Chapter Eight: Class
The _____, which is based on the minimal amount of money required for a subsistence level of life, was first set by
the Social Security Administration in the 1960s.
a. supplemental poverty level
b. official poverty line
c. intergenerational mobility standard
d. Giving Pledge
Answer: b. official poverty line
Source ID: 1.0.31
Learning Objective: LO 8.4: Know the extent, trends, and misconceptions of poverty in the United States.
Topic/Concept: Poverty in the United States
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q8.4.32
About 20.4 million Americans are considered _____ because they are living at or below half of the poverty line.
a. lower-middle class
b. near poor
c. severely poor
d. lower-lower class
Answer: c. severely poor
Source ID: 1.0.32
Learning Objective: LO 8.4: Know the extent, trends, and misconceptions of poverty in the United States.
Topic/Concept: Poverty in the United States
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q8.4.33
Demographics such as race, gender, age, and _____ are all factors affecting poverty.
a. ability
b. intelligence
c. caste
d. place
Answer: d. place
Source ID: 1.0.33
Learning Objective: LO 8.4: Know the extent, trends, and misconceptions of poverty in the United States.
Topic/Concept: Poverty in the United States
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q8.4.34
Female householders with no husband present have a poverty rate of _____, while the rate of male
householders with no wife present is 16.4%.
a. 11.89%
b. 13.60%
c. 30.90%
d. 64.20%
Answer: c. 30.90%
Source ID: 1.0.34
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 10
In Conflict and Order, 14th edition
Learning Objective: LO 8.4: Know the extent, trends, and misconceptions of poverty in the United States.
Topic/Concept: Poverty in the United States
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q8.4.35
In 2012, a full-time worker earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, and who was married with
one child, was
a. earning a middle-class income.
b. living below the poverty line.
c. twice as likely to go back to school as someone earning $2.15 more.
d. likely to have a good benefits package, with health care and retirement.
Answer: b. living below the poverty line.
Source ID: 1.0.35
Learning Objective: LO 8.4: Know the extent, trends, and misconceptions of poverty in the United States.
Topic/Concept: Poverty in the United States
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
TB_Q8.4.36
The chapter uses the term wealthfare to mean
a. government money used by poor people to climb out of poverty and become wealthy.
b. government money and services that go to help the poor.
c. the receipt of financial aid and/or services from the government by people who are not poor.
d. the fact that government financial aid and/or services are wasted on the poor.
Answer: c. the receipt of financial aid and/or services from the government by people who are not poor.
Source ID: 1.0.36
Learning Objective: LO 8.4: Know the extent, trends, and misconceptions of poverty in the United States.
Topic/Concept: Poverty in the United States
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q8.4.37
Legal tax loopholes that permit certain individuals and corporations to pay lower taxes or no taxes at all are known as
a. social security.
b. tax-and-spend laws.
c. corporate welfare.
d. tax expenditures.
Answer: d. tax expenditures.
Source ID: 1.0.37
Learning Objective: LO 8.4: Know the extent, trends, and misconceptions of poverty in the United States.
Topic/Concept: Poverty in the United States
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q8.4.38
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 11
Chapter Eight: Class
One common myth in America about the poor is that they get government handouts for things that the hard-
working middle class has to earn, although these subsidies are
a. much less than the affluent receive from the government.
b. paid for by charitable programs, not the government.
c. available to middle-class people if they know how to find them.
d. enough to move poor families into the middle class.
Answer: a. much less than the affluent receive from the government.
Source ID: 1.0.38
Learning Objective: LO 8.4: Know the extent, trends, and misconceptions of poverty in the United States.
Topic/Concept: Poverty in the United States
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q8.4.39
Sales tax is considered _____ because it amounts to a larger proportion of a poor person’s assets than a rich person’s.
a. progressive
b. regressive
c. retrogressive
d. passive aggressive
Answer: b. regressive
Source ID: 1.0.39
Learning Objective: LO 8.4: Know the extent, trends, and misconceptions of poverty in the United States.
Topic/Concept: Poverty in the United States
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q8.4.40
According to Holzer and colleagues, the economic cost of poverty to the U.S. economy amounts to around
_____ per year.
a. $500 million
b. $250 billion
c. $500 billion
d. $ 3 trillion
Answer: c. $500 billion
Source ID: 1.0.40
Learning Objective: LO 8.4: Know the extent, trends, and misconceptions of poverty in the United States.
Topic/Concept: Poverty in the United States
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q8.5.41
A consistent research finding is that health is greatly influenced by _____, with the affluent living longer than
the poor.
a. ethnicity
b. education
c. race
d. social class
Answer: d. social class
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 12
In Conflict and Order, 14th edition
Source ID: 1.0.41
Learning Objective: LO 8.5: Explain the physical, mental, and behavioral consequences of social class position.
Topic/Concept: The Consequences of Social Class Position
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Analyze It
TB_Q8.5.42
The _____ have better access to and make better use of the health care system.
a. privileged
b. severely poor
c. working poor
d. near poor
Answer: a. privileged
Source ID: 1.0.42
Learning Objective: LO 8.5: Explain the physical, mental, and behavioral consequences of social class position.
Topic/Concept: The Consequences of Social Class Position
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q8.5.43
Research relating socioeconomic status to family discord and marital disruption has found that the lower the
status, the
a. lower the rate of divorce or desertion.
b. greater the rate of divorce or desertion.
c. greater the number of children in a two-parent household.
d. lower the number of children in a two-parent household.
Answer: b. greater the rate of divorce or desertion.
Source ID: 1.0.43
Learning Objective: LO 8.5: Explain the physical, mental, and behavioral consequences of social class position.
Topic/Concept: The Consequences of Social Class Position
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q8.5.44
The likelihood of a marital breakup increases the most in which situation?
a. When the husband works two jobs
b. When the wife is working
c. When neither spouse is working
d. When the husband is not working
Answer: c. When neither spouse is working
Source ID: 1.0.44
Learning Objective: LO 8.5: Explain the physical, mental, and behavioral consequences of social class position.
Topic/Concept: The Consequences of Social Class Position
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
TB_Q8.5.45
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 13
Chapter Eight: Class
The military offers a job and stability for young people who find little or no opportunity in the job market. The
downside is that
a. they find more opportunity once they leave the military.
b. they are more likely to become officers.
c. less-educated people are selected for noncombat positions, reducing their combat pay.
d. the chances of getting killed while in the service is greater for less educated people.
Answer: d. the chances of getting killed while in the service are greater for less educated people.
Source ID: 1.0.45
Learning Objective: LO 8.5: Explain the physical, mental, and behavioral consequences of social class position.
Topic/Concept: The Consequences of Social Class Position
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q8.5.46
When the United States goes to war, who is most likely to die in combat?
a. Poor and less educated
b. Poor and more educated
c. Middle-class soldier with two years of college
d. Middle-class soldier with ROTC training
Answer: a. Poor and less educated
Source ID: 1.0.46
Learning Objective: LO 8.5: Explain the physical, mental, and behavioral consequences of social class position.
Topic/Concept: The Consequences of Social Class Position
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
TB_Q8.5.47
_____ people are more likely to be arrested, to be found guilty, and to serve longer sentences for a given
violation than are people in the _____.
a. Middle-class; upper class
b. Low-income; middle and upper class
c. Middle-class; lower income class
d. Upper-class; ower income classes
Answer: b. Low-income; middle and upper class
Source ID: 1.0.47
Learning Objective: LO 8.5: Explain the physical, mental, and behavioral consequences of social class position.
Topic/Concept: The Consequences of Social Class Position
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q8.5.48
Because of _____, most citizens think poor people who break the law should be dealt with harshly.
a. previous history
b. mandatory sentencing laws
c. class bias
d. persistent poverty
Answer: c. class bias
Source ID: 1.0.48
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 14
In Conflict and Order, 14th edition
Learning Objective: LO 8.5: Explain the physical, mental, and behavioral consequences of social class position.
Topic/Concept: The Consequences of Social Class Position
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q8.5.49
Very wealthy people living in gated communities and sending their children to exclusive schools are examples
of _____, which the less-than-rich but still affluent attempt to emulate.
a. an informal caste system
b. social separation
c. class warfare
d. segregation
Answer: d. segregation
Source ID: 1.0.49
Learning Objective: LO 8.5: Explain the physical, mental, and behavioral consequences of social class position.
Topic/Concept: The Consequences of Social Class Position
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
TB_Q8.5.50
With the concentration of more affluent people into walled and gated communities, there is an ever increasing
concentration of _____ in segregated and deteriorating neighborhoods.
a. the poor
b. the middle class
c. the lower-middle class
d. small-business owners
Answer: a. the poor
Source ID: 1.0.50
Learning Objective: LO 8.5: Explain the physical, mental, and behavioral consequences of social class position.
Topic/Concept: The Consequences of Social Class Position
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Essay Questions
TB_Q8.1.51
Discuss how inequality of education affects social class.
Feedback:The amount of formal education an individual achieves is a major determinant of her or his occupation, income, and
prestige. Inequality of educational opportunity exists in all educational levels in many subtle and not-so-subtle forms.
Districts with a better tax base have superior facilities, better-motivated teachers (because those districts can pay
more), and better techniques than do the poorer districts. Within each school, regardless of the type of district, children
are given standardized tests that have a middle-class bias. Armed with these data, educators place children in tracks
according to ability. These tracks thus become discriminatory, because the lowest track is composed disproportionately
of the lower socioeconomic category.
Source ID: 3.0.1
Learning Objective: LO 8.2: Compare/contrast the order and conflict perspectives of social class.
Topic/Concept: Conceptions of Social Class in the United States
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Analyze
TB_Q8.2.52
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 15
Chapter Eight: Class
Compare the order and conflict models with relation to social class. What is the most important factor for each model
in determining social class?
Feedback:Order theorists cite income, occupation, and education as the fundamental indicators of social class, with occupation
as central because occupational placement determines income, interaction patterns, opportunity, and lifestyle. Conflict
theorists agree that occupation, education, and lifestyle are important components to social class. However, conflict
theorists argue that order theorists understate the centrality of power in determining where people fall in the class
system.
Source ID: 3.0.2
Learning Objective: LO 8.2: Compare/contrast the order and conflict perspectives of social class.
Topic/Concept: Conceptions of Social Class in the United States
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Analyze It
TB_Q8.3.53
Define social mobility and discuss the different types of social mobility described in the chapter. Give examples of
each type.
Feedback:Social mobility refers to an individual’s movement within the class structure of society. Vertical mobility is movement
upward or downward in social class. Horizontal mobility is the change from one position to another of about equal
prestige. Intergenerational mobility refers to vertical movement comparing different generations of family members
(e.g., a child compared to their parents). Intragenerational mobility is the vertical movement of an individual in his or
her lifetime.
Source ID: 3.0.3
Learning Objective: LO 8.3: Critique the ideology of upward social mobility in the United States.
Topic/Concept: Social Mobility
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Analyze It
TB_Q8.4.54
Discuss the concept of the working poor and the reasons given in the chapter that show why the idea that a poor
person should just get a job is actually a myth.
Feedback: A job is not necessarily the ticket out of poverty for many people who hold menial, dead-end jobs that have no benefits
and pay the minimum wage or less. There is not a single state in the country where it is possible to work 40 hours per
week at minimum wage and afford a two-bedroom apartment at Fair Market Rent. The lot of the working poor is
similar to that of the nonworking poor on some dimensions and worse on others. They do society’s dirty work for low
pay and no benefits, they live in substandard housing, and their children go to underfinanced schools. They are poor
but, unlike the nonworking poor, they are not eligible for many government supports such as subsidized housing,
medical care, and food stamps.
Source ID: 3.0.4
Learning Objective: LO 8.4: Know the extent, trends, and misconceptions of poverty in the United States.
Topic/Concept: Poverty in the United States
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Analyze It
TB_Q8.5.55
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 16
In Conflict and Order, 14th edition
The chapter refers to the common belief that the poor make unhealthy lifestyle choices that result in ill health. Discuss
the ways in which social class affects health.
Feedback:Privilege in the social stratification system translates both directly and indirectly into better health in several major
ways. (1) The disadvantaged are more subject to stresses (and resulting ill health) from high crime rates, financial
insecurity, marital instability, spells of unemployment, unhealthy work conditions, and exposure to pollution and toxic
materials in their neighborhoods. (2) Children of privilege have healthier environments and better nutrition in the
crucial first five years of life. (3) The privileged have better access to and make better use of the health care system.
The fewer the economic resources, the less likely a person will receive preventive care and early treatment. (4) Studies
have shown that obesity rates are higher in low-income and minority neighborhoods where there is less access to
recreational facilities, fewer full-service grocery stores, and abundant fast food services.
Source ID: 3.0.5
Learning Objective: LO 8.5: Explain the physical, mental, and behavioral consequences of social class position.
Topic/Concept: The Consequences of Social Class Position
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Analyze It
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 17