首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
"Layers of Social Class" Taken together, income, occupation, and education are good measures of people’s social standing. U
"Layers of Social Class" Taken together, income, occupation, and education are good measures of people’s social standing. U
admin
2012-01-14
61
问题
"Layers of Social Class"
Taken together, income, occupation, and education are good measures of people’s social standing. Using a layered model of stratification, most sociologists describe the class system in the United States as divided into several classes: upper, upper middle, middle, lower middle, and lower class. Each class is defined by characteristics such as income, occupational prestige, and educational attainment. The different groups are arrayed along a continuum with those with the most money, education, and prestige at the top and those with the least at the bottom.
In the United States, the upper class owns the major share of corporate and personal wealth; it includes those who have held wealth for generations as well as those who have recently become rich. Only a very small proportion of people actually constitute the upper class, but they control vast amounts of wealth and power in the United States. They exercise
enormous
control throughout society. Most of their wealth is inherited.
→
Despite social myths to the contrary, the best predictor of future wealth is the family into which you are born.
Each year, the business magazine Forbes publishes a list of the "Forbes 400"—the four hundred wealthiest families and individuals in the country. Of all the wealth represented on the Forbes 400 list, more than half is inherited. Those on the list who could be called "self-made" were not typically of modest origins; most inherited significant assets (Forbes, 1997; Sklar and Collins,1997). Those in the upper class with newly acquired wealth are known as the nouveau riche. Although they may have vast amounts of money, they are often not accepted into "old rich" circles.
→ The upper middle class includes those with high incomes and high social prestige. They tend to be well-educated professionals or business executives. Their earnings can be quite high indeed--successful business executives can earn millions of dollars a year. It is difficult to estimate exactly how many people fall into this group because of the difficulty of drawing lines between the upper, upper middle, and middle class. Indeed, the upper middle class is often thought of as "middle class" because their lifestyle sets the standard to which many aspire, but this lifestyle is simply beyond the means of a majority of people in the United States.
→ The middle class is hard to define; in part, being "middle class" is more than just economic position. By far the majority of Americans identify themselves as middle class even though they vary widely in lifestyle and in resources at their disposal. But the idea that the United States is an open-class system leads many to think that the majority have a middle-class lifestyle because, in general, people tend not to want to recognize class distinctions in the United States. Thus, the middle class becomes the ubiquitous norm even though many who call themselves middle class have a tenuous hold on this class position.
In the hierarchy of social class, the lower middle class includes workers in the skilled trades and low-income bureaucratic workers, many of whom may actually define themselves as middle class. Examples are blue-collar workers (those in skilled trades who do manual labor) and many service workers, such as secretaries, hairdressers, waitresses, police, and firefighters. Medium to low income, education, and occupational prestige define the lower middle class relative to the class groups above it. The term "lower" in this class designation refers to the relative position of the group in the stratification system, but it has a pejorative sound to many people, especially to people who are members of this class.
→ The lower class is composed
primarity
of the displaced and poor. People in this class have little formal education and are often unemployed or working in minimum-wage jobs.A Forty percent of the poor work; 10 percent work year- round and full time—a proportion that has generally increased over time. Recently, the concept of the underclass has been added to the lower class.B The underclass includes those who have been left behind by
Contemporary
economic developments.C Rejected from the economic system, those in the underclass may become dependent on public assistance or illegal activities.D
Why does the author mention the "Forbes 400" in paragraph 3?
选项
A、To explain the meaning of the listing that appears every year
B、To support the statement that most wealthy people inherit their money
C、To cast doubt on the claim that family income predicts individual wealth
D、To give examples of successful people who have modest family connections
答案
B
解析
The author uses the example of the Forbes 400 to support the statement that most wealthy people inherit their money. "... most inherited significant assets."
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/JJyO777K
0
托福(TOEFL)
相关试题推荐
DothefollowingstatementsagreewiththeviewsofthewriterinReadingPassage3?Inboxes31-36onyouranswersheet,write
Completethesentencesbelow.ChooseNOMORETHANONEWORDfromthepassageforeachanswer.Writeyouranswersinboxes24-26
Youshouldspendabout20minutesonQuestions1-13,whicharebasedonReadingPassage1below.Communicati
Lookatthefollowingstatements(Questions19-23)andthelistofpeoplebelow.MatcheachstatementtothecorrectpersonA-D.W
Choosethecorrectletter,A,B,CorD.Writethecorrectletterinboxes9-13onyouranswersheet.Accordingtothetext,wh
Completethesentencesbelow.ChooseNOMORETHANTWOWORDSfromthepassageforeachanswer.Writeyouranswersinboxes10-13
Completethesentencesbelow.ChooseNOMORETHANTWOWORDSfromthepassageforeachanswer.Writeyouranswersinboxes24-26
Choosethecorrectletter,A,B,CorD.Writethecorrectletterinboxesonyouranswersheet.Accordingtothepassage,iti
SECTION4Questions31-40Questions31-33Completethefollowingsentencesaccordingtotheinformationgivenbythetutor.Use
TheTawnyOwlMost【L31】________owlspeciesinUKStronglynocturnalHabitatMainlylivesin【L32】________,butcanalsobeseeni
随机试题
浸泡纤维胃镜的消毒液宜用
A.肠梗阻B.胃十二指肠溃疡穿孔C.急性阑尾炎D.急性胆囊炎E.急性胰腺炎
肌上皮细胞
A.市级卫生主管部门B.省级药品监督管理部门C.国家药品监督管理部门D.国家药品监督管理部门和国家农业主管部门审批第二类精神药品批发资格的部门是()。
对前置胎盘患者进行产科检查,下列叙述错误的是
【背景资料】某寒冷地区大型水闸工程共18孔,每孔净宽10.0m,其中闸室为两孔一联,每联底板顺水流方向长与垂直水流方向宽均为22.7m,底板厚1.8m。交通桥采用预制“T”形梁板结构;检修桥为现浇板式结构,板厚0.35m。各部位混凝土设计强度等级分别为:
“资产=负债+所有者权益”是复式记账的理论基础,也是编制利润表的依据。()
该企业应按销售不动产缴纳营业税为( )元。本月该企业应纳营业税( )元。
某企业2006年实现净利润100万元,利息费用为10万元,税率为33%,2006年期初和期末资产总额分别为1500万元和2000万元,则该企业资产收益率为()。
Howwillthemangototheskislopesafterhisairjourney?
最新回复
(
0
)