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Higher Education

Sociology, 4e: Chapter 15

Instructions: For each question, click on the radio button beside your answer. When you have completed the entire quiz, click the Submit my answers button at the bottom of the page to receive your results.

Question 1:


a) Unlike earlier economic systems, capitalism is based on private ownership of the means of production, an exchange relationship between owners and workers, an economy driven by the pursuit of profit, and competitive market relations.
b) Under capitalism, the capitalist class (or bourgeoisie) owns the means of production, while the majority of people, the working class (or proletariat), does not.
c) Since workers do not own the means of production, they have no choice but to sell their labour to a capitalist employer in exchange for a wage.
d) Under capitalism, the government is supposed to determine the production and distribution of goods and services.
e) The capitalist class organizes production (work) with the specific goal of maximizing profits for personal wealth.

Question 2:


a) Means
b) Relations
c) Modes
d) Powers
e) Laissez-faire

Question 3:


a) energy (steam, electricity)
b) transportation (railroads)
c) urbanization
d) capitalism
e) new machine technology

Question 4:


a) the movement of work from homes
b) the introduction of time discipline (by the clock)
c) a more specialized division of labour
d) the concentration of larger groups of workers under one roof
e) all of the above

Question 5:


a) Corporate
b) Family
c) Global
d) Industrial
e) Monopoly

Question 6:


a) Corporate
b) Global
c) Industrial
d) Free-market
e) Oligopoly

Question 7:


a) monopoly
b) oligopoly
c) merger
d) corporation
e) global economy

Question 8:


a) the cheapest available labour
b) lowest-cost infrastructure
c) production unencumbered by health and safety regulations
d) minimum-wage and hours-of-work laws
e) all of the above

Question 9:


a) transnational corporations
b) globalization
c) rationalization
d) bureaucratization
e) capitalism

Question 10:


a) a weakening of the political power of workers and their unions
b) workers who are unwilling to agree to concessions, such as pay cuts and unpaid overtime
c) increasing power for unions
d) intensification of divisions of labour, globally, along the lines of class, sex, and race
e) more young people being hired because they are less likely to complain about illegal and unjust conditions

Question 11:


a) Agricultural production
b) Mining
c) Forestry
d) Sales
e) Hunting and fishing

Question 12:


a) Demise of small family farms
b) Demise of small independent fishing businesses
c) Rise in corporate farming (or ‘agribusiness’)
d) Rise in large fishing enterprises
e) All of the above

Question 13:


a) primary
b) manufacturing
c) agricultural
d) service
e) forestry

Question 14:


a) manufacturing
b) primary
c) service
d) secondary
e) transnational

Question 15:


a) alienated labour
b) emotional labour
c) labour under close surveillance
d) regulated labour
e) unpaid labour

Question 16:


a) a range of activities for which there is no direct economic exchange
b) work that is performed within family households
c) work that is typically done by women
d) unpaid labour
e) all of the above

Question 17:


a) Driving a cab
b) Babysitting
c) Cleaning homes
d) Playing music on the streets
e) Gambling

Question 18:


a) Employers have relied extensively on computers and microelectronics to streamline work processes.
b) The introduction of automated bank machines has made redundant the work of thousands of tellers.
c) Supervisors are necessary to enforce productivity quotas and monitor workers, especially those who perform highly routine tasks.
d) Competence with the technology necessitates continually learning new skills and making ongoing investments in training.
e) Workers often have to assume the costs of training for new technology.

Question 19:


a) Numerical flexibility
b) Deindustrialization
c) Standardization
d) Bureaucratization
e) Worker flexibility

Question 20:


a) Part-time or sessional instructors teaching courses at universities or colleges
b) Night-shift work in factories
c) Seasonal agricultural workers coming from the Caribbean during the summer months to pick our fruits and vegetables
d) Customer service representatives in India
e) IT specialists working on long-term contracts for Microsoft

Question 21:


a) About 16,000 workers come to Canada every year from the Caribbean and Mexico to work in Canadian agriculture.
b) Migrant workers from the Caribbean and Mexico who come to Canada work under labour contracts that specify how long they can remain in the country.
c) Migrant workers work under labour contracts that specify the conditions under which they must work.
d) Workers are allowed to stay in Canada for between one to two years.
e) Workers are unable to quit or change jobs in Canada without the permission of their employer.

Question 22:


a) Since the mid-1970s, there has been a rise in the employment rates of married women and mothers of children under the age of six.
b) The single-earner family is now the norm.
c) The majority of women remain concentrated in female-dominated occupations such as retail, salesperson, secretary, cashier, registered nurse, elementary school teacher, and receptionist.
d) Men are more commonly truck drivers, janitors, farmers, mechanics, and construction trade helpers.
e) Women are more likely than men to be employed on a part-time and temporary basis.

Question 23:


a) 82 per cent
b) 63 per cent
c) 90 per cent
d) 56 per cent
e) 74 per cent

Question 24:


a) Jackson and Robinson
b) Agnes and Calliste
c) Henry and Ginzberg
d) Stasiulis and Bakan
e) Acker and Pringle

Question 25:


a) providing heavily government-subsidized day-care
b) importing women from the developing world to perform domestic labour without granting them full citizenship rights
c) introducing full-day kindergarten
d) providing supplemental child support to single mothers
e) providing family allowance payments

Question 26:


a) Youth
b) Women
c) Men
d) Aboriginals
e) Immigrants

Question 27:


a) their jobs are somewhat or highly stressful
b) they are not sufficiently involved
c) they are not sufficiently recognized and rewarded
d) their talents are underutilized
e) all of the above

Question 28:


a) Professionals possess a body of esoteric or abstract knowledge.
b) Professionals rely on a specialized technical language or vocabulary.
c) Resources have enabled physicians, psychologists, and lawyers to define themselves as distinct from other groups.
d) Membership in associations controls entry.
e) Professionals become members in the occupation through licensing, accreditation, and regulation.

Question 29:


a) The vast majority of contracts that come up for renewal are settled through strike action.
b) Because of the struggles of union members, Canadian workers in offices, stores, and factories now have the right to refuse unsafe work and participate in company-sponsored pension plans.
c) Both unionized and non-unionized workers now have employment standards, (un)employment insurance, a standard work day and week, vacation pay, health benefits, and sick-leave provisions.
d) Today, unions represent roughly one in three workers.
e) The unionization rate for men has been dropping since the 1960s.