Please read Chapters 1–4 of the textbook before answering any four of the following questions:
Explain the three major issues of environmentalist movements—s ustainability, equity, and beauty of ecology. Give examples.
During the course of this examination, six (6) more species will go extinct. Why? Identify at least three factors that contribute to this loss. Be sure to discuss how these factors are both “material” and “ideal” and draw explicitly upon the concepts from readings and lecture.
Explain the connection between social-psychological desires for status and the materialism of modern life using at least three theories of material desire discussed in the textbook.
It is clear that we in the West consume far more material goods than we need physiologically. Based on your readings and material presented in the module notes, explain why our wants so drastically exceed our needs. Also, what are some changes that could be made to bring our wants more inline with our needs?
In the context of economy and technology, discuss Molotch and Logan’s theory of the growth machine; Harvey Jacobs’s theory of the invisible elbow (as opposed to the “invisible hand”) of economic externalities, and O’Connor’s theory of the crises of over- and under-production and the constitution of a treadmill of under-production.
Cars are associated with a complex array of changes in the way Americans live. Using the example of cars, explain the dialogue of technology and the social organization of convenience.
Explain the three stages of demographic transition as theorized by Frank W. Notestein. Is there a fourth stage of population decline with negative population growth? Give examples of three developed countries with negative population growth.
The textbook cites four conditions that raise doubt about the applicability of the demographic transition to less developed countries. Describe and briefly discuss these conditions.