Chapter 8

Question 1

According to Weber, a large group of people who rank close to one another in property, power, and prestige; according to Marx, one of two groups: capitalists who own the means of production or workers who sell their labor.

Answer 1

Social class.

Question 2

Material possessions: includes animals, bank accounts, bonds, buildings, businesses, cars, cash, commodities, copyrights, furniture, jewelry, land and stocks.

Answer 2

Property

Question 3

The total value of everything someone owns, minus the debts.

Answer 3

Wealth

Question 4

Money received, usually from a job, business or assets.

Answer 4

Income

Question 5

The ability to carry out your will, even over the resistance of others.

Answer 5

Power

Question 6

C Wright Mills’ term for the top people in US corporations, military and politics who make the nation’s major decisions.

Answer 6

Power elite.

Question 7

Ranking high or low on all three dimensional of social class.

Answer 7

Status consistency

Question 8

Ranking high on some dimensions of social class and low on others; also called status discrepancy.

Answer 8

Status inconsistency.

Question 9

The position that someone occupies in a social group (also called social status)

Answer 9

Status

Question 10

Respect or regard

Answer 10

Prestige

Question 11

Durkheim’s term for a condition of society in which people become detached from the usual norms that guide their behavior.

Answer 11

Anomie

Question 12

Erik Wright’s term for a position in the class tructure that generates contradictory interests.

Answer 12

Contradictory class locations.

Question 13

A group of people for whom poverty persists year after year and across generations.

Answer 13

Underclass

Question 14

The change that family members make in social class from one generation to the next

Answer 14

Intergenerational mobility

Question 15

Movement up the social class ladder.

Answer 15

Upward social mobility

Question 16

Movement down the social class ladder.

Answer 16

Downward social mobility

Question 17

Movement up or down the social class ladder that is due more to changes in the structure of society that to the actions of individuals.

Answer 17

Structural mobility

Question 18

A large number of people moving up the social class ladder, while a large number move down; it is as thought they have exchanged places and despite much social mobility the social class system shows little change.

Answer 18

Exchange mobility

Question 19

The official measure of poverty; calculated to include incomes that are less than three times a low cost food budget.

Answer 19

Poverty line

Question 20

A condition of US poverty in which most poor families are headed by women.

Answer 20

Feminization of poverty.

Question 21

The assumption that the values and behaviors of the poor make them fundamentally different from other people, that these factories are largely responsible for their poverty and that parents perpetuate poverty across generations by passing these characteristics to their children.

Answer 21

Culture of poverty.

Question 22

Going without something in the present in the hope of achieving greater gains in the future.

Answer 22

Deferred gratification

Question 23

The belief that due to limitless possibilities anyone can get ahead if he or she tries hard enough.

Answer 23

Haratio Alger myth