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Sociology
Q:
Which of the following is a type of status that is inherited or assigned at birth and is passed down from generation to generation with rigidly enforced boundaries among caste groups?
a. ascribed
b. closed
c. achieved
d. inherent
e. restricted
Q:
Which of the following is a type of status that is established and changeable during a person's lifetime?
a. ascribed
b. closed
c. achieved
d. inherent
e. restricted
Q:
Which of the following is defined as a closed system of social stratification in which members are organized into hierarchically ranked groups with unequal access to rewards and privileges based on ascribed status?
a. class
b. gender
c. race
d. caste
e. ethnicity
Q:
In addition to the role of the media and voluntary isolation among portions of the population, which of the following also contributes to the invisibility of class and inequality in the United States?
a. social disruptions
b. political culture
c. economic structures
d. consumer culture
e. global disparities
Q:
Anthropologists such as Setha Low have demonstrated that class is largely invisible in the United States due to which of the following actions carried out by portions of the population?
a. individual association
b. neighborhood fusion
c. community building
d. media seclusion
e. voluntary isolation
Q:
Anthropologist Gregory Mantsios contends that the media play a significant role in hiding class stratification in the United States by largely ________ class.
a. skewing
b. featuring
c. ignoring
d. replicating
e. complicating
Q:
Proponents of poverty as a structural problem trace its roots to dysfunctional aspects of the:
a. family system.
b. financial system.
c. educational system.
d. political system.
e. economic system.
Q:
Which of the following is a theory of poverty that considers poverty as pathology in that it is a result of an individual's personal failings stemming from a combination of dysfunctional behaviors, attitudes, and values that make and keep the poor person poor?
a. Culture of Propensity
b. Culture of Dysfunction
c. Culture of Disparity
d. Culture of Poverty
e. Culture of Tenacity
Q:
Given the poverty rates reported in the 2009 U.S. Census Bureau report, it is important to recognize that most of the nation's poor are:
a. white and live in rural and suburban areas.
b. black and live in urban areas.
c. Hispanic and are evenly distributed between rural and urban areas.
d. Asian and live in urban areas.
e. Native American.
Q:
Which of the following statements is true?
a. Wealth in the United States is even more unevenly distributed than income, and the gap continues to widen.
b. Income in the United States is even more unevenly distributed than wealth, and the gap continues to widen.
c. Income is as unevenly distributed as wealth, and the gap is more or less stable.
d. Income is more unevenly distributed than wealth, but the income gap is closing while the wealth gap stays the same.
e. Wealth is more unevenly distributed than income, but both the income gap and the wealth gap are narrowing.
Q:
The total value of what someone ownsincluding stocks, bonds, and real estateminus any debt, such as a mortgage, student educational loans, or credit card debt, is considered:
a. wealth.
b. investments.
c. income.
d. profits.
e. wages.
Q:
The income gaps between the highest earners and the lowest earners in the United States have:
a. narrowed substantially during the past five decades due to globalization and its increased economic opportunities.
b. increased substantially during the past five decades due to changes in the tax code and stagnating salaries.
c. remained the same during the past five decades, as all classes take advantage of the increased economic opportunities arising from globalization.
d. remained the same during the past five decades due to economic stagnation.
e. increased substantially in the past five decades as the economy implodes.
Q:
Which of the following reveal the way power is distributed in a society?
a. retirement plans
b. investment patterns
c. wealth plans
d. dividend plans
e. income patterns
Q:
Which of the following consists of wages earned from work, plus dividends and interest on investments along with rents and royalties?
a. investments
b. wealth
c. income
d. profits
e. wages
Q:
Since the mid-1970s, class inequality in the United States has:
a. decreased as income and wealth have been disbursed from the wealthy elite down to the middle- and lower-class social strata.
b. increased due to decreasing tax rates for the wealthy and stagnating salaries for the middle class.
c. held steady as tax breaks for the wealthy have been balanced by increased salaries in the middle class.
d. decreased as a result of increased tax rates on the wealthy and redistribution of benefits to the poor.
e. fluctuated wildly as the middle class booms and stagnates at irregular intervals.
Q:
Which of the following statements is true?
a. Class is rarely discussed in the United States and consequently is largely off the radar screen regarding public discourse.
b. Class is discussed all the time in the United States and is a topic of frequent debate in public discourse.
c. Americans are very knowledgeable about class and have very accurate ideas about where their families fit in the U.S. class structure.
d. The Founding Fathers of the United States were among the poorest men in the thirteen colonies, which is why they were concerned with creating a classless society.
e. Native Americans have always been among the largest landholders in the United States, which has allowed them to pursue upward mobility throughout the country's history.
Q:
In the United States, an individual's life chances are:
a. much less influenced by the class position of his or her family than in most countries around the world.
b. stratified by class as well as race and gender.
c. more influenced by the class position of his or her family than in any other country.
d. affected by income, but not by wealth.
e. determined by hard work and skill alone.
Q:
Which of the following is the term used to describe a framework for analyzing many factors that determine how class is lived rather than examining class in isolation?
a. adaptability
b. monofunctionality
c. punctuality
d. functionality
e. intersectionality
Q:
Leith Mullings argues that class cannot be studied in isolation but rather must be considered together with race and gender as interlocking systems of:
a. economies.
b. status.
c. power.
d. prestige.
e. class.
Q:
The work of which of the following more recent theorists has led anthropologists to reexamine class by analyzing the deep connections between class, race, and gender?
a. Clifford Geertz
b. Karl Marx
c. Jane Goodall
d. Leith Mullings
e. Louise Lamphere
Q:
Which of the following is another key to the social reproduction of class and was defined by Bourdieu as the knowledge, habits, and tastes learned from parents and family that people use to gain access to scarce and valuable resources in society?
a. status prestige
b. habitus
c. cultural capital
d. group ideology
e. bourgeoisie
Q:
For Bourdieu, which of the following concepts is defined as a set of common perceptions that shape expectations and aspirations and guide an individual in assessing his or her life chances and the potential for social mobility?
a. cultural capital
b. habitus
c. status prestige
d. group ideology
e. bourgeoisie
Q:
Theorist Pierre Bourdieu found that which of the following systems did not provide opportunities for social class mobility, but instead helped reproduce the social class relations that already existed?
a. labor
b. industrial
c. democratic
d. capitalist
e. educational
Q:
Pierre Bourdieu worked to understand the relationship between class, culture, and power by examining which of the following phenomenon in schools?
a. social replication
b. social mobility
c. social reciprocity
d. social reproduction
e. social management
Q:
The movement of one's class positionwhether upward or downwardin stratified societies is called:
a. social inertia.
b. social achievement.
c. social stagnation.
d. social independence.
e. social mobility.
Q:
Max Weber referred to the opportunities that individuals have to improve their quality of life and realize their life goals as:
a. elite prestige.
b. life chances.
c. prestige status.
d. life stances.
e. elite power.
Q:
According to Max Weber, the reputation, influence, and deference bestowed on certain people because of their membership in certain groups are called:
a. class.
b. status.
c. prestige.
d. power.
e. wealth.
Q:
Theorist Max Weber argued that analyzing emerging structures of stratification required an examination of which of the following?
a. power and prestige
b. power and wealth
c. prestige and status
d. wealth and power
e. status and wealth
Q:
Karl Marx argued that the proletariat were unable to develop a political awareness of their class position because:
a. they simply lacked interest or motivation to do so.
b. they were continually occupied with the struggle to make ends meet.
c. they naturally had lower intellect than the bourgeoisie.
d. stratification and class division is the most natural state for society.
e. class is not political.
Q:
Karl Marx argued that capitalists increased their wealth by extracting the surplus labor value from which of the following?
a. factories
b. natural resources
c. industries
d. workers
e. products
Q:
Working-class people who lacked land to grow their own food, tools to make their own products, and capital to build workshops and therefore had to sell their labor were considered which of the following classes of people, according to Karl Marx?
a. bourgeoisie
b. capitalists
c. proletariat
d. slaves
e. industrialists
Q:
According to Karl Marx, the bourgeoisie consisted of a capitalist class of individuals who owned the means of:
a. distribution.
b. production.
c. marketing.
d. invention.
e. convention.
Q:
Karl Marx examined social inequality by distinguishing between which two distinct classes of people?
a. prestige and proletariat
b. bourgeoisie and elite
c. proletariat and impoverished
d. elite and privileged
e. bourgeoisie and proletariat
Q:
Which of the following individuals is among four key theorists of class and inequality who wrote in the nineteenth century and is likely the most widely read theorist of class?
a. Margaret Mead
b. Clifford Geertz
c. Franz Boas
d. Karl Marx
e. Ruth Benedict
Q:
Stratification and inequality became:
a. more pronounced in industrialized capitalist economies over recent centuries, resulting in the concentration of wealth in the hands of fewer people.
b. less pronounced in industrialized capitalist economies over recent centuries, resulting in more egalitarian distribution of wealth in those societies.
c. the dominant societal form in hunter-gatherer societies early in human history.
d. less pronounced in all societies over recent centuries due to the efforts of the Amish and Hutterites to spread egalitarianism and reciprocity around the world.
e. more pronounced in countries like Norway, Sweden, and Denmark as a result of efforts to redistribute wealth by decreasing social benefits.
Q:
Anthropologists trace the roots of which of the following patterns of social stratification to the rise of intensive agriculture and populous market towns?
a. egalitarian stratification
b. ascribed stratification
c. ranked stratification
d. extreme stratification
e. achieved stratification
Q:
As a ritual ceremony, the potlatch serves to establish social status not by wealth and power but by the prestige earned via a person's capacity for which of the following?
a. labor
b. obligation
c. generosity
d. status
e. power
Q:
A famous redistribution ceremony that is commonly practiced among Native American groups such as the Kwakiutl of the Pacific Northwest is called:
a. caste.
b. proletariat.
c. habitus.
d. potlatch.
e. Dalit.
Q:
For a chief in a ranked society, his or her rank and status are reinforced through reciprocity and:
a. restoration.
b. generosity.
c. accumulation.
d. reproduction.
e. prosperity.
Q:
Which of the following is defined as the act of gift giving within a ranked society that serves as a form of sharing accumulated wealth and enhancing the chief's prestige?
a. redistribution
b. reciprocity
c. reproduction
d. reintegration
e. restoration
Q:
Which of the following members of a ranked society do not accumulate great wealth, despite their high prestige?
a. women
b. grandfathers
c. men
d. wives
e. chiefs
Q:
In ranked societies, the social rank of each member of the society is determined by:
a. the individual skills, wisdom, or efforts of its members.
b. heredity.
c. the accumulation of material wealth.
d. hunting prowess.
e. ownership of land.
Q:
In ranked societies, positions of high prestige such as that of a chief are largely:
a. powerless.
b. reciprocal.
c. hereditary.
d. achieved.
e. ambiguous.
Q:
Societies in which prestige and status are stratified but wealth is not are considered:
a. ambilineal.
b. reciprocal.
c. unilineal.
d. ranked.
e. egalitarian.
Q:
Social patterns entrenched in hierarchy and stratification have emerged:
a. only more recently in human history when compared to egalitarian social patterns.
b. much earlier in human history when compared to egalitarian social patterns.
c. most prominently among hunter-gatherer societies.
d. as the basis of Amish and Hutterite communities.
e. mostly in societies with a strong principle of reciprocity.
Q:
Countries such as Norway, Sweden, and Denmark are among those that have explicitly worked to narrow stratification through high taxation of wealth and which of the following efforts?
a. privatized health insurance
b. generous social benefits
c. nonprofit taxes
d. voting restrictions
e. immigration laws
Q:
Efforts to establish more egalitarian systems of economic and social relations within highly stratified societies include which of the following communities?
a. Hutterite
b. capitalist
c. occupational
d. impoverished
e. elite
Q:
Patterns of reciprocity:
a. no longer exist in societies with contemporary economic relations, which tend to be organized around the exchange of money for services.
b. still exist, even in contemporary societies that base economic relations on the exchange of money for services.
c. are a feature of human culture that emerged relatively recently in our history.
d. are not a characteristic of egalitarian or ranked societies.
e. have their roots in the rise of intensive agriculture and populous market towns.
Q:
Which of the following is a pattern of relationship in which group members equally share resources and responsibilities over time based on mutual exchange?
a. ranking
b. recidivism
c. reciprocity
d. redistribution
e. reallocation
Q:
Archaeological evidence suggests that hierarchy, violence, and aggression:
a. have been key to the evolutionary success of humankind.
b. emerged relatively recently in human history.
c. were central to the evolutionary success of early humans.
d. have always been most prominent in nonindustrialized hunter-gatherer societies.
e. are the natural state of human culture.
Q:
Egalitarian societies depend on sharing which of the following in order to ensure group success?
a. children
b. money
c. weaponry
d. sexual partners
e. resources
Q:
Which of the following is a type of society that is based on the sharing of resources to ensure group success with a relative absence of hierarchy and violence within or among groups?
a. proletariat
b. stratified
c. bourgeoisie
d. egalitarian
e. ranked
Q:
Systems of stratification and power such as class:
a. are not intrinsic to human culture.
b. are entrenched in patterns of behavior central to human evolutionary success.
c. involve the accumulation of material wealth only.
d. involve the accumulation of prestige only.
e. are least pronounced in industrialized capitalist economies.
Q:
Which of the following statements is true?
a. All societies develop identical patterns of stratification that differentiate people into groups or classes.
b. Each society develops its own patterns of stratification that differentiate people into groups or classes.
c. Hunter-gatherer social structure has promoted ranked societies.
d. Egalitarian societies do not exist in the world today.
e. The best-known examples of contemporary ranked societies are the Amish and Hutterite communities.
Q:
Categories found within a class system serve as a basis for unequal access to which of the following?
a. gender
b. race
c. status
d. ethnicity
e. sexuality
Q:
Systems of class stratify individuals' life chances and affect their possibilities for upward social:
a. elitism.
b. inertia.
c. stagnation.
d. flexibility.
e. mobility.
Q:
The unequal distribution of a society's resources within a class system typically:
a. involves moving surpluses steadily downward into the hands of the poor.
b. involves moving surpluses steadily upward into the hands of the elite.
c. involves sharing of resources through random lottery.
d. is not intersected by race and gender.
e. does not affect individuals' life chances.
Q:
Which of the following is a system of power based on wealth, income, and status that creates an unequal distribution of a society's resources?
a. class
b. ethnicity
c. sexuality
d. gender
e. race
Q:
Systems of class and inequality:
a. no longer exist in postindustrialized nation-states such as the United States.
b. create an unequal distribution of a society's resources.
c. are a natural feature of human culture.
d. are exemplified by hunter-gatherer societies.
e. have no impact on an individual's life chances.
Q:
Of all the systems of stratification and power in a society, which of the following is commonly the most difficult to see clearly and to discuss openly?
a. race
b. ethnicity
c. gender
d. class
e. sexuality
Q:
Which of the following terms is defined as the system of meaning and power that cultures create to determine who is related to whom and to define their mutual expectations, rights, and responsibilities?
a. family
b. marriage
c. descent
d. kinship
e. heredity
Q:
The most effective strategy humans have developed to form stable, reliable, separate, and deeply connected groups that can last over time and through generations is termed:
a. heredity.
b. family.
c. marriage.
d. descent.
e. kinship.
Q:
Comparing and contrasting marriage rates of the past with those of the present, anthropologists found that earlier marriages did not last any longer than marriages today. What are some of the reasons for this? If past and present marriage rates do not differ significantly, do the proportion of children raised in single-parent households differ between past and present? Why or why not? How might shorter marriages and single-parent households affect kinship within a society? What other elements may contribute to shorter marriages and single-parent households today, and how do they differ from elements that likely contributed to shorter marriages and single-parent households in the past? Why would anthropologists be interested in researching topics such as shorter marriages and single-parent households?
Q:
In 2004, the American Anthropological Association (AAA)the largest association of anthropologists in the United Statesissued a statement regarding same-sex marriages and the Defense of Marriage Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 2004. What position did the AAA take on same-sex marriages and the act? What sort of research or evidence did the AAA use to substantiate its stance? In your opinion, why did the AAA take the position that it did, and what are the benefits and drawbacks of it taking this stance? Do you think that professional associations such as the AAA should make formal position statements regarding congressional acts? Why or why not?
Q:
Families in the United States are supplementing biological connections and affinal marriage connections with alternative family forms based on friendship, respect, and mutual support. One alternative family form is that of chosen families. What are chosen families, and what are some of the reasons that they exist and are becoming more common? Give three examples of chosen families in the United States. Do you think that chosen families existed in the distant past? Why or why not? What do you think will happen to the prevalence of chosen families in the future and why?
Q:
How families are conceptualized and formed varies across cultural groups. Define and describe the ways in which a family of orientation and a family of procreation differ. How does the concept of a nuclear family fit into these two concepts of family? Why is the concept of a nuclear family more common in the United States and other Western industrialized cultures and societies? What are some examples of other concepts of family found in other cultures throughout the world? What may be some underlying factors that contribute to the diverse ways in which family is conceptualized and formed? How do you think the concept of family may change in the future, and why?
Q:
Anthropologists have clearly demonstrated that kinship is not solely given at birth via biological connections or through marriage alliances, but can be acquired through other means. What are three other ways in which kinship can be acquired? What are the benefits of being able to acquire kinship outside of biological relations and marriage? Are these other forms of acquiring kinship present in the United States? Are they present in your own home community? Provide at least two examples of alternate forms of acquiring kinship in the United States and in your own home community.
Q:
Arranged marriages that are orchestrated by the families of the bride and groom are common in many cultural groups in Asia, the Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. While arranged marriage is not the primary form of marriage in the United States, it does exist. In fact, anthropologists contend that arranged marriages actually do occur more frequently when marriages that are arranged in subtle and implicit ways are considered. What are three examples of subtle, "arranged" marriages that occur in the United States that may not necessarily be overtly called "arranged marriages"? Who benefits from these "arranged" marriages? Why do you think these types of marriages occur? How do these types of marriage compare to companionate marriages? Which type of marriage do you think is more beneficial to the spouses and to their communities, and why?
Q:
The author of your textbook describes a situation in a Chinese village in which family and ancestral records had been destroyed as part of the national Cultural Revolution in the 1960s. The author uses this case to underscore the fact that political factors can shape efforts to construct and maintain kinship. What are two examples of ways in which political factors may have shaped kinship in the United States? Do you think that political factors continue to influence kinship in any way today? Why or why not? What future implications may current political factors have on future forms of kinship?
Q:
Through kinship studies across cultures, anthropologists have determined that the ways in which genealogies are constructed can be messy and far from exact. Gaps, interruptions, disruptions, uncertainties, and assumed connections are all found among genealogies. This fact is further underscored by Kathleen Gough's reexamination of anthropologist E. E. Evans-Pritchard's kinship work with Nuer people in Sudan. Describe one example of a genealogical disruption that Gough found among Nuer kinship data collected in the 1930s, and discuss why the disruption likely occurred. What sorts of gaps and disruptions are present in your own genealogy and why do you think they have occurred? Do you think that genealogies will undergo even greater gaps and disruptions in the future? Why or why not?
Q:
Marriage in various forms occurs all over the world. In the United States, we typically practice kindred exogamy. What is kindred exogamy and what are two examples of marriages that would violate its rules? How does exogamy generally differ from endogamy? Is endogamy officially or unofficially practiced in the United States? What are two examples of unofficial or implicit endogamy that may occur in a group of people? What are some benefits and drawbacks of exogamy and endogamy?
Q:
Anthropologist E. E. Evans-Pritchard conducted ethnographic research with Nuer people of southern Sudan in the 1930s, and argued that this group of people constituted a patrilineal descent group. What does it mean to be a patrilineal descent group and how does this differ from a matrilineal descent group? How were cattle used to reflect the patrilineal nature of Nuer descent? Provide at least two examples.
Q:
Anthropologists argue that kinship is one of several ways in which individuals form groups. Name three other ways in which humans form groups and provide some concrete examples of each. Does kinship influence how these other groups are formed? Why or why not?
Q:
The process of adoption:
a. provides further evidence that kinship is constructed rather than biologically inherited.
b. is not affected by norms and values or by political and economic values.
c. has been made easier and more affordable by globalization.
d. favors Latino, Native American, and African American babies.
e. is not one of the methods by which kinship is constructed.
Q:
Changing patterns over time demonstrate that marriage, family, and kinship are cultural:
a. stances.
b. constructs.
c. biases.
d. positions.
e. misnomers.
Q:
Which of the following statements is true?
a. Despite the current high rate of divorce in the United States, marriages in earlier generations did not last any longer than those today.
b. In 1900, far fewer children lived in poverty than do today.
c. Teen pregnancy rates have increased dramatically during the past fifty years.
d. Kinship patterns of today show dramatic changes when compared to the historical norm.
e. The increasing life expectancy has improved the stability of marriage in the United States.
Q:
Looking cross-culturally, anthropologists argue that:
a. there is clearly a single universal definition of marriage.
b. definitions of marriage vary across cultures and over time.
c. definitions of marriage vary across cultures but are stable over time.
d. definitions of marriage have been made universal by globalization.
e. marriage and family are unchanged by modern technology and globalization.
Q:
Discussions regarding same-sex marriage in the United States are a clear example of changing patterns of:
a. heredity.
b. kinship.
c. legality.
d. descent.
e. endogamy.
Q:
The Defense of Marriage Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 2004 forbids the federal government from recognizing which of the following?
a. adolescent marriages
b. marriages of divorced adults
c. same-sex marriages
d. marriages of affinal relatives
e. heterosexual marriages
Q:
The form of reproductive technology that involves the creation of genetically identical copies of cells or whole organisms is called:
a. surrogacy.
b. in vitro fertilization.
c. artificial insemination.
d. relational reproduction.
e. cloning.