Question 1

Explain how demography fits within the discipline of sociology. Define one of the following (crude birthrates, fertility, infant mortality rate), and explain why it is considered an important measure for demographers.

Accepted Answer

Demography is customarily treated as a branch of sociology because the factors that influence population in a given group or society and migrations of populations are largely social and cultural. Demography, as a term, was invented about a century and a half ago and reflects national interests in tracking the nature and distribution of their populations. Crude birthrates represent the number of births within a given population per year. It is a useful index for population growth or decline, but it is very general-it does not specify numbers of births in relation to age distribution. Fertility is a measure indicating the average number of life-born children produced by women of childbearing age in a particular society. Birthrates, fertility being one measure, are an expression of the fertility of women, which has bearing on population. Infant mortality rate measures the number of infants who die during the first year of life per 1,000 live births. This is a particularly important specific death rate because its reduction underlies the global population explosion.

Question 2

The job that most closely illustrates the informal economy is:

Accepted Answer

A)   a secretary at a multinational paper manufacturing company
B)   a housekeeper paid "under the table" (not reported for tax purposes)  in suburban communities
C)   a unionized garbage worker in the northeastern United States
D)   a Walmart employee who strives for a better job but is unable to get one B

Question 3

Make an argument that the most developed industrial countries have or have not entered a fourth stage of demographic transition (called the second demographic transition). Your answer should reflect an understanding of all four stages.

Accepted Answer

Students may argue for or against the coming of the second demographic transition. In either case, answers should describe the demographic transition as an interpretation of population change that holds that a stable ratio of births to deaths is achieved once a certain level of economic prosperity has been reached. In preindustrial societies, there is a rough balance between births and deaths because population increase is kept in check by disease, war, or lack of available food. This represents stage one. In stage two, death rates fall while fertility remains high, resulting in a phase of marked population growth. In stage three, birthrates drop and population stabilizes. The proposed fourth stage is one in which birthrates decline below replacement level: mortality rates outstrip fertility rates, resulting in population decline. This appears to be happening because of delayed marriage, delayed childbearing, rising rates of cohabitation, and high, steady rates of divorce.

Question 4

The first cities emerged about 3500 BCE in the:

Accepted Answer

A)   Nile River valley
B)   central valley of Mexico
C)   Chinese mainland
D)   southern part of Italy

Question 5

Like plant and animal populations, cities grow following principles of adaptation and equilibrium so that neighborhoods were settled in a process of competition, invasion, and succession. This is the idea behind:

Accepted Answer

A)   urban ecology or the ecological approach to urban analysis
B)   urbanism as a way of life
C)   the created-environment approach to urban analysis
D)   collective consumption

Question 6

A cluster of cities and towns forming a continuous network is called:

Accepted Answer

A)   a conurbation
B)   a metropolis
C)   a megalopolis
D)   urbanization

Question 7

The theory that economic development generated by industrialization leads to population stability is called:

Accepted Answer

A)   Malthusianism
B)   the demographic transition
C)   the second demographic transition
D)   economism

Question 8

The phenomenon that explains why rural places have a disproportionately higher number of older adults is called:

Accepted Answer

A)   collective consumption
B)   gentrification
C)   aging in place
D)   the aging of rural America

Question 9

According to sociologists, Hurricane Katrina disproportionately affected poor black people in New Orleans because of ghettoized poverty, itself the consequence of:

Accepted Answer

A)   an unwillingness of the political leadership to try to save the most impoverished after struggling to save the lower-middle class and middle-class residents
B)   a lack of education for the poor, preventing them from following instructions
C)   a surplus of resources for the poor that had been squandered
D)   a scarcity of resources for poor people

Question 10

What is one element of the ecological approach to urban analysis (the Chicago School) that, in your view, is still useful today? What is one element of this approach that is no longer useful for the study of cities?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What is one element of the ecological...

Question 11

Demographers refer to changes in the ratio of births to deaths in industrialized countries as:

Accepted Answer

A)   life expectancy
B)   the demographic transition
C)   fertility
D)   life span

Question 12

The number of live births per year per thousand of the population is the:

Accepted Answer

A)   crude birthrate
B)   fertility rate
C)   fecundity rate
D)   rate of population growth or decline

Question 13

Manuel Castells refers to megacities as one of the main features of third-millennium urbanization. In addition to their massive population, what is a key characteristic of a megacity?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Manuel Castells refers to megacities as one...

Question 14

The Ghanaian government wants an accurate measure of fertility rates, so it employs a sociologist to measure:

Accepted Answer

A)   how many children an average woman could possibly have subtracted by the number of children the average woman actually has
B)   the key factors in the second demographic transition that are at play in Ghana
C)   which stage in the demographic transition best describes Ghana and then apply fertility statistics from that stage
D)   the number of live-born children the average Ghanaian woman has

Question 15

What makes cities such as New York and Tokyo where the coordination of global business activity takes place "global cities"?

Accepted Answer

A)   They both have populations that exceed 100 million people.
B)   They both provide contexts of production.
C)   They both produce services and financial goods exclusively and no material goods at all.
D)   They are home to highly diverse populations, many of whom are immigrants.

Question 16

Although today sociologists tend to use the terms interchangeably, ghettos are areas where particular people are forced to live, whereas slums are:

Accepted Answer

A)   worse than ghettos
B)   areas populated by poor people
C)   ethnically exclusive areas
D)   dirty parts of a large city

Question 17

The maximum number of years that an average person in a society could expect to live is called:

Accepted Answer

A)   life expectancy
B)   fecundity
C)   the crude death rate
D)   the life span

Question 18

Louis Wirth identified the "urban interaction problem" as the necessity for city dwellers to respect social boundaries when many people are in close proximity all the time. An example of this is:

Accepted Answer

A)   joining a conversation on a city stoop
B)   asking for survey participants on the sidewalk
C)   talking on cell phones while in a busy park
D)   making eye contact with the street vendors

Question 19

As global cities, what are two characteristics that New York, London, and Tokyo have in common? Use Saskia Sassen's theory as the basis for your answer. If you were to develop her theory, what is one additional characteristic of global cities that you would add?

Accepted Answer

The answer of As global cities, what are two characteristics...

Question 20

The global city takes on a geography of "centrality and marginality," meaning that:

Accepted Answer

A)   the globalization process is central, pushing cities to the margins of the economy
B)   the space of the city is increasingly devoted to the needs of the wealthy and is made unlivable for the poor
C)   affluent city dwellers flee the central city for its furthest margins
D)   the poor "untouchables" transform the cityscape to serve their needs rather than those of the affluent

Exam 19: Population, Urbanization, and the Environment