Ch.4 Ecology And Political Economy – Exam Questions 11e

CHAPTER 4

Short Answer:

1. Sociologist Louis Wirth suggested that the American city could be viewed from which of the following perspectives?

a. the power held by elites over the general masses in society

b. the world system of urban places linked by technology and transportation

c. feminist social theory

d. as a set of attitudes and ideas and a constellation of personalities engaging in collective behavior

2. Human ecology is most concerned with (pick the one best response) __________.

a. the deliberate planned actions of government officials

b. the physical form and structure of the city

c. the properties and characteristics of individuals who live in cities

d. the beliefs, values, and attitudes of individuals while they perform certain activities

3. Which of the following is true of human ecology?

a. It applies the theoretical schemes of plant and animal ecology to human communities.

b. It traces its roots back to Marx's theory of class exploitation.

c. It is concerned with the deliberate, planned actions of government officials.

d. It is based on the study of individual beliefs and values.

4. Classical human ecology of the 1920s and the 1930s is most closely associated with the _______________.

a. University of Wisconsin

b. University of California

c. Yale University

d. University of Chicago

5. The Chicago School urban ecologists argued that urban change occurred through __________.

a. the actions by the federal government

b. plans of local politicians

c. random and unpredictable events

d. the process of invasion and succession

6. Ecological studies are usually __________.

a. conducted on the group or macro level

b. concerned with individual motives and motivation

c. concerned with the behavior of small groups

d. qualitative rather than quantitative

7. Human ecology today is generally viewed as a(n)__________.

a. separate discipline

b. integral part of economics

c. integral part of political science

d. integral part of sociology

8. The “human ecology” school began with __________.

a. Palen and Greer

b. Wirth and Sjoberg

c. Park and Burgess

d. Schnore and Jones

9. Ecologists are most comfortable with __________.

a. aggregate data

b. data on attitudes

c. social area analysis

d. voting patterns

10. Traditional human ecology emphasizes __________.

a. social variables

b. urban planning

c. competition

d. social power

11. Ethnic change taking place in the central city is an example of __________.

a. sentiment and symbolism

b. gentrification

c. social area analysis

d. invasion and succession

12. “Socio-cultural” ecologists are most inclined to use _____________.

a. socio-psychological variables

b. natural science sources

c. census data

d. economic data

13. In ecological terms, succession is when __________.

a. one group or function takes the place of another

b. one political faction is replaced by another

c. one group or function separates itself from all the others

d. none of the above

14. According to human ecology as seen in the Burgess Growth Hypothesis the internal structure of the city evolved as a consequence of __________.

a. governmental planning

b. economic competition for prime space

c. religious divisions

d. political divisions

15. Today the process of succession can be seen best in __________.

a. urban ethnic changes

b. suburbanization

c. racial segregation

d. the moving in of industry

16. Regulations on land use patterns are known as __________.

a. zoning

b. natural areas

c. quotas

d. invasion

17. The Chicago sociologists called these areas “natural areas”. They were the result of __________.

a. city planning

b. government intervention

c. ecological processes

d. urban politics

18. Political economists are critical of the human ecological approach because __________.

a. it ignores the importance of social power and the influence of powerful groups in urban growth

b. of its reliance on empirical data

c. it places too much emphasis on national and world patterns in the development of cities

d. it is too closely associated with Marxist theory

19. Walter Firey suggested that the use of the Commons in Boston is an example of ___________.

a. traditional human ecological theory

b. concentric zones

c. sentiment determining spatial distribution

d. a combat zone

20. The socio-cultural school of ecology maintains that early human ecology ____________.

a. overemphasized economic factors

b. underemphasized economic factors

c. overemphasized political factors

d. underemphasized political factors

21. The Burgess zonal hypothesis ____________.

a. was particularly interested in how U.S. cities are shaped by the world urban order

b. argued that urban growth occurs along axes or straight lines that radiate from the center of the city

c. stated that land values were highest near the center of the city

d. was not concerned with how cities change over time

22. Which of the following is the correct order (from center to periphery) of the Burgess growth hypothesis?

a. Central Business District; Zone of Working Person's Homes; Zone in Transition; Middle-class Residential Zone; Commuters' Zone

b. Central Business District; Middle Class Residential Zone; Zone in Transition; Zone of Working Person's Homes; Commuters' Zone

c. Central Business District; Zone in Transition; Middle Class Residential Zone; Zone of Working Person's Homes; Commuters' Zone

d. Central Business District; Zone in Transition; Zone of Working Person's Homes; Zone of Better Residences; Commuters' Zone

23. The concentric zonal hypothesis posited that the most valuable land goes to ____________.

a. residential zones

b. the best housing located on the periphery

c. industrial plants that need extensive area for production

d. the user who can best afford to pay for intense use

24. Which of the following statements is true?

a. inner-city land is more expensive than land in the suburbs

b. single family housing is more economically feasible in the inner-city

c. there tends to be a direct positive relationship between the value of land and the economic status of those who occupy it

d. land use on the periphery must be intensive

25. Using the Burgess model, one would expect to find the following enterprise(s) in the Central Business District.

a. used car lots

b. industrial manufacturing plants

c. restaurants

d. single-dwelling housing per lot

26. Today’s zone in transition in the U.S. cities typically contains which of the following?

a. younger people

b. gentrified buildings

c. restaurants

d. all of the above are found in the zone in transition

27. In the zonal hypothesis, immigrant newcomers to the city were likely to settle in __________.

a. the CBD

b. the zone in transition

c. the zone of better residents

d. the commuter zones

28. Wholesale produce markets traditionally were located ___________.

a. at the outer edges of the CBD

b. at the outer edges of middle class area

c. in the zone of working persons' homes

d. in the commuter zone or suburbs

29. In terms of occupational and residential distribution, the groups most physically segregated are __________.

a. those at the top and bottom of the occupational scale

b. those on the middle of the socioeconomic scale

c. blue-collar workers

d. white-collar workers

30. The Burgess’ hypothesis is an __________.

a. ideal type

b. at the outer edges of the residential zone

c. at the edges of the working persons' zone

d. in the commuter zone or suburbs

31. “Zonal boundaries do not serve as demarcations in respect to the ecological or social phenomena they circumscribe, but are arbitrary divisions.” This is an overstatement describing the

1. Multiply Nuclei Model.

b. Sectoral Model.

c. Burgess Model.

d. None of the above.

32. The filter down model suggests that __________.

a. inner city neighborhoods are gentrified from lower to middle class residences

b. the CBD is the most profitable area for land usage

c. neighborhoods move from higher to lower status populations

d. central-city commercial property and warehouses can be used for residential usage

33. One urban ecological alternative to Burgess’ zonal hypothesis is the __________.

a. World Systems Theory

b. Urban Growth Machine

c. Baltimore Study

d. Sector model

34. Two urban ecological alternatives to Burgess’ zonal hypothesis were advanced by __________.

a. Marx, and Smith & Timberlake

b. Harvey, and Logan

c. Hoyt, and Harris & Ullman

d. Wallerstein, and Park & Wirth

35. The theory that is most useful in describing post war metropolitan development is __________.

a. zonal hypothesis

b. urban growth machine

c. multiple-nuclei hypothesis

d. invasion succession

36. The theory that growth takes place in homogeneous pie-shaped sectors radiating from the center is called the __________.

a. multiple-nuclei theory

b. concentric wedges theory

c. sector theory

d. concentric-zone theory

37. The sector theory is credited to __________.

a. Ernest Burgess

b. Chauncey Harris

c. Homer Hoyt

d. Amos Hawley

38. The theory of spatial growth that holds that differing land uses have different centers is __________.

a. the zonal hypothesis

b. the Burgess theory

c. the multi-nuclei theory

d. the pro-nucleated theory

39. Human ecologists (especially those who support the sector theory) would be most interested in the following variable __________.

a. transportation

b. religious conviction

c. alienation

d. socioeconomic status

40. Hawley suggested a multi-nucleated theory of growth emphasizing the role of __________.

a. computer technology

b. population

c. occupational use

d. transportation

41. Burgess’ theory is most evident in __________.

a. pre-industrial cities in Western Europe

b. larger and older American cities

c. cities that were established before the industrial revolution

d. suburban areas of newer American cities

42. In European contemporary cities with a pre-industrial heritage, __________.

a. poor housing is in the inner core and elite housing is further out

b. poor in-migrants settle in the CBD

c. there is often an inverse zonal hypothesis

d. the zonal hypothesis is a typical pattern

43. The Burgess concentric zonal pattern is __________.

a. typical of Asia, Africa and Latin America

b. not typical of Asia, Africa and Latin America

c. typical of Asia but not Africa or Latin America

d. typical of Latin America but not Asia or Africa

44. In terms of the physical environment __________.

a. there has been little negative effect caused by cities

b. cities create atmospheric changes and air pollution

c. cities usually decrease the risk of severe flooding

d. cities are immune from the effects of the environment

45. A newer way of looking at cities is provided by the so-called ______________ school of urban scholars.

a. Chicago

b. Los Angeles

c. New York

d. Washington

46. Political economy paradigms of urban change emerged to challenge urban ecology models in the __________.

a. 1930s

b. 1940s

c. 1950s

d. 1970s

47. Which of the following is true of both urban ecology and political economy models of urban growth?

a. Both are concerned with systems of dominance and subordination operating across spatial boundaries.

b. Both see systems of dominance as being driven by the actions (or inactions) of particular groups pursuing their particular interests.

c. Both examine social power and how urban decisions favor the powerful at the expense of others.

d. Both pay particular attention to cities of the developing world, especially cities in Latin America.

48. According to political economy models of urban growth, __________.

a. the world system is one of controlled economies under state socialism

b. worldwide, cities exist relatively independently from each other with few global linkages

c. politics and government matter less than natural, evolutionary processes

d. capital is easily moved while cities are geographically fixed

49. The “Baltimore Study” supported __________ perspective(s) of urban growth and development.

a. the human ecology

b. the political economy

c. both the urban ecology and political economy

d. neither the human ecology nor the political economy

50. The Urban Growth Machine __________.

a. is a political establishment that creates growth in cities

b. refers to models of “urban futures” created by economists

c. is a monitor of urban change established by the federal government for U.S. Census purposes

d. is a term that refers to an ideology that encourages a view of the city as a place where it is necessary to create a “good business climate”

51. Which of the following talks of a global “core-periphery” system of inequality?

a. The Concentric Zone Hypothesis

b. Urban Growth Machines

c. World Systems Theory

d. Sector Theory

52. According to the text, which of the following is a challenge to the political economy model?

a. the need to adapt a neo-Marxist model to a world that has largely abandoned Marxism

b. the inability to separate itself from the larger and more popularly held World Systems Theory

c. its lack of application to the modern urban world

d. a total lack of acceptance by urban sociologists who are nearly all urban ecologists

True- False:

53. Sociologist Louis Wirth suggested that the city could be studied empirically from three interrelated perspectives.

a. T

b. F

54. Sociologist Louis Wirth argued that it was not realistically possible to study the city from the perspective of an ecological order.

a. T

b. F

55. The classical urbanization model of urban ecology developed out of a concern with the form and development of the modern American city.

a. T

b. F

56. Human ecology focuses on the individual's place in the functioning of a city.

a. T

b. F

57. Chicago School sociologists found that spatial distance can be substituted for social distance.

a. T

b. F

58. The term “function”, as used by ecologists, refers to the orderly arrangement of the parts that make up the whole⎯NOT to recurrent patterns of activities.

a. T

b. F

59. According to ecological theories, the internal structure of the city evolved through competition.

a. T

b. F

60. According to ecological theories, the internal structure of the city evolved through direct planning.

a. T

b. F

61. Both ecological and political economy models stress change through conflict.

a. T

b. F

62. Human ecology models of social change stress that conflict comes from deliberate, planned political and economic decisions.

a. T

b. F

63. Ecological and political economy models differ in what they regard to be the source of conflict that promotes urban change.

a. T

b. F

64. According to urban ecologists, patterns of land use within a city are permanently fixed.

a. T

b. F

65. The history of the American city is the story of the invasion of one land use or population by another.

a. T

b. F

66. According to the text, gentrification is NOT an example of invasion.

a. T

b. F

67. Today, the new group “invading” an area is often Latino or Asian.

a. T

b. F

68. Those taking a political economy approach to the city are close in general agreement with urban ecologists, and deny that spatial characteristics of cities result from deliberate political decisions.

a. T

b. F

69. The “sociocultural” school of ecology places renewed emphasis on cultural and motivational factors in explaining urban land-use patterns.

a. T

b. F

70. Burgess’ growth hypothesis really only applies well to U.S. cities after 1970.

a. T

b. F

71. Traditional ecologists have tended to favor interpretation at the macro-sociological level.

a. T

b. F

72. Burgess’ concentric zone hypothesis was intended as a static model of how things are in the city.

a. T

b. F

73. Burgess’ growth hypothesis contains five concentric zones.

a. T

b. F

74. Burgess’ “zone in transition” contained department stores, theatres, hotels, banks, and central offices of economic, political, legal, and civic leaders.

a. T

b. F

75. In Burgess’ model, in the inner areas of the city, higher land costs are compensated for by density of use.

a. T

b. F

76. According to Burgess’ model, as one moves out from the center of the city toward the periphery, land values tend to increase.

a. T

b. F

77. Today retail and commercial functions in the Central Business District (CBD) have lost importance.

a. T

b. F

78. According to Burgess Growth hypothesis, Zone 4 is a zone of “working people’s homes.”

a. T

b. F

79. The majority of the upper-middle-class houses and the upper-class “dormitory suburbs” would be found in the “commuter zone” in the Burgess model.

a. T

b. F

80. In Burgess’ model, the majority of middle class urban residents lived in the “zone in transition”.

a. T

b. F

81. According to the text, Burgess’ model has had “considerable practical consequences”.

a. T

b. F

82. Burgess’s zones are totally homogeneous units.

a. T

b. F

83. Research shows that a rough version of Burgess’ model appears to have held up, at least for larger, older American cities, until the suburban era of the last 30 years.

a. T

b. F

84. Homer Hoyt developed a multiple-nuclei theory of urban spatial growth based upon analysis of 94 cities.

a. T

b. F

85. The sector theory of city growth easily explains urban development along interstate and other major highways, and is a very useful modification of Burgess’ hypothesis when discussing the post-war development of suburbs.

a. T

b. F

86. The multiple-nuclei theory of urban spatial growth embraces the idea of a uni-centered city and expands upon it.

a. T

b. F

87. Today, the multiple-nuclei hypothesis provides a better description of the entire metropolitan area than it does of the central city.

a. T

b. F

88. In cities with a preindustrial heritage, the Burgess concentric zone theory has proven itself to be a very satisfactory model of urban growth patterns.

a. T

b. F

89. In cities with a preindustrial heritage, there appears to be an inverse zonal hypothesis where the elite live in the central core of the city and the poor live at its edges.

a. T

b. F

90. Both European and U.S. cities have an underlying “feudal tradition” that has shaped the way they have grown.

a. T

b. F

91. The Burgess concentric-zone pattern of urban growth has never been a very satisfactory model of patterns of urban growth outside North America.

a. T

b. F

92. Favelas, Barriadas,or bustees (squatter settlements) can be found on the periphery of almost every major city in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

a. T

b. F

93. In Long Beach, California the pumping out of subsurface ground water and other substances has caused parts of the city to sink as much as 27 feet.

a. T

b. F

94. Probably the most discussed new way of looking at cities is provided by the so-called New York School of urban scholars.

a. T

b. F

95. The Los Angeles School turns the older Chicago School on its head by arguing that the multicultural way of life is the new postmodern norm where the periphery is now the core.

a. T

b. F

96. Political economy models of urban growth first challenged ecological models in the late 1920s.

a. T

b. F

97. Political economy models look at social power and how urban decisions favor the powerful at the expense of others.

a. T

b. F

98. Like urban ecology, political economy models largely ignore cities in the developing world.

a. T

b. F

99. The urban growth machine perspective is a functionalist approach.

a. T

b. F

100. The urban growth machine ideology influences local governments to view cities not as places where people live, work, and have social relationships, but solely as a place where it is necessary to create a “good business climate”.

a. T

b. F

101 . According to world systems theory, the “core” nations are defined as the third-world, developing countries.

a. T

b. F

Short Answer (in addition to those at the end of the chapter):

102. Describe what is meant by the ecological approach. How has human ecology changed from the early “classical” studies?

103. Give two examples of the contemporary invasion-succession pattern in your metropolitan community. Describe the causes of these changes.

104. Describe the Burgess Growth hypothesis. When was it devised? What does it say about the growth patterns of U.S. cities? Discuss the empirical evidence that supports or fails to support Burgess's hypothesis. How would you update the hypothesis?

105. The Industrial Revolution generated new kinds of cities, and many more of them. Using the Burgess Growth Model, explain the new development.

106. Compare and contrast the pattern of urban spatial growth in North America with that of European cities.

107. Describe the Homer Hoyt's sector theory of urban growth. When was it devised? What does it say about the growth patterns of U.S. cities? Discuss the empirical evidence that supports or fails to support this model. What are its particular strengths and weaknesses?

108. Describe Harris and Ullman's “multiple-nuclei model”. When was it devised? What does it say about the growth patterns of U.S. cities? Discuss the empirical evidence that supports or fails to support this model. What are its strengths and weaknesses?

109. Discuss the effects of urbanization on the environment. Mention local examples and attitudes.

110. Explain how contemporary human ecology looks at urban problems. What are the methodologies, emphases, and goals of this approach?

111. Describe the political economy model of urban growth. What are its key points and assumptions? Compare and contrast this model with the urban ecology perspective. What are key similarities? What are major differences?

112. Describe the “urban growth machine” ideology. How does it tie in with the political economy approach?

113. What is “world systems theory”? What are its major assumptions?

114. Scholars of the Los Angeles School, such as Michael Dear, Michael Davis, and Edward Soja, set themselves up in direct opposition to the Chicago School. Explain their position.

115. The assertion that Los Angeles represents the new paradigm for the city has not been without critics. Why?