society: the basics chapter eleventh edition copyright ©2011 by pearson education, inc. all rights...

Society: the basics

CHAPTER

Eleventh Edition

Copyright ©2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.All rights reserved.

Society: the basics, Eleventh EditionJohn J. Macionis

Population, Urbanization, and Environment

15

This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law:- Any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network;- Preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images; - Any rental, lease or lending of the program.



Population, Urbanization, and Environment

• Why should we worry about the rapid rate of global population increase?

• How do city and rural living differ?

• How is the condition of the natural environment a social issue?



Demography: The Study of Population

• Demography– The study of human population

• Fertility– The incidence of childbearing in a country’s

population

• Crude birth rate– The number of live births in a given year for

every 1,000 people in a population




• Mortality– The incidence of death in a country’s

population

• Crude death rate– The number of deaths in a given year for

every 1,000 people in a population




• Infant mortality rate– The number of deaths among infants under

one year of age for each 1,000 live births in a given year

• Life expectancy– The average life span of a country’s

population




• Migration– The movement of people into and out of a

specified territory– Immigration

In-migration rate– Number of people entering an area for every 1,000 people

in the population




• Migration (continued)– Emigration

Out-migration rate– The number of people leaving for every 1,000 people

– Both types usually happen at once Push-pull factors



Image Bank



Population Growth

• Affected by fertility, mortality, and migration

• Population growth of U.S. and other high-income nations is well below world average

• Highest growth region is Africa– Troubling because these countries can barely

support existing populations



Image Bank



Population Composition

• Sex ratio– The number of males for every 100 females in

a nation’s population

• Age-sex pyramid– A graphic representation of the age and sex

of a population Lower-income nations are wide at the bottom



Image Bank



History and Theory of Population Growth

• Malthusian theory– Rapid population increase would lead to

social chaos– Geometric progression of population

Doubling of population (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc.)

– Arithmetic progression of food production Limited farmland (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc.)




• Malthusian theory (continued)– Reproduction beyond what the planet could

feed– Birth control and sex abstention might change

prediction




• CRITICAL REVIEW• Prediction flawed

– Birth rate began to drop with industrialization– Underestimated human ingenuity

• Ignored the role of social inequality in world abundance and famine

• Lesson:– Habitable land, clean water, fresh air are limited

resources




• Demographic transition theory– Links population patterns to a society’s level

of technological development– What are the four stages of demographic

transition theory?– Stage 1 – Pre-industrial agrarian societies

High birth rate, high death rate




• Demographic transition theory (continued)– Stage 2 – Industrialization

Death rate falls, birth rates remain high

– Stage 3 – Mature industrial economy Birth rate drops, death rate drops

– Stage 4 – Postindustrial economy Demographic transition complete Low-birth rate, steady death rate Japan, Europe, and the U.S.



Image Bank




• CRITICAL REVIEW– Linked to modernization theory

Optimism that poor countries will solve their population problems as they industrialize

– Dependency theorists Unless there is redistribution of global resources...

– Division into affluent enjoying low population growth– Poor struggling to feed more and more people



Global Population Today: A Brief Survey

• The low-growth north– Zero population growth

The level of reproduction that maintains population at a steady level




• The low-growth north (continued)– What factors repress population?

High proportion of men and women in labor force Rising costs of raising children Trends toward later marriage Singlehood Wide use of contraceptives

– Concern for under-population




• High-growth south– Population is critical problem in poor

southern-hemisphere nations– Advanced medical technology provided by

rich nations has lowered death rate Poor societies account for 2/3 of world’s population To limit population increase births must be

controlled as successfully as death

– With global population increasing, would you support a one-child policy? Why or why not?



Urbanization: The Growth of Cities

• Urbanization– The concentration of population into cities– The first cities

First urban revolution

– Preindustrial European cities– Industrial European cities

Second urban revolution



The Growth of U.S. Cities

• Colonial settlements, 1565-1800• Urban expansion, 1800-1860• The metropolitan era, 1860-1950

– Metropolis A large city that socially and economically

dominates an urban area



The Growth of U.S. Cities

• Urban decentralization, 1950-present– Occurred as people left downtown areas for

outlying suburbs Urban areas beyond the political boundaries of a

city



Image Bank



Suburbs and Urban Decline

• Loss of higher-income taxpayers to suburbs– Cities struggled to pay for expensive social

programs for the poor

• Cities fell into crisis leading to inner-city decay

• Decline in the importance of public space• Spread of TV, internet, and other media

people can use without leaving home



Image Bank



Postindustrial Sun Belt Cities and Sprawl

• 60% of U.S. population lives in sunbelt cities– Los Angeles, Houston

• What are some of the drawbacks of urban sprawl?– Growth follows no plan– Traffic congestion– Poorly planned housing developments– Overcrowded schools



Megalopolis: The Regional City

• Megalopolis– A vast urban region containing a number of

cities and their surrounding suburbs– Metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs)

One city with 50,000 or more people

– Micropolitan statistical areas Urban areas with at least one city with 10,000 to

50,000 people




• Megalopolis (continued)– Core-based statistical areas (CBSAs)

Include metropolitan and micropolitan areas New York and adjacent urban areas




• Edge Cities– Business centers some distance from the old

downtowns– No clear physical boundaries




• The rural rebound– 3/4 of rural communities across the U.S.

gained population– Scenic and recreational attractions– Companies relocating to rural communities

Increased economic opportunities for rural populations



Urbanism as a Way of Life

• Gemeinschaft– A type of social organization in which people

are closely tied by kinship and tradition

• Gesellschaft– A type of social organization in which people

come together only on the basis of individual self-interest

– Motivated by own needs rather than desire to help improve the well-being of everyone



Urbanism as a Way of Life

• How might Tonnies explain social patterns such as our high rate of divorce, widespread fear of crime, and incidents of “road rage” on the highways?



Mechanical and Organic Solidarity

• Emile Durkheim• Mechanical solidarity

– Social bonds based on common sentiments and shared moral values

– Similar to Gemeinschaft

• Organic solidarity– Social bonds based on specialization and

interdependence– Similar to Gesellschaft



The Blasé Urbanite

• Georg Simmel• Tuning out much of what goes on around

one• City dwellers keep distance as a survival

strategy• How would Simmel explain cases of people

turning away from others in need of the grounds that they simply “don’t want to get involved”?



The Chicago School: Robert Park and Louis Wirth

• City is a living organism – a human kaleidoscope

• Define the city as a setting with a large, dense, and socially diverse population– City dwellers know others not in terms of

Who they are but what they do

• Impersonal nature of urban relationships with greater diversity makes city dwellers more tolerant than rural villagers



The Chicago School: Robert Park and Louis Wirth

• CRITICAL REVIEW– Overlook the effects of class, race, and

gender– Many kinds of urbanites– Of the urban sociologists presented, which

were more positive about urban life? Which were more negative? In each case, explain why.



Urban Ecology

• The study of the link between the physical and social dimensions of cities

• Concentric zones• Wedge-shaped sectors• Multicentered model



Urban Ecology

• Social area analysis– Households with fewer children cluster

towards city’s center– Social class differences are responsible for

sector-shaped districts– Racial and ethnic neighborhoods consistent

with multi-centered model



Urban Political Economy

• Urban political-economy model– Applies Marx’s analysis of conflict in the

workplace to conflict in the city

• Political economists reject ecological approach of city as a natural organism– See city life as defined by people with power



Urban Political Economy

• CRITICAL REVIEW– Focus on U.S. cities during a limited period of

history– Unlikely any single model can account for full

range of urban diversity



Urbanization in Poor Nations

• Two revolutionary expansion of cities in world history– First began about 8000 B.C.E.– Second began in 1750 and lasted two

centuries



Urbanization in Poor Nations

• Third urban revolution is under way– Result of many poor nations entering high-

growth stage 2 of demographic transitions theory

– Cities offer more opportunities than rural areas Provide no quick fix for problems of escalating

population and grinding poverty



Environment and Society

• Ecology– The study of the interaction of living

organisms and the natural environment

• Natural environment– Earth’s surface and atmosphere, including

living organisms, air, water, soil, and other resources necessary to sustain life

• Why do you think that sociologists are interested in the environment?



The Global Dimension

• Ecosystem– A system composed of the interaction of all

living organisms and their natural environment

• Why must the natural environment be studied with a global perspective?

• Change in any part of the natural environment affects the entire global ecosystem– The ecological viewpoint of the hamburger



Technology and the Environmental Deficit

• I=PAT– Environmental impact (I) reflects a society’s

population (P), its level of affluence (A), and its level of technology (T).

• Societies at intermediate stages of sociocultural evolution have somewhat greater capacity to affect the environment




• Environmental impact of industrial technology goes beyond energy consumption

• Environmental Deficit– Profound long-term harm to the natural

environment caused by humanity’s focus on short-term material affluence




• Environmental concerns are sociological• Environmental damage to air, land, or water

is unintended• Environmental deficit is reversible

– Societies create environmental problems– Societies can undo many of them

• Do you think that environmental study should be a part of the curriculum of every school in the country? Why or why not?



Culture: Growth and Limits

• The logic of growth– Material comfort, progress, science

• Holds that more powerful technology has improved lives and new discoveries will continue to do so in the future

• Progress can lead to unexpected problems– Strain on the environment




• Environmentalists– Logic of growth flawed– Assumes natural resources will always be

plentiful

• Can you identify ways in which the mass media and our popular culture encourage people to support the logic of growth?




• The limits of growth– Cannot invent our way out of the problems

created by growth– Growth must have limits

• Humanity must enact policies to control population increase, pollution, and use of resources to avoid environmental collapse




• Shares Malthus’s pessimism about the future

• What policies would you propose to control the threat of population growth?



Solid Waste: The Disposable Society

• Do you think having more, in a materialistic sense, is the path to personal happiness?

• The U.S. has a disposable society– Consumes more products than virtually any

other nation on earth– Countless items are designed to be

disposable




• The U.S. has a disposable society (continued)– Wealthy society consumes hundreds of times

more energy, plastics, lumber, and other resources

– 80% never goes away Ends up in landfills Can pollute groundwater

– Recycling – reuse of resources



Image Bank




• Water and air– Hydrologic cycle

Planet naturally recycles water and refreshes the land

– Two major concerns Supply and pollution




• Water supply– 1% is suitable for drinking– Water rights prominent in laws around the

world– Rising population and development greatly

increase world’s needs for water– Water is a valuable and finite resource




• Do you think that water needs for future generations are ensured? What will we do if the answer turns out to be no?




• Water pollution– In large cities, people have no choice but to

drink contaminated water– Quality in U.S. good by global standards– Special problem is acid rain

Rain made acidic by air pollution that destroys plant and animal life

– Global phenomenon Regions that suffer might be thousands of miles

from source of the pollution




• Air pollution– Americans more aware of air pollution than

contaminated water– Air quality improved in the final decades of the

20th century– Wealthy nations passed laws banning high-

pollution heating




• Air pollution (continued)– Why is air pollution such a serious problem in

poor nations? Should the U.S. be concerned? And if so, what should be done? Reliance on coal, wood, peat, or other “dirty” fuels

for heating



Rain Forests

• Regions of dense forestation, most of which circle the globe close to the equator– Largest in south America, west-central Africa,

and southeast Asia– 7% of Earth’s total land surface



Rain Forests

• Losing rainforests to hardwood trade– How do rich nations contribute to the

destruction of the rain forests? Love parquet floors, fine furniture, fancy paneling,

weekend yachts, and high-grade coffins

– No rainforests – no protection of Earth’s biodiversity and climate



Global Warming

• A rise in Earth’s average temperature due to an increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere– Carbon dioxide increasing while amount of

plant life on Earth is shrinking– Rainforests being destroyed by burning



Global Warming

• Global warming is a problem that threatens the future for all

• Have you experienced changes in your own world resulting from global warming? Explain.



Declining Biodiversity

• Clearing rainforests reduces earth’s biodiversity

• Rainforests home to almost half of planet’s living species



Declining Biodiversity

• Why should we be concerned about the destruction of the rainforests?– Biodiversity provides a varied source of human

food– Biodiversity is a vital genetic resource used by

medical and pharmaceutical researchers– Beauty and complexity of natural environment

are diminished– Extinction of any species is irreversible and final



Environmental Racism

• Patterns that make environmental hazards greatest for poor people, especially minorities

• Where do the people who own the factories live in relationship to the factories? Where do the people who work in the factories live in relationship to the factories? What accounts for this pattern?



Environmental Racism

• Factories that spew pollution stood near neighborhoods housing poor and people of color– Poor drawn to factories for work– Low incomes led to affordable housing in

undesirable neighborhoods



Toward a Sustainable Society and World

• Ecologically sustainable culture– A way of life that meets the needs of the

present generation without threatening the environmental legacy of future generations

• Three strategies– Bring population growth under control– Conserve finite resources– Reduce waste




• Dinosaurs dominated for 160 million years• Humanity is far younger

– 250,000 years

• Compared to dinosaurs, humans have the great gift of intelligence

• What are the chances that humans will continue to flourish 160 million years or even 1,000 years from now?




• Make five predictions about the state of the world population and also the state of the planet’s environment fifty years from now. Are you optimistic or pessimistic?

society: the basics chapter eleventh edition copyright ©2011 by pearson education, inc. all rights...

Documents

edition copyright

edition john

macionis population

macionis slide

pearson education

study of population

study of population

study of population