Chapter 14 - Terms

Question 1

demography

Answer 1

the study of the size, composition, (growth or shrinkage), and distribution of human populations

Question 2

Malthus theorem

Answer 2

an observation by Thomas Malthus that although the food supply increases arithmetically (from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 and so on), population grows geometrically (from 2 to 4 to 8 to 16 and so forth)

Question 3

exponential growth curve

Answer 3

a pattern of growth in which numbers double during approximately equal intervals, showing a steep acceleration in the later stages

Question 4

demographic transition

Answer 4

a three-stage historical process of change in the size of populations: first, high birth rates and high death rates; second, high birth rates and low death rates; and third, low birth rates and low death rates; a fourth stage of population shrinkage in which deaths outnumber births has made its appearance in the Most Industrialized Nations

Question 5

population shrinkage

Answer 5

the process by which a country’s population becomes smaller because its birth rate and immigration are too low to replace those who die and emigrate

Question 6

population pyramid

Answer 6

a graph that represents the age and sex of a population (see Figure 20.7)

Question 7

demographic variables

Answer 7

the three factors that change the size of a population: fertility, mortality, and net migration

Question 8

fertility rate

Answer 8

the number of children that the average woman bears

Question 9

fecundity

Answer 9

the number of children that women are capable of bearing

Question 10

crude birth rate

Answer 10

the annual number of live births per 1,000 population

Question 11

crude death rate

Answer 11

the annual number of deaths per 1,000 population

Question 12

net migration rate

Answer 12

the difference between the number of immigrants and emigrants per 1,000 population

Question 13

basic demographic equation

Answer 13

the growth rate equals births minus deaths plus net migration

Question 14

growth rate

Answer 14

the net change in a population after adding births, subtracting deaths, and either adding or subtracting net migration; can result in a negative number

Question 15

zero population growth

Answer 15

women bearing only enough children to reproduce the population

Question 16

urbanization

Answer 16

the process by which an increasing proportion of a population lives in cities and has a growing influence on the culture

Question 17

city

Answer 17

a place in which a large number of people are permanently based and do not produce their own food

Question 18

metropolis

Answer 18

a central city surrounded by smaller cities and their suburbs

Question 19

megalopolis

Answer 19

an urban area consisting of at least two metropolises and their many suburbs

Question 20

megacity

Answer 20

a city of 10 million or more residents

Question 21

metropolitan statistical area (MSA)

Answer 21

a central city and the urbanized counties adjacent to it

Question 22

edge city

Answer 22

a large clustering of service facilities and residential areas near highway intersections that provides a sense of place to people who live, shop, and work there

Question 23

gentrification

Answer 23

middle-class people moving into a rundown area of a city, displacing the poor as they buy and restore homes

Question 24

suburbanization

Answer 24

the migration of people from the city to the suburbs

Question 25

suburb

Answer 25

a community adjacent to a city

Question 26

human ecology

Answer 26

Robert Park’s term for the relationship between people and their environment (such as land and structures); also known as urban ecology

Question 27

invasion–succession cycle

Answer 27

the process of one group of people displacing a group whose racial–ethnic or social class characteristics differ from their own

Question 28

alienation

Answer 28

Marx’s term for workers’ lack of connection to the product of their labor; caused by workers being assigned repetitive tasks on a small part of a product—this leads to a sense of powerlessness and normlessness; others use the term in the general sense of not feeling a part of something

Question 29

redlining

Answer 29

a decision by the officers of a financial institution not to make loans in a particular area

Question 30

disinvestment

Answer 30

the withdrawal of investments by financial institutions, which seals the fate of an urban area

Question 31

deindustrialization

Answer 31

the process of industries moving out of a country or region

Question 32

urban renewal

Answer 32

the rehabilitation of a rundown area, which usually results in the displacement of the poor who are living in that area

Question 33

enterprise zone

Answer 33

the use of economic incentives in a designated area to encourage investment