Discover Sociology 3rd Edition Chambliss Test Bank
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
Chapter 7: Social Class and Inequality in the United States
1. A disparity in income, wealth, power, prestige, or another resource is referred to as ______.
a. social stratification
b. social inequality
c. class differences
d. class status
Ans: B
Answer Location: Stratification in Traditional and Modern Societies
Learning Objective: LO 7-1: Identify characteristics of stratification in traditional and modern societies.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy
2. The systematic ranking of different groups of people in a hierarchy of inequality is referred to as ______.
a. social stratification
b. social inequality
c. class differences
d. class status
Ans: A
Answer Location: Stratification in Traditional and Modern Societies
Learning Objective: LO 7-1: Identify characteristics of stratification in traditional and modern societies.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy
3. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a caste society?
a. Social levels are closed.
b. Social level is determined at birth by characteristics that largely cannot be changed.
c. Social mobility is very rare.
d. Caste society is based on achieved, rather than ascribed, characteristics.
Ans: D
Answer Location: Caste Societies
Learning Objective: LO 7-1: Identify characteristics of stratification in traditional and modern societies.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy
4. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a class society?
a. Social level is determined largely by economic status.
b. Social mobility is encouraged.
c. Social level is based on ascribed, rather than achieved, characteristics.
d. Social level is influenced by parent’s social level.
Ans: C
Answer Location: Class Societies
Learning Objective: LO 7-1: Identify characteristics of stratification in traditional and modern societies.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy
5. Which of the following is NOT an ascribed status?
a. race
b. sex
c. caste
d. educational level
Ans: D
Answer Location: Sociological Building Blocks of Social Class
Learning Objective: LO 7-1: Identify characteristics of stratification in traditional and modern societies.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Easy
6. Which of the following does NOT represent stratification in the United States?
a. Before the abolition of slavery, the United States was a racial caste system because unless a slave escaped or was freed by his or her owner, it was usually a permanent condition.
b. Class stratification resembles a teardrop, with a large number of people in the middle ranks, a slightly smaller number of people at the bottom, and very few people at the top.
c. It is relatively easy to move upward from working class to upper class, as long as you earn an education and work hard.
d. Many middle-class Americans have experienced downward mobility in recent decades.
Ans: C
Answer Location: Sociological Building Blocks of Social Class
Learning Objective: LO 7-3: Describe dimensions of socioeconomic inequality in the U.S.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Medium
7. Which shape do sociologists like Gilbert and Kahl believe the class stratification of modern capitalist societies most closely resembles?
a. rectangle
b. diamond
c. teardrop
d. pyramid
Ans: C
Answer Location: Sociological Building Blocks of Social Class
Learning Objective: LO 7-1: Identify characteristics of stratification in traditional and modern societies.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy
8. Which type of society is most likely to feature social mobility?
a. communist societies
b. caste societies
c. class societies
d. poor societies
Ans: C
Answer Location: Sociological Building Blocks of Social Class
Learning Objective: LO 7-1: Identify characteristics of stratification in traditional and modern societies.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Easy
9. Which of the following is the best sociological definition of income?
a. an individual’s yearly salary
b. wages, tips, and other compensation
c. the amount of money a person or household earns in a given period of time
d. the value of everything a person owns, minus the value of everything he or she owes
Ans: C
Answer Location: Income
Learning Objective: LO 7-2: Describe components of social class, including income, wealth, occupation, status, and political voice.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Medium
10. Which of the following is NOT considered income?
a. disability checks
b. TANF or other public-assistance benefits
c. tips
d. home equity
Ans: D
Answer Location: Income
Learning Objective: LO 7-2: Describe components of social class, including income, wealth, occupation, status, and political voice.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Easy
11. Which of the following is most important for getting ahead in the system of stratification?
a. wealth
b. income
c. status
d. occupation
Ans: A
Answer Location: Wealth
Learning Objective: LO 7-2: Describe components of social class, including income, wealth, occupation, status, and political voice.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Medium
12. Which of the following would NOT be considered in measuring one’s wealth?
a. student loan debt
b. car ownership
c. status
d. home equity
Ans: C
Answer Location: Wealth
Learning Objective: LO 7-2: Describe components of social class, including income, wealth, occupation, status, and political voice.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Easy
13. Which of the following would be considered net financial assets?
a. homes
b. investments
c. cars
d. cash
Ans: B
Answer Location: Wealth
Learning Objective: LO 7-2: Describe components of social class, including income, wealth, occupation, status, and political power.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Easy
14. Which of the following would be considered a blue-collar job?
a. auto mechanic
b. receptionist
c. investment banker
d. salesperson
Ans: A
Answer Location: Occupation
Learning Objective: LO 7-2: Describe components of social class, including income, wealth, occupation, status, and political voice.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Easy
15. Which of the following does NOT reflect the sociological definition of occupation?
a. the prestige associated with a given position
b. a person’s main vocation
c. the average household’s main source of income
d. paid employment
Ans: A
Answer Location: Occupation
Learning Objective: LO 7-2: Describe components of social class, including income, wealth, occupation, status, and political voice.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Easy
16. Which of the following would NOT be considered a white-collar occupation?
a. a fry cook at a fast-food chain
b. a researcher at a think tank
c. a civil rights attorney
d. a professor
Ans: A
Answer Location: Occupation
Learning Objective: LO 7-2: Describe components of social class, including income, wealth, occupation, status, and political voice.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Easy
17. Which of the following is NOT necessarily associated with a higher degree of status or prestige in the minds of the public?
a. family background
b. contribution to public welfare
c. occupation
d. income
Ans: D
Answer Location: Status
Learning Objective: LO 7-2: Describe components of social class, including income, wealth, occupation, status, and political voice.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Medium
18. Which of the following best represents an occupation with high prestige or status but lower income?
a. firefighter
b. doctor
c. lawyer
d. congressperson
Ans: A
Answer Location: Status
Learning Objective: LO 7-2: Describe components of social class, including income, wealth, occupation, status, and political voice.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Easy
19. The ability to exercise influence on political institutions and/or actors to realize personal or group interests is referred to as ______.
a. political voice
b. political power
c. mobilization of resources
d. political authority
Ans: B
Answer Location: Political Voice
Learning Objective: LO 7-2: Describe components of social class, including income, wealth, occupation, status, and political voice.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy
20. According to the U.S. Census, the top 20% of income earners take in about ______% of the total income.
a. 5
b. 15
c. 25
d. 50
Ans: D
Answer Location: Income Inequality
Learning Objective: LO 7-3: Describe dimensions of socioeconomic inequality in the U.S.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy
21. A 2014 study by Saez and Zucman found that in about ______% of U.S. households, debts are roughly equal to assets, meaning the family has zero wealth.
a. 10
b. 15
c. 25
d. 50
Ans: D
Answer Location: Wealth Inequality
Learning Objective: LO 7-2: Describe components of social class, including income, wealth, occupation, status, and political voice.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy
22. Which of the following best explains the decline in health insurance coverage for workers in the bottom quintile of earners from the 1980s to the 1990s?
a. the increase in the population of children under age 18
b. the growth of service sector jobs that have been increasingly unlikely to offer employer benefits
c. lack of access to healthy food
d. higher rates of heart disease, diabetes, and many types of cancer
Ans: B
Answer Location: Other Gaps: Inequalities in Health Care, Health, and Access to Consumer Goods
Learning Objective: LO 7-3: Describe dimensions of socioeconomic inequality in the U.S.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Medium
23. Which of the following is NOT an accurate representation of the relationship between health outcomes and class?
a. Poor people may be less physically active because they have less access safe or well-equipped facilities in which to play and exercise.
b. Grocery stores are available in almost all neighborhoods; middle-class people are just more educated about which food choices are the healthiest.
c. Less affluent people are more likely to die from cancer because they may lack access to health insurance or clinics that offer health screenings.
d. Hospitalization rates for asthma for African American children are 4 to 5 times higher than the rate for White children.
Ans: B
Answer Location: Other Gaps: Inequalities in Health Care, Health, and Access to Consumer Goods
Learning Objective: LO 7-3: Describe dimensions of socioeconomic inequality in the U.S.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Medium
24. Which of the following is characteristic of food deserts?
a. fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat
b. lower prices for food
c. residents may need to travel great distances if they want to shop at high-quality grocery stores
d. more neighborhood food options to choose from
Ans: C
Answer Location: Other Gaps: Inequalities in Health Care, Health, and Access to Consumer Goods
Learning Objective: LO 7-3: Describe dimensions of socioeconomic inequality in the U.S.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Easy
25. Which of the following is characteristic of service sector occupations?
a. They have increasingly replaced manufacturing jobs as the primary employment for those with less education.
b. They are more likely to offer benefits such as medical or dental insurance.
c. They typically offer a “living wage” rather than just a minimum wage.
d. They offer a solid road to the middle class.
Ans: A
Answer Location: Other Gaps: Inequalities in Health Care, Health, and Access to Consumer Goods
Learning Objective: LO 7-2: Describe components of social class, including income, wealth, occupation, status, and political voice.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Medium
26. Which of the following is NOT an explanation for the growth of inequality?
a. Labor demands have changed, and workers with more education are more highly valued, whereas those with little education are becoming less valued.
b. The service sector jobs that have replaced manufacturing jobs have lower pay scales and fewer benefits.
c. More women are working, which means there are fewer jobs for men that pay “breadwinner” salaries.
d. Many minimum-wage workers earn below the official poverty line.
Ans: C
Answer Location: Why Has Inequality Grown?
Learning Objective: LO 7-3: Describe dimensions of socioeconomic inequality in the U.S.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Hard
27. Which of the following groups has the highest level of the poverty?
a. female-headed households with no husband present
b. Blacks
c. Latinos
d. married couples
Ans: A
Answer Location: At the Bottom of the Ladder: Poverty in the United States
Learning Objective: LO 7-4: Discuss problems of neighborhood poverty.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy
28. Which of the following is characteristic of the official U.S. poverty line?
a. It is equal to the amount of money earned by minimum-wage workers.
b. It is based on a 1960s estimate that the average family spends about one third of its income on food.
c. Adjustments are made for varying costs of living.
d. It includes noncash benefits, such as food stamps and public-housing vouchers.
Ans: B
Answer Location: The Problem of Neighborhood Poverty
Learning Objective: LO 7-4: Discuss the problem of neighborhood poverty.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Medium
29. Which idea suggests that society benefits from stratification because the most important positions are occupied by the most qualified individuals?
a. life chances
b. conflict theory
c. meritocracy
d. functional alternatives
Ans: C
Answer Location: The Functionalist Explanation
Learning Objective: LO 7-5: Analyze the existence and persistence of stratification and poverty from sociological perspectives.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Medium
30. Which of the following would NOT be considered “benefits” to the nonpoor of having a class of poor people?
a. low-wage workers available to do society’s “dirty work”
b. jobs for lower-class people who help the poor
c. a market for products that would go unused, such as used cars or old food
d. to serve as a scapegoat for society’s problems
Ans: B
Answer Location: The Functionalist Explanation
Learning Objective: LO 7-5: Analyze the existence and persistence of stratification and poverty from sociological perspectives.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Medium
31. Herbert Gans argued that the “functions” served by the poor have ______; that is, they could be fulfilled by other means than poverty.
a. functional alternatives
b. meritocracy
c. manifest tendencies
d. class bias
Ans: A
Answer Location: The Functionalist Explanation
Learning Objective: LO 7-5: Analyze the existence and persistence of stratification and poverty from sociological perspectives.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy
32. According to Karl Marx, the ______ own(s) the means of production, which they use to exploit the labor of the workers.
a. proletariat
b. bourgeoisie
c. proprietors
d. nouveau riche
Ans: B
Answer Location: The Social Conflict Explanation
Learning Objective: LO 7-5: Analyze the existence and persistence of stratification and poverty from sociological perspectives.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy
True/False
33. Karl Marx argued that the relationship between workers and capitalists was interdependent; that is, they relied on each other to survive in a capitalist system.
Ans: T
Answer Location: The Social Conflict Explanation
Learning Objective: LO 7-5: Analyze the existence and persistence of stratification and poverty from sociological perspectives.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Medium
34. The standards by which the official U.S. poverty line is determined each year are carefully examined to reflect actual expenditures and income requirements of the average American.
Ans: F
Answer Location: At the Bottom of the Ladder: Poverty in the United States
Learning Objective: LO 7-3: Describe dimensions of socioeconomic inequality in the U.S.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Medium
35. Most poor people just don’t want to work. If they just took the jobs that were available to them, their wages would lift them above the poverty line to meet their basic needs.
Ans: F
Answer Location: Sociological Building Blocks of Social Class
Learning Objective: LO 7-1: Identify characteristics of stratification in traditional and modern societies.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Easy
36. Income gains in the United States have been disproportionately concentrated among top earners.
Ans: T
Answer Location: Income
Learning Objective: LO 7-2: Describe components of social class, including income, wealth, occupation, status, and political voice.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Easy
37. Data show that those with greater income and education are less likely than their less well-off peers to have and die of heart disease, diabetes, and many types of cancer.
Ans: T
Answer Location: Other Gaps: Inequalities in Health Care, Health, and Access to Consumer Goods
Learning Objective: LO 7-2: Describe components of social class, including income, wealth, occupation, status, and political voice.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy
38. In the postindustrial economy of today, the United States manufactures more of the goods it consumes.
Ans: F
Answer Location: Why Has Inequality Grown?
Learning Objective: LO 7-2: Describe components of social class, including income, wealth, occupation, status, and political voice.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy
39. Today, there are nearly 2 million fewer jobs in the mid- and higher-wage industries than there were before the recession.
Ans: T
Answer Location: Why Has Inequality Grown?
Learning Objective: LO 7-3: Describe dimensions of socioeconomic inequality in the U.S.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy
40. Although well intentioned, Lyndon Johnson’s war on poverty was largely unsuccessful and had little effect on the national poverty rate.
Ans: F
Answer Location: At the Bottom of the Ladder: Poverty in the United States
Learning Objective: LO 7-3: Describe dimensions of socioeconomic inequality in the U.S.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy
41. Social inequality and stratification is sociologically only understood in quantitative terms, such as income and wealth.
Ans: F
Answer Location: Sociological Building Blocks of Social Class
Learning Objective: LO 7-1: Identify characteristics of stratification in traditional and modern societies.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy
42. The legally enforced separation of Blacks and Whites in the United States after the end of slavery could be considered a caste society.
Ans: T
Answer Location: Caste Societies
Learning Objective: LO 7-1: Identify characteristics of stratification in traditional and modern societies.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Easy
43. Class stratification in modern capitalist societies resembles a pyramid, with a large number of underclass people at the bottom and successively smaller numbers in the upper tiers of more economically advantaged members.
Ans: F
Answer Location: Sociological Building Blocks of Social Class
Learning Objective: LO 7-1: Identify characteristics of stratification in traditional and modern societies.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy
44. In the United States, there are few barriers to upward social mobility. As long as someone works hard enough, they can achieve middle- or upper-class status.
Ans: F
Answer Location: Sociological Building Blocks of Social Class
Learning Objective: LO 7-1: Identify characteristics of stratification in traditional and modern societies.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Easy
45. According to Herbert Gans, poverty can only be eliminated when it becomes dysfunctional for the affluent and powerful, rather than just dysfunctional for the poor.
Ans: T
Answer Location: The Functionalist Explanation
Learning Objective: LO 7-5: Analyze the existence and persistence of stratification and poverty from sociological perspectives.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Easy
46. Theories influenced by Marx’s ideas have fallen out of popularity, as there are no longer struggles between workers and owners.
Ans: F
Answer Location: The Social Conflict Explanation
Learning Objective: LO 7-5: Analyze the existence and persistence of stratification and poverty from sociological perspectives.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Easy
47. According to most measures, income inequality has steadily decreased since the 1970s.
Ans: F
Answer Location: Why Has Inequality Grown?
Learning Objective: LO 7-2: Describe components of social class, including income, wealth, occupation, status, and political voice.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy
48. In 2013, median net worth of White households was nearly $142,000 while Black household net worth was $11,000, and Hispanic household wealth was nearly $14,000.
Ans: T
Answer Location: Wealth Inequality
Learning Objective: LO 7-2: Describe components of social class, including income, wealth, occupation, status, and political voice.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy
Short Answer
49. While they may not be highly paid professionals, the occupations of firefighter and nurse have very great ______.
Ans: prestige
Answer Location: Status
Learning Objective: LO 7-2: Describe components of social class, including income, wealth, occupation, status, and political voice.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Easy
50. C. Wright Mills believed that power in the United States was concentrated in the hands of a small power elite rather than run through a fluid, competitive political system, as advocated by the ______ perspective.
Ans: pluralist
Answer Location: Political Voice
Learning Objective: LO 7-2: Describe components of social class, including income, wealth, occupation, status, and political voice.
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Difficulty Level: Easy
51. As many families moved to the suburbs in the 1950s and 1960s, jobs eventually followed, contributing to ______ mismatch between jobs in the suburbs and potential workers in urban areas.
Ans: spatial
Answer Location: The Problem of Neighborhood Poverty
Learning Objective: LO 7-4: Discuss the problem of neighborhood poverty.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy
52. ______ status refers to a social position linked to one’s acquisition of socially valued credentials or skills, whereas ascribed status refers to a social position linked to characteristics that are socially significant but cannot be altered.
Ans: Achieved
Answer Location: Class Societies
Learning Objective: LO 7-1: Identify characteristics of stratification in traditional and modern societies.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy
53. Class position at birth influences one’s ______ chances—the opportunities and obstacles the person will encounter in education, social life, and work that affect social mobility.
Ans: life
Answer Location: Sociological Building Blocks of Social Class
Learning Objective: LO 7-1: Identify characteristics of stratification in traditional and modern societies.
Cognitive Domain: Knowledge
Difficulty Level: Easy