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Demography

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study of size, composition, distribution, and changes in human population (435)

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Fertility Rate

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a measure of population growth through reproduction; often expressed as the average number of births per 1,000 people in the total population or the average number of children a woman would be expected to have (435)

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Mortality Rate

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a measure of the decrease in population due to deaths; often expressed as the number of deaths expected per 1,000 people per year in a particular population (435)

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Infant Mortality

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average number of infant deaths per 1,000 live births in a particular population (435)

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Life Expectancy

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average age to which people in a particular population live (435)

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Life Span/Longevity

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the uppermost age to which a person can potentially live (437)

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Migration

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movement of people from one geographic area to another for the purpose of resettling (437)

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Immigration

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entering one country from another to take up permanent residence (437)

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Emigration

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leaving one country to live permanently in another (437)

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Internal Migration

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movement of a population within a country (437)

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Net Migration

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net effect of immigration and emigration on an area's population in a given time period; expressed as an increase or decrease (437)

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Malthusian Theorem

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the theory that exponential population growth will outpace arithmetic growth in food production and other resources (437)

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Malthusian Trap

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Mathus's prediction that a rapidly increasing population will overuse natural resources, leading inevitably to a major public health disaster (438)

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Neo-Malthusians

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contemporary researchers who worry about the rapid pace of population growth and believe that Malthus's basic prediction could be true (438)

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Anti-Malthusians

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contemporary researchers who believe the population boom Malthus witnessed was a temporary, historically specific phenomenon and worry instead that the worldwide population may shrink in the future (439)

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Demographic Free Fall

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decrease in fertility rates among populations that have industrialized their economies as children become an economic liability rather than an asset (439)

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Demographic Transition

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a theory suggesting the possible transition over time from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates to low birth and death rates, resulting in a stabilized population (439)

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Family Planning

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contraception, or any method of controlling family size and the birth of children (440)

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Growth Rate

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expression of changes in population size over time figured by subtracting the number of deaths from the number of births, then adding the net migration (440)

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Natural Increase

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change in population size that results from births and deaths; linked to a country's progress toward demographic transition (440)

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Rural

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relating to sparsely settled ares; in the United States, any county with a population density between 10 and 59.9 people per square mile (440)

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Urban

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relating to cities; typically describes densely populated areas (440)

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Urbanization

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movement of increasing numbers of people from rural areas to cities (441)

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Metrapolis

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an urban area with a large population, usually 500,000 to 1 million people (441)

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Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)/Agglomeration

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one or more adjacent counties with at least one major city of 50,000 or more inhabitants that is surrounded by an adjacent area that is socially and economically integrated with the city (441)

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Megapolis/Megacity

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a group of densely populated metropolises that grow dependent on each other and eventually combine to form a huge urban complex (441)

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Global Cities

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a term for megacities that emphasized their global impact as centers of economic, political, and social power (441)

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Urban Density

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concentration of people in a city, measured by the total number of people per square mile (441)

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Suburbanization

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beginning after WWII, the shift of large segments of population away from the urban core and toward the edges of cities (442)

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Urban Sprawl

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a derogatory term applied to the expansion of urban or suburban boundaries, associated with irresponsible or poorly planned development (442)

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Edge Cities

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centers of employment and commerce that began as suburban commuter communities (442)

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Smart Growth

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term for economic and urban planning policies that emphasize responsible development and renewal (442)

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White Flight

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movement of upper- and middle-class whites who could afford to leave the cities for the suburbs, especially in the 1950s and 60s (443)

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Urban Renewal

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efforts to rejuvenate decaying inner cities, including renovation, selective demolition, commercial development, and tax incentives (443)

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Gentrification

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transformation of the physical, social, economic, and cultural life formerly working-class or poor inner-city neighborhoods into more affluent middle-class communities (443)

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Rural Rebound

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population increase in rural counties that adjoin urban centers or possess rich scenic or amenity values (443)

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Utopia

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literally "no place"; an ideal society in which all social ills have been overcome (445)

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Dystopia

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opposite of a utopia; a world where social problems are magnified and the quality of life is extremely low (445)

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Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

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a model of food production and distribution in which small farms recruit subscribers to purchase shares of the farm's harvest; subscribers or shareholders pay at the beginning of the year, and then receive regular deliveries of the farm's produce throughout the growing and harvest seasons (446)

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Social Atomization

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a social situation that emphasizes individualism over collective or group identities (446)

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Urbanites

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people who live in cities (447)

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Alienation

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decreasing importance of social ties and community and the corresponding increase in impersonal associations and instrumental logic (448)

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Altruism

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unselfish concern for the well-being of others and helping behaviors performed without self-interested motivation (448)

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Bystander Effect/Diffusion of Responsibility

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the social dynamic wherein the more people who are present in a moment of crisis, the less likely any one of them is to take action (448)

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Civil Inattention

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an unspoken rule governing interactions in public places, whereby individuals briefly notice others before ignoring them (449)

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Pluralistic Ignorance

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a process in which members of a group individually conclude that there is no need to take action because of the observation that other group members have not done so (450)

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Community

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a group of people living in the same local area who share a sense of participation, belonging, and fellowship (450)

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Social Ecology

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the study of human populations and their impact on the natural world (451)

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Environment

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in sociology, the natural world, the human-made environment, and the interaction between the two (451)

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Biosphere

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the parts of Earth that can support life (451)

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Environmental Sociology

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the study of the interaction between society and the natural environment, including the social causes and consequences of environmental problems (452)

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Renewable Resources

answer

resources that replenish at a rate comparable to the rate at which they are consumed (452)

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Nonrenewable Resources

answer

finite resources that can become exhausted; includes those that take so long to replenish as to be effectively (452)

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Biodiversity

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the variety of species of plants and animals existing at any given time (453)

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Pollution

answer

any environmental contaminant that harms living beings (453)

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Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

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a government agency organized in 1969 to protect public health and the environment through policies and enforcement (454)

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Greenhouse Gases

answer

any gases in Earth's atmosphere that allow sunlight to pass through but trap heat, thus affecting temperature (454)

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Greenhouse Effect

answer

the process in which increased production of greenhouse gases, especially those arising from human activity (e.g., carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane) cause changes to Earth's atmosphere (454)

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Global Warming

answer

gradual increases in Earth's temperature, driven recently by an increase in greenhouse gases and other human activity (454)

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Global (or Solar) Dimming

answer

a decline in the amount of light reaching the Earth's surface because of increased air pollution, which reflects more light back into space (455)

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Treadmill of Production

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term describing the operation of modern economic systems that require constant growth, which causes increased exploitation of resources and environmental degradation (458)

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New Ecological Paradigm

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a way of understanding human life as just one part of an ecosystem that includes many species' interactions with the environment; suggests that there should be ecological limits on human activity (458)

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Anthropocentric

answer

literally "human centered"; the idea that needs and desires of human beings should take priority over concerns about other species or the natural environment (458)

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Human Exceptionalism

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the attitude that humans are exempt from natural ecological limits (458)

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Environmental Movement

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a social movement organized around concerns about the relationship between humans and the environment (459)

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Conservation Era

answer

earliest stage of the environmental movement, which focused on the preservation of "wilderness" areas (459)

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Modern Environmental Movement

answer

beginning in the 1960s, the second major stage of the environmental movement; focused on the environmental consequences of new technologies, oil exploration, chemical production, and nuclear power plants (459)

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Mainstream Environmentalism

answer

beginning in the 1980s, the third major stage of the environmental movement; characterized by enhanced organization, improved promotional campaigns and political tactics, and an increased reliance on economic and scientific expertise (460)

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Earth Day

answer

an annual event conceived of by environmental activist and former senator Gaylord Nelson to encourage support for and increase awareness of environmental concerns; first celebrated on March 22, 1970 (460)

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Grassroots Evironmentalism

answer

fourth major stage of the environmental movement; distinguished by the diversity of its members and belief in citizen participation in environmental decision making (460)

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NIMBY

answer

short for "Not In My Back Yard"; originally referred to protests that aimed at shifting undesirable activities onto those with less power; now sometimes used without negative connotations to describe local environmental activists (461)

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Green Party

answer

a U.S. political party established in 1984 to bring political attention to environmentalism, social justice, diversity, and related principles (461)

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Ecoterrorism

answer

use of violence or criminal methods to protect the environment, often in high-profile, publicity-generating ways (461)

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Environmental Justice

answer

a movement that aims t remedy environmental inequities such as threats to public health and the unequal treatment of certain communities with regard to ecological concerns (462)

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Environmental Racism

answer

any environment policy or practice that negatively affects individuals, groups, or communities because of their race or ethnicity (462)

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Sustainable Development

answer

economic development that aims to reconcile global economic growth with environmental protection (462)

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Ecological Footprint

answer

an estimation of the land and water area required to produce all the goods an individual consumes and to assimilate all the wastes she generates (462)

Soc 001 Chapter 15 – Flashcards

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