9.1 What Is Social Stratification?
What factor makes caste systems closed?
- They are run by secretive governments.
- People cannot change their social standing.
- Most have been outlawed.
- They exist only in rural areas.
Which of these systems allows for the most social mobility?
- Caste
- Monarchy
- Meritocracy
- Class
Which person best illustrates opportunities for upward social mobility in the United States?
- First-shift factory worker
- First-generation college student
- Firstborn son who inherits the family business
- First-time interviewee who is hired for a job
Which statement illustrates low status consistency?
- A suburban family lives in a modest ranch home and enjoys a nice vacation each summer.
- A single mother receives food stamps and struggles to find adequate employment.
- A college dropout launches an online company that earns millions in its first year.
- A celebrity actor owns homes in three countries.
Based on meritocracy, a physician’s assistant would:
- receive the same pay as all the other physician’s assistants
- be considered a member of the upper class
- most likely marry a professional at the same level
- earn a pay raise for doing excellent work
9.2 Social Stratification and Mobility in the United States
In the United States, most people define themselves as:
- middle class
- upper class
- lower class
- no specific class
The behaviors, customs, and norms associated with a class are known as:
- class traits
- power
- prestige
- underclass
Which of the following scenarios is an example of intragenerational mobility?
- A janitor belongs to the same social class as his grandmother did.
- An executive belongs to a different class than her parents.
- An editor shares the same social class as his cousin.
- A lawyer belongs to a different class than her sister.
Occupational prestige means that jobs are:
- all equal in status
- not equally valued
- assigned to a person for life
- not part of a person’s self-identity
9.3 Global Stratification and Inequality
How do traditional models of global stratification breakdown different categories of countries?
- They analyze the degree of industrialization.
- They evaluate cultural norms and social goals.
- They measure social mobility between classes.
- They use measures to assess the economic power each nation.
Which event created a significant divide between Western Europe/America and the rest of the world?
- The Industrial Revolution
- The American Revolution
- The Reformation
- World War I
The GNI PPP figure represents:
- a country’s total accumulated wealth
- annual government spending
- the average annual income of a country’s citizens
- a country’s debt
9.4 Theoretical Perspectives on Social Stratification
The basic premise of the Davis-Moore thesis is that the unequal distribution of rewards in social stratification:
- is an outdated mode of societal organization
- is an artificial reflection of society
- serves a purpose in society
- cannot be justified
Unlike Davis and Moore, Melvin Tumin believed that, because of social stratification, some qualified people were _______ higher-level job positions.
- denied the opportunity to obtain
- encouraged to train for
- often fired from
- forced into
Which statement represents stratification from the perspective of symbolic interactionism?
- Men often earn more than women, even working the same job.
- After work, Pat, a janitor, feels more comfortable eating in a truck stop than a French restaurant.
- Doctors earn more money because their job is more highly valued.
- Teachers continue to struggle to keep benefits such as health insurance.
When Karl Marx said workers experience alienation, he meant that workers:
- must labor alone, without companionship
- do not feel connected to their work or to one another
- move from one geographical location to another
- have to put forth self-effort to get ahead
Conflict theorists view capitalists as those who:
- are ambitious
- fund social services
- spend money wisely
- get rich while workers stay poor