4.2.4.5 Work, worklessness and life chances Quiz: AQA Sociology, Unit 2

The 20 questions

1. What does the term 'life chances' mean in sociology?

   • The probability that a person will be promoted within a single organisation during their working life
   • The average number of years that a person is expected to live from birth, as calculated in a national life table for the whole population
   • The chance that a person will be selected at random from a list of workers to take part in a government survey
   • The opportunities people have to gain goods and experiences valued in their society, such as health, education and income

2. Which sociologist is most associated with the concept of life chances?

   • Talcott Parsons, who analysed how social systems maintain stability through shared values and institutions
   • Max Weber
   • Emile Durkheim, who analysed how the division of labour and social integration affect suicide and social order
   • Karl Marx, who analysed how the ownership of the means of production shapes class relations under capitalism

3. In the 1930s study of Marienthal, what did Marie Jahoda and colleagues find about the effects of long-term unemployment on the community?

   • Rapid organised political protest, with unemployed workers forming strong unions that quickly won higher benefits
   • Increased enthusiasm for new work, with most residents moving quickly into new jobs in other local industries
   • Widespread apathy, loss of structure in daily life and reduced aspirations, rather than organised political protest
   • A rise in local property ownership, as unemployed families used benefits to buy homes in the surrounding area

4. According to Marie Jahoda, what are the 'latent functions' of employment?

   • Legal protection, job security and paid holidays, which are the main functions of employment for most workers
   • Income, savings and pension entitlements, which are the only benefits of employment that Jahoda identified in her work
   • Time structure, social contact, collective purpose, status and identity, which go beyond the financial reward of work
   • Political power, trade union membership and collective bargaining, which are the main functions of employment for workers

5. Which term describes young people who are not in education, employment or training?

   • YOPS, a term for young people who are in part-time education and are also registered as self-employed
   • NIRS, a term for young people who receive no income and are registered as employed in state benefit schemes
   • NEWS, a term for young people who are working in full-time jobs that are well paid and secure with training
   • NEET

6. Which sociological concept describes the way that long periods of unemployment can reduce a person's employability and self-esteem over time?

   • Scarring or long-term effects of worklessness on health, skills and social participation
   • The sick role, in which people who are ill are exempted from normal duties in return for seeking help
   • Deskilling, in which work tasks are simplified so that workers lose control over their daily activities
   • Medicalisation, in which normal life events are defined as medical problems that require clinical intervention

7. Which claim about the relationship between work and health is most consistent with research on employment and wellbeing?

   • Unemployment improves health in most cases, because people have more time to rest and exercise than employed people
   • Unemployment has no link to health, because people without work tend to keep the same health as those with work
   • Unemployment is associated with poorer mental and physical health, and the effects can persist after re-employment
   • Work always reduces health, because any form of paid employment exposes people to more illness than being unemployed

8. Which factor is most likely to reduce life chances for young people who experience long-term unemployment early in their working lives?

   • Early periods of study, which always reduce the chances of future employment in any sector of the economy
   • Loss of work experience and a weakened connection to the labour market, which make later employment harder to obtain
   • Early experience of short-term jobs, which always gives young people superior work skills and better pay later on
   • Early receipt of a high income from benefits, which removes all barriers to later employment in any field

9. Which change in employment is associated with the growth of insecure, low-paid work in the UK since the late twentieth century?

   • The growth of public sector jobs with fixed salaries and permanent contracts in every area of the economy
   • The growth of part-time, temporary and zero-hours contracts, alongside a decline in some manufacturing jobs
   • The growth of self-employment in traditional craft trades, with workers keeping all the profits from their own labour
   • The growth of lifetime employment in single firms, with full pensions and guaranteed promotions across the economy

10. How does globalisation affect work and life chances in deindustrialised regions?

    • Globalisation reduces the number of workers in every sector, so all regions equally face the same employment problems
    • Outsourcing and relocation of production to lower-cost countries can reduce local jobs and worsen life chances in affected areas
    • Globalisation has no effect on work, because goods and services are produced in the same place regardless of trade
    • Globalisation always creates more well-paid jobs in deindustrialised regions, so life chances in those areas improve

11. What is meant by 'occupational class' as a measure of life chances?

    • A way of grouping people by their place of birth, which is linked to the type of housing they can access
    • A way of grouping people by their religious beliefs, which is linked to the type of school each child attends
    • A way of grouping people by their height and weight, which is linked to their ability to perform manual labour
    • A way of grouping people by their occupation and employment relations, which is linked to income, health and opportunities

12. Which group is most likely to face barriers to re-entering the labour market after a long period of caring for children or relatives?

    • Students who have completed a degree and are looking for a graduate position in a professional firm
    • Retired people who are choosing to take up a part-time role for a few hours each week for their own enjoyment
    • Carers, who often lose work experience and face inflexible employers when they return
    • Employees who are changing careers after a short period of training in a new profession that they have chosen

13. Which factor best explains why women's life chances through employment often differ from men's?

    • Women are more likely to work part-time and to take on unpaid caring roles, which affect pay, promotion and pensions
    • Women are legally barred from most types of paid work in the UK, which restricts their employment to a few sectors
    • Women are always better paid than men in every job, so they face fewer barriers to career progression overall
    • Women are physically less able to perform most jobs, which means they are concentrated in roles that require no effort

14. Which concept describes a rigid divide between those with secure, well-paid work and those trapped in precarious employment or unemployment?

    • Social closure, which describes the methods by which occupational groups restrict access to their privileges
    • Labour market segmentation or dualism
    • Social cohesion, which describes the shared values and bonds that hold a society together despite differences
    • Social mobility, which describes the movement of individuals between social classes over the course of their careers

15. Which conclusion best follows from data showing that workers in insecure jobs have lower life satisfaction and worse health than those in secure jobs?

    • Insecure workers are happier because they have more freedom, so job insecurity improves life satisfaction overall
    • Insecure work has no effect on health, because wellbeing depends only on the amount of income a person earns
    • Insecure workers are less healthy because they are less intelligent, so job security makes no difference to their wellbeing
    • Insecure work may damage wellbeing and health, so employment quality is an important part of life chances

16. Evaluate the claim that worklessness is mainly caused by individual laziness.

    • The claim is confirmed by the fact that unemployment is always highest in the regions that have the most lazy workers
    • The claim is fully supported, because every person without work has chosen not to work and could find a job if they tried
    • The claim is irrelevant, because worklessness does not exist in any modern economy, since all adults are employed
    • The claim overlooks structural causes such as the decline of local industries, lack of jobs and discrimination in hiring

17. A sociologist argues that the decline of skilled manual jobs has reduced life chances for many men in former industrial towns. Which type of explanation does this illustrate?

    • A purely individualistic explanation, which locates the loss of life chances in the personal failings of the men
    • A purely cultural explanation, which locates the loss of life chances in the values the men were taught as children
    • A structural explanation, which locates the loss of life chances in changes to the economy and the labour market
    • A purely biological explanation, which locates the loss of life chances in the physical decline of the men's bodies

18. Which policy response is most likely to improve life chances for long-term unemployed people, according to the sociological literature on worklessness?

    • Combining training, support with job search and help with health and childcare barriers
    • Restricting access to work to people from the most affluent areas, so that jobs go to those with the best networks
    • Ending all support for unemployed people so that they are forced to take any job available at any level of pay
    • Providing unconditional cash grants with no training, job search support or help for health and childcare barriers

19. What is meant by a 'benefit trap' in debates about worklessness?

    • A situation where welfare is paid only to people who have never worked, so they cannot gain any experience of employment
    • A situation where households receive more income from benefits than from work at every level of pay in the labour market
    • A situation where taking paid work would leave household income little better off once lost benefits and costs are counted
    • A situation where unemployed people are legally required to accept any job offered, whatever their skills, health or circumstances

20. Which concept describes the period between leaving education and settling into stable work, which for some young people is long and uncertain?

    • The transition between regions, which is shaped mainly by housing prices and the distance of a town from the capital city
    • The transition from education to employment, which can be extended by insecure jobs and few routes into work
    • The transition between marriage and parenthood, which is shaped mainly by the age at which couples choose to have children
    • The transition from employment to retirement, which is shaped mainly by pension entitlements and the age of the state pension

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