Deck 10: Social Stratification

Question 1

A college professor with advanced degrees, moderate salary, and little power to shape national events can be described as having

A) high status consistency.
B) horizontal social mobility.
C) downward social mobility.
D) low status consistency.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

A __________ system is based primarily on ascription.

A) class
B) caste
C) value
D) merchant

Answer 2

B

Question 3

If you lived in a society with a traditional caste system, you would expect your marriage to be

A) polygamous.
B) exogamous.
C) based on romantic love.
D) endogamous.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Social stratification is a concept that refers to

A) specialization in productive work.
B) ranking categories of people in a hierarchy.
C) the idea that some people are more talented than others.
D) the idea that more talented people tend to work in high-rise office buildings.

Question 5

What concept describes a person who moves from one occupation to another that provides about the same level of rewards?

A) upward social mobility
B) downward social mobility
C) horizontal social mobility
D) diagonal social mobility

Question 6

In general, societies that have caste systems have economies that are

A) based on hunting and gathering.
B) industrial.
C) agrarian.
D) post-industrial.

Question 7

Comparing societies in history and around the world, we see that social stratification may involve differences in

A) biological make-up.
B) birth place.
C) why people are unequal.
D) why people deserve their circumstances.

Question 8

Why do societies with class systems keep some elements of caste (such as the inheritance of wealth) rather than becoming complete meritocracies?

A) because too many people would be poor if society were based only on merit
B) because some caste elements increase productivity
C) because a pure meritocracy would eliminate families and other social loyalties that tie a society together
D) because some caste elements increase social mobility

Question 9

Indian culture is built on the ______ tradition that doing the caste's life work and accepting an arranged marriage are moral duties.

A) Christian
B) Hindu
C) Buddhist
D) Confucian

Question 10

The degree of status consistency is

A) greater in caste than class systems.
B) the same in all types of social stratification.
C) greater in class than caste systems.
D) greater the more productive a society is.

Question 11

If you were born into a traditional caste system, you would expect that, based on birth, you would be

A) educated generally so you could select your own job.
B) required to marry someone of your own social category.
C) encouraged to socialize with other people outside of your own category.
D) capable of bettering your family's position through merit.

Question 12

Which of the following statements about stratification is NOT true?

A) Social stratification is a trait of society.
B) Social stratification is universal and also variable.
C) A family's social standing typically changes a great deal from generation to generation.
D) Social stratification is a matter of inequality and also beliefs about why people should be unequal.

Question 13

Ravi was born into a caste system in a small village in Sri Lanka. He can expect to

A) earn his social position through his own efforts.
B) change his social position many times during his life.
C) have the same social standing as his parents.
D) choose his life's work for himself after finishing college.

Question 14

The concept "meritocracy" refers to social stratification

A) with no social mobility.
B) in which people "know their place."
C) based entirely on personal merit.
D) as found in the United States.

Question 15

A caste system is defined as

A) social stratification based on ascription or birth.
B) social stratification based on personal achievement.
C) a meritocracy.
D) any social system in which categories of people are unequal.

Question 16

The point of the chapter-opening story of passenger deaths that accompanied the sinking of the ocean liner Titanic is that

A) advanced technology cannot prevent tragedy.
B) all people have the same right to life.
C) social stratification matters and can sometimes be a matter of life and death.
D) social stratification often has little to do with everyday life.

Question 17

The historical replacement of caste systems with class systems

A) brings an end to most social inequality.
B) replaces one kind of inequality with another.
C) means that individuals experience less social mobility.
D) means that categories of people become more clearly unequal.

Question 18

Using the sociological perspective, we see that social stratification

A) gives some people more privileges and opportunities than others.
B) places everyone at birth on a level playing field.
C) ensures that hard work will lead people to become wealthy.
D) means that what people get out of life is pretty much what they put into it.

Question 19

In all societies, kinship plays a part in social stratification because

A) children determine their own social position based on their personal talents and efforts.
B) parents pass their social position on to their children.
C) children usually end up with a social position higher than that of their parents.
D) all children begin life with about the same social standing.

Question 20

Which of the following types of work was open to everyone in the former Indian caste system?

A) soldier
B) priest
C) sweeper
D) farmer

Question 21

By the fifth century CE, Japan was an agrarian society that operated with a

A) class system.
B) meritocracy.
C) caste system.
D) large middle class.

Question 22

_____________ criticized capitalist societies for defending wealth and power in the hands of a few as "a law of the marketplace."

A) Plato
B) Marx
C) Davis and Moore
D) Aristotle

Question 23

According to Davis and Moore, a system of unequal rewards increases productivity by

A) encouraging people to want an important job.
B) motivating people to work longer, harder, or better.
C) encouraging people to gain the schooling and skills needed to perform more important jobs.
D) making people afraid to fail in their occupational endeavours.

Question 24

At the top of the system of inequality in the former Soviet Union were the

A) industrial capitalists.
B) intelligentsia, or educated professionals.
C) apparatchiks, or high government officials.
D) hereditary nobility.

Question 25

Who was typically referred to as the first estate in France and other European countries in the Middle Ages?

A) politicians
B) church leaders
C) lords and earls
D) the royal family

Question 26

The common ideology of a class system states that success and wealth typically result from

A) sheer luck.
B) family background.
C) flaws in society.
D) personal talent and effort.

Question 27

In 1917, the Russian Revolution placed productive property under the control of _____.

A) the capitalists
B) a meritocracy
C) the nobility
D) the state

Question 28

One good indication that caste still operates in Great Britain is the importance people attach to

A) graduating from college.
B) social mobility.
C) money.
D) accent in speech.

Question 29

The concept of structural social mobility refers to

A) cultural beliefs that justify social stratification.
B) change in social position due to people's own efforts.
C) change in the social position of many people due to changes in society itself.
D) change in a family's social position from one generation to the next.

Question 30

In Japan, as in other societies with a long history of caste, people today may not always discuss _____ openly, but it is never far from the surface when people size up one another socially.

A) family background
B) personal talent
C) educational degree
D) physical size

Question 31

Which of the following statements accurately describes the People's Republic of China?

A) A new set of social classes is gradually emerging.
B) There is no longer any social inequality.
C) Social standing reflects only a person's position in the Communist Party.
D) China has the same social stratification that is found in Japan.

Question 32

Half of all the people in Great Britain today consider themselves to be in the

A) upper class.
B) middle class.
C) working class.
D) lower class.

Question 33

England's aristocracy contained about what share of the entire country's population?

A) 50 percent
B) 25 percent
C) 5 percent
D) half of one percent

Question 34

According to the Davis-Moore thesis

A) equality is functional for society.
B) the more inequality a society has, the more productive it is.
C) more important jobs must provide enough rewards to attract the talent necessary to perform them.
D) meritocracy is less productive than a caste system.

Question 35

Which of the following concepts refers to the historical practice in England of passing on property to only the first-born male descendant?

A) the law of the estates
B) the law of meritocracy
C) the law of status consistency
D) the law of primogeniture

Question 36

At the lowest level of social stratification in ancient Japan were the

A) shogun.
B) burakumin or "outcasts."
C) samurai or "warriors."
D) Shudra.

Question 37

Davis and Moore point out that an egalitarian society

A) could never exist.
B) could exist but only if people are willing to allow anyone to perform any job.
C) would be more productive than a stratified society.
D) has existed in many societies at various times in history.

Question 38

In English history, the aristocracy included

A) the hereditary nobility.
B) serfs and peasants who worked the land.
C) the retainers of royalty.
D) military leaders.

Question 39

Below the nobility in aristocratic Japan were the _________, a warrior caste.

A) shogun
B) shudra
C) samurai
D) burakumin

Question 40

Ideology, or beliefs that support social stratification, is found in

A) caste systems.
B) class systems.
C) both class and caste systems.
D) only U.S. society.

Question 41

In Canada, who of the following is likely to have the highest annual earnings?

A) engineers
B) university professors
C) physicians
D) the prime minister

Question 42

To impress her friends, Laura wears an expensive dress to a party. A sociologist might say she is engaging in

A) structural social mobility.
B) relative deprivation.
C) reference group behaviour.
D) conspicuous consumption.

Question 43

The idea that social inequality benefits society is associated with the

A) structural-functional approach.
B) social-conflict approach.
C) symbolic-interaction approach.
D) social-exchange approach.

Question 44

Marx claimed social stratification would end with the creation of a socialist economy. What was Weber's view?

A) Weber thought socialism would reduce economic differences but also create a political elite, increasing differences in power.
B) Weber thought capitalism could not be changed.
C) Weber thought socialism would create a new high-prestige nobility.
D) Weber agreed with Marx.

Question 45

In Karl Marx's analysis, another name for the capitalist class is the

A) nobility.
B) aristocracy.
C) proletariat.
D) bourgeoisie.

Question 46

Which of the following statements is NOT a reason given in the text that a socialist revolution never took place in capitalist societies as Marx predicted?

A) Stock places ownership of companies in the hands of tens of millions of people.
B) Living standards for the majority have gone up.
C) Wealth is no longer concentrated in the hands of a few.
D) The law affords workers far more legal protections.

Question 47

Work involving mostly mental activity is called

A) blue-collar work.
B) white-collar work.
C) pink-collar work.
D) agrarian work.

Question 48

A common micro-level pattern involving social interaction is that

A) social stratification is not usually evident in everyday life.
B) most people live and work in socially diverse settings in terms of social stratification.
C) people tend to socialize with others of about the same social position.
D) social position has little to do with the friends people have.

Question 49

If you have a job that involves manual labour, you are doing

A) blue-collar work.
B) white-collar work.
C) service work.
D) farming.

Question 50

Max Weber claimed that social position was partially based on a person's

A) political beliefs.
B) degree of social status or prestige.
C) gender.
D) religious affiliation.

Question 51

While the Davis and Moore thesis suggests "to each according to the importance of one's work," Karl Marx supported the idea

A) "to each the same, from each the same."
B) "to each according to the degree of schooling."
C) "from each according to ability, to each according to needs."
D) "to each equally, from each according to personal choice."

Question 52

According to Karl Marx, social stratification in a capitalist society always involves

A) class conflict.
B) negotiation and compromise leading to stability.
C) the abolition of work itself.
D) equal work and rewards to all citizens.

Question 53

Which of the following statements is FALSE?

A) Living standards in the United States have risen since Marx's lifetime.
B) More workers have unions to represent them than in Marx's lifetime.
C) There are now laws about workplace safety and minimum wages that did not exist in Marx's lifetime.
D) Today, ordinary working people no longer experience the effects of the social inequality that Marx described.

Question 54

When Marx argued that capitalism "reproduces the class structure," he meant that

A) it is really ordinary people who create social inequality.
B) society operates so that class differences are carried from one generation to the next.
C) class differences are the same throughout history.
D) society could never abolish class inequality.

Question 55

Who identified four reasons why no Marxist revolution has taken place?

A) Weber
B) Spencer
C) Dahrendorf
D) Durkheim

Question 56

Max Weber claimed that agrarian societies give special importance to which dimension of social inequality?

A) economic class
B) social prestige or honour
C) power
D) control of information

Question 57

The idea that social inequality is harmful and divides society is associated with the

A) structural-functional approach.
B) social-conflict approach.
C) symbolic-interaction approach.
D) social-exchange approach.

Question 58

Marx thought of inequality in terms of two main classes; by contrast, Weber envisioned inequality in terms of

A) a socioeconomic status hierarchy.
B) three main classes.
C) everyone gradually sinking into poverty.
D) society as one large middle class.

Question 59

Olga works as a district sales manager for a small corporation. Which of the following categories correctly describes her work?

A) blue-collar
B) white-collar
C) capitalist
D) agrarian

Question 60

Who argued that society is a "jungle" with the "fittest" people rising to wealth and the "failures" sinking into miserable poverty?

A) Charles Darwin
B) Karl Marx
C) Herbert Spencer
D) Max Weber

Question 61

People living in societies with class systems, compared with those living in societies with caste systems, tend to think of others not as individuals but in terms of social categories.

Question 62

Looking around the world today, income inequality is greatest in which of the following regions?

A) North America
B) Latin America
C) Europe
D) China

Question 63

Based on what you have read, as North America develops a post-industrial economy, economic inequality has been

A) likely to disappear.
B) decreasing.
C) holding at about the same level.
D) increasing.

Question 64

The concept of social mobility refers to changes in people's positions in the social hierarchy.

Question 65

The study of social stratification at all levels involves a mix of facts and _______ about the shape of a just society.

A) figures
B) values
C) politics
D) debates

Question 66

Caste systems are typical of high-income societies.

Question 67

Caste systems encourage romantic love and personal choice as the basis of marriage.

Question 68

Individuals in class systems typically exhibit more status inconsistency than people in caste systems.

Question 69

In class systems, social categories are more clearly and rigidly defined than they are in caste systems.

Question 70

Caste systems encourage the commitment to long-term labour required by agriculture.

Question 71

Social stratification is a matter of not only inequality but also beliefs about fairness.

Question 72

Which country stands out among high-income countries as having greater income inequality?

A) Japan
B) Sweden
C) United States
D) Canada

Question 73

Social stratification is found in most-but not all-societies.

Question 74

Canada exists at which end of the global income inequality spectrum?

A) extreme
B) severe
C) moderate
D) low

Question 75

In Canada, social inequality is only a matter of people's talents and abilities.

Question 76

Class systems assign social position based on both birth and individual achievement.

Question 77

The more a society is a meritocracy, the greater the society's level of social mobility.

Question 78

Which of the following types of societies comes closest to being egalitarian?

A) hunting and gathering
B) horticultural/pastoral
C) industrial
D) post-industrial

Question 79

According to Simon Kuznets, in which type of society is the extent of social stratification greatest?

A) hunting and gathering
B) horticultural/pastoral
C) agrarian
D) industrial

Question 80

For most people in Canada, social standing remains much the same over a lifetime.