Chapter examines how our lives are deeply imbedded in a complex web of social connections where economic and cultural forces advantage some and disadvantage others.
Homer Simpson
1. How does Homer Simpson represent the dilemma of American individualism? (pg. 85)
2. What is intergenerational mobility? (pg. 86)
3. Summarize the results of the surveys found in Tables 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3. (pages 86-88)
4. What is the irony in these survey findings? (pg. 88)
5. To understand why and how 'family matters,' what do we need to understand? Explain what this means. (pg. 89)
6. Compare and contrast the lives of Alexander Williams and Tyrec Taylor? (pgs. 89-91)
Class and Family Life
7. Sociologist Annette Lareau and many others explore the role of social class on everyday lives. What kinds of question are
asked in these studies? (pg. 92)
8. What is the best predictor one's future class position as an adult? (p. 92)
9. What is the result if we attribute one's economic standing solely to individual attributes? (pg. 92)
10. How is the link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer used to describe transmission of class to the next generation?
(pgs 92-93)
11 Summarize the quote by sociologist Manly Aronowitz. (pgs. 93)
12. Compare social classes to a ladder. Why is the ladder analogy of social classes inaccurate? What is a better analogy?
(pgs. 93-94)