Demography is the scientific study of human populations. Classical demography has at its core three processes: fertility, migration, and mortality. To be human is to be part of the demographic process, so contemporary studies of population focus not only on the implications of population size and change, but also on how social influences affect individual behaviour and how actions at the individual level contribute to the composition of the population. Globally, population issues are of increasing concern to governments and other policy-makers. Particularly over the last fifty years or so, there have been many iterations of the population problem . From overpopulation to population ageing, to ultra-low fertility, this new four-volume collection from Routledge brings together the most important thinking about, and theories on, population to enable users to make sense of a vast and rapidly expanding corpus of scholarship. With a full index, together with a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editors, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, Population Studies is an essential work of reference. For researchers, students, and policy-makers, it is as a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource.
A new title in the Routledge Major Works series, Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences, this is a four-volume collection of cutting-edge and canonical research on population studies.
The anthrax incidents following the 9/11 terrorist attacks put the spotlight on the nation's public health agencies, placing it under an unprecedented scrutiny that added new dimensions to the complex issues considered in this report. The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century reaffirms the vision of Healthy People 2010, and outlines a systems approach to assuring the nation's health in practice, research, and policy. This approach focuses on joining the unique resources and perspectives of diverse sectors and entities and challenges these groups to work in a concerted, strategic way to promote and protect the public's health. Focusing on diverse partnerships as the framework for public health, the book discusses: The need for a shift from an individual to a population-based approach in practice, research, policy, and community engagement. The status of the governmental public health infrastructure and what needs to be improved, including its interface with the health care delivery system. The roles nongovernment actors, such as academia, business, local communities and the media can play in creating a healthy nation. Providing an accessible analysis, this book will be important to public health policy-makers and practitioners, business and community leaders, health advocates, educators and journalists.
This book examines the use of agent-based modelling (ABM) in population studies, from concepts to applications, best practices to future developments. It features papers written by leading experts in the field that will help readers to better understand the usefulness of ABM for population projections, how ABM can be injected with empirical data to achieve a better match between model and reality, how geographic information can be fruitfully used in ABM, and how ABM results can be reported effectively and correctly. Coverage ranges from detailing the relation between ABM and existing paradigms in population studies to infusing agent-based models with empirical data. The papers show the benefits that ABM offers the field, including enhanced theory formation by better linking the micro level with the macro level, the ability to represent populations more adequately as complex systems, and the possibility to study rare events and the implications of alternative mechanisms in artificial laboratories. In addition, readers will discover guidelines and best practices with detailed examples of how to apply agent-based models in different areas of population research, including human mating behaviour, migration, and socio-structural determinants of health behaviours. Earlier versions of the papers in this book have been presented at the workshop “Recent Developments and Future Directions in Agent-Based Modelling in Population Studies,” which took place at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium, in September 2014. The book will contribute to the development of best practices in the field and will provide a solid point of reference for scholars who want to start using agent-based modelling in their own research.
Like the original two-volume work, this work attempts to present a systematic and comprehensive exposition, with illustrations, of the methods used by technicians and research workers in dealing with demographic data. The book is concerned with how data on population are gathered, classified, and treated to produce tabulations and various summarizing measures that reveal the significant aspects of the composition and dynamics of populations. It sets forth the sources, limitations, underlying definitions, and bases of classification, as well as the techniques and methods that have been developed for summarizing and analyzing the data.
In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.
This comprehensive, introductory text takes an applied, interdisciplinary approach. Because one author is a sociologist and the other a demographer, the text introduces perspectives from many different disciplines. The most applied book on the market, Demography: The Science of Population teaches students how to use the multitude of demographic resources available to them as consumers of data. Using case studies throughout to illustrate key concepts in a realistic and concrete manner, the authors also draw examples from recent U.S. Census data, United Nations and World Bank reports, tables from the National Center for Health Statistics, and other U.S. state- and county-level sources. New to the Second Edition This second edition is divided into four main parts; each part begins with a short introduction, and all chapters include end-of-chapter summaries. All tables, related narrative, and graphics have been updated to include data from the 2000 and 2010 census counts, more recent estimates for the United States—especially the American Community Survey—and comparable new data from international sources (e.g. World Bank, Population Research Bureau World Data Sheet). Several new figures have been added throughout the text. Part I: An Overview of Population Science, introduces the field of demography and provides a summary of its subject matter. The chapters in this part have been reorganized to reflect changes in the discipline. Chapter 1 now includes a new “the study of populations” section, a shorter Chapter 2 covers population size, and its former discussion of structure has been moved to Chapter 3. This de-emphasizes the history of population science to some extent and increases emphasis on population size as the key demographic variable. Chapter 4 presents the main principles and analytical techniques associated with the three “static” characteristics of populations: size, structure, and geographic distribution. Part II: Population Dynamics: Vital Events and Growth, reflects the wealth of data and analytical techniques now available from The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its “Wonder” utility. The first three chapters focus on the vital events of birth, death, and migration. The final chapter in this part brings this material together in a discussion of population growth: its measurement, its history, and current related policy concerns. Part III: Population Models, introduces the principles of life table analysis, population estimation, and projection. This material has been simplified and updated. Chapter 9, The Life Table: An Introduction, has been revised to accord with the new federal alignment for vital statistics between the CDC and National Institute for Health Statistics. Life tables from non-U.S. sources are increased in number and in detailed functions. Part IV: Demography in Application, provides overviews of population policy, the environment, and demographic resources, along with a brief postscript on population in the larger scheme of things. What appeared as two appendices in the first edition, one on the history of population policy and one on tourism as a type of international migration, have been combined to create a new Chapter 14. The end-of-chapter material has been shortened and now contains a summary, key terms, and notes. A full-color enhanced eText is also available, and the second edition is accompanied by a teaching and learning package, including instructor’s manual, test bank, lecture slides, and a companion website that offers students additional resources, flashcards, and self-study quizzes.
POPULATION HEALTH SCIENCE formalizes an emerging discipline at the crossroads of social and medical sciences, demography, and economics--an emerging approach to population studies that represents a seismic shift in how traditional health sciences measure and observe health events. Bringing together theories and methods from diverse fields, this text provides grounding in the factors that shape population health. The overall approach is one of consequentialist science: designing creative studies that identify causal factors in health with multidisciplinary rigor. Distilled into nine foundational principles, this book guides readers through population science studies that strategically incorporate: · macrosocial factors · multilevel, lifecourse, and systems theories · prevention science fundamentals · return on investment · equity and efficiency Harnessing the power of scientific inquiry and codifying the knowledge base for a burgeoning field, POPULATION HEALTH SCIENCE arms readers with tools to shift the curve of population health.
This book presents a cross section of the work and concerns of social demographers worldwide, covering a broad range of topics from social structure through population structure to social policy; from fertility and mortality through migration to the way in which organisations deal with the demographic environment in which they operate. Topics addressed also include morbidity and health profiles and transitions, as well as policies and programs concerned with these and other issues. The volume touches on some of the major links between population and societal dynamics. It addresses demographic patterns and issues from micro-level, meso-level, and macro-level perspectives and helps put into focus the past, present and future of the mutual relations between population dynamics and societal responses. With a unique introductory chapter discussing the global unevenness of population growth today, its associations with inequality and the challenges it presents for the future, and a truly international approach to social and demographic change and policy responses, this book will serve as a valuable resource for professionals and students in sociology, demography, social policy and local governance.
