Q&A Hero

Q: Income inequality is increasing in the United States.

Q: Little more than a century ago, the __________ Era began as a reaction to unchecked capitalism, the robber barons, economic exploitation, and political corruption.

Q: Jeremy is trying to get the school board to reject advertising in schools. Although it raises revenue, he argues that exposing children to advertising as a captive audience and school environment is inherently __________. A) educational B) exploitative C) profitable D) egalitarian

Q: How are corporate crimes different from white-collar crimes? Which is more damaging for society?

Q: The greater likelihood for men to advance in what have traditionally been known as women's professions is known as the glass __________. A) ceiling B) escalator C) ladder D) door

Q: Which of the following is true of conditions in urban areas? A) The child poverty rate is the lowest. B) The overall poverty rate is higher. C) White residents are more likely to be concentrated in poverty areas here. D) Most wealthy people have summer homes in these areas.

Q: According to the text, capitalism rewards the efforts of all enterprising individuals.

Q: The authors suggest that a progressive agenda could be financed in part by reducing the __________ budget, which is less needed since the Soviet threat is gone.

Q: Members of the disadvantaged who band together in a group with values and behaviors antagonistic toward school are in a __________. A) Parent-Teacher Association B) student subculture C) charter school D) magnet school

Q: The death penalty is administered fairly.

Q: Which of the following is a factor that has contributed to the gender earnings gap? A) Women are concentrated in very few occupations. B) Women enter the labor force at similar pay levels as men. C) Because women have less education and experience, they are paid less than men. D) Women are more nurturing and less competitive by nature.

Q: "Redlining" refers to the practice of __________. A) systematically refusing loans for housing in undesirable areas B) providing loans in poor areas for the purpose of creating tax shelters C) steering minorities away from some, mostly White communities D) lining the lawns of new homes with only red flowers

Q: The economy of the United States is purely a free enterprise system.

Q: In a process called __________, the current Congress wants to return most social programs back to the states.

Q: The future payoff of education is based on the assumption that __________. A) primary school will be relevant for students going into the workforce B) school and grades are much less important for entry into a job for students not going to college C) everyone will go to college D) very few skills will be needed in the jobs of the future

Q: Plea bargaining especially benefits the poor and those of moderate means because it saves them the expense of a lengthy trial while at the same time ensuring their rights and more lenient treatment.

Q: Which of the following characterizes women's status in the civilian labor force? A) African American women have been the major beneficiaries of new opportunities. B) White women have begun to replace African American women in female-dominated jobs. C) White women's progress has been related to federal affirmative action guidelines. D) There has been little change in women's status in the labor force over the last 50 years.

Q: Corporations relocate because of __________. A) increased costs of relocating B) too much environmental regulation C) the desire to follow trends D) a perception that central cities are unsafe

Q: According to the text, the problems in U.S. society result from the distribution of power and the form of the economy.

Q: Jonathan Kozol cites the fact that as a society we seem more ready to spend money to punish a child who grows up to commit a crime than to spend money to educate the child and prevent the crime in the first place as evidence of our collective __________.

Q: A powerful negative social label that affects a person's social identity and self-concept is a __________. A) stigma B) matrix of domination C) master status D) student subculture

Q: Regardless of whether the case is heard by a judge or a jury, the outcome of a trial will be the same.

Q: The U.S. labor force has changed such that women's rate of participation has __________. A) increased dramatically B) decreased dramatically C) increased slightly D) decreased to almost zero

Q: Deindustrialization has __________. A) decreased good-paying jobs B) decreased unemployment in central cities C) encouraged corporations to relocate to Northeastern cities D) increased the standard of living for millions of workers

Q: The authors of your text point out that the flood of election money sabotages democracy in which of the following ways? A) There is increased access for all people to run for office. B) The have-nots of society are equally represented among decision makers. C) The influence of campaign donors makes it harder for legislators to solve social problems. D) Everyone has a voice in how leftover campaign money is spent after an election is over.

Q: As characterized by the text, Blue Dog Democrats are __________ in their political leanings.

Q: Teacher expectations __________. A) have a minimal effect on student performance B) have no effect on student performance C) are shaped objectively D) have a large effect on student performance

Q: Because the law is an inherently apolitical institution, a violation of law means that the crime is ultimately an act that has negative effects for society.

Q: Research suggests that men who enter female-dominated fields often encounter __________. A) job burn-out B) a glass escalator C) a glass ceiling D) preferential treatment

Q: The federal cuts in money and services to central cities not only impacted the residents, but also __________. A) improved the natural landscape B) encouraged businesses and jobs to leave cities C) put an end to redlining D) improved the size of the tax base in the city

Q: The principles of "trickle-down" economics are adopted by the government because __________. A) government officials, who tend to come from the business class, bring a conservative ideology to office with them B) government officials, who tend to come from activist backgrounds, bring a liberal ideology to office with them C) government officials are more likely to hear the arguments of the powerless, who are in most need of support D) government officials are more likely to hear the arguments of the powerful, who want to make sure the needy are taken care of

Q: The United States has the __________ rate of poverty among the industrialized countries, has a growing racial divide, and is moving toward a two-tiered society.

Q: The self-fulfilling prophecy __________. A) produces results that match the expectations teachers and administrators have of one group attaining great things and another group failing B) does little to justify the greater expenditures of time and resources for those in the higher track C) has little effect on students' performance D) is an old psychological concept that does not apply to modern educational settings

Q: The fact that some activities are legal in one society and not legal in another and that what is and is not legal changes over time within the same society is evidence that there is not a universal standard for criminal behavior.

Q: The glass __________ is an invisible barrier that limits women's upward occupational mobility. A) ceiling B) floor C) wall D) door

Q: When opportunities are not present in the regular local economy, people in poor inner-city neighborhoods turn to an __________ for survival. A) environmental economy B) informal economy C) occupied regional government D) option based economy

Q: By building roads for logging, the government is providing a __________ to the timber industry. A) monopoly B) cloture C) filibuster D) subsidy

Q: Policies and behaviors that enhance our moral obligations to our neighbors and their children are directly at odds with our society's value on __________.

Q: Tracking __________. A) is seen as universally positive B) positively affects self-esteem C) correlates with the social stratification system D) is unrelated to the social class system

Q: A key reason that criminal arrests involve the poor, undereducated, unemployed, and the working poor is that those groups are more likely to commit the crimes that cost society most.

Q: The pattern whereby women and men are situated in different jobs throughout the labor force is called __________. A) patriarchy B) gender stratification C) gender segregation D) gender integration

Q: Neighborhoods where at least one in five households live below the poverty line are considered __________. A) affluent poverty areas B) central city poverty areas C) persistently poor counties D) boomburgs

Q: One of the reasons that the government tends to be pro-business is because government officials are more likely to __________. A) support socialism as an economic ideology B) hear arguments and receive contributions from the poor C) hear arguments and receive contributions from the powerful D) support a liberal political ideology

Q: __________ constrains what we do, but it does not determine what we do.

Q: Tracking __________. A) is a way of monitoring a child's academic performance to ensure that he or she is performing up to standard B) segregates students by perceived ability C) causes wealthy children to be overrepresented in the slow track D) is relatively rare in American education

Q: The basic problem with the statistics from the Uniform Crime Reports is that they focus on white collar, organized, and political crimes, while underreporting crimes of violence and crimes against property.

Q: In 2010, women earned __________ cents for every dollar a man earned. A) 81 B) 65 C) 53 D) 22

Q: Neighborhoods where at least two in five households live below the poverty line are considered __________. A) suburban sprawl areas B) high poverty areas C) persistently poor counties D) boomburgs

Q: Which of the following represents an example of the argument that the powerless bear the burden of U.S. government policy? A) Only 10 percent of college-aged men were drafted in the Vietnam War. B) Subsidies to social services for the poor were increased during the 2007 recession. C) Rebuilding priority was given to the poor after Hurricane Katrina. D) Government subsidies are overwhelmingly given to small businesses.

Q: Chad is starting to get discouraged because he has spent a lot of time and energy working for social change, but does not think he has made much of a difference. He is comforted by the words of Frances Fox Piven, the sociologist, who noted, in regard to predicting social movements that __________. A) they come every fifty years B) most of the really important work has already been done C) no one can successfully predict when they will occur D) social movements are not really necessary anymore

Q: When schools determine learning groups based on the results of an assessment of some kind it is known as __________ and is highly controversial. A) tracking B) channeling C) differential placement D) reference grouping

Q: Because crime is political in nature, including who gets to decide what counts as a crime and what does not, there is a class bias inherent in the law.

Q: In our political institutions women are underrepresented __________. A) only in the U.S. House of Representatives B) only in the U.S. Senate C) only on the U.S. Supreme Court D) at all levels

Q: When banks and other companies refuse to make home and small-business loans and insure property in poor and minority neighborhoods it is called __________. A) gentrification B) White flight C) warehousing D) redlining

Q: The bailout of airlines by Congress shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 2001, without similar relief to fired airline workers, represents an example of a __________. A) government subsidy B) trickle-down solution C) congressional gerrymander D) congressional filibuster

Q: Erica, a senior sociology major, looks to the civil rights movement and the history of labor unions in the United States to support her conclusion that __________. A) only governments can enact social change B) social structure is deterministic C) individual people have agency and can change the status quo D) all of the necessary social changes have been accomplished

Q: Schools today tend to be __________. A) segregated by social class and race B) integrated with respect to ability C) segregated by gender D) integrated with respect to age

Q: The data from official sources clearly indicate that people from certain social categories are more likely than others to be arrested for criminal activities.

Q: Women are still oppressed by __________. A) the social sciences B) social locations C) social movements D) social institutions

Q: Identify and describe the reasons why Social Security is considered to be a regressive tax.

Q: The relationship between U.S. foreign policy and corporate interests is demonstrated by which of the following actions? A) The embargo of the sales of military arms overseas B) The government support of tyrannical governments if they support U.S. multinational corporations C) The government policy of nonintervention in the domestic affairs of foreign governments to protect U.S. corporate interests D) The government providing foreign aid that primarily goes to benefit the poor in other countries

Q: The 1997 __________ strike shows that union action can still be successful. A) AP B) UPS C) Federal Express D) Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization

Q: Poor students and their schools __________. A) have more computers per student B) have higher student"teacher ratios C) have higher-paid teachers D) are highly funded after taxes are redistributed

Q: Even when crime rates are low, people harbor fears about being a potential victim of criminal activities.

Q: The use of "guys" to refer to groups of mixed gender people is an example of __________ language which perpetuates male dominance. A) trivializing B) sexualizing C) ignoring D) policing

Q: Identify the conditions that result from the "sex ratio" among the elderly and discuss the implications of each.

Q: The U.S. government has directly intervened in the domestic affairs of foreign governments to __________. A) institute social welfare policies B) institute labor and safety laws C) prevent the rise of capitalist competition D) protect U.S. corporate interests

Q: Individuals in the civil rights movement worked together toward racial equality by __________. A) pursuing legal actions that would attack private businesses with arson B) organizing economic boycotts to change discriminatory practices C) practicing violent disruptions of everyday activities to gain attention to their cause D) staging mass kidnappings and holding people for ransom to raise funds

Q: Statistics indicate that education level and income __________. A) are strongly correlated B) show little association to each other C) are inversely related D) are not related in a consistent pattern

Q: The __________ has the highest proportion of its citizens jailed at any time of any country.

Q: Terms like "chick," "honey," and "sweetheart" are examples of __________ language that perpetuates male dominance. A) trivializing B) sexualizing C) ignoring D) policing

Q: Identify the group that makes up the "baby boom generation" and discuss the future demographic changes that will likely take place as this generation ages.

Q: According to Piven and Cloward, the government institutes massive aid to the poor only when the __________. A) poor constitute a threat B) power elite pressures them C) economy is booming D) economy is in a recession

Q: Union membership has __________. A) declined significantly B) increased significantly C) declined slightly D) increased slightly

Q: Bill is in favor of a strong, centralized national curriculum and educational standards. As such he would likely be __________ No Child Left Behind. A) in favor of B) opposed to C) uninterested in D) skeptical of

Q: A monetary guarantee that a defendant will show up for a trial is known as __________, and it allows for a presumption of innocence until proven guilty.

Q: Studies of the U.S. mass media demonstrate that highly stereotyped behavior can be found in __________. A) nearly all sectors including children's programming B) only in adult programming C) every advertisement D) exclusively in music

Q: Identify and respond to the concerns raised by the phenomenon of the new immigration.

Q: After the Great Recession hit in late 2007, federal and state governments cut ____________. A) tax breaks for homeowners B) subsidies to big business C) social programs for the poor D) international defense spending

Q: In 2010, overall, Black households earned about __________White households per year. A) $22,000 more than B) $22,000 less than C) $2,000 less than D) about the same amount as