SOCI201 Study Guide - Final Guide: Thomas Robert Malthus, Dying Young, Space Race
Sociology Final Exam
Main Ideas
Stupidity
1. Standards for what we should teach in schools are changing. If a professor was
asked to get a PhD 5 years ago, they wouldn’t have to pass the exams they
had to today. Education is not getting easier, its just becoming different.
2. Even though whites have an advantage over blacks/ Hispanics, the gap is getting
smaller and test scores are increasing while courses are getting harder
3. International test scores compare all U.S. high school students with some
foreign students selected for academically high schools (also, 60 years ago
all the dumb students didn’t take the SAT where as today they have to, so the
average is goes down)
4. The Flynn effect states that if you took an IQ score years ago and got a 130 and
took one today, your IQ would be 127 because each year the average
increases by .3 (0ver ten years that 3) – IQ scores have been getting
steadily higher over time
5. The Knowledge Information Paradox states that as knowledge increases,
ignorance is increasing you can’t possibly consume all knowledge
6. Common knowledge is changing as time passes (saddling a horse vs. changing a
tire) and general knowledge is growing over the past 50 years.
7. Article: The invention of Sputnik (the first artificial satellite) scared people into
thinking Russia was ahead in the space race
8. Article: years ago, falling behind would have been defined in terms of test
scores. Now it usually means other nations have overtaken U.S. graduation
rates.
9. Americans worry about schools and always have, especially from the influence of
politicians, even though we’ve been making huge advancements
10. Evidence suggests that we are becoming LESS, not more stupid.
Population
1. Thomas Malthus explained the theory that it’s easy to create new people, but
not as easy to create new land
2. Industrialization spurred global population growth (advancement of medicine,
increased food production, better sanitation) natural births vs. immigration.
When people move to the cities in smaller apartments, kids become less
desirable and you’re less worried about them dying (birth rate FALLS)
3. The Demographic Transition shows how birth and death rates started high
because families were having so many kids and they were dying young,
and as death rates decrease (from industrialization), the population spikes
up
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
14
SOCI201 Full Course Notes
Verified Note
14 documents
