Exam 7: Social Class: the Structure of Inequality

There have been many societies throughout history with no social stratification.

The idea of the American Dream is most closely related to which of the following?

Not all systems of slavery were like the one seen in the United States.In some countries,slaves were not kidnapped from a distant country,and slaves and owners had the same racial and ethnic backgrounds.Discuss how this type of slavery worked and how slaves were selected from within a society.

How do law enforcement policies make the poor less visible?

A young doctor fresh out of medical school who looks for a position where he can work about twenty hours a week and make much less money than other doctors might be:

Poverty can be defined in either relative or absolute terms.How does relative deprivation measure poverty?

Half of all children grow up to have the same socioeconomic class as their parents.Discuss the ways in which Pierre Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital influences this phenomenon.

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

In a six-to-three vote,the Supreme Court upheld an Indiana law that required voters to present photo identification when voting.Advocates of the law believe that it will help to prevent voter fraud.Opponents believe that it is targeting the poor,who are less likely to have photo identification.What would a sociologist call this phenomenon?

A homeless shelter in Illinois held a "sleep out," a protest to alert members of the general public to the dangers of letting funding for homeless shelters drop,forcing shelters to turn away people in need.The organizers of the rally saw their work as particularly important because they suspected that most residents did not realize just how many poor people existed in their community,a result of what sociologists would call:

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

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:

Describe and analyze Pierre Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital in terms of microsociology and macrosociology.What elements of his theory are more like conflict theory? What elements are more like symbolic interactionism?

Although we usually think of social mobility as a result of individual effort,during the "dot-com boom" of the late 1990s,many people became instant millionaires.This is an example of:

Explain Bourdieu's postmodern theory of social reproduction and the powerful role of cultural capital.

A majority of Americans believe that poverty is a big problem,but addressing it is NOT a priority for most.Why NOT?

Why are people more likely to marry individuals with social and cultural backgrounds very similar to their own?

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?

The sociologist Susan Mayer,in What Money Can't Buy,studied poverty and welfare and concluded that raising parental income had little effect on the future life chances of children born in poverty.Instead,she concluded that character traits in parents like "diligence,honesty,good health,and reliability" led to increased achievement in children.Which theory do her conclusions support?

When Karl Marx wrote about inequality,the feudal system (a closed social hierarchy)was dissolving and making way for a more open system.Why was Marx so worried about the new capitalist system that was emerging?