TEST ITEM FILE—CHAPTER ONE

Orientation: Basic Terms and Concepts

EXAM QUESTIONS

Multiple Choice:

1.  According to the author of the textbook, although much has changed in American society in terms of race relations, all of the following have not changed EXCEPT:

a.  African Americans are twice as likely to be unemployed as white Americans

b.  Hispanic Americans are more than twice as likely to live in poverty as non-Hispanic whites

c.  Women and non-white men are not able to be elected to the presidency of the United States

d.  Native American reservations have the highest poverty rates of any location in the United States

ANS: c Pages: 2-4

2.  According to the textbook author, blacks and whites interpreted the Jena, Louisiana incident differently according to racial conditioning:

a.  Whites saw whites being punished, while transgressions by blacks got a slap on the wrist at most and blacks didn’t understand what the fuss was about.

b.  Blacks saw blacks being punished, while transgressions by whites got a slap on the wrist at most and whites didn’t understand what the fuss was about.

c.  Blacks believed that the punishment of the young men was correct and whites did not.

d.  Whites wanted the cases dropped for all the boys and blacks wanted all the boys charged with more severe crimes

ANS: b Pages: 3-4

3.  Currently, the largest minority group in the United States is:

  1. African American
  2. Asian American
  3. Native American
  4. Latino/a

ANS: d Page: 4

4.  Although minority group members face serious disadvantages due to the continuing reality of racial and ethnic inequality, for majority group members it means:

  1. Living in a society that practices as well as preaches equality
  2. Confronting expressions of anger and frustration from people of color that many whites find difficult to understand
  3. Living in a society that will probably continue to have stability in terms of race relations in the future.
  4. Living in a society where few minorities express frustration or anger over race relations

ANS: b Pages: 4

5.  Which of the following social problems may cause Americans to underutilize the human resources of groups of people which will, in turn, seriously harm America’s productivity?

  1. The health care crisis
  2. The national debt
  3. Racial inequality
  4. Overpopulation

ANS: c Page: 6

6.  Racial and ethnic relations in the United States are:

  1. Unique among industrialized countries
  2. Better than industrialized countries with homogenous populations
  3. Similar to other industrialized countries with diverse populations
  4. Not to be understood by comparing what has happened in different times and places

ANS: c Page: 6

7.  Racial formation refers to:

  1. Migration of different races within a geographical area
  2. Process by which society recognizes and defines racial groups
  3. Immigration between continents
  4. Process by which people learn about their own racial identity

ANS: b Page: 9

8.  The process of European colonists beginning to think of themselves as whites, which they then felt came to entitle them to some privileges relative to the African American slave population is called:

  1. Racial formation
  2. Survival of the fittest
  3. Colonization
  4. Prejudice

ANS: a Page: 10

9.  Ethnic groups are:

  1. Generally considered to be physically distinct in some way
  2. Based on social or cultural characteristics
  3. Based on citizenship
  4. Generally not recognized by others as a distinct group

ANS: b Page: 10

10.  Which of the following is considered an ethnic group?

  1. Black Americans
  2. Asian Americans
  3. Native Americans
  4. Jewish American

ANS: d Pages: 11-12

11.  Which term do sociologists use to describe a socially defined group of people who are generally considered to be physically distinct in some way?

  1. Race
  2. Ethnic group
  3. Formal group
  4. Social group

ANS: a Page: 7

12.  Although race is usually defined by physical characteristics, these only matter:

  1. If they are very distinct
  2. If people are darker in complexion than the majority group
  3. In the context of a decision by society to consider those physical characteristics as relevant
  4. If people don’t know someone in the other group

ANS: c Page: 7

13.  In the 2000 Census, more than 40% of which ethnic group chose “other” or wrote in their heritage instead of picking one of the racial categories offered on the form?

a. Native Americans

b.  Hispanics

c.  Jewish Americans

d.  Irish Americans

ANS: b. Page: 10

14.  An Eskimo girl raised by a white American family in the South, never exposed to Eskimo culture or society would be considered Eskimo by race but would not be considered a member of:

  1. Her family
  2. The Eskimo racial group
  3. Her family’s social group
  4. Her peer group

ANS: b Page: 9

15.  A person would be identified as black or “Negro” under the “one drop” rule if his/her parents were:

  1. White and Native American
  2. Native American and African American
  3. Latino/a and African American
  4. Asian American and African American

ANS: c Page: 12

16.  An argument for continuing to ask people about race in the Census is that

a.  Census data and other federal data on race permit the measurement of housing and education segregation and racial inequalities in income and employment

b.  There is no category that accurately measures multiracial people

c.  Multiracial people have often been measured in ways that are racist

d.  People often choose different categories for the same multiracial group

ANS: a Page: 12

17.  Any group that is dominant in society or enjoys more than a proportionate share of the wealth, power, or social status in that society is a:

  1. Powerful group
  2. Minority group
  3. Majority group
  4. Formal group

ANS: c Pages: 12-13

18.  Majority and minority groups can be determined by all of the following except:

  1. Race or ethnicity
  2. Sex
  3. Physical Disability
  4. Occupation

ANS: d Page: 13

19.  The sociological use of the term majority group means that this is a group that is:

  1. The numerical majority
  2. The numerical minority
  3. The dominant group
  4. The subordinate group

ANS: c Page: 13

20.  Objections to the use of majority group and minority group include all of the following except:

  1. People in these groups share the experiences of victimization, discrimination, exploitation, and political and economic disadvantage.
  2. Because such status is not defined on the basis of numbers, minority is not a correct term
  3. The term minority is a negative label, and defines the groups so labeled from the standpoint of the dominant group
  4. Groups with little in common, such as African Americans and white women, are lumped together under one rather meaningless label.

ANS: a Page: 14

21.  Any attitude, belief, behavior, or institutional arrangement that favors one race or ethnic group (usually a majority group) over another (usually a minority group) is called:

  1. Individual discrimination
  2. Ideological racism
  3. Prejudice
  4. Racism

ANS: d Page: 15

22.  People’s attitudes and beliefs that tend to favor one group over another or to cause unequal treatment on the basis of race is called:

  1. Racial prejudice
  2. Discrimination
  3. Racial identity
  4. Ideological racism

ANS: a Page: 15

23.  The belief that some races are biologically, intellectually, or culturally inferior to others is called:

  1. Individual discrimination
  2. Institutional racism
  3. Ideological racism
  4. Symbolic racism

ANS: c Page: 15

24.  In the book The Bell Curve, as discussed in your text book, scientific racism is evident in the claims:

  1. That whites are genetically more likely to be better architects
  2. That whites are genetically more likely to be healthy
  3. That whites are superior athletes as compared to other races
  4. That race is genetically linked to intelligence

ANS: d Page: 16

25.  A belief that the wealthiest and most powerful groups are biologically the “most fit” is called:

  1. Individual discrimination
  2. Social Darwinism
  3. The “one drop” rule
  4. Institutional racism

ANS: b Page: 16

26.  Any behavior by an individual that leads to unequal treatment because of race or ethnicity is called:

  1. Individual discrimination
  2. Ideological prejudice
  3. Institutional racism
  4. Individual prejudice

ANS: a Page: 17

27.  A homeowner refusing to sell his or her house to a Jew, a taxi driver refusing to pick up African Americans, or an employer paying lower wages to Chicanos than to Anglos for comparable work are all examples of:

  1. Ideological prejudice
  2. Individual prejudice
  3. Institutional racism
  4. Individual discrimination

ANS: d Page: 17

28.  Arrangements or practices in social institutions and their related organization that tend to favor one racial or ethnic group (usually the majority group) over another is called:

  1. Ideological racism
  2. Individual prejudice
  3. Institutional racism
  4. Individual discrimination

ANS: c Page: 17

29.  Most African Americans and Hispanics have lower average incomes and since most students today are expected to pay much of the expense of college, a higher proportion of African American and Hispanics than Anglos (non-Hispanic whites) are kept out of college by its high cost. According to your textbook this is an example of:

  1. Ideological racism
  2. Individual prejudice
  3. Individual discrimination
  4. Institutional discrimination

ANS: d Pages: 17-18

30.  In the judgment of the text book author, the worsening plight of many minority group members can be best explained by looking at:

  1. Social institutions and related organizations
  2. Individual sources of prejudice
  3. Why minorities don’t assimilate
  4. Ways to stop deliberate discrimination

ANS: a Page: 18

True/False:

1.  By the year, 2045, the majority of the population of the United States will be composed of racial and ethnic minorities. (T) page: 5

2.  The largest minority group in the United States is African Americans. (F) page: 4

3.  Psychological identification with a group is not an important part of what makes ethnicity real to people. (F) page: 12

4.  Race is socially constructed and is based on societal choices about what physical characteristics to pay attention to and about how to classify people on the basis of those characteristics. (T) page: 7

5.  A majority group is the largest numerical racial or ethnic group in a society. (F) pages: 12-13

6.  Racism is not only about intentions (to favor one ethnic or racial group over another) but also any consequence where this may happen, no matter what the intent. (T) page: 15

7.  Prejudice refers to behavior that tends to favor one racial or ethnic group over another. (F) page: 15

8.  The high cost of college and its differential impact on African Americans and Latinos/as is an example of institutional racism. (T) pages: 17-18

9.  Generally, the economic and social situation for people of color in our society is getting better. (F) page: 18

10.  Science has discredited the notion of racial superiority. (T) page: 16

Essay:

1.  Your textbook states that the concept of race has two components: social and physical. Explain what this means.

2.  Why do some social and natural scientists question whether the term race is a meaningful concept?

3.  What was the “one drop” rule and how was it used to maintain the dominance of white Americans in the United States for many years?

4.  In your textbook, as the author describes racism as any attitude, belief, behavior, or institutional arrangement that favors one race or ethnic group over another, he adds that favoring one group over another means “not only intentions but also consequences.” Explain what this means.

5.  Why does institutional racism or institutional discrimination play such a critical role in the continuing pattern of racial and ethnic inequality in the United States?

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