Deck 13: Politics and Economic Life

Question 1

Nadia lives in a country with a royal family that receives money from taxpayers to live in a palace and carry out certain ceremonial functions. But the king and queen have no real political power. Instead, a parliament of elected officials makes all the important political decisions. What kind of political system does Nadia live in?

A) a republic
B) a participatory democracy
C) a socialist state
D) a constitutional monarchy

Answer 1

D

Question 2

What did the Supreme Court rule in Roe v. Wade?

A) that women had a legal right to abortion
B) that federal money could not be used to subsidize facilities that carried out abortions
C) that states could restrict abortions as they saw fit
D) that women who could not afford an abortion had the right to receive subsidies

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Svetlana is a Russian who lives in Moscow. She moved from a small town to the big city to look for a job after she finished a degree in computer science. Her great-great-grandfather, Anton, had been a Russian serf who was legally bound to the land on which he had lived decades ago. Svetlana's ability to move about more freely than her great-great-grandfather demonstrates achievement of:

A) a civil right.
B) a political right.
C) a social right.
D) a cultural right.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

According to the textbook, which of the following statements may help explain why so many people decide not to vote in the United States?

A) Countries with high literacy rates tend to have lower voter turnout.
B) Relatively high incomes in the United States compared with other countries means that potential voters have less incentive to cast their vote.
C) Voters may sometimes feel that they lack effective choices due to the domination of only two political parties.
D) The existence of well-established political freedoms and civil liberties gives voters less incentive to go to the polls.

Question 5

As a member of the National Organization for Women (NOW), Mercedes would be most likely to try to lobby for which of the following issues?

A) increasing the military budget
B) a constitutional amendment eliminating subsidized housing
C) vouchers for parents who want to send their children to private religious schools
D) equality in the workplace

Question 6

Jordi is a Spaniard who lives in Barcelona. Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia, a region of northeastern Spain. Jordi feels more loyalty to his region, Catalonia, than to his country, Spain. He prefers to speak the local language, Catalan, although he speaks Spanish equally well. Jordi's feelings for Catalonia are an example of:

A) sovereignty.
B) citizenship.
C) civil rights.
D) local nationalism.

Question 7

According to the textbook, which of the following statements is true about political action committees (PACs)?

A) They are committees made up of senators who work together on financial issues that the president recommends.
B) They have little influence on presidential elections.
C) They provide about a third of the funding for congressional elections.
D) They are legally barred from giving political opinions publicly during the months leading up to an election.

Question 8

Marie lives in Marseilles, France. She loves to watch the Olympics to see athletes compete. She is especially pleased when French athletes win events and the French national anthem is played during medal award ceremonies. She feels pride in her country and in its heritage. What term would sociologists probably employ to explain her reactions?

A) sovereignty
B) nationalism
C) alienation
D) citizenship

Question 9

When was the welfare state firmly established in most Western societies?

A) in the seventeenth century
B) in the eighteenth century
C) in the nineteenth century
D) in the twentieth century

Question 10

Morgan was elected to her state legislature in a close election three-and-a-half years ago. She is a Republican. In the upcoming election, she will be running for the same office against a male candidate from the Democratic Party. Morgan's district is currently experiencing an economic boom with lower than normal unemployment. According to the textbook, which of the following statements is most likely to be true?

A) Morgan will lose the election.
B) Morgan will raise more money than her opponent.
C) Morgan's opponent will concentrate his campaign ads on the economy.
D) Morgan's opponent will try to focus voters' attention on the fact that she is a woman.

Question 11

What is one advantage of proportional representation over winner-take-all electoral processes?

A) Minority political parties have a say.
B) There are fewer options for voters.
C) Parties do not need to form coalitions.
D) There are formal restrictions on the number of political parties.

Question 12

Sybil lives in a country where she cannot always participate as fully as others. For example, only men can run for election to the local government council. Sybil actively protests this restriction. What kind of right is Sybil fighting for?

A) a civil right
B) a political right
C) a social right
D) a cultural right

Question 13

According to the textbook, what is a typical characteristic of multiparty political systems?

A) There is a greater concentration of political ideas on the middle ground than in two-party systems.
B) Coalitions in which no one party has a clear majority can result in stalemate and deadlock.
C) Legal restrictions are placed on the number of political parties.
D) There is a closer resemblance between the various political parties than in two-party systems.

Question 14

Eduardo lives in Montevideo, Uruguay. Recently he saw the pay he receives for his work as a hotel clerk reduced significantly because of legislation that reduced the minimum monthly wage for workers. Eduardo and his colleagues have taken to the street to protest this law. What kind of right are Eduardo and his colleagues fighting for?

A) a civil right
B) a political right
C) a social right
D) a cultural right

Question 15

Which of the following reasons is given in the textbook to help explain the quick spread of democracy around the world in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries?

A) Democracy tends to be associated with competitive capitalism in the economic system, which holds the promise of raising people's standard of living.
B) The economic situation of emerging third-world countries changed rapidly due to the expansion of transnational corporations that offered a democratic example for the peoples of those states to follow.
C) The rising number of American students who studied abroad carried ideas of American democracy to the rest of the world.
D) The increasing prevalence of natural disasters around the globe allowed the Western democracies to demonstrate the benefits of their systems through humanitarian missions in the third world.

Question 16

Monica has always loved animals, but just a few months ago she decided to take a more active role in protecting them. She joined an organization that defends animals through political action. Now she regularly travels to her state capital to persuade legislators to pass laws that will protect certain types of animals. What do sociologists call this kind of organization?

A) a political party
B) a women's group
C) collective bargaining
D) an interest group

Question 17

During Occupy Wall Street, people who lived in the encampment collectively decided how to run the Zuccotti Park. This kind of political system can best be described as what?

A) an absolute monarchy
B) a constitutional monarchy
C) a liberal democracy
D) a participatory democracy

Question 18

Countries in which voters can choose between two or more political parties and the majority of the adult population has the right to vote are usually called:

A) absolute monarchies.
B) participatory democracies.
C) liberal democracies.
D) communist democracies.

Question 19

What term is used to describe the undisputed political rule of a state over a given territorial area?

A) capitalist state structuralism
B) nationalism
C) sovereignty
D) territorialism

Question 20

Who would primarily benefit from raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour?

A) white-collar workers
B) women nurses
C) landowners
D) black and Latino workers

Question 21

Stan just turned eighteen years old. His parents are both fifty-five years old. Stan's father expresses continuing trust in government, but Stan and his mother are highly suspicious of government. According to the textbook, which of the following statements is most likely to be true?

A) Stan's parents are more concerned about environmental issues than their son is.
B) Stan is more likely to vote than his mother.
C) Stan's father is more likely to vote than Stan's mother.
D) Stan is more likely to vote than his father.

Question 22

President Dwight David Eisenhower, who had been supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe in World War II, warned in his presidential farewell address:

A) of the dangers of what he termed the "military-industrial complex."
B) that any decrease in military spending might put the United States "at risk of terrorism."
C) that a two-party system was unsustainable in the long term.
D) of the danger of Cuba falling to "communist insurgents."

Question 23

Before September 11, the worst act of terrorism in the United States was the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, which claimed 168 lives. The act was carried out by Timothy McVeigh, who was strongly influenced by the Christian Identity movement. What might this fact help us understand about terrorism today?

A) Organized religion is the opiate of the masses.
B) Conservatives are more likely to be terrorists than liberals.
C) Religious extremism doesn't represent religion in general.
D) The world is safer today than it was in the past.

Question 24

In a response to a 2011 survey asking, "What is more important-that everyone be free to pursue their life's goals without government interference, or that the state play an active role in guaranteeing that nobody else is in need?" Fifty-eight percent of American respondents favored the first option. On what is this skepticism based?

A) the failure of capitalism to generate wealth
B) the ability of the welfare state to distribute money more evenly
C) the failure of interest groups to support corporations
D) the belief that the welfare state is bureaucratic, alienating, and inefficient

Question 25

What was unique about voter participation in the 2008 presidential election?

A) Fewer women voted than in the past.
B) There was higher turnout among young voters than usual.
C) Voter participation was especially high among rural voters.
D) There was higher turnout among elderly voters than usual.

Question 26

Many sociologists argue that large numbers of Americans are dissatisfied with the U.S. political system today because:

A) the capitalist economies have failed to generate sufficient wealth compared with other economic systems.
B) the United States has a worse record of civil rights abuse than most underdeveloped states.
C) even though capitalist economies have proved to generate more wealth than any other type of economic system, that wealth is unevenly distributed.
D) more people are unemployed today than ever before in the United States.

Question 27

Miriam is a sociologist who has great faith in the U.S. political system. She subscribes to the theory that continual processes of bargaining among numerous groups representing different interests influence government policies in a democracy. Miriam's ideas could best be described as:

A) libertarian communist.
B) pluralist.
C) power elitist.
D) multicultural.

Question 28

Laura is a researcher who studies technological and economic change. Her work shows clearly how forces of worldwide economic competition are changing the nature of the work we do. What term do sociologists use to describe the process she studies?

A) epistemology
B) communism
C) capitalism
D) globalization

Question 29

What term refers to carrying out tasks that require mental and physical effort, with the objective of the production of goods and services that cater to human needs?

A) technology
B) work
C) power
D) authority

Question 30

U.S. military spending today:

A) is lower than before 1989 because of the almost complete collapse of communism.
B) continues to lag behind countries such as Russia and China.
C) is greater than that of the next seven countries combined.
D) is some of the lowest in the world.

Question 31

Joseph Schumpeter, who expanded on the work of Max Weber, argued that:

A) democracy ensured that the will of the people trumped that of politicians.
B) democracy is more important as a method of generating effective and responsible government than as a means of providing significant power for the majority.
C) only through the separation of government into three branches-the legislative, the judicial, and the executive-can people be protected from tyrannical dictators.
D) democracy was impossible to achieve until technological achievements rendered it possible.

Question 32

What term do sociologists use to describe the use of science and machinery to achieve greater productive efficiency?

A) mathematics
B) power
C) authority
D) technology

Question 33

What author's most famous work, The Wealth of Nations, opens with a description of the division of labor in a pin factory?

A) Karl Marx
B) Max Weber
C) Frederick Winslow Taylor
D) Adam Smith

Question 34

In 1908, ________ designed his first auto plant at Highland Park, Michigan, to manufacture only one product. This allowed for the introduction of specialized tools and machinery designed for speed, precision, and simplicity of operation.

A) John Pierpont Morgan
B) Lido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca
C) Henry Ford
D) John Davison Rockefeller

Question 35

Eugenia has worked in the same company for fifteen years repairing icemakers. Although her company manufactures other machines, she only repairs the icemakers they produce. What term would sociologists use to describe the specialization of Eugenia's work tasks?

A) globalization
B) credentialism
C) division of labor
D) economic independence

Question 36

Max spends most of his time in the house taking care of his children and his sister's children. He cooks for them, takes them to school, and keeps an eye on them when they get out of school. In exchange for this help, his sister lends his family an extra apartment she has in her multifamily home. What is the term that sociologists use to refer to this kind of transaction?

A) informal economy
B) tax-evasion planning
C) dual goods exchange
D) capitalism

Question 37

Premodern, as opposed to modern, systems of production were based above all on:

A) agriculture.
B) heavy industry.
C) technology.
D) communication technologies.

Question 38

Why did Max Weber assume that direct democracy is impossible as a means of regular government in large-scale societies?

A) Direct democracies would be at a military disadvantage to other, more authoritarian societies.
B) When Weber wrote, no direct democracies had yet existed.
C) The costs of direct democratic rule in large-scale societies would be especially prohibitive.
D) Millions of people cannot meet to make political decisions in large, complex societies.

Question 39

Which of the following statements is true, according to C. Wright Mills in The Power Elite?

A) Those who are in the highest positions in politics, the economy, and the military come from similar social backgrounds, have parallel interests, and often know one another personally.
B) The consolidation of power in Western societies during the twentieth century led to the proliferation of democracy around the world through the projection of military, economic, and political power globally.
C) The elite nuclear energy transnational corporations dominated American policy during the twentieth century and pushed the United States into various wars that the American people largely rejected.
D) The U.S. elite forces, especially the Army Rangers and Navy SEALs, constitute the most highly trained special operations forces in the world.

Question 40

Frederick works in a university, studying the extent to which individuals depend on others to produce most of the goods they need to sustain their lives. He is struck by the fact that many people could not survive in the modern world because they simply do not have the knowledge to carry out certain basic tasks, such as growing food. The process that Frederick studies is known to sociologists as:

A) class conflict.
B) scarcity society.
C) economic interdependence.
D) informal economy.

Question 41

Why did state and local workers-ranging from firefighters to teachers-protest in Wisconsin and several other states?

A) They were upset that the government was going to make unions illegal.
B) They feared that the state would force them to join expensive, ineffective unions.
C) They were upset that their jobs were being outsourced to other countries.
D) They feared the loss of their pensions, a reduction in their health benefits, and a loss of their right to collective bargaining.

Question 42

What are the three main characteristics of the modern nation-state? Describe each in one sentence.

Question 43

Tamara studies modern societies, which most researchers define as capitalistic. She would probably assert that these capitalistic societies share which of the following traits?

A) shared ownership of the means of production
B) highly decentralized government decision making for all economic issues
C) profit as incentive
D) social equality and very little division between different socioeconomic groups

Question 44

According to the textbook, why did labor unions develop?

A) to ensure that business owners could control unruly workers
B) to provide a pool of unskilled labor that business owners could draw on in times of economic depression
C) to redress the imbalance of power between workers and employers
D) to force politicians to invest heavily in certain strategic sectors

Question 45

According to the textbook, capitalism began to spread with the growth of the Industrial Revolution in the:

A) seventeenth century.
B) eighteenth century.
C) nineteenth century.
D) twentieth century.

Question 46

What do Edna Bonacich and Richard Appelbaum mean when they write about a global "race to the bottom" in the retail-dominated production of clothing?

A) Clothing retailers and manufacturers race to get out new products before anyone else and thus foment innovation and increasing quality in the sector.
B) Retailers and manufacturers will go anywhere on earth to pay the lowest possible wages, which results in dismal wages for workers-who are often children.
C) As the manufacture of clothing for large retailers was increasingly centered on areas of the Southern Hemisphere, competition for workers gradually brought wages up in these parts of the world.
D) A manufacturing race has been on for more than twenty years, and it pits large northern retailers against southern manufacturers.

Question 47

Miles has been working on an assembly line in a U.S. car-manufacturing factory for the past thirty years. Which of the following trends is he most likely to have witnessed?

A) An increasing number of the parts assembled at the plant are made in the United States.
B) The factory has increased its production in the plant, which has required management to hire more blue-collar workers.
C) Many of the activities that were formerly carried out in the plant have been outsourced to other countries.
D) The new workers who are hired in the plant are more skilled than he was when he began.

Question 48

Sofia is a sociologist who sees capitalism as developing through three distinct phases. In what chronological order would she probably put these three phases of capitalism?

A) managerial capitalism, family capitalism, and institutional capitalism
B) institutional capitalism, managerial capitalism, and family capitalism
C) family capitalism, institutional capitalism, and managerial capitalism
D) family capitalism, managerial capitalism, and institutional capitalism

Question 49

What is one of the major outcomes of institutional directorates, or linkages among corporations created by individuals who sit on two or more corporate boards?

A) They reverse the process of increasing managerial control.
B) Instead of investing in a money market, people now directly buy business shares.
C) Americans have renewed faith in pension funds following the most recent economic crisis.
D) Blocks of shares owned by other corporations are dwarfed by manager shareholdings.

Question 50

According to the textbook, how are power and authority different? Explain your answer in two to three sentences.

Question 51

A temporary stoppage of work by a group of employees to express a grievance or to enforce a demand is known as:

A) alienation.
B) a strike.
C) a bargaining agreement.
D) liberal democracy.

Question 52

According to the theory of alienation, how does the division of labor alienate human beings from their work?

A) by forcing many immigrant workers to become illegal aliens in other countries and to work without the basic protections offered to documented workers
B) by dividing workers into separate industries and thus disallowing them from uniting in common causes
C) by separating workers on the basis of racial, economic, and social differences into ghettos far from their places of work
D) by giving workers little control over their jobs and no influence over how or to whom their products are sold

Question 53

Merle is a student who believes that since share ownership of corporations is so dispersed, actual control has passed into the hands of managers who run firms on a day-to-day basis. Merle's ideas echo those of:

A) Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations.
B) Karl Marx in The Communist Manifesto.
C) Adolf Berle and Gardiner Means in The Modern Corporation and Private Property.
D) Wright Mills in The Power Elite.

Question 54

Amal and Bridget both work in the same company; Amal is a full-time worker, and Bridget is a temporary worker. Based on this information, which of the following statements is most likely to be true?

A) Bridget has a higher salary than Amal.
B) Amal shirks her responsibilities more than Bridget.
C) Bridget has more paid vacation time than Amal.
D) Amal is covered by medical insurance from the company, but Bridget is not.

Question 55

Molly is a Keynesian economist, which means that she subscribes to the ideas of John Maynard Keynes. She recently began working as an economic advisor to the president. Just when she started her new job, the country spiraled into economic recession. What would Molly probably recommend the president do to fight the recession?

A) cut subsidies to agricultural businesses to encourage cheap imports
B) invest in public infrastructure to create jobs
C) slash welfare programs for the poor
D) reduce government unemployment benefits

Question 56

________ entities roam freely around the planet in search of lower costs and higher profits, regardless of where they might be headquartered.

A) Transnational
B) Civil rights
C) Unionized
D) State-owned

Question 57

John Davison Rockefeller was an American industrialist who founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870. He later founded and bought several other companies and became the world's richest man. He also founded and donated large amounts of money to philanthropic organizations. Rockefeller's career is an excellent example of what the textbook refers to as:

A) welfare capitalism.
B) managerial capitalism.
C) family capitalism.
D) institutional capitalism.

Question 58

Which of the following explanations would most likely explain the difficulties faced by labor unions since 1980?

A) The loss of once-unionized manufacturing jobs to low-wage countries
B) There have been high levels of unemployment.
C) The intensity of international competition has decreased.
D) Trends toward less flexible production have begun.

Question 59

Jennifer works in a factory that manufactures microwave ovens. During her eight-hour shift, she tightens four screws on each unit that passes on an assembly line belt. She performs this task on more than 1,500 microwave ovens per day. Her work is an example of whose innovation in industry?

A) Max Weber
B) Karl Marx
C) Joseph Schumpeter
D) Henry Ford

Question 60

Based on what you've read in the textbook, why would you say that most countries largely abandoned Keynesian policies in the 1970s and 1980s?

A) In the face of economic globalization, governments lost the ability to control economic life as they once had.
B) The publication of Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations pushed governments toward more liberal economic policies.
C) High rates of unemployment forced governments to admit that Keynesian policies had failed and to look for alternatives.
D) The fall of the Berlin Wall demonstrated the failure of communist economic policies in general and Keynesian economics specifically.

Question 61

According to the textbook, what are three types of rights associated with the growth of citizenship? Explain each in one sentence.

Question 62

In a short paragraph, compare and contrast two of the three forms of democracy discussed in the text.

Question 63

What are the main features of capitalism? Answer in two to four sentences.

Question 64

In a short paragraph, explain why unions in the United States have suffered from a decline in membership since the 1980s.

Question 65

Using the concept of division of labor, describe two of the key differences in the nature of work in traditional versus modern societies.

Question 66

What is a welfare state? Can the United States be classified as a welfare state? Explain your answer in a short paragraph.

Question 67

According to the textbook, why is voter turnout so low in the United States? Explain your answer in a short paragraph.

Question 68

In a short paragraph, compare and contrast pluralist theories of modern democracy and the power elite model.