Chapter 8 Terms

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

the total value of everyone someone owns, minus the debts

Answer 2

wealth

Question 3

money received, usually from a job, business, or assets

Answer 3

income

Question 4

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

Answer 4

power

Question 5

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

Answer 5

power elite

Question 6

ranking high or low on all three dimensions of social class

Answer 6

status consistency

Question 7

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

Answer 7

status inconsistency

Question 8

the position that someone occupies in a social group

Answer 8

status

Question 9

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

Answer 9

anomie

Question 10

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

Answer 10

contradictory class locations

Question 11

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

Answer 11

underclass

Question 12

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

Answer 12

intergenerational mobility

Question 13

movement up the social class ladder

Answer 13

upward social mobility

Question 14

movement down the social class ladder

Answer 14

downward social mobility

Question 15

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

Answer 15

structural mobility

Question 16

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

Answer 16

exchange mobility

Question 17

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

Answer 17

poverty line

Question 18

a condition of U.S. poverty in which most poor families are headed by women

Answer 18

feminization of poverty

Question 19

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

Answer 19

culture of poverty

Question 20

going without something int the present in hope of achieving greater gains in the future

Answer 20

deferred gratification

Question 21

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

Answer 21

horatio alger myth