Deck 3: Demographic Perspectives

Question 1

The cultural reawakening of Europe after the Middle Ages is attributable especially to which of the following?

A) Contact with the Mediterranean Islamic world
B) The receding of the plague
C) Growth of cities
D) The Columbian Exchange

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following events/periods did NOT precede the publication of Malthus's book on population?

A) French Revolution
B) Columbian Exchange
C) Enlightenment
D) Industrial Revolution

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following people was LEAST likely to champion the rights of women?

A) Malthus
B) Condorcet
C) J.S. Mill
D) Marx

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The so-called "second demographic transition" would be most closely associated with which of the following transitions associated with the overall demographic transition?

A) Fertility transition
B) Age transition
C) Urban transition
D) Family and household transition

Question 5

The essential element of Malthus's Principle of Population was that:

A) moral restraint was critical to the survival of the human population.
B) positive checks tended to counter-balance preventive checks.
C) population grew geometrically while food increased arithmetically.
D) the passion between the sexes must be constrained by social institutions.

Question 6

Which of the following is LEAST consistent with Malthus's idea about moral restraint?

A) Postpone marriage
B) Practice safe sex prior to marriage
C) Marry only when you can afford children
D) Avoid birth control after marriage

Question 7

The reformulation of the demographic transition theory was inspired especially by:

A) Neo-Marxian views that emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
B) new ideas brought forward by the theory of demographic change and response.
C) ideas emerging from the European Fertility Project at Princeton.
D) ideas emerging from Samuel Huntington's work on "Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order."

Question 8

The person often called the "father of demography" is:

A) Thomas Robert Malthus.
B) Achille Guillard.
C) John Graunt.
D) Willam Petty.

Question 9

The influential theorist who described his own theory as 'the doctrine of Malthus applied with manifold force to the whole animal and vegetable kingdoms" was:

A) Karl Marx.
B) J.S. Mill.
C) Charles Darwin.
D) Émile Durkheim.

Question 10

Malthus's concept of positive checks to population growth would conform most closely to what we call:

A) drought and famine.
B) methods of contraception.
C) moral restraint.
D) causes of mortality.

Question 11

The Chinese government's approach to dealing with population growth over the past several decades could be characterized as a mix of the ideas of Marx and:

A) J.S. Mill.
B) Ibn Khaldun.
C) Condorcet.
D) Malthus.

Question 12

An important element that J.S. Mill added to population thinking was:

A) a sudden increase in income would promote thrift and provide a motivation to limit fertility.
B) social aspiration is the root cause of a desire to limit fertility.
C) population growth leads to greater societal specialization.
D) populations over time have transitioned from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates.

Question 13

Which of the following thinkers would be MOST likely to agree with Marx that problems of the poor were due less to population than to inequities in the social system?

A) Godwin
B) J.S. Mill
C) Dumont
D) Durkheim

Question 14

An early population doctrine that advocated the idea that quality was better than quantity when it came to the number of humans is attributable to:

A) Confucius.
B) Plato.
C) Cicero.
D) Ibn Khaldun.

Question 15

The important political implication of the Marxian theory regarding population was that:

A) the poor were to blame for their own poverty.
B) poverty is the product of unjust social institutions.
C) the niggardliness of nature produces human unhappiness.
D) it is important to teach methods of birth control to the poor.

Question 16

The important political implication of Malthus's theory regarding population was that:

A) the poor were to blame for their own poverty.
B) poverty is the product of unjust social institutions.
C) the niggardliness of nature produces human unhappiness.
D) it is important to teach methods of birth control to the poor.

Question 17

The early idea that population growth is inherently good because it leads to specialization and higher incomes is attributed to:

A) Confucius.
B) Plato.
C) Cicero.
D) Ibn Khaldun.

Question 18

The Easterlin relative cohort size hypothesis draws its underlying concepts from the earlier writings of:

A) Malthus.
B) Condorcet.
C) Mill.
D) Dumont.

Question 19

An important element that Durkheim added to population thinking was:

A) fear of slipping socially was a motivation to limit fertility.
B) social aspiration is the root cause of a desire to limit fertility.
C) population growth leads to greater societal specialization.
D) a sudden increase in income would promote thrift and provide a motivation to limit fertility.

Question 20

The theory of demographic change and response added which of the following to the demographic transition?

A) The concept of rational choice as a key element in understanding human behavior
B) The concepts of secularization and modernization
C) The concept of wealth flow
D) The concept of linking demography to the lives of individuals and families

Question 21

Doctrines are usually based on fact, whereas theories are speculative in nature.

Question 22

Marx's denial of the potential for population problems in a socialist society were proven correct by what later happened in Russia and China.

Question 23

The doctrine of mercantilism maintained that the more people a nation had, the more it could produce, and thus the wealthier it would be.

Question 24

Malthus and Marx agreed on the causes of population growth, but not on the consequences.

Question 25

The important aspect of the theory of demographic change and response is that it emphasizes the role of individual initiative in responding to demographic change.

Question 26

Two key concepts added during the reformulation of the demographic transition theory were secularization and diffusion.

Question 27

The original version of the demographic transition theory was closely tied to the concept of modernization.

Question 28

It is likely that if the French Revolution had not occurred, Malthus's book on Population would never have been published.

Question 29

Neo-Malthusians are the people who influenced Darwin's ideas about evolution.

Question 30

A key element in the Easterlin hypothesis is that the relative size of cohorts can influence the way in which people and societies change over time.