Deck 16: Urban Problems

Question 1

Two hundred years ago, nearly everyone in the United States lived in rural areas and worked in agricultural production.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

A continuous concentration of two or more cities and their suburban areas that have grown to create a connected urban area is referred to as a megalopolis.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Single men have accounted for most of the increase in homelessness during the past decade.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Peripheral nations exploit semiperipheral nations.

Question 5

Core nations use the fewest resources compared to peripheral and semiperipheral nations.

Question 6

According to conflict theorists, the upper classes have successfully maintained class-based and sometimes racially based segregation through political control and legal strategies.

Question 7

Rural Americans have greater access to health care than urban dwellers.

Question 8

Racial isolation in housing is not linked to levels of poverty.

Question 9

The practice of banks and other lenders selling mortgages to investors in the bond market contributed to the housing meltdown of the 2000s.

Question 10

Some theorists assert that gentrification further depletes the stock of affordable housing for the poor and pushes low-income people out of an area where they had previously lived.

Question 11

What brought about rapid urbanization?

A) the Industrial Revolution
B) the birth of the factory system
C) the birth of cities
D) the growth of suburbs and outlying areas

Question 12

A relatively dense and permanent settlement of people who secure their livelihood primarily through nonagricultural activities is known as

A) a city.
B) a suburb.
C) urbanization.
D) industrialization.

Question 13

The process by which an increasing proportion of a population lives in cites rather than in rural areas is known as

A) migration.
B) industrialization.
C) urbanization.
D) population densitization.

Question 14

According to the text, the primary factor that changed city life forever was

A) high rates of crime.
B) the shifting racial-ethnic composition of central cities.
C) the growth of suburbs and outlying areas.
D) decreasing reliance on agricultural production for the food supply.

Question 15

Suburban areas began to grow in earnest in the 1920s due to

A) the automobile.
B) mass transit.
C) the airplane.
D) the horse-drawn carriage.

Question 16

The Massachusetts Turnpike corridor west of Boston and the Perimeter Area north of Atlanta are examples of

A) suburbs.
B) edge cities.
C) postindustrial cities.
D) mega-infrastructures.

Question 17

A ________ is a continuous concentration of two or more cities and their suburbs that have grown until they form an interconnected urban area.

A) megalopolis
B) edge cities
C) megladon
D) expanded suburbs

Question 18

Which of the following statements regarding global cities is correct?

A) By 2025, only one U.S. city will be among the 10 most populous cities in the world.
B) overcrowding, environmental pollution, and the displacement of farmland are minor problems for global cities.
C) Natural increases in population account for one-third of new urban growth, and rural-to-urban migration accounts for the rest.
D) Some cities grow at a rate of 170,000 new people per day.

Question 19

Core nations

A) are dominant capitalist centers characterized by high levels of industrialization and urbanization.
B) include Singapore, Fiji, and the Ivory Coast, as well as most of Africa.
C) typically include few of the largest global cities.
D) are almost always at the pre-industrial stage of development.

Question 20

Semi peripheral nations

A) have been successful in curbing immigration from rural to urban areas.
B) exploit peripheral nations just as the core nations have exploited them.
C) have been exploited by peripheral nations.
D) are more developed than core nations.

Question 21

Mass migration from rural to urban areas, large-scale immigration in the late nineteenth and twentieth century, and mass suburbanization have been the focus of social scientists using the ________ framework for examining urban problems.

A) interactionist
B) conflict
C) functionalist
D) world system

Question 22

Mechanical solidarity and organic solidarity are concepts introduced by

A) Emile Durkheim.
B) Amos Hawley.
C) Immanuel Wallerstein.
D) Mark Gottdiener.

Question 23

Mechanical solidarity

A) refers to social bonds based on shared religious beliefs and simple divisions of labor.
B) is typically a characteristic of densely populated, urban areas.
C) involves an elaborate division of labor based upon capitalistic hierarchies.
D) is a theoretical concept that was derived from Max Weber's work.

Question 24

In regard to urban problems, conflict analysts believe that

A) cities grow by chance and cannot be explained by any rational accounts.
B) the middle class abandoned urban areas to poor people because they did not want to live near them.
C) the upper classes have maintained class and racial segregation through political control and legal strategies.
D) the poor eventually catch up to the rich when they live in big cities.

Question 25

The process by which people renovate or restore properties in the city is called

A) urban squatting.
B) gentrification.
C) development.
D) renewal.

Question 26

Loans made available to people who did not have sufficient financial resources to purchase residential property and make monthly payments are called

A) foreclosures.
B) housing appropriations.
C) typical lending.
D) subprime mortgages.

Question 27

According to urban sociologists, public housing works best when

A) it is situated in less densely populated areas.
B) it is situated in close proximity to a large number of families.
C) it utilizes existing structures.
D) it is located in central urban areas.

Question 28

When realtors direct people to different neighborhoods on the basis of their race or ethnicity, it is called

A) redlining.
B) steering.
C) directional practices.
D) inclusionary practices.

Question 29

In 2010, it was estimated that collectively cities in the United States will experience approximately how large of a budget shortfall?

A) $60 million
B) $10 billion
C) $60 billion
D) $100 billion

Question 30

Which racial group is most likely to be homeless?

A) Native Americans
B) Asian Americans
C) Latino/as
D) African Americans

Question 31

Fiscal crises in cities result in part because

A) more middle- and upper-middle class families move into central cities and gentrified properties.
B) states reduce the amount of money they provide for cities.
C) federal programs are created to rebuild decaying infrastructures.
D) federal support is provided for them.

Question 32

Which of the following statements regarding mass suburbanization is true?

A) The largest wave of mass suburbanization occurred during the depression and the years before World War II.
B) The federal government helped subsidize the exodus from the central city to the suburbs.
C) Mass urbanization did not contribute to economic and racial division between cities and suburbs.
D) The largest wave of mass suburbanization occurred between the end of World War II and 1970.

Question 33

Which of the following factors contributed to the postwar suburban boom?

A) The passing of the Housing Act of 1949 by Congress gave incentives to builders to develop affordable housing.
B) Federal agencies established lenient lending policies so that war veterans could qualify to buy homes for their families.
C) New federally financed freeway systems contributed to the postwar suburban boom.
D) Inexpensive gasoline contributed to the postwar suburban boom.

Question 34

Which of the following statements regarding suburbs is true?

A) Many people in the suburbs pay taxes to metropolitan city governments and school districts.
B) Suburban police and fire departments, schools, libraries, and recreational facilities are not usually well funded and well staffed, with up-to-date facilities.
C) Suburbs have newer infrastructures and money to maintain them.
D) People in the suburbs don't rely on the city centers for employment, entertainment, or other services.

Question 35

Which of the following statements regarding homelessness is true?

A) It is easy to obtain an accurate count of the homeless in the United States.
B) Hispanic Americans make up the largest part of the homeless population.
C) Families and children are the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population in both urban and rural areas of this country.
D) Social scientists believe that characteristics such as alcoholism or mental illness often cause an individual's homeless condition.

Question 36

All of the following practices have been used by some property owners, real estate agents, and lending institutions to perpetuate housing segregation, EXCEPT

A) steering.
B) blockbusting.
C) redlining.
D) unequal property taxation.

Question 37

Sociologist Elijah Anderson wrote about the idea that it is possible for diverse people to get along with one another in settings where racial and ethnic boundaries are de-emphasized. This idea is called

A) the cosmopolitan approach.
B) the urban canopy.
C) the cosmopolitan canopy.
D) the tolerance canopy.

Question 38

Peripheral nations

A) depend on core nations for capital and have little or no industrialization.
B) are dependent on themselves for capital.
C) began to industrialize and urbanize rapidly late in the twentieth century.
D) exploit semiperipheral nations.

Question 39

Susan lives in New York City. She eats many of her meals out and relies on public transportation to get to and from work. According to the functionalist perspective, this is an example of

A) organic solidarity.
B) mechanical solidarity.
C) social disorganization.
D) secondary relationships.

Question 40

A national magazine featured Gloria Chow, a single mother, in an article. The magazine reported how Gloria was unemployed for 31 months before she started her own business. After much hard work, she now makes a living wage and supports her children independently. What type of media device is the magazine using?

A) episodic framing
B) thematic framing
C) dramatic generalization
D) thematic generalization

Question 41

What events brought about rapid urbanization in the late nineteenth century? Explore how this urbanization affected the growing communities.

Question 42

What was the housing meltdown? Who was responsible for the housing meltdown? Come up with a plan to help the government prevent another housing meltdown.

Question 43

Explain the concept of the cosmopolitan canopy and provide two examples of this concept.

Question 44

Discuss the health care crisis. Why has this crisis occurred and how might it be remedied?

Question 45

Which of the problems with urbanization is the greatest challenge for cities? Explain the issue in terms of either the functionalist or conflict perspective of sociology.