Sociology Exam 2

What is one reason that interracial relationships are still relatively uncommon even though antimiscegenation laws have been struck down?

Powerful cultural stereotypes discourage them.

Texas has never had a Hispanic governor and the percentage of Hispanic Americans in Texas state government is low. However, many Hispanic Americans live in Texas. In 2012, they made up nearly 40 percent of the state's population. Would a sociologist in Texas call Hispanic Americans a minority group?

Yes, because they are denied access to power and resources.

What is a society called in which social mobility is highly restricted by formal or informal rules like those of a caste system?

a closed system

What kind of sociologist believes racial and ethnic identities bind people and help society run much more efficiently?

a structural functionalist

Racial and ethnic minorities are often portrayed in visual representations as animalistic or subhuman, many times as monkeys or chimpanzees. Why might racist imagery so often use animals?

Animal imagery supports the assumption that differences between groups are innate or biologically based.

What has modern science determined about racial categories?

Biologically there is no such thing as a pure race.

Apartheid is a specific example of what system of social stratification?

Caste

According to Karl Marx, the traditional source of wealth, owning the means of production, is not the only factor in determining social status.

False

Cultural appropriation benefits the minority group by taking that group's symbols and turning them into a commodity for profit.

False

Sociologists are making both a social and a moral judgment when they use the term

False

The working class is the most disadvantaged class, generally earning $15,000 or less per year, counting on charity or welfare, and often suffering bouts of homelessness.

False

How is institutional discrimination different from individual discrimination?

Institutional discrimination is more systematic and widespread.

Most sociological studies of deviance focus on elements of an individual's background that would predispose him or her to act in deviant ways. What is the key problem with such an approach?

It cannot explain why some people with very similar backgrounds act differently.

There are usually serious consequences when a politician is caught cheating on his spouse. In some cases, the politician is forced to resign from his office when his constituents loudly express their unhappiness with such behavior. According to Émile Durkheim, what function does this reaction serve?

It helps to clarify moral boundaries and reinforce the idea that marital infidelity is wrong

How does color blindness contribute to racial inequalities?

It perpetuates racial inequalities by making subtle forms of racism difficult to recognize and therefore difficult to address

"Stereotype promise" is the promise of being viewed through the lens of a positive stereotype that leads one to perform in such a way that confirms the positive stereotype, thereby enhancing performance.

TRUE

According to theorists like Edna Bonacich, what is the effect of a split labor market, in which, workers belonging to one race are paid less than those of a different race?

The effects of racism are compounded by poverty.

What is one of the principal reasons people turn to deviant behavior in the United States according to the structural strain theory of deviance as articulated by Robert Merton?

The goal of success is shared by a majority of people, but not everyone has equal means for achieving that goal.

Whites are now less than half of the population of California . Despite demographic shifts, how can you tell that whites are still the dominant group in California?

They have more power, resources, and representation in social institutions.

Most people describe themselves as belonging to the middle class, but in reality, only about 30 percent of Americans are part of the middle class.

True

Peggy MacInstosh's statement "Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability" is an example for the concept white privilege.

True

W.E.B. DuBois considered the question of whether one could be black and, at the same time, claim one's rights as an American to devise the concept of double-consciousness.

True

How do we decide when to display situational ethnicity?

We do a cost-benefit analysis.

How do self-fulfilling prophecies work?

We respond not only to the objective features of a situation but also to its meaning. Once meaning has been assigned to our behavior, the consequences of that behavior are determined by the meaning.

What do sociologists call it when an individual changes his or her career but remains within the same social class?

horizontal social mobility

There are several ways in which gays and lesbians in the United States have chosen to manage their stigma. When gay rights activists chant the slogan, "We're here, we're queer, get used to it," what strategy are they using?

in-group orientation

When customers have low credit scores, banks often offer them subprime loans that have higher than normal interest rates. If a bank gives three times as many subprime loans to black Americans than to white Americans, even when they have the same credit scores, the bank is guilty of

institutional discrimination

Some immigrants have a hard time assimilating to a new culture. If their children assimilate and have a higher standard of living than their parents, the children are experiencing ________ mobility.

intergenerational

What is it an example of when the children of working-class parents manage to attend college and get a job in a professional field?

intergenerational mobility

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

jobs in the service, information, and technology sectors

White privilege is the idea that one group in society enjoys certain unearned privileges and that group members are

largely unaware of the unequal benefits they possess.

Many workers at auto plants in Michigan lost their jobs when plants closed. What has this resulted in for the vast majority of these workers?

vertical social mobility

Which of the following would sociologists consider the best definition of deviance?

violations of social norms

Tax evasion is an example of which of the following types of crimes, as defined by sociologists?

white-collar crimes

Although they make very little money, priests, ministers, rabbis, imams, and clergy are often prestigious members of their communities. Which social theorist first suggested that this is an important element of class status?

Max Weber

Jeffery McCune's ethnographic study of gay black men in a Chicago nightclub details a space in which their same sex-desires could be comfortably expressed, and interactional work to present a conventionally masculine, heterosexual identity was no longer required. What sociological concept is demonstrated by the efforts to maintain a heterosexual persona?

Passing

How is prejudice different from discrimination?

Prejudice is an attitude; discrimination is an action.

For a long time, the fact that immigrants from eastern Europe, Asia, and Latin America tended to be shorter than native-born Americans was taken as evidence that there were inherent racial differences between these populations. However, the immigrants had children who grew up to be as tall as anyone else. Geneticists now tell us that, although there can be considerable variation in height within a group due to genetics, height differences between groups are largely caused by diet. What does this demonstrate?

Racial differences are socially constructed and not genetic.

What sorts of jobs are usually available to members of the lower-middle class?

blue collar or manual jobs

The 2000 Census was the first time that Americans were allowed to ________ when identifying their race.

check more than one box

Which theory suggests crimes committed by the upper classes are typically treated more leniently than crimes committed by the lower classes because laws represent the interests of those in power?

conflict theory

What are the tastes, habits, and expectations called that children "inherit" or learn from their parents and that help to achieve material success in life?

cultural capital

What is the justification for harsh sentencing guidelines like California's controversial "three strikes" law?

deterrence of future crimes

After a woman's teenage son engages in deviant behavior, she says the reason for her son's behavior is that "he fell in with a bad crowd." Which symbolic interactionist theory of deviance does this explanation MOST closely resemble?

differential association

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 we

make split-second judgments about who people are and what social statuses they occupy based on their appearances

There is an assumption that men can lift more weight than women. Due to this assumption, doctors will focus on enriching a male nurse's skills opposed to those of a female nurse. This eventually leads to most male nurses performing better in the field due to the extra attention and skill development. This is an example for:

stereotype promise

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

Casimir Pulaski Day is always an important holiday in Chicago, a city with more Polish people than anywhere else in the United States. Although not well remembered in the rest of the country, Pulaski was a Polish-born hero of the American Revolution and a cavalry general. What concept helps to explain why this holiday is so much more important to people who trace their ancestry to Poland?

symbolic ethnicity

What school of social thought insists that all social structures, including systems of stratification, are built out of everyday interactions?

symbolic interactionism

What is the real source of racism according to conflict theory?

the struggle between groups over power and control