Transcript Unit 1: Approaches to Psychology

Unit 5: Social
Change
Ch 16: Population and Urbanization
Ch 17: Social Change and
Collective Behavior
Ch 16 – Population and Urbanization
• Why study
population
patterns?
• Population affects social structure,
especially in crowded areas.
• Patterns help sociologists understand +
predict how groups of people will behave.
Ex:
• The growth of minorities has
benefited the Democratic Party
more than Republicans.
• Population
can put a strain on
future generations as they have to
take care of a larger group of
elderly people.
• Population
statistics
• A population is a group of people living in a
particular place at a specified time.
• Demography is the scientific study of population.
• Demos is a Greek word meaning “people”.
• When studying a population demographers look at
many factors such as:
• Size: # of people
• Distribution: how + where they are located
• Composition: what groups make up the
population
• Age structure: ages represented in the
population
• Fertility: births
• Mortality: deaths
• Migration: movement from one place to
another
• Fertility
•
•
The Duggar Family
•
Measures the actual # of children born to a woman or
to a population of women.
Fecundity is the potential # of children that could be
born if every woman reproduced as often as biology
allowed.
• Of course, fertility rates are lower than
fecundity rates.
• The highest realistic fecundity rate expected
from a society would be about 15 births per
woman.
The crude birth rate is the annual # of live births per
1,000 members of a population.
• Crude Birth Rate
•
•
•
# of live births
= total population
X 1,000
The fertility rate is the annual # of live births per
1,000 women aged 15-44.
The total fertility rate is the average # of children
born to a woman during her life.
Health + social factors (such as average age at
marriage, economic development, attitudes towards
birth control, etc…) all influence the birth rate.
• Mortality
• Deaths w/in a population.
• To analyze patterns of mortality, sociologists look
at life span + life expectancy:
• Life span is the most advanced age to which
humans can survive. (Currently around 121
yrs – but obviously few people make it
anywhere near that).
• Life expectancy is the average # of yrs
that people in a given population born at a
particular time can expect to live to.
• The crude death rate is the annual # of deaths
per 1,000 members of a population.
• Crude Death Rate = # of deaths_ X 1,000
total population
• The worldwide crude death rate is 9/1,000, but
varies widely around the world.
• The infant mortality rate is the # of deaths
among infants under 1 yr of age per 1,000 live
births.
• Migration
• The movement of people from one geographic area
to another.
• Can be from one country to another or w/in a
country (Ex. the “great migration”).
• The gross migration rate into or out of an area is
the # of people per 1,000 members of a population
who enter or leave a geographic area in a given yr.
• Net migration is the difference b/w the #
of people entering + leaving an area.
• Ex. 500 enter + 200 leave, so the net
migration is 300.
• The net migration rate is the annual
or
per 1,000 members
• In 2003, the net migration rate for the US
was 4.4 per 1,000.
• When the Census Bureau reports migration rates,
it only includes the # of legal immigrants. Thus,
many illegal immigrants go uncounted.
End Section 1
• World
population
growth
• No organization has ever counted all people
in the world. Instead, they count the most
reliable census data where available +
estimates where it’s not.
• A census is a regularly occurring
count of a particular population.
• Rapid world population growth is a relatively
recent occurrence. The doubling time (#
of yrs needed to double the base population
size) of the world has been shrinking as the
world’s population
faster + faster.
• Why is it growing so fast?
• Exponential growth (growth in which
the amount of
is added to the
based figure each time period).
• Better nutrition/health care
• Longer lives
• Malthus +
population growth
• In 1798, economist Thomas Malthus wrote
An Essay on the Principle of Population. It
described the relationship b/w population
growth + economic development. Key
ideas:
• Population growth, if unchecked,
would outpace food supply leading to
overpopulation, famine, + poverty.
• Checks on population can be positive
+ preventative. Positive checks are
factors that
mortality (plagues,
wars, etc…) + preventive checks
fertility (which back then mostly
consisted of abstinence + delayed
marriage).
• The wealthy + well-educated already
exercised preventive checks.
• He emphasized the importance of
education + smaller families.
•
The
•
demographic
transition
•
theory
•
States that population growth is a function of the level of
economic development in a country.
Malthus brought attention to the relationship b/w
population growth + economic development, but there are 2
things he hadn’t considered: agricultural productivity +
reliable methods of birth control.
The demographic transition theory takes them into account
+ describes 4 stages of population growth:
• Stage 1: Both birth rate + death rate are high.
Population growth is slow. No countries are at this
stage today.
• Stage 2: Birth rate is high + death rate is low due
to better health care + food production. Population
growth is very high. Most of Sub-Saharan Africa is
at this stage.
• Stage 3: Birth rate goes down, but death rate
continues to go down. Population growth is still high.
Many Latin American countries are at this stage.
• Stage 4: Both birth + death rates are low.
Population growth is slow if at all. The US, Canada,
Europe, + Japan are at this stage.
• Future world
population
growth
• World population growth reached its peak in the late
1960s at 2.04%. The current growth rate is around
1.3%. It’s projected to drop to zero by 2100.
• But even though the rate of growth is
, the
population itself is still growing.
• There are currently over 7 billion people in
the world. By 2025, there will be 8 billion.
By the time the world’s population reaches
zero population growth (a situation in which
deaths are balanced by births so that the
population doesn’t grow), it is predicted to be
at 11 billion.
• The population momentum is the inability to stop
population growth immediately b/c of a previously
high rate of growth. It would take 60-70 yrs for
the population to stabilize if all women were to
immediately only have 2 children each.
• The replacement level is the birth rate at which a
couple replaces itself w/o adding to the population
(about 2 each).
• Population
control
• Refers to the conscious attempt to regulate
population size through national birth control
programs.
• Historically, high birth rates were encouraged to
serve as replacement for high death rates,
children to work parents’ farms + take care of
them in old age, raise large armies, + b/c some
countries had religious laws against birth control.
• This changed in the middle of the 1900s as
some countries began to see high birth
rates as a threat to their well being.
• Family planning is the voluntary use of population
control methods. Countries that use this method
of population control may fund family planning
education, provide birth control materials, etc…
This approach has mixed results.
"For a prosperous,
powerful nation and a
happy family, please use
birth planning." Gov.’t
sign in area of
Nanchang where
pregnant women hide.
Rural Sichuan roadside
sign: "It is forbidden to
discriminate against,
mistreat or abandon
baby girls."
• Compulsory population control methods have
been used in China + Singapore. They do this
through a system of rewards + punishments,
such as higher taxes for families w/ more than
1 child + more gov.’t assistance for families w/
only 1 child. Successful, but controversial.
• Introduced in China in the 1970s to make sure
they could feed all their people.
• People in cities are allowed only 1 child
(unless the couple is an ethnic minority
or both are only children).
• In rural areas, they’re permitted 2
children.
• Enforced w/ financial penalties, + in the
past, forced abortions + sterilizations.
• Frequently not obeyed (a woman might go
away + come back w/ a “relative’s” child
or claim they adopted the child).
• Since males are traditionally valued over
females, it has led to numerous abortions
of female fetuses + to an unbalanced
gender ratio.
• China announced in March 2008 that it
will continue the policy for at least
another 10 yrs.
• Population
pyramids
•
•
•
Are graphic representations of the age + sex
composition of a population.
They show fertility + mortality rates, which can
be used to predict school, housing, + health
resource needs, etc…
They also show the dependency ratio which is the
ratio of dependent people (those under 15 + over
64) to economically active people.
• Developing nations have a higher youth
dependency + developed nations have a
higher old-age dependency.
• So countries w/ a higher youth
dependency have to worry more
about funding for schools + other
youth programs, while countries w/
a higher old-age dependency have
to worry about programs like
Medicare, Social Security, etc…
Changes in Japan’s Population Structure
China’s Population Structure
End Section 2
•
Cities
•
•
•
•
•
Dense + permanent concentrations of people living in a
specific area + working primarily in nonagricultural jobs.
In the US, a city must have 2,500 people.
• In Sweden it’s only 200 people + Japan it’s 30,000 .
Urbanization is the process by which an increasingly larger
portion of the world’s population lives in or near cities.
Early cities appeared about 5-6 thousand yrs ago. Ur, one
of the world’s 1st major cities (located in modern day Iraq)
only had about 24,000 people. Rome during the time of the
Roman empire had b/w ½ - 1 mil people.
Preindustrial cities arose due to improving farming
techniques.
• 4 types of people tended to come to early cities:
• Elites – to consolidate political, military,
+/or religious power.
• Functionaries – political +/or religious
officials who carry out the plans of the
elites.
• Craftspeople – to work + sell their products.
• The poor – hoping to find work (but rarely
able to).
• Modern cities arose after the Agricultural
Revolution followed by the Industrial Revolution.
Factories led to larger groups of people living +
working in the same areas particularly areas near
natural resources (water, mines, etc…).
• Currently about ½ of the world’s population live in
urban areas. In developed countries it’s about
76% of the population + in developing countries
about 41%.
• In developing countries, there is a larger supply
of labor from the countryside coming into the
cities than there are jobs available. This has led
to overurbanization (a situation in which a city
cannot supply adequate jobs + housing for its
inhabitants).
• In developed countries, there tend to be a few
large cities, more medium cities, + many small
cities. Whereas developing countries often only
have 1 extremely large city.
• Suburbanization • Cities in the US have been losing population due to
in the US
suburbanization (the loss of population of a city to
surrounding areas), + the US is now predominantly
suburban.
• Suburbanization became possible due to advances in
technology in communication (phones, tv, computers,
internet, etc…) + transportation (trains, highways,
cars, etc…). This makes it easier for people to
commute to cities + to stay in touch w/ others.
• Suburbs are attractive to many people b/c of their
less crowding + traffic, lower taxes, better schools,
less crime, + less pollution.
• In the mid 1900s, cities lost people during the
“white flight” (upper + middle class whites moving
to suburbs, leaving behind a disproportionate # of
minorities + impoverished people) + businesses also
left due to lower tax rates, less expensive land,
less congestion, + more customers. This led to a
central city dilemma for many cities (having a high
# of minorities + poor people w/ less tax $ to help
w/ gov.’t assistance).
• Some cities are being restored through
gentrification (the development of lowincome areas by middle-class homebuyers,
landlords, + professional developers).
Additionally, in recent years, more whites
have been moving back to some cities.
• Edge cities have formed. An edge city is a
suburban unit specializing in a particular
activity – it’s a smaller, more focused version
of an urban downtown. It may specialize in
technology, financial services, etc… They’re
kind of like a city w/in a city but w/ no formal
boundaries separating them.
End Section 3
• Urban
ecology
• The study of the relationships b/w humans
+ city environments.
• Researchers look at things like how areas
w/in the same city are different, how they
affect each other, + what processes change
them.
• There are 4 major theories about city
growth:
• Concentric zone theory
• Sector theory
• Multiple nuclei theory
• Peripheral theory
• None of these theories explain city
environments completely, but can tell much
when put together.
• The concentric
zone theory
• Describes urban growth in terms of circular
areas that grow from the central city
outward.
• The innermost circles in the central business
district + the heart of the city. It contains
major gov.’t + private office buildings, major
stores, + entertainment facilities. The
property values are very high which pushes
out smaller businesses.
• The zone surrounding it is the zone in
transition. The property there is often
bought + rented out for profit for
businesses or apartments. Often this area
is not taken care of properly + contains
slums.
• The surrounding zones are used for housing.
• Many northern cities developed this way.
• The sector
theory
• Emphasizes the importance of transportation
routes in the process of urban growth.
• Sectors tend to be pie shaped w/ wedges
radiating from the central business district to
the city’s outskirts. Each sector is organized
around a major transportation route.
• Sectors will be predominantly industrial or
business or residential, etc…
• Includes Richmond, Seattle, + San Francisco.
• The multiple
nuclei theory
• Focuses on specific geographic or historical
influences on urban growth.
• These cities aren’t dependent on a central
district. Instead, they have several separate
centers (such as manufacturing, retail,
residential, etc…).
• These separate centers developed due to
geography, history, tradition, etc…
• Boston is an example.
• The peripheral
theory
• Emphasizes the growth of suburbs around the
central city.
• As communication + transportation have
improved in the last 50+ yrs, much of the
“business” of cities is done outside of the
cities.
End Section 4
Ch 17 – Social Change and Collective
Behavior
• Change in
society
• Social change is new societal behaviors w/
important long-term consequences.
• It’s hard to predict b/c the type of
change depends on the existing culture.
• Ex. The rise of democracy in the US
included a president + congress. In
Britain, they have a queen, prime
minister, + parliament.
• Ex. Some societies only allow
marriage between 1 man + 1 woman,
some allow homosexuals to marry, +
some allow polygamy.
• Why do some • Change w/in a society is a result of several
societies
processes and major factors:
change faster
• Social processes (a series of steps
+ more
leading to change on a societal level):
dramatically
• Discovery
than others?
• Invention
• Diffusion
• Major factors:
•
•
•
•
Technology
Population
Natural environment
Revolution + War
• Processes
• Discovery – the process by which something is
learned or reinterpreted.
• Earth is round – exploration, colonization
• Women can learn math + science
• Invention – the creation of something new from
previously existing items or processes. The more
complex the society, the faster social change
through invention occurs.
• Telephones – improved communications
• Cars – suburbs, pollution
• Diffusion – the process by which one culture or
society borrows from another. The culture picks +
chooses what it will + will not accept.
• Food – Chinese, Italian, Mexican, etc…
• Clothing – more or less modest, what’s gender
appropriate, etc…
• Gov.’t – Democracy, Communism, etc…
• Language – learning an entirely new language or
just some common words.
•
Major
•
factors
•
•
•
•
Technology – knowledge + tools used to achieve practical goals.
• Inventions become part of technology possessed.
• New technology is often a sign that social change will follow.
• Spinning wheel
The Industrial Revolution
• Internet
Population – demographics stay the same or change.
• Changes in ages structure, religion, ethnic groups, etc… can
affect societies’ priorities.
Natural environment –
• Shapes societies’ beliefs + abilities.
• American frontier – independent, ruggedness, etc…
• Resources – coal vs. oil, deserts lack water, etc…
• Natural disasters
Revolution – the sudden + complete overthrow of an existing social
or political order.
• But they usually lead to moderate, not radical change.
• American Revolution (many same Americans w/
power, Congress similar to Parliament, etc…)
War – an organized, armed conflict w/in a society or b/w nations.
• Promote invention (tanks, atomic bombs) + discovery
(resources + techniques).
End Section 1
• The
• Functionalism emphasizes stability +
functionalist
continuity; however there are 2 beliefs
perspective’s
about social change both involving the idea
view on social
of equilibrium:
change
1. Equilibrium (a state of functioning +
balance, maintained by a society’s
tendency to make small adjustments to
change)
• So this is about making minor
adjustments.
2. A society in change, moves from
stability to instability then back to
stability.
• So this is about making major
adjustments to find a new
normal.
• The conflict
perspective’s
view on social
change
• Believe social change is a result of
struggles among groups for scarce
resources. Change occurs when the
conflicts are resolved (at least
temporarily).
• Haves vs. have nots
• Environmentalists vs. industrialists
• Gender conflicts
• Racial/ethnic conflicts
• Religious conflicts
• Etc…
• The symbolic
interactionist
perspective’s view
on social change
• Believe humans interact w/ others based
on commonly shared symbols, + so as
shared meanings
, social ties weaken +
social interaction becomes more
impersonal.
• German sociologist Ferdinard Tonnies
argued that prior to industrialization,
people lived in small communities w/ many
common symbols. After industrialization,
people lost many of those common symbols
that had been developed over time
through a shared tradition.
• Urbanism is the distinctive way of
life shared by the people living in a
city.
• Some agree w/ Tonnies, some don’t.
Opponents argue about communities w/in
cities that maintain many shared symbols
such as religious or ethnic communities.
End Section 2
• Collective
behavior
• The spontaneous behavior of a group of people
responding to similar stimuli.
• Collectivity is a collection of people who do not
normally interact + who do not share clearly
defined norms.
• Stimuli refers to outside events or people that
cause a response.
• This means that collective behavior is
unplanned.
• Some collective behavior occurs when people
are in physical contact while others occur when
a collectivity made up of people who aren’t
physically connected but follow common rules
or respond to common stimuli – known as
dispersed collectivity.
• Ex. On Sept 11th, people at the Twin
Towers were in physical contact, but all
Americans made up dispersed collectivity.
•
Rumors,
legends, fads,
+ fashions
•
•
•
•
People often respond to certain information in similar ways
even when physically separated. Rumors, fads, + fashions
are collective behaviors exhibited by dispersed
collectivities.
A rumor is a widely circulating story of questionable truth.
• Urban legends are a moralistic tale which focuses on
current concerns + fears.
• They are an expression of our fears + allow
us to be shocked + horrified at others’
misfortunes.
• http://www.snopes.com/ (website that
examines the truth of rumors + urban
legends)
• Ex. Someone had a roach in their meal at a
restaurant, someone got AIDs from a needle
left at the movies, etc…
A fad is an unusual behavior pattern that spreads rapidly +
disappears quickly.
• Ex. Skateboarding, streaking, etc…
A fashion is a behavior pattern that is widely approved but
is expected to change periodically.
• Ex. Popularity of clothing labels, styles of jeans,
slang, architecture, etc…
• Mass hysteria
+ panics
• Mass hysteria occurs when
collective anxiety is created by
acceptance of one or more false
beliefs.
• Ex. Salem witch trials, Orson
Welles’s “Men from Mars”
radio broadcast, mistaken
beliefs about how AIDS is
spread, etc…
• Ends when facts are made
known.
• Panic is people reacting to a real
threat in fearful, anxious, + often
self-damaging ways.
• Ex. Exiting buildings during
fires, leaving sinking ships,
etc…
•
Crowds
•
•
Temporary collections of people who share an immediate
common interest.
4 different types:
• A casual crowd: least organized, least emotional, +
most temporary.
• Ex. gathering on a street to watch a
performer.
• A conventional crowd: has a specific purpose + follows
excepted norms for behavior.
• Ex. going to a baseball game or movie.
• An expressive crowd: have no significant or long-term
purpose beyond unleashing emotion. Free expression
occurs like yelling, crying, laughing, jumping, etc…
• Ex. New Year’s Eve at Time Square, funeral
procession for a fallen leader, etc…
• An acting crowd: takes action to reach a common goal.
• Another type of crowd may become an acting
crowd if circumstances lead up to it.
• Ex. Protesters of a new law, workers
picketing, etc…
- Mobs are also acting crowds.
• Mobs + riots
• A mob is an emotionally stimulated, disorderly
crowd that is ready to use destructiveness +
violence to achieve a purpose.
• Achieving the common purpose is essential.
Everything else is a distraction. Members
are pressured to conform + they have
strong leadership.
• Ex. Lynching of blacks during segregation,
draft protesters, etc…
• A riot is an episode of largely random destruction
+ violence carried out by a crowd.
• Rioters often lack power + engage in
destructive behavior to express their
frustrations.
• No common goals, targets are often
whatever + whomever is convenient.
• Usually triggered by a single event but
caused by a long-term issue.
• Ex. LA riots after trial of police charged
w/ beating Rodney King.
•
3 theories •
of crowd
behavior
The contagion theory: states that members of crowds stimulate each
other to higher + higher levels of emotion + irrational behavior.
• People lose their individuality to the “will” of the crowd.
• Herbert Blumer proposed a version which has 3 stages:
1. Milling – people move around aimlessly like cattle
becoming increasingly aware of one another.
2. Collective excitement – crowd becomes impulsive,
More emotional
unstable, + highly responsive to others. Begin to
lose their own identity + take on the crowd’s.
3. Social contagion – behavior is rigid, unthinking, +
irrational.
• Ex. Riots at soccer games, buying things randomly at an
auction, etc…
• The emergent norm theory: states that norms develop to guide
crowd behavior.
• Rules develop w/in crowds - the same that govern individuals.
• Groups w/in the crowd will act differently b/c they have
More rational
different purposes.
• Ex. some people loot while others just stand by + do nothing.
• The convergence theory: states that crowds are formed by people
who deliberately congregate w/ like-minded others.
• So the crowds are motivated by shared values + attitudes.
Somewhat planned
• Ex. Protesters outside an abortion clinic.
End Section 3
•
Social
•
movements
•
•
•
•
Are movements whose goal is to promote or prevent social
change.
4 characteristics:
• Large # of people
• A common goal to promote OR prevent social change
• Organized w/ recognized leaders
• Lasts a relatively long time
They’re the most highly structured, rational, + enduring form
of collective behavior.
Ex. American Rev., women’s suffrage, The Civil Rights
Movement, pro-life + pro-choice movements, etc…
There are 4 types of social movements:
• Revolutionary movements attempt to change a society
totally (Ex. American Rev., Communist Revs.).
• Reformative movements attempt to make limited
changes in society (Ex. prohibition, women’s suffrage).
• Redemptive movements attempt to change people
completely (Ex. religious cults).
• Alternative movements attempt to make limited
changes to people (Ex. Zero Population Growth
Movement).
•
The value-added
theory
•
•
Holds that certain conditions must exist for social
movements to occur.
Each condition “adds value”.
• Structural conduciveness – the
surroundings/environment must allow for the
social movement to flourish (ex. allow for good
communication)
• Structural strains – the presence of conflicts,
uncertainties, + inconsistencies which provide a
belief in the need for change.
• Generalized beliefs – general recognition that
there is a problem + it needs to be fixed.
• Precipitating factors – one or more significant
events must occur to activate the movement.
• Mobilization of participants for action – the
movement starts.
• Social control – effective social control may
make the movement fail while ineffective social
control might give the movement more
momentum.
• The resource • Focuses on how members of a social
mobilization
movement secure + use resources needed to
theory
reach their goals.
• Resources include human skills (Ex.
leadership, organization, etc…) + material
goods (Ex. $, property, etc…)
• Movements don’t succeed w/o enough of
these resources, so the movements must
successfully appeal to the people who can
provide those resources.
End Section 4