Midterm 1

Midterm 1

Social Problems

Study guide

 

Here is a list of items that you should know about or questions you should be able to answer.

 

CHAPTER 1

THE STUDY OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS

 

1. Karl Marx

2.  manifest and latent functions

3.  sociological imagination and C. Wright Mills

4.  What is a cultural value affected by a global recession?

5.  Charles Tilly

6. conflict theory 

7. functionalism

8.  Howard Becker 

9. types of research methods

10. independent and dependent variables

11. spurious correlation

 

CHAPTER 2

INEQUALITY: POVERTY AND WEALTH

 

12. social stratification

13. In the last 30 years, what does the evidence suggest about the gap between the wealthy and the poor in the United States? 

14. characteristics of people in the various social classes

15. U.S. data show that which age group has the highest poverty rates?

16. William Julius Wilson

17. intergenerational mobility

18. Meritocracy is in line with which paradigm of sociology?

19. Which sociological perspective is most likely to focus on the stigma associated with being poor?

20. functionalism

21. progressive taxation systems

22. The highest fifth in the country (those earning over $100,000) share_________ percent of the total U.S. income.

23. The lowest fifth of the U.S. population earns less than _________ per year.

24. In 2009, the median income of households in the United States was about _____.

25. As of 2011, a family of four had to earn under __________ to be below the poverty level.

26. Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore

27. Melvin Tumin

28. the U.S. welfare system prior to 1996

 

CHAPTER 17

GLOBALIZATION AND INEQUALITY

 

29. globalization

30. brain drain

31. Roughly _________ percent of the world’s population is living outside their nation of birth.

32. Kevin Bales 

33. grobalization

34. Which wealthy country has the highest percentage of children in poverty after all welfare transfers have been put in place? 

35. Which region of the world has the highest percentage of people living at or below $1.25 a day?  

36. According to Kai Müller, the United States doesn’t rank in the top _____ best places to live related to quality of life.

37. Of the 21 wealthiest nations on earth, where is income inequality the greatest?

38. Immanuel Wallerstein

39. When comparing their vacation time, members of the European Union receive ___________ vacation days than Americans.

 

Tax Myths. Lane Kenworthy

 

40. Lane Kenworthy’s research shows that higher levels of taxation _____ economic competitiveness.

41. Lane Kenworthy’s research shows that there is _____ relationship between tax revenues and inequality reduction.

42. Lane Kenworthy’s research shows that government transfers (e.g., welfare) reduce inequality much more than taxation. True or false?