Exam 6: Poverty and Affluence

Cultural explanations of poverty are based on the __________ perspective in sociology.

In the United States,widespread beliefs hold that a democratic society,in order to be fair and just,requires that those with a greater investment in and return from the economic system can and should pay more.These are justifications for __________.

Major employers and powerful political leaders are part of the __________ class.

Managers in large businesses and successful business and professional people are part of the __________ class.

To Karl Marx,the basic classes of a society are determined by __________.

In 1965,Mollie Orshansky was largely responsible for the official fixed-income definition Of the poverty line.The central factor in her formula is __________.

Which of the following statements about the effects of the severe economic recession of 2008 is TRUE?

During the twentieth century,the United States has provided more opportunities for the rich to get richer than for the poor to escape poverty.This situation is referred to as __________.

Blacks and the members of other minority groups in the United States have lower income than do whites because minority groups __________.

Passed in 1996,the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act ended the 60-year-old program known as __________.

The state takes part of the GDP and redistributes it to provide minimum survival levels for the poor and others.This type of state can be called a __________ state.

A classic sociologist defined "life-chances" as the access that individuals and groups have to those things that are socially valued in a society.Describe the life-chances of the poor in the United States.

Which of the following is NOT an income-in-kind program?

In American ideology,the wealthy have "made it" on their own efforts.What are some of the ways in which our society's government has helped the rich to gain and expand their wealth?

For Karl Marx,the capitalist's search for profits led to adopting automation to lower wage costs.In his view,this displaced workers in large numbers from their jobs and drove down wages for all workers.In Marx's terms,this situation created __________.

The wealthy can make tax-free investments that are not available to those who are less well off.The income from ________ ,sold in denominations of $5,000,does not have to be reported on tax returns.

The idea that poverty is relative rather than absolute is __________.

Which of the following is NOT one of the myths mentioned in the text about the poor?

In 2008,__________ percent of the United States population fell below the inflation-corrected,official poverty line.

What are the "concomitants" of poverty? Compare the poor with the non poor using each of these concomitants.