Transcript Chapter 15: Participation Questions

The Real World
An Introduction to Sociology
Fourth Edition
Kerry Ferris and Jill Stein
Chapter 15:
Populations, Cities,
and Environments
Population
• Demography is the study of the
size, composition, distribution,
and changes in human population. Three
basic demographic variables are crucial
to understanding population dynamics.
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Population (cont’d.)
• The first is
fertility
rates—the
average
number of
births per
1,000 people
in the
population.
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Population (cont’d.)
• The second is mortality
rates—the average number of
deaths per 1,000 people in the population.
• A related concept is infant mortality
rates—the average number of deaths per
1,000 live births.
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Population (cont’d.)
• Also related is life expectancy—
the average age to which a
person can expect to live.
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Population (cont’d.)
• The third demographic variable
is migration—the movement
of people from one geographic
area to another for the
purpose of resettling.
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Population (cont’d.)
• Robert Malthus was concerned about
population growth and overpopulation.
The Malthusian theorem stated that
exponential population growth would
outpace arithmetic growth in food
production and other resources.
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Population (cont’d.)
• Neo-Malthusians believe that
population growth will eventually
outpace available resources and lead to a
global catastrophe.
• Anti-Malthusians believe that family
planning (contraception or any other
method of controlling family size and
birth of children) and other changes will
eventually cause population shrinkage.
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Population (cont’d.)
• Anti-Malthusians forecast a
very different future when the
pattern of demographic transition (a
theory suggesting the possible transition
over time from high birth and death rates
to low birth and death rates, resulting in a
stabilized population) now occurring in
many industrialized nations spreads to
the rest of the developing world.
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Urbanization
• Urbanization refers to the
movement of increasing
numbers of people from rural areas to
urban areas.
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Urbanization (cont’d.)
• A metropolis is an urban area with a large
population, usually 500,000 to 1,000,000
people.
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Urbanization (cont’d.)
• A megalopolis (or megacity) is
a group of densely populated
metropolises that grow dependent on
each other and eventually combine to
form a huge urban complex.
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Urbanization (cont’d.)
• Suburbanization is the shift of large
segments of population away from the
urban core and toward the edge of cities.
• Urban sprawl is a derogatory term applied
to the expansion of urban or suburban
boundaries, associated with irresponsible
or poorly planned development.
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Rural/Urban Makeup of U.S. Population, 1800-2010
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Urbanization (cont’d.)
• Another trend that has changed
many formerly blighted cities is
gentrification—the transformation of
poor inner-city neighborhoods into more
affluent, middle-class communities.
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Urbanization (cont’d.)
Many sociologists
also believe that
the freedom of city life is a source of
alienation (decreasing importance of
social ties and community and the
corresponding increase in impersonal
associations and instrumental logic).
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Urbanization (cont’d.)
An urban legend is
a form of modern
folklore, a story that
is believed
(incorrectly) to be
true and is widely
spread because it
expresses
concerns, fears, and
anxieties about the
social world.
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Urbanization (cont’d.)
• Other research on cities has
examined the bystander
effect (the social dynamic
that shows that the more
people are present in a
moment of crisis, the less
likely any one of them is to
take action).
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The Environment
• The environment refers to the natural
world, the human-made environment, and
the interaction between the two.
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The Environment
(cont’d.)
Sociologists are
interested in social
ecology (the study of
human populations and
their impact on the
natural world), especially
as environmental
degradation has
increasingly become a
social problem.
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The Environment
(cont’d.)
• Environmental sociology is the study of
the interaction between society and the
natural environment, including the social
causes and consequences of
environmental problems.
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The Environment
(cont’d.)
• Environmental sociology
focuses on four areas:
• How the political economy influences the
environment
• Society’s attitudes about the environment
• The environmental movement (an organized,
social movement)
• Sustainable development
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The Environment
(cont’d.)
• The environmental movement
is a social movement organized
around concerns about the relationship
between humans and the environment.
• Its first efforts, in the nineteenth century,
(conservation era) focused
on conservation of
wilderness areas.
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The Environment
(cont’d.)
• The modern environmental movement
arose in the mid-twentieth century in
response to ecological disasters that
threaten public health and safety.
• Mainstream environmentalism grew in the
1980s as the movement consolidated and
lobbied government about environmental
concerns.
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The Environment
(cont’d.)
• Most recently, grassroots
environmentalism has emerged
in response to perceived blind spots in
the larger mainstream groups. Grassroots
organizers focus on local action and
community involvement.
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Chapter 15:
Participation Questions
Think about the place where you
grew up or the place you would
consider your childhood home.
Was it more rural or urban?
a. rural
b. urban
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Chapter 15:
Participation Questions
Think about the place where you
grew up or the place you would
consider your childhood home.
Did you feel a sense of
community?
a. yes
b. no
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Chapter 15:
Participation Questions
Do you recycle?
a. yes
b. no
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Chapter 15:
Participation Questions
Do you drive a hybrid or electric
car?
a. yes
b. no
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Chapter 15:
Participation Questions
Think about electronics or
appliances. Have you ever thrown
something away because it is
cheaper to replace the item than
to fix it?
a. yes
b. no
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This concludes the Lecture
PowerPoint presentation for
Chapter 15
© 2014 W. W. Norton Co., Inc.
The Real World
AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
4th Edition
Kerry Ferris
and
Jill Stein
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