Page 560 - Sociology and You

530
Unit 5 Social Change
Section 1
The Dynamics of Demography
Key Terms
• population
• demography
• fertility
• fecundity
• crude birth rate
• fertility rate
• total fertility rate • mortality
• life span
• life expectancy
• crude death rate
• infant mortality rate • migration
• gross migration rate • net migration rate
Section
Section
The Changing Population
Preview
Preview
Demography is the scien- tific study of population. The collection of population
data is very important today, in part because of its use by government and industry. Demographers consider three population processes when looking at population change: fertility, mortality, and migration.
S
ociologists study
population be- cause it affects social structure, especially in crowded areas. They look for patterns that will help them under- stand and predict how groups of people will
Social structures reflect the ability of the land to support people.
population
a group of people living in a particular place at a speci- fied time
demography
the scientific study of population
behave. For example, they might examine the relationship between popula- tion growth and politics. We know that historically the growth of minorities in the United States has benefited Democrats more than Republicans (Tilgrove, 1999). But the situation today is different with respect to Latinos. Now the largest minority in the United States, Latinos are not firmly aligned with either political party. Regardless of political affiliation, the growth of mi- nority populations affects how congressional districts are drawn and is one reason why census taking can be a controversial topic. Or sociologists might study trends in population shifts, such as the aging baby boomers, to help plan for hospitals and long-term nursing facilities.
How do sociologists define population? A population is a group of people living in a particular place at a specified time. The scientific study of population is called demography (demo is a Greek word that means “people”). To study population, demographers look at many factors, including the number of people (size); how and where they are located (distribution); what groups make up the population (composition); and the ages represented in the population (age structure). Demographers also analyze three processes: birth (fertility), death (mortality), and movement from one place to another (migration). Major changes in populations come from one or all of these three processes. In the following sections, we look at the factors and processes that affect populations.