Question 1

The concept of the American Dream emphasizes and promotes the notions of meritocracy and social mobility as central to both national identity and the experiences of U.S.citizens.These notions assume that all citizens have equal opportunity for upward social mobility regardless of current class position.What is meritocracy,and how does it relate to social mobility? Are both concepts experienced equally by U.S.citizens today regardless of class position? What are three examples of how class can affect individuals' experiences with meritocracy and social mobility? Given what you have read in the chapter on class and inequality,do you believe the American Dream is equally attainable to all U.S.citizens? Why or why not? Do you think the American Dream will become more equally attainable in the future? Why or why not?

Accepted Answer

The answer of The concept of the American Dream emphasizes...

Question 2

What is the real irony behind the relationship between Peter Angelos,owner of the Orioles,and the day laborers who staged a hunger strike as it pertains to stratification and inequality?

Accepted Answer

A)  Angelos made his fortune as a lawyer litigating for labor unions. 
B)  Angelos made his fortune as a lawyer litigating for management. 
C)  Angelos had hired several of the day laborers as illegal immigrants prior to giving them jobs at the stadium. 
D)  Angelos was himself a former day laborer and paid only $3.75 per hour.

Question 3

Why is Karl Marx considered an important theorist in the study of class?

Accepted Answer

A)  Marx developed the concept of the bourgeoisie. 
B)  Marx was the first thinker to consider the idea of work and production. 
C)  Marx built his ideas from those of Max Weber and so acquired great prestige. 
D)  Marx focused on capitalism as it pertained to workers and inequality.

Question 4

The theory of poverty that considers poverty as pathology-the "Culture of Poverty"-suggests that it is a result of an individual's personal failings stemming from a combination of dysfunctional behaviors,attitudes,and values that make and keep the poor person poor.Anthropologists have strongly challenged this idea,instead arguing that poverty is a structural problem resulting from

Accepted Answer

A)  uneven access to a college education. 
B)  partisan political infighting. 
C)  poor decisions around urban renewal in the 1960s and 1970s. 
D)  dysfunctional aspects of the entire economic system.

Question 5

When a chief in a ranked society performs an act of gift giving that serves as a form of sharing accumulated wealth while also enhancing the chief's prestige,it is a form of

Accepted Answer

A)  redistribution. 
B)  reciprocity. 
C)  potlatch. 
D)  reintegration.

Question 6

As a ritual ceremony,the potlatch serves to establish social status not by wealth and power but by the prestige earned via a person's capacity for which of the following?

Accepted Answer

A)  power 
B)  obligation 
C)  generosity 
D)  status

Question 7

What is the characteristic of the Hutterite society that runs counter to present day social structures?

Accepted Answer

A)  It is an example of a successful effort to establish an egalitarian system of economic and social relations within highly stratified societies. 
B)  It is an example of a failed effort to establish an egalitarian system of economic and social relations within highly stratified societies. 
C)  It is an example of a successful effort to establish a highly religious-based society. 
D)  It is an example of a successful effort to establish an authoritarian system of economic and social relations within highly stratified societies.

Question 8

How do distributions of income and wealth reveal the way power is distributed in a society?

Accepted Answer

A)  Both income and wealth mean that individuals have access to needed resources such as food and health care. 
B)  Income and wealth do not reveal the distribution of power in a society. 
C)  Income and wealth indicate the extent of cultural capital held by individuals. 
D)  Both are measures of how successful an individual has been in life.

Question 9

In a ranked society,one distinguishing characteristic of high-prestige positions,such as a chief,is that they are

Accepted Answer

A)  figureheads. 
B)  authoritative. 
C)  hereditary. 
D)  wealthy.

Question 10

Since the mid-1970s,class inequality in the United States has

Accepted Answer

A)  decreased as income and wealth have been disbursed from the wealthy elite down to the middle- and lower-class social strata. 
B)  increased due to decreasing tax rates for the wealthy and stagnating salaries for the middle class. 
C)  held steady as tax breaks for the wealthy have been balanced by increased salaries in the middle class. 
D)  decreased as a result of increased tax rates on the wealthy and redistribution of benefits to the poor.

Question 11

Economists clearly reveal that both the income and wealth gaps in the United States are widening substantially.What is the difference between income and wealth? Can an individual have high income but little wealth? Which households tend to be at the bottom of the income and wealth gaps,and which households are at the top? What are some of the reasons for the income and wealth disparities that exist in the United States today? Why are the U.S.income and wealth gaps widening despite increased globalization and access to educational opportunities? How do one's income and wealth affect his or her social mobility? What other systems of social stratification affect an individual's income and wealth and in what ways? How does Pem Davidson Buck's work with poor white people in rural Kentucky reflect how income and wealth are affected by other forms of social stratification?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Economists clearly reveal that both the income...

Question 12

Which of the following members of a ranked society do NOT accumulate great wealth,despite their high prestige?

Accepted Answer

A)  women 
B)  elders 
C)  men 
D)  chiefs

Question 13

Why was Karl Marx's argument that capitalists increased their wealth and not their money by extracting surplus labor value from workers a correct analysis?

Accepted Answer

A)  Surplus labor value was the property of the bourgeoisie. 
B)  Surplus labor value was the property of the proletariat. 
C)  Surplus labor value resulted in direct payments to the capitalists. 
D)  Surplus labor value was not a tangible asset but a gain from the work of others.

Question 14

Karl Marx,Max Weber,Pierre Bourdieu,and Leith Mullings are four theorists who have examined class as a system of stratification in societies.Which of the four theorists' approaches do you find most convincing? Describe the theorist's general approach to examining class and discuss how this particular approach differs from the approaches used by the other theorists.What makes this approach more convincing in your opinion? Do you think this approach is still an effective tool in examining class in societies today? Given the increasingly global nature of societal interconnections,do you believe this approach will continue to be useful in examining class systems in future societies? Why or why not? Do you think additional approaches will be needed to more fully examine class systems in the future? Why or why not?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Karl Marx,Max Weber,Pierre Bourdieu,and Leith Mullings are...

Question 15

According to Marx,why were the proletariat unable to develop a political awareness of their class position while the bourgeoisie were able to do so?

Accepted Answer

A)  The proletariat lacked interest or motivation to do so while the bourgeoisie were well connected politically and had a reason to exploit their class position. 
B)  The proletariat were continually occupied with the struggle to make ends meet while the bourgeoisie simply sat back and enjoyed life. 
C)  The proletariat had lower intellect than the bourgeoisie. 
D)  The proletariat were entirely accepting of their position in society and recognized that class division is innate in a society.

Question 16

Leith Mullings argues that class cannot be studied in isolation but rather must be considered together with race and gender as interlocking systems of

Accepted Answer

A)  class. 
B)  status. 
C)  power. 
D)  prestige.

Question 17

According to Karl Marx,the bourgeoisie consisted of a capitalist class of individuals who owned the

Accepted Answer

A)  distribution channels. 
B)  means of production. 
C)  means of control. 
D)  factories.

Question 18

The increasing concentration of wealth into the hands of a smaller number of persons is in part due to globalization and is part of the accelerating process of

Accepted Answer

A)  egalitarianism. 
B)  stratification. 
C)  social ranking. 
D)  social prestige.

Question 19

For a chief in a ranked society,his or her rank and status are reinforced through reciprocity and

Accepted Answer

A)  restoration. 
B)  generosity. 
C)  potlatching. 
D)  reproduction.

Question 20

People who lacked land and tools,did not control sufficient capital to build workshops,and sold their labor were considered which of the following classes of people,according to Karl Marx?

Accepted Answer

A)  bourgeoisie 
B)  capitalists 
C)  industrialists 
D)  proletariat

Exam 10: Class and Inequality