Content Category 9B Demographic Characteristics and Processes

Content Category 9B: Demographic characteristics and processes Demographic Structure of Society (PSY, SOC) Age • Aging and the life course • • Juveniles (0-19), Young Adults (20-39), Middle Adults (40-59), Late Adults (60+) life course perspective - is a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the mental, physical and social health of individuals, which incorporates both life span and life stage concepts that determine the health trajectory. Dependency ratio – ratio of the number of economically dependent members of the population • Age cohorts (SOC) • • • Age cohorts – example of statistical cohorts in which a group of subjects share the characteristic of age Cohort studies – longitudinal studies, which conduct research for extended periods of time to better understand the different perspectives of those in the cohort and those in the general population Generational cohorts (generations) – groups of people born in the same period • Social significance of aging • • • Population aging – occurs when there is a disproportionate amount of older people in a population Ageism – prejudice or discrimination against a person based on age, often against older people Social aging – reflects the biological changes in a multidimensional process in which individuals experience complex emotional and social changes • • Rites of Passages – rituals that reflect important life transitions and also include more personal changes such as marriage Social significance of aging: elderly = needs social security and medicare = taken care of by young workforce. Baby boomers = large aging population. o increased fertility rate after WWII lasted from 1945-1965 • • Gender • Sex versus gender • • Sex – biological characteristic that is assigned at birth and permanent; based on chromosomes, external genitalia, gonads, and hormones Gender – social construction that is learned and flexible, based on behavioral role expectation; categories are masculine and feminine • The social construction of gender (SOC) • • • • Gender roles – describe the social and behavioral expectations for men and women Gender expression – the external manifestation of these roles Sexism – prejudice or discrimination against a person based on gender or sex Transsexuals – have gender identities that are inconsistent with their biological sex divisions • Gender segregation (SOC) • Gender segregation – social structures contribute to the separation of genders; based on biological distinctions rather than gender identities Race and ethnicity (SOC) race = your outward appearance. Ethnicity = the culture you identify with. • The social construction of race Race – description of a distinct social group based on certain shared characteristics; often inherited biological traits but can also be cultural, ethnic, and geographical in nature • Black, White, Asian, American Indian, Native Hawaiian, or Other Ethnicity – also a description of a distinct social group based on certain shared characteristics; include common ancestral, cultural, geographical, historical, linguistic, or national experiences; share similar appearances • Han Chinese, Hindustani people, Arabs, Bengalis, and Russian • Distinct from nationalities Ethnogenesis – social process that results in the creation of separate ethnicities Tribes – small sub-ethnic groups, develop into independent ethnic groups Both Race and ethnicities are social constructs Racism – prejudices and actions that discriminate based on race, or hold that one race is inferior to another • Racialization • Racialization, or ethnicization – social process in which the dominant group ascribes racial or ethnic identities to groups that do not otherwise relate to the labels (ex: identification of Jews as an ethnic group) • Racial formation • Racial formation perspective – explains that race is not genetic but constructed through economic, political, and social forces that have the social control to create categories of race Immigration status (SOC) • Patterns of immigration • Intersections with race and ethnicity Sexual orientation Sexual Orientation Pansexual – attracted to people irrespective of gender or sex Bisexual – usually a preference for one or the other Asexuality – involves lack of sexual attraction Sexual orientation exists along a continuum: • Kinsey Scale, also called the Heterosexual-=Homosexual Rating Scale Heterosexism – prejudice/discrimination against a person based on their sexual orientation toward the same sex Heteronormative beliefs consider heterosexual behavior to be the preferred sexual orientation, and often enforce strict gender Demographic Shifts and Social Change (SOC) Theories of demographic change (i.e., Malthusian theory and demographic transition) Theories of Population Change Demographic transition (DT) – transition from overall higher to overall lower birth and death rates as a result of a country’s development from pre-industrial to industrial framework due to both economic and social changes Thomas Robert Malthus – argued that population is the result of available resources for sustenance, such as productive farmland; argued that the possible rate of population increase exceeds the possible rate of resource increase, and the rules of nature make it impossible for population to increase unchecked without serious distress due to insufficient resources • Positive checks – raise the death rate, like disease, disasters, hunger, and wars • Preventative checks – lower the birth rate, like abstinence, birth control, late marriage, same-sex relationship • Malthusian Catastrophe – occurs when the means of sustenance are not enough to support the population, resulting in population reduction through actual or predicted famine • Neo-Malthusianism – movement based on these principles that advocates for population control in order to reduce the negative effects of population strain, such as environmental effects Population growth and decline (e.g., population projections, population pyramids) Population – collection of people in a defined geographical area, also refers to this number of people Population growth rate – rate of population change in a specified time period, reported as percent of initial population Overpopulation – point at which there are more people than can be sustained Carrying capacity – total possible population that can be supported with relevant resources • Populations tend to increase and decrease until population equilibrium is met at this maximum load Population predictions – estimates of future populations made from mathematical extrapolations of previous data • Population pyramids: bottom heavy = population growth. Top heavy = population decline. Side skew = gender imbalance. Population pyramids – represent population distributions • Expansive population pyramid is wide at the base, representing a high birth rate and a high death rate • x axis is population, y axis is different age groups (cohorts) Fertility, migration, and mortality • Fertility and mortality rates (e.g., total, crude, age-specific) • • • • Crude birth rate (CBR) – annual number of births per 1000 people in a population (10-20 is low, 40-50 is high) Crude death rate (CDR) – annual number of deaths per 1000 persons in a population (below 10 is low, above 20 is high) Rate of population change – difference between CBR and CDR Age-specific birth rates and age-specific death rates (also per 1000) • Patterns in fertility and mortality Fertility – ability of a woman to reproduce Fecundity – potential reproductive capacity of a woman General fertility rate – annual number of births per 1000 women Total fertility rate – predicts the total number births per single woman in a population, with the assumption that the women experiences the current recorded age-specific fertility rates and reaches the end of her reproductive life Replacement fertility rate – fertility rate at which the population will remain balanced Sub-replacement fertility – indicates that the birth rate is less than the death rate, thus the population size will not be sustained Population-lag effect – refers to the fact that changes in total fertility rates are often not reflected in the birth rate for several generations • population momentum – children produced during periods of higher fertility rates reproduce; there are more women of reproductive age and thus more births overall, regardless of the number of births per women Mortality – refers to the death rate in a population, includes both general and specific measures Morbidity – refers to the nature and extent of a disease in a population Prevalence rate – measures the number of individuals experiencing a disease Incidence rate – measures the number of new cases of a disease Case fatality rate – measures deaths as a result of a set diagnosis or procedure, sometimes specific to the beginning or late stages Infant mortality rate – annual number of deaths per 1000 infants under one year of age Life expectancy – number of years an individual at a given age can expect to live at present mortality rates Developed regions tend to have lower birth rates and death rates • Push and pull factors in migration Migration – geographic movement of individuals, families, or other small/large groups of people; implies the intention of permanent relocation Nomadism – traditional method of continuous travel in search of natural resources as a method of sustenance (hunting and gathering), not considered migration External migration – involves migration to another nation Internal migration – involves migration to another region of the same nation Voluntary migration – result of internal factors (a personal decision) Involuntary migration – forced migration, the result of external factors that pose a threat to the individual in their initial environments and are often a form of social control, such as ethnic cleansing Settlers – those who migrate to unsettled areas Refugees – those who migrate to settled areas as a result of displacement Colonization – involves migration to settled areas in which dominance is exerted over the foreign state; often exploitation of the indigenous peoples with the use of harsh tactics Immigration – involves entering a new area, and these people are called immigrants Emigration – involves leaving an old area, and these people are called emigrants Reverse migration – return migration, the return of individuals to their former homes Everett Lee – differentiated in between push and pull factors in migration • Push factors – those things that are unattractive about an area and push people to leave o genocide – mass execution with the intention of eliminating a specific social group • Pull factors – those things that are attractive about an area and “pull” people there Social movements • Relative deprivation • Relative deprivation – refers to the conscious experience of individuals or groups that do not have the resources needed for the social experiences and services that are seen as appropriate to their social position • Organization of social movements • Social movement – collective behavior with intention of promoting change o active – attempt to foster social change (revolutions) o expressive – attempt to foster individual change (support groups) Proactive = promote change Reactive = resist change Organizations = facilitate social movements = NAACP, PETA, etc • • • • • Movement strategies and tactics • advertising, protests, formation of organizations, etc Foundational Concept 10: Social Stratification and access to resources influence well-being Content Category 10A: Social inequality Spatial Inequality (SOC) Residential segregation Residential segregation – an instance of social inequality on the local scale • food deserts – areas where it is difficult to find affordable healthy food options o fewer grocery stores, etc Neighborhood safety and violence Environmental justice (location and exposure to health risks) Environmental justice – equal treatment of all people regardless of race, gender, or other social grouping with regard to prevention and relief from environmental and health hazards Social Class (SOC) Aspects of social stratification social class – system of stratification that groups members of society according to similarities in social standing • tied to status and power • socioeconomic status Privilege – advantages of power and opportunity over those who lack privilege Prestige – relative value assigned to something within a particular society • Social class and socioeconomic status Social stratification – refers to the way that people are categorized in society (by wealth, race, education, wealth, and income Caste system – describes a closed stratification where people can do nothing to change the category that they are born into Class system – considers both social variables and individual initiative; groups together people of similar wealth, income, education, etc. Meritocracy – uses merit to established social standing; this is an idealized system—no society solely stratifies based on effort Socioeconomic status – defined in terms of power, property, and prestige • Three components: occupation, income, and education US: • Upper Class: the top 3% of the population who earn millions to billions in annual income • Middle Class: the top 40% of the population who earns $46,000 up to the cut-off for the “upper class” • Working Class: the 30% of the population who earns between $19,000 and 45,000 • Lower class: the 27% of the population who earn less than $18,000 • Class consciousness and false consciousness Class consciousness – an individual’s active awareness of his/her membership in a social class • Members of the Bourgeoisie take capitalism for granted instead of seeing it as a historically situated and transient economic system • The communist revolution is based on promoting class consciousness of the lower class False Consciousness – failure to recognize the state of class relations under capitalism • Cultural capital and social capital • • Cultural capital – refers to the non-financial social assets that promote social mobility (Education) Social Capital – the potential for social networks to allow for upward social mobility • Social reproduction • Social reproduction – refers to the structures and activities in place in a society that serve to transmit and reinforce social inequality from one generation to the next • Power, privilege, and prestige • • • Power = control over other people Privilege = perks Prestige = reputation, how much respect people have of you • • Intersectionality (e.g., race, gender, age) Intersectionality – analytical approach that weeks to highlight the ways different identities intersect within individuals and social groups to produce unique social groups