Quiz for Chapter 12
Multiple Choice Questions
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1. ________ is a composite measure of an individual's social standing that includes a number of dimensions.
a) Economic status
b) Socioeconomic status
c) Social capital
d) Socio-cultural influences
Answer: B (Page 288)
2. The term ________ was used to refer to marginalized and often criminal people who lived on the crumbs of society.
a) 'the underclass'
b) 'proletariat'
c) 'lumpenproletariat'
d) 'grifters'
Answer: C (Page 303)
3. While the rates of low family income have been falling among Canadian-born groups, they have been rising rapidly among ________.
a) second-generation immigrants
b) recent immigrants
c) baby boomers
d) the working poor
Answer: B (Page 299)
4. The illusion of personal independence that many of us living under capitalism hold so dear is based on ________.
a) the Enlightenment
b) individualism
c) technology
d) our ability to own things
Answer: D (Page 307)
5. Poverty advocates point to a growing reliance on ________.
a) family support
b) secular charities
c) food banks
d) religious organizations
Answer: C (Page 294)
True or False Questions
1. Commodities are goods and services that are produced to meet the immediate needs of those who produce them
Answer: False (Page 305)
2. Accurate data on salaries and wages are not widely available
Answer: False (Page 300)
3. There has been a shift in immigrant source countries to Canada from Europe and the United States to Asia and Africa
Answer: True (Page 299)
4. Marx pointed out that in all societies, economic activities including the production, exchange, and consumption of goods are always social activities
Answer: True (Page 303)
5. Weber's primary interest was on the analysis of conflict or exploitation between social classes
Answer: False (Page 310)
Fill in the Blank Questions
1. The illusion of ________ that many of us living under capitalism hold so dear is based on our ability to own things, including owning our own capacity for work, our labour power.
Answer: personal independence (Page 307)
2. Politics for Marx is ___________ as it involves particular social classes
Answer: hegemonic (Page 305)
3. In Marx's view, the ________, by ushering in capitalism, effectively created the proletariat, and in so doing, also sowed the seeds of its own destruction.
Answer: bourgeoisie (Page 304)
4. The ________ of production consists of a system of manorial holdings
Answer: feudal mode (Page 303)
5. The ________ is a measure of the inequality of a statistical dispersion.
Answer: Gini coefficient (Page 301)
Short Answer Questions
1. How was the decline of the petite bourgeoisie reversed?
Answer: Neoconservative governments, in office on anti-labour and pro-business agendas, came to the aid of small businesses, and the decline of the petite bourgeoisie was reversed.
2. What assumption do sociologists share?
Answer: Sociologists share a common assumption that the concept of social class can be used to construct theories about observable patterns in social behaviour.
3. What is especially problematic about Weber's classification system?
Answer: Especially problematic is his catch-all category of middle class, where entrepreneurs, liberal professionals, and labour leaders all rub elbows
4. According to C. Wright Mills, what would happen to the old middle classes?
Answer: C. Wright Mills held that the consolidation of property and work would put an end to the old middle classes.
5. What forms to status groups take?
Answer: Status groups can be occupational, hereditary, or political.