Book: Ch. 1. Quiz / Key term / Essays

Question 1

1. In terms of area, how does Texas rank among the 50 states?
   a) first
   b) second
   c) third
   d) fifth
   e) seventh

Answer 1

b) second

Question 2

2. Provincialism refers to
   a) a narrow view of the world.
   b) a progressive view of the value of diversity.
   c) a pro-business political culture.
   d) an urban society.
   e) a group of counties.

Answer 2

a) a narrow view of the world.

Question 3

3. Which of Texas’s physical regions is characterized by the presence of many of the state’s largest ranches?
   a) Gulf Coastal Plains
   b) Great Plains
   c) Interior Lowlands
   d) Basin and Range Province
   e) Rio Grande Valley

Answer 3

c) Interior Lowlands

Question 4

4. Which of Texas’s physical regions is found in the western-most part of Texas?
   a) Gulf Coastal Plains
   b) Great Plains
   c) Interior Lowlands
   d) Basin and Range Province
   e) Pine Belt

Answer 4

d) Basin and Range Province

Question 5

Define: political culture (p. 5)

Answer 5

Broadly shared values, beliefs, and attitudes about how the government should function and politics should operate; American political culture emphasizes the values of liberty, equality, and democracy

Question 6

Define: moralistic political culture (p. 5)

Answer 6

The belief that government should be active in promoting the public good and that citizens should participate in politics and civic activities to ensure that good

Question 7

Define: individualistic political culture (p. 5)

Answer 7

The belief that government should limit its role to providing order in society, so that citizens can pursue their economic self-interests

Question 8

Define: traditionalistic political culture (p. 5)

Answer 8

The belief that government should be dominated by political elites and guided by tradition

Question 9

Define: elite (p. 6)

Answer 9

A small group of people that dominates the political process

Question 10

Define: provincialism (p. 6)

Answer 10

A narrow, limited, and self-interested view of the world often associated with rural values and notions of limited government

Question 11

Define: North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) (p. 17)

Answer 11

Trade treaty among the United States, Canada, and Mexico to lower and eliminate tariffs among the three countries

Question 12

5. Creative destruction
   a) destroys both old and new economies.
   b) creates new economies and destroys old ones.
   c) maintains old economies and creates new ones.
   d) creates and maintains old and new economies.
   e) does not affect economies.

Answer 12

b) creates new economies and destroys old ones.

Question 13

6. Which industry controlled the politics and economy of Texas for most of the twentieth century?
   a) cotton
   b) cattle
   c) railroad
   d) oil
   e) technology

Answer 13

d) oil

Question 14

7. Which of the following statements is true?
   a) oil production in Texas is smaller today than it was
   10 years ago.
   b) oil production no longer plays an important role in the state’s economy.
   c) oil has been almost totally drained from Texas oil fields.
   d) The dallas–Fort Worth region has become a major producer of oil in the early twenty-first century.
   e) Fracking and horizontal drilling have reinvigorated
   Texas’s oil industry.

Answer 14

e) Fracking and horizontal drilling have reinvigorated

Texas’s oil industry.

Question 15

Unlike earlier eras, the Texas economy of the twenty- first century features
a) computers, electronics, and other high-tech
products.
b) transportation, oil and natural gas, and banking.
c) insurance, construction, and banking.
d) ranching, oil, and tourism.
e) education, the military, and agriculture.

Answer 15

a) computers, electronics, and other high-tech

products.

Question 16

9. NAFTA refers to
   a) an oil company.
   b) an independent regulatory commission.
   c) an interstate road network.
   d) an interest group.
   e) an international trade agreement.

Answer 16

e) an international trade agreement.

Question 17

10. What is meant by the “Great Recession”?
    a) the post–Vietnam War era in the mid-1970s when
    housing prices rose
    b) the period of high inflation during the early 1980s
    c) a time of chronic economic problems beginning in
    late 2007 that drew analogies to the Great depression of the 1930s
    d) the time when democrats lost control of the Texas
    House for the first time since Reconstruction
    e) a period of high unemployment in the early 1990s

Answer 17

c) a time of chronic economic problems beginning in

late 2007 that drew analogies to the Great depression of the 1930s

Question 18

Define: impresario (p. 20)

Answer 18

An individual who promotes, organizes, or helps to finance a particular endeavor

Question 19

Define: poll tax (p. 22)

Answer 19

A state-imposed tax on voters as a prerequisite for voting; poll taxes were rendered unconstitutional in national elections by the Twenty-Fourth Amendment, and in state elections by the Supreme Court in 1966.

Question 20

11. Which of the following accounts for most of Texas’s population growth?
    a) immigration
    b) natural increases as a result of the difference between births and deaths
    c) domestic immigration
    d) NAFTA
    e) movement from rural to urban areas

Answer 20

b) natural increases as a result of the difference between births and deaths

Question 21

12. Which of the following is not true?
    a) Latinos are increasing as a percentage of the
    population in dallas.
    b) More African Americans live in east Texas than west Texas.
    c) San Antonio has a larger white population than Latino.
    d) Houston’s largest minority population is Latino.
    e) The Latino population in Texas has grown rapidly in recent decades.

Answer 21

c) San Antonio has a larger white population than Latino.

Question 22

Define: urbanization (p. 26)

Answer 22

The process by which people move from rural areas to cities

Question 23

13. Urbanization refers to a process in which
    a) people move from rural to urban areas.
    b) people from the north and west move to Texas.
    c) people move out of urban centers to the suburbs.
    d) people move out of urban centers to rural areas.
    e) minorities assume political control of a city.

Answer 23

a) people move from rural to urban areas.

Question 24

14. The three major metropolitan areas in Texas are
    a) Houston, Dallas–Fort Worth, and San Antonio.
    b) Houston, Dallas–Fort Worth, and el Paso.
    c) el Paso, Houston, and Austin.
    d) San Antonio, el Paso, and Brownsville-Harlingen- McAllen.
    e) San Antonio, el Paso, and Houston.

Answer 24

a) Houston, Dallas–Fort Worth, and San Antonio.

Question 25

Describe the defining characteristics of political culture in Texas (pp. 5–7)

Answer 25

Texas political culture can best be characterized as individualistic and traditional. Texans have great pride in their state and have adopted a famous phrase, “don’t mess with Texas,” for those external forces wishing to change the state’s way of doing things. Texas is a low-tax state with distrust for large government programs. Business plays a major role in defining the political culture of the state.

Question 26

Explain how Texas’s geography has influenced its political culture (pages 7–9)

Answer 26

Because of Texas’s immense size, the state’s topography is diverse, with east Texas’s flat lands, west Texas’s arid climate, and central Texas’s hill country all representing diverse ecosystems and land patterns.

Question 27

Trace the evolution of Texas’s economy (pp. 10–19)

Answer 27

The Texas economy has undergone a series of technological transformations over the past 100 years. once the Texas economy was grounded in cotton and ranching. oil production came to play an important role in the twentieth century. Today, high technology and international trade play important roles in the state’s economy. Texas appears to have weathered the Great Recession better than most other states.

Question 28

Explain how the population of Texas has changed over time (pp. 19–26)

Answer 28

Texas demography has changed over the last century. once dominated by whites, Texas now has a large Latino population that, when coupled with the African Ameri-
can population and other minorities, now makes Texas a majority-minority state. despite considerable overall wealth in Texas, Texans tend to be younger and poorer than the average American.

Question 29

Describe Texas’s shift from a rural society to an urban one (pp. 26–32)

Answer 29

Initially a rural state, Texas has urbanized, with Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas–Fort Worth representing the largest metropolitan areas in the state. This process of urbanization has changed the state’s economy from an agricultural powerhouse to a high-tech and innovative economy.