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?