Eitzen, In Conflict and Order: Understanding Society, 14th Edition, Test Bank
Chapter Seven: Social Stratification
Multiple Choice Questions
TB_Q7.1.1
All known societies have some system of _____, dividing groups according to rank, caste, or class.
a. social stratification
b. segregation
c. social organization
d. stratified organization
Learning Objective: LO 7.l: Understand how your position in the system of stratification has affected your life chances.
Topic/Concept: Major Concepts of Stratification
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q7.1.2
What is the difference between social stratification and social differentiation?
a. Social differentiation involves grouping people by hierarchical rank.
b. Social stratification involves grouping people by hierarchical rank.
c. Social stratification involves categorizing people by attributes such as age or what they do for a living.
d. Social differentiation involves categorizing people as superior or inferior.
Learning Objective: LO 7.l: Understand how your position in the system of stratification has affected your life chances.
Topic/Concept: Major Concepts of Stratification
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Analyze It
TB_Q7.1.3
Which term refers to the different opportunities someone has throughout life to experience the things that make life
enjoyable?
a. Hierarchy
b. Class system
c. Social stratification
d. Life chances
Learning Objective: LO 7.l: Understand how your position in the system of stratification has affected your life chances.
Topic/Concept: Major Concepts of Stratification
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q7.1.4
Chapter Seven: Social Stratification
Which of the following is a cause of poverty at the nation level?
a. The poorest nations tend to be found in warm climates, where people move more slowly and are less able
to accomplish things that lead to wealth.
b. People in poorer nations are more concerned with spirituality than with material goods.
c. The poorest nations were once colonies of the richer nations, and this legacy of exploitation has left them
behind in terms of leadership and economy.
d. People in richer nations are more deserving because they work both harder and smarter.
Learning Objective: LO 7.l: Understand how your position in the system of stratification has affected your life chances.
Topic/Concept: Major Concepts of Stratification
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Analyze It
TB_Q7.1.5
The caste system refers to the system in India
a. that determines a person’s social position for life based on their birth into a particular family.
b. by which people are approved for medical care for broken bones.
c. for choosing people to appear in Bollywood movies.
d. that promotes upward social mobility through education and hard work.
Learning Objective: LO 7.l: Understand how your position in the system of stratification has affected your life chances.
Topic/Concept: Major Concepts of Stratification
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q7.1.6
Which term refers to people who occupy the same relative economic rank in a society’s stratification system?
a. Social caste
b. Social class
c. Hierarchy
d. Life chance
Learning Objective: LO 7.l: Understand how your position in the system of stratification has affected your life chances.
Topic/Concept: Major Concepts of Stratification
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q7.1.7
In American society, people are socially located in a class position on the basis of
a. the family into which they are born.
b. grades in high school and college.
c. income, occupation, and education.
d. innate physical superiority.
In Conflict and Order, 14th edition
Learning Objective: LO 7.l: Understand how your position in the system of stratification has affected your life chances.
Topic/Concept: Major Concepts of Stratification
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q7.1.8
Racial and ethnic _____ is a term that refers to systems of inequality in which some fixed group membership,
such as race, religion, or national origin, is a major criterion for ranking social positions and their differential
rewards.
a. prejudice
b. socialization
c. determinism
d. stratification
Learning Objective: LO 7.l: Understand how your position in the system of stratification has affected your life chances.
Topic/Concept: Major Concepts of Stratification
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q7.1.9
_____ is socially defined on the basis of a presumed common genetic heritage resulting in distinguishing physical
characteristics.
a. Race
b. Ethnicity
c. Caste
d. Class
Learning Objective: LO 7.l: Understand how your position in the system of stratification has affected your life chances.
Topic/Concept: Major Concepts of Stratification
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q7.1.10
The term _____ refers to the condition of being culturally rather than physically distinctive.
a. race
b. ethnicity
c. caste
d. class
Learning Objective: LO 7.l: Understand how your position in the system of stratification has affected your life chances.
Topic/Concept: Major Concepts of Stratification
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q7.1.11
Chapter Seven: Social Stratification
Which of the following are the largest racial minority groups in the United States?
a. African Americans, Native Americans, and Latinos
b. Asian Americans, Middle Eastern Americans, Native Americans
c. African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans
d. Latinos, Chinese Americans, White Russians
Learning Objective: LO 7.l: Understand how your position in the system of stratification has affected your life chances.
Topic/Concept: Major Concepts of Stratification
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q7.1.12
The _____ system combines biologically based sex roles with socially created gender roles.
a. sex roles placement
b. gender identity
c. gender placement
d. sex-gender
Learning Objective: LO 7.l: Understand how your position in the system of stratification has affected your life chances.
Topic/Concept: Major Concepts of Stratification
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q7.1.13
When Gina wears high heels and puts on make up, she is exhibiting behavior associated with her _____, meaning
socially constructed behavior.
a. sex role
b. gender role
c. sex-gender system
d. biological imperative
Learning Objective: LO 7.l: Understand how your position in the system of stratification has affected your life chances.
Topic/Concept: Major Concepts of Stratification
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
TB_Q7.1.14
What is the difference between sex roles and gender roles?
a. Gender roles apply to women and sex roles apply to men.
b. Gender roles and sex roles are different terms for the same general concept.
c. Gender roles are biologically determined and sex roles are socially determined.
d. Sex roles are biologically determined and gender roles are socially determined.
In Conflict and Order, 14th edition
Learning Objective: LO 7.l: Understand how your position in the system of stratification has affected your life chances.
Topic/Concept: Major Concepts of Stratification
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q7.1.15
Many feminists believe the United States is a(n) _____, meaning the nation is socially organized in a way that means
men are dominant over women.
a. patriarchy
b. matriarchy
c. oligarchy
d. meritocracy
Learning Objective: LO 7.l: Understand how your position in the system of stratification has affected your life chances.
Topic/Concept: Major Concepts of Stratification
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q7.1.16
When Max tells his friends that only straight people are normal and all other orientations are deviants, his opinion is
based on the concept of
a. repressed homosexuality.
b. heteronormativity.
c. sex-gender systemization.
d. homosapiens.
Learning Objective: LO 7.l: Understand how your position in the system of stratification has affected your life chances.
Topic/Concept: Major Concepts of Stratification
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
TB_Q7.1.17
Patricia Hill Collins called the intersection of the heirarchical systems of inequality the
a. heirarchy of subordination.
b. hierarchical matrix.
c. matrix of domination.
d. matrix of subjegation.
Learning Objective: LO 7.2: Critique the deficiency theories of class stratification.
Topic/Concept: Explanations of Class Stratification: Deficiency Theories
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q7.2.18
Chapter Seven: Social Stratification
Which of the following was the 19th century British philosopher and sociologist who came to the United States
to promote the concept of social Darwinism?
a. Arthur Jensen
b. Charles Darwin
c. John Locke
d. Herbert Spencer
Learning Objective: LO 7.2: Critique the deficiency theories of class stratification.
Topic/Concept: Explanations of Class Stratification: Deficiency Theories
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q7.2.19
Social Darwinism continues to surface under different names, but the basic point of these theories is the same, that
a. the poor are poor because they are genetically inferior.
b. the poor are poor because they are culturally inferior.
c. when poor people rise from poverty, their genes improve to the same degree.
d. when middle-class or wealthy people lose their wealth, it is because they are genetically inferior.
Learning Objective: LO 7.2: Critique the deficiency theories of class stratification.
Topic/Concept: Explanations of Class Stratification: Deficiency Theories
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q7.2.20
The term meritocracy means those who_____ rise to the top of society.
a. receive the most votes in a democratic election
b. have the most ability, talent, and effort
c. have been able to acquire the greatest wealth
d. make the best moral and ethical decisions
Learning Objective: LO 7.2: Critique the deficiency theories of class stratification.
Topic/Concept: Explanations of Class Stratification: Deficiency Theories
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q7.2.21
Which of the following was the University of California educational psychologist who claimed in 1969 that
differences in IQ scores between Blacks and Whites are most likely genetic?
a. Herbert Spencer
b. Arthur Jensen
c. Richard Herrnstein
d. Charles Murray
In Conflict and Order, 14th edition
Learning Objective: LO 7.2: Critique the deficiency theories of class stratification.
Topic/Concept: Explanations of Class Stratification: Deficiency Theories
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q7.2.22
Which theorist posited the formation of hereditary castes based on intelligence?
a. Herbert Spencer
b. Arthur Jensen
c. Richard Herrnstein
d. Charles Murray
Learning Objective: LO 7.2: Critique the deficiency theories of class stratification.
Topic/Concept: Explanations of Class Stratification: Deficiency Theories
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q7.2.23
Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein published The Bell Curve in 1994, which received a lot of attention for its
contention that economic and social hierarchies reflect a single dimension, that of
a. physical fitness, as measured by the President’s Fitness Test.
b. income and social status, as measured informally by such factors as country club membership.
c. intellectual ability, as measured by number of academic degrees.
d. cognitive ability as meansured by IQ tests.
Learning Objective: LO 7.2: Critique the deficiency theories of class stratification.
Topic/Concept: Explanations of Class Stratification: Deficiency Theories
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q7.2.24
_____ status refers to the status of an individual that is assigned without reference to abilities or efforts but rather on
the basis of age, sex, race, ethnicity, and family background.
a. Ascribed
b. Justified
c. Assumed
d. Earned
Learning Objective: LO 7.2: Critique the deficiency theories of class stratification.
Topic/Concept: Explanations of Class Stratification: Deficiency Theories
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q7.2.25
Chapter Seven: Social Stratification
Social Darwinist theories like those of Jensen, Herrnstein, and Murray seem to provide a scientific justification
for racist beliefs by
a. attempting to invalidate the IQ test because it obviously discriminates against the poor.
b. validating the IQ test as a legitimate measure of intelligence.
c. giving credence or prominance to scientific inquiry.
d. rendering the cognitive elite useless and doomed to failure.
Learning Objective: LO 7.2: Critique the deficiency theories of class stratification.
Topic/Concept: Explanations of Class Stratification: Deficiency Theories
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Analyze It
TB_Q7.2.26
The Abecedarian Project conducted at the University of North Carolina demonstrated that high-risk children at
a high-quality preschool
a. had raised scores on intelligence tests but that gain faded out by sixth grade.
b. had slightly fewer arrests and higher incidents of home ownership than the controls.
c. earned significantly higher scores on intellectual and academic measures as young adults.
d. showed no difference in short- or long-term achievement than students in a control group.
Learning Objective: LO 7.2: Critique the deficiency theories of class stratification.
Topic/Concept: Explanations of Class Stratification: Deficiency Theories
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Remember the F acts
TB_Q7.2.27
Where was the study held in which high-risk African American children were divided into two groups, with one
group receiving a high-quality active learning program and the other receiving no preschool education?
a. Tuskegee, Alabama
b. University of North Carolina
c. Abecedarian, New Mexico
d. Ypsilanti, Michigan
Learning Objective: LO 7.2: Critique the deficiency theories of class stratification.
Topic/Concept: Explanations of Class Stratification: Deficiency Theories
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q7.2.28
In Conflict and Order, 14th edition
The _____ hypothesis maintains that the poor remain poor because of their values.
a. culture of poverty
b. value of poverty
c. poverty of values
d. poverty and culture
Learning Objective: LO 7.2: Critique the deficiency theories of class stratification.
Topic/Concept: Explanations of Class Stratification: Deficiency Theories
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q7.2.29
Which of the following was the advisor to Republican presidents who argued that poor people are focused on the
present and do not think about the future?
a. Herbert Spencer
b. Edward Banfield
c. Richard Herrnstein
d. Charles Murray
Learning Objective: LO 7.2: Critique the deficiency theories of class stratification.
Topic/Concept: Explanations of Class Stratification: Deficiency Theories
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q7.2.30
Judith Chafel reviewed studies about the beliefs of Americans regarding poverty and discovered that most Americans
believe that poverty is
a. inevitable, unnecessary, and unjust.
b. a result of societal bias and lack of opportunities.
c. inevitable, necessary, and just.
d. avoidable through social change.
Learning Objective: LO 7.2: Critique the deficiency theories of class stratification.
Topic/Concept: Explanations of Class Stratification: Deficiency Theories
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q7.2.31
Critics of the culture of poverty hypothesis argue that the poor
a. retain the dominant values of society and that is why they can climb out of poverty.
b. do not retain the dominant values of society, instead they hold an alternative set of values.
c. do not retain the dominant values of society, instead they have a better set of values.
d. retain the dominant values of society while simultaneously holding an alternative set of values.