Deck 9: Social Stratification, inequality, and Poverty

Question 1

Social stratification is the systematic study of social inequality.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

According to Forbes magazine,Bill Gates is richest person in the world as of March 2012.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The more relevant statistic for assessing annual household incomes is by utilizing the mean rather than the media.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The premise of socioeconomic status (SES)is to utilize multiple dimensions,such as income,education,and occupation,to study social class.

Question 5

Comparing one's income to that of others is the basic premise of absolute poverty.

Question 6

Meritocracy is a system in which rewards and positions are based on one's personal connections.

Question 7

A progressive tax system is a system in which everyone,regardless of social class,pays the same tax rate.

Question 8

Income refers to the net value of assets owned by individuals or families.

Question 9

The dominant system of inequality throughout the world prior to capitalism was postindustrialization.

Question 10

The primary way in which most middle-class Americans accumulate wealth is through net financial assets (NFA).

Question 11

Sociologists prefer to focus on a person's occupation in adulthood in order to study social class.

Question 12

Apple is one of the few companies that manufactures and assembles products in the United States.

Question 13

According to the official definition of poverty,about 15 percent of Americans lived in poverty in 2010.

Question 14

An immobile society can become a caste society.

Question 15

The Communist Manifesto was authored by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

Question 16

Wealth refers to the net value of assets owned by individuals or families.

Question 17

A correlation of zero between parents' income and their children's income means that there is no connection whatsoever between them.

Question 18

Skill-biased technological change (SBTC)refers to the ways in which technological advancements create jobs that require high skill.

Question 19

A high-mobility society is one where there is little connection between parents' and children's place in life.

Question 20

According to Karl Marx,those who provide labor are the proletariat.

Question 21

Why is it more relevant,from a sociological point of view,to assess family incomes by looking at the median instead of the mean?

A)The gap between the richest individuals and everyone else has increased significantly.
B)The gap between the richest individuals and everyone else has never been so narrow.
C)The mean is principally used to define population size.
D)In order to employ the Gini Index,the mean must be calculated.

Question 22

A measure of the minimum requirements needed for people to have the basic standards of food,clothing,and shelter is what sociologists mean by absolute poverty.

Question 23

__________ is the study of social inequality and the distribution of goods,resources,and power.

A)Social mobility
B)Social stratification
C)Social differentiation
D)Social status

Question 24

According to Forbes magazine,in 2012,the richest individual in the world was _________.

A)American
B)Chinese
C)Indian
D)Mexican

Question 25

Among the working poor,even those who work at full-time jobs may not make enough to rise above the poverty line.

Question 26

In hunting and gathering societies,the__________,also referred to as the medicine man,had special privileges.

A)shaman
B)serf
C)tribal chief
D)master

Question 27

The problem of homelessness grew considerably in the 1960s.

Question 28

The average income per person in the United States by 2008 was about __________.

A)$23,000
B)$31,000
C)$40,000
D)$53,000

Question 29

The concept of __________ is at the heart of the study of social stratification.

A)social class
B)consumption patterns
C)Gini values
D)social inequality

Question 30

The dominant system of inequality prior to the advent of capitalism is known as __________.

A)slavery
B)the caste system
C)the class system
D)feudalism

Question 31

In 2010,approximately 40 percent of children under the age of 18 lived in poverty.

Question 32

In the United States,the median family income is __________ as the average family income.

A)vastly below
B)about the same
C)above
D)vastly above

Question 33

The life expectancy at birth in Medieval England was about __________ years.

A)20
B)30
C)40
D)50

Question 34

The industrial revolution brought about rapid and sustained economic growth,allowing for societies as a whole to get richer and for __________.

A)modest changes in equality to disappear
B)vastly greater inequalities to dissolve
C)modest changes in equality to arise
D)vastly greater inequalities to emerge

Question 35

According to U.S.Census Bureau data from 2010,the top 5 percent of Americans had family incomes above __________,whereas the bottom 20 percent had earnings under __________.

A)$180,000;$21,000
B)$200,000;$21,000
C)$220,000;$16,000
D)$240,000;$16,000

Question 36

Under feudalism,the laborers who were obligated to work for landowners were called __________.

A)proletarians
B)the bourgeoisie
C)serfs
D)slaves

Question 37

The median family income in the United States in 2009 was approximately __________.

A)$40,000
B)$50,000
C)$60,000
D)$70,000

Question 38

The trend in which a disproportionate amount of the poor are female-headed households is known as the feminization of poverty.

Question 39

__________ had the fewest opportunities for social inequality to emerge.

A)Feudal societies
B)Industrial societies
C)Hunting and gathering societies
D)Agrarian societies

Question 40

_________have no rights of citizenship and are compelled to work for others.

A)Slaves
B)Serfs
C)Shamans
D)Proletarians

Question 41

Net financial assets include all of the following except __________.

A)savings
B)investments
C)convertible assets minus debts
D)underground earnings

Question 42

The primary way in which most Americans accumulate wealth is through __________.

A)retirement accounts
B)investments
C)home ownership
D)net financial assets

Question 43

Who theorized that the critical divisions between classes were the result of the economic system?

A)Max Weber
B)Emile Durkheim
C)Ralf Dahrendorf
D)Karl Marx

Question 44

Two billion of the world's poor live on less than __________ a day.

A)$10
B)$8
C)$5
D)$2

Question 45

Most people,before retirement age,get most or all of their income from __________.

A)their jobs
B)income transfers from the government (such as Social Security)
C)investments
D)inheritances

Question 46

The top 1 percent of the world's population controls _________ percent of the entire world's wealth.

A)12
B)22
C)32
D)45

Question 47

Which of the following groups of people is NOT characteristic of class?

A)people with similar economic situations
B)people with similar opportunities in life
C)people with diverse attitudes and behaviors
D)people who have the potential to engage in collective action

Question 48

Well-being includes all of the following aspects of everyday life EXCEPT __________.

A)access to healthcare
B)safety from crime and violence
C)one's general level of happiness
D)loan repayment schedules

Question 49

The study of the distinctions among different social classes is called __________.

A)social differentiation
B)social stratification
C)class analysis
D)consumption analysis

Question 50

One justification of inequality cited in The Sociology Project is associated with the desirability of ensuring that __________.

A)continual class conflict spurs social change
B)talented people are properly incentivized
C)people are able to freely choose which employers they work for
D)competition for work is stiffest at the highest salary levels

Question 51

The second and third richest people in the world in 2012 were Americans __________.

A)Warren Buffett and Mark Zuckerberg
B)Oprah Winfrey and David Koch
C)Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey
D)Bill Gates and Warren Buffett

Question 52

__________ is a designation of class that considers income,occupation,and salary.

A)Life chance
B)Socioeconomic status
C)Consumption utility
D)Class analysis

Question 53

Which of the following class schemes is NOT one of the five core classes identified by Erikson and Goldthorpe?

A)the self-employed versus those employed by others
B)the creative versus the noncreative
C)supervisors versus those without supervisory responsibilities
D)skilled manual laborers versus unskilled laborers

Question 54

Between 1975 and 2008,household debt for middle-class families __________.

A)declined
B)declined,but only moderately so
C)soared
D)began leveling off

Question 55

Illegal or "underground" earnings from crime or from untaxed (undeclared)work or activity are __________.

A)considered as income
B)not considered as income
C)considered as wealth
D)considered neither income nor wealth

Question 56

__________ refers to the receipt of money over a period of time,whereas __________ refers to the net value of assets that one has at a given point in time.

A)Wealth;income
B)Income;wealth
C)Capital;wealth
D)Wealth;salary

Question 57

The bottom 30 percent of the world's population controls less than __________ percent of the world's wealth.

A)1
B)10
C)15
D)25

Question 58

Defenders of inequality often point to __________ in their arguments against using legislation to make society more equal.

A)Sweden
B)the former Soviet Union
C)the Confederate States of America
D)the People's Republic of China

Question 59

For poor and middle-class families,consumption often __________ reported income.

A)is less than
B)exceeds
C)is about equal to
D)is not correlated to

Question 60

In Marxist terms,the important distinction between classes was between the __________ and the __________.

A)proletariat;bourgeoisie
B)capitalists;bourgeoisie
C)proletariat;serfs
D)serfs;bourgeoisie

Question 61

The Federal Income Tax was established permanently by the __________

A)12ᵗʰ Amendment
B)14th Amendment
C)Bill of Rights
D)16ᵗʰ Amendment

Question 62

Compared with other countries of the world,the Gini Index for the United States is about equal to the scores of __________.

A)France,Germany,and the United Kingdom
B)Botswana,Sierra Leone,South Africa,
C)Argentina,Iran,and Nigeria
D)Denmark,Norway,and Sweden

Question 63

Psychologists agree that talent is something that people __________.

A)can acquire
B)cannot acquire
C)cannot acquire without monetary incentives
D)are born with

Question 64

The majority of minimum-wage employees are __________.

A)teenagers
B)whites
C)Hispanic
D)adults

Question 65

Apple Computer manufactures all iPads and iPhones in __________.

A)China
B)China and India
C)China,Mexico,and the Philippines
D)China,Mexico,and the United States

Question 66

The efficiency justification of inequality is associated with the idea that __________.

A)the possibility of disproportionate rewards motivates individuals to take risks
B)people are free to develop their own talents
C)markets have the ability to develop new business models
D)markets can develop unimpeded by government intervention

Question 67

The higher the income share of the wealthiest 10 percent in a society __________.

A)the more equal that society is likely to be
B)the less equal that society is likely to be
C)the less efficient that society is likely to be
D)the more efficient that society is likely to be

Question 68

Countries where disparities between the poor and the rich are small are called __________.

A)equilateral
B)equalitarian
C)egalitarian
D)efficient

Question 69

Compared with the wealthiest 10 percent of present-day Americans,the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans in the 1920s received _________ of national income.

A)a smaller share
B)a larger share
C)a much larger share
D)about the same share

Question 70

On the Gini Index,which measures income inequality,a score of 1 indicates __________.

A)complete inequality
B)complete equality
C)average levels of inequality
D)moderately high levels of inequality

Question 71

__________ is a measure of the output per worker per hour.

A)Productivity
B)Progressivity
C)Production efficiency
D)Labor efficiency

Question 72

Comparative data indicate that,of all the following countries,only __________ is not considered egalitarian.

A)Sweden
B)Norway
C)the United States
D)Denmark

Question 73

In a perfectly equal society,the income share of the wealthiest one-tenth of families would be equal to __________ percent of the national income.

A)one-tenth of 1
B)1
C)10
D)20

Question 74

The premise of the __________ is that billionaires,millionaires,and all those at the top of the income ladder are expected to pay more in taxes than minimum-wage employees.

A)Gini Index
B)Lorenz curve
C)correlation coefficients
D)progressive tax system

Question 75

SBTC is an acronym sociologists use for __________.

A)skill-based technological change
B)sustainable business tax credits
C)small business technology councils
D)skill-biased technological change

Question 76

In the 1960s,the U.S.government launched the __________,a policy initiative to reduce poverty and racial inequality.

A)Great Deal
B)Great Society
C)New Deal
D)New Society

Question 77

In general,technology __________ jobs that require higher levels of education while it __________ jobs that require middle and lower levels of education.

A)replaces;complements
B)complements;replaces
C)raises wages for;lowers wage for
D)lowers wages for;raises wages for

Question 78

When is the value of the minimum wage likely to decrease?

A)when productivity declines
B)when productivity increases
C)when inflation increases
D)when prices deflate

Question 79

The larger the Gini Index,______________.

A)the more equality a region has
B)the more inequality a region has
C)the more unemployed people a region has
D)the more employed people a region has

Question 80

As a result of economic restructuring,average wages have __________ since the 1970s.

A)increased
B)decreased
C)stagnated
D)increased then sharply declined