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CHAPTER
Review
09
WHAT IS ECONOMIC INEQUALITY?
Sample Test Questions
176
MULTIPLE CHOICE
• Economic inequality is the disparity between the earning power
and wealth accumulation of one ethnic group compared to
another ethnic group.
• It occurs in terms of wealth, wages and income, and
socioeconomic status and affects health care, education, social
relationships, and political participation.
• Economic inequality is increasing between the lowest SES
classes and the highest SES classes.
1. Which of the following factors does NOT help to explain why economically disadvantaged individuals, as a group, tend to have
poorer health than that of the general population?
a. Genetic predisposition
b. Limited access to health care
c. Unsafe working conditions
d. Chronic stress
2. In the last century, disparities between those with high and low
levels of wealth have
WHAT ARE THE THEORIES BEHIND ECONOMIC
INEQUALITY? 186
a.
b.
c.
d.
been eliminated.
decreased.
stayed the same.
increased.
3. Which of the following statements would a functionalist theorist
agree with?
a. Economic inequality stems from the polarity of the classes, and
CHAPTER 09
WHY DOES ECONOMIC INEQUALITY PERSIST IN WEALTHY
NATIONS LIKE THE UNITED STATES? 191
a.
b.
c.
d.
Inheritance
Education
Health
Housing
5. The Naturalization Act of 1790 helped which of the following groups
assimilate into American society?
• Because of a rich historical background, it will take broad
economic and social policy changes to overturn many of the
persisting economic inequality issues.
Theory
186
• Functionalism suggests that class structure is essential for society, and
that the competitive arena allows the best workers to rise to the top.
CONFLICT THEORY
•
CRITICAL RACE THEORY
187
• Critical race theorists believe that capitalism magnifies racism and
a.
b.
c.
d.
7. Choose two of the following groups and compare and contrast the
historical roots of their economic inequalities: African Americans,
Native Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos.
8. Discuss how the relationships between economic inequality and
health, education, housing, crime, and so forth. illustrate a tangle
of pathology.
9. Explain why you think functionalism, critical race theory, or conflict
theory best explains economic inequality in the United States.
10. Analyze the factors contributing to the persistence of economic inequality in a country as wealthy as the United States.
WHERE TO START YOUR RESEARCH PAPER
To learn more about socioeconomic status and the impact that class
has on various aspects of an individual’s life, go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2005/05/15/national/class
For more information on the world’s wealthiest people, go to:
http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/10/worlds-richest-people-slim-gatesbuffett-billionaires-2010_land.html
To learn more about the impacts of economic inequality on other areas
of life and to learn about actions you can take, go to:
http://extremeinequality.org
To learn more about unemployment from the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics, go to:
http://www.bls.gov/cps/pa
Economic Inequality
racial inequality is emphasized to keep non-whites in a low SES
status.
b. The historical context of racial and ethnic economic inequalities
prevents them from being overcome.
c. The United States is a meritocracy, and economic inequality
helps to motivate individuals to action and success.
d. Educational inequalities lead to large gaps between those who
have economic privileges and those who do not.
4. Which transformative asset exerts the largest amount of influence
over a person’s socioeconomic status?
6. Explain the difference between wealth inequality and income inequality and why this difference is an important indicator of overall
economic inequalities in the United States.
193
192
• Some theorists see economic inequality as a necessary part of
society that motivates individuals to action. Those who are not
motivated can end up in a culture of poverty.
• Other theorists suggest that the split labor market theory and the
Marxist theory for discrimination are useful for analyzing
economic inequality because economic inequality is a product of
class struggle.
• Still others suggest that sedimentation—the idea that racial
economic inequality has layers of structural disadvantages
embedded in it—can be eliminated through structural changes in
society.
FUNCTIONALIST THEORY
ESSAY
African Americans
Irish Americans
Native Americans
Japanese Americans
economic inequality by putting social limitations on non-whites.
187
Conflict theorists suggest that abolishing private ownership can help
solve the problem of economic inequality by eliminating the ability to
accumulate resources and dominate society.
Key Terms
Performance-reward bias 181
Class 181
Transformative assets 182
Estate tax 183
Inheritance 184
Intergenerational mobility 185
Social reproduction 185
Social inequality 185
Inequality of opportunity 185
Gini coefficient 186
Culture of poverty 187
Tangle of pathology 187
Davis-Moore thesis 187
Split labor market theory 187
Marxist theory of discrimination
Sedimentation 187
the
THINK SPOT
www.thethinkspot.com
187
Answers: 1. a; 2. d; 3. c; 4. d; 5. b
Economic inequality 176
Cumulative discrimination 176
Wealth 177
Wages and earnings 177
Cultural capital 177
Allocative discrimination 181
Within-job wage disparities 181
Valuative discrimination 181
Remember to check www.thethinkspot.com for additional information, downloadable flashcards, and other helpful resources.