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Solution Manual for Reading and Writing About Contemporary Issues, 3rd Edition

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    1 1 The Reading Process EXERCISE 1-1 . . . ACTIVE READING Consider each of the following reading assignments. Discuss ways to get actively involved in each assignment. 1. Reading two poems by Maya Angelou for an American literature class annotate as you read; compare and contrast the poems’ subject matter, language, and meaning 2. Reading the procedures for your next chemistry lab underline key steps, visualize the process, focus on overall purpose of the lab 3. Reading an article in Time magazine, or on the Time magazine Web site, assigned by your political science instructor in preparation for a class discussion underline or highlight, write summary notes, discover how the article relates to course content EXAMINING PROFESSIONAL WRITING The following textbook excerpt is taken from Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach , 13e, by James Henslin. This excerpt will be used throughout this chapter to demonstrate techniques and give you practice in reading and learning from col- lege textbooks. The following section, discussing social class, illustrates how previewing is done. The portions to focus on when previewing are shaded. Read only those portions. After you have finished, test how well your previewing worked by completing Exercise 1-3, “What Did You Learn from Previewing?”

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    2 Answer key Issue: Wealth and Poverty Consequences of Social Class James Henslin 4 1 Does social class matter? And how! Think of each social class (whether upper-class, middle-class, working-class, or poor/underclass) as a broad subculture with distinct approaches to life, so significant that it affects our health, family life, education, religion, politics, and even our experiences with crime and the criminal justice system. Let’s look at how social class affects our lives. Physical Health 1 2 The principle is simple: As you go up the social-class ladder, health increases. As you go down the ladder, health decreases (Hout 2008). Age makes no difference. Infants born to the poor are more likely to die before their first birthday, and a larger percentage of poor people in their old age—whether 75 or 95—die each year than do the elderly who are wealthy. 2 3 How can social class have such dramatic effects? While there are many reasons, here are three. First, social class opens and closes doors to medical care. People with good incomes or with good medical insurance are able to choose their doctors and pay for whatever treatment and medications are prescribed. The poor, in contrast, don’t have the money or insurance to afford this type of medical care. 1 4 A second reason is lifestyle, which is shaped by social class. People in the lower classes are more likely to smoke, eat a lot of fats, be overweight, abuse drugs and alcohol, get lit- tle exercise, and practice unsafe sex (Chin et al. 2000; Dolnick 2010). This, to understate the matter, does not improve people’s health. 2 5 There is a third reason, too. Life is hard on the poor. The persistent stresses they face cause their bodies to wear out faster (Geronimus et al. 2010). The rich find life better. They have fewer problems and more resources to deal with the ones they have. This gives them a sense of control over their lives, a source of both physical and mental health. Mental Health 1 6 Sociological research from as far back as the 1930s has found that the mental health of the lower classes is worse than that of the higher classes (Faris and Dunham 1939; Srole et al. 1978; Peltham 2009). Greater mental problems are part of the higher stress that accompanies poverty. Compared with middle- and upper-class Americans, the poor have less job security and lower wages. They are more likely to divorce, to be the victims of crime, and to have more physical illnesses. Couple these conditions with bill collectors and the threat of eviction, and you can see how they can deal severe blows to people’s emotional well-being. 1 7 People higher up the social class ladder experience stress in daily life, of course, but their stress is generally less, and their coping resources are greater. Not only can they afford vacations, psychiatrists, and counselors, but their class position also gives them greater control over their lives, a key to good mental health . 1120 L /1,286 words The numbers beside paragraph numbers indicate which sentence in each paragraph is the topic sentence. Note to instructors: The blue underlining provides answers to Exercise 5-9. (See Chapter 5.)

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    3 Answer key Family Life 1 8 Social class also makes a significant difference in our choice of spouse, our chances of getting divorced, and how we rear our children. 1 9 Choice of Husband or Wife. Members of the upper class place strong emphasis on family tradition. They stress the family’s history, even a sense of purpose or destiny in life (Baltzell 1979; Aldrich 1989). Children of this class learn that their choice of husband or wife affects not just them, but the entire family, that it will have an impact on the “family line.” These background expectations shrink the field of “eligible” marriage partners, mak- ing it narrower than it is for the children of any other social class. As a result, parents in this class play a strong role in their children’s mate selection. 1 10 Divorce. The more difficult life of the lower social classes, especially the many tensions that come from insecure jobs and inadequate incomes, leads to higher marital friction and a greater likelihood of divorce. Consequently, children of the poor are more likely to grow up in broken homes. 1 11 Child Rearing. Lower-class parents focus more on getting their children to follow rules and obey authority, while middle-class parents focus more on developing their children’s creative and leadership skills (Lareau and Weininger 1977). Sociologists have traced this difference to the parents’ occupations (Kohn 1977). Lower-class parents are closely super- vised at work, and they anticipate that their children will have similar jobs. Consequently, they try to teach their children to defer to authority. Middle-class parents, in contrast, enjoy greater independence at work. Anticipating similar jobs for their children, they encourage them to be more creative. Out of these contrasting orientations arise different ways of disciplining children; lower-class parents are more likely to use physical punish- ment, while the middle classes rely more on verbal persuasion. Education 1 12 Education increases as one goes up the social class ladder. It is not just the amount of education that changes, but also the type of education. Children of the upper class bypass public schools. They attend exclusive private schools where they are trained to take a com- manding role in society. These schools teach upper-class values and prepare their students for prestigious universities (Beeghley 2008; Stevens 2009). 5 13 Keenly aware that private schools can be a key to upward social mobility, some upper- middle-class parents make every effort to get their children into the prestigious preschools that feed into these exclusive prep schools. Although some preschools cost $23,000 a year, they have a waiting list (Rohwedder 2007). Not able to afford this kind of tuition, some parents hire tutors to train their 4-year-olds in test-taking skills, so they can get into public kindergartens for gifted students. They even hire experts to teach these preschool- ers to look adults in the eye while they are being interviewed for these limited positions (Banjo 2010). You can see how such parental involvement and resources make it more likely that children from the more privileged classes go to college—and graduate. Religion 3 14 One area of social life that we might think would not be affected by social class is reli- gion. (“People are just religious, or they are not. What does social class have to do with

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    4 Answer key it?”) However, the classes tend to cluster in different reli- gious denominations. Episcopalians, for example, are more likely to attract the middle and upper classes, while Baptists draw heavily from the lower classes. Patterns of worship also follow class lines: The lower classes are attracted to more expressive worship services and louder music, while the mid- dle and upper classes prefer more “subdued” worship. Politics 1 15 The rich and poor walk different political paths. The higher that people are on the social class ladder, the more likely they are to vote for Republicans (Hout 2008). In contrast, most members of the working class believe that the government should intervene in the economy to provide jobs and to make citizens financially secure. They are more likely to vote for Democrats. Although the working class is more liberal on economic issues (policies that increase government spending), it is more conser- vative on social issues (such as opposing the Equal Rights Amendment) (Houtman 1995; Hout 2008). People toward the bottom of the class structure are also less likely to be politically active—to campaign for candidates or even to vote (Gilbert 2003; Beeghley 2008). Crime and Criminal Justice 1 16 If justice is supposed to be blind, it certainly is not when it comes to one’s chances of being arrested (Henslin 2012). Social classes commit different types of crime. The white-collar crimes of the more privileged classes are more likely to be dealt with outside the criminal justice system, while the police and courts deal with the street crimes of the lower classes. One consequence of this class standard is that members of the lower classes are more likely to be in prison, on probation, or on parole. In addition, since those who commit street crimes tend to do so in or near their own neighborhoods, the lower classes are more likely to be robbed, burglarized, or murdered. —adapted from Henslin, Sociology , pp. 275–278 This young woman is being “intro- duced” to society at a debutante ball in Laredo, Texas. Like you, she has learned from her parents, peers, and education a view of where she belongs in life. How do you think her view is different from yours? Dm Cherry/Shutterstock

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    5 Answer key EXERCISE 1-3 . . . WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM PREVIEWING? Without referring to the passage, answer each of the following questions. 1. What is the overall subject of this passage? how social class affects our lives 2. What happens to physical health as you go up the social class ladder? health increases 3. In addition to choice of spouse, what other two aspects of family life are significantly affected by social class? divorce and child rearing 4. Who is the young woman in the photograph and to what class does she probably belong? she is a debutante in Texas and probably belongs to the upper class 5. On a scale of 1 to 5 (1=easy, 5=very difficult), how difficult do you expect the passage to be? Answers will vary. EXERCISE 1-4 . . . MAKING PREDICTIONS Predict the subject and/or point of view of each of the following essays or articles. 1. “The Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty: It’s Time to Sign” opposed to nuclear testing 2. “Flunking Lunch: The Search for Nutrition in School Cafeterias” cafeteria food lacks nutritional value 3. “Professional Sports: Necessary Violence” violence is an acceptable part of sports

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    6 Answer key EXERCISE 1-5 . . . FORMING GUIDE QUESTIONS Select the guide question that would be most helpful in improving your understanding of the textbook chapter sections that begin with the following headings: b 1. Defining Loneliness a. Is loneliness unusual? b. What does loneliness mean? c. Are adults lonelier than children? d. Can loneliness ever be positive? c 2. The Four Basic Functions of Management a. How important is management? b. Are there other functions of management? c. What are management’s four basic functions? d. Do poor managers cause serious problems? c 3. Surface Versus Depth Listening a. Is surface listening difficult? b. What is listening? c. How do surface and depth listening differ? d. Is depth listening important? a 4. The Origins of the Cold War a. How did the Cold War start? b. Is the Cold War still going on? c. How did the United States deal with the Cold War? d. Did the Cold War end through compromise? b 5. Some People Are More Powerful than Others a. Does power affect relationships? b. Why are some people more powerful than others? c. What is power? d. Can people learn to become more powerful?

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    7 Answer key EXERCISE 1-7 . . . CHECKING YOUR COMPREHENSION Read the passage titled “Consequences of Social Class” that appears on pages 8–10. Be alert for positive and negative comprehension signals as you read. After reading the passage, answer the following questions on your own sheet of paper. Answers will vary. 1. On a scale of 1 to 5 (1=very poor, 5=excellent), how would you rate your overall comprehension? 2. What positive signals did you sense? List them. 3. What negative signals did you experience, if any? List them. 4. In which sections was your comprehension strongest? List the paragraph numbers. 5. Did you feel at any time that you had lost, or were about to lose, comprehension? If so, go back to that part now. What made it difficult to read?

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    8 Answer key EXERCISE 1-8 . . . HIGHLIGHTING Read the following pair of passages, which have been highlighted in two different ways. Look at each highlighted version, and then answer the questions that follow. Issue: First Impressions Example A Do you care if you make a good first impression on others? You should, according to the research findings, because such impressions seem to exert strong and lasting effects on others’ perceptions of us. A recent study of 10,526 participants in HurryDate ses- sions—in which men and women interact with each other for very short periods, usually less than three minutes, and then indicate whether they are interested in future interac- tion—found that individuals know almost instantly if a person appeals to them when they see them. Men and women in the study assessed potential compatibility within moments of meeting. They based their compatibility on physically observable attri- butes such as age, height, attractiveness, and physique, instead of hard-to-observe attributes such as education, religion, and income, which seemed to have little effect on their choices. It is clear that the way others first perceive us strongly influences their behavior toward us and whether they want to interact with us. —Seiler, William J, Melissa Beall,and Joseph P. Mazur. “ Communication .” p. 68. Reprinted and electronically reproduced by permission of Example B Do you care if you make a good first impression on others? You should, according to the research findings, because such impressions seem to exert strong and lasting effects on others’ perceptions of us. A recent study of 10,526 participants in HurryDate ses- sions—in which men and women interact with each other for very short periods, usually less than three minutes, and then indicate whether they are interested in future interac- tion—found that individuals know almost instantly if a person appeals to them when they see them. Men and women in the study assessed potential compatibility within moments of meeting. They based their compatibility on physically observable attri- butes such as age, height, attractiveness, and physique, instead of hard-to-observe attributes such as education, religion, and income, which seemed to have little effect on their choices. It is clear that the way others first perceive us strongly influences their behavior toward us and whether they want to interact with us. —Seiler, Beall, and Mazur, Communication , p. 68 1. Is Example A or Example B the better example of effective highlighting? A 2. Why isn’t the highlighting in the other example effective? Example B contains too much highlighting. Too many details are highlighted, and the highlighting will not save much time in reviewing.

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    9 Answer key EXERCISE 1-12 . . . PARAPHRASING Read the paragraph about family trends and the paraphrases that follow. Then answer the questions about the paraphrases. Issue: Family Trends Today, the dominant family form in the United States is the child-free family, where a couple resides together and there are no children present in the household. With the aging of the baby boomer cohort, this family type is expected to increase over time. If current trends continue, nearly three out of four U.S. households will be childless in another decade or so. —Thompson and Hickey, Society in Focus , p. 383 Paraphrase 1 A child-free family is one where two adults live together and have no children. It is the dominant family form (Thompson and Hickey 383). Paraphrase 2 The child-free family is dominant in the United States. Baby boomers are having fewer children. Three out of four homes do not have children in them (Thompson and Hickey 383). Paraphrase 3 The child-free family is dominant in the United States. As baby boomers get older, there will be even more of these families. If this trend continues, three-quarters of all U.S. homes will be childless ten years from now (Thompson and Hickey 383). 1. Which is the best paraphrase of the paragraph? 3 2. Why are the other paraphrases not as good? Paraphrase 1 does not contain enough information. Paraphrase 2 is inaccurate; it states the projected statistic as a fact.

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    10 Answer key EXERCISE 1-13 . . . OUTLINING Read the following passage and use the headings listed to write an outline of the passage. Issue: Business Issues and Practices Behavior segmentation focuses on whether people buy and use a product, as well as how often and how much they use or consume. Consumers can be categorized in terms of usage rates : heavy, medium, light, or nonusers. Consumers can also be segmented according to user status : potential users, nonusers, ex-users, regulars, first-timers, or users of competitors’ products. Marketers sometimes refer to the 80/20 rule when assessing usage rates. This rule (also known as the law of disproportionality or Pareto’s Law ) suggests that 80 percent of a company’s revenues or profits are accounted for by 20 percent of a firm’s products or customers. Nine country markets generate about 80 per- cent of McDonald’s revenues. This situation presents McDonald’s executives with strat- egy alternatives: Should the company pursue growth in the handful of countries where it is already well known and popular? Or, should it focus on expansion and growth oppor- tunities in the scores of countries that, as yet, contribute little to revenues and profits? — Keegan and Green, Global Marketing , pp. 202, 204 Behavior Segmentation A. Usage rates : how much or how often people use or consume the product 1. heavy 2. medium 3. light 4. non users B. User status: whether people buy and use a product 1. potential users 2. nonusers 3. ex-users 4. regulars 5. first-timers 6. users of competitive products

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    11 Answer key C. 80/20 rule 1. also known as rule of disproportionality or Pareto’s Law 2. 20% of customers or products account for 80% of revenue or profit 3. McDonald’s strategy a. 9 countries generate 80% of revenue b. option 1: pursue growth where the company is already well known and popular c. option 2: pursue growth where the company currently has low levels of sales and profit

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    12 2 The Writing Process EXERCISE 2-5 . . . EVALUATING TOPIC SENTENCES Evaluate each of the following topic sentences and mark them as follows: E = effective, G = too general, A = announcement, N = not complete thought, S = too specific A 1. This paper will discuss the life and politics of Simón Bolívar. G 2. Japanese culture is fascinating to study because its family traditions are so different from American traditions. S 3. The admission test for the police academy includes vocabulary questions. S 4. The discovery of penicillin was a great step in the advancement of modern medicine . A 5. I will talk about the reasons for the popularity of reality television shows. N 6. A habit leading to weight gain. S 7. Each year Americans are the victims of more than 1 million auto thefts. G 8. The White House has many famous rooms and an exciting history. E 9. There are three factors to consider when buying a Smart TV. G 10. Iraq has a long and interesting history. Chuck Aghoian/Shutterstock

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    13 3 Vocabulary for Readers and Writers EXERCISE 3-1 . . . USING DEFINITION CLUES Read the following excerpt and use definition clues to help you determine the meaning of each boldfaced word or phrase. Issue: Cultural Similarities and Differences Within every culture, there is an overall sense of what is beautiful and what is not beautiful, what represents good taste as opposed to tastelessness or even obscenity. Such considerations are matters of aesthetics . Global marketers must understand the importance of visual aesthetics embodied in the color or shape of a product, label, or package. Aesthetic elements that are attractive, appealing, and in good taste in one country may be perceived differently in another. In some cases, a standardized color can be used in all countries; an example is the distinctive yellow color on Caterpillar’s earth-moving equipment and its licensed outdoor gear. Music is an aesthetic component of all cultures and is accepted as a form of artistic expression and a source of entertainment. In one sense, music represents a transcul- ture that is not identified with any particular nation. However, sociologists have noted that national identity derives in part from a country’s indigenous , or native, music; a unique musical style can represent the uniqueness of the culture and the community. —adapted from Keegan and Green, Global Marketing , p. 104 1. aesthetics a shared sense within a culture of what is beautiful and what is ugly, or what is tasteful and what is tasteless 2. standardized color one color used across a company’s products in all nations in order to associate those products strongly with the company 3. transculture a type of culture that crosses boundaries and is not associated with any one nation 4. indigenous native or local

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    14 Answer key EXERCISE 3-2 . . . USING EXAMPLE CLUES Read the following excerpt and use definition and example clues to help you determine the meaning of each boldfaced word. Issue: Terrorism Terrorism is the systematic use of violence by a group in order to intimidate a pop- ulation or coerce a government into granting its demands. Terrorists attempt to achieve their objectives through organized acts that spread fear and anxiety among the popula- tion, such as bombing, kidnapping, hijacking, taking of hostages, and assassination . They consider violence necessary as a means of bringing widespread publicity to goals and grievances that are not being addressed through peaceful means. Belief in their cause is so strong that terrorists do not hesitate to strike despite knowing they will probably die in the act. Distinguishing terrorism from other acts of political violence can be difficult. For example, if a Palestinian suicide bomber kills several dozen Israeli teenagers in a Jerusa- lem restaurant, is that an act of terrorism or wartime retaliation against Israeli govern- ment policies and army actions? Competing arguments are made: Israel’s sympathizers denounce the act as a terrorist threat to the country’s existence, whereas advocates of the Palestinian cause argue that long-standing injustices and Israeli army attacks on Palestinian civilians provoked the act. —Rubenstein, Contemporary Human Geography , p. 190 1. terrorism systematic use of violence in order to scare the people of a country or force the government to act 2. intimidate frighten; scare 3. coerce force 4. objectives goals 5. assassination murder 6. grievances complaints 7. retaliation revenge 8. sympathizers those who are sympathetic to a cause 9. advocates those who support a particular cause or course of action

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