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Higher Education

Sociology: A Canadian Perspective, Third Edition — Chapter 12

Instructions: For each question, click on the radio button beside your answer. When you have completed the entire quiz, click the 'Submit my answers' button at the bottom of the page to receive your results.

Question 1:


a) declined
b) doubled
c) tripled
d) stayed about the same
e) is not expected to surpass 200 million

Question 2:


a) The number of Canadians aged 65 and over declined by 11.5 per cent over the previous five years.
b) The number of children under the age of 15 declined by 2.5 per cent.
c) Those 65 years and older made up about 14 per cent of the total population of Canada.
d) The proportion of the population under the age of 15 fell to about 18 per cent.
e) The percentage of people over age 65 has been rising steadily since 1966.

Question 3:


a) Canada
b) Japan
c) Italy
d) Germany
e) Uganda

Question 4:


a) All older people are pension-rich, ‘greedy geezers’.
b) Older adults are responsible for the debt and the imminent collapse of the health care system.
c) The older population constitutes a social problem that must be solved.
d) Intergenerational conflict will occur as younger adults get more than their fair share at the expense of older generations.
e) Population change and politics will combine when the aging of the population becomes a tool for social policy reform based on cuts to the welfare state.

Question 5:


a) fertility or birth rates
b) infectious diseases
c) mortality or death rates
d) net immigration
e) declining fertility

Question 6:


a) the conquest of infectious diseases
b) better nutrition
c) improved sanitation
d) factors related to family structure such as family size
e) all of the above

Question 7:


a) chronic degenerative diseases, such as heart disease and stroke
b) infectious diseases
c) poor nutrition
d) poor sanitation
e) all of the above

Question 8:


a) better nutrition
b) the conquest of infectious diseases
c) sustained immigration
d) improved hospital care
e) increasing fertility

Question 9:


a) Because older women live longer than men, they are more likely to be widows and grandparents for a longer period.
b) Because older women live longer than men, they are more likely to live alone.
c) Because older women live longer than men, they are more likely to face chronic diseases or to have a disability.
d) Because older women live longer than men, they are more likely than men to end their lives in an institution.
e) all of the above

Question 10:


a) Less than a quarter of older Aboriginals are widowed.
b) Most Aboriginals live in rural areas or on reserves.
c) Many live in inadequate and crowded housing.
d) Their health is worse than that of the general Canadian population.
e) Their incomes are lower than the general Canadian population.

Question 11:


a) Asia
b) India
c) Africa
d) western and northern Europe
e) Russia

Question 12:


a) Young people between the ages of 15 and 24
b) Children between the ages of 6 and 14
c) Baby boomers
d) Adults between the ages of 25 and 34
e) Older people between the ages of 75 and 84

Question 13:


a) Activity
b) Disengagement
c) Continuity
d) Social exchange
e) Age stratification

Question 14:


a) Activity
b) Disengagement
c) Continuity
d) Social exchange
e) Age stratification

Question 15:


a) Activity
b) Disengagement
c) Continuity
d) Social exchange
e) Age stratification

Question 16:


a) Activity
b) Disengagement
c) Continuity
d) Social exchange
e) Age stratification

Question 17:


a) cohort flow
b) individual aging
c) allocation
d) socialization
e) all of the above

Question 18:


a) with modernization, health technology improves and increases life expectancy, expanding the aging population of a society, but retirement marginalizes older adults and reduces their incomes, thereby decreasing their status within society
b) the reduced status of the elderly is spurred by economic modernization, which produces specialized jobs that older people cannot fill because of the obsolescence of their skills
c) the modern migration of the old to cities creates a geographical distance between generations, with nuclear families predominating in cities and the young more likely to be left behind in rural areas
d) older adults have a lower status in modern society because they may have less education than the current high school education level achieved by their children
e) younger people tend to secure better jobs, leaving older people with poorer quality jobs and a strong motivation to retire

Question 19:


a) political economy of aging
b) life course
c) modernization
d) age stratification
e) social exchange

Question 20:


a) lifelong development and aging
b) lives in historical time and place
c) social timing
d) social control
e) linked lives

Question 21:


a) Individual development does not stop in adulthood but extends from birth to death.
b) Women born between 1946 and 1955 have a similar labour force participation rate as those born between 1956 and 1965, which is why they have similar life course experiences.
c) Transitions into adult statuses that occur earlier than average, such as leaving home, cohabiting, or becoming a parent, have a detrimental effect on the mental health of young people.
d) A transition in the life of one individual has repercussions for the lives of others, and this interdependence can provide both challenges to and resources for the individual.
e) The decision to drop out of university, look for another job, or marry are examples of the principle of human agency.

Question 22:


a) Gender is a fundamental organizing feature of a society.
b) The experiences and treatment of women are shaped by their natural, biological differences.
c) The ‘problem’ of older women are not a matter of poor individual choices but are structurally manufactured through family, the market, and the state.
d) The interlocking oppressions of race, ethnicity, and social class combine to the precarious position of women in society.
e) The treatment of women is socially produced according to how women and men are viewed in a society.

Question 23:


a) critical
b) successful aging
c) productive aging
d) healthy aging
e) life course

Question 24:


a) critical
b) successful aging
c) productive aging
d) healthy aging
e) life course

Question 25:


a) 20 per cent
b) 10 per cent
c) 5 per cent
d) 30 per cent
e) 40 per cent

Question 26:


a) medicare
b) pension
c) workers compensation
d) employment insurance
e) tax

Question 27:


a) they belong to a cohort in which a woman’s primary occupation was housewife and mother
b) payments from the pension system reflect the income inequality in a labour market where women earn less than men
c) women’s interrupted work histories as a result of family responsibilities limit their ability to save and accumulate pension benefits
d) they are separated or divorced
e) all of the above

Question 28:


a) Twice as many older men live alone compared to older women.
b) The baby boom generation has fewer children than previous generations.
c) The majority of older adults are not socially isolated.
d) Older adults have smaller social networks than younger adults because they lose relatives and friends with advancing age.
e) Older adults have networks which are condensed and exhibit an increased emotional closeness.

Question 29:


a) 10
b) 20
c) 40
d) 50
e) 70

Question 30:


a) depression
b) always having to be helpful
c) anxiety
d) financial distress
e) poorer general health than that of the average person