PS 112 Introduction to Demography
Programme: B.A. Environmental Studies
Credit value: 12
Level: Year 1, Semester 1
General objectives
This introductory module will prepare students for further modules
in population studies by introducing them to the main concepts, ideas and
theories that underlie demography. It will also go more in-depth into measures
that are the outcome of censuses, their analysis and the meaning they have for
population studies. The module will also treat three issues with ever-growing
importance, namely migration, urbanization and unemployment and thus prepare
students with the necessary theoretical background to deal with some of the
most pressing social problems of our times.
Learning
outcomes
On completion of
the module, students will have gained understanding and insight in the following
issues:
- sources of
demographic data like population census, surveys, vital registration
etc., and how they are implemented;
- mortality,
fertility, sex composition, sex and age structure and literacy levels of a
population;
- the spatial
distribution of world populations and their determinants;
- an
introduction to migration and urbanisation;
- causes and
effects of migration;
- causes and
effects of urbanisation;
- labour force,
participation and unemployment rates;
- causes and
consequences of unemployment;
Approach to
learning and teaching
The module will
consist of 15 teaching weeks, one self-study week and two examination weeks.
Each week will consist of:
- lectures
during which the theoretical background will be discussed;
- guest lectures,
presentations and group discussions and a practical group exercise
involving data collected during PHCB 2005;
- self-study of
the theory available, collecting information, and preparing papers and
presentations.
Assessment
- Presentation 10%
- Individual assignments
20%
- Group
assignments 10%
- End of semester examination 60%
Prerequisite: None
Course
content
- demography as
a scientific discipline and importance attached to its studies; relation
of population studies with other disciplines;
- sources of
population data-census; survey; vital registration; service statistics
(data of different ministries, e.g. education, health etc.) and
qualitative data; partial registers, international and national
publications and others.
- some basic
demographic concepts and components of population change- (a) fertility:
(fertility, fecundity, natural fertility, Hutterite fertility and
regulated fertility; crude birth rate, general fertility rate, age-specific
fertility rate, children ever born, total fertility, marital fertility,
gross reproduction, net reproduction, population momentum, cohort and
period fertility); (b) mortality: (mortality, crude death rate,
age-specific death rate, cause-specific death rate, neonatal and
post-neonatal mortality, still-birth, infant mortality, under-five
mortality, maternal mortality rate and ratios, life expectancy, crude rate
of natural increase); (c) morbidity (morbidity, incidence rate,
prevalence rate, case fatality rate); (d) migration: (migration,
in-migration, out-migration, immigration, emigration, net migration, gross
migration); e) urbanization.
- fertility
levels, trends and differentials- proximate determinants and differentials
in fertility- biological, social and economic factors;
- population
theories of fertility- Multhusian theory, Neo-Multhusian and Demographic
Transition theory;
- mortality
levels, trends, differentials and causes of mortality: age and sex pattern
of mortality; levels and trends of mortality in the country (or with
reference to a country); factors associated with decline in mortality in
the country; different mortality by rural – urban residence, occupation,
marital status, ethnic groups, factors deferring mortality in infancy;
causes of death – international classification; epidemiological transition
theory of mortality;
- concept and
definition of nuptiality---its level, trends and determinants of age at
marriage; nuptiality pattern by region;
- sex and age
structure/ composition in the country; determinants of sex composition’
age structure of population in the country (or with reference to a
country); changes in the age structure of populations; determinants of age
structure; social and economic consequences of age – structures of populations;
- population
characteristics: levels and trends in literacy in the country (or with
reference to a country); levels and trends in literacy in the country;
- population
characteristics: labour and economically active population in the country;
basic concepts and definitions; various activity rates, levels, trends and
pattern of economic activity rates for males and females in the country
(or with reference to a country);
- world
population- its size, growth & distribution by continents, regions,
and developed and developing countries;
- spatial
distribution of world population by countries; regions; its determinants –
(a) physical (climate, topography, resource availability, space
relationship), (b) economic and social (types of economic activities,
techniques of production, irrigation, transportation, government policies
etc.), (c) physical and social disasters, and (d) differentials in
demographic factors;
- concepts,
types and determinants of migration; consequences of migration; the study
of population according to residential classification;
- definitions
and concepts of urbanization; urbanization as a process; components of
urban population growth; forces of urbanization; over – urbanization and
its problems, and government policies for urbanization.
- population
policy- definition and types of population policies.
Reading list
1.
Bhende, Asha A. and Tara Kanitkar, 1988. Principles of Population Studies,
Himalaya Publishing House, Bombay.
2.
Bogue, Donald, 1969. Principles of Demography,
John Wiley & Sons, New York.
3.
Lewis, G.J. 1982. Human Migration, Gromm
Helm, London
4.
Lucas, David and Paul Meyer (eds.), 1994, Beginning
Population Studies, Second Edition (Canberra: The Australian
National University).
5.
Herbert, David T and Colin J. Thomas, 1982.
Urban Demography, G. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
6.
Mc. Gee, T.G., 1971. The Urbanization Process
in the Third World, G. Bell, London.
7.
Oberoi, A.S, 1989. Problems of Urbanization
and Growth of Large Cities on Developing countries: A Conceptual Framework for
Policy Analysis, ILO, Geneva, World Employment Programme Research, Working
Paper No.169.
8.
Shryok, Henry S., Jacob S. Siegel and
Associates, 1971. The Methods and Materials in Demography, Vol. 1,
US Bureau of the Census, Washington, DC
9.
Shryock, Henry S, Jacob S. Siegel and Associates,
1973. The Methods and Materials of Demography, Vol. I, US Bureau of the
Census, Washington, D.C.
10. U.N. 1973. The Determinants and Consequences of Population Trends,
Vol 1. Population Studies No.50, New York
11. Weeks, John R. 1989. Population – An Introduction to Concepts and
Issues, Wordsworth Publication, Co.
Advanced reading
- Easterlin,
Richard A., 1975 "An Economic Framework for Fertility Analysis",
Studies in Family Planning. Vol.6, No.3, pp.54-63.
- Freedman, R.,
1979 "Theories of Fertility Decline: A Reappraisal",
Social Forces, Vol.58, No.1, pp.1-7.
- Haupt Arthur
and Thomas T. Kane, 1998, 4th Edition, Population Handbook
(Washington, DC: Population Reference Bureau).
- Leibenstein
Harvey, 1972, "The Economic Theory of Fertility Decline", Quarterly
Journal of Economics, Vol.89, No.1 pp. 1-31.
- Mosley, W. H
and Lincoln C. Chen, 1984, "An Analytical Framework for the Study
of Child Survival in Developing Countries", in "Child Survival:
Strategies for Research", in Supplement to Population and Development
Review, Vol. 10. PP. 25-48.
- Omran, A. R.,
1982, "Epidemiological Transition", in J. Ross (ed.),
International Encyclopedia of Population, Vol.1 (New York: Free Press),
172-83.
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