1. Which of the following is NOT one of the mechanisms that reinforces the caste stratification system in India?

Ritual purification practices
Belief in reincarnation
High rates of social mobility
Belief in dharma

2. Advantages, prerogatives, and options available to those in the middle and upper classes, but not the lower or working classes, are known as

class perks
class biases
class favors
class privileges
life chances

3. The creation of layers of people possessing unequal shares of scarce desirables, the most important of which are income, wealth, prestige, and power, is known as

institutionalized equality
tracking
social stratification
capital accumulation

4. Which of the following theorists would be the most likely to agree with the following?: 'Teachers should earn more than cab drivers because teaching is more important for society than driving a cab.'

order theorists (a.k.a. structural functionalist theory)
conflict theorists
biological deficiency theorists
cultural deficiency theorists

5. Which of the following is FALSE?

Conflict theory argues that stratification reflects the distribution of power in society, and is rooted in unequal ownership of the means of production
Marx believed the ruling class uses the media, schools, and religion to try to legitimate social inequality
Marx believed that workers would become aware of their common oppression, become class conscious, and unify in a fight to advance their class interests
Marx believed that workers always rejected efforts by the capitalist class to control their lives and exploit them, but that opportunities to fight back were infrequent, so workers were waiting for the right time to fight

6. When workers accept their exploitation and oppression, Marx would call this

ideological confusion
class consciousness
false consciousness
blaming the victim

7. The idea that the fittest individuals survive as a result of social selection and that the inferior are eliminated by the me process is called

social maturation
Social Darwinism
social survival
Social Orwellianism

8. Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein's The Bell Curve argues that

poor people are poor because they just don't try hard enough
social inequality is rooted in differences in innate intelligence
social inequality can be reduced if the less intelligent classes will work and receive better educations
poor people are poor because of their cultural deficiencies

9. Which of the following is TRUE regarding IQ tests?

For members of minority groups who take an IQ exam, the race of the person administering the test makes little difference in test performance.
Social class has little, if any, effect on an examinee's achievement on IQ tests.
There is no indication that a language bias exists on IQ test instructions or test item construction.
Most social scientists believe that IQ tests are biased in favor of people who have had middle and upper class environment and experiences.

10. Evidence against the argument that differences in intelligence can explain social inequality, includes which of the following?

They ignore biases in IQ tests.
They are based on false assumptions about the nature of intelligence (e.g. that it is largely innate, and can be measured on a single scale).
It is impossible for IQ tests to separate out what has been learned from what is natural ability.
They ignore evidence (e.g. comparative and historical) that intelligence cannot explain rates of poverty or inequality.
All the above.

11. Culture of poverty theory (a.k.a. cultural deficiency theory) argues that poor people

are more permissive in training their children
are less apt to defer gratification
are less likely to be interested in formal education
all of the above
none of the above

12. Institutional discrimination theory argues that inequality exists because

of prejudice against poor people
social institutions treat people unequally
the upper and middle classes need the working class and poor
All of the above
None of the above

13. A Marxist would argue that unemployment and poverty exists because

it's the only way the working class can resist being exploited
they benefit capitalists by keeping wages low and workers docile
the working class is a victim of discrimination
many would-be workers don't have enough education or motivation to work

14. Which of the following is NOT consistent with the 'political economy of society' theory of stratification?

The primacy of profit encourages employers to pay their workers the least possible in wages and benefits
The primacy of profit produces poverty by maintaining a surplus of laborers, which depresses wages
Workers tend to become lazy and ultimately poor, because they know they can never be as rich as their employers
Employers make investment decisions with little or no regard for their employees

15. Which of the following theories would argue that patriarchy limits the opportunities for women, leading to gender inequality?

biological inferiority theory
cultural inferiority theory
institutional discrimination theory
political economy of capitalism theory

16. According to your text, most Americans believe that poverty is a result of:

a lack of government spending on the poor
the poor not behaving correctly
an unequal distribution of power
racism and sexism in the U.S.

17. Why do the children of the poor under-perform in school?

Teachers tend to have low expectations of poor children.
The tracking system in schools is often class-biased.
Less money is to schools in poorer neighborhoods and towns.
All of the above.

18. The practice of dividing students in schools into different groups, supposedly according to their abilities, and then educating them differently, is known as

educational discrimination
grading
tracking
grouping

19. Weber calls the likelihood of securing the 'good things in life,' such as housing, education, health, and food:

personal odds
luck of the draw
unequal opportunity
life chances

20. Which of the following statements regarding economic inequality in the United States is TRUE?

There is surprisingly little economic inequality in the United States
The wealthiest 1 percent of the U.S. population has net assets greater than the bottom 90 percent.
The poorest fifth of the American population holds approximately 20% of the wealth
Economic inequality in the United States declined from the 1970s to the 1990s

21. The dimension of social stratification involving social recognition and respect that a society attaches to a particular social position or occupation is known as

love
prestige
power
self-esteem
stigma

22. What criteria do order theorists use to rank people into social classes?

income and race
gender and education
occupation and house size
income, occupation, and education

23. According to order theorists, Bill Gates (Microsoft), Lee Iacocca (Chrysler Motor Company), the former Sam Walton (the founder of WalMart Stores), and F. Lee Bailey (attorney) and other members of the new rich, all belong in the

upper-middle class.
lower-upper class.
upper-upper class.
ruling class.

24. In what social class would an order theorist place a university professor?

upper-upper class
lower-upper class
upper-middle class
lower-middle class

25. In Marxist theory, a worker is someone who

sells one's labor power to someone else
has less income than the middle or upper class
has less education than the middle or upper class
has less wealth than the upper class

26. A Marxist would argue that professional athletes in team sports should be classified as members of the:

capitalist class (a.k.a. upper class, or bourgeoisie)
new middle class
old middle class
working class (a.k.a. proletariat)

27. The reserve army of labor

is composed of people who regularly fall in and out of the working class
functions to maintain low wages for workers and high profits for capitalists
is comprised primarily of people in the military
All of the above
Both A and B

28. Studies show that students who drop out of school

are less capable than the students who remain in school
are often the children of immigrants
are often rebelling against their highly educated parents
are often the children of the poor and uneducated

29. What is the most significant reason why poor people have more health deficiencies than wealthier people?

Poor people lack education and knowledge about good health.
The life style of the poor negates good health.
The poor do not take care of themselves.
The poor lack adequate health insurance.

30. Who is most likely to join the armed services, either through the draft or enlistment?

Non-college men from the disadvantaged social classes
Upper class men trying to insure that the military protects their 'investments' in foreign lands
Middle class men who are looking for excitement and adventure
Women seeking equality with men

31. ---------- mobility refers to changes in class position that occur between one generation and the next.

Geographic
Intragenerational
Intergenerational
Vertical
Horizontal

32. Moving from the working class (manual labor) to the middle class (mental labor) is an example of

horizontal mobility
evolutionary mobility
downward mobility
vertical mobility

33. According to Jencks, which of the following is the greatest predictor of academic success in the U.S.?

IQ tests used in most schools
Being a member of a fraternity, sorority or other closed organization in college
Family background
One's ability to work hard and plan for the future

34. Why is the current period the first in American history in which downward mobility rates exceed upward mobility?

Americans have become lazier and are resting on the successes of previous generations
The economy has changed from high paying manufacturing jobs to lower paying service jobs
Unions have become stronger, giving away job security in exchange for higher wages
The baby boom generation is beginning to retire, removing the most success-driven age cohort in U.S. history from the labor market

35. The way the U.S. government computes the poverty line today

is realistic and exact. It is a precise number and everyone below that number receives government support.
is an apolitical decision. Economic experts prepared the formula, and economics is not political.
takes into account some variation in family life style and geographic location.
underestimates how much poverty there really is, since the lower the poverty line, the less the government needs to spend on the poor.

36. Which of the following is true about federal welfare policies during the 1980s and 1990s?

During the 1980s, under Presidents Reagan and Bush, various poverty programs were substantially expanded.
The election of President Clinton in 1992 resulted in the continued expansion of welfare programs that occurred during the Reagan and Bush administrations.
Devolution, time limits for benefits, and restrictions on eligibility of legal immigrants were key features of the 1996 federal welfare legislation.
All of the above are true.

37. Despite the fact that the chances of the poor being successful are small, surveys show that the poor still tend to support the inequality generated by capitalism.

True
False

38. Welfare programs for the poor amount to much more than subsidy programs give to the affluent and corporate interests.

True
False

39. According to Marx, capitalists are able to exploit workers because

they trick workers into accepting less pay than they are worth in the labor market
they use their control over laws to force workers into working for them for lower wages than they are worth
they monopolize the means of production, forcing workers to sell their labor power for less than the value of the labor they provide
workers willingly choose to be exploited, hoping that one day they may be a capitalist and they'll be able to exploit other workers then

40. Capitalism produces increasingly concentrated ownership of the means of production because

capitalists are greedy
capitalists compete with one another, with the victors getting ever larger shares of their industries
it's in society's interest to have fewer firms produce more high quality goods for lower prices
None of the above, since capitalism DOESN'T produce increasingly concentrated ownership of the means of production

In the following questions, be sure identify which question you answer with its corresponding letter (e.g. "C"). Do NOT answer a question you substantially answered in the Take-Home Essay.

41. In-class Essay Question 1: Answer ONE of the following questions. 5 points. Do NOT answer a question that you substantially answered on the take home essay.

A. How is the caste system of India reproduced over generations? What role does dharma and the belief in reincarnation play in defending the caste system? Compare the Indian caste system with the class system of the U.S. How do U.S. cultural and religious beliefs maintain and defend social inequality?

B. What did Marx mean by false consciousness and class consciousness? How "class conscious" do you think workers in the U.S. are today? Why? What do you think it would take for workers to become more class conscious?

C. Summarize the conflict model's views on the relationship between class and culture. Explain what it means to say that "culture is a dependent variable" (pg. 271). Is it? In what ways is it an independent variable?

D. Summarize Davis and Moore’s functionalist explanation of the reasons that stratification exists in modern societies.

42. In-class Essay Question 2: Answer ONE of the following questions. 5 points.

A. Compare and contrast how the order (Weber) and conflict (Marxist) paradigms conceptualize "social class". Which do you find more insightful? Why?

B. What do E&Z mean by the "new downward mobility?" What is this, and why is it occurring? What are its effects?

C. What are the "myths about poverty"? Summarize, and critically discuss, E&Z's criticisms of these "myths."

D. Summarize the changes made to welfare policies in the 1990s. Given E&Z's arguments regarding the myths about poverty, how necessary was this "reform?" What may have really been driving it?

E. Summarize Domhoff's argument. Explain how the U.S. social upper class, in his view, reproduces itself as a class.

F. Summarize Ehrenreich’s “findings” in her foray into life in the working poor. How accurate do you think they are? What insights do you think her “research” provides for “welfare reform?”

Be sure to complete and turn in your take-home home as instructed.