Chapter 8 - Social Class in the United States

Question 1

social class

Answer 1

According to Weber, a large group of people who rank close to one another in property, power, prestige; according to Marx, one of two groups: capitalists who own the means of production or workers who sell their labor

Question 2

property

Answer 2

Material possessions: includes animals, bank accounts, bonds, buildings, businesses, cars, cash, commodities, copyrights, furniture, jewelry, land, and stocks

Question 3

wealth

Answer 3

The total value of everything someone owns, minus the debts

Question 4

income

Answer 4

Money received, usually from a job, business, or assets

Question 5

power

Answer 5

The ability to carry out your will, even over the resistance of others

Question 6

power elite

Answer 6

C. Wright Mills’ term for the top people in the U.S. corporations, military, and politics who make the nation’s major decisions.

Question 7

prestige

Answer 7

Respect or Regard

Question 8

status consistency

Answer 8

Ranking high or low on all three dimensions of social class

Question 9

status inconsistency

Answer 9

Ranking high on some dimensions of social class and low on others: also called status discrepancy

Question 10

status

Answer 10

The position that someone occupies in a social group (also called social status)

Question 11

anomie

Answer 11

Durkheim’s term for a condition of society in which people become detached from the usual norms that guide their behavior

Question 12

contradictory class locations

Answer 12

Erik Wright’s term for a position in the class structure that generates contradictory interests.

Question 13

underclass

Answer 13

A group of people for whom poverty persists year after year and across generations.

Question 14

intergenerational mobility

Answer 14

The change that family members make in the social class from one generation to the next.

Question 15

upward social mobility

Answer 15

Movement up the social class ladder

Question 16

downward social mobility

Answer 16

Movement down the social class ladder

Question 17

structural mobility

Answer 17

Movement up or down the social class ladder that is due more to the changes in the structure of society than to the actions of individuals

Question 18

exchange mobility

Answer 18

A large number of people moving up the social class ladder, while a large number move down; it is as though they have exchanged places, and despite much social mobility the social class system shows little change.

Question 19

poverty line

Answer 19

The official measure of poverty; calculate to include incomes that are less than three times a low-cost food budget

Question 20

feminization of poverty

Answer 20

A condition of U.S. poverty in which most poor families are headed by women

Question 21

culture of poverty

Answer 21

The assumption that the values and behaviors of the poor make them fundamentally different from other people, that these factors are largely responsible for their poverty, and that parents perpetuate poverty across generations by passing these characteristics to their children

Question 22

deferred gratification

Answer 22

Going without something in the present in the hope of achieving greater gains in the future

Question 23

Horatio Alger myth

Answer 23

The belief that due to limitless possibilities anyone can get ahead if he or she tries hard enough