Exam 8: Social Stratification and the Us Class System

The process in which people are set apart for differential treatment by virtue of their statuses, roles, and other social characteristics is ________.

The distinctive ways in which group members consume goods and services and display rank is called ________.

What is the most important variable in determining how permeable social strata can be?

What is a system called where classes and groups vote in their best interest and at times vote against others to keep them from dominating the political process?

Competitive capitalism describes a system in which large multinational corporations dominate various sectors of the economy.

Overall, which minority group has the highest rate of poverty which may reach as much as sixty percent?

In closed systems of stratification boundaries are determined by ascribed status such as heredity.

Roger, who holds a Ph.D. in economics, was a Deputy Administrator in a business firm earning in excess of $100,000 a year. He decided on a career change and was appointed to an associate professorship at a state university where he makes half as much money as he did as administrator. He and his family still live in the same home in the suburbs and associate with the same circle of friends. In view of this, which type of social mobility best describes the transformation Roger has experienced?

The number of homeless people in America ranges from a conservative estimate of 250,000 to as many as two million if a more strict definition of homelessness is used.

Summarize the main points of the three sociological perspectives as they relate to social stratification.

Sociologists agree that, like wealth, power is unequally shared.

A ranking that combines income, occupational prestige, level of education, and neighborhood to assess people's positions in the stratification system is called ________.

What is the most recent form of worldwide stratification that is based primarily on economic factors and achieved statuses?

The form of power Max Weber believed carried the greatest weight in the conduct of human affairs was ________.

Which of the following statements is MOST ACCURATE regarding the reality of poverty?

In Europe, what was another name for the estate system that developed after the fall of the Roman empire?

The term used to describe opportunities for securing things such as health, education, autonomy, leisure, and a long life is ________.

Throughout history, slavery has been considered as the lowest strata in society, one which was permanent, usually based on racism, and one in which the slave had no legal rights.

In traditional India the lowest varna, or caste, is occupied by people who do the most undesirable work and is called the Harijan.