Test 3 (chap 9-11)

Question 1

Bureaucracy

Answer 1

Large hierarchical organization governed by formal rules and regulations and having clearly specified work tasks

Question 2

De-skilling

Answer 2

Subdivision of low-level jobs into small, highly specific tasks requiring less skilled employees

Question 3

Division of labor

Answer 3

Specialization of different people or groups in different tasks, characteristic of most bureaucracies

Question 4

Free-rider problem

Answer 4

Tendency for people to refrain from contributing to the common good when a resource is available without any personal cost or contribution

Question 5

Hierarchy of authority

Answer 5

Ranking of people or tasks in a bureaucracy from those at the top, where there is a great deal of power and authority, to those at the bottom, where there is very little power and authority

Question 6

McDonaldization

Answer 6

Process by which the characteristics and principles of the fast-food restaurant come to dominate other areas of social life

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Question 7

Multinational corporation

Answer 7

Company that has manufacturing, production, and marketing divisions in multiple countries

Question 8

Social dilemma

Answer 8

Potential for a society’s long-term ruin because of individuals’ tendency to pursue their own short-term interests

Question 9

Social structure

Answer 9

Framework of society—social institutions, organizations, groups, statuses and roles, cultural beliefs, and institutionalized norms—that adds order and predictability to our private lives

Question 10

Tragedy of the commons

Answer 10

Situation in which people acting individually and in their own self-interest use up commonly available (but limited) resources, creating disaster for the entire community

Question 11

Absolute poverty

Answer 11

Inability to afford the minimal requirements for sustaining a reasonably healthy existence

Question 12

Authority

Answer 12

Possession of some status or quality that compels others to obey one’s directives or commands

Question 13

Caste system

Answer 13

Stratification system based on heredity, with little movement allowed across strata

Question 14

Colonization

Answer 14

Process of expanding economic markets by invading and establishing control over a weaker country and its people

Question 15

Competitive individualism

Answer 15

Cultural belief that those who succeed in society are those who work hardest and have the best abilities and that those who suffer don’t work hard enough or lack the necessary traits or abilities

Question 16

Contradictory class locations

Answer 16

Individuals, such as middle managers and supervisors, whose positions place them between two major classes, making it difficult to identify with one side or the other

Question 17

Culture-of-poverty thesis

Answer 17

Belief that poor people, resigned to their position in society, develop a unique value structure to deal with their lack of success

Question 18

Estate system (feudal system)

Answer 18

Stratification system in which high-status groups own land and have power based on noble birth

Question 19

False consciousness

Answer 19

Situation in which people in the lower classes come to accept a belief system that harms them; the primary means by which powerful classes in society prevent protest and revolution

Question 20

Means of production

Answer 20

Land, commercial enterprises, factories, and wealth that form the economic basis of class societies

Question 21

Middle class

Answer 21

In a society stratified by social class, a group of people who have an intermediate level of wealth, income, and prestige, such as managers, supervisors, executives, small business owners, and professionals

Question 22

Near-poor

Answer 22

Individuals or families whose earnings are between 100% and 125% of the poverty line (see also working poor)

Question 23

Near-poor

Answer 23

Individuals or families whose earnings are between 100% and 125% of the poverty line (see also working poor)

Question 24

Poor

Answer 24

In a society stratified by social class, a group of people who work for minimum wage or are chronically unemployed

Question 25

Poverty line

Answer 25

Amount of yearly income a family requires to meet its basic needs, according to the federal government

Question 26

Poverty rate

Answer 26

Percentage of people whose income falls below the poverty line

Question 27

Power

Answer 27

Ability to affect decisions in ways that benefit a person or protect their interests

Question 28

Prestige

Answer 28

Respect and honor given to some people in society

Question 29

Slavery

Answer 29

Economic form of inequality in which some people are legally the property of others

Question 30

Social class

Answer 30

Group of people who share a similar economic position in a society, based on their wealth and income

Question 31

Socioeconomic status

Answer 31

Prestige, honor, respect, and lifestyle associated with different positions or groups in society

Question 32

Stratification

Answer 32

Ranking system for groups of people that perpetuates unequal rewards and life chances in society

Question 33

Structural adjustments

Answer 33

Conditions that global financial organizations attach to countries to which they provide development aid

Question 34

Upper class

Answer 34

In a society stratified by social class, a group of people who have high income and prestige and who own vast amounts of property and other forms of wealth, such as owners of large corporations, top financiers, rich celebrities and politicians, and members of prestigious families

Question 35

Working class

Answer 35

In a society stratified by social class, a group of people who have a low level of wealth, income, and prestige, such as industrial and factory workers, office workers, clerks, and farm and manual laborers

Question 36

Working poor

Answer 36

Employed people who consistently earn wages but do not make enough to survive (see also near-poor)

Question 36

Working poor

Answer 36

Employed people who consistently earn wages but do not make enough to survive (see also near-poor)

Question 37

Affirmative action

Answer 37

Program designed to seek out members of minority groups for positions from which they had previously been excluded, thereby seeking to overcome institutional racism

Question 38

Colorism

Answer 38

Skin color prejudice within an ethnoracial group, most notably between light-skinned and darkskinned Blacks

Question 39

Cultural appropriation

Answer 39

A form of exploitation in which the customs, practices, or fashion of one culture is adopted by members of another culture

Question 40

Ethnicity

Answer 40

Sense of community derived from the cultural heritage shared by a category of people with common ancestry

Question 41

Implicit bias

Answer 41

Prejudiced attitudes or beliefs that operate at a level below conscious awareness

Question 42

Institutional racism

Answer 42

Laws, customs, and practices that systematically reflect and produce racial and ethnic inequalities in a society, whether or not the individuals maintaining these laws, customs, and practices have racist intentions

Question 43

Panethnic labels

Answer 43

General terms applied to diverse subgroups that are assumed to have something in common

Question 44

Personal racism

Answer 44

Individual expression of racist attitudes or behaviors

Question 45

Prejudice

Answer 45

Rigidly held, unfavorable attitudes, beliefs, and feelings about members of a different group based on a social characteristic such as race, ethnicity, or gender

Question 46

Quiet discrimination

Answer 46

Form of discrimination expressed subtly and indirectly through feelings of discomfort, uneasiness, and fear, which motivate avoidance rather than blatant discrimination

Question 47

Race

Answer 47

Category of people labeled and treated as similar because of allegedly common biological traits, such as skin color, hair texture, and eye shape

Question 48

Racial transparency

Answer 48

Tendency for the race of a society’s majority to be so obvious, normative, and unremarkable that it becomes, for all intents and purposes, invisible

Question 49

Racism

Answer 49

Belief that humans are subdivided into distinct groups that are different in their social behavior and innate capacities and that can be ranked as superior or inferior

Question 50

Stereotype

Answer 50

Overgeneralized belief that a certain trait, behavior, or attitude characterizes all members of some identifiable group

Question 51

White fragility

Answer 51

Phenomenon faced by white people whereby even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable and triggers an array of defensive reactions like anger, fear, guilt, and withdrawal.