Deck 11: Race and Ethnicity

Question 1

What is the meaning of the term "WASP"?

A) Without Any Social Prejudice
B) White Americans who Support Pluralism
C) White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
D) White Anglo's Self Pride

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Which of the following concepts refers to cultural heritage?

A) race
B) ethnicity
C) minority
D) stereotype

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The sociology class discussion of race and ethnicity that opens Chapter 11 suggests that more and more people

A) believe in the importance of affirmative action.
B) no longer think of themselves in terms of simple racial categories.
C) have high levels of racial prejudice.
D) do not think of themselves in terms of race or ethnicity at all.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Most of today's immigrants to the United States come from

A) Latin America and Asia.
B) Asia and Africa.
C) Africa and Latin America.
D) Africa and Europe.

Question 5

The concept "race" refers to

A) members of any minority within a multicultural society.
B) skin color, when it is other than white.
C) a shared cultural heritage, including language and religion.
D) a socially constructed category composed of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society consider important.

Question 6

In the United States, most people

A) who are rich have little or no ethnicity.
B) believe that ethnicity is more important than race.
C) no longer identify with any ethnicity.
D) identify with one or more ethnic category.

Question 7

Which of the following is the largest minority category within the U.S. population?

A) people of Hispanic descent
B) people of African descent
C) people of Asian descent
D) people of Native American descent

Question 8

Read the following statements about race. Which statement is CORRECT?

A) Most societies contain biologically "pure" people.
B) The skin color of Caucasian people is always very light.
C) People of various racial categories are genetically more different than they are alike.
D) Many sociologists claim that the concept of "race" is misleading and even harmful.

Question 9

The adoption of the English language by Mexican immigrants to the United States is an example of

A) segregation.
B) genocide.
C) pluralism.
D) assimilation.

Question 10

Which of the following concepts refers to a category of people, distinguished by physical or cultural traits, who are socially disadvantaged?

A) ethnic category
B) racial category
C) minority
D) out-group

Question 11

A minority is defined as a category of people who are

A) different from the majority in terms of culture.
B) different in some visible way and also socially disadvantaged.
C) less than half the total population.
D) new to a country and also socially disadvantaged.

Question 12

The physical differences that may become part of racial categories have their origins in

A) the degree of wealth or poverty found in various parts of the world.
B) social patterns that distinguish some 5,000 human cultures.
C) different geographical regions in which humans live.
D) the types of technology used by various societies.

Question 13

A family leaves Russia and takes up residence in the United States, where they gradually lose their Russian cultural traditions. They have modified their

A) religion.
B) biological heritage.
C) ethnicity.
D) race.

Question 14

Today, minorities are the majority in four states. For which of the following states is this true?

A) Texas, New Mexico, Hawaii, and California
B) South Carolina, New York, Florida, and California
C) Arizona, Georgia, Alabama, and California
D) Florida, Alabama, Arizona, and California

Question 15

Race refers to _______considered important by a society, and ethnicity refers to_______ .

A) biological traits; cultural traits
B) cultural traits; biological traits
C) what we have in common; differences
D) differences; what we have in common

Question 16

Typically, people who live in _______perceive fewer racial categories than people who live in_______ .

A) Brazil; the United States
B) the United States; Brazil
C) the Northeast; the Midwest
D) the West; the Northeast

Question 17

While race refers to_______ considered important by a society, ethnicity refers to .

A) cultural traits; biological traits
B) biological traits; cultural traits
C) differences; what we have in common
D) None of the above is correct.

Question 18

The claim that defining members of some minority as inferior will make them inferior is one application of

A) social distance research.
B) the iron law of oligarchy.
C) authoritarian personality.
D) the Thomas Theorem.

Question 19

Stereotypes are

A) common among whites, but not among minorities.
B) exaggerated descriptions applied to everyone
C) any sociological generalizations.
D) rarely harmful to anyone.

Question 20

According to the most recent data, African Americans accounted for about what percentage of the U.S. population?

A) 42.8 percent
B) 32.8 percent
C) 22.8 percent
D) 12.8 percent

Question 21

Which of the following represents a culture theory of prejudice?

A) Theodor Adorno's research on prejudiced people
B) Emory Bogardus's research on social distance
C) Thomas Sowell's research on intelligence
D) W. I. Thomas's vicious circle theory

Question 22

While prejudice is a matter of_______ , discrimination is a matter of_______ .

A) attitudes; action
B) biology; culture
C) abnormality; what a society considers normal
D) choice; social structure

Question 23

Which of the following concepts refers to a state in which racial and ethnic minorities are distinct but have social equality?

A) segregation
B) genocide
C) pluralism
D) assimilation

Question 24

Read the following statements about immigrant workers in the United States. Which statement is CORRECT?

A) In general, immigrants do the jobs that no one else wants.
B) Most immigrants to the United States become wealthy within a few years of arriving here.
C) Most immigrant workers receive far more than the minimum wage and get at least some benefits.
D) About 5 percent of all U.S. housekeepers and restaurant workers are people born abroad.

Question 25

Which of the following situations is NOT an example of institutional discrimination?

A) A school district requires children to attend a school with others of the same race.
B) A police department promotes people of one race faster than those of another race.
C) A bank usually refuses loans to people of a particular racial category.
D) A mother wants her child to stay away from schoolmates of a different race.

Question 26

Which of the following concepts refers to a rigid and irrational generalization about an entire category of people?

A) discrimination
B) prejudice
C) racism
D) scapegoating

Question 27

Thomas Sowell studied the intelligence (IQ) test scores of categories of people and concluded that

A) minorities are innately less intelligent than whites.
B) all individuals have the same intelligence.
C) all categories of people have the same average scores on intelligence tests.
D) cultural patterns explain much IQ variation.

Question 28

Assimilation refers to the pattern by which

A) minorities gradually adopt patterns of the dominant culture.
B) people come to accept minorities.
C) people regain lost cultural heritage.
D) minority categories become more equal in social standing.

Question 29

Based on scapegoat theory, you would conclude that prejudice is caused by

A) high levels of immigration.
B) culture itself.
C) people with rigid personalities.
D) frustration among people who are themselves disadvantaged.

Question 30

Conflict theory states that prejudice is

A) common among disadvantaged people.
B) common among certain people raised to have rigid personalities.
C) used by powerful people to justify oppressing others.
D) part of culture itself.

Question 31

Four states currently have a "minority-majority." Which of the following is NOT one of them?

A) New Mexico
B) California
C) Hawaii
D) Florida

Question 32

According to T.W. Adorno's authoritarian personality theory, prejudice people

A) view society as naturally hierarchical.
B) reject ethnocentrism.
C) cannot easily see actions as either right or wrong.
D) tend to reject any conventional cultural values.

Question 33

The idea that prejudice and discrimination form a vicious circle leads to the conclusion that

A) bias is easily perpetuated over time.
B) it is easy to prove most stereotypes to be wrong.
C) only some people act on their prejudices.
D) prejudice is more common than actual discrimination.

Question 34

"Institutional prejudice and discrimination" refers to the fact that

A) bias was pronounced in this nation's history.
B) some people hold rigidly biased attitudes.
C) many people need to be educated about basic fairness.
D) bias is built into the operation of society's institutions.

Question 35

Authoritarian personality theory states that extreme prejudice is

A) less common in today's society.
B) found among poor and disadvantaged people.
C) a trait of people raised to see "better" categories of people dominating those who are "weaker."
D) a trait of most people.

Question 36

You would be expressing a "stereotype" if you

A) made any generalizations about people.
B) held an opinion about someone based on personal experience.
C) stated an exaggerated description and applied it to everyone in some category.
D) treated everybody in an unkind way.

Question 37

Read the following statements about minorities. Which statement is NOT correct?

A) All people in a minority category are socially disadvantaged.
B) A minority does not have to be a numerical minority.
C) Minorities have a distinctive social identity.
D) Usually, people can readily identify a member of a minority.

Question 38

_______refers to a belief that one racial category is innately superior or inferior to another.

A) Discrimination
B) Racism
C) Prejudice
D) Scapegoating

Question 39

The United States is not truly pluralistic because

A) of our history of slavery.
B) racial and ethnic categories today do not have equal social standing.
C) members of all ethnic categories wish to live only with others like themselves.
D) some people still live in "ethnic enclaves."

Question 40

Recent research on social distance among U.S. college students shows that

A) students see more and more difference among various minorities.
B) there is a trend toward less acceptance of minorities.
C) students are least accepting of African Americans.
D) students are more accepting of minorities than they were decades ago.

Question 41

Which of the following statements about African American political leaders is CORRECT?

A) In 2010, African Americans accounted for one-fourth of all members of Congress.
B) In 2010, African Americans accounted for 9 percent of members of the House of Representatives and one member of the Senate.
C) In 2010, there was not a single African American member of either the House of Representatives or the Senate.
D) In 2010, African Americans accounted for 20 percent of members of the House of Representatives but no member of the Senate.

Question 42

For Chinese immigrants, one advantage of living in Chinatowns is_______ ; one disadvantage is_______ .

A) greater job opportunities; provoking racial hostility
B) provoking racial hostility; a lack of support systems
C) maintaining traditional culture; less chance to learn English
D) the chance to learn English; losing traditional culture

Question 43

Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton documented which of the following patterns in U.S. inner cities?

A) the absence of racial segregation
B) hypersegregation
C) de jure segregation
D) declining segregation

Question 44

Native Americans gained the right to U.S. citizenship in

A) 1990.
B) 1965.
C) 1924.
D) 1865.

Question 45

The largest category of Asian Americans in the United States is people of _______ancestry.

A) Japanese
B) Korean
C) Vietnamese
D) Chinese

Question 46

A landmark in the decline of WASP social power in the United States was

A) the election of Bill Clinton in 1992.
B) the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960.
C) the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932.
D) the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860.

Question 47

The existence of the "Negro leagues" in professional baseball in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s is an example of

A) segregation.
B) assimilation.
C) pluralism.
D) miscegenation.

Question 48

Multiculturalists oppose the goal of assimilation because

A) there is no significant racial or ethnic inequality in this country.
B) the United States has provided a better life for all categories of people.
C) this process does not happen in this country.
D) this suggests that minorities are the ones who need to do all the changing.

Question 49

Which of the following concepts refers to the physical and social separation of categories of people?

A) Assimilation
B) Pluralism
C) Miscegenation
D) Segregation

Question 50

When the first Europeans arrived in the Americas in the fifteenth century, Native Americans

A) had not yet settled this continent.
B) had just migrated from Asia.
C) came with them from Europe.
D) had inhabited this continent for 30,000 years.

Question 51

The killing of people in the Darfur region of Africa is a recent example of

A) assimilation.
B) miscegenation.
C) genocide.
D) hypersegregation.

Question 52

Significant immigration of Asians to the United States was sparked by

A) the California Gold Rush in 1849.
B) laws regulating Chinese immigration in 1882.
C) the need for labor during the Great Depression in the 1930s.
D) World War II.

Question 53

Japanese immigrants differed from earlier Chinese immigrants by

A) settling in large cities.
B) knowing more about the United States before they got here.
C) coming to the United States in larger numbers.
D) having little economic success.

Question 54

The term "WASP" refers to

A) White Anglo's Self Pride.
B) Without Any Social Prejudice.
C) White Americans who Support Pluralism.
D) White Anglo-Saxon Protestant.

Question 55

The Matsui family came to the United States thirty years ago. They now speak English at home and the children date non-Japanese students at college. This family's story is closest to which of the following concepts?

A) segregation.
B) assimilation.
C) pluralism.
D) genocide.

Question 56

_______refers to biological reproduction by people of different racial categories.

A) Assimilation
B) Racial typology
C) Miscegenation
D) Pluralism

Question 57

The ancestors of which of the following first settled the lands of the Western Hemisphere?

A) Native Americans
B) WASPs
C) European Americans
D) African Americans

Question 58

What Gunnar Myrdal called the "American dilemma" was

A) the denial of basic rights by a so-called "democratic society" to African Americans.
B) the placing of Native Americans on reservations.
C) the restriction of immigration by a nation that was built by immigrants.
D) the inability of the United States to prevent illegal immigration.

Question 59

A national civil rights movement, which ended legal support for most cases of racial discrimination, took place during the

A) 1990s.
B) 1970s.
C) 1950s and 1960s.
D) Second World War.

Question 60

The overall social standing of Native Americans today is

A) below the national average.
B) about the national average.
C) above the national average.
D) unknown because the U.S. government does not collect data on this category of the population.

Question 61

There is a trend in the United States toward more interracial marriage and multiracial children.

Question 62

Which of the following best describes "the Arab world"?

A) all of Southeast Asia
B) twenty-two nations stretching across northern Africa and the Middle East
C) Eastern Europe and the Middle East
D) most of Africa south of the Sahara Desert

Question 63

All members of a minority category are socially and economically disadvantaged.

Question 64

Most immigrants to the United States today come from

A) Africa and Europe.
B) Africa and Latin America.
C) Asia and Africa.
D) Latin America and Asia.

Question 65

Currently, about how many immigrants come to the United States each year?

A) 150,000
B) 1.5 million
C) 15 million
D) 150 million

Question 66

Ethnicity is harder to change than racial identity.

Question 67

Although based on physical traits like skin color, the concept of "race" is socially constructed, or defined by society.

Question 68

The term "white ethnics" refers to

A) people of Hispanic ancestry who are light skinned.
B) people of any ethnicity who are light skinned.
C) non-WASPs of European ancestry.
D) biracial or multiracial people.

Question 69

Prejudice is a rigid and distorted generalization about an entire category of people.

Question 70

Sociologically speaking, a minority is any category that is numerically less than half of a society's total population.

Question 71

Scientific research confirms that everyone on Earth falls into one of three racial categories.

Question 72

Which of the following categories of Hispanics in the United States is largest in terms of population size?

A) Puerto Ricans
B) Cuban Americans
C) Mexican Americans
D) Bolivians

Question 73

The Hispanic population of the United States is

A) mainly concentrated in the Southwest.
B) mainly spread up and down the West Coast.
C) mainly concentrated in industrial cities of the Northeast.
D) spread evenly across the country.

Question 74

The rate of small business ownership is high among Asian Americans. This pattern reflects

A) a lack of formal schooling.
B) a history of facing little or no racial prejudice and discrimination.
C) the fact that almost all Asian Americans assimilated right away.
D) cultural values including achievement and self-reliance. (Applied;

Question 75

Currently, four states in the United States now have a "minority-majority."

Question 76

Some "white" people actually have darker skin than some "black" people.

Question 77

Being Greek, Italian, or Vietnamese involves a distinctive ethnicity.

Question 78

Read the following statements about Arabs and Muslims. Which statement is NOT correct?

A) "Arab" and "Muslim" mean the same thing.
B) Most Arabs are Muslims.
C) "Arab" is an ethnic category; "Muslim" refers to a follower of Islam.
D) Most of the world's Muslims do not live in Africa or the Middle East.

Question 79

In most cases, race and ethnicity amount to the same thing.

Question 80

Members of a minority typically have a distinctive identity.