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Women in pronatalistic societies learn that control of fertility is socially unacceptable. ... the idea that as urbanization progresses fertility rates will inevitably decline. ...
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Chapter 13 Population Growth and Urbanization
Chapter Outline • The Global Context: a World View of Population Growth and Urbanization • Sociological Theories of Population Growth and Urbanization • Social Problems Related to Population Growth and Urbanization
Chapter Outline • Strategies for Action: Responding to Problems of Population Growth and Urbanization • Understanding Problems of Population Growth, Population Decline, and Urbanization
Doubling Time • The time it takes for a population to double in size from any base year. • It took several thousand years for the world’s population to double from 4 million to 8 million. • A few thousand years to double from 8 million to 16 million.
Doubling Time • About 1,000 years to double from 16 million to 32 million. • Less than 1,000 years to double to 64 million. • The most recent doubling, from 3 billion in 1960 to 6 billion in 1999, took only about 40 years.
Current Population Trends and Future Projections • According to the United Nations, the world’s population is growing at an annual rate of 1.14%, resulting in the addition of 76 million people per year. • Projections of future population growth suggest that world population will grow from 6.5 billion in 2005 to 9.1 billion in 2050.
Population Density • The number of people per unit of land area. • The population density of India is 869 people per square mile, compared with 80 people per square mile in the United States.
Fertility Rate • Average number of children born to each woman. • Replacement level fertility • The level required to maintain the population size.
Question • There should be government intervention in determining the maximum number of children people can have. • Strongly agree • Agree somewhat • Unsure • Disagree somewhat • Strongly disagree
Population Momentum • Continued population growth as a result of past high fertility rates that have resulted in a large number of young women who are currently entering their childbearing years. • Despite the below-replacement fertility rates in more developed regions, population in these regions is expected to continue to grow until about 2030 and then to begin to decline.
Population Trends • The total number of people on this planet is rising and is expected to continue to increase over the coming decades. • About 40% of the world’s population lives in countries in which couples have so few children that the countries’ populations are likely to decline over the coming years.
Question • What do you think is the ideal number of children for a family to have? • 0-1 • 2 • 3+
Urbanization • Transformation of a society from a rural to an urban one. • Urban population - Persons living in cities or towns of 2,500 or more residents. • Urbanized area - One or more places and the adjacent densely populated surrounding area that together have a minimum population of 50,000. • Megacities - Cities with 10 million residents or more.
Suburbanization • As more and more people moved to the suburbs, urban areas surrounding central cities, the United States underwent suburbanization. • As city residents left the city to live in the suburbs, cities experienced deconcentration, the redistribution of the population from cities to suburbs and surrounding areas.
Question • If you could live anywhere in the United States that you wanted to, would you prefer a city, suburban area, small town, or farm? • City • Suburban area • Small town • Farm
U.S. Metropolitan Growth and Urban Sprawl • A metropolitan area is a densely populated core area together with adjacent communities. • The largest city in each metropolitan area is designated the central city.
U.S. Metropolitan Growth and Urban Sprawl • The growth of metropolitan areas is often referred to as urban sprawl—the ever increasing outward growth of urban areas. • Urban sprawl results in the loss of green open spaces, the displacement and endangerment of wildlife, traffic congestion and noise, and pollution liabilities.
Structural-Functionalist Perspective • Focuses on how changes in one aspect of the social system affect other aspects of society. • The demographic transition theory of population describes how industrialization has affected population growth.
Structural-Functionalist Perspective • The development of urban areas is functional for societal development. • Urbanization is also dysfunctional, because it leads to increased rates of anomie as the bonds between individuals and social groups become weak.
Demographic Transition Theory • In agricultural societies high fertility rates offset high mortality and ensure survival of the population. • As a society becomes industrialized, improved sanitation, health, and education lead to a decline in mortality.
Demographic Transition Theory • Increased survival rate of children along with their declining economic value leads to a decline in fertility rates. • About 1/3 of the world’s countries have completed the demographic transition—the progression from a population with short lives and large families to one in which people live longer and have smaller families.
Conflict Perspective • Emphasizes the role of power, wealth and profit motive in development of urban areas. • Capitalism contributes to migration of rural inhabitants to cities. • Individuals and groups with wealth and power influence decisions that affect urban populations.
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective • Focuses on how meanings, labels, and definitions affect population and environmental problems. • Women in pronatalistic societies learn that control of fertility is socially unacceptable. • Efforts to redefine cities in positive terms are reflected in campaigns sponsored by convention and visitors bureaus. • Distinctive cultures and lifestyles of cities influence their residents’ self-concepts, values and behaviors.
Classical Theoretical View • Urban living emphasizes individuality and detachment from interpersonal relationships. • Primary social bonds weaken in favor of superficial social bonds. • Social solidarity weakens leading to loneliness, depression, stress.
Modern Theoretical View • Cities do not interfere with functional and positive interpersonal relationships. • Kinship and ethnicity help bind people together. • City is a patchwork quilt of urban villages that help individuals deal with the pressures of urban living.
Problems Associated with Below-Replacement Fertility • In more than 1/3 of the world’s countries—including China, Japan, and all of Europe—fertility rates have fallen below the 2.1 children replacement level. • Low fertility rates lead to an increasing proportion of elderly members.
Problems Associated with Below-Replacement Fertility • Low fertility results in fewer workers to support the pension, social security, and health care systems for the elderly. • Below-replacement fertility rates raise concern about a country’s ability to maintain a productive economy, because there may not be enough future workers to replace current workers as they age and retire.
Environmental Problems and Resource Scarcity • Countries that suffer most from shortages of water, farmland, and food are countries with the highest population growth rates. • About 1/3 of the developing world’s population live in countries with severe water stress.
Environmental Problems and Resource Scarcity • The impact that each person makes on the environment, their environmental footprint, is determined by their culture’s patterns of consumption. • The environmental footprint of someone in a high-income country is about 6 times bigger than that of someone in a low-income country.
Question • Environmental pollution is one of the top five social problems in our country today. • Strongly agree • Agree somewhat • Unsure • Disagree somewhat • Strongly disagree
Urban Housing Problems • Slums are concentrated areas of poor housing and squalor in heavily populated urban areas. • In the U.S., slums that are occupied primarily by African Americans are known as ghettos, and those occupied primarily by Latinos are called barrios. • Nearly one in three city dwellers worldwide live in slums characterized by overcrowding, little employment, and poor water, sanitation, and health care services.
Question • How often do you spend a social evening with someone who lives in your neighborhood? • Daily/Weekly • Monthly/Yearly • Never
Global Insecurity • Rapid population growth is a contributing factor to global insecurity, including civil unrest, war, and terrorism. • Developing countries are characterized by a youth bulge—a high proportion of 15- to 29-year-olds relative to the adult population. • The combination of a youth bulge with other characteristics of rapidly growing populations, such as resource scarcity, high unemployment rates, poverty, and rapid urbanization, sets the stage for political unrest.
Poor Maternal, Infant, and Child Health • In developing countries one in four children is born unwanted, increasing the risk of neglect and abuse. • The more children a woman has, the fewer the parental resources (parental income and time and maternal nutrition) and social resources (health care and education) available to each child. • The adverse health effects of high fertility on women and children are, in themselves, compelling reasons for providing women with family planning services.
Transportation and Traffic Problems • A study of 85 U.S. urban areas found that in 2003 traffic congestion caused 3.7 billion hours of traffic delay and wasted 2.3 billion gallons of fuel. • The average annual delay per traveler increased from 16 hours in 1982 to 40 hours in 1993 and 47 hours in 2003. • Many public roads in urban areas are afflicted with what some call autosclerosis clogged vehicular arteries that slow rush hour traffic to a crawl or a stop, even when there are no accidents or construction crews ahead.
Regionalism • Collaboration among central cities and suburbs that encourages local governments to share common responsibilities for common problems.
Strategies for Reducing Urban Growth in Developing Countries • Promoting agricultural development in rural areas. • Providing incentives to industries and businesses to relocate from urban to rural areas.
Strategies for Reducing Urban Growth in Developing Countries • Providing incentives to encourage new businesses in rural areas. • Developing the infrastructure of rural areas, including transportation systems, clean water supplies, sanitary waste disposal systems, and social services.
