Exam 8: Stratification and Inequality, Inequality and Achievement: Social Class, and Inequality and Ascription: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender

The concept of "antilocution"has to do with such discriminatory acts as telling ethnic jokes or using racial slurs.

Technically, changes in people's statuses that result from changes in the overall structure of society (owing to economic or technological change) are referred to as

According to Robert Merton, a person who is not prejudiced will never discriminate.

Alexander Stone III was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Acme Manufacturing Company. When Alex Stone IV graduated from college, he was appointed Senior Vice President of the Corporation (even though he had no knowledge of the business). When Mr. Stone III died, the board of directors demoted young Alex to messenger boy. Alex IV thus experienced

Explain why it is that sociologists tend to argue that both race and gender are social and not biological facts.

Sociologists have demonstrated that race and ethnicity are social constructions, but that gender is a biological fact.

Institutional discrimination tends to be easier to deal with than individual discrimination because it is easier to spot and then to change institutions that discriminate than it is to spot and change individual discrimination.

According to Gordon Allport, the most energetic forms of discrimination involve killing people.

According to Weber

Weber would claim that wealth, power, and prestige are not necessarily related; that (in other words) one might have a lot of wealth and power but very little prestige. Conversely, one might have a great deal of prestige but very little wealth and power. Would Karl Marx agree with Weber on this point? Why or why not?

According to economist Simon Kuznets,

Within a closed system, exogamy is encouraged by formal law and informal norms.

In a caste system, people's statuses are mostly achieved.

In The Practical Skeptic three major forms of stratification are described: Caste, Estate, and Class. (a) Briefly describe the legitimating rationales that bolster each of these stratification systems. (b) Then, discuss the ways in which legitimating rationales in general work to prevent changes in the social stratification system.

Read the following statements about stratification. Then, pick the summary statement below that most accurately describes the statements. i. In every type of social stratification system, the people at the top tend to be considered "better"Than the people at the bottom. ii. Legitimating rationales for social stratification reinforce the belief that inequality is fair and right. iii. In a caste system, one's rank is ascribed (and assigned at birth). iv. A true open system of stratification is based on achieved, not ascribed rank. v. According to Weber, if we are truly to understand social stratification, we must look beyond purely economic factors. Summaries:

In a closed system, boundaries between strata are impermeable.

Discrimination involves behavior as does real prejudice.

Professor Gisel Ernst teaches in the College of Education of Washington State University. Professor Ernst was born and raised in Peru. One of the things that most struck her when she got to the USA was that, all of the sudden, she was no longer regarded as "Peruvian," but as "Hispanic."You might best explain the fact that she was no longer a Peruvian but an Hispanic is related to the phenomenon of

A basic principle of both sociology and economics is that every persons' dollars have the same value in the market place.

Vertical mobility refers to mobility within a single strata.