Chapter 9: Social Stratification in the United States

Question 1

Absolute Poverty

Answer 1

Deprivation so severe that it puts day-to-day survival in jeopardy

Question 2

Caste System

Answer 2

A system in which people are born into their social standing that they will retain for the rest of their lives

Question 3

Class

Answer 3

A group who shares a common social status based on factors such as wealth, income, education, and occupation

Question 4

Class System

Answer 4

Social standing is based on social factors and individual accomplishments

Question 5

Class Traits

Answer 5

Also known as Class Markers; common behaviors, customs, and norms of a class

Question 6

Closed System

Answer 6

A system of stratification that accommodates little to no change of social status

Question 7

Conspicuous Consumption

Answer 7

The act of buying and using products as a statement of one’s social standing

Question 8

Davis-Moore Thesis

Answer 8

A thesis that argues that some social stratification in socially necessary and functional

Question 9

Downward Mobility

Answer 9

A lowering of one’s social class

Question 10

Endogamous Marriages

Answer 10

Unions of people within the same social category

Question 11

Exogamous Unions

Answer 11

Unions of spouses within different social categories

Question 12

Global Stratification

Answer 12

A comparison of the wealth, power, status, and economic stability of countries as a whole

Question 13

Ideology

Answer 13

The cultural belief system that justifies a society’s stratification system

Question 14

Income

Answer 14

The money a person owns from work and/or investments

Question 15

Intergenerational Mobility

Answer 15

A difference in social class between generations of a family

Question 16

Intragenerational Mobility

Answer 16

Changes in a person’s social standing over the course of their lifetime

Question 17

Meritocracy

Answer 17

An ideal system in which a personal effort - or merit- determines a social standing

Question 18

Open System

Answer 18

A system of stratification (based on achievement) that allows some movement and interaction between layers and classes

Question 19

Primogeniture

Answer 19

A law stating that all property passes to the firstborn son

Question 20

Relative Poverty

Answer 20

Not having the means to live a lifestyle of an average person in a country

Question 21

Social Mobility

Answer 21

The ability to change positions within a social stratification system

Question 22

Social Stratification

Answer 22

A socioeconomic system that divides society’s members into categories ranking from high to low, based on factors such as wealth, prestige, power;
also called inequality

Question 23

Socioeconomic Status (SES)

Answer 23

An individual’s level of wealth, power, and prestige

Question 24

Standard of Living

Answer 24

The level of wealth available to acquire material goods and comforts to maintain a particular socioeconomic lifestyle

Question 25

Status Consistency

Answer 25

The consistency, or lack thereof, of an individual’s rank across socioeconomic categories such as wealth, power, and prestige

Question 26

Structural Mobility

Answer 26

A societal change that allows a whole group of people to move up or down the class ladder

Question 27

Upward Mobility

Answer 27

An increase - or an upward shift - in social class

Question 28

Wealth

Answer 28

The value of money and assets a person has from inheritance to salary