McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 1 SOCIOLOGY Richard T. Schaefer Population and the Environment 21

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide Population and the Environment Demography: The Study of Population The Environment Social Policy and Population

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 3 Demography: The Study of Population Fertility: level of reproduction in a society Demography: scientific study of population Sociologists focus on the social factors that influence population rates and trends

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 4 Demography: The Study of Population Malthus’s Thesis and Marx’s Response –Malthus: world’s population growing more rapidly than the available food supply –Marx: no special relationship between world population and the supply of resources Neo-Malthusian View stresses birth control and sensible use of resources

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 5 Demography: The Study of Population Studying Population Today –Census: enumeration, or counting of a population –Vital statistics: records of births, deaths, marriages, and divorces gathered through a registration system maintained by government

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 6 Demography: The Study of Population Elements of Demography –Birth rate: number of live births per 1,000 population in a given year –Total fertility rate: average number of children born alive to any woman, assuming she conforms to current fertility rates –Death rate: number of deaths per 1,000 population in a given year

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 7 Demography: The Study of Population Elements of Demography –Infant mortality rate: number of deaths of infants under one year of age per 1,000 live births in a given year –Life expectancy: median number of years a person can be expected to live under current mortality conditions –Growth rate: difference between birth and deaths, plus the difference between immigrants and emigrants

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 8 Demography: The Study of Population Figure Live Expectancy in Selected Countries, 2004 Source: Haub 2004

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 9 Demography: The Study of Population Table Live Estimated Time for Each Successive Increase of 1 Billion People in World Population Source: Bureau of the Census 2005f

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 10 Demography: The Study of Population Figure Live Demographic Transition

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 11 Demography: The Study of Population Figure Population Pyramids for Afghanistan Source: Bureau of the Census

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 12 Demography: The Study of Population Figure Where Americans Moved in the 1990s Source: Brewer and Suchan 2001:10

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 13 The Environment –Air Pollution –Water Pollution Functionalism and Human Ecology –Human Ecology: interrelationships between people and their environment Environmental Problems: An Overview

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 14 The Environment Provides the resources essential for life Serves as a waste repository Houses our species –Three functions compete with one another Functionalism and Human Ecology –Dunlap suggests the natural environment serves three basic functions for humans:

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 15 The Environment –Polluting companies may relocate to countries with less stringent environmental standards Industrialization that often accompanies globalization has increased pollution –Multinational Corporations have incentive to consider cost of natural resources The Impact of Globalization :

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 16 The Environment –Less affluent nations are being forced to exploit their mineral deposits, forests, and fisheries to meet debt obligations Environmental Justice –Legal strategy based on claims that racial minorities are subjected disproportionately to environmental hazards A Conflict View of Environmental Issues

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 17 Social Policy and Population World Population Policy –The Issue World population growth threatens earth’s ability to sustain it Social policies that address population growth touch on the most sensitive aspects of people’s lives Reaching global consensus on population issues difficult

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 18 Social Policy and Population World Population Policy –The Setting International concern about population growth began in 1950s Planners devised programs aimed at encouraging family planning and limiting the number of children through contraception In the U.S., anti-abortionists charged that public funds should not be used to support family planning clinics

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 19 Social Policy and Population World Population Policy –Sociological Insights Functionalists note best course of action may differ between community and society Feminist critics remark that population workers may ignore sociocultural influences Conflict theorists question why industrialized nations are enthusiastic about controlling the population of developing countries

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 20 Social Policy and Population World Population Policy –Policy Initiatives The Mexico City Policy: Bush administration requires health workers who receive U.S. government funding to refrain from discussing abortion with patients Family planning still sparse in poverty-stricken rural areas the world over