Deck 12: Global Stratification

Question 1

Japan, Canada, and the nations of Western Europe are all classified as:

A) low-income countries.
B) middle-income countries.
C) high-income countries.
D) These countries do not fall into any one category.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

If you wanted to visit the world's low-income nations, where would you travel?

A) Africa and Asia
B) Latin America
C) Eastern Europe
D) North America

Answer 2

A

Question 3

From a global perspective, economic productivity is lowest in precisely the regions where:

A) population growth is highest.
B) most people live in cities.
C) technology is most advanced.
D) once there was the greatest prosperity.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

In middle-income nations, average personal income is in the range of:

A) $250 and $1,000.
B) $1,000 and $2,500.
C) $2,500 and $10,000.
D) $10,000 and $25,000.

Question 5

The people of the high-income countries, who represent 22 percent of the world's population, enjoy about how much of the world's income?

A) 27 percent
B) 43 percent
C) 65 percent
D) 80 percent

Question 6

In the world's lowest-income nations, half of all children born die by the age of:

A) one.
B) ten.
C) thirty-five.
D) seventy.

Question 7

The poorest 20 percent of the global population receives only about what percentage of all global income?

A) 2 percent
B) 5 percent
C) 10 percent
D) 15 percent

Question 8

The death of 52 garment workers in a Bangladeshi sweatshop shows that:

A) the lives of the world's poor are far worse than many people in the United States realize.
B) workers have greater power in poor countries than they do in the United States.
C) workplace regulations are very strict in low-income nations.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 9

High-income nations:

A) are at the forefront of the Information Revolution.
B) make use of factories, big machinery, and advanced technology.
C) contain almost all the world's financial markets.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 10

In poor nations, poverty is_____ than in the United States.

A) more likely to involve men
B) more widespread and severe
C) addressed more effectively
D) less serious a problem

Question 11

One of the countries listed below is NOT a high-income nation. Which one is it?

A) Canada
B) South Africa
C) Israel
D) Vietnam

Question 12

Which world region contains the largest percentage of the world's street children?

A) Asia
B) Latin America
C) Africa
D) Europe

Question 13

"Las Colonias" refers to settlements:

A) that are often called "America's Third World."
B) in Texas near the Mexican border where it is very poor.
C) containing Hispanic Americans, almost all of whom are legal U.S. residents.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 14

Absolute poverty is:

A) most common in large nations such as the United States.
B) the same as relative poverty.
C) life threatening.
D) found only in low-income nations.

Question 15

About how many people in the world die each year due to starvation?

A) 500,000
B) 1 million
C) 5 million
D) 15 million

Question 16

In poor countries, the disadvantages women face relative to men are:

A) about the same as in rich nations.
B) smaller than in rich nations.
C) greater than in rich nations.
D) nonexistent in poor countries, women and men have the same social standing.

Question 17

The wealthiest 20 percent of the global population receives about what percentage of all global income?

A) 28 percent
B) 35 percent
C) 50 percent
D) 74 percent

Question 18

For the world as a whole, about how many people suffer from chronic hunger that leaves them less able to work and places them at high risk of disease?

A) 1 million
B) 10 million
C) 100 million
D) 1 billion

Question 19

In 2008, how many nations were there in the world?

A) 57
B) 194
C) 341
D) 2,190

Question 20

A majority of the world's people live in:

A) low-income nations.
B) middle-income nations.
C) high-income nations.
D) None of the above is correct.

Question 21

A social theorist who contributed to the development of dependency theory by tracing the growth of the capitalist world economy is:

A) Max Weber.
B) Emile Durkheim.
C) W. W. Rostow.
D) Immanuel Wallerstein.

Question 22

According to Anti-Slavery International, about how many men, women, and children live today in conditions that amount to slavery?

A) 20,000
B) 200,000
C) 200 million
D) 2 billion

Question 23

Which of the following social theorists is identified with modernization theory?

A) Max Weber
B) Karl Marx
C) George Herbert Mead
D) Immanuel Wallerstein

Question 24

Some critics claim that modernization theory:

A) ignores how rich nations prevent the economic development of poor nations.
B) amounts to an attack on capitalism.
C) treats rich and poor societies as linked.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 25

André Gunder Frank states that poor nations:

A) are responsible for their own poverty.
B) were "underdeveloped," or made poor, by rich nations.
C) suffer from traditional culture.
D) need to gain more productive technology.

Question 26

Modernization theory identifies which of the following as the greatest barrier to economic development?

A) technology
B) multinational corporations
C) capitalism
D) tradition

Question 27

If you were to apply modernization theory to the problem of global poverty, you might point to which of the following traits of low-income nations?

A) the use of relatively little advanced technology
B) high levels of population increase
C) cultural resistance to innovation
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 28

Dependency theory differs from modernization theory by:

A) making poor nations responsible for their own fate.
B) supporting capitalism as a path to development.
C) explaining global inequality in terms of the exploitation of poor countries by rich countries.
D) claiming that economic development is not a desirable goal.

Question 29

Which type of slavery consists of employers holding workers by paying them too little to cover their debts?

A) chattel slavery
B) child slavery
C) debt bondage
D) servile forms of marriage

Question 30

According to Immanuel Wallerstein's theory of global capitalism, which nations are at the "core" of the world economy?

A) high-income nations
B) middle-income nations
C) low-income nations
D) All nations form the "core."

Question 31

While modernization theory focuses on _____, dependency theory focuses on _____

A) poor nations rich nations
B) the future the past
C) production of wealth distribution of wealth
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 32

In past centuries, European nations colonized countries in:

A) Africa.
B) Latin America.
C) Asia.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 33

If you were applying modernization theory to the problem of global poverty, you might expect rich nations to aid the economic development of poor nations by:

A) assisting in population control.
B) increasing food production.
C) increasing industrial production.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 34

Which type of slavery refers to one person owning another?

A) chattel slavery
B) child slavery
C) debt bondage
D) servile forms of marriage

Question 35

The concept of "neocolonialism" refers to the process by which:

A) countries gain new colonies to replace older ones.
B) countries rid themselves of former colonies.
C) multinational corporations dominate the economy of a poor country.
D) companies operate in many countries at one time.

Question 36

Modernization theory claims that:

A) poor nations can never become rich in today's world.
B) the main causes of poverty involve culture and technology.
C) the main causes of poverty involve multinational corporations.
D) most poor nations were richer in the past.

Question 37

The concept of "colonialism" refers to the process by which:

A) rich nations share advanced technology with poor countries.
B) some nations enrich themselves through political and economic control of others.
C) poor nations shake off control by other nations.
D) immigration helps to spark economic development.

Question 38

Of the roughly 1 billion people in the world who are living in absolute poverty, what percentage are women?

A) 20 percent
B) 35 percent
C) 50 percent
D) 70 percent

Question 39

What concept refers to a global economy in which multinational corporations exploit people in low-income nations?

A) colonialism
B) corporate slavery
C) neocolonialism
D) international bondage

Question 40

According to W. W. Rostow, nations begin at the _____ stage of development and may eventually reach the stage of _____.

A) drive to technological maturity take-off
B) traditional high mass consumption
C) high mass consumption take-off
D) take-off drive to technological maturity

Question 41

The text defines middle-income nations as having per capita income between $2,500 and $10,000 per year.

Question 42

High-income countries are the home of the world's largest corporations as well as the world's top financial markets.

Question 43

Japan and Australia are examples of middle-income nations.

Question 44

The world's richest individual has wealth equal to the total economic output of the world's poorest 34 countries.

Question 45

Which theoretical approach claims that rich nations of the world are "overdeveloped" while poor nations are "underdeveloped"?

A) modernization theory
B) dependency theory
C) both modernization theory and dependency theory
D) neither modernization theory nor dependency theory

Question 46

The former Soviet Union and the nations of Eastern Europe are low-income countries.

Question 47

According to dependency theory, poor countries have become dependent on rich nations because:

A) they sell raw materials to rich nations.
B) rich countries bring tourism dollars.
C) rich nations buy their manufactured goods.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 48

In low-income nations, most people live in villages and small towns where farming is the most common way to make a living.

Question 49

The global region that has made the greatest strides out of poverty is:

A) Asia.
B) Africa.
C) Latin America.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 50

Taken together, the sociological approaches to global poverty show us that poverty is:

A) partly an issue of production.
B) partly a political issue.
C) a problem that threatens world peace.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 51

Even people with income at our country's poverty line live better than a majority of the world's people.

Question 52

There is less income inequality between nations than there is within the United States.

Question 53

Low-income countries are home to more than half of the world's people.

Question 54

The richest 20 percent of the world's people receive 50 percent of the entire world's income.

Question 55

Wallerstein pointed to several factors that cause dependency among low-income nations. Which of the following is a factor that Wallerstein did NOT consider to be a cause of dependency?

A) narrow, export-oriented economies
B) lack of integration into the world economy
C) lack of industrial capacity
D) foreign debt

Question 56

Over the course of the last century, the extent of global economic inequality has:

A) decreased sharply.
B) stayed about the same.
C) increased.
D) become smaller, but not by much.

Question 57

The poorest 20 percent of the world's people live on just 2 percent of the world's income.

Question 58

One criticism of dependency theory is:

A) that it lacks an historical focus.
B) that it has little to say about the role of rich countries.
C) that it blames poor countries for their own poverty.
D) that it treats global wealth as a zero-sum so that one country benefits only at the expense of another.

Question 59

With regard to the role of rich nations, dependency theory:

A) agrees with modernization theory.
B) urges rich nations to invest in poor countries.
C) claims rich nations are to blame for global poverty.
D) claims rich nations prevent poor countries from "growing for export."

Question 60

What is Wallerstein's term for the middle-income countries of the world?

A) core
B) semiperiphery
C) periphery
D) outsider nations

Question 61

Dependency theory claims that the widespread poverty in low-income countries has little to do with great affluence in high-income countries.

Question 62

A recent United Nations report shows that, in general, high-income nations have a higher quality of life than low-income nations.

Question 63

Typically, people in low-income countries do more physical labor yet consume fewer calories than people in rich nations.

Question 64

Dependency theory states that high-income nations have narrow, export-oriented economies.

Question 65

Modernization theory was created as a criticism of U.S. foreign policy.

Question 66

The world region with the greatest number of poor "street children" is Latin America.

Question 67

Dependency theory claims that the economic positions of the rich and poor nations of the globe are linked.

Question 68

Compared to poverty in the United States, poverty in the world as a whole is both more widespread and more severe.

Question 69

For every dollar earned by someone in a low-income nation, a person in a high-income nation earns about five dollars.

Question 70

Colonialism and neocolonialism both refer to a situation where one country politically rules or controls another country.

Question 71

Although Africa is a poor region of the world, people live almost as long as in the United States.

Question 72

Modernization theory claims that rich nations can and do help solve the world's poverty problem.

Question 73

Huge businesses that operate in many different countries are called multinational corporations.

Question 74

In W. W. Rostow's model of economic development, the first level is called the "take-off stage."

Question 75

In low-income nations, inequality between men and women is greater than it is in high-income countries.

Question 76

In low-income nations, population growth is generally very high.

Question 77

Although poverty continues, the world has ended the practice of slavery.

Question 78

Modernization theory claims that what we need to explain in human history is not poverty but affluence.

Question 79

Some forms of marriage in the world amount to slavery.

Question 80

During the twentieth century, the standard of living in high-income countries, where the Industrial Revolution took place, increased dramatically.