Race and Ethnicity
1. The sociology class discussion of race and ethnicity that opens Chapter 11 suggests that
more and more people
a. do not think of themselves in terms of race or ethnicity at all.
b. have high levels of racial prejudice.
c. no longer think of themselves in terms of simple racial categories.
d. believe in the importance of affirmative action.
2. The concept “race” refers to
a. members of any minority within a multicultural society.
b. skin color, when it is other than white.
c. a shared cultural heritage, including language and religion.
d. a socially constructed category composed of people who share biologically transmitted
traits that members of a society consider important.
3. The physical differences that may become part of racial categories have their origins in
a. different geographical regions in which humans live.
b. social patterns that distinguish some 5,000 human cultures.
c. the types of technology used by various societies.
d. the degree of wealth or poverty found in various parts of the world.
4. Compared to people in Brazil, people in the United States typically
a. see fewer racial categories.
b. think race has little importance in everyday life.
c. think the same way about race.
d. see race as more of a cultural trait.
5. Read the following statements about race. Which statement is CORRECT?
a. Most societies contain biologically "pure" people.
b. People of various racial categories are genetically more different than they are alike.
c. The skin color of Caucasian people is always very light.
d. Many sociologists claim that the concept of “race” is misleading and even harmful.
6. Race refers to __________ considered important by a society, and ethnicity refers to
__________.
a. cultural traits; biological traits
b. biological traits; cultural traits
c. differences; what we have in common
d. what we have in common; differences
7. Which of the following concepts refers to cultural heritage?
a. race
b. minority
c. ethnicity
d. stereotype
8. A family leaves Russia and takes up residence in the United States, where they gradually
lose their Russian cultural traditions. They have modified their
a. race.
b. ethnicity.
c. biological heritage.
d. religion.
9. In the United States, most people
a. who are rich have little or no ethnicity.
b. identify with one or more ethnic category.
c. no longer identify with any ethnicity.
d. believe that ethnicity is more important than race.
10. Which of the following concepts refers to a category of people, distinguished by physical
or cultural traits, who are socially disadvantaged?
a. minority
b. ethnic category
c. racial category
d. out-group
11. People of Hispanic ancestry represent about __________ of the U.S. population.
a. 44.4 percent
b. 35.4 percent
c. 25.4 percent
d. 15.4 percent
12. A minority is defined as a category of people who are
a. new to a country and also socially disadvantaged.
b. less than half the total population.
c. different in some visible way and also socially disadvantaged.
13. African Americans account for about __________ of the U.S. population.
a. 42.8 percent
b. 32.8 percent
c. 22.8 percent
d. 12.8 percent
14. Which statement about minorities is NOT correct?
a. Minorities have a distinctive social identity.
b. Usually, people can readily identify a member of a minority.
c. All people in a minority category are socially disadvantaged.
d. A minority does not have to be a numerical minority.
15. Four states currently have a “minority-majority.” Which of the following is NOT one of
them?
a. Florida
b. California
c. Hawaii
d. New Mexico
16. Which of the following concepts refers to a rigid and irrational generalization about an
entire category of people?
a. scapegoating
b. racism
c. prejudice
d. discrimination
17. Stereotypes refer to
a. any generalizations about social life.
b. exaggerated descriptions applied to everyone in some category.
c. only positive statements about a minority.
d. only negative statements about a minority.
18. Which statement about immigrant workers in the United States is CORRECT?
a. In general, immigrants do the jobs that no one else wants.
b. Most immigrants to the United States become wealthy within a few years of arriving here.
c. Most immigrant workers receive far more than the minimum wage and get at least some
benefits.
d. About 5 percent of all U.S. housekeepers and restaurant workers are people born abroad.
19. Recent research on social distance among U.S. college students shows that
a. there is a trend toward less acceptance of minorities.
b. students see more and more difference among various minorities.
c. students are more accepting of minorities than they were decades ago.
d. students are least accepting of African Americans.
20. __________ refers to a belief that one racial category is innately superior or inferior to
another.
a. Scapegoating
b. Discrimination
c. Prejudice
d. Racism
21. Based on scapegoat theory, you would conclude that prejudice is caused by
a. culture itself.
b. high levels of immigration.
c. frustration among people who are themselves disadvantaged.
d. people with rigid personalities.
22. Authoritarian personality theory states that extreme prejudice is
a. a trait of most people.
b. a trait of people raised to see “better” categories of people dominating those who are
“weaker.”
c. found among poor and disadvantaged people.
d. less common in today's society.
23. Which of the following is NOT a trait of Theodor Adorno's "authoritarian personality"?
a. a view of society as naturally hierarchical
b. a view of society as naturally competitive
c. belief that one cannot easily judge any action as right or wrong
d. rigid conformity to conventional cultural values
24. Thomas Sowell studied the intelligence (IQ) test scores of categories of people and
concluded that
a. cultural patterns explain much IQ variation.
b. all individuals have the same intelligence.
c. all categories of people have the same average scores on intelligence tests.
d. minorities are innately less intelligent than whites.
25. Which of the following represents a culture theory of prejudice?
a. Theodor Adorno’s research on prejudiced people
b. Emory Bogardus’s research on social distance
c. Thomas Sowell’s research on intelligence
d. W. I. Thomas’s vicious circle theory
26. Conflict theory states that prejudice is
a. used by powerful people to justify oppressing others.
b. part of culture itself.
c. common among disadvantaged people.
d. common among certain people raised to have rigid personalities.
27. While prejudice is a matter of __________, discrimination is a matter of __________.
a. biology; culture
b. attitudes; action
c. choice; social structure
d. abnormality; what a society considers normal
28. “Institutional prejudice and discrimination” refers to the fact
some people hold rigidly biased attitudes.
b. bias was pronounced in this nation’s history.
c. bias is built into the operation of society's institutions.
d. many people need to be educated about basic fairness.
29. The idea that prejudice and discrimination form a vicious circle leads to the conclusion
that
a. prejudice is more common than actual discrimination.
b. it is easy to prove most stereotypes to be wrong.
c. only some people act on their prejudices.
d. bias is easily perpetuated over time.
30. Which of the following situations is NOT an example of institutional discrimination?
a. A mother wants her child to stay away from schoolmates of a different race.
b. A bank usually refuses loans to people of a particular racial category.
c. A police department promotes people of one race faster than those of another race.
d. A school district requires children to attend a school with others of the same race.
31. Which of the following concepts refers to a state in which racial and ethnic minorities
are distinct but have social equality?
a. genocide
b. segregation
c. assimilation
d. pluralism
32. The United States is not truly pluralistic because
a. some people still live in “ethnic enclaves.”
b. of our history of slavery.
c. racial and ethnic categories today do not have equal social standing.
d. members of all ethnic categories wish to live only with others like themselves.
33. Assimilation refers to the pattern by which
a. people come to accept minorities.
b. minorities gradually adopt patterns of the dominant category.
c. minority categories become more equal in social standing.
d. people regain a lost cultural heritage.
34. Multiculturalists oppose the goal of assimilation because
a. this suggests that minorities are the ones who need to do all the changing.
b. the United States has provided a better life for all categories of people.
c. this process does not happen in this country.
d. there is no significant racial or ethnic inequality in this country.
35. __________ of all marriages in the United States involve partners of different racial
categories.
a. 47 percent
b. 27 percent
c. 17 percent
d. 7 percent
36. The adoption of the English language by Mexican immigrants to the United States is an
example of
a. genocide.
b. segregation.
c. assimilation.
d. pluralism.
37. The existence of the “Negro leagues” in professional baseball in the United States during
the 1930s and 1940s is an example of
a. assimilation.
b. segregation.
c. pluralism.
d. miscegenation.
38. __________ refers to the physical and social separation of categories of people.
a. Pluralism
b. Assimilation
c. Segregation
d. Miscegenation
39. Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton studied racial segregation in U.S. cities and
documented a pattern they called “hypersegregation” among
a. African Americans in the inner city.
b. Mexican immigrants along the U.S. border with Mexico.
c. African Americans in rural areas of the South.
d. Asian Americans living in suburbs.