Exam 7: Social Class: the Structure of Inequality

Examples of caste systems can be found in both South Africa's apartheid and in the United States as a result of Jim Crow laws.

According to the text, which of the following has the effect of making poverty socially "invisible"?

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

"Homogamy" is a term sociologists use to explain the tendency to choose romantic partners based on similarities in background and group membership. Why is this common?

In "The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation," Drew Westen argues that advocates of health care reform turn many people against universal health care when they talk about it as a way to help the "uninsured" or "underinsured." This is because there is an underlying assumption that poor people are getting what they deserve. What do sociologists call this assumption?

Studies show that people from higher socioeconomic backgrounds tend to live longer and report feeling healthier than people from lower classes. What are some explanations for this phenomenon?

Poverty can be defined in either relative or absolute terms. How is poverty defined according to relative deprivation?

Which of the following is accurate about the upper class in the United States today?

Some sociologists suggest that, like extreme poverty, extreme wealth should be thought of as a social problem.

What activity is MOST likely to take the place of a yoga class for a working-class woman given what you have read about socioeconomic status and life chances?

Americans are conflicted in their opinions about people living in poverty. About half think that circumstances beyond one's control are to blame if a person is impoverished, while about a third say

Symbolic interactionists stress the way we make "snap judgments" about other people's class statuses. We often pay close attention to what cues we display because we are aware that other people are judging us. Given this, why did Paul Fussell decide to measure class status with a "living room scale" rather than assessing some other part of the house?

Lilly Ledbetter, a supervisor at a Goodyear tire plant, discovered late in her career that she had been paid considerably less than any of the other people in her position. She argued that being paid less was simple discrimination since she was the only female supervisor. Assuming Ledbetter was right, it shows that her workplace was NOT

Briefly explain the concept of social mobility. What is the current trend of social mobility in the United States today?

Although "like usually marries like,"________ is more common for heterosexual women, whereas ________ is more common for heterosexual men when class boundaries are crossed in marriage.

According to social psychologists, what do people tend to do when they encounter a situation that seems to be unfair and they cannot or will not act to make things right?

If researchers find that the Great Recession of 2008 led to large numbers of middle-class people experiencing downward mobility to the lower-middle class, it would be an example of

What observations might people make that contribute to their everyday class consciousness?

The criteria used by a social class system to stratify its members include

Residential segregation is the geographical isolation of the poor from the rest of a city's population. Explain how residential segregation is able to flourish in the United States and what characterizes a neighborhood that is segregated in this manner.