# Study Guide: Chapter 14 — Urban And Rural Problems > Organized by textbook section. Review the objectives, study topics, key takeaways, and questions for each section. ## 14.1: A Brief History of Urbanization ### Study Topics - Figure 14.1 Populations of Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, 1790–2010 - Figure 14.2 Population Change from 1970 to 2010 for Selected Cities - Figure 14.3 Urbanization in the United States (Percentage Living in Urban Areas) - Global Urbanization - Figure 14.4 Percentage of World Population Living in Urban Areas ### Key Terms - **civil war** — War within nations. - **crime** — Behavior considered so harmful or offensive that it is banned by the criminal law. - **health care** — The provision of medical services to prevent, diagnose, and treat health problems. - **life expectancy** — The average age to which people can be expected to live. - **megacities** — Cities with populations over 10 million. - **migration** — The movement of people into or out of specific regions. - **urban area** — Defined generally as an incorporated territory with a population of at least 2,500. - **urbanization** — The rise and growth of cities. ### Learning Objectives 1. Discuss the health problems that resulted when cities developed. 2. Explain why urbanization grew in the United States during the nineteenth century. 3. List the problems poor nations face as their cities grow even larger. ### Key Takeaways - US cities grew rapidly during the nineteenth century because of industrialization and immigration. - The United States is now a heavily urbanized society, whereas it was largely a rural society just a century ago. - Urbanization poses special challenges for poor nations, which are ill equipped to address the many problems associated with urbanization. ### Review Questions 1. Write an essay in which you discuss the advantages and disadvantages of urbanization. 2. If you had your preference, would you want to live in a large city, small city or town, or rural area? Explain your answer. ## 14.2: Sociological Perspectives on Urbanization ### Study Topics - Learning Objective - Table 14.1 Theory Snapshot - Conflict Theory - Symbolic Interactionism - Types of Urban Residents ### Key Terms - **conflict theory** — The view that society is composed of groups with different interests arising from their placement in the social structure. - **crime** — Behavior considered so harmful or offensive that it is banned by the criminal law. - **drug** — Any substance other than food that, when taken into the body, affects the structure and/or functioning of the body. - **economy** — The social institution that organizes the production, distribution, and consumption of a society’s goods and services. - **family** — A group of two or more people who are related by blood, marriage, adoption, or a mutual commitment and who care for one another. - **Functionalism** — The view that social institutions are important for their contributions to social stability. - **Gesellschaft** — According to Ferdinand Tönnies, the weakening of social ties and personal relationships as societies grow and become industrialized. - **organic solidarity** — According to Émile Durkheim, the social ties that still exist in larger, urban societies, which stem from the division of labor. - **political economy** — The interaction of political and economic institutions and processes. - **race** — A category of people who share certain inherited physical characteristics, such as skin color, facial features, and stature. - **Symbolic interactionism** — A perspective in sociology that focuses on the meanings people gain from social interaction. - **urbanization** — The rise and growth of cities. ### Key Takeaways - Functionalism offers both a positive and a negative view of urbanization. Functionalist sociologists differ on the degree of social solidarity that exists in cities. - According to conflict theory, economic and political elites use their resources to develop cities in a way that benefits them. The diverse social backgrounds of urban residents also contribute to certain types of conflict. - According to symbolic interactionism, social inequality based on social class, race/ethnicity, gender, age, and sexual orientation affects the quality of urban experiences. In addition to differences in their sociodemographic profiles, city residents differ in other ways. Herbert Gans identified several types of urban dwellers: cosmopolites, unmarried and childless, ethnic villagers, deprived, and trapped. ### Review Questions 1. Write an essay that summarizes the assumptions of any two of the major sociological perspectives on urbanization. 2. Which of the three perspectives makes the most sense to you? Why? ## 14.3: Problems of Urban Life ### Study Topics - Fiscal Problems - Applying Social Research - Children and Our Future - Traffic and Transportation - Lessons from Other Societies - Air Pollution - Mental Health Problems - Public Education - People Making a Difference ### Key Terms - **corporation** — An organization that has a legal existence apart from that of its members. - **crime** — Behavior considered so harmful or offensive that it is banned by the criminal law. - **deviant places** — Sociologist Rodney Stark’s term for neighborhoods that have severe crowding and other features that promote high crime rates. - **Discrimination** — With regard to racial and ethnic inequality, the arbitrary denial of rights, privileges, and opportunities to members of subordinate racial and ethnic groups. - **economy** — The social institution that organizes the production, distribution, and consumption of a society’s goods and services. - **family** — A group of two or more people who are related by blood, marriage, adoption, or a mutual commitment and who care for one another. - **health care** — The provision of medical services to prevent, diagnose, and treat health problems. - **race** — A category of people who share certain inherited physical characteristics, such as skin color, facial features, and stature. - **urban area** — Defined generally as an incorporated territory with a population of at least 2,500. - **urbanization** — The rise and growth of cities. ### Learning Objectives 1. Discuss any three problems of urban life. 2. Provide an example of a problem that specifically arises from the fact that cities consist, by definition, of large numbers of people living in a relatively small space. ### Key Takeaways - Major issues and problems confronting US cities today include those involving fiscal difficulties, crowding, housing, traffic, pollution, public education, and crime. - Several of these problems stem directly from the fact that cities involve large numbers of people living in a relatively small amount of space. ### Review Questions 1. If you were to work for a mayor of a large city to help address one specific problem in that city, which problem would you prefer to work on? Why? 2. Americans often seem to blame city residents for many of the problems affecting US cities today, including low academic achievement and rundown conditions in city schools and crime in the streets. Do you think it is fair to blame city residents for these problems, or are there other reasons for them? Explain your answer. ## 14.4: Problems of Rural Life ### Study Topics - Rural Health - Rural Schools and Education - Rural Poverty - Domestic Violence ### Key Terms - **crime** — Behavior considered so harmful or offensive that it is banned by the criminal law. - **drug** — Any substance other than food that, when taken into the body, affects the structure and/or functioning of the body. - **economy** — The social institution that organizes the production, distribution, and consumption of a society’s goods and services. - **health care** — The provision of medical services to prevent, diagnose, and treat health problems. - **health disparities** — Differences in health and illness according to social class, race and ethnicity, and gender. - **migration** — The movement of people into or out of specific regions. - **urban area** — Defined generally as an incorporated territory with a population of at least 2,500. ### Learning Objectives 1. List three positive aspects of rural life in the United States. 2. Describe two problems of rural life in the United States. ### Key Takeaways - Like cities, rural areas also have their advantages and disadvantages. They can be beautiful, relaxing places in which to live, but they also lack many of the cultural advantages and other amenities that cities feature. - Rural areas are characterized by sparse populations and long distances that people must travel. These conditions make it difficult to provide adequate public transportation and various kinds of human services. The poverty of many rural areas aggravates these problems. ### Review Questions 1. If you had your choice, would you want to live in a large city, medium-sized city, small town, or rural area? Explain your answer. 2. Americans often seem to blame city residents for many of the problems affecting US cities today, including low academic achievement, rundown conditions in city schools, and crime in the streets. Do you think it is fair to blame city residents for these problems, or are there other reasons for them? Explain your answer. ## 14.5: Improving Urban and Rural Life ### Key Terms - **crime** — Behavior considered so harmful or offensive that it is banned by the criminal law. - **Discrimination** — With regard to racial and ethnic inequality, the arbitrary denial of rights, privileges, and opportunities to members of subordinate racial and ethnic groups. - **health care** — The provision of medical services to prevent, diagnose, and treat health problems. - **race** — A category of people who share certain inherited physical characteristics, such as skin color, facial features, and stature. ### Key Takeaways - Many of the problems of urban and rural life were addressed in earlier chapters. The strategies discussed in these chapters to address these problems thus also apply to the problems examined in this chapter. - Many urban problems are associated with poverty and racial discrimination. Reducing these problems should help relieve urban problems. - The characteristics of rural areas that often make them so appealing also lead to certain problems that are especially urgent in rural areas. ### Review Questions 1. How do you think American cities should try, if at all, to reduce traffic congestion? 2. Are urban problems worse than rural problems, or are rural problems worse than urban problems? Explain your answer. ## 14.6: End-of-Chapter Material ### Key Terms - **conflict theory** — The view that society is composed of groups with different interests arising from their placement in the social structure. - **crime** — Behavior considered so harmful or offensive that it is banned by the criminal law. - **Functionalism** — The view that social institutions are important for their contributions to social stability. - **Symbolic interactionism** — A perspective in sociology that focuses on the meanings people gain from social interaction. - **urbanization** — The rise and growth of cities. ### Chapter Summary 1. Urbanization is a consequence of population growth. Cities first developed in ancient times after the rise of horticultural and pastoral societies and “took off” during the Industrial Revolution as people moved to be near factories. Urbanization led to many social changes then and continues today to affect society. 2. Functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism offer varied understandings of urbanization. Functionalists have a mixed view of urbanization, while conflict theorists hold a negative view. 3. Cities face many problems, several of which reflect the fact that cities feature large numbers of people living within a relatively small space. Among the most serious of these problems are residential crowding, substandard and racially segregated housing, heavy traffic and great amounts of air pollution, and high crime rates. 4. Rural areas face many challenges that result from their sparse populations and the great distances that people must often travel. Among other problems, rural areas have a lack of economic opportunities in today’s information age and a general lack of various kinds of human services. ### Application After graduating from college, you are now working as an entry-level assistant to the mayor of a medium-sized city. You are aware that many city residents are unhappy with the quality of housing in their neighborhoods. The mayor thinks the city has little, if any, money to help improve the city’s housing, and also thinks that the housing problem is not nearly as bad as the city’s residents seem to think. The mayor asks your opinion about this issue. Based on what you have learned in this chapter and perhaps in other coursework and reading, what do you tell the mayor? ### Action Ideas To help deal with the urban and rural problems discussed in this chapter, you may wish to do any of the following: 1. Volunteer at a social service agency in your community. 2. Start or join a Habitat for Humanity or other group that builds homes for low-income families. 3. Attend local city council meetings to learn about budgetary issues so that you will be in a more knowledgeable position to help your community.