POPULATION AND SOCIETY

12 September 2016
 Demography
 Aims
Population dynamics - population growth
Fertility and mortality,
Migration issues (next week)
Consequences of demographic changes for a
number of pressing policy issues
After the 2 lectures you should be able
to....
1) define demography and describe the key features of demographic
transition theory;
2) use key concepts related to population structures (including
population age structure, sex composition, population size, population
growth rates, etc.) to describe a population;
3) Understand how mortality and fertility have changed over the past
two and vcenturies ary across countries;
4) explain how demography is intertwined with global health
and economic inequalities;
 Please note
Social Processes are linked with human
population therefore it is important for
Sociology students to study the characteristics
of population.
When we talk of relationship between
population and society, it is a two way
relationship. It is not that population only
affects social structure, social processes. Social
structure and social processes also affect
population.
Many Social Scientist study population
Sociologist are not the only social scientist who study population, economists have
studied population, psychologists have studied population, political scientist have
studied population, but their interest lies in something else.
Economists are more interested in economic aspects of demographic phenomena.
They may use cost benefit approach to reproductive decision making or migration.
Psychologists focus more on individual difference.
Sociologists include the study of migration in the issues of population.
Psychologists are interested in why is it that in the same situation, in same
environmental conditions, in same socioeconomic context, some people migrate
some do not migrate, while Sociologists may be interested in the issues; what are
those environmental social condition, cultural factors which induce or prevent
migration. That is the difference between Psychology and Sociology. Both the
segments have their own merits and demerits. Sociologists look at things at the
structural level, psychologist at the individual level.
Political scientists explain everything in terms of power and forms of state.
 What is demography?

Why is it important to study demography?

 Demography
A sub-field of sociology that examines population size,
composition, and distribution
Many sociological studies use demographic analysis as
a component of the research design because all
aspects of social life are affected by demography
Increases or decreases in population can have a
powerful impact on the social, economic, and political
structures of societies
Demography is the study of population
What is a population
 The Sources of Demographic
Information

National Censuses
Registration Systems (Home Affairs)
Surveys
World Fertility Surveys
Demographic and Health Surveys
Other fertility surveys
Current Population Survey
National Survey of Family Growth
 Population
A group of people who live in a specified geographic
area

Increases or decreases in population (population

change) occur as a result of three processes

What are these processes?

 Demographic processes
Fertility (births)

Mortality (deaths)

Migration
 Fertility
The actual level of childbearing for an individual or a
population
The most basic measure of fertility is the crude birth rate-
the number of live births per 1,000 people in a population in
a given year
The level of fertility in a society is based on biological and
social factors
The primary biological factor is the number of women of
childbearing age (usually between ages 15 and 45)
Other biological factors affecting fertility include: the
general health and the level of nutrition of women of
childbearing age.
 Social Factors
Roles of women is society
Prevalent viewpoints regarding what constitutes
the ideal family size
Based on biological capability alone, most women
could produce twenty or more during their
childbearing years
Fecundity- is the potential number of children who
could be born if every woman reproduced at her
maximum biological capacity
 Social Factors
Fertility rates are not as high as fecundity rates
because peoples biological capabilities are limited
by social factors such as practising voluntary
abstinence, refraining from sexual intercourse until
an older age, contraception, voluntary sterilisation,
abortion and infanticide
Other social factors are: increases of women in the
workplace, wars, and high rates of unemployment
In some countries, governmental policies influences
fertility rates (e.g. Chinas one child policy)
 Mortality
The primary cause of world population growth in
recent years has been a decline in mortality
Mortality the incidence of death in a population
The simplest measure of mortality is the crude
death rate- the number of deaths per 1,000 people
in a population in a given year
On a global scale, large numbers of new-born
infants do not live to see their first birthday- infant
mortality rate- the number of deaths of infants
under I year of age per 1,000 births in a given year
 Migration
The movement of people from one geographic
area to another for the purpose of changing
residency

NB: This topic will be covered in our next

lecture
 Population composition
Changes in fertility, mortality, and migration affect the
population composition- the biological and social
characteristics of a population, including age, sex, race,
marital status, education, occupation, income, and size
of household
One measure of population composition is the sex
ratio- the number of males for every hundred females
in a given population
Population composition is very important because it
has a direct bearing on the demand for schools, health,
employment, housing, and pensions
 World Population
http://www.worldometers.info/world-
population/
 Population Growth
World population = 7.4 billion
Increasing by almost 78 million people per year
The US Census Bureau (2008) observed that every
single day, the worlds population increases by
more than 200,000 people
The big question: What are the consequences of
global population growth?
 Population Growth
Some biologists have warned that the Earth is a
finite ecosystem that cannot support the 10 billion
people predicted by 2050

However, some economists have emphasized that

free market capitalism is capable of developing
innovative ways to solve such problems

Which position do you support?

 The World's Population
The population of the world grew by 50
percent from 1900 to 1950, and then
increased by 200 per cent over the next 50
years to reach 6 billion just before the turn of
the twenty-first century.
 The World's Population.....
From 1750 to 1950, the growth rate of the
worlds population took off, with an annual
average rate of 0.7 per cent and reached a
level of 2.5 billion by 1950 (Livi-Bacci, 1997:
31). Then, the worlds population literally
exploded from 1950 to 2000, with a growth
rate of over 1.8 per cent per year, and
humanity now numbers more than 7 billion
people
 Population growth, what is known
from history
Mortality began to decline in poor countries as well as rich ones
with the control of infectious diseases through the diffusion of
public heath programs and modern antibiotics. But there is a longer
story that includes the expansion of agricultural production and
economic growth in many countries, the development of local and
long-distance communications and transportation systems, and a
world system that included the World Health Organization and
international assistance to head off epidemics and famines.
Compared to what they should be or could be, social and economic
conditions around the world are deplorable, but relative to past
times, the twentieth century, and especially the second half of it,
looks ok.
 Demographers
Demographers, most of whom are
sociologists,
have accumulated a substantial reservoir of
empirical generalizations on all of these topics
and have also generated several theoretical
interpretations of demographic transformations
that have accompanied the creation of the
modern world.
Some of the Questions that are asked
by demographers?????
Can the world sustain a population of 10
billion?
Do population growth and density affect state
formation and political integration?
What are the effects of population growth
and age composition on savings rates and
economic growth?
Perspectives on population change

In pairs, identify and discuss any three

perspectives on population change
 Perspectives on population change
The Malthusian perspective

The Marxist perspective

The neo-Malthusian perspective

The demographic transition theory

The secularisation theory

Rational choice theory

 The Malthusian theory
Developed by English clergyman and economist Thomas Robert
Malthus (1766-1834)
Was one of the first scholars to systematically study the effects of
population
He was displeased with societal changes brought about by the
Industrial Revolution in England
He argued that the power of population is infinitely greater than
the power of the earth to produce subsistence [food] for man
(Malthus 1998: 7)
According to Malthus, the population, if left unchecked, would
exceed the available food supply
He argued that the population would increase in geometric
(exponential) progression (2,4, 8, 16) while the food supply
would increase only by an arithmetic progression (1, 2, 3 , 4 )
 Malthusian theory
In other words, the doubling effect occurs: Two
parents can have four children, sixteen
grandchildren, and so on, but food production
increases by only one acre at a time.
Thus, population growth inevitably surpasses the
food supply, and the lack of food will ultimately
end population growth, and perhaps eliminates
the existing population
Even in best case scenarios, overpopulation results
in poverty
 Malthusian theory
Malthus suggested that this disaster could be
averted by either positive or preventive checks on
population
Positive checks are mortality risks such as famine,
disease, and war
Preventive checks are limits to fertility
For him, the only acceptable preventive check was
moral restraint- people should practice sexual
abstinence before marriage and postpone marriage
as long as possible in order to have only a few
children
 The Marxist Perspective
Among those who attacked the ideas of Malthus were Karl
Marx and Frederick Engels
According to Marx and Engels, food supply is not threatened
by overpopulation
Technologically, it is possible to produce the food and other
goods needed to meet the demands of a growing population
The Marxist view poverty as a consequence of exploitation of
workers by the owners of the means of production
For example, they argued that England had poverty because
the capitalists skimmed off some of the workers wages as
profits
From this perspective, overpopulation occurs because
capitalists desire to have surplus of workers (an industrial
reserve army) so as to suppress wages
 Marxist Perspective
According to some contemporary economists,
the greatest crisis today facing low-income
nations is capital shortage, not food shortage
Through technological advances, agricultural
production has reached the level at which it
can meet the food needs of the world if food
is distributed efficiently
Capital shortage refers to the lack of adequate
money or property to maintain a business
 The Neo-Malthusian Perspective
Neo- Malthusians (or new Malthusians) re-emphasize the dangers of
overpopulation
To neo-Malthusians, Earth is a dying planet with too many people and
too little food, compounded by environmental degradation
Overpopulation and rapid population growth result in global environmental
problems ranging from global warming and rain forest destruction to
famine, and vulnerability to epidemics
Unless significant changes are made, including improving the status of
women, reducing racism, and religious prejudice, reforming the agricultural
system, and shrinking the growing gap between the rich and the poor, the
consequences will be dire
Early neo-Malthusians published birth control handbooks, and widespread
acceptance of birth control eventually reduced the connection between
peoples sexual conduct and fertility
Later neo-Malthusians have encouraged people to be part of the solution
to the problem of overpopulation by having only one or two children in
order to bring about zero population growth
 Demographic Transition Theory

Developed in the 1940s to explain the historic

shifts in birth and death rates that accompanied
shifts from traditional to modern society (at
least in industrial countries)
 The Demographic Transition Model
Pre-industrialization: LOW GROWTH
high birth rates, high mortality rates
Early industrialization: HIGH GROWTH
declining mortality rates (due to improved health and
living conditions) plus
Birth rates start to decline after a time lag
Advanced industrialisation and urbanisation: LOW
GROWTH
Low birth rates and low mortality rates
Post-industrialization: Very low or no GROWTH
Low birth rates and stable death rate
 Applicable to Developing Countries?
Demographic Transition Theory was
developed to explain historical phenomena in
the West
Dem. Transition vs. Malthusian theory:
Both link population growth with economic
development
Malthus: devt requires lower fertility
Dem. Transition: devt results in lower fertility
 Other Perspectives

Rational choice theory - Rational choice

theory (RCT) theorists believe that most
human decisions are based on maximizing a
person's own benefits, while minimizing that
which can hurt the individual
 What we have covered today shows
that.....
The scope of population studies is quite wide.
Population study provides you with a knowledge and understanding of the
prevailing population situation in their own country and the world.
It also creates an awareness about the inter-relationships between population
situation in their own country and the world.
It assists us to make conscious rational and informed decisions regarding family
size and population matters in the community and policy adopted by different
states.
It equips us with necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes, values to ascertain and
evaluate the impact of population change both in terms of the welfare of our
communities, society, nation and the world.
Population studies the nature, causes, changes, characteristics, co-operation and
distributional aspects of human population. It studies the relationships of man
with his environment along with his quality of life.
 A student of population is engaged in describing and comparing the size,
structure, characteristics and territorial distribution of the population, and the
changes occurring in it through the study of fertility, mortality, migration and
social mobility. He/she also attempts to explain population phenomena and
situations and the changes in them in the context of the biological, social,
economic and other settings.
The study of population is multidisciplinary in nature, involving an
understanding of biology, genetics, mathematics, statistics, economics,
sociology, cultural anthropology, psychology, politics, geography, medicine,
public health, ecology, etc. It is also implied in this description that the subject
matter of population studies includes the study of fertility, mortality, migration
and social mobility, that is, the components of change in the size, structure,
characteristics and distribution of population.
 Next Week
Migration
Types of migration
Theories of migration