9B. Demographics Flashcards
Life Course Theory
–aging is a social, psychological, and biological process that begins from the time you’re born and continues until you die.
Life Course Framework
–study of aging approach that emphasizes the interaction of historical events, individual decisions and opportunities and the effect of early life experiences in determining later life outcomes
Age Stratification Theory
–describes how the age of a generation regulates that generation’s behavior.
Activity Theory
–concerned with the replacement of certain jobs and activities, lost due to an aging population.
–certain activities and roles, like jobs, are lost due to old age.
Disengagement Theory
–examines the self-reflection that occurs as one ages and how aging causes a separation of society.
–suggest that older adults and society separate, like when someone retires from work.
–it assumes that they become more self-absorbed as they age, so the separation allows for self-reflection.
Continuity Theory
–suggest that people try to maintain a same basic structure for their lives over time.
–attempts to understand the choices one makes to maintain consistency in social roles as one ages.
Gerontology
–study of aging and the life course.
Age Cohorts
–groups of people categorized by age range.
–must be taken from the same generation.
–A generation needs three common aspects: a sociocultural location or COMMON EXPERIENCES, a temporal location (20 to 25 years in length per generation), and a historical location or commonality of era.
Dependency ratio
–a solely age-based measurement that takes the number of people aged 14 and under and the # of people aged 65 and up, who are typically not in the labor force, and compares that to the # of people aged 15 to 64, who are in the labor force.
Cohort study
–following a subset of a population over time.
Period study
–examining the number of offspring produced during a specific time period.
Social significance of aging
–emphasizes the idea that aging is more complicated than simply the measured time since birth.
Sex
–assigned at birth based on the infant’s genitalia.
–biological male/female.
Gender
–a social and psychological phenomenon best described by the intersection of three related concepts: sex, gender identity, and gender expression
Social construction of gender
–the development of gender is subject to cultural influences and depends on social interactions.
–we have an agreed-upon set of characteristics that define male and female.
Gender segregation
–separating males from females
Race
–socially-defined category that is based on physical differences b/w groups of people.
Ethnicity
–socially-defined category that is based on a shared language, religion, nationality, history, or some other cultural factor.
Discrimination
–the unjust treatment of a category of people simply b/c they belong to that category.
Prejudice
–when someones has some preconceived opinion that isn’t based on reason or experience.
Social construction of race
–process by which racial categories are created through social forces
–we classify people into races based on outward appearance.
Racialization
–ascribing a racial identity onto someone.
–the imposition of a racial identity on a particular group; has been used to support the domination of less powerful groups.
Racial formation
–we construct/form races to justify treating people differently.
Racial Formation Theory
–states that race is a social construct, with no basis in actual genetic differences, and emphasizes how a variety of social factors interact to construct definitions, expectations, and experiences of race
Inter-colonialism
–where a minority group is segregated and exploited.
Assimilation
–where a minority group is absorbed into the majority.
Pluralism
–encourages racial and ethnic variation in a society.
Patterns of immigration
–some of the largest groups of immigrants to the U.S. are from Mexico, Caribbean nations, and India.
–immigration is increasing.
–immigrants also move to the oil rich areas of the Middle East and the industrial economies of Europe and Asia.
Immigration status
–intersections with race and ethnicity often lead to prejudice and discrimination.
Gender
2 main factors:
the gender you identify as.
the gender you express outwardly
Cisgendered
–when biological sex and gender identity match.
Transgendered
–when biological sex and gender identity don’t match.
Sexual Orientation
–not dependent on the sex or gender of a person.
Theories of demographic change
–attempt to explain the causes and results of population growth.
Malthusian Theory
–suggests that starvation is the inevitable result of population growth because the population increases at a geometric rate while food supply can only increase arithmetically.
–population grows exponentially and will eventually outgrow its resources.
–War, famine, disease bring the population back down to a sustainable level (positive checks).
–Population control (preventive checks) such as later marriage also keeps the population from outgrowing its resources.
Demographic shift
–changes in population makeup, including birth and death rates (demographic transition)
Demographic transition
–changes in birth and death rates a society goes through as it develops.
–states that the population will eventually stop growing when the country transitions from high birth rates and high death rates to low birth rates and death rates, stabilizing the population.
Stages (4):
1. preindustrial society
2. better conditions
3. better population control
4. industrialized society
5. Malthusian scenario w/ negative growth.
Stage 1 of Demographic Transition:
Preindustrial society
–both birth rate and death rates are high
–short life expectancy
Stage 2 of Demographic Transition:
Better conditions
–death rate decreases
–longer life expectancy than stage 1.
–high birth rate.
Stage 3 of Demographic Transition:
Better population control
–birth rate decreases
Stage 4 of Demographic Transition:
Industrialized society
–both birth and death rates are low
–increase in life expectancy.
Stage 5 of Demographic Transition:
Malthusian scenario w/ negative growth.
Demographic Transition Theory
–links population growth to the society’s use of technology, describing sequential stages of change in birth and death rates; suggests that technology is what keeps the population size in check, but it fails to consider other factors that limit population growth.
Population Dynamics
–looks at how the population a country or a region or even the world changes.
–takes into account the factors that increase a population and the factors that decrease population.