Deck 15: Sociology of Environments: the Natural, Physical, and Human Worlds

Question 1

What is a pull factor that might cause voluntary immigration?

A) Civil stability
B) Religious suppression
C) Political oppression
D) Sluggish economy

Answer 1

A

Question 2

__________ was concerned that population growth might spin out of control and lead to disaster, because population could grow faster than the food supply.

A) Karl Marx
B) Emile Durkheim
C) Thomas Malthus
D) Max Weber

Answer 2

C

Question 3

For thousands of years, children meant _________; in modern societies now they are a/n __________.

A) Past: economic burden modern: economic prosperity
B) Past: economic prosperity modern: economic burden
C) Past: economic neutrality modern: economic burden
D) Past: economic prosperity modern: economic neutrality

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Demographers are primarily concerned with which three statistics?

A) Birth, death, migration
B) Density, fecundity, illness
C) Income, education, occupation
D) Class, status, party

Question 5

Fertility refers to

A) The maximum number of children that a woman could possibly have
B) The number of children that a woman actually has
C) The maximum number of children a woman could carry at one time in a multiple pregnancy
D) The mean or average number of children per couple in each country

Question 6

Population pyramids that look like pyramids, with a broad base and progressively smaller bars toward the top of the graph, are characteristic of what types of countries?

A) Rich
B) Poor
C) Both rich and poor
D) Neither rich nor poor

Question 7

What is a common push factor for voluntary emigration?

A) Religious tolerance
B) Civil stability
C) Strong economy
D) Political oppression

Question 8

The scientific study of human populations, __________, is used to understand health, longevity, and even political representation, as the census is the basis for allocation of congressional seats.

A) Sociology
B) Populography
C) Demography
D) Political sociology

Question 9

Why was Karl Marx critical of the Malthusian theory?

A) He believed that population growth was a myth
B) He argued that unequal resource distribution was a more significant problem than population growth.
C) He believed that all families should be very large in order to create a revolution.
D) He argued it was disease that was causing hardship and there was little that could change it.

Question 10

What was Paul Elrich's suggested solution to manage population growth?

A) Achieve zero population growth
B) Encourage people to have no more than four children
C) Abstinence-only sex education
D) That sterilization should be mandatory for the poor, who are likely to have more children than the wealthy

Question 11

A low mortality rate in a poor nation, such as Tonga, represents

A) a high life expectancy
B) at least 1,000 unexpected deaths annually
C) the excellent health of the population
D) a fertility rate that is so high, there's a lower percentage of older people.

Question 12

How much of the world's population growth is attributed to poor or less-developed countries, compared to wealthy or more-developed countries?

A) The vast majority
B) About half
C) Around ten percent
D) Virtually none

Question 13

According to Thomas Malthus, population increases __________ and food production increases __________.

A) Population: arithmetically Food: geometrically
B) Population: erratically Food: geometrically
C) Population: geometrically Food: erratically
D) Population: geometrically Food: arithmetically

Question 14

Which type of countries tend to have positive net migration rates? Negative net migration rates?

A) Positive: rich negative: poor
B) Positive: rich negative: rich
C) Positive: poor negative: poor
D) Positive: poor negative: rich

Question 15

The infant mortality rate, measuring the number of deaths per year in each thousand infants up to one year old, is a good indicator of

A) The overall health of a country
B) The abortion rate
C) The legality of birth control
D) All of these choices are correct

Question 16

In most European countries, the population growth rate is

A) Very High - very rapid growth
B) Somewhat high - moderate to somewhat rapid growth
C) Fairly stable - little growth
D) Negative - shrinking populations

Question 17

What is required to achieve zero population growth?

A) A "one-child" policy such as China's
B) Births cannot exceed deaths
C) Deaths must exceed births
D) Births must exceed deaths

Question 18

The average American moves 11 times during his or her life; this is highest for

A) Older blue collar workers
B) Young middle class professionals
C) Blue collar workers of any age
D) Younger minorities

Question 19

In some countries where boys are strongly preferred over girls, there is a significantly higher birth rate of males to females. What does this difference in the birth rate suggest to demographers?

A) These countries may be practicing female infanticide.
B) Women are more likely to choose an abortion if they find out they are carrying girls.
C) Environmental pollution is having an impact on the human body's reproductive system.
D) It suggests nothing, as there are no countries with a significant difference in the birth rate of males to females.

Question 20

The number of deaths per year per thousand people is

A) the life expectancy ratio
B) the death dearth
C) The mortality rate
D) The morbidity index

Question 21

The first mass-produced __________, Levittown, opened in an unincorporated area on Long Island in 1951. By the time it was finished in 1958, there were 17,311 houses, plus shopping areas, churches, and recreation centers.

A) City
B) Commune
C) Suburb
D) Homestead

Question 22

Which types of neighborhoods have greater population density?

A) Larger
B) Smaller
C) Newer
D) Older

Question 23

Most ancient cities grew where?

A) In North America
B) Along major rivers
C) In mountains
D) In Western Europe

Question 24

*Which of the following is likely to have the greatest population density?

A) A new suburb of Phoenix
B) A farming town in South Dakota
C) The oldest neighborhood in New York City
D) A ranching community in Montana

Question 25

How has China's government reduced population growth?

A) A couple must apply for a "pregnancy permit."
B) Each neighborhood is told a maximum number of children it may have.
C) Those with an illegal pregnancy may pay fines, lose privileges, and lose jobs.
D) All of these are methods used by the Chinese government.

Question 26

According to the text's box, "How do we know what we know," about Life Expectancy, which of these groups has the greatest life expectancy in the U.S.?

A) White females
B) White males
C) Black females
D) Black males

Question 27

According to Demographic Transition Theory, what creates the conditions that result in declining mortality rates?

A) A geometric progression
B) Industrialization
C) Religiosity
D) War, famine, and plague

Question 28

Why are estimates of city population often misleading?

A) Because suburbs and adjacent cities can distort the population size
B) Because most people are not willing to fill in the census
C) Because there are many businesses in cities
D) Because of extremely high population density

Question 29

According to Emile Durkheim, villages with shared norms and values were characterized by

A) Organic solidarity
B) Mechanical solidarity
C) Gesellschaft
D) Human ecology

Question 30

According to your text, Sociology attributes the Demographic Transition Theory's drop in mortality to

A) Zero population growth
B) Technological changes
C) Social acceptance of technological changes
D) Medical discovery

Question 31

* The population of the world as a whole is

A) exploding
B) increasing very slightly
C) remaining stable
D) decreasing

Question 32

Ninety-six percent of the population growth today is taking place in ________ countries.

A) Asian
B) Industrialized
C) Poor
D) Western

Question 33

The rural proportion in the United States in the last 200 years

A) Has reached nearly zero
B) Has declined considerably
C) Has stayed fairly constant
D) Has increased somewhat

Question 34

One of the negatives about the suburban boom of the latter half of the twentieth century was

A) Downtown stores and businesses closing
B) Decline in home ownership
C) Decreased perception of safety in suburbia
D) Difficulty of life in the suburbs

Question 35

Ferdinand Töennies (1855-1936) theorized that families, villages, and perhaps neighborhoods in cities formed through __________, or "commonality," sharing common norms, values, and beliefs.

A) Gemeinschaft
B) Gesellschaft
C) Solidarity
D) Human ecology

Question 36

During the 1980s and 1990s, some young professionals moved back into cities, renovating cheap houses and raising the property values so much that poor and even middle class people could no longer afford to live there, in a process called

A) Urbanization
B) Re-urbanization
C) Gentrification
D) White flight

Question 37

The post-World War II era witnessed the greatest migration of black Americans from the south to the northern cities-and the great migration of whites from those cities to newly developed suburbs. The white migration from cities to suburbs was called

A) White flight
B) Integration
C) Gentrification
D) Re-gentrification

Question 38

At what point in history did farming jobs begin to diminish and manufacturing take precedence, with thousands of people leaving farms to move to the cities?

A) Agricultural revolution
B) Information revolution
C) Industrial revolution
D) Technological revolution

Question 39

Ferdinand Töennies (1855-1936) theorized that cities and states formed through __________, with differing, sometimes contradictory, norms, values, and beliefs, and an instinctive mistrust. They worked together because everyone was acting to his or her own self-advantage.

A) Gemeinschaft
B) Gesellschaft
C) Solidarity
D) Human ecology

Question 40

According to Demographic Transition Theory,

A) The world's population will outstrip food supply, leading to famine and war
B) Unequal resource distribution coupled with the poor having more babies will lead to global crisis
C) Only forced sterilizations will help solve the population problem
D) Population growth and decline are related to technological development

Question 41

The three statistics with which demographers are primarily concerned are __________, __________, and __________.

Question 42

According to Herbert Gans, social networks in cities are __________ compared to social networks in small towns.

A) Much larger
B) About the same size
C) Somewhat smaller
D) Much smaller

Question 43

Over the last decade, the recycling rates in rich countries have

A) Decreased significantly
B) Decreased slightly
C) Stayed about the same
D) Increased

Question 44

According to sociologists Park, Burgess, and McKenzie, cities develop according to "concentric zones." Those who are more downwardly mobile

A) Are excluded from the city
B) Move toward the outer zones
C) Move toward the city core
D) Live in the outermost zone

Question 45

The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) evaluates the performance of countries in areas including air pollution, sanitation, water resources and climate change. Which of these countries has the BEST Environmental Performance Index, and which (of the choices given), has the WORST?

A) Best: Switzerland Worst: the United States
B) Best: Norway Worst: Canada
C) Best: The United States Worst: Colombia
D) Best: Croatia Worst: Sweden

Question 46

The distribution of people of different age groups can best be represented by a graph called a __________ __________, which shows five or ten-year age groups as different sized bars.

Question 47

Of the world's 20 largest countries, which one uses the most fossil fuel per capita, 5-6 times the global average?

A) Japan
B) The United States
C) Mexico
D) China

Question 48

*Sociologists of the 1970s described "Spaceship Earth" as a(n) __________ community.

A) Large and robust
B) Intercultural
C) Small and fragile
D) Prejudiced and ethnocentric

Question 49

The text reports that __________ General Social Survey respondents were most likely to agree or strongly agree with the statement "many of the claims about environmental threats are greatly exaggerated."

A) upper class
B) older
C) younger
D) lower class

Question 50

Robert Redfield's work in the Yucatan led to his contention that in rural "folk" societies social networks were based on

A) Heterogeneity
B) High division of labor
C) Competition
D) Family

Question 51

Mechanical solidarity is based on __________, and organic solidarity is based on __________.

A) Interdependence, similarity
B) modernity, tradition
C) similarity, interdependence
D) complexity, simplicity

Question 52

Desertification, combined with the needs of an increased population, means that the earth is losing

A) Fossil fuel
B) Electricity
C) Groundwater
D) Nuclear energy

Question 53

The natural environment is organized into __________, interdependent systems of organisms and their environment.

A) Terraria
B) Ecosystems
C) Geodes
D) Biospheres

Question 54

*Which of these rituals developed to demonstrate friendliness between strangers?

A) Saying "God bless you" when someone sneezes
B) Standing to greet someone
C) Shaking hands when meeting
D) Avoiding personal contact on public transportation

Question 55

The increase in the world's temperature and resultant thawing of permafrost and retreat of glaciers are due primarily to

A) Human technology
B) Natural weather events
C) Solar activity
D) Volcanic eruptions

Question 56

Eric Klineberg's investigation of a 1995 week-long heat wave in Chicago that was responsible for over 700 deaths showed that

A) The heat was so severe that the deaths were unavoidable
B) Social conditions such as poverty contributed to the deaths
C) The heat wave was related to a nearly simultaneous tsunami in Micronesia
D) People ignored the extensive news media publicity about the danger.

Question 57

According to Emile Durkheim, cities, where people worked at different jobs and had different norms and values, were held together by

A) Organic solidarity
B) Mechanical solidarity
C) Gemeinschaft
D) Human ecology

Question 58

Air pollution is concentrated in

A) Urban areas
B) Suburban areas
C) Rural areas
D) None of these - it is fairly evenly dispersed over all areas

Question 59

__________ refers to people moving into a territory, while __________ refers to people moving out of a territory.

Question 60

The scientific study of human populations, __________, is used to understand health, longevity, and even political representation, as the census is the basis for allocation of congressional seats.

Question 61

The infant mortality rate is a good indicator of the overall health of a country.

Question 62

Areas called ________ were created as white middle classes began moving out of cities into these areas where their houses were separate from the others, with front and back yards, instead of cramped apartments and townhouses.

Question 63

Of the world's 20 largest countries, the one that uses the most fossil fuel per capita, 5-6 times the global average, is __________.

Question 64

In modern societies fewer children make more economic sense than lots of children, however some cultures encourage high fertility for religious or political reasons.

Question 65

According to Demographic Transition Theory, __________ creates the conditions that result in declining mortality rates?

Question 66

Political oppression is a common pull factor for voluntary migration.

Question 67

__________ (1766-1834) was concerned that population growth might spin out of control and lead to disaster, because population could grow faster than the food supply.

Question 68

Ferdinand Töennies (1855-1936) theorized that families, villages, and perhaps neighborhoods in cities formed through __________, or "commonality," sharing common norms, values, and beliefs.

Question 69

According to Emile Durkheim, cities, where people worked at different jobs and had different norms and values held together by __________ __________.

Question 70

During the 1980s and 1990s, some young professionals moved back into cities, renovating cheap houses and raising the property values so much that poor and even middleclass people could no longer afford to live there, in a process called __________.

Question 71

The greatest population __________ is in older neighborhoods.

Question 72

__________ __________ is a discipline of the social sciences that looks at the interrelations of human beings within a shared social environment-the physical size and shape of the city, its social and economic dynamics, and its relationship to other cities and the natural world.

Question 73

Deforestation results in the loss of topsoil, as does covering huge stretches of land with concrete buildings and roads. An estimated 26 billion tons of topsoil is being lost per year, transforming arable land into __________ in a process called __________.

Question 74

During the period of the __________ __________, farming jobs began to diminish and manufacturing took precedence, with thousands of people leaving farms to move to the cities.

Question 75

Paul Erlich, in his 1968 work The Population Bomb, argued that the world's population increase would soon spin out of control; his solution was __________ __________ __________.

Question 76

__________, the clearing of these forests for crops and development, accounts for about 25 percent of all human made emissions of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

Question 77

The majority of the world's population growth is attributed to its larger, primarily wealthy, countries.

Question 78

The natural environment is organized into __________, interdependent systems of organisms and their environment.

Question 79

Robert Redfield's work in the Yucatan led to his contention that in rural "folk" societies social networks were based on __________.

Question 80

__________ has reduced population growth with a family planning law that mandates the maximum number of children per neighborhood.