Sociology Unit 6

social stratification based on ascription or birth.

• Caste System

• Class System

• Meritocracy

• Ideology

• Socioeconomic Status

a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy.

• Caste System

• Class System

• Meritocracy

• Social Stratification

• Socioeconomic Status

A change in one’s position in the social hierarchy

• Caste System

• Class System

• Meritocracy

• Social Stratification

• Social mobility

cultural beliefs that justify social stratification.

• Caste System

• Ideology

• Meritocracy

• Social Stratification

• Social mobility

social stratification based on both birth and individual

achievement.

• Caste System

• Ideology

• Meritocracy

• Social Stratification

• Class System

a composite ranking based on various dimensions of

inequality.

• Meritocracy

• Ideology

• Socioeconomic Status

• Social Stratification

• Class System

societal stratification based on personal merit.

• Meritocracy

• Ideology

• Socioeconomic Status

• Social Stratification

• Class System

The chapter-opening account of passenger deaths that accompanied the sinking of the ocean liner Titanic shows:

• that technology cannot prevent tragedy.

• all people have the same right to life.

• that social stratification can sometimes be a matter of life and death.

• life boats for rich passengers were made better than the life boats for poor passengers

Because of social stratification:

• some people have more privileges and opportunities than others do.

• all people begin life on a level playing field.

• working hard is the only way people can become wealthy.

• what people get out of life is pretty much what they put into it.

One of the following statements is NOT true. Which is it?

• Social stratification is a trait of society

• Social stratification is universal and also variable.

• A family’s social standing typically changes a great deal from generation to generation

• Social stratification is a matter of inequality and also beliefs about why people should be unequal