Chapter 51: Demography

DUDLEY L. POSTON JR. & MICHAEL MICKLIN & AMANDA K. BAUMLE

Demography This chapter defines, circumscribes, and reviews the field of demography, providing insight into the breadth of issues covered by this interdisciplinary specialization. Attention is first directed to the discipline of demography, its definition, and conceptual and methodological character, 1 while later sections focus specifically on the various resources of demography. In addition to describing the resources and issues encompassed by the field, the chapter also identifies what the authors believe to be three research areas requiring future attention. Finally, unlike many of the sociological specializations discussed in this Handbook , demography has not always been viewed primarily as a subfield of sociology. This issue is also explored in this chapter. When professors introduce demography and its subject matter in their graduate and undergraduate courses, many find useful what Bogue (1969) has proposed as the three basic demographic questions: (1) How large (or small) is the population? (2) How is ...

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