Population and Society: An Introduction to Demography

Dudley L. Poston, Jr. · Leon F. Bouvier

Apr 2010 · Cambridge University Press

About this ebook

Population and Society: An Introduction to Demography is an ideal text for undergraduate, as well as graduate, students taking their first course in demography. It is sociologically oriented, although economics, political science, geography, history, and the other social sciences are also used to inform the materials. Although the emphasis is on demography, the book recognizes that, at the individual level, population change is related to private decisions, especially in relation to fertility, but also to mortality and migration. The text thus considers in some detail the role of individuals in population decision making. At the level of countries, and even the world, changes in population size have an important effect on the environmental and related challenges facing all of the world's inhabitants. Therefore, attention is paid to the broad implications of population growth and change.

About the author

Dudley L. Poston, Jr is Professor of Sociology, Director of the Asian Studies Program, and the George T. and Gladys H. Abell Endowed Professor of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University. He holds adjunct professorships at Renmin (People's) University, Beijing, China, Fuzhou University, China, and Nanjing Normal University, China. He previously served on the rural sociology and sociology faculties, respectively, of Cornell University and the University of Texas at Austin. Professor Poston has co-authored or edited 17 books and more than 275 journal articles and book chapters on various sociological and demographic topics.

Leon F. Bouvier is Professor of Sociology at Old Dominion University. He previously served as Vice President of the Population Reference Bureau in Washington, DC, as a demographic consultant to two congressional committees, and as a consultant to USAID. Professor Bouvier has also taught at the University of Rhode Island, Tulane University School of Public Health, and Georgetown University. Professor Bouvier has co-authored or edited 15 books and numerous articles and book reviews.