Section Quiz

What factor makes caste systems closed?

1. They are run by secretive governments.
2. People cannot change their social standings.
3. Most have been outlawed.
4. They exist only in rural areas.

What factor makes class systems open?

1. They allow for movement between the classes.
2. People are more open-minded.
3. People are encouraged to socialize within their class.
4. They do not have clearly defined layers.

Which of these systems allows for the most social mobility?

1. Caste
2. Monarchy
3. Endogamy
4. Class

Which person best illustrates opportunities for upward social mobility in the United States?

1. First-shift factory worker
2. First-generation college student
3. Firstborn son who inherits the family business
4. First-time interviewee who is hired for a job

Which statement illustrates low status consistency?

1. A suburban family lives in a modest ranch home and enjoys a nice vacation each summer.
2. A single mother receives food stamps and struggles to find adequate employment.
3. A college dropout launches an online company that earns millions in its first year.
4. A celebrity actress owns homes in three countries.

Based on meritocracy, a physician’s assistant would:

1. receive the same pay as all the other physician’s assistants
2. be encouraged to earn a higher degree to seek a better position
3. most likely marry a professional at the same level
4. earn a pay raise for doing excellent work

In the United States, most people define themselves as:

1. middle class
2. upper class
3. lower class
4. no specific class

Structural mobility occurs when:

1. an individual moves up the class ladder
2. an individual moves down the class ladder
3. a large group moves up or down the class ladder due to societal changes
4. a member of a family belongs to a different class than his or her siblings

The behaviors, customs, and norms associated with a class are known as:

1. class traits
2. power
3. prestige
4. underclass

Which of the following scenarios is an example of intragenerational mobility?

1. A janitor belongs to the same social class as his grandmother did.
2. An executive belongs to a different class than her parents.
3. An editor shares the same social class as his cousin.
4. A lawyer belongs to a different class than her sister.

Occupational prestige means that jobs are:

1. all equal in status
2. not equally valued
3. assigned to a person for life
4. not part of a person’s self-identity

Social stratification is a system that:

1. ranks society members into categories
2. destroys competition between society members
3. allows society members to choose their social standing
4. reflects personal choices of society members

Which graphic concept best illustrates the concept of social stratification?

1. Pie chart
2. Flag poles
3. Planetary movement
4. Pyramid

The GNI PPP figure represents:

1. a country’s total accumulated wealth
2. annual government spending
3. the average annual income of a country’s citizens
4. a country’s debt

The basic premise of the Davis-Moore thesis is that the unequal distribution of rewards in social stratification:

1. is an outdated mode of societal organization
2. is an artificial reflection of society
3. serves a purpose in society
4. cannot be justified

Unlike Davis and Moore, Melvin Tumin believed that, because of social stratification, some qualified people were _______ higher-level job positions.

1. denied the opportunity to obtain
2. encouraged to train for
3. often fired from
4. forced into

Which statement represents stratification from the perspective of symbolic interactionism?

1. Men often earn more than women, even working the same job.
2. After work, Pat, a janitor, feels more comfortable eating in a truck stop than a French restaurant.
3. Doctors earn more money because their job is more highly valued.
4. Teachers continue to struggle to keep benefits such as health insurance.

When Karl Marx said workers experience alienation, he meant that workers:

1. must labor alone, without companionship
2. do not feel connected to their work
3. move from one geographical location to another
4. have to put forth self-effort to get ahead

Conflict theorists view capitalists as those who:

1. are ambitious
2. fund social services
3. spend money wisely
4. get rich while workers stay poor