Sociology 3212
Race and Ethnic Relations
Fall 2019
Professor: James Ainsworth
List of possible test questions that may be on the first exam.
The 48 questions listed below will be included is the pool of questions that will be drawn
from to construct your first exam. There will be an additional, smaller set of questions
that may also be on the exam, but you will not see those questions before the exam. I
strongly suggest that you study these questions carefully in preparation for your exam,
and be confident that you know the correct answer for each question. While I do not
prohibit you discussing the general topics with your classmates, you are on the honor
system and expected to not share answers to these questions with other students. Good
luck.
1) How does Chambliss define excellence?
a) the one that demonstrates the greatest amount of talent
b) consistent superiority of performance
c) those who are successful as a result of unusual and extraordinary training techniques
d) whether one wins the given competition
e) the one who died with the most toys
2) Which of the following is not listed as a limitation of the idealist conception of racism
by Bonilla-Silva?
a) Racism is a static, unchanging phenomenon.
b) Racism is ultimately viewed as a structural phenomenon to be examined at the
institutional level.
c) Contemporary racism is viewed as being a remnant of past historical racial situations
d) Racism is excluded from the foundation or structure of the social system
e) Racism is defined as “incorrect” or “irrational thinking”
3) According to Bonilla-Silva, people of the dominant race are rewarded in all of the
following ways EXCEPT?
a) greater economic remuneration
b) access to better occupations
c) greater political power
d) lower social estimation
e) a “psychological wage”
4) What are the advantages of Bonilla-Silva’s theoretical ideas over traditional views of
racism?
a) Racial phenomenon are viewed as “normal” outcomes of racial structures of a society.
b) The reproduction of racial phenomenon is explained as the result of contemporary
structures rather than the remnant of the distant past
c) Both overt and covert racism can be explained within this framework
d) The changing nature of “racism” is seen as a normal outcome of racial contestation in
a racialized social system
e) all of the other answers
5) According to Bonilla-Silva, the racial practices that reproduce racial inequality in
contemporary America
a) are increasingly overt
b) are primarily embedded in the minds of individuals
c) embraces direct racial terminology
d) are invisible to most whites
e) none of the other answers
6) Which of the following represents a key difference between “authentic ethnicity” and
“symbolic ethnicity?”
a) Ethnicity answers the question "Who are we?"; while symbolic ethnicity answers the
question "What are we?".
b) Ethnicity refers to the reality faced by whites, while symbolic ethnicity refers to the
reality faced by racial minorities
c) Ethnicity defines groups instead of individuals, while individuals can manifest
symbolic ethnicity in isolation.
d) Ethnicity is based on genetics, while symbolic ethnicity is a social construction
7) Which of the following concepts refers to unconscious movement away from a given
ethnicity?
a) distortion
b) hidden ancestries
c) straight-line assimilation
d) drifts
e) costless ethnicity
8) Which of the following analogies does Waters cite as implying that white ethnics
choose to adopt only select cultural skills, habits and styles of their ancestor’s ethnic
group in a semi random manner?
a) Culture as a toolkit
b) Culture as a shopping cart
c) Culture as a grab bag
d) Culture as a hammer
e) Culture as a memory
9) Waters mentions which of the following as a factor that is used by whites to shape
their ethnic identities,
a) knowledge about ancestors
b) surname
c) relative social ranking of the ethnic group
d) physical appearance of the individual
e) all of the other answers
10) Symbolic ethnicity makes ethnicity
a) optional for some racial groups
b) costless for all racial groups
c) part of everyday interactions
d) similar in meaning across all ethnic groups
e) none of the other answers
11) Ethnicity refers to all but which of the following?
a) Language, laws, customs, and material culture of a given group of people who are
defined as a distinct ethnic group.
b) Group consciousness based on a sense of a common history
c) A social construction that is based on answering the question: Who are we?
d) A social construction based on physical characteristics of a group.
12) Which of the following is the most primary component of culture?
a) language
b) skills, habits and styles
c) the way society is organized
d) the process of socialization
e) laws
13) Which of the following theories argues that immigrants should be incorporated into
the host country without losing their cultural distinctiveness?
a) the melting pot theory
b) cultural pluralism theory
c) segmented assimilation theory
d) straight-line assimilation theory
e) none of the other answers
14) In what year did the U.S. Supreme Court case “Loving v. Virginia” overturn the
remaining laws that made it illegal for whites and blacks to marry?
a) 1866
b) 1924
c) 1954
d) 1967
e) 1980
15) In 1903, W.E.B. Du Bois famously stated the “the problem of the (twentieth) century
will be what?
a) the problem of slavery
b) the problem of the color line
c) the problem of immigration
d) the problem of racial wealth disparities
e) the problem of school segregation
16) According to Lee and Bean, what was the best concept to explain the current racial
boundaries in the U.S.?
a) The Tri-Racial Divide
b) The Black-Latino-White Divide
c) The Black-Nonblack Divide
d) The Black-White Divide
e) The White-Nonwhite Divide
17) In 1970, Latinos and Asians made up 5 and 1 percent, respectively, of the nation’s
population. In 2008 these percentages were what percent respectively?
a) 17 and 4 percent
b) 10 and 12 percent
c) 15 and 5 percent
d) 20 and 15 percent
e) 8 and 3 percent
18) Which of the following racial identities do children from white-black and whiteAsian interracial families, respectively, tend to identify as?
a) white and white
b) black and Asian
c) black and Asian
d) black and white
e) black and multiracial
19) Which of the following groups did Lee and Bean find to be the least accepting of
multiracial individuals that shared an ethnicity with them?
a) Asians
b) blacks
c) Mexicans
d) whites
e) Native Americans
20) Lee and Bean found that White, Asian and Latino parents who shunned that children
who dated a black person tended to do so
a) for about a year
b) until the couple got married
c) until they really got to know the black partner
d) until a child was produced by the union
e) For four years on average
21) Which of the following groups is NOT effected by border patrolling when they enter
white-black interracial relationships?
a) white men
b) black men
c) white women
d) black women
e) all of the above are subject to border patrolling
22) Ethnic identity differs between whites and minorities in that symbolic ethnicity for
whites:
a) provides enjoyment
b) have great social costs
c) is externally imposed
d) requires a functioning group
e) leads to intermarriage across racial groups
23) Which of the following theories posits that immigrant groups blend together with the
receiving population and create a new culture that is a combination of all previous
cultures?
a) the melting pot theory
b) cultural pluralism theory
c) segmented assimilation theory
d) straight-line assimilation theory
e) none of the other answers
24) According to Lee and Bean, which group is next in line to be considered white?
a) Irish
b) Asians
c) Egyptians
d) Blacks
e) Latinos
25) Which of the following theories advocates that immigrants drop the culture of their
sending country and adopt mainstream American values?
a) symbolic ethnicity theory
b) melting-pot theory
c) assimilation without accommodation theory
d) straight-line assimilation theory
e) cultural pluralism theory
26) Applying Chambliss’ argument about excellence to academic performance would
lead to an individual doing all but which of the following?
a) focusing on small, achievable goals rather than a single huge one
b) model the study techniques of successful students
c) learning several effective study skills to the point that they become ingrained and
habitual
d) always study in a focused and productive manner
e) studying much more than he/she currently does
27) Someone who can ethnically identify as Asian, Japanese-American, Pacific Islander,
and Jewish is said to have which of the following
a) a segmented assimilation pattern
b) a layered ethnicity
c) symbolic ethnicity
d) costless ethnicity
e) an adversarial stance
28) According to Waters, which of the following white ethnicities is the most popular?
a) Italian
b) English
c) German
d) Scottish
e) Irish
29) According to Waters, what are the two contradictory desires that are central in the
shaping whites ethnic identity?
a) laziness and meritocracy
b) ethnic depth and costless ethnicity
c) structure and agency
d) ethnic pride and ethnic shame
e) community and individuality
30) According to Dalmage. the “jungle fever” stereotype is most commonly assigned to
which of the following interracial relationships?
a) white men who date black women
b) black men who date white women
c) white women who date black men
d) black women who date white men
e) it is applied to all of these combinations equally
31) According to Bonilla-Silva, why would stereotypes, such as Jews being athletically
talented, disappear?
a) the group experiences upward social mobility
b) the stereotypes do not reflect the group’s current situation
c) the relative size of the group changes
d) the group rejects the stereotypes assigned to them
32) Which of the following refers to ancestries that individuals are aware of, but they
choose not to express?
a) secret ancestries
b) dormant ancestries
c) inactive ancestries
d) hidden ancestries
e) sleeping ancestries
33) Fill in the black with the choices below: Lee and Bean argue that while _______
represents the scar of race on America and the country’s failure, while _______
represents hope and the prospect of success.
a) racism, integration
b) slavery, immigration
c) multiculturism, intermarriage
d) immigration, education
e) black codes, civil rights
34) What law or court case made discrimination against blacks illegal?
a) The Hart-Celler Act of 1965
b) Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967)
c) The Civil Rights Act of 1965
d) Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896)
e) Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)
35) According to Lee and Bean, what was the best concept to explain the racial
boundaries in the early 1900s?
a) The Tri-Racial Divide
b) The Black-Latino-White Divide
c) The Black-Nonblack Divide
d) The Black-White Divide
e) The White-Nonwhite Divide
36) About how many times have the number of intermarriages increase in the United
States between 1960 and 2000?
a) Three times as many
b) five times as many
c) eleven times as many
d) thirteen times as many
e) twenty times as many
37) According to Lee and Bean, what percentage of the United States population is
projected to identify as multiracial in the year 2100?
a) 10%
b) 15%
c) 25%
d) 33%
e) 50%
38) Which of the following social forces do Lee and Bean argue would likely decrease an
individuals likelihood of multiracial identification and intermarriage?
a) speaking multiple languages
b) living in a racially diverse city
c) being a member of a large racial group (relative to the local population)
d) being a member of a small racial group (relative to the local population)
e) having a father who is a minority
39) What concept do Lee and Bean use to describe the contemporary patterns of change
regarding the contemporary racial boundaries in the United States?
a) Black exceptionalism
b) the “one-drop rule of hypodescent
c) straight-line assimilation
d) segmented assimilation
40) When Latino-White multiracial individuals, who typically identify as white, choose
to claim a Latino identity when applying for college, this is referred to by sociologists as
a) symbolic identity
b) playing the race card
c) a hidden ancestry
d) situational identity
41) Which of the following groups is NOT effected by border patrolling when they enter
white-black interracial relationships?
a) white men
b) black men
c) white women
d) black women
e) all of the above are subject to border patrolling
42) Which of the following is used by Dalmage to describe discriminatory actions
intended to sanction those who enter into interracial relationships?
a) racism
b) isolation of in-group members
c) border patrolling
d) racial authenticity enforcement
e) cultural capital
43) According to Dalmage, what do whites who sanction people who in interracial
relationships think they are protecting?
a) their privileged position in the racial hierarchy
b) the racial superiority of whites
c) the dignity of both blacks and whites
d) God’s law
e) all of the above
44) According to Dalmage, which of the following assumptions commonly are made
about white women who enter into interrelationships with black men?
a) that she wants to hurt someone
b) that she is trading her racial status for class status
c) that she is sexually depraved
d) all of the above
45) Which of the following theories argues that immigrants should be incorporated into
the host country without losing their cultural distinctiveness?
a) the melting pot theory
b) cultural pluralism theory
c) segmented assimilation theory
d) straight-line assimilation theory
e) none of the other answers
46) Which of the following theories argues that immigrants should be incorporated into
the host country through a subtractive assimilation process in which they lose the culture
from the sending country?
a) the melting pot theory
b) cultural pluralism theory
c) segmented assimilation theory
d) straight-line assimilation theory
e) symbolic ethnicity theory
47) Which of the following did Thomas Jefferson call onto to resolve his “suspicion
only” that blacks were inferior to whites?
a) history
b) religion and faith
c) reason
d) science
e) philosophy
48) Which of the following is true according to the video “Race the Power of an Illusion:
The House We Live In?”
a) redlining helped to bring an end to racial residential segregation
b) the equity in homes appreciated unevenly across racial groups
c) the G.I. Bill helped to ameliorate racial inequality
d) following WWII blacks and whites moved to newly created suburbia at equal rates
e) none of these answers are true