Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ethnicity
Conflict
Racial and ethnic conflict can take the form of slavery, concentration camps, or exile. In the extreme, conflict results in genocide: mass killing to destroy a population. For much of the 20th century in the U.S., conflict was reflected in laws and customs that forbade social, political, and economic participation by minorities.
Acknowledges dysfunctions of social conflict. Focus on how societies change gradually and
continue to function smoothly without conflict.
norms directed at racial or ethnic categories. Scapegoating when people or groups who fail in their own goal attainment blame others for their own failures. Competition for scarce resources attitudes of prejudice related to the belief that gains for other racial and ethnic groups mean losses for ones own group.
Prejudice is an attitude
Mertons Typology
All-weather liberalism not prejudiced, doesnt discriminate Fair-weather liberalism not prejudiced, does discriminate Timid bigotry prejudiced, but doesnt discriminate Active bigotry prejudiced and openly discriminates
Ethnicity is no longer a primary standard for The place of unhyphenated whites in the
stratification among whites due to mixed heritage.
multicultural mix of the United States is less a melting pot and more an assimilation to a dominant language and culture. Ethnic identities have declined. whites rarely think of themselves as having a race. simply because they are white.
More of a focus on white racial identity as invisible White privilege refers to the benefits whites receive
Hispanic Americans (Latinos) are an ethnic group rather than a racial category. Majority (~66%) are of Mexican heritage. Latinos have also arrived in America from Cuba, Puerto Rico, and other Central and South American nations. Experiences of different Hispanic groups vary.
(i.e. Wealthy exiled Cubans were welcomed as refugees, whereas other Hispanic groups face prejudice and discrimination)
Hispanics constitute 16.3% of the U.S. population, making them the largest minority group in the country.
Current Concerns: most poorly educated group greatest likelihood of living in poverty
About 3.6% of U.S. population. Segmented immigration: descendants of 19th-century immigrants (Japan & China); post-WWII immigrants (Philippines, Korea, India); recent refugees from Southeast Asia. Historical experiences of Asian immigrants went from hostility, violence, and internment to being a desirable group with high mobility and educational attainment. Current concerns: entrance to Ivy League schools difficult income and promotional disparity
Native Americans
Less than 1% of U.S. population. Nearly half live in Oklahoma, Arizona, California, and New Mexico. Historical experiences of subjugation, forced relocation, removal of children to boarding schools, Trail of Tears More than 200 tribal groups with different cultures and languages.
Current concerns: most disadvantaged group lowest rates of education highest rates of alcoholism and premature death impoverished and isolated reservations prejudice and discrimination persists
Much less than 1% of U.S. population. Immigrants or children of immigrants from North Africa and Middle East (Morocco, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Lebanon)
Diverse traditions, but share common linguistics and cultural and historical traditions.
66% Christian; 33% Muslim
Comprise about 2.9% of American population. Absolute number of multiracial Americans has increased more than 20 times over last half century; significant numbers of mixed race individuals now selfidentify as multiracial rather than choosing only one parents race. Current concerns: social and systemic resistance to multiracial identification pressure to identify a single racial slot
U.S., yet inequality remains. Current debate: Can inequality better be reduced by focusing on race or on class? Double jeopardy is having low status on two different dimensions of stratification (i.e. race and social class). Effect of double jeopardy disadvantages snowball. Some strategies promote full employment and better jobs for all Americans (class focus); others focus on race and ethnicity.
Affirmative action has proven much more contentious than antidiscrimination laws.
Affirmative action categorization of racial/ethnic groups Some evidence suggests that country is dividing into
(nonwhite) as people of color implicitly reinforces longstanding white/nonwhite divide. three groups: whites, African Americans, and Hispanics.
Most evidence reveals a new divide: black/nonblack. Intermarriage between whites and Hispanics, Asians, Children born to white/African American parents are
and Native Americans is more common. identified as only one race/ethnicity: African American
Chapter 9
Sex is the biological distinction between male or female. Gender refers to the attitudes, behaviors, and roles that cultures assign to each sex. Gender roles refer to the rights and
obligations that are normative for men and women in a particular culture. Although biology provides two distinct and universal sexes, cultures provide almost infinitely varied gender roles.
Gender roles vary widely across cultures. Some similarities exist in almost all cultures:
Men tend to have more power. Preference for male children. Power difference produces widespread violence against women: Violence and discrimination against women are global social epidemics.
(Human Rights Watch, 2004)
inferior to men and so it is justified to treat them unequally. Sexism continues because it reduces womens access to scarce resources and thus helps men stay in power.
Teachers structure childrens play and impose Boys are actively discouraged from playing dress-up,
and girls are discouraged from running, crawling, or lying on the ground.
The belief that males and females are biologically different can become a self-fulfilling prophecy that keeps males and females biologically different. (Lorber 1994)
Male nurses sometimes talk about their athletic interests or heterosexual conquests to keep others from questioning their masculinity.
continually demonstrating ones masculinity (which in mainstream culture includes ones heterosexuality).
Young men more likely to die in auto accidents than women; men more likely to be killed by guns. Men more vulnerable to stress-related disease Men are four times more likely to commit suicide
Glass Ceiling an invisible barrier to womens promotions Glass Escalator an invisible advantage that rapidly moves
men into administrative positions and prestigious specialties
Womens subordinate position is built into most social institutions. In colleges, womens basketball coaches
are paid less than mens basketball coaches. In politics, prejudice against women leaders remains strong, and women still comprise only a minority of major elected officials in the United States and around the world.
It is men who ask women on dates; sexual Womens chances of marriage decrease with
behavior is generally initiated by men.
age much more than mens.
Men take up more of the speaking time, they Women are more placating and less assertive in
conversation than men, and women are more likely to state their opinions as questions. interrupt women more often, and most important, they interrupt more successfully.
Premarital intercourse has become largely accepted for adults over the last few decades. The proportion of never-married teenagers
Since then, rates of sexual intercourse
casual sexual encounters. who say they have had sexual intercourse increased from 40% in the 1950s to 50% for girls and 60% for boys by the late 1980s. among teens have declined to about 46% among both boys and girls.
abstinence-only sex education programs work they only delay sexual intercourse in the first few months. The drop in teenage sexual activity more likely reflects the growing awareness of the threats posed by AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. In a 2011 study, 80% boys and 69% girls reported using a condom the last time they had sexual intercourse. Yet condom use is rare once individuals are in a relationship.
Most couples find that the frequency of intercourse declines with the length of the marriage. The decline appears to occur regardless of the couples
age, education, or situation.
Important changes in sexual scripts followed by married couples in recent years include:
Oral sex has become more common. Extramarital affairs are now equally likely among men
and women.
Chapter 10
Health, illness, and health care are affected by social forces and social status. 45 million Americans under age 65 lacked health insurance in 2007. Current economic conditions increase concerns about health care. Health-related debt is a major cause of personal
bankruptcy.
How does society control illness so that it increases rather than decreases social stability?
Alzheimers, colds
Sick Role does not work well for: chronic illness; those who cannot afford medical services; people who have habits causing disease
The process through which a condition or behavior becomes defined as a medical problem requiring a
medical solution. One hundred years ago, masturbation, homosexuality, and, among young women, the desire to go to college were considered symptoms of illness.
These conditions are not now considered illnesses because social ideas about them have changed. Today, male sexual dysfunction, restless leg syndrome, and alcoholism are medicalized Social groups with social power define what is to be medicalized.
conditions.
Individuals must believe they are at risk for a health problem. They must believe the problem is serious. They must believe that adopting preventive measures will reduce their risks. They must not perceive any significant barriers
to adopting the preventive behaviors.
In the beginning of the 20 century, average life expectancy was less than 50 years. In the U.S., the average resident now lives to be a senior citizen. Not all benefit equally men, African
th
Americans, and poor people die younger on average when compared to women, whites, and more affluent people. Gender, social class, and race/ethnicity are related to illness and mortality.
On average:
U.S. women live ~5 years longer than men Women experience more disability and
discomfort than men
ones life expectancy and the better ones health. Environmental, economic, and psychosocial factors appear to play even stronger roles in linking poverty with ill health.
More likely to lack health insurance More likely to work in toxic environment Less likely to have life-preserving treatment
due to discrimination
Very young and very old at highest health risk In poor countries, the death rate for infants and children under 5 years is high By 65 years, most people have one longlasting health problem 68+ years: 80% white non-Hispanic, 65%
Hispanics, and 63% African Americans report good health
Mental Illness
How Many Mentally Ill?
approximately 11% of working age adults experience a minor but diagnosable mental illness, and another 20% experience a moderate or severe illness.
depression and problems with alcohol use.
Mental Illness
Who Becomes Mentally Ill?
Less than 5% of medical staff are physicians. Until about 100 years ago, anyone could claim
to be a doctor training and procedures were variable and mostly bad. American Medical Association was created in 1848 and by 1910, strict medical training and licensing standards were adopted.
Understanding Physicians Income and Prestige Current income averages: family practitioners $163,510, general surgeons $225,390. Structural-functionalists: high salaries due to short supply of persons who have the ability to become physicians or surgeons. Conflict theorists: the high prestige accorded physicians has more to do with use of power of AMA to promote self-interest than with what is best for society.
Getting a second opinion is now general practice; malpractice suits are commonplace. Fees and treatments are increasingly regulated
by government agencies and insurance companies concerned about reducing costs.
group practices or corporations. Fees, procedures, and working hours are determined by bureaucrats.
Median income: $62,400; a little more than 1/3 the income of doctors Because of the female tradition of nurturance, nursing is seen as an extension of female duty. Cost controls mean fewer nurses with heavier
workloads.
doctors and hospitals in 1970. By 2006, they spent an average of $6,561. By 2013 it will likely be twice that. The three primary modes of financing health care in the United States are: Paying out of pocket Private insurance Government programs
In 2010, Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, based on the Massachusetts health insurance program. It will:
1.Require all Americans to obtain health insurance 2.Require employers to subsidize employee health care 3.Expand Medicaid to include all poor and near-poor Americans younger than 65 yrs 4.Require insurers to insure individuals with pre-existing health problems; to allow young people to remain on parent insurance policies until age 26.
But program costs are high; many will still not be able to afford health care insurance.
Improved sanitation, housing, and food Raise education levels and thereby incomes Use of traditional healing practices.
Example: China has life expectancy only 4 years lower than the U.S. and spends several times less on health care.
Chapter 11
Family
Replacing population through reproduction Regulating sexual behavior Caring for dependents children, elderly,
disabled Socializing the young Providing intimacy, belongingness, emotional support
Marriage Patterns: Monogamy a marriage in which there is only one wife and one husband. Serial monogamy -individuals marry several people but only one at a time Polygamy any form of marriage in which a person may have more than one spouse at a time. Two forms: Polygyny -A form of marriage that unites one man and two or more women Polyandry -Unites one woman and two or more men
U.S. norms call for childhood to be a sheltered 28% U.S. children are born to single mothers. About 66% of mothers of pre-school children
time, but about 1 in 5 children are raised in poverty and many are abused.
Early Adulthood
Early Adulthood
African American women are much less likely to marry than white women. African American men (stereotyped as hypermasculine) are more likely than women to find exogamous spouses. Asian women (stereotyped as hyperfeminine) are more likely than men to marry exogamously. Among all groups, a shortage of males employed in good jobs with adequate earnings sharply reduces the likelihood that a woman will marry or even live with a man outside of marriage.
Intermarriage and dating have become far more common over time, especially between white men and Asian American women. Differences in the availability of marriageable men account for at least 40% of the racial difference in overall marriage rates.
Between 45-60 is a quieter time expectation of empty nest (children leave home) Many families do not experience empty nests:
Economic crisis many adult children live in their parents home and many middle-aged parents have moved in with their adult children. Extended families are increasing with cultural preferences of immigrant families and the effects of an aging population care for aging parents.
Middle Age
younger women marriage is not equally available to aging women. 78% of men aged 65-74 are still married; 57% of women of the same age are still married. Grandparent role is important to satisfaction; also in provision of childcare and financial help. Elderly prefer to live alone; 50% of old old will develop memory and thinking problems and rely heavily on family or care workers.
As people move into the oldest old group, most come to rely heavily on their daughters for assistance. This can create considerable strain when the daughters find themselves simultaneously responsible for their parents and their children.
Men are considered primary providers for their Women do about 66% of housework; chances Paid domestic labor reinforces gender, race
and social class divisions. Most employers are white middle-class women; most labor is minority working-class women. of happiness for both husband and wife greatest when housework is evenly split. families, but in 25% of dual-earner families, the wives outearn the husband.
Children are expensive and time-consuming. Having children reduces marital happiness. Most people desire and have children to guarantee love and affection for years to come. Parenting roles remain disparate: women still hold more responsibilities to childcare than men. But there are changes: Stepparent estimates: about 1/3 of all children
will live with a stepparent before age 18 More fathers raising children on their own Growing numbers of stay-at-home dads
Fathers
80% of mothers work. Fathers now take more responsibility for child care and household tasks than they did in previous generations. Mothers still bear far more of household and childcare burdens, leaving many mothers overworked and feeling underappreciated.
sexual partner before marriage. More than half of all Americans are expected to cohabit at some point in their lives. Whether couples cohabit before marrying has no effect on their marital satisfaction or stability. Deinstitutionalization of marriage the gradual disintegration of social norms that defined marriage as essential. The fight for (and against) gay rights to marry suggests that marriage is still very important.
Half of all U.S. births are non-marital. Most of these are to women 20 years of age and older. Many women are electing to be single parents. Many women having non-marital births cohabit with the fathers. Teen childbearing has declined considerably since 1991. Teen mothers are more likely to be poor. Infant
health problems and death are more likely with teen mothers.
Births to teenage mothers are least common in wealthier states as well as in Utah, which has an unusually high Mormon population. They are most common across the southern tier of the country, an area with many poor African Americans and poor Hispanic immigrants.
Many women are electing to delay having children 5-10 years after marriage. ~25% women ages 30-34 are childless.
Choosing Childlessness While many women will eventually want children, increasing numbers have decided that they are uninterested in having children.
Overseas adoptions raise serious issues about the commodification of children where children are treated as goods available for purchase or theft.
marriages today will end in divorce. Predictors of divorce within the first 10 years of marriage:
1. Age at marriage
2. Parental divorce 3. Premarital childbearing
4. Education
5. Race 6. Religion
Chapter 12
Education and Religion
Education and religion are central components Almost all people in the U.S. have attended
of these two institutions. of any nation and have profound effects on our society and individuals. school, and a strong majority practice a religion.
In all societies, education is an important means of reproducing culture. In addition to skills such as reading and writing, children learn many of the dominant cultural values. In Japan, school uniforms emphasize group solidarity over individual achievement.
Education as a Capitalist Tool hidden curriculum teaches obedience and conformity. Education as a Cultural Tool teaches the cultural perspective of the dominant culture. Education as a Status Marker credentials are Unequal Education and Inequality use of
education as a status marker reinforced by unequal opportunities for education across society. often a surrogate for race, gender and social class. Credentialism is a social bias based on credentials.
Focus on the processes. The learning process can vary greatly across society. Teachers may hold racist and classist views common in U.S. society resulting in bias. Students possess disparate cultural capital which helps or hinders interactions with teachers. Teachers grew up in a society with racist, sexist and
classist biases. Biases are embedded in their views and result in assumptions and perpetuate bias.
Federal law now requires schools to measure student performance using standardized tests. Students now must pass high-stakes tests before they can move to a higher grade. Teachers and schools are evaluated and
Often programs in art music, physical education,
and languages are dropped as more resources put into tested areas. punished or rewarded on the basis of these tests.
Concern about the quality of American public education has led to support for school choice. Options including tuition vouchers, tax credits,
magnet schools, charter schools, and home schooling. The best current research suggests that children sent to charter schools do no better and sometimes do worse than children in public schools. (Renzulli & Roscigno, 2007) Opponents of school choice point to negative consequences of reinforcing social inequality and segregation. (Saporito & Sohoni, 2006)
the group most likely to be enrolled in college. Rates of women in all ethnic groups attending college increased steadily. White men are still most likely to receive professional and doctoral degrees and be in field with highest income. Ethnic and social class differences affect college attendance greater than sex differences.
Percentage of High School Graduates Ages 18 to 21 Enrolled in College, by Race, Ethnicity, and Sex, 1975 and 2009
As depicted in this chart, differences in high school graduation rates among racial and ethnic groups is an important factor in who attends college.
Learn logic, critical thinking, civic engagement College prepares students for middle class
jobs: shapes demeanor, language, and belief in their intellectual abilities.
Why Go?
Going to college pays off. Those who graduate college earn twothirds more than high school graduates, are much more likely to be employed, and are more likely to have a professional job.
Understanding Religion
What is Religion?
Understanding Religion
Why Religion?
Christianity is the dominant religion in the Americas, Europe, and Australia, but elsewhere other religions are far more common.
Understanding Religion
Why Religion Now? The Rise of Fundamentalism
During the last 40 years, there has been a small drop in the proportion of Americans who belong to a religion, a bigger drop in those who say religion is very important in their lives, and a sharp drop in the proportion who think that the Bible is the actual word of God.
Understanding Religion
Why Religion Now? The Rise of Fundamentalism
Fundamentalism refers to religious
movements that:
Believe heir most sacred book or books to be the literal word of God Accept traditional interpretations of those books Stress the importance of living in ways that mesh with those traditional interpretations
2. A set of beliefs about the supernatural that help people cope with the uncertainties of life. 3. A body of rituals or practices.
Weber combined ideas from structural and conflict perspectives. Religion is the search for knowledge about what is unknown. Changes in religious ideology can stimulate social change. Charismatic leadership is influential. Protestant Ethic: the belief that rationalism,
work, and plain living are moral virtues; idleness and indulgence are sinful.
How religions resolve these dilemmas is central to their eventual form and character.
Services are more informal than in churches. Doctrines emphasize otherworldly rewards; Like primary groups: small, informal, loyal.
Strongly resemble those of sects Members elect to join NRM rather than follow
parents religion
Religion and church can promote social Church members dont always adopt the views
of their church; sometimes this results in a split from the central church. change.
rituals, beliefs, and symbols sacred to the U.S. nation. Important source of unity for the U.S. Beliefs: The U.S. operates under God Symbols: The flag Rituals: Pledge of Allegiance Singing of National Anthem Sacred principles: liberty, justice, and freedom
Chapter 13
Politics and the Economy
A charismatic leader who establishes a rationallegal system to manage her followers will also increase her power. Ex. L. Ron Hubbard founded the Church of
Scientology and turned it into a large, bureaucratic organization.
1.Its jurisdiction for legitimate decision making is broader than that of other institutions. 2.It controls the use of legalized coercion in a society.
State Coercion
A state holds a monopoly on the legitimate use of three different types of coercion:
1. Arrest, attack, imprison and even kill citizens
2. Take money from citizens with taxes and fines 3. Negotiate with other countries and use its military to attack and kill in other countries
Some authoritarian governments, such as monarchies, govern through traditional authority; others have no legitimate authority and rest their power almost exclusively on coercion.
multinational corporations and international organizations hold power once held by states
ineligible for social benefits face constant risk of deportation children of immigrants with no legal status, may have no knowledge of their home culture, and would face severe hardship if deported
makes all major decisions, based on its own interests The power elite are the people who occupy the top positions in three bureaucraciesthe military, industry, and the executive branch of governmentand who make decisions on national and international issues. The median net worth of members of Congress is 9x greater than of U.S. citizens overall.
Power Elite
Power elites
Source of power
Inherited/positional; key positions in economic/ social institutions Concentrated in fairly homogeneous elite
Limited when other groups unite in opposition
Distribution of power
Limits of power
Role of State
Age middle aged/older persons more likely Race and Ethnicity whites more likely than
African Americans; hispanics and Asians least likely.
In the U.S., whoever receives the most votes wins winner take all process. As a result, in practice two parties share almost all political power: Democrats and Republicans Both parties are basically centrist with different
philosophical views:
political process is corruptthe parties are similar and it doesnt matter who gets elected. Others suggest that politicians have made it difficult for people to vote. Still others argue that no major political party has involved poor minority and Americans are disenchanted (voting rates increased through grassroots outreach during Obama campaign).
rights by those who have ever been convicted of a felony. In some states, it applies only to those in prison; in other states, it is lifelong. Ex-felon disenfranchised are overwhelmingly poor. The number is high enough to significantly decrease the chances of electing politicians who favor helping the poor.
1. Capitalism
2. Socialism
The economic system based on competition in which most wealth (land, capital and labor) is private
property, to be used by its owners to maximize their own gain. Based on market competition. Encourages hard work, technical innovation, and meeting or creating consumer demand. Limitations:
1. Does not attend to distribution and does not provide for the public good. 2. Those who have neither labor nor capital lose out. 3. Public services such as parks, paved streets, sanitary water system hold no interest for capitalists because these generate no profit.
The economic system in which the means of Social resources can benefit all society rather than The key limitation is lack of incentivesocialist
economies tend to be more equitable but less productive economies.
Socialism is often confused with communism: a theoretical political economic system where the means of production are publically owned and each individual works and is paid according to ability and need.
Socialism
production (land, labor, capital) are owned and managed by the community or government and used for the good of all.
Most Western societies today have a mixture Vital services such as mail and industries such Other services (i.e., health care) have been
as steel might be socialized to ensure the continuation of services or availability of goods. partially socialized because societies judge the denial of such services to the poor unethical and the provision of such services from open market too inefficient. of capitalist and socialist economic structures.
The interaction of political and economic forms The term communist refers to societies in Both capitalism and socialism can coexist with
either authoritarian or democratic systems. which a socialist economy is guided by a political elite and enforced by a military elite.
most of the nations capital and labor are tied up in a few giant, transnational corporations.
Ex. U.S. supported Guatemalan and Honduran dictatorships to protect interests of Dole and United Fruit.
o o o
Because of globalization, the crisis has spread around the world with devastating effects. The crisis strongly suggests that free-market
works only when balanced by government regulation.
Unemployment rates soar. Some pension funds and municipalities have gone bankrupt.
Professional occupations specialized skills, autonomy, and public trust. Non-professional occupations require fewer
years of education, lack autonomy to set their own educational and licensing standards, and lack public confidence that they are motivated primarily by a code of ethics and a sense of service. Underground economy associated with workers who attempt to hide from state regulation. Can occur in profession and non-professional occupations.
Unemployed are those who lack a job, are available for work, and are actively seeking it. This definition leaves out people who have Underemployed are those who cannot find fullgiven up looking for work and people who work part-time because they lost full-time jobs. time work or are working in jobs below their skill level. underestimated.
Precarious work:
Changing economy:
Impact of technology:
Conservative approach: Free Market proposes that the way to keep jobs in the U.S. is to reduce wages and benefits.This approach adopted across the nation. Liberal approach: Government Policies oversee corporate mergers; build industries with good jobs; make U.S. goods more competitive by taxing imports and subsidizing domestic goods. Social investment approach stop high-education jobs from going overseas by adequately educating American students.
Chapter 14
size, growth, and composition. Demographers focus on births, deaths, and migration patterns. Currently, the world population is 7 billion more than 2.5x as many people as in 1950. Population has increased for two basic reasons: 1. Mortality has declined rapidly. 2. Fertility rate has decreased only slowly.
Mortality rate number of deaths per every 1,000 people in a population in a given period. Fertility rate number of births per 1,000 women in a population in a given period. Birth rate number of births per 1,000 persons in a population in a given period. Migration movement of people from geographic area to another. Internal migration people move to different homes within a country. Immigration people move to a different country.
Human population continues to grow every day. World birth rate 2011: 20 births per 1000 people World mortality rate 2011: 8 deaths per 1000 In 2011, world population grew by 1.2%. At this rate, another 2.6 billion people will be
added to the planet by 2025. Most growth happens in poorer nations; i.e., Africas population growing; Europes population shrinking.
About 25% to 33% of all babies died before 1 Infant mortality rate the number of babies
who die during or shortly after birth. year of age. Average life expectancy was 3035yrs
pregnant or nursing and would produce between 6-10 children if she lived to 45.
conditions improved in Europe and the U.S. The results were a decline in mortality rates. The late 1800s saw better sanitation and medical advances that improved life expectancy. Industrial Revolution changed work no longer needed as many children for agricultural labor or to replace those that died. Demographic transition is the process through which a population shifts from a high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates.
Less developed nations: birth and death rates remained at preindustrial levels until 1900s. Development in Latin America, Taiwan, South
Korea, and Singapore improved living conditions death rates decreased. Latter 20th century, poorest countries had better sanitation and healthcare. Death rates lowered but birth rates did not change population rose. have increased in some areas due to AIDS.
In the preindustrial West, both birth and death rates were high. As living conditions improved and death rates began to fall, the population grew. Eventually birth rates also fell and population size stabilized. This is known as the demographic transition.
Children are important in Ghanawomen who do not bear children, particularly sons, are not valued. It is believed that that 4 children must be born for 2 to survive. Children are needed for agricultural and to care for aging parents.
Schools, sanitation systems, or adequate infrastructure cannot be maintained under such great population pressures.
Population pressures can contribute to numerous social problems including: environmental devastation overuse and misuse of resources poverty
Poverty and malnutrition result from: war corruption inequality in nondemocratic countries exploitive world economic system Policy Responses: family-planning programs economic and educational development improving the status of women
Mortality Rates
people who live to age 65 can expect to live another 20 years and more. AIDS remains leading cause of death in people aged 25-44. This trend is more significant in African Americans and Latinos.
If immigration and fertility rates remain stable, the proportion of Hispanic and Asian Americans will likely increase and the proportion of non-Hispanic whites will likely decrease.
Urbanization
Theories of Urban Growth and Decline
Structural Functional Theory: Urban Ecology:
Urban development is seen as evolutionary and functional; efficient for distributing goods and services.
Finds nothing natural in urban growth and decline. Competing economic and political forces lead to growth or decline of cities.
The Postindustrial City: Move from secondary to tertiary production Easier communication and transportation Urban sprawl and edge cities
Urbanization
Urbanization in the United States
A metropolitan statistical area is a county that has a city of 50,000 or more in it, plus associated neighboring counties. A nonmetropolitan statistical area is a county that has no major city in it and is not closely tied to such a city.
Urbanization
Urbanization in the Less-Developed World
Problems: fast paced growth; inadequate infrastructure (roads, schools, sewers)
Differs from developed world: 1.high rate of births over deaths 2.many cities are primarily government, trade, and administrative centers offer few workingclass jobs. Unskilled become part of informal economy of artisans, peddlers, and beggars.
Urbanization is growing around the world. It is more common in the more developed nations but is grown more rapidly in the less developed nations. SOURCE: United Nations 2010
Urban living
Many people enjoy the excitement of city life. In the city, they are freed from the necessity of liking the people they live next to. They are selective with intimates. So many activities are within walking distance.
Urban farming
The decline of industrial cities like Detroit is being replaced by urban initiatives. Community gardens now stand on the sites once occupied by Victorian mansions, homes, and businesses.
Growth of suburbs;
Suburban problems:
1. weak governments 2. car dependence 3. social isolation crowded small lots; singles, childless, and empty nesters
In desirable rural areas, good-paying jobs are scarce and housing expensive. Many rural families live in inexpensive trailers or manufactured homes.