Social Stratification in the United States

Question 1

Caste System:

Answer 1

A system in which people are born into a social standing that they will retain for their entire lives.

Question 2

Class:

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Class System:

Answer 3

Social standing based on social factors and individual accomplishments.

Question 4

Class Traits:

Answer 4

The typical behaviors, customs, and norms that define each class. Also called class markers.

Question 5

Conspicuous Consumption:

Answer 5

The act of buying and using products to make a statement about social standing.

Question 6

Davis-Moore Thesis:

Answer 6

A thesis that argues some social stratification is a social necessity.

Question 7

Downward Mobility:

Answer 7

A lowering of one’s social class.

Question 8

Endogamous Marriages:

Answer 8

Unions of people within the same social category.

Question 9

Exogamous Unions:

Answer 9

Unions of spouses from different social categories.

Question 10

Global Stratification:

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Income:

Answer 11

The money a person earns from work or investments.

Question 12

Intergenerational Mobility:

Answer 12

A difference in social classes between different generations of a family.

Question 13

Intragenerational Mobility:

Answer 13

A difference in social classes between different members of the same generation.

Question 14

Meritocracy:

Answer 14

An ideal system in which personal effort, or merit, determines social standing.

Question 15

Primogeniture:

Answer 15

A law stating that all property passes to the firstborn son.

Question 16

Social Mobility:

Answer 16

The ability to change positions within a social stratification system.

Question 17

Social Stratification:

Answer 17

A socioeconomic system that divides society’s members into categories ranking from high to low, based on things like wealth, power, and prestige.

Question 18

Standard Of Living:

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Status Consistency:

Answer 19

The consistency, or lack thereof, of an individual’s rank across social categories like income, education, and occupation.

Question 20

Structural Mobility:

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Upward Mobility:

Answer 21

An increase, or upward shift, in social class.

Question 22

Wealth:

Answer 22

The value of money and assets a person has from, for example, inheritance.