Exam three (Chapter 9, 12)

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 a social standing that they will retain their entire lives

Question 3

class

Answer 3

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

Question 4

class system

Answer 4

social standing based on social factors and individual accomplishments

Question 5

class traits

Answer 5

the typical behaviors, customs, and norms that define each class (also called class markers)

Question 6

closed system

Answer 6

a system of stratification that accommodates little change in social position.

Question 7

conspicuous consumption

Answer 7

the act of buying and using products to make a statement about one’s social
standing

Question 8

Davis-Moore thesis

Answer 8

a thesis that argues some social stratification is a social necessity and is 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 from different social categories

Question 12

global stratification

Answer 12

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

Question 13

ideology

Answer 13

the cultural belief system that justifies a society’s system of stratification

Question 14

income

Answer 14

the money a person earns from work or investments

Question 15

intergenerational mobility

Answer 15

a difference in social class between different generations of a family

Question 16

intragenerational mobility

Answer 16

changes in a person’s social mobility over the course of their lifetime.

Question 17

meritocracy

Answer 17

an ideal system in which personal effort—or merit—determines 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

is not having the means to live the lifestyle of the average person in your 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 things like wealth, power, and prestige. 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 social categories like
wealth, power, and prestige

Question 26

structural mobility

Answer 26

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

Question 27

upward mobility

Answer 27

an increase—or upward shift—in social class

Question 28

wealth

Answer 28

the value of money and assets a person has from, for example, inheritance or salary.

Question 29

biological determinism

Answer 29

the belief that men and women behave differently due to inherent sex differences
related to their biology

Question 30

doing gender

Answer 30

the performance of tasks based upon the gender assigned to us by society and, in turn,
ourselves

Question 31

DOMA

Answer 31

Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 U.S. law explicitly limiting the definition of “marriage” to a union
between one man and one woman and allowing each individual state to recognize or deny same-sex
marriages performed in other states

Question 32

double standard

Answer 32

the concept that prohibits premarital sexual intercourse for women but allows it for men

Question 33

gender

Answer 33

a term that refers to social or cultural distinctions of behaviors that are considered male or female

Question 34

gender dysphoria

Answer 34

a condition listed in the DSM-5 in which people whose gender at birth is contrary to the
one they identify with. This condition replaces “gender identity disorder”

Question 35

gender identity

Answer 35

a person’s deeply held internal perception of his or her gender

Question 36

gender role

Answer 36

society’s concept of how men and women should behave

Question 37

glass ceiling

Answer 37

an invisible barrier that women encounter when trying to win jobs in the highest level of
business

Question 38

heterosexism

Answer 38

an ideology and a set of institutional practices that privilege heterosexuals and
heterosexuality over other sexual orientations

Question 39

homophobia

Answer 39

an extreme or irrational aversion to homosexuals

Question 40

intersex

Answer 40

people born with sex characteristics (including genitals, gonads and chromosome patterns) that do
not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies.

Question 41

misogyny

Answer 41

the hatred of or, aversion to, or prejudice against women

Question 42

pay gap

Answer 42

the difference in earnings between men and women

Question 43

sex

Answer 43

a term that denotes the presence of physical or physiological differences between males and females

Question 44

sexism

Answer 44

the prejudiced belief that one sex should be valued over another

Question 45

sexual orientation

Answer 45

a person’s physical, mental, emotional, and sexual attraction to a particular sex (male or
female)

Question 46

sexuality

Answer 46

a person’s capacity for sexual feelings

Question 47

social construction of sexuality

Answer 47

socially created definitions about the cultural appropriateness of sexlinked
behavior which shape how people see and experience sexuality

Question 48

transgender

Answer 48

an adjective that describes individuals who identify with the behaviors and characteristics that
are other than their biological sex