Demography


Book Description

The generation into which each person is born, the demographic composition of that cohort, and its relation to those born at the same time in other places influences not only a person's life chances, but also the economic and political structures within which that life is lived; the person's access to social and natural resources (food, water, education, jobs, sexual partners); and even the length of that person's life. Demography, literally the study of people, addresses the size, distribution, composition, and density of populations, and considers the impact the drivers which mediate these will have on both individual lives and the changing structure of human populations. This Very Short Introduction considers the way in which the global population has evolved over time and space. Sarah Harper discusses the theorists, theories, and methods involved in studying population trends and movements, before looking at the emergence of new demographic sub-disciplines and addressing some of the future population challenges of the 21st century. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.




Demography As an Interdiscipline


Book Description

This volume draws together some of the pioneer figures in the social science arena who have been working at the margins of demography and other social sciences. These articles show the willingness of the new demography to venture into a variety of other disciplines to better appreciate its own special contributions to the world of interdisciplinary research.




Population Issues


Book Description

This volume marks the end of an eight-year program of research on population issues, launched in 1990 by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research: The NWO Priority Program on Population Issues. Initiatives for this program of research were taken over ten years ago by Hans Van Ginkel-who became the first program chair - and Dirk Van De Kaa. The Dutch community of population scientists is deeply indebted to them for their early efforts. At the time, the program carried the name "Between Individual Development and Social Solidarity: Pop ulation and Society in a Period of Transition. " The goals of the Priority Program were threefold: To reduce the fragmentation of research on population issues; to increase collabora tion among population researchers with different disciplinary back grounds; and to strengthen the position of population studies in Dutch academe and in international forums. Looking back over eight years of programed research, we can safely say that the Priority Program has given an enormous impetus to population research in the Netherlands - as this volume attests. This program of research could not have been carried out success fully without the valuable contributions and constructive input of a large group of scientists. The scope and the focus of the Priority Program were defined by a preparatory committee chaired by Gerard Frinking.







Sources and Methods of Historical Demography


Book Description

Sources and Methods of Historical Demography covers the fundamental sources, methods, and approaches to explanatory modeling for describing, analyzing, and understanding demographic features of past societies. The book discusses the intellectual ancestry of historical demographic research, beginning in the 17th century; as well as the logic of basic techniques for reconstructing and analyzing information from fundamental source materials. The text also describes the full range of disciplines that have made major contributions to historical demography, and examples of empirical research. The book concludes by arguing the case for conducting historical demographic research with a broad, interdisciplinary ideal in mind. Historians and sociologists will find the book invaluable.




Demographic Behavior


Book Description




Demography


Book Description

A comprehensive book that emphasizes the major techniques, methods, and data sources of contemporary population studies. Written by a sociologist and a demographer, the book's principal aim is to improve the students' skills primarily as consumers and secondarily as producers of demographic information. One reviewer says, "The author has a pleasant style. It is the voice of knowledge combined with a gentle voice of teaching." He goes on to say of the book, "It is really unique and refreshingly original. It is comprehensive and comprehensible." -Ron Hammond, University of Utah. The book takes an applied interdisciplinary approach, emphasizing demographic resources such as software, data sets, journals, and the Internet. For anyone interested in population studies.




Demographic Methods and Concepts


Book Description

Demographic Methods and Concepts makes accessible the most commonly needed techniques for working with population statistics, irrespective of the reader's mathematical background. For the first time in such a text, concepts and practical strategies needed in the interpretation of demographic indices and data are included. Spreadsheet training exercises enable students to acquire the computer skills needed for demographic work. The accompanying free CD-ROM contains innovative, fully integrated learning modules as well as applications facilitating demographic studies.




The Demography and Epidemiology of Human Health and Aging


Book Description

With this book, Siegel, an internationally known demographer and gerontologist, has made a unique contribution to the fledgling fields of health demography, and the demography and epidemiology of aging. The book represents a felicitous union of epidemiology, gerontology, and demography, and appears to be the first and only comprehensive text on this subject now available. Drawing on a wide range of sciences in addition to demography, gerontology, and epidemiology, including medical sociology, biostatistics, public policy, bioethics, and molecular biology, the author treats theoretical and applied issues, links methods and findings, covers the material internationally, nationally, and locally, and while focusing on the elderly, treats the entire life course. The methods, materials, and pespectives of demography and epidemiology are brought to bear on such topics as the prospects for future increases in human longevity, the relative contribution of life style, environment, genetics, and chance in human longevity, the measurement of the share of healthy years in total life expectancy, the role of population growth in the rising costs of health care, and the applications of health demography in serving the health needs of local communities. The separate chapters systematically develop the topics of the sources and quality of health data; mortality, life tables, and the measurement of health status; the interrelationships of health, on the one hand, and mortality, fertility, migration, and age structure, on the other; health conditions in the less developed countries; the concepts and theories of aging and projections of the aged population; and local health applications, public health policy, and bioethical issues in health demography. Given its comprehensiveness, clarity, interdisciplinary scope, and authencity, this book appeals to a wide range of users, from students and teachers of medical sociology, the demography of aging, and public health studies to practitioners in these areas, both as a text in health demography and the demography/epidemiology of aging, and as a reference work in these fields.




Biodemography


Book Description

An authoritative overview of the concepts and applications of biological demography This book provides a comprehensive introduction to biodemography, an exciting interdisciplinary field that unites the natural science of biology with the social science of human demography. Biodemography is an essential resource for demographers, epidemiologists, gerontologists, and health professionals as well as ecologists, population biologists, entomologists, and conservation biologists. This accessible and innovative book is also ideal for the classroom. James Carey and Deborah Roach cover everything from baseline demographic concepts to biodemographic applications, and present models and equations in discrete rather than continuous form to enhance mathematical accessibility. They use a wealth of real-world examples that draw from data sets on both human and nonhuman species and offer an interdisciplinary approach to demography like no other, with topics ranging from kinship theory and family demography to reliability engineering, tort law, and demographic disasters such as the Titanic and the destruction of Napoleon's Grande Armée. Provides the first synthesis of demography and biology Covers baseline demographic models and concepts such as Lexis diagrams, mortality, fecundity, and population theory Features in-depth discussions of biodemographic applications like harvesting theory and mark-recapture Draws from data sets on species ranging from fruit flies and plants to elephants and humans Uses a uniquely interdisciplinary approach to demography, bringing together a diverse range of concepts, models, and applications Includes informative "biodemographic shorts," appendixes on data visualization and management, and more than 150 illustrations of models and equations