Demographics Flashcards
Which approach to studying human behavior primarily defines the human experience as a sequence of socially defined events and roles that the individual experiences over time?
The life course approach in sociology examines an individual’s life history and investigates how early events influenced future decisions and events (e.g. marriage, divorce, criminal record, etc.).
For example, understanding why Meryl engaged in political protest in the 1960s would examine the connection between Meryl and the historical and socioeconomic context in which she lived at the time.
What statistic weighs the number of people in a population whose age is likely to make them dependent on others against the number of people who are likely to be supporting themselves?
The age dependency ratio
Specifically, children (those approximately 0-15 years old) and older people (those 65+ years old) are considered dependent here (although, of course, some individuals in both groups do earn income).
Define:
a generational cohort
Commonly simply called a generation, this is all of the people born and living at approximately the same time, treated collectively.
Identify at least 4 U.S. generational cohorts.
The current age cohorts in the U.S. are:
- Lost Generation – those born from 1883-1900
- G.I. Generation – those born from 1901-1924
- Silent Generation – those born from 1925-1945
- Baby Boomers – those born from 1946-1964
- Generation X – those born from 1965-1980
- Millennials/Generation Y - those born from 1981-1996
- Generation Z - those born from 1997-2010 (as of yet, there is little consensus about official end birth year)
Note that these exact terms and ranges don’t need to be memorized, but it is helpful to understand what a generational cohort is and approximately how many years one typically spans.
There are 10,000 Baby Boomers turning 65 years of age each day. Their increasing strain on Social Security, Medicare, and medical institutions is a prime example of the:
social significance of aging
Aging has a significant impact on society. Transitions such as reaching puberty or retirement are often socially significant. The effects of aging may be both social and physical.
_______ is primarily determined by a person’s genotype, while _______ is a result of one’s self-concept, attitudes, and role in society.
Choose from “gender” and “sex.”
Sex, gender
Sex is biological; it refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define males and females. Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a society considers appropriate in relation to sex.
Societies often form a ______ for gender. For example, wearing a shirt and tie is an expected male characteristic.
social construct
Gender is a concept that describes how societies determine sex categories. Gender constructs include expected social norms, attitudes, and activities that society deems more appropriate for one sex over another.
Research shows that children 6-11 years old prefer interactions with same-sex peers as opposed to peers of the opposite gender. While this behavior wanes by adolescence, it is a prime example of:
gender segregation
This is the separation by an institution, society, or individual of people according to their biological or perceived gender. Another example is gendered bathrooms in schools.
What term refers to the outward appearance of an individual, most strongly associated with skin color?
Race
Race can be considered a social construct because society currently places distinctions on people based on differences in outward appearance.
While race may be near-uniform in small geographical regions, this demographic concept varies more widely, as it is closely tied to culture, which can evolve, be exchanged, or change over a short period of time.
Ethnicity
Ethnicity is essentially the culture of where one or one’s family originated (e.g. Italian-American, African-American).
Despite being biracial, President Barack Obama was primarily identified and spoken about by the media and most Americans as being “black.” This is an example of:
racialization
This is the process of ascribing ethnic or racial identities to an individual, relationship, social practice, or group that might not identify itself as that exact race/ethnicity.
In some societies, the outcomes of a racialized social structure (i.e. differentials in income on the basis of race) shape what we believe to be true about racial categories. For example, when some hear the phrase “minority” or “poor” when talking about medical students in 2017, they think “black,” while the same phrase might have referred to “Irish” or “Polish” a few decades earlier. This fluid connection between race and social structure is known as:
racial formation
This is the relationship between social structure and everyday life, through which the meaning of race and racial categories are agreed upon and argued over in society.
Which component of social identity includes a person’s sexual and/or emotional attraction to others?
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation is an individual’s enduring sexual attraction to male partners, female partners, or both/other. Sexual orientation may include (as some examples) heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual.
The _________ of race and class is reflected in evidence that shows that the low performance of African-American students in school is best understood by taking the socioeconomic status of this group into account.
intersection
Intersection/intersectionality is a term used to describe the ways in which institutions (racism, sexism, xenophobia, classism, etc.) or characteristics (race, ethnicity, age, gender, etc.) are interconnected and should not be examined separately from one another.
Data from the population in a region of China showed that food production by farms increased from 10 million tons (1900) to 20 million tons (1925) to 30 million (1950) to 40 million (1975) to 50 million (2000). At the same time, population in the region increased from 1 million to 16 million. These changes most strongly support which population theory?
Malthusian theory
This theory, named for Thomas Malthus, proposes that human populations grow exponentially while food production grows at an arithmetic rate.
Movement of individuals between societies is termed:
migration
Migration is one factor that contributes to demographic changes in a society.
What name is given for migration into a given society?
Immigration
You can remember this by noting the similarity between the beginning of the word (“im-“) and the word “in.”
Migration out of one society is termed:
emigration
For instance, if Michael and his family move from Canada into the U.S., they emigrated from Canada.
Name at least two factors that promote migration between societies.
Many factors promote migration. Even though you only needed to list two, we’ve listed four below:
- Persecution (such as religious or ethnic persecution)
- War, violence, or unrest
- Job opportunities
- Educational opportunities
Define:
push factors
(in the context of migration)
Factors that cause individuals to migrate out of their home society.
Push factors are typically negative aspects, such as famine, war, or the lack of available jobs or education.
Define:
pull factors
(in the context of migration)
Factors that cause individuals to want to migrate into a given society.
Pull factors are generally positive, such as the abundance of job opportunities or the chance to raise a family in safety.
______ factors in migration tend to be negative (e.g. war, famine) while ______ factors in migration tend to be positive (e.g. job growth, religious freedom).
Push, pull
Again, push factors are those that cause people to want to leave their current location, while pull factors are those that entice them to migrate to a specific country.
Ricky fears that, if he stays in his native country, his young son will be pressured to join a gang. The abundance of violent gangs in Ricky’s country is a [push/pull] factor that may cause him to [immigrate/emigrate].
Choose one option from each box above to accurately complete the sentence.
push, emigrate
Negative factors, such as gang violence, are push factors, which cause individuals to attempt to leave (or emigrate from) their home country.
What kind of migration factors drive individuals and families to immigrate?
Pull factors
Immigration refers to migration into a new country. This migration is driven by appealing aspects of the new country, which are termed pull factors.
A change in a population’s composition is known as what kind of shift?
A demographic shift.
Demographic shifts include changes in a society’s racial or ethnic composition (due to migration, for example) or in its age composition (due to factors such as population aging).
Does a population pyramid provide information about age, sex, both, or neither?
Both age and sex.
As shown in the simple population pyramid above, age is represented along the y-axis. One side of the pyramid (here, the left side) then corresponds to males and the other to females.
How can the pyramid below best be described?
It is a top-heavy population pyramid.
This suggests that many people are outside of the optimal procreation age range, indicating that there will likely be a population decline due to a low birth rate and a high death rate.
How can the pyramid below best be described?
It is a bottom-heavy population pyramid.
This suggests that many people are within the optimal procreation age range, indicating that there will likely be population growth due to a high birth rate and a low death rate.
