Deck 4: Social Stratification and Social Class

Question 1

Karl Marx argued that workers should control the means of production in ______.

A) capitalism
B) communism
C) socialism
D) feudalism

Answer 1

C

Question 2

According to Marx, which of these systems is the ultimate evolution of economics?

A) Socialism
B) Capitalism
C) Feudalism
D) Communism

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The name that Marx gave to capitalists who own the means of production was ______.

A) bourgeoisie
B) proletariat
C) usurpers
D) exploiters

Answer 3

A

Question 4

According to Marx, those who only own their own labor are the ______.

A) slaves
B) proletariat
C) exploited
D) bourgeoisie

Question 5

Marx asserted that society's main problem is that the bourgeoisie and proletariat are engaged in ______.

A) cooperation
B) vigilante justice
C) class struggle
D) open warfare

Question 6

The way a society chooses to make things is known as ______.

A) mode of production
B) political system
C) ideology
D) internal revenue

Question 7

According to Marx, any property that can be used to make things or generate wealth is a(n) ______.

A) investment
B) mode of production
C) means of production
D) institution

Question 8

Marx described two main groups of people, defined by their relationship to the means of production, and classified them as ______.

A) castes
B) classes
C) cliques
D) cronies

Question 9

In what way are members of the bourgeoisie dependent on the proletariat?

A) The proletariat owns the land on which to build factories.
B) The bourgeoisie must sell their mental or physical labor to survive.
C) They must work together to maintain their domination of the poor.
D) Members of the proletariat form the labor force for factories.

Question 10

Which of the following means of production is crucial to most others?

A) Land
B) Vehicles
C) Factories
D) Machines

Question 11

Why did Marx feel the relationship between the classes is coercive?

A) The bourgeoisie will always be exploited by the proletariat.
B) The proletariat seeks to keep wages low and profits high.
C) Workers are perpetually beholden to capitalists for wages.
D) The classes have not cooperated since Roman times.

Question 12

The amount of money a capitalist brings home after paying for labor and other costs is called ______.

A) overhead
B) surplus value
C) sunk costs
D) depreciation

Question 13

Which of these is an attempt to minimize costs and maximize profits?

A) Offering a generous pension to retain workers in the long term
B) Paying workers enough to purchase the products they make
C) Keeping wages and benefits low, and work hours long
D) Granting workers extended paid time off from work

Question 14

Karl Marx's ideas are most similar to which sociological perspective?

A) Structural functionalism
B) Symbolic interactionism
C) Dramaturgical
D) Conflict theory

Question 15

What did Marx say the bourgeoisie have done to previously well-respected professions?

A) They reduced them to lowly wage-earners.
B) They granted the special status above laborers.
C) They conferred with them on best practices.
D) They bribed them to call workplaces safe and clean.

Question 16

According to Marx, what corrosive effect does capitalism have on the proletariat?

A) Cheaper production makes more products accessible to more people.
B) The personal joy of work is sapped and replaced only by money.
C) Proletarians eventually become bourgeoisie and oppress their brothers.
D) Automation will eventually make all workers obsolete.

Question 17

How did Marx predict the bourgeoisie would cause its own demise?

A) Eventually, all humans would become bourgeoisie, as robots take over labor tasks.
B) The proletariat will switch places and oppress the bourgeoisie as revenge.
C) The abuses of the bourgeoisie will eventually unite the proletariat against them.
D) A few of the bourgeoisie would seek to profit from funding the demise of the rest.

Question 18

Which common capitalist ideology asserts that poor people are poor because they have NOT worked hard enough to change their situation?

A) Individualism
B) Development
C) Progress
D) Meritocracy

Question 19

According to Marx, one of the factors preventing the proletariat from uniting is the belief in ideas that support the status quo, or a ______.

A) spurious belief
B) flawed notion
C) distracting ideology
D) false consciousness

Question 20

How does the state support the unequal distribution of wealth and power inherent to capitalism?

A) Influencing the media and school curriculum to assert the status quo.
B) Critically examining and comparing competing systems, such as socialism.
C) Imprisoning anyone who suggests capitalism is not the best and only way.
D) Giving communists and socialists equal standing with candidates who support the status quo.

Question 21

One of the criticisms of Marx's theory is that he ______.

A) ignored the superrich 1% on the top of wealth chart
B) oversimplified the number of social classes to just two
C) dismissed examples of members of classes cooperating
D) deemphasized the possibility of mixed economic systems

Question 22

Ernie owns his sandwich shop and works alongside his employees on a daily basis; he is part of which social class?

A) Bourgeoisie
B) Lumpenproletariat
C) Petit bourgeoisie
D) Proletariat

Question 23

Joe has posttraumatic stress disorder from his time in the military. He is unable to hold a job and stands near a busy intersection hoping for help, making him a ______, according to Marx.

A) Proletarian
B) Lumpenproletarian
C) Petit bourgeoisie
D) Bourgeoisie

Question 24

What did Marx think was required for the proletariat to band together in unions and fight for socialism?

A) A leader with broad powers
B) Hatred for the bourgeoisie
C) Awareness of abuses
D) Class consciousness

Question 25

Union membership has been declining in developed countries recently, as shown by which measurement?

A) Trade union density
B) Average wage increase
C) Distribution of wealth
D) Number of strikes

Question 26

Which of these is an example of overt resistance by workers against owners?

A) Working slowly
B) Taking office supplies
C) Forming a union
D) Spreading rumors

Question 27

Covert action in a class struggle between workers and owners can take many forms, such as ______.

A) leading a strike
B) wasting time at work
C) complaining to human resources
D) publicly posting on social media

Question 28

Who is considered by many to be the greatest German sociologist?

A) Karl Marx
B) C. Wright Mills
C) Talcott Parsons
D) Max Weber

Question 29

According to Weber, what kind of power is conferred by income or wealth?

A) Economic
B) Political
C) Social
D) Virtual

Question 30

Weber asserted that social power is gained from which pair of factors?

A) Party and loyalty
B) Honor and prestige
C) Income and wealth
D) Esteem and sacrifice

Question 31

Marx's petit bourgeoisie class is equivalent to Weber's ______.

A) large capitalist
B) specialist
C) small capitalist
D) working class

Question 32

People with marketable skills, such as teachers, would belong to which of Weber's economic classes?

A) Working class
B) Small capitalist
C) Large capitalist
D) Specialist

Question 33

Sonya is a prosperous contractor, but society stereotypes her profession as suspect and possibly shady. What does Weber say about such situations?

A) She has a lower social status, but a higher social class.
B) Sonya has to work hard to dispel stereotypes.
C) Contractors sometimes skirt the law to earn money.
D) Her job has a high status, but is considered lower class.

Question 34

What is one main difference between social class and social status, according to Weber?

A) People can be in many different social classes, but only one status.
B) It is possible to be in more than one status, but only one class.
C) A person of high social class will always have a high status, too.
D) The only way to earn high status is to start in a low social class.

Question 35

A group seeking to influence social action and policy is known as a ______.

A) status group
B) social class
C) party
D) organization

Question 36

Why was Julie Bettis so concerned with her choice of clothing during her research?

A) She tried not to alienate any cliques in the school population she studied.
B) Bettis wanted to make sure the students saw her as an authority figure.
C) In an attempt to blend in, she pretended to be an exchange student.
D) She wore and gave away high fashion items in order to earn trust and friendship.

Question 37

What challenge did Bettis face in her research regarding culture?

A) She found it hard to understand Mexican-American culture.
B) As a white woman, she was not easily accepted by Mexican-American girls.
C) Many Mexican-Americans are suspicious of outsiders in their midst.
D) She had to be careful not to reduce her subjects to their ethnicity.

Question 38

A major pitfall to avoid when studying groups very unlike ourselves is ______.

A) the tendency to use stereotypes to understand their experiences
B) overcoming the guilt of your group exploiting the group being studied
C) appropriating the idioms, dress, and other ways of life of the group being studied
D) the desire to leave our own culture and join the one being studied

Question 39

Brett wants to study the academic habits of fraternity members. He happens to also belong to a fraternity, so he should be especially careful to avoid ______.

A) examining too small of a population for validity
B) using stereotypes to explain the behavior of his subjects
C) assuming that he understands how they think without critical examination
D) judging members of rival fraternities more harshly

Question 40

Sociologists use a composite of income, prestige, and education level to compare people, typically categorizing them as high, low, and middle. This factor is called ______.

A) social class
B) social status
C) Weber's three classes
D) socio-economic status (SES)

Question 41

What counterintuitive result came from the Stanford/Pew study of total family earnings compared with parent's income?

A) Men tend to make more than women because they are paid more.
B) Women tend to make a higher family income because they are more likely to get married.
C) Men and women tend to earn about the same amount of income over their lifetime.
D) Women who marry other women tend to earn more than if they married men.

Question 42

Which measure of total assets is very concentrated in the United States due to passing it from generation to generation?

A) Socio-economic status
B) Income
C) Wealth
D) Social status

Question 43

Horatio was able to work his way from rags to riches, and is an example of ______.

A) wealth inequality
B) social mobility
C) income inequality
D) stratification

Question 44

Don was born to a wealthy family, so his status is not based on anything he earned, but on an ______ stratification system.

A) Achievement-based
B) Intragenerational
C) Intergenerational
D) Ascription-based

Question 45

Frederick Douglass was born in slavery, but escaped and became an author and motivational speaker. His life is an example of which kind of social mobility?

A) Intragenerational
B) Intergenerational
C) Ascription-based
D) Ethnicity-based

Question 46

The relationship between the income levels of parents and their children can be stated using which measurement?

A) Intragenerational social mobility
B) Achievement-based stratification
C) Intergenerational income elasticity
D) Ascription-based stratification

Question 47

Why is it often difficult to understand how other people experience inequality?

A) Perception is so subjective that someone else's life is hard to relate to our own.
B) We spend most of our lives near people who are like us.
C) Most people exaggerate the level of their suffering.
D) Many people take it for granted that others have similar experiences.

Question 48

Many people are born into a situation where resources are unavailable, a condition called ______.

A) petit bourgeoisie
B) socialism
C) poverty
D) capitalism

Question 49

Glen lives in the smallest house in his neighborhood, dwarfed by those nearby. Glen is in the state of ______.

A) absolute poverty
B) relative poverty
C) lumpenproletariat
D) low status

Question 50

Many people live in squalid conditions hazardous to the health of their families. In other words, they live in ______.

A) relative poverty
B) precarious status
C) absolute poverty
D) cultural shortage

Question 51

In the United States, a person or family crosses the poverty threshold if they spend more than ______ of their inflation-adjusted income on basic food supplies.

A) half
B) an eighth
C) a third
D) a tenth

Question 52

Marcella works at a minimum wage job, and lives with her two children in a small apartment. Marcella's family can best be described as ______.

A) below the poverty threshold
B) petite bourgeoisie
C) among the lowest caste
D) lumpenproletariat

Question 53

People are more likely to live in poverty today if they come from which demographic group?

A) Older men
B) Single women
C) Middle-aged couples
D) Teenagers

Question 54

Established in 1935, which social program has dramatically reduced the number of senior citizens living below the poverty threshold?

A) Welfare
B) Medicare
C) Social Security
D) The GI bill

Question 55

Factors such as low education levels, low income, housing insecurity, and few social connections can make it difficult to break ______.

A) the cycle of poverty
B) out of the middle class and into the upper class
C) into the lumpenproletariat
D) intergenerational income elasticity

Question 56

John does not always have clean clothes or supplies for school, and relies on the school lunch program for his main meal of the day. John is most likely living in ______.

A) the lower middle class
B) poverty
C) the middle class
D) the Great Depression

Question 57

Why do many impoverished people resort to living in motels or even cars?

A) It is cheaper to pay daily at a motel than monthly for an apartment or house.
B) They often cannot afford the security deposit and up-front rent payments.
C) Living in a car makes it easier to move and be on time for work.
D) Motels are often closer to the workplace, so the commute is shorter.

Question 58

Studies have shown that socio-economic factors account for approximately ______ of the difference in life expectancy.

A) 10%
B) 34%
C) 60%
D) 80%

Question 59

The University of Washington produced a large study that indicated poverty results in a life span shorter by as many as ______ years.

A) 5
B) 12
C) 15
D) 20

Question 60

How could transportation and housing problems lead to poor nutrition?

A) The only grocery stores near lower income housing often have poor quality food.
B) Most supermarkets are located in impoverished urban areas.
C) If housing costs take too large a portion of income, a car becomes unaffordable.
D) Most motels only offer continental breakfast options, rather than hot food.

Question 61

Socialism is an economic system, NOT a political system.

Question 62

Karl Marx wanted to replace capitalism with socialism.

Question 63

Communism and socialism are the same thing.

Question 64

Factory owners sometimes skimp on safety and cleanliness in order to maximize surplus value.

Question 65

Sets of conscious and unconscious beliefs called ideologies guide our actions.

Question 66

Adherents to positive thinking ideology, as shown by the book The Secret, ignore systemic barriers to success, such as racism and poverty.

Question 67

Karl Marx claimed that capitalists use the state to maintain their advantages over poor people.

Question 68

Max Weber described less complex social classes than those described by Karl Marx.

Question 69

Weber's second major basis of power is status.

Question 70

In Weber's view, it is NOT possible for a person to have both high status and be a member of a lower economic class.

Question 71

According to Weber, a neighborhood watch group is considered a party.

Question 72

There is very high social mobility in the United States.

Question 73

Intergenerational social mobility is three times more likely in Denmark than in the United States.

Question 74

About 30 percent of the global population lives in absolute poverty.

Question 75

It is very difficult to break the cycle of poverty.

Question 76

Explain the concept of meritocracy. In what ways does it increase social support of the bourgeoisie? Be sure to discuss the concepts of false consciousness and ideology in your answer.

Question 77

Compare the purpose of unions according to Marx with how unions are used in the United States. Why are they different? Why is union membership declining? Describe at least two potential consequences of reduced union membership rates.

Question 78

Compare and contrast the theories of Marx and Weber in regard to social class.

Question 79

How and why are income and wealth inequality maintained in the United States? Be sure to distinguish between these concepts and describe how the state could be used to support them.

Question 80

Describe how families can get trapped in the cycle of poverty. Evaluate at least three factors, and suggest ways to help break the cycle. Use details and examples to support your answer.