Deck 16: Environmental Sociology

Question 1

What characteristic make South Africa a fertile ground for developing a unified social movement?

A)There are already many social issues that environmental concerns can build on.
B)It is a historically divided society.
C)There are insufficient social movements that are highly needed.
D)There are limited resources, which will attract investors.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Revolutionary, unprecedented or ground-breaking inventions that are the cornerstones for a wide range of applications are called

A)basic innovations.
B)improving innovation.
C)science.
D)cultural inventions.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Choose the incorrect option.Environmental social movements…

A)emerge outside established institutions.
B)have become important drivers of social change.
C)can be broad networks of people organised in pursuit of a cause.
D)are homogenous and fixed.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

A company maintains 'We deliver within 30 minutes!' That company is applying which of the following McDonalisation principles?

A)Efficiency
B)Quantification/calculation
C)Predictability
D)Control

Question 5

Choose the incorrect option.Environmental sociology ______________

A)is a regular field of study within sociology that is borrowed from the sciences.
B)became popular only since the 1970s.
C)focuses mainly on issues of the environment in relation to social conditions.
D)is a specialised field of study.

Question 6

___________ involves producing goods that are disposable after a single use, have a shorter life cycle than the industry is capable of producing, or go out of style quickly even though the goods can still serve their purpose.

A)Mechanisation
B)Rationalisation
C)Planned obsolescence
D)A tipping point

Question 7

Improving innovations are __________ inventions.

A)modifying
B)revolutionary
C)unprecedented
D)ground-breaking

Question 8

Environmental movement such as ____________ organise to protect the environment.

A)civic organisations
B)Greenpeace
C)African National Congress
D)Global South

Question 9

To stay in 'fashion' many people buy a new car even though their old car is still in excellent-to-good condition.Similarly, people tend to buy new clothes before they wear out the clothes they already have.Such actions speak to

A)mechanisation.
B)rationalisation.
C)planned obsolescence.
D)a tipping point.

Question 10

A company installs a soft drink dispenser that automatically shuts off after a specified amount is delivered into a glass.That company is applying which one of the following McDonalisation principles?

A)Efficiency
B)Quantification/calculation
C)Predictability
D)Control

Question 11

A society in which the use of fossil fuels shapes virtually every aspect of people's personal and social lives is a ______________ society.

A)global
B)hydrocarbon
C)greenhouse
D)industrial

Question 12

The principles of efficiency, quantification/calculation, predictability and control govern the organisational trend known as

A)McDonaldisation.
B)planned obsolescence.
C)tipping points.
D)innovation.

Question 13

Which one of the following is an example of an improving innovation?

A)Cotton gin
B)An upgrade to the personal computer's CPU
C)Steam engine
D)A first generation PC

Question 14

One can argue that the information explosion began with the invention of the

A)printing press.
B)radio.
C)television.
D)the internet.

Question 15

Which of the following processes is not a variable of climate change?

A)Rising temperatures
B)Changing precipitation patterns
C)Extreme events being more intense
D)Water-borne dust particles

Question 16

About 50 per cent of the world's population lives in _______ environment.

A)an urban
B)a rural
C)a suburban
D)a city

Question 17

Choose the correct option.The African Youth Environment Network (AYEN)

A)began as a populist social movement against environmentalism.
B)has increased women's participation in environmental issues.
C)began in South America.
D)is not active in Africa.

Question 18

Bello discusses two examples of alternative development models that show the protection of the environment.These are in

A)Korea and Japan
B)China and Taiwan
C)Korea and Taiwan
D)Japan and Hong Kong

Question 19

__________ is a transformative process in which people migrate from rural to urban areas and change the way they use land, interact, and make a living.

A)McDonaldisation
B)Urbanisation
C)Global interdependence
D)Planned obsolescence

Question 20

Refrigerators, ovens, washing machines, and dryers built since 2000 are expected to last 8-12 years, while those built in the 1970s and 1980s lasted 20 years or more.This shift in product life is an example of

A)mechanisation.
B)rationalisation.
C)planned obsolescence.
D)a tipping point.

Question 21

Inventors may be geniuses, but they also must be born in the right place and at the right time; this means that

A)they must be born in a capitalist country free of government control.
B)the society into which they are born must allow the masses access to education.
C)they must live in a society with a cultural base sufficiently developed to support their invention.
D)people must perceive their inventions as useful.

Question 22

Marx believed that _________ was the first economic system capable of maximising the immense productive potential of human labour and ingenuity.

A)the capitalist system
B)socialism
C)communism
D)a centrally planned economy

Question 23

'Of all discoveries and opinions, none may have exerted a greater effect on the human spirit than the doctrine of Copernicus.The world had scarcely become known as round and complete in itself when it was asked to waive the tremendous privilege of being the center of the universe.Never, perhaps, was a greater demand made on mankind - for by this admission so many things vanished in mist and smoke!' (Goethe 2004).This description describes

A)a scientific revolution.
B)an anomaly.
C)a reformist movement.
D)a paradigm.

Question 24

The explanatory value and hence the status of a paradigm is threatened by the existence of an anomaly.An anomaly is

A)a dominant and widely accepted theory.
B)an observation that the paradigm cannot explain.
C)a modification of a basic invention.
D)a transformation of the social structure.

Question 25

Each upgrade of a personal computer's memory capacity represents a

A)an invention.
B)a basic innovation.
C)an improving innovation.
D)a paradigm shift.

Question 26

Perhaps the most outstanding feature of the internet is that it was designed to operate

A)from a central command station in Washington.
B)on solar power.
C)automatically.
D)absent a central control.

Question 27

A scientific revolution occurs when

A)the cultural base increases geometrically.
B)an improving innovation emerges.
C)the cultural base is sufficiently developed to support an invention.
D)a new paradigm changes a discipline's elementary theoretical generalisations.

Question 28

Thomas Kuhn defines a paradigm as

A)equivalent to a hypothesis.
B)a trial and highly tentative idea.
C)the dominant and widely accepted theories and concepts in a particular field of study.
D)the most controversial theories and concepts within a discipline.

Question 29

On the positive side, dominant paradigms

A)are the glue that binds a group of people with common interests into a scientific community.
B)are expansive thinking tools that broaden the kind of questions people ask.
C)are threatened by anomalies.
D)challenge theories most basis to a discipline.

Question 30

During World War II hundreds of thousands of soldiers were injured by machine gun shrapnel.The need to restore lost blood resulting from these injuries motivated doctors to create a system of collecting and preserving blood plasma.This dynamic supports the idea that

A)power resides in the position of physician.
B)conflict can lead to change.
C)paradigm shifts help people to see the world in new ways.
D)the actions of leaders influence who is in charge of a situation.

Question 31

'We invent cars to get us between two points faster, and suddenly we find we have to build new roads.And that means we have to invent traffic regulations...and then we have to invent a whole new organisation called the traffic police.' This assessment supports the idea that

A)necessity is the mother of invention.
B)if a new invention is to come into being, the cultural base must be large enough to support it.
C)invention is the mother of necessity.
D)if people have the power to create material innovations they also have the power to destroy them.

Question 32

The internet began in the late 1960s linking four __________ together.

A)military bases
B)universities
C)defence contractors
D)generals

Question 33

_______________ is formed when a substantial number of people organise to change, to resist change, or to undo change in some area of society.

A)A scientific revolution
B)A social movement
C)A basic innovation
D)Resource mobilisation

Question 34

When a new paradigm causes converts to see the world in an entirely new light and wonder how they could possibly have taken the old paradigm seriously, _______ has occurred.

A)a scientific revolution
B)innovation
C)cultural lag
D)adaptive reasoning

Question 35

Copernicus upset the prevailing views at the time that humankind or the earth was the centre of the universe, causing converts to see the world in an entirely new light and to wonder how they could possibly have taken the old paradigm seriously.This mind-altering experience is known as

A)a scientific revolution.
B)an anomaly.
C)a reformist movement.
D)a paradigm

Question 36

A_________ of climate change is a growing interest in Greenland, the Arctic and Antarctica such that popular films are set in or give prominent attention to these locations

A)manifest function
B)latent function
C)manifest dysfunction
D)latent dysfunction

Question 37

The unexpected emergence of a working alliance between Inuit Greenlanders and tropical island peoples, both of whom face cultural extinction from rising sea levels associated with climate change is a

A)manifest function.
B)latent function.
C)manifest dysfunction.
D)latent dysfunction.

Question 38

Which one of the following theorists would ask 'Who benefits from climate change, and at whose expense?'

A)Functionalists
B)Conflict theorists
C)Symbolic interactionists
D)Structural strain theorists

Question 39

The invention of the internet is directly connected with which one of the following historical events?

A)The Industrial Revolution
B)The Cold War
C)The information explosion
D)World War I

Question 40

Each 'upgrade' of the 1903 Wright Flyer (the first successful airplane) increased the airplane's capacity to fly farther, higher, faster, and with more passengers.Upgrades are equivalent to

A)an invention.
B)a basic innovation.
C)an improving innovation.
D)a paradigm shift.

Question 41

The few people who occupy such high positions in the social structure of leading institutions that their decisions affect millions, even billions, of people worldwide are known as

A)the bourgeoise.
B)proletariat.
C)power elite.
D)bureaucrats.

Question 42

With regard to climate change, there appear to be two opposing camps, both of which agree

A)that the planet is warming, that ice sheets are melting, and that greenhouse gas emissions have risen.
B)that the climate change is human-made.
C)that the climate change is part of a natural cycle.
D)that greenhouse gases are dangerous.

Question 43

Sociologists define _______ as a critical set of potential social advantages, including everything from the chances that a person will survive through the first year of life to the chances that a person will live a long life.

A)social status
B)life chances
C)rationalisation
D)an anomaly

Question 44

During the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, European and American whalers killed tens of thousands of whales in Arctic waters for commercial purposes, with little effective resistance from environmental or animal rights groups.Today, whaling is a highly monitored activity subject to quotas.This change in reaction to whaling suggests that

A)behaviour considered deviant at one time and place may not be considered deviant at another.
B)people have consistent ideas about what is considered deviant.
C)something is deviant only if it considered deviant across time and place.
D)native people who still whale should be punished.

Question 45

The Congo River Basin Youth Initiative developed in South Africa and attracts local youths.

Question 46

While South Africa has the highest levels of environmental awareness on the continent, there is no clear unified environmental movement, except for a diverse social environmental and NGO movements.

Question 47

Climate change is fuelling the emergence of two opposing groups (an in-group and an out-group).Those groups are

A)Arctic peoples/tropical islanders versus people who live in highest greenhouse gas producing societies.
B)capitalists versus ecotourists.
C)cold weather versus warm weather peoples.
D)wind versus solar power users.

Question 48

Environmental sociology is a relatively new area of study having only emerged since the 2000s.

Question 49

___________ are particularly interested in ways climate change is affecting interaction among Greenlanders.

A)Functionalists
B)Conflict theorists
C)Symbolic interactionists
D)Structural strain theorists

Question 50

The Congo River Basin Youth Initiative formed in order to bring attention to and educate on conservation and ecological issues.

Question 51

Environmental sociology emerged in the 1970s and then was mainly concerned with environmental issues facing western nations, particularly the USA.

Question 52

Sociologists use the term _________ to describe a group with which people identify and to which they feel closely attached - particularly when that attachment is founded on opposition to another group.

A)primary group
B)in-group
C)out-group
D)secondary group

Question 53

Sociologists look to identify the scarce resources that pulled Greenlanders into the global division of labour.From the 16th through the late 19th centuries that resource was

A)oil, extracted from the ground.
B)oil, extracted from whales.
C)rubber.
D)ivory.

Question 54

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) formed in 2010 in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Question 55

African women are disinterested in environmental issues concerning the African continent.

Question 56

_____ are viewed as coordinating mechanisms, because they bring together people, resources, and technology and then channel social activity toward achieving a specific outcome.

A)In-groups
B)Out-groups
C)Formal organisations
D)Paradigms

Question 57

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) lobbies for all HIV-infected people to have access to anti-retroviral treatment and further preventative care.

Question 58

An __________ is a group toward which people feel a sense of separateness, opposition, or even hatred.

A)primary group
B)in-group
C)out-group
D)secondary group

Question 59

Environmental issues in Africa may affect men and women differently.

Question 60

Social movements are collective human groups that come together around a set of issues or an issue in order to make a change.

Question 61

A UNICEF South Africa Report (2011) shows that children in SA are disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of climate change compared to adults.

Question 62

Tipping points in environmental sociology are situations in which previously rare occurrence worsens over time into something dramatically more common.

Question 63

Sociologist, Jacklyn Cock categorises social movements in South Africa into three broad categories including 'the greens', the 'browns' and the 'reds'.

Question 64

Climate change is a naturally occurring phenomenon that has nothing to do with changes in the earth's temperatures or atmosphere.

Question 65

Walden Bello, an environmental activist, believes that the Global South need to develop their own multi-level explanations and ideas theorising about how environmental social movements develop in their contexts.

Question 66

Environmental movements developed differently throughout the world and started in developing countries.

Question 67

The Global North is a term used to refer to most developed countries of western Europe and the USA and the term Global South is used to refer to mainly developing countries of the less- or under- industrialised nations.

Question 68

The 'greens', according to Cock's categorisation of environmental movements in South Africa include a varied group of trade union and land activists and new social movements.

Question 69

Global warming is the gradual increase in temperatures of the earth's atmosphere mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels and industrial pollutants.

Question 70

Fossil fuels that are carbon-emitting include coal, oil, natural gases and the remains of dead animals all encrusted deep in the earth's surface over long periods of time and can be used to manufacture hair products, plastics and provide sources of energy to make heat.