Deck 4: Status Inequality

Question 1

According to Weber, status begins with the honor we confer on ourselves.

A) Wrong, status is a subjective assessment.
B) Correct, you have to have a high opinion of yourself to elicit a high opinion.
C) Correct, and as long as that status is shared by a plurality.
D) Wrong, because we can easily dishonor ourselves as a result.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

What is meant by Murray Milner's observation that "one's own status is always at the expense of someone else's social position"?

A) Whether intentional or by accident, a person either displaces or blocks another in status.
B) We are all status seekers whether we like it or not.
C) It means that there are restrictions on social intercourse.
D) Social status is in short supply and ultimately unfair.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Joining a private country club is an example of what kind of "boundary work"?

A) closure
B) credentialism
C) appropriate dress
D) stylization

Answer 3

A

Question 4

How is social stratification established among the various ethnic groups in the U.S.?

A) external features such as skin color
B) appropriate neighborhood
C) consumption and buying habits
D) pariah characteristics

Question 5

Pariah groups tend to be egalitarian in nature.

A) Not necessarily, because groups dishonored or low in status establish their own ranking systems.
B) This is true because pariah groups are more accepting of people who fall in social status.
C) As long as its members are working class in origin.
D) They practice equality displays of group deference.

Question 6

The most important and current criterion for virtually all "status communities" is identified with what variable?

A) prestige
B) core values
C) salary
D) subculture value

Question 7

What defines cultural capital?

A) Cultural capital consists of a group's cultural values, experience, knowledge, and skills that can be passed on from one generation to another.
B) Cultural capital is an asset of the higher classes that its members learn in institutions of higher education.
C) The commodification of culture and education that is exchanged for status among the upper classes both in wealth and/or intellect.
D) Those experiences, learned in early childhood and reinforced in academic life, which are exchanged for status, superior jobs, mates, and the like.

Question 8

Status communities invariably produce outsiders whose dysfunctional behaviors can be attributed to what phenomenon?

A) deficits in self-esteem
B) violence
C) bullying
D) cliques

Question 9

Thorstein Veblen coined a term for how the acquisition of luxury goods, homes, cars, and the like would impart "honor and dignity" on its owner.

A) conspicuous consumption
B) symbolic wealth
C) simulated status
D) parody display

Question 10

What do women trade in when they buy into the beauty myth?

A) their ability to fully develop their mental, political, and economic potential
B) beauty as system of currency in the economy of male dominance
C) a commodification of culturally enforced standards
D) a social status resource that undermines gender inequality

Question 11

In what way is beauty a social construct?

A) Definitions of beauty vary from society to society and among racial and ethnic groups.
B) Beauty has long been in the eye of the beholder.
C) The beauty as a status symbol changes over time.
D) The human body, especially the female body, has complex social meanings.

Question 12

Saggy, baggy pants worn below the hips by youths, meant to be provocative, is an example of what kind of clothing?

A) parody display
B) banned clothing
C) conspicuous display
D) gang identification

Question 13

Only in the past decade have sociologists have argued that space reinforces inequalities. What might be a jarring difference between their research and Veblen's?

A) The move from "conspicuous consumption" to "armed response" of gated communities.
B) The rise of the McMansion.
C) The status conscious are more exclusionary with their personal space.
D) Control of physical space is a prime more example of conspicuous consumption.

Question 14

What has been the downside of the Appalachian type as being the epitome of rugged individualism?

A) Over time, it has resulted in real people turned into caricatures.
B) They don't live up to the image.
C) They are actually innocent victims.
D) This stereotype only takes into account males.

Question 15

What is often the other dimension of religious conflicts between Coptic Christians and Muslims, Muslims and Hindus, and the like?

A) Many of these conflicts involve a repressive majority.
B) Certain conflicts involve the repression of women.
C) These religions tend to be intolerant of other faiths.
D) Many dominant religious communities are reacting to Westernization, which they feel threatens their status.