Page 475 - Essencials of Sociology

448 CHAPTER 14 Population and Urbanization

will double in fifty years. In contrast, women in the United States are having so few
children that if it weren’t for immigration, the U.S. population would be shrinking.
The implications of a doubling population are mind-boggling. Just to stay even, within
fifty years, a country must double the number of available jobs and housing facilities; its
food production; its transportation and communication facilities; its water, gas, sewer, and
electrical systems; and its schools, hospitals, churches, civic buildings, theaters, stores, and
parks. If a country fails to maintain this growth, its already meager standard of living will
drop even farther.
Conflict theorists point out that a declining standard of living poses the threat of political
instability—protests, riots, even revolution—and, in response, repression by the government.
Political instability in one country can spill into others, threatening an entire region’s balance
of power. Fearing such disruptions, leaders of the Most Industrialized Nations are using the
United Nations to direct a campaign of worldwide birth control. With one hand, they give
agricultural aid, IUDs, and condoms to the masses in the Least Industrialized Nations—
while, with the other, they sell weapons to the elites in these countries. Both actions, say con-
flict theorists, serve the same purpose: promoting political stability in order to maintain the
dominance of the Most Industrialized Nations in global stratification.

Population Pyramids as a Tool for Understanding
Although changes in population bring serious consequences, both on a personal and a
political level, the reasons underlying these changes can be elusive. To illustrate one of
population pyramid a graph these significant reasons, demographers use population pyramids, figures that depict a
that represents the age and sex of country’s population by age and sex. Look at Figure 14.7, which compares the popula-
a population (see Figure 14.7) tion pyramids of the United States, Mexico, and the world.
Let’s see why population pyramids are important. Imagine a miracle—that overnight,
Mexico is transformed into a nation as industrialized as the United States. Imagine also
that overnight, the average number of children per Mexican woman drops to 2.0, the
same as in the United States. If this happened, it is obvious that Mexico’s population
would change at the same rate as that of the United States, right?
But this isn’t what would happen. Instead, the population of Mexico would continue
to grow rapidly. To see why, look again at the population pyramids. Notice that a much
higher percentage of Mexican women are in their childbearing years. This means that even
if Mexico and the United States had the same birth rate, a larger percentage of Mexican
women would be giving birth, and Mexico’s population would grow rapidly while, without

FIGURE 14.7 Three Population Pyramids

Mexico Ages United States Ages The World
80+ 80+
75–79 75–79
70–74 70–74
65–69 65–69
60–64 60–64
55–59 55–59
50–54 50–54
45–49 45–49
40–44 Male Female 40–44
35–39 35–39
30–34 30–34
25–29 25–29
20–24 20–24
15–19 15–19
10–14 10–14
Male Female 5–9 5–9 Male Female
0–4 0–4
765432101234567 54321012345 6543210123456
Percentage of Percentage of Percentage of
Total Population Total Population Total Population
Source: Population Today, 26, September 9, 1998:4, 5.