4.2.8.1 Stratification and differentiation by class, gender, ethnicity and age Quiz: AQA Sociology, Unit 2

The 20 questions

1. What is the key difference between social stratification and social differentiation?

   • Stratification refers to the legal rights of citizens, whereas differentiation refers to the voting patterns of different social groups
   • Stratification refers only to differences between nations, whereas differentiation refers only to differences within one nation
   • Stratification ranks groups hierarchically by wealth, power or prestige, whereas differentiation describes differences that are not ranked
   • Stratification refers to differences in religious belief, whereas differentiation refers to differences in skill levels among workers

2. Which statement best describes social stratification?

   • A pattern of voluntary friendship groups formed by people who share interests such as sport, music or local community life
   • An equal distribution of income, status and power across all social groups, with no ranking of individuals or households
   • A hierarchical arrangement of groups in society, in which people are ranked according to unequal access to resources and rewards
   • A system of government in which power is shared between elected representatives and an independent judiciary and civil service

3. Which pattern best illustrates stratification by gender in the UK labour market?

   • Men and women are equally likely to hold managerial roles, but women are paid more for the same hours in every sector
   • Women earn more than men on average in every occupation, with the largest gaps appearing in the highest-paid professions
   • Women working full-time earn on average less per hour than men, and are more concentrated in lower-paid occupations
   • Women and men earn identical average hourly pay in every occupation, with no difference in the types of jobs they hold

4. A sociologist argues that ethnic groups differ in their life chances. Which evidence would best support this claim?

   • Evidence that most people identify with a single ethnic group, with few individuals reporting mixed or multiple identities
   • Evidence that people from different ethnic groups live in different types of housing, with no link to income or work
   • Systematic differences between ethnic groups in educational attainment, employment rates and average household income
   • Evidence that ethnic groups share the same cultural practices, such as food, festivals and language, across the population

5. Which group is most likely to experience poverty in the UK, according to the age dimension of stratification?

   • Adults aged between 25 and 35, who are almost always excluded from employment and benefit systems altogether
   • Adults aged between 40 and 50, who consistently have the highest rates of poverty of any age group in the whole population
   • Adults aged over 60, whose poverty rates are always the lowest of any group, because pensions are universal and generous
   • Children and young families, who are more likely than many other age groups to live in low-income households

6. Which theory explains stratification in terms of the functional importance of certain positions and the need to motivate people to fill them?

   • Symbolic interactionism, which argues that stratification is maintained through the everyday meanings people give to social status
   • Feminist theory, which argues that stratification by gender reflects the patriarchal control of women's labour inside families
   • Marxist conflict theory, which argues that stratification arises from the exploitation of workers by owners of the means of production
   • Functionalist stratification theory (Davis and Moore), which argues that unequal rewards attract talent to important positions

7. Which criticism is most often made of the functionalist theory of stratification?

   • It assumes that individuals choose their social class entirely, which leaves no room for any influence of structural factors
   • It assumes the rewards attached to positions reflect their functional importance, when inherited wealth and power may matter more
   • It assumes that all societies have identical hierarchies, so it cannot account for differences between countries or historical periods
   • It assumes that stratification is unrelated to economic and social structures, so it cannot explain any form of inequality at all

8. Which concept refers to differences in life chances that result from a person's position in the stratification system?

   • Social solidarity: the sense of shared belonging that binds members of a society together through common norms and values
   • Social mobility: the movement of individuals between social classes, measured by changes in occupation from one generation to the next
   • Cultural capital: knowledge, skills and tastes that are valued in a society and used to gain advantage in education and work
   • Life chances: the opportunities a person has for health, education, employment and quality of life, shaped by social position

9. A researcher finds that women in a particular occupation earn less than men doing equivalent work. Which explanation is most consistent with sociological evidence on gender stratification?

   • Women are paid less solely because employers are legally required to pay women less than men in every occupation
   • Women choose lower-paid occupations only because they lack any ability to perform the more demanding roles held by men
   • Occupational segregation and unequal valuation of female-dominated work can contribute to pay differences
   • Women earn less because they work fewer hours in every case, regardless of occupation, seniority or contractual terms

10. Which dimension of stratification is most directly linked to a person's ability to pass on advantage to their children?

    • Language spoken at home, which has no connection to economic resources or to the opportunities available to young people
    • Inherited wealth and property, which can provide financial security, housing and educational advantages across generations
    • Leisure preferences, which are chosen individually by each person and rarely shared within families or social networks
    • Religious affiliation, which is passed on only through formal ceremony and has no link to wealth, education or income

11. Which statement about ethnicity and stratification is best supported by research?

    • Ethnic inequalities can persist after controlling for class, and may reflect discrimination as well as material circumstances
    • Ethnic inequalities are the same in every society, so there is no need to examine them in any particular national context
    • Ethnic inequalities disappear entirely once class is accounted for, so ethnicity has no independent effect on life chances at all
    • Ethnic inequalities are caused only by differences in language skills, which are the single most important factor in employment

12. What does 'intersectionality' suggest about the study of stratification?

    • Class, gender, ethnicity and age are unrelated dimensions, so each one should be studied in isolation from the others always
    • Class is the only dimension that matters, and the others are simply consequences of differences in income and wealth
    • Stratification can be fully understood by measuring only gender, since gender underlies all other forms of social division
    • Class, gender, ethnicity and age interact, so the experience of inequality cannot be understood by considering each separately

13. Which example is best described as differentiation rather than stratification?

    • People are classified by the size of their property holdings, which determines their access to political power in the community
    • People are allocated to schools by ability tests, which places them in a ranked order of academic attainment and future prospects
    • People choose different leisure activities, such as walking, football or reading, without any of these being ranked as higher or lower
    • People are ranked by income, with those in professional occupations receiving higher pay than those in manual occupations

14. A survey finds that disabled people have lower employment rates and higher poverty rates than non-disabled people. How does this relate to stratification?

    • Disability is a matter for medical sociology alone and cannot be connected to patterns of inequality within the wider society
    • Disability is a form of social differentiation only, since it describes a horizontal difference with no ranking of outcomes at all
    • Disability is unrelated to stratification, because disabled people have the same resources and opportunities as everyone else
    • Disability is a further dimension along which life chances differ, showing inequality beyond class, gender, ethnicity and age

15. Which of these best defines 'life chances' in Weberian terms?

    • The number of years a person can expect to live, calculated from birth using current mortality rates in the country
    • The total amount of property a person owns at a particular point, valued at current market prices without any adjustment
    • The probability of achieving desirable outcomes in life, such as health, education and income, which depends on social position
    • The guaranteed level of income that a person receives from government benefits throughout their working life and retirement

16. A sociologist argues that stratification is maintained because dominant groups control education and access to influential jobs. Which theory does this argument most closely reflect?

    • Interactionist theory, which emphasises how shared meanings in everyday interaction define a person's social standing and identity
    • Functionalist theory, which emphasises how unequal rewards motivate individuals to take on important and difficult social roles
    • Conflict theory, which emphasises how powerful groups use institutions to preserve their advantages over subordinate groups
    • Postmodern theory, which emphasises how the fragmentation of identities means that class and status no longer structure society

17. Which pattern would most strongly suggest that ethnic stratification is not simply a result of class position?

    • Ethnic minority graduates from middle-class backgrounds earning less than white graduates from working-class backgrounds in every field
    • Ethnic minority graduates from working-class backgrounds earning less than white graduates from the same class background
    • Ethnic minority workers in every class earning more than white workers, so ethnicity has a consistently positive effect on income
    • Ethnic minority graduates from working-class backgrounds earning exactly the same as white graduates from the same class background

18. What is the main purpose of studying stratification by age, gender, class and ethnicity together in sociology?

    • To show how overlapping inequalities shape individuals' life chances and to test explanations of how those inequalities persist
    • To demonstrate that individuals have no control over their life chances, because every dimension is entirely fixed at birth
    • To prove that inequality has disappeared from modern societies, since each dimension can be measured to show slight variation only
    • To rank every social group in a single list so that the most advantaged group can be identified and given priority in policy

19. Which of these is a limitation of using income alone to measure stratification?

    • Income is always identical to social class, so no further measure of stratification is ever needed in sociological research
    • Income is a measure of physical health only, and cannot be used to estimate the economic position of households or individuals
    • Income ignores wealth, status and power, and does not capture the full range of advantages or disadvantages people experience
    • Income is impossible to measure in any society, because people never report their earnings to any official body or survey

20. In Weber's framework, what is 'status'?

    • The position a person holds in a market, determined by the skills and qualifications they bring to employment and the wages they earn
    • The total number of years of formal education completed by an individual, measured from primary school to the highest qualification
    • The legal authority a person holds over other people, granted by a government through elected office or appointed public role
    • Social honour or prestige accorded to a group, often expressed through lifestyle, consumption patterns and recognised standing

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