Exam 10: Social Class in the United States

Status inconsistency is common for winners of multimillion-dollar lotteries, especially when the status of their new wealth exceeds the status of their education and occupation.

What did Higginbotham and Weber discover about women from working-class backgrounds who now occupied professional, managerial, and administrative positions in Memphis?

What is Durkheim's term for a condition in which people become detached from the norms that guide their behavior?

An electrician can earn more money than a college professor. Based on the features that contribute to occupational prestige, why do electricians rank in the lower half of the occupational prestige table and professors rank near the top?

What is the upward or downward movement in social class by family members from one generation to the next?

Since 1970, the richest 20 percent of U.S. families has grown richer, and the poorest 20 percent of U.S. families has grown poorer.

What is the relationship between level of education and births to single mothers?

Politically, the class of people who are more likely to feel that the government should intervene in the economy to make citizens financially secure are the ________.

Describe Erik Wright's modification of Marx's model of social class.

Wealth and income are interchangeable terms, each meaning the same in reference to social class.

As a full professor of sociology, Jackie ranks high in prestige, but relatively low in income. What can one expect of her political views?

Based on the model of Gilbert and Kahl, the upper middle class is the class most shaped by education.

Jacob is single, 40 years old and living in government-subsidized housing. He does not want to pursue regular employment because he feels there are other members of society who need the work more than he does. Jacob's situation is an example of which of the following explanations of why people are poor?

Changes in society that cause large numbers of people to move up or down the class ladder, which causes one class to increase while others decrease, is called ________ mobility.

There were much-publicized myths of the late 1800s that centered around the rags-to-riches exploits of fictional boy heroes. These myths were perpetuated by their author, ________.

What is the standard used by the U.S. government to determine if a family is in poverty?

What is the background profile of most United States presidents?

What are the three components Weber identified as being the key elements of determining one's social class?

Of the six social classes in America, the lower middle class has the highest percentage of members.

Ruth owns the Head 2 Toe Boutique where she employs 15 workers. According to Erik Wright's model of social class, Ruth would be classified as a(n) ________.