Demographics Demographic Structure of Society - Age: Cohort is simply a group of people (can be broken up in age groups as well) Life course theory states that aging is a social, psychological, and biological process that begins at birth and continues until you die Age stratification theory says that you can look at age as a way of regulating the behavior of a generation Activity theory looks at how the older generations view themselves (as they lose their job, they need to find purpose in other things) Disengagement theory suggests that older adults and society separate (i.e. when someone retires from work) and assumes they become more self absorbed as they age Continuity Theory suggests that people try and maintain a same basic structure for their lives over time and use it to adapt to outside factors Demographic Structure of Society - Race & Ethnicity: Race is a socially defined category based on physical differences between different people Ethnicity is also socially defined but by cultural characteristics, such as language, nationality, etc. 3. Demographic Transition: Demographic transition states that a population will eventually stop growing when a country transitions from high birth rates/death rates to low birth rates/death rates (occurs in developed countries) and comes in stages: High birth (limited birth control and need more people to work) and death rates (poor nutrition and healthcare) Still has high birth rates, but death rates begin to drop (occurs when healthcare/sanitation/nutrition begins to get better) Death rate continues to drop but birth rates begin to drop too (access to contraception and a changing social trend toward 4. 5. smaller families) → becomes more industrial Once industrialized, death and birth rates are both low Noone knows! Could lead to stabilization, or we run out of resources (Malthusian theory) 1. 2. Globalization Theories: World-Systems theory focuses on the importance of the world as a unit rather than looking at individual countries (divides world into core countries, periphery countries, and semi-periphery countries) Modernization theory proposes that all countries follow a similar path in development (assumes that with some help, any country can develop into a modern country) Dependency theory is a reaction of modernization theory that uses the core/periphery country thing from world-systems theory to view inequalities of different countries. Basically, it is the idea that periphery/third world countries, are poor and export resources to the richer developed countries (not because they are poor or behind, but instead because they have been integrated into the world system as an underdeveloped country → will never develop or become modern) Hyperglobalist perspective sees globalization as a legit process and a new age in human history (countries become more and more interdependent) Skeptical perspective considers today’s international processes as regionalized, rather than globalized and don’t believe the current world economy is leading to global capitalism