Sociology_Unit_2_-_Lesson_1_-_Population_Studies.pdf

Sociology unit 2 notes

1. CAPE®
POPULATION STUDIES
LESSON 1
Directed by
REMONE L. FOSTER

2. OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to answer the following
questions:
•What is Demography?
•Whyisstudyingthepopulationimportant in sociology?
•How to quantify population?
•WhatistheHumanDevelopmentIndex.
•Consider the Caribbean Human Development Index
•Howtointerpretapopulation pyramid.
•How does the population pyramid differ from developed and
developing nations.

3. DEMOGRAPHY
•Populationreferstoacollectionofpeopleorlivingorganismlivingin
agivengeographicalarea.Suchmaybeunevenlydistributed,
dynamicinnatureandcomposesofpeopleofdifferentage,sex,
ethnicityandrace.
•Demographyisthestudyofpopulation(Weeks,2015).
•AndersonandTaylor(2019)areoftheviewthatdemographyisa
scientificstudywhichzoomsinonthecurrentstate,distribution,
compositionandchangesofapopulationovertime.

4. Why is studying the population important in sociology?
When one considers population studies, they are concerned with systematic study of
population models and phenomenon in relations to different social structures and
behaviors.
Population studies are therefore important because:
•there is need to monitor the consumption of limited resources within a society
•population changes reflect the social and economic development of a particular society
•to counteract the harsh effects of overpopulation
•to appreciate the population trends in a society and understand their implications
•to determine and implement social policies such as education, housing, education and
health care
•to make further predictions about population growth and declines
•to regulate land uses.

5. Population and other social problems:
•Weeks (2015) is of the view most of social issues
affecting people have a demographic underpinning. He
contends that population growth doesn’t cause social
ills but ignites them. That is, it only makes other
problems such as food security, women’s rights,
unemployment, aging, housing and urbanization,
inflation, pollution, education and literacy become
more evident.

6. IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN QUANTIFYING POPULATION:
CrudeBirthRate:Thisisthenumberoflivebirthsper1000ofthepopulation.Thisiscalculatedby
meansof:CBR=
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.TheCrudebirthrateissignificantbecauseitrevealstheoverall
healthdevelopmentofsocietyandreflectspopulationchanges.Giddens(2005)mentions,however,
thatthecrudebirthrateisreally“crude”inthatitoffersnothingprecise.Itdoesn’ttellusaboutthe
compositionofthepopulation.
CrudeDeathRate:Thisisthenumberofdeathsper1000personseachyearandiscalculatedas:
CDR=
#������������
??????��������������
.Similarlythiscanreflectthedevelopmentofasocietybutofferslittle
informationastothepatternsofdeathinthatsociety.AndersonandTaylor(2011)notesthatthe
higherthestandardoflivinginasocietythelowertheCrudedeathrate.
FertilityRate:Thisisthenumberofchildrenbornforevery1000womenofchildbearingage
(usuallybetween15and49)andiscalculatedas:FR=
#�����������������
#���������������−�??????��������
.

7. NaturalIncrease:Thisisthenumberofpopulationcausedbymorebirththandeathsatagiven
periodandiscalculatedasNI=#ofbirthsinayear-#ofdeathsinayear.Oftenpeopleconfusean
increaseinbirthfornaturalincreasebutbirthisonlyonecomponentofpopulationchangeandisnot
tobeseenaspopulationgrowth.
InfantMortalityRate:Thisistheyearlynumberofdeathsundertheageofoneyearforevery
thousandbirthsandiscalculatedasIMR=
#�������(��������������)�����
??????��������������
.TheInfantmortality
rateissignificantbecauseitreflectsimprovementsinhealthcare,maternitywellbeingandthe
overallstatusofwomeninasociety.
Lifeexpectancy:Thisistheaverageyearsanindividualisexpectedtolive.Overtheyears,life
expectancyhasincreasedsignificantlyinmostCaribbeanterritories.Factorsthataffectlife
expectancyincludedietandnutrition,medicalcare,healthfacilities,theavailabilityof
appropriaterecreationalfacilities,theavailabilityofjobs,stresslevel,wagesetc.

8. PopulationgrowthRate:Thisistherateatwhichapopulationis
increasinganddecreasinginagivenyearduetonaturalincreaseandnet
migrationexpressedasa%(percentage)ofabasepopulation.Itis
thereforecalculatedasPGR=
���������������+������������
??????��������������
.
TheDependencyRatiocomparesthenumberofdependencewiththe
numberofeconomicallyablepeopleinasociety.ItiscalculatedasDR:
%�������+%����������
%��������������
.

9. POPULATION STATISTICS: CENSUS AND SURVEYS
•Demographers use a variety of measures to study population and statistics is collected by
way of national census, and registration systems such as voter’s list, national registration
and surveys.
•Such statistics are important because they indicate the level of human Development in a
particular country and allow that country to appreciate the extent to which their policies
and programs in social services (such as education and health) are working.
•A censusis a head count of the entire population of a country, usually done at regular
intervals.
•Although by law, a census is to be taken every ten years, studies have should that this is
best since population changes normally takes about that time to manifest itself.
•However, a census may ignore people in mountainous areas and areas of high crime rates.
•In developed countries such as Canada, Britain and the USA, a surveymay also be used
to track demographic changes. This is collecting data from a sample group within a
specific geographic area.

10. THE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX
The Human Development Index was developed by the United Nations and uses a
combination of socio-economic measures to give an indication of human welfare.
Sustainable development (and economic development) is only possible where human
welfare is addressed positively. The HDI is concerned with:
(a) Longevity:This is measured by life expectancy at birthand gives an indication of
the overall health resources of a country and access to such resources, the level of
poverty and the education of mothers.
(b)Knowledge: This is measured by access to education, adult literacy and the means
years of schooling attained. This reflects the extent to which members of a society are
gravitating towards educational opportunities to enhance their quality of lives.
(c) GDP per capita:This is an economic indicator of development which is adjusted
for the purchasing power parity and reflects the cost of living in a country. This
underscores the fact that economic growth is a vital part of development.

11. Caribbean Human Development Index –
2016 REPORT by the United Nations
•The Caribbean Human Development Index reveals that the region is
experiencing greater levels of adult literacy, equity in the schools and greater
enrollment at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education.
•Countries such as Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados have ensured that education
is free for all students at all levels and there is evidence that other countries have
been increasing educational opportunities for people.
•The report focused heavily on the impact of crime on the region and believes that
the high crime rate has severely undermined the progress of the region.
•ThetopislandintheCaribbeanHumanDevelopmentIndexisBarbados
•Thelowest island in the Caribbean Human Development Index is Haiti –ranked
“Lowest human development”.

12. POPULATION PYRAMIDS
•Apopulationpyramidisusedasablueprintforinterpretingthe
dynamicsofapopulationandisusedessentiallytoshowtheageand
sexdistributionofapopulation.
•Apopulationpyramidissignificantasitrevealthestructuralchanges
inapopulationofaparticularsocietyoveraspecificperiodoftime.
•Suchpyramidsdifferfromonesocietytoanotherandtheirshapes
haveseriousimplications

15. How would the population pyramid of a developed nation
differ from that of a developing nation?
•Adevelopednationwouldmorethanlikelyhaveabroadtopwith
womenoutlivingmen.
•Thereisevidencethatsuchcountrieshaveverynarrowbasewhich
reflectsaverylowbirthrate.
•Thesepyramidstendtobeofapearshape.Developingnationsorless
developednations,ontheotherhand,wouldtendtohavenarrowtops
althoughthishasbeenbroadeningovertheyears.
•Often,thebaseisextremelywidewhichreflectsaveryhighbirthrate.
Suchpyramidstendtobetriangularinnature.

16. SOURCES
•Andersen,M. and Taylor, H. 2019. Sociology: The Essential, 10
th
Edition. Belmont: Washington.
•Weeks, J. 2015. Population: An Introduction to Concepts and Issues,
12
th
Edition. Wadsworth Publishing.

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