Chapter 14
Why should we care?
“Will our planet be able to support it’s growing population?”
Are chronic famine and mass starvation the fate of most humans
Photo taken by Mike Wells (United Kingdom). In the Karamoja district, Uganda, April 1980. Of a Starving boy and a missionary. Photo won World Press Photo of the Year
ď‚ž Demography
is the study of size, composition, growth and distribution of human populations.
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Thomas Malthus, an English economist, was the first to see this rapid growth in populations as a sign of doom.
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He believed that the population will grow geometrically (2 to 4 to 8 to 16) while the food supply grows arithmetically (1 to 2 to 3 to 4) = Thomas Theorem.
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What Malthus meant was, that if there are births that go unchecked, the population of a country, or even the whole world.. Will outstrip all of its food supply.
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This group of demographers believed that Malthus underestimated his theory, they believe that the situation is worse than Malthus ever imagined.
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For instance : The worlds population is growing so fast that in just the time it took you to read chapter 14, another 20,000 to 40,000 babies will be born!
These people believe that Europe’s demographic transition provides a more accurate view into the future.
The high death rates will offset the high birth rates.
Population shrinkage is already occurring in 65 countries
“It is simply to early to tell”
VS
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Especially considering that the world has improved seeds and fertilizers to make food more available for each and every person on Earth..
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Starvation occurs not because the Earth produces too little food, but because certain places lack food.
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(Droughts and Wars are the main reasons)
Lots and lots and lots of people‌..
Least Industrialized Nations (Poor) are growing 15 times faster than Most Industrialized Nations
Symbolic interaction perspective.
Status of Parenthood is important especially to a woman in poverty. › The more children a woman
has to take care of, the more she thinks she has achieved the purpose for which she was born.
$$$ Reliance on Children in Old Age
The least industrialized nations are going have more children, compared to the U.S. who are having so few children. If it was not for immigration the U.S. population would begin to shrink.
Family Planning› China: 1 Family = 1 Child
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Population Growth Variables Demographic Variables – three ways to measure population growth
– the number of children a women actually bears; lowest in Eastern Europe and highest in Middle Africa 1. Fertility
2. Mortality – 3. Migration –
annual deaths per 1,000 people
the Net migration rate is the number of immigrants and the number of emigrants
Fertility the average number of children a woman bears. Fecundity is the number of children that women are capable of bearing.
› The fecundity number is rather high, considering some women have given birth to over 30 children.
Crude Birth Rate is the annual number of live births per 1,000 population.
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Crude Death Rate is the annual number of deaths per 1,000 population.
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The highest death rate recorded is 28, in Botswana and Lesotho in southern Africa. Kuwait holds the lowest records of death rates.
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Net Migration Rate is the difference between the number of immigrants and emigrants per 1,000 population. › Emigrants are people moving out of
the country, and immigrants are people moving into a country.
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The most common flow of migration is from the Least Industrialized Nations to the industrialized countries.
Fertility, mortality, and net migration make up a country’s growth rate.
The net change after people have been added to and subtracted from a population is known as the basic demographic equation.
Growth rate= births-deaths + net migration
A city can be defined as a place in which a large number of people are permanently based and do not produce their own food.
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The Rise of Cities Cities,
on a large scale, first appeared about 3500 B.C., first in Iraq and Iran, then later in West Africa The key
to the origin of cities is the development of efficient agriculture 200 years
ago the only city in the world that had a population of more than a million was China The
Industrial Revolution led to a big rise in city populations
Urbanization refers to masses of people moving to the cities 77 % of the population in the industrialized world lives in cities There are many “pulls” in regards to city life
– Central city surrounded by smaller cities and their suburbs Metropolis
– Two metropolises & their many suburbs (Texas Triangle: Dallas, Fort Worth, Huston) Megalopolis
Megacity – A City
with 10 million residents
( NEW YORK) 25
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U.S. Urban Patterns › From Country to City – In 1790 only 5 % of Americans
lived in cities; today it is 79 % › From City to City – Five of the fastest growing cities are in
the West and 5 are in the South › Between Cities – Edge Cities: clusters of buildings and
services near the intersections of major highways › Within the City – Gentrification: middle class people
moving to rundown areas of a city › From City to Suburb – Suburbanization – Today, over 50 %
of Americans live in Suburbs– why?
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Rural Rebound
Desire to
Retreat to Safe Haven
Urban Crime Cost of
and Violence is “Push”
Living and Space is “Pull”
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Models of Urban Growth The Concentric Zone Model – Ernest Burgess – cities expand outward from its center – 5 zones
The Sector Model – Homer Hoyt – a concentric zone can contain several sectors
The Multiple-Nuclei Model – Harris and Ullman – some cities have several centers (i.e. fast food restaurants and clothing stores)
The Peripheral Model – Chauncey Harris – impact of highways on the movement of people away from the cities
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City Life Who Lives in the City? – Herbert Gans did participant observation in the West End of Boston and determined 5 different types of people live in the cities:
› The Cosmopolites › The Singles › The Ethnic Villagers › The Deprived › The Trapped
Urban Problems & Social Policy ď‚žMany
people are leaving the cities and businesses are following = the cities tax base to shrink = less $ for education ď‚žAs
cities tax base shrank and building deteriorated, many banks began Redlining (refusing to give loans to housing & business developments in problem areas). ď‚žDeindustrialization
many factories moving to other countries where the labor is cheaper
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Policies enacted which have attempted to resolve urban problems. ď‚ž Urban renewal: Tearing down
an area and rebuilding, which can revitalize the area but often times does not benefit its inhabitants (pretty new condos that people can not afford) ď‚ž Enterprise Zones:
A designated area of a city that offers incentives to businesses, such as reduced taxes, to move into the area 34