Deck 3: Demographic Perspectives

Question 1

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.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The historical period/event most associated with the views expressed by Malthus in his first Essay on Population is called the

A) Renaissance.
B) Columbian Exchange.
C) Enlightenment.
D) Industrial Revolution.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The second demographic transition is most closely associated with which of the transitions that comprise the overall demographic transition?

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

Answer 3

D

Question 4

An important element added to population thinking by Durkheim was that

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 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

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

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 7

The concept least consistent with Malthus's idea about moral restraint is to

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 8

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 9

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 10

The reformulation of the demographic transition theory was inspired especially by

A) 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 11

The theory of demographic change and response added the _______ to the theory of the demographic transition.

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

Question 12

Theoretical explanations for the demographic transition were initially drawn from _______ theory.

A) modernization
B) postmodern
C) rational choice
D) neo-classical Marxian

Question 13

Malthus's natural law of population concluded that the end result of population growth was

A) social and economic stability.
B) more people living in poverty.
C) higher wages for industrial workers.
D) a push for people to have smaller families.

Question 14

The most significant difference between Malthus and subsequent neo-Malthusians is that neo-Malthusians

A) believe in the use of birth control.
B) understand the concept of the tragedy of the commons.
C) do not accept that population growth leads to poverty.
D) do not champion the rights of women.

Question 15

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 16

The person often called the "father of demography" is ______ due to his analyses of population data in the seventeenth century.

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

Question 17

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

A) contact with the Mediterranean Islamic world.
B) the receding of the plague.
C) growth of cities.
D) the Columbian Exchange.

Question 18

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 19

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

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

Question 20

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 21

Marx's denial of the potential for population problems in a socialist society was shown to be true by what later happened in Russia and China.

Question 22

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

Question 23

Review the basic premises of the theory of demographic change and response and discuss how it served to expand the concept of the demographic transition into the idea of a larger suite of transitions.

Question 24

Based on the information provided in this chapter, which writer-Malthus or Marx-would sound most modern and relevant to twenty-first-century demographers? Defend your answer.

Question 25

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

Question 26

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.

Question 27

Demographic transition theory relates the different timing in mortality and fertility declines to the interstitial growth in population.

Question 28

It was obvious even in Malthus's lifetime that his theory had numerous defects. Describe those defects and discuss why, given them, we are still talking about Malthus.

Question 29

Plato was a firm believer that population growth was necessary to overcome high death rates.

Question 30

Malthus was not a firm believer in human progress.

Question 31

What are the important aspects of culture that need to be brought into the picture if we are to fully understand the ideas behind the First and then the Second Demographic Transitions?

Question 32

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

Question 33

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

Question 34

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 35

What lessons exist within the ideas of pre-Malthusian thinkers on population that can be applied conceptually to the demographic situations we currently confront in the world?