Deck 16: Environment, Population and Social Change

Question 1

In the United States, the sex ratio is _____, which indicates _____.

A) 54; there are more males than females.
B) 114; there are more females than males.
C) 94; there are more females than males.
D) 104; there are more males than females.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Researchers interested in comparing rural and urban populations or who are concerned with addressing overcrowding in cities often look at the _____, which is the number of people per square mile.

A) median population
B) area rate
C) adjusted population
D) population density

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Discuss the concept of alienation in terms of how it relates to modernization.

Answer 3

Alienation, in the context of modernization, refers to the feeling of being disconnected or estranged from oneself, others, and the world around us. This concept is often associated with the process of modernization, as societies undergo rapid changes in technology, urbanization, and social structures.

As societies modernize, traditional ways of life are often disrupted, leading to a sense of alienation among individuals. This can manifest in various ways, such as feelings of isolation, powerlessness, and a lack of meaningful connections with others. In modernized societies, individuals may also experience alienation from their work, as they become cogs in a larger, impersonal economic machine.

The concept of alienation in modernization can also be seen in the breakdown of traditional social bonds and communities. As people move to urban areas and traditional social structures are disrupted, individuals may feel disconnected from their roots and a sense of belonging.

Additionally, the rapid pace of technological advancement in modernized societies can contribute to feelings of alienation, as individuals struggle to keep up with the changes and may feel overwhelmed by the constant influx of information and communication.

Overall, the concept of alienation in modernization highlights the social and psychological impacts of rapid societal change. It underscores the importance of addressing the human experience in the midst of modernization, and the need to create spaces and systems that foster meaningful connections and a sense of belonging in an increasingly complex and fast-paced world.

Question 4

Define culture lag and provide two examples.

Question 5

According to functionalists, societies change from _____ and from _____ division of labor.

A) simple to complex; differentiated to undifferentiated
B) complex to simple; differentiated to undifferentiated
C) simple to complex; undifferentiated to differentiated.
D) complex to simple; undifferentiated to differentiated

Question 6

Which of the following is not a condition under which revolutions are likely to occur?

A) Highly repressive state control
B) Cultural diffusion
C) Development of mobilized opposition groups
D) A major economic crisis

Question 7

Which statement about collective behavior is true?

A) Collective behavior is inherently illogical and typically harmful.
B) Collective behavior is usually carefully planned and strictly controlled.
C) Collective behavior may emerge spontaneously, but it is predictable.
D) Collective behavior cannot be predicted and is often dangerous.

Question 8

Compare and contrast the perspectives of Georg Simmel, Louis Wirth, and Herbert Gans on urbanism as a lifestyle.

Question 9

How does the United States compare to other industrialized nations with respect to infant mortality? Why?

Question 10

A group consisting of people all born in the same period is termed a

A) natal group.
B) birth cohort.
C) birth group.
D) natal cohort.

Question 11

How does modernization theory view the impact of technological change? Illustrate your response with an example.

Question 12

A college class is studying the impact of bottled water on the environment. Which of the following is true about plastic water bottles?

A) Most are recycled.
B) Most are directly reused in industry.
C) Most are not recycled and are an environmental problem.
D) Most are not recycled but do not pose a threat to the environment.

Question 13

By mid-century, it is estimated that the U.S. population will be older than it is today. Provide an explanation for this statement with a supportive example.

Question 14

Evaluate the usefulness of demographic transition theory. What are its strengths and limitations?

Question 15

Illustrate, using an example, how technology is related to social change, including how innovations can serve as strong catalysts for social change.

Question 16

Using an example, explain how social change often creates conflict in society.

Question 17

Define gemeinschaft and gesellschaft and the types of society each corresponds to.

Question 18

Discuss how symbolic interactionists address fads and fashions in terms of social change.

Question 19

How did Malthus envision famine, disease, and war? Was he accurate? Why or why not?

Question 20

Discuss the basic assumptions of cyclical theories using an example to illustrate.

Question 21

The all-time high birthrate in the United States was 30.1 in 1910. The birthrate has declined rather steadily since then, with an exception. When was the exception?

A) During the colonial period
B) During the late nineteenth century
C) Just following the Second World War
D) Just following the Vietnam War

Question 22

Which statement about the undercount in the 2010 census is accurate?

A) Whites were undercounted by about 1 percent.
B) African Americans were undercounted by about 10 percent.
C) Hispanics were undercounted by about 6 percent.
D) Native Americans living on reservations were undercounted by about 5 percent.

Question 23

According to Habermas, a society that experiences social inequality will also experience

A) social stability.
B) wide spread apathy.
C) social conflict.
D) None of the answer choices are correct.

Question 24

According to Marx and Habermas, the personal feelings of powerlessness that accompany modernization are the result of

A) technology.
B) war.
C) revolution.
D) social inequality.

Question 25

An example of a resource that is not renewable, regardless of how well we manage it, is

A) timber.
B) fossil fuels.
C) seafood.
D) wind.

Question 26

Projections that the United States will have a significantly greater proportion of minorities are based on

A) birthrates.
B) death rates.
C) migration rates.
D) All of the answer choices are correct.

Question 27

Demographers study

A) environment and society.
B) the past and future composition of populations.
C) the social processes of human engineering.
D) perspectives on social change.

Question 28

Herbert Spencer argued that social change will occur as

A) societies develop a state of mechanical solidarity.
B) societies become more heterogeneous.
C) societies become more similar.
D) None of these are correct.

Question 29

The United States consumes approximately _____ percent of the world's energy but is home to only 5 percent of the world's population.

A) 10
B) 20
C) 30
D) 50

Question 30

Which federal document requires a national census to be conducted every ten years?

A) The U.S. Constitution
B) Executive Order 816: On Proportionate Representation
C) Title VII of Public Law 110-318
D) The Declaration of Independence

Question 31

_____ is the scientific study of the interdependencies that exist between humans and our physical environment.

A) Population studies
B) Ecology
C) Eco-sociology
D) Environmental sociology

Question 32

Which of these statements best describes current increases in the world's population?

A) The world's population increases arithmetically.
B) The world's population increases in a linear fashion.
C) The world's population increases exponentially.
D) The world's population increases at a rate of about 1000 people per minute.

Question 33

In 2016, _____ exceeded the United States in the release of carbon-based emissions.

A) China
B) India
C) Russia
D) Iran

Question 34

Unlike Spencer, Marx emphasized that social change was based on

A) inequality within the capitalist system.
B) a future classless society.
C) consensus.
D) social order due to class conflict.

Question 35

According to the text, the Second World War contributed to social change in the United States in all of the following ways except when

A) an increased number of women began working outside of the home.
B) mass production increased.
C) many men in the service received college educations using the GI Bill.
D) technology improved working conditions.

Question 36

The actual shape of an age-sex pyramid is a reflection of the

A) birthrate of a society.
B) rate of immigration compared with other countries.
C) overall size of the population.
D) society's values.

Question 37

The 2010 U.S. census is estimated to have undercounted approximately 2 percent of the country's population. The estimated undercount for Hispanics is as high as _____ percent.

A) 0.1
B) 1.5
C) 3
D) 4.5

Question 38

According to Georg Simmel, urban dwellers tend to avoid emotional involvement, which is more characteristic of rural communities. Instead, urban interaction tends to be characterized as _____ rather than social.

A) interpersonal
B) economic
C) affective
D) cerebral

Question 39

According to recent data from the World Bank, the country with one of the lowest birthrates is _____, registering only about 8.0 births per 1000 people.

A) the United States
B) Japan
C) Niger
D) Spain

Question 40

Cohorts are useful for understanding all of the following except

A) the number of people in the population of different ages at different times.
B) how many high schools and universities will be needed at some time in the future.
C) whether the Social Security system will continue to have sufficient funds.
D) whether past educational practices prepare people for the future.

Question 41

Which statement about social change is most accurate?

A) Social change has "direction" relative to a society's history.
B) Social change is often random.
C) Social change is being unpredictable.
D) Social change is imposed by the government.

Question 42

Among industrialized countries, the country with the lowest infant mortality rate is

A) Great Britain.
B) Germany.
C) Japan.
D) the United States.

Question 43

Which theoretical perspective is particularly suited to analyzing the quixotic character of fads and fashion and how people adapt and respond to these behaviors?

A) Functionalism
B) Conflict theory
C) Symbolic interactionist theory
D) Social exchange theory

Question 44

_____ theory proposes that countries pass through a consistent sequence of population patterns linked to the degree of development in the society and culminating in relatively low birthrates and death rates.

A) Malthusian
B) Demographic transition
C) Zero population growth
D) Population transition

Question 45

The term _____ refers to people creating new norms and organizational structures in response to emerging situations.

A) social relativism
B) social movement
C) collective behavior
D) technological innovation

Question 46

According to your text, the crude death rate, the number of deaths each year per 1000 people, is a good indicator of the _____ in a country.

A) fertility
B) population growth
C) standard of living
D) crude birthrate

Question 47

In the United States, stage 3 of the demographic transition model, characterized by low birthrate and low death rate, began

A) prior to the Second World War.
B) at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
C) in the second half of the nineteenth century.
D) around 2010.

Question 48

The United States emits _____ percent of global carbon dioxide, exceeded in 2016 only by _____.

A) 10; India
B) 20; China
C) 30; India
D) 50; China

Question 49

Gradual transformations that occur on a broad scale and affect many aspects of society, such as the spread diffusion of technology, are called

A) megachanges.
B) macrochanges.
C) systemic changes.
D) sequential.

Question 50

How would Malthus view the outbreaks of bubonic plague in Europe from 1334 to 1354, the smallpox epidemic in 1707 that devastated the populations of Mexico and the West Indies, and today's worldwide AIDS epidemic?

A) As divine punishment for sin
B) As checks on population growth
C) As natural consequences of globalization
D) As unnecessary and destabilizing

Question 51

_____ is the transmission of cultural elements from one society or cultural group to another.

A) Cultural diffusion
B) Cultural drift
C) Cultural contagion
D) Enculturation

Question 52

More and more Americans are in the 65 and older age group, a phenomenon called the

A) "boomer bust."
B) "graying of America."
C) "echo effect."
D) "maturation effect."

Question 53

In The Population Bomb, Paul Ehrlich argues that

A) the population projections of Thomas Malthus were totally in error.
B) The quality of the environment has little to do with the growth and health of populations.
C) worldwide food shortages have ceased to be a problem due to efficient food production and distribution.
D) worldwide population growth has outgrown food production and massive starvation will inevitably follow.

Question 54

Despite the revolutionary developments that have blocked his predictions from becoming reality, Malthus made an important contribution by

A) creating the field of demography.
B) raising awareness that subsistence and natural resources are limited.
C) promoting the development of improved contraceptive.
D) creating checks on population increase.

Question 55

In 2016, the birthrate for the United States was  _____ births per 1000 people, lower than at any other time in U.S. history.

A) 5.2
B) 9.7
C) 12.4
D) 16.3

Question 56

Stage 2 of the demographic transition model presented in your text is characterized by

A) a high birthrate but a declining death rate.
B) declining birthrates and death rates.
C) high birthrates and death rates.
D) a high death rate and declining birthrate.

Question 57

According to the text, when Malthus was making his projections on population, he failed to foresee

A) the strength of the need most people have to reproduce and the objection of most religious authorities to curbing reproduction.
B) high-speed forms of travel, including air travel, that mean an infectious illness can spread around the world in a matter of hours.
C) the willingness that people have to act responsible and live sustainably so that their children will inherit a good quality of life.
D) the impact of advances in agricultural technology, disease prevention and treatment, and contraception.

Question 58

A large portion of the pollutants released into the air in the United States come from

A) oil drilling.
B) automobiles.
C) wildfires and other natural disasters.
D) chlorofluorocarbons.

Question 59

Studies find that _____ populations reside disproportionately closer to toxic sources than do Whites.

A) southern and eastern European
B) Native American, Hispanic, and African American
C) Middle Eastern and western Asian
D) South and East Asian

Question 60

According to _____ theory, left unchecked, populations grow faster than the subsistence needed to sustain them.

A) Malthusian
B) demographic transition
C) zero population growth
D) population transition

Question 61

People who live in San Francisco's Chinatown, Boston's or New York's Little Italy, or Miami's Little Havana are all examples of what Gans termed

A) ethnic villagers.
B) cosmopolites.
C) the trapped.
D) the "other."

Question 62

Theorists such as Habermas and Marcuse argue that modern society

A) fails to meet the need of the individual to developing a fulfilling identity.
B) imposes uniform identities on all members of society.
C) is simply too challenging for most people, leading to disengagement.
D) is too easy for most people, leading to a desire to disrupt norms.

Question 63

In the 1920s, _____ argued that the city was a center of distant, cold interpersonal interaction, and as a result, urban dwellers experienced alienation, loneliness, and powerlessness.

A) Louis Wirth
B) Ernest Burgess
C) George H. Mead
D) Homer Hoyt

Question 64

The U.S. Census allows people to select more than one category to describe their race. In the 2010 Census, about _____ percent of Americans were categorized as having more than one race.

A) 1
B) 2.5
C) 4
D) 5.5

Question 65

_____, founder of conflict theory, asserted that _____.

A) Emile Durkheim; people have to adapt to new understandings that emerge from social change
B) Karl Marx; all individuals are faced with conflict, but the powerless may organize to drive social change
C) Karl Marx; people have to adapt to new understandings that emerge from social change
D) Emile Durkheim; all individuals are faced with conflict, but the powerless may organize to drive social change

Question 66

Tönnies viewed the process of modernization as a progressive loss of

A) gesellschaft .
B) gemeinschaft .
C) mechanical solidarity.
D) organic solidarity.

Question 67

A sex ratio of exactly 100 indicates equal numbers of males and females.

Question 68

Sources of environmental toxins are so widespread that today Whites are as likely to reside near toxic sites as are Native Americans, Hispanics, and African Americans.

Question 69

_____ is a process of social and cultural change initiated by industrialization and followed by increased social differentiation and division of labor.

A) Revolution
B) Renovation
C) Modernization
D) Westernization

Question 70

The original intent of the U.S. census was to ensure that the welfare system would have enough resources to meet the population's needs.

Question 71

Undercounting is the U.S. census is uniform across populations and thus not a significant problem.

Question 72

The 2019 population of the United States is more than 376 million.

Question 73

According to _____ theory, the primary cause of social change is a change in the structure of economic classes.

A) functionalist
B) conflict
C) cyclical
D) dependency

Question 74

According to the text, since the 1940s, the United States has become increasingly characterized as _____, with social interaction less intimate and less emotional, although certain primary groups, such as the family and the friendship group, still permit strong emotional ties.

A) gemeinschaft
B) gesellschaft
C) modified gemeinschaft
D) post- gesellschaft

Question 75

The population of the United States at the time your text was written was estimated to be _____ million.

A) 271
B) 323
C) 416
D) 528

Question 76

Durkheim argued that societies move from a state of _____, a cohesiveness based on the similarity among its members, to _____, a cohesiveness based on difference.

A) gesellschaft ; gemeinschaft
B) gemeinschaft ; gesellschaft
C) mechanical solidarity; organic solidarity
D) organic solidarity; mechanical solidarity

Question 77

_____ is the process by which a community acquires the characteristics of city life.

A) Suburbanization
B) Urbanization
C) Urban sprawl
D) Globalization

Question 78

The world population is currently seven billion people, and it is expected to grow to nine billion by 2050.

Question 79

The United States has the lowest infant mortality rate of any nation.

Question 80

Gesellschaft is German for "community."