Exam 7: Class and Stratification in the United States

Meredith studies how waiters are treated by diners at a country club in order to learn about the daily structure of inequality and how these patterns are enacted and replicated. Meredith is a __________.

__________ is an extreme form of stratification in which some people are owned by others. It is a closed system in which people are treated as property and have little or no control over their lives.

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

Neither the Weberian nor the Marxian model of class in the United States describes the nature and extent of social inequality within the United States.

According to sociologist Max Weber's system of stratification, __________ is the ability of people or groups to achieve their goals despite opposition from others.

Poor people in the United States______________________________. ​

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. Explain the reasons for the strategies that you suggest.

Marx predicted that when workers realized that capitalists were the source of their oppression, they would overthrow the capitalists and take over the government, creating a(n) __________ society.

Compare the functionalist and conflict theory perspectives on education in relation to inequality in the United States.

The upper-middle class is comprised of highly educated professionals, such as physicians, attorneys, stockbrokers, and corporate managers, which make up about __________ of the population.

A person's ability to succeed and his or her position in the class structure is determined largely by the stratification system of the society.

Define the official poverty line and differentiate between absolute poverty and relative poverty.

When analyzing social class, __________ are most likely to consider the degree of control that workers have over the decision-making process and their ability to plan and implement their own work.