SOC 3351 -- SOCIAL CLASS & MOBILITY
Review Questions EXAM 3
Marger Chapter 7
What are the major types of stratification systems that have existed? What kinds of stratification
systems have existed in the United States over time?
How does inter-generational mobility differ from intra-generational mobility? What have been
the patterns of inter- and intra-generational mobility?
Describe the trends in social mobility throughout American history.
Know the nature of social mobility patterns in the US. For example, among men what
percentage of the population moves up, moves down, or remains about the same?
What have been recent trends in mobility among younger adults compared to older adults?
Compare the mobility patterns of men and women.
What are the major factors determining social mobility in the US? How does structural mobility
differ from “circulation” or “exchange” mobility? (lecture)
Through what processes does family background affect social mobility? How much of an effect
does parental socioeconomic background have on individual educational and occupational
attainment?
How is family income related to the probability of obtaining a college degree? How does student
ability affect the likelihood of obtaining a college degree across different levels of family
income?
How do functional theorists view the purpose of education?
How do conflict theorists view the educational process? What is the purpose of education
according to conflict theorists?
How do social mobility processes in the US compare with mobility processes in other
industrialized nations?
What are the basic propositions in the Featherman-Jones-Hauser social mobility hypothesis?
Does empirical research support the Featherman-Jones-Hauser hypothesis? (lecture)
Marger Chapter 9
Racial and Ethnic Differentiation
What is the difference between ethnicity and race? How do these concepts differ across nations
and time periods?
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What are the presently the five major ethnic categories in the United States? Approximately
what percentage of the population falls in each of these categories? How knowledgeable are most
people in the US about the numerical composition of these major ethnic groups?
Describe the nature of the ethnic diversity among the major “panethnic”groups. For example,
what are the major ethnic groups among Hispanic Americans, African Americans, Asian
Americans? How do these specific ethnic groups within each of the panethnic groups differ?
What have been the processes of social mobility among the major ethnic groups in the US? For
example, describe the social mobility processes among old immigrants, new immigrants, African
Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and the “newest” immigrants?
What are the major issues faced by the most recent immigrants to the United States?
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Marger Chapter 10
Racial and Ethnic Stratification
What are usually the differences between minority groups and majority or dominant groups?
How do ethnic minorities differ from other kinds of minorities?
How do four forms of initial contact among ethnic groups often influence patterns of ethnic
stratification? According to Donald Noel what are the consequences of contacts between ethnic
groups?
Describe the nature of the American ethnic hierarchy? What major ethnic groups fall into the
three broad ethnic tiers?
How is ethnicity related to the economic hierarchy in America?
What explanations have been offered to explain the economic gap between African Americans
and Whites?
What is the economic status of the major Hispanic ethnic groups? What factors have helped
produce the variation in the economic standing of the major Hispanic ethnic groups?
What factors help explain why Asian Americans have experienced higher levels of
socioeconomic standing than other ethnic groups?
What have been the relationships between ethnic background and political/corporate power?
What is the difference between individual and institutional discrimination? What the
characteristics of institutional discrimination? Are the effects of institutional discrimination
always intentional?
How has the American ethnic hierarchy remained stable or changed over time?
To what does affirmative action refer? What are examples of affirmative action practices?
Describe the various positions for and against affirmative action practices?
How do American societal values pertain to affirmative action practices?
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Marger Chapter 11
Gender Inequality
What is the meaning of patriarchy?
What is the sociological difference between sex and gender?
How do functional and conflict sociologists account for gender stratification?
What is sexism and sexist stereotypes?
How do women’s labor force participation rates differ across nations?
How has women’s labor force participation rates changed over time in the United States?
What is occupational sex segregation (lecture) or occupational concentration?
What factors help explain why women are concentrated in a relatively limited number of
occupations?
Why do men and women have different earnings?
What is the meaning of comparable worth? How does comparable worth affect women’s
earnings? How does comparable worth discrimination differ from typical sexual discrimination?
How do family responsibilities affect women’s economic and social success?
What are the patterns of gender inequality in politics, the corporation, and education?
What is the status of women in developing nations and the more industrialized nations outside of
the United States?
What are the basic ideas of feminism?
What are the basic ideas of the three broad categories of feminism?
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Marger Chapter 12
Political Inequality
Does the term political power apply only to government decisions?
Why is societal power more important than interpersonal power? What determines societal
power?
What distinguishes the elites from the masses with respect to political power?
What are the general ideas of the class models of power? How does the instrumental class model
differ from the structuralist class model of power
What is the power elite model of power?
What is the pluralist model of power?
How do these models all differ? How are they similar?
What factors make it difficult to determine which of the various models are more appropriate?
How can each of the three major models be integrated?
In what ways can the masses influence political decisions?
What are the four categories of political participation as defined by Olsen?
Why is having access to large sums of money important in influencing political decisions?
Which groups are the major contributors to the two major American political parties?
Why are political action committees important? How do they try to influence political decisions?
Why is lobbying important? What functions do lobbyists serve for government officials?
How is class position related to political participation?
Why are certain segments of society able to persevere in the political process?
Conflict theorists argue that economic elites are not accountable to the public. What are their
reasons for making such statements? For example, what is the process through which important
policy decisions are made?
What are the three major kinds of social movements? How do they differ?
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Marger Chapter 8
Public Policy and the Class System
Why is the state not a neutral observer of the class system?
Give historical examples to illustrate how the US government has benefited one class over
another.
How do the two basic ideas of capitalism influence the formation of pubic policy?
What are the three ways in which the government influences the economy which then affect the
distribution of income and wealth in society?
Who benefits from progressive taxes? Regressive taxes? Proportional or flat taxes?
What have been the effects of recent changes in federal income laws on which segments of
society pay taxes?
What share of overall federal taxes did businesses pay fifty years ago? What share of taxes are
now paid by corporations?
How do taxes in the US compare with that of other industrialized nations?
Which segments of society benefit most from highway construction?
What programs comprise welfare expenditures (both public assistance and social insurance)?
What share of the federal budget goes to the poor?
How does the middle class benefit from current government tax policies?
What is corporate welfare? Give examples of both direct and indirect forms of government
subsidies to corporations.
How does welfare spending in the US differ from that in other industrialized nations?
What factors help explain US government welfare expenditures?
How are public perceptions of welfare spending in the US distorted?
Why are government regulatory agencies not as “effective” as they might be? Which segments
of society seem to benefit more from government regulatory agencies?
How do the Democratic and Republican political parties differ with respect to economic public
policies? For example, what are demand side and supply side policies?
How does the distribution of power among the government, business, and labor sectors differ in
the United States compared to the other industrialized nations.
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