percent

working poor

A researcher discovers that, in the labor market, blacks face discrimination compared to whites, but black men are much more likely to face discrimination than black women. What concept does this highlight?

Intersectionality

French sociologist and postmodernist Pierre Bourdieu suggested that social reproduction, or the tendency of social classes remaining relatively stable as class status is passed down from one generation to the next, occurs in part through the acquisition of what?

cultural capital

What is the practice of banks and mortgage lenders identifying high-risk areas (usually low-income or minority neighborhoods) and either refusing mortgages to applicants from those neighborhoods or offering loans at prohibitively high rates?

redlining

Which of the following are types of slavery occurring in the world today?

sex slavery, serfdom, human trafficking

Which social class category is comprised of people who live in poverty conditions and typically earn $15,000 or less per year?

underclass

Most individuals from which social class category generally depend on income from salaried work but often are financially stable?

upper-middle class

The average age of first marriage for women with a graduate degree.

30

The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 and has been since 2009. How much does a full-time minimum-wage worker earn per month before taxes?

1,256

In terms of annual income for a family of four, what is the poverty line in the United States, as defined by the Department of Health and Human Services?

24,000

The average age of first marriage for women with a high school diploma.

25

Absolute Deprivation

An underclass family lives paycheck to paycheck and often runs out of money near the end of the week and must seek additional assistance from food banks and churches, A homeless man sets up on a street corner every day to scrape together whatever he can but often goes hungry and cannot find a place to stay when the local homeless shelter is at capacity.

Place each category of the Hindu caste system in order from top to bottom stratum.

Brahman, ksatriya or chhetri, vaishya, sudra, the untouchables

Gender is the most important characteristic of stratification in more traditional societies.

Different societies use different criteria for ranking their members.

Because people living in poverty are less likely to vote or participate in political life, we suggest they are politically __________ .

Disenfranchised

Max Weber suggests that wealth, power, and prestige must all be attained to reach upper-class status and any individual aspect of social class cannot be converted into another.

False

Brazil

Intermarriage has eliminated clearly defined racial groups, but skin color still largely defines an individual's place in society in this country, Slaves were imported to this country through the mid-1800s.

How much social mobility is there in the modern United States compared to fifty years ago?

Mobility is about the same in the United States now as it was fifty years ago

Iran

Religion is a primary factor for maintaining social and economic positions in this country, This country was transformed from a constitutional monarchy to a theocracy in 1979.

Identify each item as an example of either income or wealth.

Social Security checks, a retired worker's pension

Place each major poverty policy enacted in the United States in order from first to last.

Social Security, Medicaid, Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act

Barack Obama was able to become president of the United States even though African Americans are generally lower status than whites in the United States.

Social stratification is a characteristic of society.

The American achievement ideology suggests that people who are not successful did not work hard enough.

Social stratification is maintained through beliefs that are widely shared by members of society.

Mark Zuckerberg is likely to pass down his wealth to his children.

Social stratification persists over generations.

Regardless of age, race, or gender, people with more education are more likely to have health insurance.

True

Social stratification in one form or another is present in all societies.

True

Proletariat

earn money by selling their labor, want to see wages go up

Identify the factors that have preserved the Indian caste system.

endogamy, social closure

What is the name of the stratification system that dominated Europe for centuries but was breaking down by the 1800s?

feudal system

30 percent

middle class, working (lower-middle) class

The percentage of new mothers with a high school diploma or less.

34

What is the estimated number of people trapped in modern-day slavery?

35,000,000

In 2013, how many Americans lived below the poverty line?

45.3 million

Relative Deprivation

A lower-middle class family owns a house at the edge of a county where many rich people live. They have many highly educated neighbors nearby and cannot afford to shop at the multitude of upper-middle class stores in the area, A low-income student earns a scholarship to a highly prestigious university. Her peers wear expensive clothes to class and drive nice cars. She wear clothes she bought at the thrift store and has to ride the bus to go anywhere.

working (lower-middle) class

clerical jobs

A social scientist argues that inner-city families cannot escape a cycle of poverty because they see the lack of opportunities around them, decide that the world of the middle class is permanently closed to them, and do not try to maintain steady employment or send their children to college. What concept does this example highlight?

culture of poverty theory

Identify the factors that are sometimes included in the definition of class.

income, occupation, education, wealth

Which of the following is not a major system of stratification?

prison

What term describes the unequal distribution of wealth, power, or prestige among members of a society?

social inequality