Deck 21: Population, Urbanization and the Environment

Question 1

What proportion of Americans lives within 25 miles of a city center?

A) 25 percent
B) 50 percent
C) 75 percent
D) 90 percent

Answer 1

90 percent

Question 2

The rate of growth of the world population during the twentieth century is often referred to as a

A) baby boom
B) population expansion
C) population explosion
D) population disaster

Answer 2

population explosion

Question 3

Those individuals who believe that the rapid population growth will lead to increasing social and environmental disasters are called:

A) cornucopians
B) catastrophists
C) Malthusians
D) transitionists

Answer 3

catastrophists

Question 4

A cornucopian is one who believes which of the following ideas about populations?

A) rapid population growth will lead to greater poverty
B) there are endless possibilities for population growth and control of social problems
C) environmental disasters are the result of population growth
D) extreme depletion of water and soil resources will result from population growth

Question 5

Which of the following statements best summarizes Thomas Malthus' theory of population growth?

A) Although population increases geometrically, technological innovation will guarantee adequate food supplies.
B) Increases in the food supply inevitably lead to increases in population.
C) Population increases geometrically while the available food supply increases arithmetically.
D) Population increases in direct proportion to the available food supply.

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT an element of Thomas Malthus's theory of population growth?

A) It is possible to create social institutions that would alleviate human unhappiness.
B) Population increases geometrically.
C) Poverty, famine, disease, war, and mass migrations act as checks on rapid population growth.
D) The food supply is inadequate to feed large populations.

Question 7

Thomas Malthus's theory of population growth has been criticized on the grounds that it failed to take into account:

A) natural checks on population growth such as famine and war
B) the effects of technological and institutional change
C) the labor requirements of the early capitalists
D) the natural inclination of people to limit population growth

Question 8

Rates of population growth and exhaustion of environmental resources are:

A) about equal in all nations of the world
B) highest in the poorest nations
C) highest in the richest nations
D) lowest in the poorest nations

Question 9

All of the following are factors determining the size of a population EXCEPT:

A) births
B) deaths
C) migration
D) residence

Question 10

The most basic measures of population change are called:

A) crude rates
B) instrumental rates
C) simple rates
D) unadjusted rates

Question 11

The number of deaths occurring in a year in a given population divided by the midyear population is the:

A) crude death rate
B) morbidity rate
C) mortality count
D) refined death rate

Question 12

The term "crude" in reference to birth and death rates means that:

A) in comparing birth and death rates for different nations, one must keep in mind that some governments are more likely to lie than others
B) they compare the total number of deaths with the total midyear population
C) population change through immigration is not included in the calculation
D) such statistics are rough estimates and are highly inaccurate

Question 13

For a given population, the difference between the crude birthrate and the crude death rate is the:

A) fertility count
B) rate of fecundity
C) rate of population growth
D) rate of reproductive change

Question 14

The rate of reproductive change is a measure of the "natural increase" in a population because it does not take into account changes that result from:

A) death due to industrial accidents
B) in- and out-migration
C) the effects of population control policies
D) war

Question 15

Which ethnic group has consistently shown an increase in the number of residents in small communities throughout the United States?

A) Hispanic
B) white- other ethnic group
C) black
D) non-Hispanic white

Question 16

Which of the following terms refers to a set of major changes in birth and death rates that has occurred most completely in urban-industrial nations within the past 200 years?

A) gentrification
B) Great Leap Forward
C) population pyramid
D) the demographic transition

Question 17

The rapid increase in the world's population in the last century and a half was primarily the result of:

A) changing patterns of immigration
B) decreased frequency of wars
C) decreased use of contraception
D) lower death rates

Question 18

Which of the following is the correct order of the stages of the demographic transition?

A) high growth potential, incipient decline, transitional growth
B) high growth potential, transitional growth, incipient decline
C) incipient decline, high growth potential, incipient decline
D) transitional growth, incipient decline, high growth potential

Question 19

Which stage of demographic transition features high death rates due to infant mortality and low life expectancy?

A) incipient decline
B) transitional growth stage
C) high growth potential
D) population explosion

Question 20

The transitional growth state can be found in which type of society?

A) preindustrial
B) primitive
C) those in the early stages of urban development
D) those in the advanced stages of industrial development

Question 21

The second stage of the demographic transition consists of:

A) a decrease in death rates
B) a decrease in birthrates
C) an increase in death rates
D) an increase in birthrates

Question 22

Which of the following elements is required for the demographic transition to occur?

A) changes in the cultural value of children
B) economic and social development
C) government planning
D) more equitable distribution of social resources

Question 23

The stage of high growth potential is found in which type of society?

A) preindustrial
B) primitive
C) post industrial
D) urban

Question 24

Nearly half the population of Brazil is under 15 years of age. According to demographic transition theory, the large proportion of young people in the population is the result of:

A) decreasing government emphasis on birth control
B) decreasing infant and child mortality
C) increasing birthrates
D) increasing death rates among older people

Question 25

The emergence of large cities in Western societies resulted in:

A) a decrease in the average age at which couples marry
B) a decrease in the average age at which women bear their first child
C) a decrease in the birthrate
D) an increase in average family size

Question 26

The Republic of Landovia has a fertility rate of less than 2.0. As a result, we might expect their population growth rate over a generation to be:

A) enough to maintain a slow growth
B) negative
C) 20 percent over ten years
D) zero

Question 27

An analysis of birthrates in non-Western cities found that:

A) infant mortality is higher in the cities than in the rural areas
B) rural traditions with regard to large families were quickly altered with migration to the cities
C) the experience of non-Western cities with regard to population is similar to that of Western cities
D) the populations of some Asian and African cities increased faster than that of rural areas

Question 28

Which of the following has been a major factor in the larger increase of populations in the cities as compared to rural areas in Asia and Africa?

A) decreases in the fertility rate
B) government policies that encourage large families
C) mechanization of agriculture which pushes rural people to the city
D) persistence of the rural tradition of large families

Question 29

In his analysis of population trends in urban areas, Philip Hauser found that birthrates were lowest in the areas that had the highest proportions of:

A) Catholics
B) college graduates
C) new migrants
D) two-career couples

Question 30

Life expectancy is defined as:

A) the number of years one lives
B) the number of years one plans to live
C) the number of years one can expect to live
D) the difference in life span and life years

Question 31

Jennifer lives in a highly developed society with good water, very comfortable housing, with all the modern conveniences. Her sister, Jane, lives in a primitive region of east Africa where good water is hard to find and although her diet is good, her housing accommodations are primitive. What can you conclude regarding their life expectancy?

A) Jane will have a longer expectancy than Jennifer.
B) Jennifer's life expectancy is greater than Jane's.
C) Both should have the same life expectancy because they are siblings.
D) There is no way to predict their life expectancy.

Question 32

The term that is applied to how long the average person can expect to live without severe and disabling illness is:

A) disability expectancy
B) adjusted life expectancy
C) disability-adjusted life expectancy
D) disability status expectancy

Question 33

Which of the following is NOT one of the reasons that the United States ranks relatively low on the disability-adjusted life expectancy for newborns?

A) death and disability due to HIV is relatively low
B) some groups such as Native Americans have extremely poor health
C) there is a high rate of coronary disease
D) there is a high rate of violence, especially homicides

Question 34

When individuals refer to the proportion of the total population that is concentrated in urban settlements, they use the term:

A) urban analysis
B) urban concentration
C) community development
D) urbanization

Question 35

In explaining the process of rural-urban migration, all of the following have been suggested as "push" factors EXCEPT:

A) decreasing availability of farm land
B) higher living standards in urban areas
C) overpopulation
D) the seasonal nature of agricultural employment

Question 36

The norm of primogeniture requires that:

A) all authority is in the hands of the eldest male in the family
B) the firstborn son inherits all of his family's land
C) the firstborn son is named after his father
D) the firstborn son is sent to the city to find homes for other members of the family

Question 37

The increasing tendency of people throughout the world to live in cities is known as:

A) chain migration
B) external migration
C) urban revolution
D) city revolution

Question 38

A migration pattern in which people move from the countryside to the city to join an existing network of friends or relatives is referred to as:

A) chain migration
B) external migration
C) pull migration
D) push migration

Question 39

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of chain migration?

A) A network of friends and relatives is transferred from the village to the city.
B) It operates across national boundaries.
C) It results in dramatic increases in fertility rates.
D) It results in the formation of a small, homogeneous community within the city.

Question 40

Chinatown, Little Italy, and similar communities within large cities develop as a result of:

A) assimilation
B) chain migration
C) gentrification
D) the demographic transition

Question 41

All of the following are among the factors that limited the size of early cities EXCEPT:

A) continuing wars that weakened the population
B) insufficient agricultural surpluses
C) lack of efficient transportation of goods
D) lack of scientific medicine

Question 42

Compared with modern cities, ancient cities lacked all of the following EXCEPT:

A) a central administrative apparatus
B) efficient means of transporting goods over long distances
C) enough surplus food to feed an urban population
D) scientific medicine

Question 43

Among the results of urbanization is the:

A) dispersion of populations
B) increasing interdependence of populations
C) increasing isolation of one city from another
D) need for increased rural populations to feed city dwellers

Question 44

A central city of at least 100,000 population, surrounded by a number of smaller cities and suburbs that are closely related to it both socially and economically, is called:

A) a megalopolis
B) a metropolitan area
C) an urban center
D) an urban-industrial complex

Question 45

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a metropolitan area?

A) a central city surrounded by a number of small cities and suburbs
B) the population of the central city at least 100,000
C) close social and economic relations among the settlements in the area
D) occupation of a geographic area of a certain minimum size

Question 46

The process by which an increasing proportion of the population becomes concentrated in cities is termed:

A) the demographic transition
B) gentrification
C) internal migration
D) urbanization

Question 47

The so-called urban revolution was first felt in the United States:

A) after World War II
B) at about the same time as the agrarian revolution
C) after the Civil War
D) in the sixteenth century

Question 48

Which of the following statements about urbanization is NOT true?

A) An increasing proportion of the population becomes concentrated in cities.
B) In general, it results in an increase in the birthrate.
C) Urban living is associated with later marriage.
D) Cities can continue to grow even after a society has become urbanized.

Question 49

Which of the following statements about India is NOT correct?

A) Its rural population is growing almost as fast as its urban population.
B) Rural social structure has remained virtually unchanged.
C) The process of urbanization is complete.
D) There is persistent poverty in both rural and urban areas.

Question 50

The one-child policy in China has had all of the following effects EXCEPT:

A) a severe imbalance in the sex ratio
B) large numbers of only children
C) the shortage of marriageable women in some areas
D) voluntary control of their fertility by the Chinese population

Question 51

The major factor responsible for pushing people out of rural areas and into urban areas is

A) declining population
B) increasing work opportunities
C) increasing opportunities to purchase land
D) overpopulation

Question 52

Primogeniture is best defined as a situation in which:

A) prime property is passed down from generation to generation
B) the eldest daughter inherits the land
C) only the eldest son inherits the land
D) primary groups encourage movement to urban areas

Question 53

A prime pull factor occurs when:

A) family members continue to work on the family farm
B) there is a lack of employment opportunities
C) living conditions improve
D) family and relatives are already living in the urban area

Question 54

A situation in which a network of friends and relatives transfer from the village to the city over a period of time is:

A) chain migration
B) emigration
C) immigration
D) forced migration

Question 55

An example of chain migration can be seen in:

A) the Chinatown community of San Francisco
B) the Slovenian community of Cleveland
C) the Mexican community of Chicago
D) all of these

Question 56

A major influence in the growth of cities in the United States has been:

A) social and economic reforms of the New Deal
B) steadily increasing birth rates
C) the collapse of the agricultural economy
D) waves of immigration

Question 57

Burgess and Park attempted to explain the expansion of cities in terms of all of the following EXCEPT:

A) patterns of settlement
B) population
C) rural-urban conflict
D) territory

Question 58

In the concentric-zone model of the city, the concept of natural areas refers to:

A) areas in which the population is relatively homogeneous
B) areas that are used largely for residential purposes
C) areas that are being invaded by business and light manufacturing
D) undeveloped land

Question 59

Which of the following states that urban expansion occurs through a series of "invasions"?

A) concentric-zone model
B) emergent-metropolis model
C) multiple-nuclei model
D) the strip theory

Question 60

Joe Smith lives in an older city in the Midwest. He noted that as migrants from rural areas came to the city they settled where housing was cheap and close to where they worked. Meanwhile, older residents who could afford better housing moved farther from the center. Smith's observations seem to confirm the explanation of urban expansion known as the:

A) concentric-zone model
B) emergent-metropolis model
C) multiple-nuclei model
D) strip theory

Question 61

Ernest Burgess and Robert Park's concentric-zone model of urban development was based on studies of:

A) Boston
B) Chicago
C) New York
D) Philadelphia

Question 62

Which of the following is the correct order of zones from the core of the city out in Burgess and Park's concentric-zone model?

A) residential zone, zone of working people's homes, zone in transition, commuter zone
B) zone in transition, zone of working people's homes, residential zone, commuter zone
C) zone of working people's homes, residential zone, zone in transition, commuter zone
D) zone of working people's homes, zone in transition, residential zone, commuter zone

Question 63

In Burgess and Park's concentric-zone model, a zone in transition is an area that is:

A) being invaded by business and light manufacturing
B) being settled by migrants
C) considered to be a slum
D) ready for gentrification

Question 64

In Burgess and Park's concentric-zone model, the zone that is inhabited by people who do not want to live in the business district but need to live reasonably close to where they work is the:

A) loop
B) residential zone
C) zone in transition
D) zone of working people's homes

Question 65

The growth of satellite cities has been accelerated by which of the following?

A) public investment in interstate and metropolitan highways
B) recent waves of immigration
C) the decline of central cities
D) the presence of natural boundaries that inhibit growth of central cities

Question 66

The growth of satellite cities was typical of which of the following periods?

A) the period between the two World Wars
B) the first decade of the twentieth century
C) the late nineteenth century
D) the early 1960s

Question 67

A major shortcoming of the concentric zone model of urban development is:

A) its bias toward the commercial and industrial cities of North America
B) the failure to anticipate the consequences of immigration to the central city
C) the omission of the phenomenon of "white flight"
D) the overestimation of the effects of urban planning

Question 68

A complex of cities distributed along a major axis of traffic and communication is referred to as:

A) a megalopolis
B) a metropolitan district
C) a standard metropolitan statistical area
D) an urbanized area

Question 69

The term street urchin applied to:

A) the trash that accumulated in the street
B) an impoverished elderly person
C) children who survived on the streets
D) trailer trash

Question 70

The prejudice towards families and individuals who are poor, lacking health insurance and residents of trailer parks is reflected in the term:

A) trailer urchins
B) slum dwellers
C) migrant workers
D) trailer trash

Question 71

When taking a bus trip from Boston to Washington, you notice that it is difficult to tell where one city begins and another ends. The suburbs seem just as crowded as the central cities, so that in the end it looks like one large city rather than many. From these observations you can conclude that you are traveling through:

A) metropolitan district
B) megalopolis
C) primary metropolitan statistical area
D) urbanized area

Question 72

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a megalopolis?

A) a centralized administrative structure
B) an infrastructure consisting of highways, railways, and telephone lines
C) an intertwined web of relationships among distinct urban centers
D) separation of place of residence from place of work

Question 73

The process by which outlying areas become more important at the expense of the central city is termed:

A) decentralization
B) deurbanization
C) suburbanization
D) urban deinstitutionalization

Question 74

Which of the following appear to be hurt most by the process of decentralization?

A) large cities
B) medium-sized cities
C) rural areas
D) the suburbs

Question 75

Both Tonnies and Durkheim believed that cities:

A) are centers of creativity and individualism
B) are a temporary state in the evolution of human society
C) weaken kinship ties and produce impersonal social relationships
D) would soon be replaced by utopian communities

Question 76

In "The Metropolis and Mental Life," Georg Simmel argued that a major consequence of urban living is:

A) a more tranquil lifestyle
B) a strengthening of kinship ties
C) the bombardment of the individual by undesired sensory stimuli
D) the development of social relations based on emotional commitment

Question 77

Stanley Milgram argues that the usual way of coping with the "psychic overload" that accompanies city living is to:

A) become active in social movements
B) become calculating and emotionally distant
C) become part of a religious community
D) escape to the suburbs

Question 78

The way of adapting to city life and its profusion of stimuli is described as:

A) psychic overload
B) emotional overload
C) social disorganization
D) gentrification

Question 79

In his essay "Urbanism as a Way of Life," Louis Wirth characterizes the city as a "relatively large, dense, and permanent settlement of socially heterogeneous individuals."In his view, a major consequence of this condition is:

A) a tendency for city dwellers to move to the suburbs
B) gentrification
C) psychological stress and social disorganization
D) the formation of communities within the city

Question 80

Louis Wirth argues in his essay "Urbanism as a Way of Life," that the primary psychological effect of urban life on the individual is:

A) an increased propensity to engage in crime
B) an increased tendency to seek divorce
C) a weakening of ties to other people
D) extreme individualism and competitiveness