Deck 10: Class and Inequality

Question 1

The advent of agriculture as a primary means of subsistence signaled a change in what aspect of human social structures?

A) an increase in the number of egalitarian societies
B) a decline in the number of egalitarian societies
C) a rise in the amount of food sharing that took place between different groups
D) an increase in the numbers of people that were overweight

Answer 1

a decline in the number of egalitarian societies

Question 2

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

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

Answer 2

hereditary.

Question 3

Countries such as Norway,Sweden,and Denmark are among those that have offered increasingly generous social benefits to their populations.What is the most likely result of this kind of action by the state?

A) It may inadvertently increase stratification.
B) It may help narrow stratification.
C) It leads to a fairer system of redistribution.
D) It tends to discourage new businesses from starting up.

Answer 3

It may help narrow stratification.

Question 4

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

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

Question 5

The unequal distribution of a society's resources within a class system typically

A) involves moving surpluses steadily downward into the hands of the poor.
B) involves moving surpluses steadily upward into the hands of the elite.
C) involves sharing of resources through random lottery.
D) does not affect individuals' life chances.

Question 6

The text tells us that in areas with populous market towns where a small number of merchants and landholders managed to accumulate wealth,extreme stratification arose.This is likely because

A) wealth is often the accumulation of fixed assets,not cash.
B) wealth is often acquired by those who have great skill with money.
C) the absence of legal controls allowed a small subset of the population to control the market.
D) the absence of central banking entities precluded a fair redistribution of wealth.

Question 7

Systems of class stratify individuals' life chances and affect their possibilities for upward social

A) mobility.
B) inertia.
C) stagnation.
D) flexibility.

Question 8

Archaeological evidence suggests that hierarchy,violence,and aggression

A) have been key to the evolutionary success of humankind.
B) emerged relatively recently in human history.
C) were central to the evolutionary success of early humans.
D) are the natural state of human culture.

Question 9

Egalitarian societies depend on sharing which of the following in order to ensure group success?

A) children
B) resources
C) weaponry
D) sexual partners

Question 10

Which of the following is a system of power based on wealth,income,and status that creates an unequal distribution of a society's resources?

A) class
B) ethnicity
C) sexuality
D) gender

Question 11

The text tells us that a few modern societies such as the Amish have successfully forged an egalitarian society.Based on the information in the text-both the discussion and the photograph-what aspect of human interaction can we attribute to this success?

A) ranking
B) recidivism
C) reciprocity
D) redistribution

Question 12

The text tells us that stratification exists in every culture that anthropology has studied today.We are also told that systems of stratification and power such as class are not intrinsic to human culture.This seemingly contradictory set of statements might be resolved through archaeological evidence that itself suggests that what aspect of human social behavior leant itself to a non-stratified society?

A) cooperation
B) conflict without the use of weapons
C) the absence of gender stereotypes
D) the absence of ethnic or racial perceptions

Question 13

Categories found within a class system serve as a basis for unequal access to which of the following?

A) gender
B) race
C) status
D) ethnicity

Question 14

When the social rank of each member of the society is determined by who the parents were,we can probably say that such a society is

A) egalitarian.
B) ranked.
C) authoritarian.
D) reciprocal.

Question 15

Of all the systems of stratification and power in a society,which of the following is commonly the most difficult to see clearly and to discuss openly?

A) race
B) ethnicity
C) gender
D) class

Question 16

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

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 17

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

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

Question 18

Systems of class and inequality

A) no longer exist in postindustrialized nation-states such as the United States.
B) create an unequal distribution of a society's resources.
C) are a natural feature of human culture.
D) are exemplified by hunter-gatherer societies.

Question 19

Which of the following is a type of society that is based on the sharing of resources to ensure group success with a relative absence of hierarchy and violence within or among groups?

A) matriarchal
B) stratified
C) ranked
D) egalitarian

Question 20

Why might we NOT consider the United States a form of ranked society?

A) The leadership is inherited and prestige is hereditary.
B) The leadership is not inherited,and neither wealth nor prestige is hereditary.
C) The leadership is inherited and wealth is hereditary.
D) The leadership is not inherited and prestige is hereditary.

Question 21

Your best friend,who has recently graduated with honors from Harvard University,arrives at a party you're hosting.Despite being a total stranger to all of the guests,your friend is surrounded almost constantly by others throughout the entire evening.You're left feeling a little jealous because of this unexpected popularity.How would a theorist like Max Weber analyze this situation?

A) Your friend likely has a large ego and is attention-seeking by nature.
B) Your friend has openly stated his dislike for members of the working class,drawing lots of attention.
C) Your friend enjoys high prestige due only to the affiliation with a high-prestige university.
D) Your friend enjoys a lot of wealth and privilege and thus draws others who seek that as well.

Question 22

The United States educational system currently uses something called tracking to match students to a course that is in line with their ability.One result of this is the emergence of AP Honors courses-advanced placement classes where the content is generally more academically demanding.One side effect of this process is that students (and their parents)who have an awareness of one aspect of Bourdieu's work are likely to gain an advantage years later.What aspect of Bourdieu's work are we referring to here?

A) status prestige
B) habitus
C) cultural capital
D) group ideology

Question 23

Karl Marx examined social inequality by distinguishing between which two distinct classes of people?

A) bourgeoisie and proletariat
B) bourgeoisie and elite
C) proletariat and impoverished
D) elite and privileged

Question 24

What would Max Weber suggest is the primary difference between a lawyer in the United States and the self-made millionaire of a U.S.-based manufacturing company?

A) The lawyer has high prestige by virtue of occupation,while the self-made millionaire has only wealth.
B) The lawyer wields a great deal of power by virtue of occupation,while the self-made millionaire has high prestige due to accomplishment.
C) The lawyer suffers low prestige by virtue of occupation,while the self-made millionaire enjoys high prestige by virtue of being self-made.
D) The lawyer has high wealth by virtue of occupation,while the self-made millionaire does not.

Question 25

The movement of one's class position-whether upward or downward-in stratified societies is called

A) social inertia.
B) social achievement.
C) social reproduction.
D) social mobility.

Question 26

What common result occurs when patterns of social stratification emerge in the social organization of human populations?

A) the maintenance of egalitarianism
B) the redistribution of money
C) the maintenance of prestige
D) the promotion of unequal access to resources

Question 27

In 2015,the CEO of a midsized corporation in the state of Oregon announced that he was slashing his own salary in order to ensure that everyone working at the company received a salary that allowed them to live comfortably without fear of financial hardship,of access to resources such as health care,or of obtaining food and shelter.In the eyes of Max Weber and the analysis of prestige rankings,what did the CEO do?

A) He increased everyone's wealth.
B) He essentially put everyone in the same class and afforded them the same life chances.
C) He conferred high prestige on everyone,effectively "buying" them with money.
D) He "leveled the playing field" by essentially making everyone a member of the proletariat.

Question 28

If Bourdieu had chosen to do his work in a highly specialized school-a culinary (cooking)school,for instance-what aspect of his theoretical outlook would he have been ascribing as an integral part of that work?

A) cultural capital
B) habitus
C) social mobility
D) social reproduction

Question 29

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?

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 30

Pierre Bourdieu worked to understand the relationship between class,culture,and power by studying schools in France with the expectation of finding that social mobility was the result of meritocracy.Instead,he discovered that

A) social isolation took place due to the high rate of parental involvement.
B) social reproduction tended to disappear after one generation of children had completed school.
C) social mobility did not affect the relationships between parent and child.
D) social relations were reproduced across generations.

Question 31

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

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

Question 32

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?

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

Question 33

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

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

Question 34

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?

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

Question 35

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?

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 36

When the Kwakiutl of the Pacific Northwest perform a potlatch,there may be times when the excess of gifts are actually destroyed rather than given away.This is done in order to

A) avoid giving excess resources to those who do not need them.
B) avoid giving excess resources to others who may be future enemies.
C) reinforce the wealth of the chief by demonstrating his willingness to waste resources.
D) reinforce the prestige of the chief by demonstrating his capacity.

Question 37

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?

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 38

Why might theorist Pierre Bourdieu have decided to examine his theory of social mobility-the interrelationships between culture,class,and power-in the French school system as opposed,say,to the workplace of adults?

A) Schools afforded him the opportunity to study how children entered the workplace.
B) Schools offered the chance to look across multiple generations.
C) Schools afforded a quieter,more stable environment.
D) Workplaces also had a great many non-French persons.

Question 39

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

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 40

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

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

Question 41

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?

Question 42

Theorist Karl Marx argued that societies in the emerging capitalist economy of nineteenth-century Europe consisted of two distinct classes of people: those who own the means of production and those who must sell their labor in return for wages.What were these two distinct classes called? What other resources or factors distinguished these two classes,according to Marx? Does the two-class system espoused by Marx still hold relevancy in examining class systems in societies across the world today? Why or why not? Are there other classes that have developed since the time period during which Marx wrote? What is one example of a way in which Marx's theory could be applied to understanding societies living in a global economy today? Do you find Marx's theory helpful in understanding class and social inequality today? Why or why not?

Question 43

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?

Question 44

The review of economic data in the text underscores the growing inequality in the United States,and yet it remains true that class is rarely discussed.The author attributes this to both media and

A) the ability of many middle class families to maintain the experience of their lifestyle through consumption.
B) the ability of many middle class families to effectively tune out poverty.
C) the inability of the lower middle class to draw attention to inequality.
D) the lack of will at the highest levels of government to address inequality.

Question 45

The potlatch is a redistribution ceremony practiced among Native American groups,such as the Kwakiutl people of the Pacific Northwest.The potlatch serves both a practical and ceremonial function in that it helps redistribute resources for the benefit of the group and it establishes social status and prestige via one's capacity for generosity.As a gift-giving practice,the potlatch is an important ceremony for some ranked societies.Do similar types of gift-giving practices occur in your own society? What are two examples of ceremonies in your own society in which gift giving takes place? What is the function of gift giving in these two examples,and how does the act of gift giving benefit the giver,the receiver,and the social group generally? What happens if an individual does not give a gift in the two examples you highlight? What influences from within and outside of your society may be changing the way in which gift-giving practices are occurring in the ceremonies you mention? Do you think gift giving will remain a practice within these types of ceremonies in the future?

Question 46

Contemporary economic relations in many societies today tend to be organized around the exchange of money for services rather than around patterns of reciprocity.However,patterns of reciprocity still exist today even within highly stratified societies.What are three examples of patterns of reciprocity that are likely to occur in highly stratified societies today,and what purpose do they serve within or between social groups? How does gift giving relate to patterns of reciprocity,and what may be some underlying motivations in gift giving that are related to group survival or benefit? Given the longevity of reciprocity as a social pattern within human evolutionary experience,do you think it will continue to be present within and among social groups in the future? Why or why not?

Question 47

Many in the United States believe that poverty results from a lack of motivation and a poor work ethic.Given this belief,it might be surprising to realize that many people who work full time are

A) ignorant of the plight of working poor.
B) more inclined to donate to charity.
C) considered to be poor.
D) unlikely to support minimum wage increases.

Question 48

One of the ways that globalization has exacerbated the problem of global inequality is by

A) concentrating food distribution in a few closely held parts of the world.
B) ensuring that health care is not readily accessible to all.
C) increasing the mass production of consumer goods that promote a culture of consumption.
D) continuing to promote the ability of multinational corporations to exploit workers.

Question 49

Pierre Bourdieu argued that in addition to a family's economic circumstances,two additional key factors affect an individual's social mobility within society.What are these two additional key factors,and how do they differ from each other? What are some examples that best illustrate these two key factors? How can these two factors limit one's social mobility? How can these two factors improve one's social mobility? How do you think these two factors affect your own social mobility in society? Are there individuals in societies who are not affected in any way by either of these factors? Please provide at least one example to support your argument.

Question 50

The total value of what someone owns,including stocks,bonds,and real estate,minus any debt,such as a mortgage or credit card debt,is considered

A) wealth.
B) investments.
C) income.
D) capital.

Question 51

The work of anthropologist Leith Mullings has examined the connections between class,race,and gender,which resulted in the development of a useful analytical framework called

A) intersectionality.
B) interpretive anthropology.
C) theory of class.
D) social anthropology.

Question 52

Class is a topic that is not commonly discussed among most people in the United States,and yet it is a system of stratification that continues to affect peoples' daily lives.How often and in what context do you talk about class issues with family and friends? In what class position would you classify yourself and your family? How do you know what category to use to identify your class position? Does your class position differ from that of your parents or grandparents? Why or why not? Does your class position differ from that of your friends? Why or why not? What types of efforts do you make to increase your social mobility,and do you think the efforts will indeed help you increase your class position at some point in your lifetime? Given what you know about your own class position,why do you think that class is not commonly talked about in U.S.society? What other types of social stratification are more commonly discussed in public,and how might they be drawing attention away from class issues?

Question 53

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

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 54

In the United States,an individual's life chances are

A) much less influenced by the class position of his or her family than in most countries around the world.
B) clearly influenced by class as well as race and gender.
C) more influenced by the class position of his or her family than in any other country.
D) much less influenced by income but not by wealth.

Question 55

Which of the following consists of wages earned from work,plus dividends and interest on investments along with rents and royalties?

A) investments
B) wealth
C) income
D) profits

Question 56

Anthropologist Gregory Mantsios contends that the media play a significant role in hiding class stratification in the United States.His findings reveal that media focus

A) promotes the myth of meritocracy and egalitarianism.
B) promotes the idea that the poor are unmotivated.
C) is on making money rather than actually reporting news.
D) discusses class only in terms of foreign nations.

Question 57

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

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

Question 58

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

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 59

Mullings's work using intersectionality emerges out of a long history of anthropological fieldwork that is increasingly

A) holistic.
B) interpretive.
C) class-based.
D) local.

Question 60

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

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 61

Despite overall increased levels of income and wealth in the United States during the past four decades,poverty continues to be a societal issue.According to your textbook,what are two key theories that developed in the social sciences to identify the roots of poverty in the United States? How do these two theories differ and what elements might they share in common? What is meant by poverty as pathology versus poverty as a structural economic problem? Which theory do you find most convincing for identifying the root causes of poverty in the United States,and why? Do you think additional theories are needed to more fully address the underlying causes of poverty in the country and globally? What do you think is the appropriate role of the government in addressing the roots of poverty? What do you think is the appropriate role of the individual in overcoming poverty? Do you think poverty can be eradicated in the future? Why or why not?

Question 62

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?