1. According to Max Weber, the three major criteria used for measuring social inequality are:
a. wealth, power, and prestige.
b. prestige, education, and religion.
c. power, race, and religion.
d. wealth, religion, and prestige.
e. prestige, wealth, and status.
2. Economic inequality is greatest among:
a. theJu’hoansi.
b. the Inuit.
c. the people of the United States.
d. the Nuer.
e. the people of Bolivia.
3. Prestige in the United States is associated with occupations, but it changes over time. The Harris Poll indicated that
___________ rank among the highest prestige professions.
a. stock traders
b. bankers
c. real estate brokers
d. scientists
e. home builders
Chapter12—SocialStratification
4. Theabilitytoachieveone’sgoalsandobjectivesevenagainstthewillofothersisknownas:
a. prestige.
b. inequality.
c. subordination.
d. exploitation.
e. power.
5. In the United States, which of the following would you NOT expect to be among the power elite?
a. Military commander
b. College professor
c. Politician
d. Corporate CEO
e. President of a bank
6. Which of the following are types of societies based on levels of social inequality?
a. Band, tribe, chiefdom, and state
b. Stratified, ascribed, and achieved
c. Egalitarian and state societies
d. Egalitarian, rank, and stratified
e. Hunting and gathering, horticultural, pastoral, and agricultural
Chapter12—SocialStratification
7. In an egalitarian society:
a. there are no individuals who are more highly esteemed than others.
b. the most esteemed individuals have the most tools, therefore the most wealth.
c. there are as many positions of prestige as there are persons capable of filling them.
d. there are always a number of positions of power with no one to fill them.
e. there is no such thing as power or prestige.
8. In a rank society, high-status positions:
a. are available only to the best qualified.
b. often expand to include all qualified candidates.
c. are often filled on the basis of kinship.
d. are constantly expanding.
e. do not exist. Only the chief has a high status position.
9. Chiefs in a rank society possess great prestige and accumulate large amounts of tribute, which they:
a. give away to others.
b. usefortheirsons’inheritance.
c. use for the inheritance of all of their children.
d. destroy in one large potlatch.
e. keep for their own use.
Chapter12—SocialStratification
10. Which statement about the class system in the United States is true?
a. All people have an equal chance of going from rags to riches.
b. The U.S. allows for the least amount of social mobility.
c. Most people stay in the same social class for their entire lives.
d. U.S. society places a higher value on ascribed status than on achieved status.
e. In the U.S., we have more characteristics of a caste society than a class one.
11. _____________ societies developed approximately 5,500 years ago.
a. Egalitarian
b. Rank
c. Ascribed
d. Stratified
e. Caste
12. ____________ systems are based on achieved status and permit considerable social mobility.
a. Class
b. Chiefdom
c. Egalitarian
d. Rank
e. Caste
Chapter12—SocialStratification
13. Which of the following is NOT a reason the upper class in the United States has considerable power?
a. It owns the means of production.
b. It controls the media.
c. It has enormous political influence.
d. It is the main source of soft money contributions to political campaigns.
e. It comprises about 20 percent of the U.S. population.
14. One of the most visible traits of the members of the underclass is:
a. working in closely supervised occupations.
b. homelessness.
c. vulnerability to layoffs.
d. lack of medical benefits in their work.
e. lack of a college degree.
15. During the last 25 years, compensation for CEOs in the U.S. (when compared to other segments of the population)
has:
a. increased dramatically.
b. decreased somewhat.
c. increased only slightly.
d. remained unchanged.
e. decreased dramatically.
Chapter12—SocialStratification
16. Which statement about class differences in the U.S. is true?
a. The years 1945-75 witnessed a widening gap between the various classes.
b. Over the last 60 years, there has been a shifting of class differences.
c. Thegapbetweenthe“haves”and“havenots”haswidenedsince1975.
d. Since 1975, class differences have remained essentially unchanged.
e. There are fewer class differences in the U.S. today.
17. Members of the same social class share similar economic levels:
a. but very different political views and values.
b. and often similar educational backgrounds and political views.
c. but very different occupations and memberships in organizations.
d. but very different job opportunities.
e. and similar types of job mobility and cultural practices.
18. The capitalist class wields enormous influence (well beyond their numbers) through all of the following EXCEPT:
a. making large financial contributions to political campaigns.
b. being recruited to serve in powerful government positions.
c. controlling the media.
d. owning local and national businesses.
e. practicing the same religion.
Chapter12—SocialStratification
19. Comparatively, the lower classes in the U.S. have NOT done very well in the last three decades because of all of
the following EXCEPT:
a. the new post-industrial economy requires increasing amounts of higher education.
b. tax cuts during the Reagan and George W. Bush administrations have helped the wealthy more than the poor.
c. labor unions have been on the decline.
d. rising job opportunities take them away from home.
e. the increase in female-headed households.
20. In caste societies:
a. no caste has a monopoly on certain occupations.
b. marriage between castes is strictly prohibited.
c. all castes have equal access to power, prestige, and wealth.
d. social mobility is virtually unrestricted.
e. there is very little difference in occupational ranking.
21. Caste societies are found in:
a. South America and Asia.
b. Scandinavian countries.
c. several regions of the world.
d. Hindu India.
e. African and eastern European countries.
Chapter12—SocialStratification
22. The highest of the four major Hindu castes is the varna of the:
a. warriors.
b. priests and scholars.
c. tradesmen.
d. cultivators.
e. business owners.
23. Which of the following is FALSE about the jati (sub-castes) of India?
a. They have social rankings that vary from one region to another.
b. They are local groups that are strictly endogamous.
c. They only socialize with members of their own group.
d. They are linked today to traditional occupations only.
e. They provide the primary basis for personal identity.
24. Which statement about the term Dalit is FALSE?
a. It refers to the upper caste in Hindu India.
b. Itmeansliterallythe“crushed”or“oppressed”peopleofIndia.
c. Itisamorepoliticallycorrecttermfor“untouchables.”
d. It refers to the caste of people relegated to performing the most menial tasks.
e. It is not considered a legitimate caste.
Chapter12—SocialStratification
25. Sanskritization refers to the process in India of:
a. moving up the caste ladder.
b. slowlyaddingbeeftoone’sdiet.
c. gradually eliminating social mobility from the society.
d. becoming more Islamic and less Hindu.
e. learning a new language.
26. Which of the following statements about high-achieving but low-income students is NOT correct?
a. They are expected to adjust to a different and unfamiliar sociocultural environment than the one they were
born into.
b. They do not have to worry about the financial costs of college and how those will affect them after
graduation.
c. They often come from homes that lack two strongly supportive parents.
d. They have not had access to all the cultural and educational opportunities of wealthier children.
e. They often attended public schools that provided less enrichment opportunities than those students who
attended private schools.
27. Which of the following statements about education in the United States is correct?
a. Students achieve at relatively the same levels regardless of their economic background.
b. Today, the success rate for poorer students in higher education is increasing dramatically due to early
childhood education.
c. We need many more enrichment programs for the working poor, as studies show this is the only way to
create an egalitarian system.
d. Today, there is a growing divide between the success of education for the upper classes and that of the
working and lower classes.
e. There is not a positive correlation between education and salary.
Chapter12—SocialStratification
28. The“DecadeofRomaInclusion”wasinitiatedbyEuropeancountriesinorderto:
a. improve housing, education, health, and employment for Arabic populations.
b. improve housing, education, health, and employment for African populations.
c. improve housing, education, health, and employment for Gypsy populations.
d. encourage and provide incentives for foreign-born nationals to participate in political structures in their
countries.
e. better educate European populations about the ethnic diversity and richness within their own countries.
29. Race refers to:
a. a group of people sharing similar cultural traits.
b. a group of people sharing similar beliefs and ideologies.
c. nothing more than a statistical statement about the occurrence of physical traits.
d. three specific categories: Mongoloid, Negroid, and Caucasoid.
e. the accumulation of all physical differences between any two populations.
30. Ethnicity refers to:
a. cultural traits passed from generation to generation.
b. physical traits that distinguish individuals.
c. physical and cultural traits of human populations.
d. only visible cultural traits, such as clothing, food, and religious practices.
e. the way a population behaves.
Chapter12—SocialStratification
31. As a scientific concept, race:
a. is very significant because it gives us a clearer understanding of human behavior than the concept of culture
provides.
b. isseldom,ifever,influencedbypeople’sbeliefs.
c. justifies the exclusion of some groups from the activities of others.
d. is not very significant because it gives us little insight into human behavior.
e. is the basis for distinguishing between different groups of people.
32. Which racial term was dropped from the U.S. Census after 1920?
a. Black
b. White
c. Mulatto
d. Mestizo
e. Latino
33. Which statement about the Hispanic population in the U.S. is true?
a. Most do not speak English.
b. Most do not fully participate in the U.S. economy.
c. Most are short-timers, planning to return to their native country as soon as possible.
d. They have a higher labor force participation rate than Anglos or African-Americans.
e. They do not wish to be citizens.
Chapter12—SocialStratification
34. Which ethnic group in the U.S. grew the fastest during the 1990s?
a. Vietnamese
b. Hispanics
c. African-Americans
d. Arabic-speaking peoples
e. Chinese
35. Which statement about race and intelligence is FALSE?
a. Intelligence tests are an accurate measure of genetically-based intelligence.
b. On average, Whites scored higher than Blacks on intelligence tests during World War I.
c. Intelligence test scores are a good predictor of success in college.
d. Aperson’sintelligencescoremaychangeduringhisorherlifetime.
e. Blacks from Northern states score higher on intelligence tests than Whites from the South.
36. Pluralism:
a. is the process of the wider society accepting a new ethnic group.
b. describesaracialorethnicminority’sabsorptionintothewidersociety.
c. describes the political, economic, and social repression of racial and ethnic minorities.
d. is a myth because it does not exist anywhere in the world today.
e. describes two or more diverse ethnic groups living in harmony.
Chapter12—SocialStratification
37. Assimilation is best illustrated by:
a. Palestinians in Israel.
b. Chechens in Russia.
c. various Pacific Island cultures living in Hawaii.
d. French Canadians living in Quebec.
e. Hispanics migrating to the U.S
38. Until the recent changes in South Africa in the 1990s, the repression of Blacks under the apartheid system was an
example of:
a. assimilation.
b. legal protection of minorities.
c. long-term subjugation.
d. extermination.
e. population transfer.
39. The systematic annihilation of a culture is referred to as:
a. population transfer.
b. genocide.
c. long-term subjugation.
d. assimilation.
e. pluralism.
Chapter12—SocialStratification