Exam 7: Class and Stratification in the United States.

By July of 2009, the minimum wage per hour will be

Sociologist Max Weber divided those who work for wages into two classes. The __________ consists of white-collar workers, public officials, managers, and professionals.

Social critic and journalist Barbara Ehrenreich conducted research to see if it was possible for the __________ to live on the wages that they were being paid. She demonstrated that people who work full time, year-round, for poverty-level wages must develop survival strategies that include such things as help from relatives or constantly moving from one residence to another in order to have a place to live.

Discuss U. S. stratification in the future.

A __________ is a system of social inequality in which people's status is permanently determined at birth based on their parent's ascribed status. It is a closed system of stratification.

Educational opportunities and life chances are directly linked. Symbolic interactionists view education as the "elevator" to social mobility. Improvements in the educational achievement levels of the poor, people of color, and white women have been cited as evidence that students' abilities are now more important than their class, race, or gender.

Outline the three major systems of stratification.

According to Forbes magazine's 2005 list of the richest people in the world, Bill Gates (co-founder of Microsoft Corporation) was the wealthiest with a fortune of nearly $46.5 billion. According to sociologist Erik Wright's Marxian model, Bill Gates would be in the __________ class.

__________ mobility is the social movement experienced by family members from one generation to the next.

Based on sociologist Erik Wright's Marxian model, the __________ class is made up of skilled blue-collar workers which include electricians, plumbers, and carpenters, and unskilled blue-collar workers which include janitors and gardeners.

Sociologist Karl Marx believed that the workers are exploited as capitalists maximize their profit by paying the workers less than the resale values of what they produce but do not own. Marx believed that a deep level of antagonism exists between capitalists and workers because of extreme differences in the __________ of the people in these two classes.

__________ is the value of all of a person's or family's economic assets, including income, personal property, and income-producing property.

Describe what is meant by the American Dream.

Explain sociologist Karl Marx's perspective on class position and class relationships.

Sociologists often use the term __________ to refer to a combined measure that attempts to classify individuals, families, or households in terms of factors such as income, occupation, and education to determine class location.

According to sociologist Diana Pearce, __________refers to the trend in which women are disproportionately represented among individuals living in poverty.

You have recently been appointed to the United States Commission Against Poverty. Discuss what specific reforms and strategies (assume that you have a blank check at your disposal) you would attempt to implement in order to reduce or alleviate poverty in America.

According to the social class model developed by sociologists Dennis Gilbert and Joseph Kahl, persons in the __________ class (about 14 percent of the U. S. population) are often highly educated professionals who have built careers as physicians, attorneys, stockbrokers, or corporate managers.

In discussing wealth, sociologist Max Weber identified entrepreneurs as a class of wealthy individuals who live off their investments and do not have to work.

According to sociologist Karl Marx, class position and the extent of our income and wealth are determined by our work situation, or our relationship to the means of production.