Explain why people feel the longevity of the Social Security program is at risk and at least one possible solution to this problem.
What will be an ideal response?
1. Social Security (SS) is funded through taxing workers’ wages and employer contributions (6.2 percent is paid by each source for a total of a 12.4 percent tax rate). When employees contribute to SS for 10 years they become eligible to receive a monthly benefit when they reach certain ages.
2. Taxes that fund SS are capped, so higher income earners actually pay a lower share of their income into the system than lower income earners.
3. The tax structure of SS, along with an aging society and increased life expectancies where individuals receive SS for longer than ever before in history, means less money is paid into the system than is being paid out over time.
4. Possible reform – remove tax caps so higher income workers pay the same rate as lower income workers.
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According to Max Weber, __________ is the process by which the modern world has come to be increasingly dominated by structures devoted to efficiency, calculability, predictability, and technological control
a. industrialization b. McDonaldization c. rationalization d. social revolution
How did sociologist in the United States incorporate race, gender, class and sexual identity into their ideas throughout the twentieth century?
What will be an ideal response?
The most successful way of controlling the number of immigrants to the U.S. from different parts of the world is by:
a. changing the quota system to only exclude Hispanics from over represented countries. b. hiring native-born citizens first. c. socially containing the immigrant communities in small neighborhoods. d. adopting federal legislation specifying the terms under which people can legally enter and stay. e. direct action against immigrant communities to discourage illegals.
One aspect of an "invisible death" is that death is
A. managed in ways inappropriate for common culture. B. dominated by efforts to control the timing of death. C. less part of common experience. D. more devoted to elaborate mourning customs.