Postgraduate Course: Social Demography (SCIL11024)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The aim of the course is to introduce a sociological approach to the study of human population. It does this by maintaining a dual focus, both on a substantive topic, the reproduction of population, and reflexive consideration of how knowledge of this comes to be produced and considered to be 'social science'. It considers the sometimes bizarre disciplinary division of labour between sociology and demography, the importance of the state as an institution in the development of demography as a discipline, and the way in which this has influenced and continues to influence the kinds of analysis it has developed. |
| Course description |
Students will attend a weekly one hour lecture and one hour seminar which is shared with the undergraduate 'Social Demography' course. In addition they will be required to attend five fortnightly seminars solely for postgraduates on the topics of:
* Sources of demographic data
* Quantitative and qualitative research methodologies in social demography
* Gender and demography
* Demographic transition theory
* Recent demographic trends in Scotland
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
In the course students will:
* Learn the key concepts and theoretical approaches, including some of the statistical techniques, used in the study of population;
* Enhance their ability to analyse the nature of social change, especially through the consideration of 'longitudinal' analysis;
* Examine the relationship between sociological argument and evidence, and distinguish sociological analysis from other forms of understanding.
Students will become familiar with and be able to assess critically such issues as:
What defines a population? a generation? a family?
What does the reproduction of population comprise?
What was the 'Demographic Transition' in Europe, and what is the significance of debates about its character, and its fundamental importance for the contemporary world;
Changing patterns of fertility in the world, and whether and in what ways the desire to have children or form a family may be sociologically explained.
What the phenomenon of 'population ageing' comprises, and what its causes and consequences may be;
The way in which international politics have influenced the development of demography as a discipline.
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Reading List
Indicative Reading List
Anderson, Mike. (2004). One Scotland or several: the historical evolution of Scotland's population over the past century and its implications for the future, in. Scotland's Demographic Challenge. R. Wright (ed).
Aries, Phillipe 1980. 'Two successive motivations for the declining birth rate in the West'. Population and Development Review 6: 645-650.
Billari, Francesco & Tomas Frejka, John Hobcraft, Miloslav Macura and Dirk J. van de Kaa 2004 'Discussion of paper Explanations of the fertility crisis in modern societies: A search for commonalities' in Population Studies. 58:77-92.
Caldwell, J. C. and T. Shindlmayr (2003). "Explanations of fertility crisis in modern societies: A search for commonalities." Population Studies 57: 241-263.
Caldwell, John C. , Caldwell, Pat & McDonald, Peter 2002 'Policy Responses To Low Fertility And Its Consequences: A Global Survey' in Journal of Population Research Vol. 19, No. 1.
Castles, F. (2003) 'The world turned upside down: below replacement fertility, changing preferences and family-friendly public policy in 21 OECD countries.' Journal of European Social Policy 13:201- 227.
Chesnais, J.-C. (1998). "Below-Replacement Fertility in the European Union (EU-15): Facts and Policies, 1960-1997." Review of Population and Social Policy 7: 83 - 101.
Cleland, John & Wilson, Christopher 1987 'Demand Theories of the Fertility Transition: an Iconoclastic View' in Population Studies, Vol. 41, No. 1. pp. 5-30.
Cleland, John 2001 'The Effects of Improved Survival on Fertility: A Reassessment' Population and Development Review, Vol. 27, Supplement: Global Fertility Transition. (pp. 60-92.)
Council of Europe, Recent Demographic Development in Europe. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Press. Most recent editions available at http://www.coe.int/t/e/social_cohesion/population/demographic_year_book/
Coleman D. 2003 'Facing the 21st Century: new developments, continuing problems' Oxford Centre for Population Studies Working Paper Series no. 17.
Coleman D. 2003 'Why we don't have to believe without doubting in the 'Second Demographic Transition': Some agnostic comments.'
Coleman, D. and Roger Schofield (eds.), The State of Population Theory: Forward from Malthus. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1986.
Malthus, D An Essay on the Principle of Population (London: Pelican Books, 1970) (Anthony Flew, editor).
Davis, K. (1937) 'Reproductive Institutions and the Pressure for Population.' In Sociological Review. pp. 289-306.
Demeny, P. (2003). "Population Policy Dilemmas in Europe at the Dawn of the Twenty-first Century." Population and Development Review 29(1): 1-28.
Demeny, Paul. 1986. "Pronatalist Policies in Low-Fertility Countries: Patterns, Performance, and Prospects." Population and Development Review Supplement to vol. 12:335-358.
Dunnell, Karen 2007 'The Changing Demographic picture of the UK' in Population Trends 130: 9 - 21.
Fahey, T. and Z. Speder (2004). Fertility and Family Issues in an Enlarged Europe. Luxembourg, Office for the Official Publications of the European Communities.
Folbre, N. (1994). Who pays for the kids? : gender and the structures of constraint. London, Routledge.
Folbre, N. (1997). "The Future of the Elephant Bird." Population and Development Review 23(3): 647-654.
Gary Becker, "An Economic Analysis of Fertility", in National Bureau of Economic Research, Demographic and Economic Change in Developed Countries, pp.209-234.
Giddens, A. (1992). The Transformation of Intimacy: Love Sexuality and Eroticism in Modern Societies. Cambridge, Polity.
Goldstein, J., Lutz, W. and Testa, M. 2003. 'The emergence of sub-replacement family size ideals in Europe', Population Research and Policy Review, 22 (5-6): 479 - 496.
Graham, Elspeth, Lynn Jamieson & John MacInnes 'Fertility, Policy and the Future of Scotland's Population' Ch 3 of General Register Office for Scotland (2008) Scotland's Population 2008. The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends. Edinburgh: General Register Office for Scotland.
Haupt, Arthur & Kane, Thomas T. (n.d.) The Population Reference Bureau's Population Handbook 5th Edition. NY: Population Reference Bureau.
Hodgson, Denis. 1983. "Demography as social science and policy science." Population and Development Review 9:1-34.
Hodgson, Denis. 1988. "Orthodoxy and revisionism in American demography." Population and Development Review 14:541-569.
Hodgson, Denis. 1991. "The ideological origins of the Population Association of America." Population and Development Review 17:1-34.
Jean-Claude Chesnais, The Demographic Transition: Stages, Patterns and Implications (Tr. Elizabeth and Philip Kraeger). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992.
Judith Blake, "Are Babies Consumer Durables", Population Studies, Vol.22 (March 1968), pp.3-25.
Judith Blake, "Income and Reproductive Motivation", Population Studies, Vol.21 (November 1967), pp.185-206.
Kirk, Dudley 1944 'Population Changes and the Postwar World' American Sociological Review, 9: 28-35.
Lutz, W., O'Neill, B. and Scherbov, S. 2003. 'Europe's population at a turning point', Science. 299(28), March.
MacInnes, John & Pérez, Julio (2006) 'Low Fertility and Population Replacement in Scotland.' in Population Space and Place.
MacInnes, John & Pérez, Julio 2008 'Demography' in Bryan Turner (ed) The New Blackwell Companion to Social Theory. Oxford: Blackwell. [WebCT]
Mackenzie, Donald 1976. "Eugenics in Britain." Social Studies of Science: 499-532.
Mason, K. O. (1997). "Explaining Fertility Transitions." Demography 34(4): 443-454.
McDonald, P. 2005 'Fertility and the State: the efficacy of policy'. Paper to International Union for the Scientific Study of Population Tours, France, July.
McDonald, Peter. 2000. "Gender equity, social institutions and the future of fertility." Journal of Population Research 17:1-16.
McDonald, Peter. 2001. "Theory pertaining to low fertility." in International Perspectives on Low Fertility: Trends, Theories and Policies. Tokyo, 21-23 March 2001.: IUSSP.
McIntosh, C. Alison. 1986. "Recent Pronatalism Policies in Western Europe." Population and Development Review:318-334.
Myrdal, A. (1968 [1939]). Nation and Family. Cambridge Mass., M.I.T Press.
of Population Change. The Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly, 49: 509-38). Reprinted in The Milbank Quarterly, 83, 731-57. (2005)
Omran, Abdel R. 1971 The Epidemiologic Transition: A Theory of the Epidemiology
Parsons, T. (1956). 'The American Family: Its Relations to Personality and to the Social Structure' In Family socialization and interaction processes. T. Parsons and R. F. Bales. London, Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Population Reference Bureau 'The Future of Human Life Expectancy: Have We Reached the Ceiling or is the Sky the Limit?' Research Highlights in the Demography and Economics of Aging no 8, March 2006.
Robinson, W. C. (1997). "The Economic Theory of Fertility Decline Over Three Decades." Population Studies 51: 63-74.
Ryder, Norman B 1964 'Notes On The Concept Of A Population' in American Journal Of Sociology, 69 (5): 447-463.
Simon Szreter, "The Idea of Demographic Transition and the Study of Fertility Change", Population and Development Review, vol. 19 (December 1993), pp. 659-702.
Simon Szreter, Fertility, Class and Gender in Britain, 1860-1940. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Sobotka, Tomás 2008 The diverse faces of the Second Demographic Transition in Europe in Demographic Research: Volume 19, Article 8.
Thane, Pat 2000 'The 'Menace' of an Ageing Population, the 1920s to 1950s', Ch. 17 of Old Age in English History, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Therborn, G (2004) Between Sex and Power. Routledge.
Thompson, W. (1929). "Population." American Journal of Sociology 34: 959-75.
Van de Kaa, D. J. (2002). The Idea of a Second Demographic Transition in industrialised countires. at http://www.ipss.go.jp/webj-ad/WebJournal.files/population/2003_4/Kaa.pdf
Wilson, Tom. and Phil. Rees (2003). "Why Scotland needs more than just a new migration policy." Scottish Geographical Journal 119(3): 191-208.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr John Macinnes
Tel: (0131 6)50 3867
Email: john.macinnes@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Jodie Fleming
Tel: (0131 6)50 3602
Email: Jodie.Fleming@ed.ac.uk |
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