Describe the difference between income and wealth. Why is this distinction important in the study of social stratification?
What will be an ideal response?
Income is the amount of money received within a given time period by an individual or group. Wealth is the total of all economic resources owned by an individual or group. The distinction is that income is a measure of current monetary inflows, while wealth includes the accumulation of all previous savings. It is theoretically possible for someone to have vast amounts of wealth without any income; conversely, a person can have high income, yet have no wealth. These concepts are important to the study of social stratification because they both contribute to differences in social classes.
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The most recent Asian Americans to migrate to the U.S. have come from _____
a. China b. Japan c. the Philippines d. Laos and Cambodia
Using Likert-type scale items, Professor Wong developed an index to assess job morale. Wong administered the index to 2,000 workers and found that a few of the responses were missing. Which of the following strategies would be BEST for Wong to use?
a. exclude the cases that contained the missing data from the analysis. b. assign the middle value to cases with missing data. c. analyze the cases that had missing data to interpret their meaning. d. assign values at random. e. give up and start over again.
Richard is located in the social class system of the United states and what opportunites are available to him because of that.
a. microsociologist b. symbolic interactionist c. research sociologist d. conflict theorist
Which of the following statements defines the term "achieved status?"
A. It is a social position given to an individual based upon his or her age, race, or gender. B. It is a social position assigned to an individual at birth. C. It is a social position attained by a person largely through his or her own effort. D. It is a social position "assigned" to a person by peers, without regard to the person's unique talents or characteristics.