Question 1

In 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau defined the poverty threshold for a family of four at:

Accepted Answer

A)  $62,050 
B)  $52,700 
C)  $42,000 
D)  $30,500 
E)  $22,491 
A)  $62,050 
B)  $52,700 
C)  $42,000 
D)  $30,500 
E)  $22,491

Question 2

According to Max Weber, the traditional source of wealth-owning the means of production-isn't the only factor in determining social status. How does Weber conceptualize power and prestige? Why does he argue that power and prestige, in addition to material wealth, are important factors in determining a person's social status?

Accepted Answer

Wealth, power, and prestige are interrel

Question 3

Oscar Lewis was the first to suggest that, because they are excluded from mainstream social life, the poor develop a way of life with fundamentally different values and goals, which makes it much less likely that they will ever join the middle class. This way of life is usually called:

Accepted Answer

A)  the culture of poverty. 
B)  the invisibility of poverty. 
C)  the social contract. 
D)  residential segregation. 
E)  oppression norms. 
A)  the culture of poverty. 
B)  the invisibility of poverty. 
C)  the social contract. 
D)  residential segregation. 
E)  oppression norms.

Question 4

What is the relationship between the American Dream and the social class system by which the United States is stratified?

Accepted Answer

A)  The American Dream promises that one day social stratification will be overcome. 
B)  People who believe in the American Dream can usually overcome the class system. 
C)  The American Dream is a nice idea, but everyone really knows that it's just an inconsequential daydream. 
D)  Hardly anyone knows what the American Dream is anymore. 
E)  The American Dream legitimizes inequality by reinforcing the idea that everyone has the same chance to get ahead. 
A)  The American Dream promises that one day social stratification will be overcome. 
B)  People who believe in the American Dream can usually overcome the class system. 
C)  The American Dream is a nice idea, but everyone really knows that it's just an inconsequential daydream. 
D)  Hardly anyone knows what the American Dream is anymore. 
E)  The American Dream legitimizes inequality by reinforcing the idea that everyone has the same chance to get ahead.

Question 5

America is a profoundly hierarchical society.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 6

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

Accepted Answer

A)  residential integration 
B)  political engagement 
C)  the use of law enforcement to move the homeless away from visible locations 
D)  highlighting successful attempts by the poor to organize 
E)  cultural products, such as movies, that highlight the lives of the poor 
A)  residential integration 
B)  political engagement 
C)  the use of law enforcement to move the homeless away from visible locations 
D)  highlighting successful attempts by the poor to organize 
E)  cultural products, such as movies, that highlight the lives of the poor

Question 7

Barbara Ehrenreich studied the working poor, people with service jobs that paid mostly minimum wage or slightly more. Based on your study of poverty, what do you think she recommended that such workers do to move out of poverty?

Accepted Answer

A)  that they save at least 10 percent of their paychecks every month 
B)  that they avoid having children 
C)  that they go back to school 
D)  nothing, because there are few ways for them to move out of poverty 
E)  that they develop a personal relationship with someone in a higher socioeconomic class 
A)  that they save at least 10 percent of their paychecks every month 
B)  that they avoid having children 
C)  that they go back to school 
D)  nothing, because there are few ways for them to move out of poverty 
E)  that they develop a personal relationship with someone in a higher socioeconomic class

Question 8

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:

Accepted Answer

A)  structural mobility. 
B)  wise investing. 
C)  savvy technological genius. 
D)  horizontal mobility. 
E)  social change. 
A)  structural mobility. 
B)  wise investing. 
C)  savvy technological genius. 
D)  horizontal mobility. 
E)  social change.

Question 9

Some municipalities in the Los Angeles area have zoning rules that prohibit multifamily dwellings and require that all homes be built on lots of a certain size. What is the effect of these policies?

Accepted Answer

A)  residential segregation 
B)  political disenfranchisement 
C)  homelessness 
D)  false consciousness 
E)  social mobility 
A)  residential segregation 
B)  political disenfranchisement 
C)  homelessness 
D)  false consciousness 
E)  social mobility

Question 10

Culture is a source of shared norms and values, but cultural capital can never generate profits like economic capital can.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 11

Greg J. Duncan and a team of researchers analyzed the effect of parental income on the academic achievement of children. Given what you've read about socioeconomic status and life chances, what do you think Duncan found?

Accepted Answer

A)  There was no correlation between class status and educational achievement. 
B)  Class status helped to predict high school grades but had no relationship to later academic success. 
C)  Children from working-class families are more likely to attend and graduate from college, as they have better work ethics. 
D)  Parental income is strongly correlated with academic achievement, especially in low-income families. 
E)  Parental income only seems to matter for upper-middle-class families; other social classes have more or less the same rates of college and high school graduation. 
A)  There was no correlation between class status and educational achievement. 
B)  Class status helped to predict high school grades but had no relationship to later academic success. 
C)  Children from working-class families are more likely to attend and graduate from college, as they have better work ethics. 
D)  Parental income is strongly correlated with academic achievement, especially in low-income families. 
E)  Parental income only seems to matter for upper-middle-class families; other social classes have more or less the same rates of college and high school graduation.

Question 12

What is wrong with treating Oprah Winfrey as the ultimate symbol of the American Dream?

Accepted Answer

A)  She was born into a fairly wealthy family. 
B)  She represents the exception rather than the rule. 
C)  She has recently lost most of her resources and isn't particularly well off. 
D)  Many other people have achieved greater success after starting with less. 
E)  Her family might not have had much money but did have social connections that helped her with her career. 
A)  She was born into a fairly wealthy family. 
B)  She represents the exception rather than the rule. 
C)  She has recently lost most of her resources and isn't particularly well off. 
D)  Many other people have achieved greater success after starting with less. 
E)  Her family might not have had much money but did have social connections that helped her with her career.

Question 13

When the children of working-class parents manage to attend college and get a job in a professional field, it is an example of:

Accepted Answer

A)  intragenerational mobility. 
B)  horizontal social mobility. 
C)  downward mobility. 
D)  lack of mobility. 
E)  intergenerational mobility. 
A)  intragenerational mobility. 
B)  horizontal social mobility. 
C)  downward mobility. 
D)  lack of mobility. 
E)  intergenerational mobility.

Question 14

According to Max Weber, wealth, power, and prestige are often related to one another, but one cannot be converted into another.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 15

Manohla Dargis called the movie The Pursuit of Happyness "a fairy tale in realist drag . . . the kind of entertainment that goes down smoothly until it gets stuck in your craw. . . . It's the same old bootstraps story, an American dream artfully told, skillfully sold. How you respond to this man's moving story may depend on whether you find Mr. Smith's and his son's performances so overwhelmingly winning that you buy the idea that poverty is a function of bad luck and bad choices, and success the result of heroic toil and dreams." What idea is being expressed here?

Accepted Answer

A)  that the American dream is an ideology 
B)  that America is a largely class-free society 
C)  that poverty is absolute, not relative 
D)  that most Americans will inherit their parents' class status 
E)  Paul Fussell's living room scale 
A)  that the American dream is an ideology 
B)  that America is a largely class-free society 
C)  that poverty is absolute, not relative 
D)  that most Americans will inherit their parents' class status 
E)  Paul Fussell's living room scale

Question 16

What do sociologists call awareness of our own and others' class statuses?

Accepted Answer

A)  class consciousness 
B)  ideology 
C)  false consciousness 
D)  cultural capital 
E)  social structure 
A)  class consciousness 
B)  ideology 
C)  false consciousness 
D)  cultural capital 
E)  social structure

Question 17

Patrick Radden Keefe's The Snakehead describes (mostly) illegal immigrants to America from Fujian, a province in China. Many of the immigrants took incredible risks to get to the United States and have a hard time assimilating, but Keefe is very optimistic that their children will assimilate and have a much higher standard of living than their parents. What does Keefe believe the children will experience?

Accepted Answer

A)  bootstrap mobility 
B)  intergenerational mobility 
C)  intragenerational mobility 
D)  structural mobility 
E)  immigrant mobility 
A)  bootstrap mobility 
B)  intergenerational mobility 
C)  intragenerational mobility 
D)  structural mobility 
E)  immigrant mobility

Question 18

How do law enforcement policies make the poor less visible?

Accepted Answer

A)  arresting the poor at higher rates 
B)  increased scrutiny of the lower class 
C)  profiling the lower class 
D)  moving the homeless out of high-profile locations 
E)  attacking political protests that are organized by the poor 
A)  arresting the poor at higher rates 
B)  increased scrutiny of the lower class 
C)  profiling the lower class 
D)  moving the homeless out of high-profile locations 
E)  attacking political protests that are organized by the poor

Question 19

The tendency to choose romantic partners based on similarities in background and group membership is called:

Accepted Answer

A)  homogamy. 
B)  background knowledge. 
C)  broken windows. 
D)  reflexivity. 
E)  heteronormativity. 
A)  homogamy. 
B)  background knowledge. 
C)  broken windows. 
D)  reflexivity. 
E)  heteronormativity.

Question 20

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. As Justice David Souter put it, "The onus of the Indiana law is illegitimate just because it correlates with no state interest so well as it does with the object of deterring poorer residents from exercising the franchise." What would a sociologist call this?

Accepted Answer

A)  political disenfranchisement 
B)  the invisibility of poverty 
C)  status inconsistency 
D)  the ideology of the American dream 
E)  meritocracy 
A)  political disenfranchisement 
B)  the invisibility of poverty 
C)  status inconsistency 
D)  the ideology of the American dream 
E)  meritocracy

In 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau defined the poverty threshold for a family of four at:

Oscar Lewis was the first to suggest that, because they are excluded from mainstream social life, the poor develop a way of life with fundamentally different values and goals, which makes it much less likely that they will ever join the middle class. This way of life is usually called:

What is the relationship between the American Dream and the social class system by which the United States is stratified?

America is a profoundly hierarchical society.

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

Barbara Ehrenreich studied the working poor, people with service jobs that paid mostly minimum wage or slightly more. Based on your study of poverty, what do you think she recommended that such workers do to move out of poverty?

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:

Some municipalities in the Los Angeles area have zoning rules that prohibit multifamily dwellings and require that all homes be built on lots of a certain size. What is the effect of these policies?

Culture is a source of shared norms and values, but cultural capital can never generate profits like economic capital can.

Greg J. Duncan and a team of researchers analyzed the effect of parental income on the academic achievement of children. Given what you've read about socioeconomic status and life chances, what do you think Duncan found?

What is wrong with treating Oprah Winfrey as the ultimate symbol of the American Dream?

When the children of working-class parents manage to attend college and get a job in a professional field, it is an example of:

According to Max Weber, wealth, power, and prestige are often related to one another, but one cannot be converted into another.

What do sociologists call awareness of our own and others' class statuses?

How do law enforcement policies make the poor less visible?

The tendency to choose romantic partners based on similarities in background and group membership is called:

Sociology and the Real World

Studying Social Life: Sociological Research Methods

Cultural Crossroads

The Self and Interaction

Separate and Together: Life in Groups

Deviance

Race and Ethnicity As Lived Experience

Constructing Gender and Sexuality

The Macro-Micro Link in Social Institutions: Politics, Education, and Religion

The Economy, Work, and Working

Life at Home

Leisure and Media

Health and Illness

City and Country: the Social World and the Natural World

Social Change: Looking Toward Tomorrow

Filters

Exam 7: Social Class: the Structure of Inequality

In 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau defined the poverty threshold for a family of four at:

Oscar Lewis was the first to suggest that, because they are excluded from mainstream social life, the poor develop a way of life with fundamentally different values and goals, which makes it much less likely that they will ever join the middle class. This way of life is usually called:

What is the relationship between the American Dream and the social class system by which the United States is stratified?

America is a profoundly hierarchical society.

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

Barbara Ehrenreich studied the working poor, people with service jobs that paid mostly minimum wage or slightly more. Based on your study of poverty, what do you think she recommended that such workers do to move out of poverty?

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:

Some municipalities in the Los Angeles area have zoning rules that prohibit multifamily dwellings and require that all homes be built on lots of a certain size. What is the effect of these policies?

Culture is a source of shared norms and values, but cultural capital can never generate profits like economic capital can.

Greg J. Duncan and a team of researchers analyzed the effect of parental income on the academic achievement of children. Given what you've read about socioeconomic status and life chances, what do you think Duncan found?

What is wrong with treating Oprah Winfrey as the ultimate symbol of the American Dream?

When the children of working-class parents manage to attend college and get a job in a professional field, it is an example of:

According to Max Weber, wealth, power, and prestige are often related to one another, but one cannot be converted into another.

What do sociologists call awareness of our own and others' class statuses?

How do law enforcement policies make the poor less visible?

The tendency to choose romantic partners based on similarities in background and group membership is called:

Sociology and the Real World

Studying Social Life: Sociological Research Methods

Cultural Crossroads

The Self and Interaction

Separate and Together: Life in Groups

Deviance

Race and Ethnicity As Lived Experience

Constructing Gender and Sexuality

The Macro-Micro Link in Social Institutions: Politics, Education, and Religion

The Economy, Work, and Working

Life at Home

Leisure and Media

Health and Illness

City and Country: the Social World and the Natural World

Social Change: Looking Toward Tomorrow

Filters