uiz 7
Question 1 (10 points)
Stratification can best be defined as ________
Question 1 options:
divisions created between groups of people in a society based on the social prestige
accorded by a person’s occupation, lifestyle, or membership in certain organizations.
the unequal distribution of wealth that results from private ownership and people’s
tendency to preserve surplus wealth rather than share it with others.
systematic inequalities between groups of people that arise as intended or
unintended consequences of social processes and relationships.
divisions created between groups of people in a society based on laws that
distribute power unevenly and limit social mobility.
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Question 2 (10 points)
Of the following social theorists, whose ideas about private property and social conflict
could be said to align most closely with those of Karl Marx?
Question 2 options:
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Thomas Malthus
Vilfredo Pareto
John Millar
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Question 3 (10 points)
Which of the following is an example of an asset, as defined in your text?
Question 3 options:
a projected salary increase
a piece of property
a person’s human capital
a person’s social capital
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Question 4 (10 points)
Tina believes that inequality is necessary to keep Earth’s population in check. Her view
is most consistent with the views of which theorist?
Question 4 options:
Adam Ferguson
John Millar
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Robert Malthus
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Question 5 (10 points)
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s theory about inequality is called ________
Question 5 options:
the elite–mass dichotomy.
the status hierarchy system.
the master–slave dialectic.
status-attainment model.
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Question 6 (10 points)
Which of the following standards of equality was key to the arguments of civil rights
leaders in the 1960s?
Question 6 options:
equality of opportunity
equality of condition
ontological equality
equality of outcome
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Question 7 (10 points)
Your friend Gabriel is wearing a t-shirt that says, "Ask me why I support affirmative
action." When you ask him, he says he is in favor of affirmative action because he
believes everyone deserves an equal starting point. What type of equality is Gabriel
arguing in favor of?
Question 7 options:
ontological equality
equality of condition
equality of outcome
equality of opportunity
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Question 8 (10 points)
Which of the following scenarios is an example of the free-rider problem?
Question 8 options:
Except for elite runners, people gain access to the New York Marathon through a
lottery system. Everyone has the same chance of being picked, except that if you
apply three years in a row and do not get in, you are automatically admitted the
following year.
Four campers go to gather wood for their respective families. Though they agreed to
gather equal amounts of wood, one person hurts her ankle and is not able to gather
as much wood. Nevertheless, before returning to their families, the four people
divide the wood up evenly between them.
Four friends wait in line overnight to get the best seats to see a popular band. As
they are finally entering the arena, another friend of theirs strolls into the VIP
section. They later learn that he was able to secure a VIP pass through his family’s
connections.
A group of six teenagers is trying to get 100 signatures for a petition. They meet
three days before their deadline to see how they are doing. Two of the teens have
collected 25 signatures each, totaling 50. But the other four teenagers have only
collected 25 signatures between the four of them, so the group is still 25 signatures
short. The two teens who collected the most signatures are irritated about the poor
results from the other four.
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Question 9 (10 points)
The ________ is a politically based system of stratification characterized by limited
social mobility.
Question 9 options:
estate system
class system
caste system
elite-mass dichotomy system
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Question 10 (10 points)
Which of the following is a religion-based system of stratification?
Question 10 options:
status hierarchy system
estate system
status-attainment model
caste system
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Question 11 (10 points)
Why do the three partners who own a small graphic design business fit into what Erik
Olin Wright calls contradictory class locations?
Question 11 options:
While their level of educational attainment would categorize them as upper class,
their income potential puts them in the middle-class category.
Each of them spends some time performing highly skilled tasks and some time
performing clerical tasks.
The fact that they own their own business puts them in the capitalist class, but they
do not control the labor of others.
They are part of a high-prestige field, but within the field they are at the low end in
terms of income.
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Question 12 (10 points)
In responding to surveys asking them to rank various occupations according to status,
people place more emphasis on the ________ of the position than the position’s
________
Question 12 options:
educational requirements; income level.
income level; perceived difficulty.
perceived difficulty; educational requirements.
income level; educational requirements.
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Question 13 (10 points)
A meritocracy is ________
Question 13 options:
a society in which power is held by a small governing elite comprised of the
wealthiest individuals.
a society where status and mobility are based on individual attributes, ability, and
achievement.
a politically based system of stratification in which power is distributed unequally and
limited social mobility exists.
a system of stratification characterized by little vertical mobility and much horizontal
mobility.
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Question 14 (10 points)
C. Wright Mills sees the consolidation of power among a small number of institutions
and leaders as ________
Question 14 options:
the natural result of a meritocracy.
the best possible way for a society to function.
a necessary evil for the smooth functioning of society.
harmful to the interests of the masses.
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Question 15 (10 points)
Socioeconomic status can best be defined as ________
Question 15 options:
an individual’s position in a status hierarchy system.
the level of social mobility an individual experiences in his or her life.
an individual’s position in a stratified social order.
the total of an individual’s assets.
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Question 16 (10 points)
How did the post–World War II economic boom contribute to a blurring of the lines
between the middle class and the working class?
Question 16 options:
The need for manufacturing jobs increased due to the economic boom, and both
middle-class and working-class laborers were needed to fill the roles.
Higher wages for working-class whites gave these individuals greater access to
markers of a middle-class lifestyle, such as home ownership, a college education for
their children, and more leisure activities.
Higher wages for working-class laborers meant that many women from workingclass families who had worked during the war were able to quit their jobs and stay
home to fulfill the ideal of the traditional family.
More working-class individuals were able to take part in leisure activities—vacations,
sports, cultural events—that brought them into greater contact with people in the
middle class and resulted in blurred class boundaries.
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Question 17 (10 points)
What has the pattern in income growth among low-, middle-, and high-income earners
in the United States over the past 30 years looked like?
Question 17 options:
Middle-income individuals have experienced greater income growth than those at
the highest and lowest ends of the bracket.
Incomes at the highest end of the bracket have stagnated, while low-income and
middle-income individuals have experienced slow but steady growth in their
incomes.
Incomes at all levels have increased at about the same rate.
Income growth for high-income individuals has far outpaced that of middle- and lowincome individuals.
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Question 18 (10 points)
Michael Hout’s interview on the value of a college degree explains some of the
difficulties for certain families to send their children to college. According to Hout, what is
one source of difficulty?
Question 18 options:
Families are having more children, and paying for multiple college educations is
difficult.
The cost of college is increasing, and a larger proportion of costs are borne by
individuals and families rather than states.
The number of college seats is limited, and upper-class students are usually able to
enroll earlier than lower-class students.
The availability of scholarships, which many families relied on, has decreased
greatly over the last few decades.
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Question 19 (10 points)
The interview with Jeffery Sachs highlights the structural, ecological, and historical
aspects of global inequality. Which of the following reasons is NOT a reason Sachs
gives for inequalities between many countries in Africa and many countries in the rest of
the world?
Question 19 options:
Colonial powers profited from colonialism, often at the expense of the countries they
colonized in Africa.
Due to geography, countries in Africa could not easily implement irrigation
agriculture and thus could not take part in the Green Revolution.
Many Africans resisted globalization, as aspects of it threatened their traditional
ways of life.
Africa carried a higher burden of disease due to the way that malaria and other
diseases are transmitted through animal hosts.
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Question 20 (10 points)
Mobility tables help us to analyze individual mobility by ________
Question 20 options:
examining income and educational attainment.
comparing exchange mobility and structural mobility.
comparing changes in occupational status between generations.
examining the attributes of people who end up in more desirable occupations.
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Question 21 (10 points)
The decline in manufacturing jobs and the growth of service-sector jobs over the last 30
years has created opportunities for what kind of mobility?
Question 21 options:
structural mobility
horizontal mobility
exchange mobility
vertical mobility
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Question 22 (10 points)
Exchange mobility occurs when ________
Question 22 options:
changes in the economy bring about an expansion or contraction of jobs in a certain
sector.
an individual makes a lateral move within a system of social stratification.
an individual moves into a different social status from the one into which he or she
was born.
some people move up into better jobs and others move down into worse ones, but
the overall number of jobs stays the same.
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