Free Social Stratification MCQs with Answers

• A. cultural reproduction
• B. passive consumption
• C. conceptual abstraction
• D. formal communication

Explanation: Cultural reproduction is the process by which schools pass on dominant cultural advantages and help preserve class inequalities across generations. It is associated especially with Pierre Bourdieu’s analysis of education and social reproduction.

• A. lobbying campaign financing and corruption
• B. socialization outside the capitalist class to enforce discriminatory norms
• C. class warfare economic cycles and intercorporate conflict
• D. corporate corruption through interlocking directorates

Explanation: Conflict theorists identify lobbying, campaign finance and corruption as channels through which capitalist interests influence state decisions. The other options describe broader class or corporate processes rather than the main direct mechanisms of political manipulation.

• A. relatively open class systems
• B. extensive social mobility
• C. a much more rigid division of labor by gender
• D. all of the above

Explanation: Preindustrial cities generally had more rigid social hierarchies and less mobility, but they especially differed in their strongly gendered division of labour. Thus, the most specific correct comparison is option c rather than “all of the above.”

• A. Segregation in always an involuntary process
• B. Segregation is the encroachment by one group on an area occupied by another group
• C. Segregation can be prevented by the practice of redlining
• D. Segregation is the process by which natural areas are formed by the clustering of individuals or groups on the basis of common traits or activities

Explanation: Segregation is the spatial clustering or separation of people according to shared traits, activities or group membership. Redlining reinforces segregation, while encroachment describes invasion of one group’s area, so d is the accurate statement.

• A. apartheid
• B. ethnic cleansing
• C. multiculturalism
• D. assimilation

Explanation: Apartheid was South Africa’s legally enforced system of racial separation and unequal rights. Ethnic cleansing involves forcibly removing an ethnic group, while assimilation and multiculturalism describe different forms of cultural relations.

• A. the critical deconstruction of poverty by feminist theorists
• B. women's increased chances of being in poverty due to low pay and greater welfare dependency
• C. the way in which managing a budget and avoiding poverty tends to be a women's responsibility within the home
• D. the disproportionate number of female sociologists who do research on poverty

Explanation: Feminization of poverty refers to women's disproportionate exposure to poverty, often linked to lower pay, insecure work, unpaid care responsibilities and dependence on welfare. It is about the gendered pattern of poverty, not feminist research on poverty.

• A. the most extreme level of poverty that is found in a society
• B. the estimated minimum level of income needed for subsistence
• C. households that are poor relative to the norms and values of their culture
• D. the areas of a city in which poverty is concentrated

Explanation: An absolute poverty line estimates the minimum income or resources required to meet basic subsistence needs such as food, shelter and clothing. Poverty measured against a society's usual living standards is relative poverty.

• A. Class factor
• B. Mathew effect
• C. Cultural Cause
• D. None of these

Explanation: The Matthew effect describes the tendency for advantages, including welfare benefits and public services, to flow disproportionately to people who are already better positioned to access them. It is named after the biblical idea that those who have will receive more.

• A. 1000-1500 calories
• B. 1500-2000
• C. 2000-2500
• D. None of thesePoverty & Hunger

Explanation: The commonly cited general daily energy requirement for an adult man is roughly 2,000 to 2,500 calories, although actual needs vary with age, body size and activity. The question is using this broad nutritional estimate.

• A. Whites
• B. Indians
• C. Black Caribbean
• D. Pakistan /Bangladeshis

Explanation: In the usual UK poverty statistics used in sociology texts, Pakistani and Bangladeshi households have the highest representation in the bottom income quintile. This reflects persistent inequalities in employment, income and household resources.