Oxford University Press | Online Resource Centre

Choose your answers from a-d by clicking the radio button next to each choice and then press 'Submit' to get your score.

Question 1

The term 'collective consumption' (Castells 1977) refers to:

a) the privatization of public services by the Conservative government

b) the lifestyle practice of shopping in peer groups

c) the form of tuberculosis suffered by those who collect stamps

d) the provision of health, housing, and education services by the state

Question 2

Wirth (1938) said that social relationships in the urban way of life were 'segmental' because:

a) they were confined to particular areas of the city

b) people knew each other only through specific, situational roles, and not as whole, rounded individuals

c) there were distinctive patterns of activity for each social class

d) they were based on face to face interaction with close friends and family

Question 3

Which of the following is not identified by Fulcher & Scott as a criterion of community?

a) a shared sense of identity and belonging together

b) common activities involving all-round relationships

c) a fixed geographical location

d) collective action based on common interests

Question 4

Urbanization occurred in the nineteenth century because:

a) commuters started moving out of villages and into cities

b) towns and cities were becoming increasingly planned and managed

c) industrial capitalism led to a shift of population from rural to urban areas

d) transport systems were not provided, so it was easier to live in the city

Question 5

The ecological approach to urban sociology involved studying:

a) how social groups colonized different areas of the city and competed for resources

b) the forms of wildlife and natural habitats that could be found on the edges of the city

c) the way in which people organized collective protests about environmental issues

d) how men and women used the city's public spaces differently

Question 6

Class segregation was apparent in mid-twentieth century Britain insofar as:

a) middle class owner-occupiers moved into the inner city through gentrification

b) working class communities formed in the inner cities, while the middle classes moved out to the suburbs

c) the middle classes lived in the countryside while the working class lived in the city

d) the upper and middle classes dominated public space, while working class people were more home-centred

Question 7

Howard's idea of the garden city consisted of:

a) six small towns surrounded by green belts and linked to a larger central city

b) planning cities to have plenty of trees, flowers and public gardens

c) each privately owned house to have its own front and back garden

d) tower blocks to displace the population vertically and leave most of the land available as green open spaces

Question 8

The 'decentralized city' can be identified by:

a) the shift of employment and services away from the inner city towards multiple centres in smaller towns and rural areas

b) the degendering of public space as women use local facilities more

c) gentrification: the movement of middle class people back into the inner city

d) all of the above

Question 9

Which of the following is not identified as a new form of community?

a) ethnic communities, based on shared identity and experiences of discrimination

b) gay villages, which are formed in certain parts of large cities

c) sociological communities, formed by unpopular lecturers

d) virtual communities that exist only in cyberspace

Question 10

Cultural restructuring has involved:

a) regenerating cities in economic decline

b) turning industrial landscapes into tourist attractions

c) selling sites and images through the 'symbolic economy' of media advertising