Chapter 10

Question 0

authority

Answer 0

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

Question 1

Absolute poverty

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Caste system

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Colonization

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Competitive individualism

Answer 4

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 5

Culture-of-poverty thesis

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Estate system (feudal system)

Answer 6

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

Question 7

False consciousness

Answer 7

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 8

Means of production

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Middle class

Answer 9

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 10

Near-poor

Answer 10

Individuals or families whose earnings are between 100% and 125% of the poverty line

Question 11

Poor

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Poverty line

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Poverty rate

Answer 13

Percentage of people whose income falls below the poverty line

Question 14

Power

Answer 14

Ability to affect decisions in ways at benefit a person or protect his or her interests

Question 15

Prestige

Answer 15

Respect and honor given to some people in society

Question 16

Relative poverty

Answer 16

Individuals’ economic position compared with the living standards of the majority in society

Question 17

Slavery

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Social class

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Social mobility

Answer 19

Movement of people or groups from one class to another

Question 20

Socioeconomic status

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Stratification

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Upper class

Answer 22

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 23

Working class

Answer 23

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 24

Working poor

Answer 24

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