Population, Urbanization and the Environment
Chapter Outline
 Population
 Population and Social Inequality
 Urbanization
 The Environment
 The Social Construction of Environmental
Problems
 Saving the Environment
The City of God: Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil
 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is one of the world’s most
beautiful cities.
 With a population of more than 12 million in 2007, it is
the 23rd biggest metropolitan area in the world.
 Not all are well off, slums are home to about 20% of
the city’s inhabitants.
The City of God: Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil
 Brazil’s 41 million people in 1940 multiplied to about
210 million in 2010.
 The country is now more urbanized than the United
States, with more than 3/4 of its population living in
urban areas.
The Population “Explosion”
 10,000 years before the birth of Christ there were only
about 6 million people in the world.
 By mid-2011, there are more than 7 billion
 In 2100 there will probably be about 9 or 10 billion,
85% of them in the developing countries of South
America, Asia, and Africa
The Population “Explosion”
 On July 1, 2005, there will be an estimated 6.4 billion
people in the world according to the U.S. Census
Bureau.
 Where 1 person stood 12,000 years ago, there are now
1067 people.
 Statistical projections suggest that by 2100, there will be
about 1700 people.
World Population, Projected
 INSERT FIGURE 15.1 HERE (PG. 362)
Sex Ratio
 The ratio of women to men in a geographical area.
United States: 2014 (projected)
 INSERT TOP FIGURE 15.2 (PG. 364) HERE
Mexico: 2014 (projected)
 INSERT BOTTOM FIGURE 15.2 HERE (PG. 364)
Polling Question

There should be government intervention in
determining the maximum number of children
people can have.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Strongly agree
Agree somewhat
Unsure
Disagree somewhat
Strongly disagree
Demographers
 Social-scientific analysts of human population.
Malthus’s Theory of Population
 The basis of Malthus’s theory:
 The facts:

People must eat, and they are driven by a strong sexual
urge.
 The assumption:
 While food supply increases slowly and arithmetically (1,
2, 3, 4, etc.), population grows quickly and geometrically
(1, 2, 4, 8, etc.).
Malthusian Trap
 A cycle of population growth followed by an outbreak
of war, pestilence, or famine that keeps population
growth in check.
Critiques of Malthus
 Technological advances have allowed rapid growth in
how much food is produced for each person on the
planet.
 This is the opposite of the slow growth Malthus
predicted.
Critiques of Malthus
 Malthus thought the population couldn’t grow much
larger in late-18th-century Western Europe without
“positive checks” coming into play.
 The Western European population increased from 187
million people in 1801 to 321 million in 1900.
 It has now stabilized at about half a billion.
Critiques of Malthus
 Population growth does not always produce misery.
 Despite rapid population increases, Western Europe is
one of the most prosperous regions in the world.
Critiques of Malthus
 Helping the poor does not generally result in the poor
having more children.
 Although the human sexual urge is as strong as
Malthus thought, people have developed contraceptive
to control the consequences of sexual activity.
Demographic Transition Theory
 Explains how changes in fertility and mortality
affected population growth from preindustrial to
postindustrial times.
 The crude death rate is the annual number of deaths
per 1000 people in a population.
 The crude birth rate is the annual number of live
births per 1000 women in a population.
Demographic Transition
Theory: 4 Stages
Pre-industrial era - crude birth rates and crude death
rates were high and population growth was slow.
2. Early industrialization - crude death rates fell,
population growth was rapid.
1.
Demographic Transition
Theory: 4 Stages
3. Later in industrialization era - values about having
children changed, the crude birth rate fell, resulting
in slow growth again.
4. Postindustrial era - crude death rate has risen above
the crude birth rate in many societies.
Demographic Transition Theory
Replacement Level
 The number of children that each woman must have
on average for population size to remain stable.
 Ignoring any inflow of population from other
countries and any outflow to other countries, the
replacement level is 2.1.
Immigration and Emigration
 Immigration, or in-migration, is the inflow of
people into one country from one or more other
countries and their settlement in the destination
country.
 Emigration, or out-migration, is the outflow of
people from one country and their settlement in one or
more other countries.
Case Study: Kerala
 Kerala is a state in India with more than 32 million
people.
 Kerala had a total fertility rate of 1.8 in 1991, half of
India’s national rate and far less than the replacement
level of 2.1.
Case Study: Kerala
 The government of Kerala solved overpopulation by
increasing gender equality.
 Today, Keralan women have the highest literacy rate,
the highest labor force participation rate, and the
highest rate of political participation in India.
Case Study: South Korea
 Class inequality influences population growth too
 South Korea’s total fertility rate of 6.0 in 1960 fell to
just 1.6 in 1989 and 1.2 in 2010
 Declining class inequality led to less economic
uncertainty and increase in industrialization
World’s 10 Largest
Metropolitan Areas
 INSERT TABLE 15.1 HERE (pg. 370)
Polling Question

If you could live anywhere in the United States that
you wanted to, would you prefer a city, suburban
area, small town, or farm?
a.
b.
c.
d.
City
Suburban area
Small town
Farm
Chicago School
 Described the arrangement of the industrial city as
expanding concentric circles:
 The main business, entertainment, and shopping area is
in the center.
 The class position of residents increases as from inner to
outer rings.
Concentric Zone Model:
Chicago (1920)
Human Ecology
 A theoretical approach to urban sociology that
borrows ideas from biology and ecology to highlight
the links between the physical and social dimensions
of cities and identify the dynamics and patterns of
urban growth.
Human Ecology
 Differentiation in the theory of human ecology refers
to the process by which urban populations and their
activities become more complex and heterogeneous
over time.
Human Ecology
 Competition in the theory of human ecology refers to
the struggle by different groups for optimal locations
in which to reside and set up their businesses.
 Ecological succession in the theory of human
ecology refers to the process by which a distinct urban
group moves from one area to another and a second
group comes in to replace the group that has moved
out.
After Chicago: A Critique
Social isolation, stress, emotional withdrawal and
other problems may be as common in rural as in
urban areas.
2. The patterns discovered are most applicable to
American industrial cities in the first quarter of the
20th century.
3. Presents urban growth as a natural process, slighting
historical, political, and economic foundations in
capitalist industrialization.
1.
The Peripheral Model of
Cities
Central city
2. Suburban residential areas
3. Circumferential highway
4. Radial highway
5. Shopping mall
6. Industrial district
7. Office park
8. Service center
9. Airport complex
10. Combined employment and
shopping center
1.
New Urban Sociology
 Emerged in the 1970s and stresses
that city growth is a process rooted in power relations
and the urge to profit.
Corporate City
 The growing post-World War II perception and
organization of the North American city as a vehicle
for capital accumulation.
Suburbanism
 A way of life outside city centers that is organized
mainly around the needs of children and involves
higher levels of conformity and sociability than life in
the central city.
Metropolitan Areas
 Metropolitan areas include:
 gated communities - Residents pay high taxes to
keep the community patrolled and walled off from
the outside world.
 exurbs - Rural residential areas within commuting
distance of the city.
 edge cities - Exurban clusters of malls and offices at
the convergence point of major highways.
20 Largest Metropolitan Areas
in the U.S., 2009
 INSERT TABLE 15.2 HERE (PG. 375)
Urban Sprawl
 The spread of cities into ever-larger expanses of the
surrounding countryside.
Gentrification
 The process of middle-class people moving into
rundown areas of the inner city and restoring them.
Postmodern City
 A new urban form that is more privatized and socially
and culturally fragmented and globalized than the
corporate city.
Postmodern City: Three
Features
More privatized. - access to formerly public spaces is
limited to those who can afford to pay.
2. More fragmented. - a great variety of lifestyles
proliferate based on race, ethnicity, immigrant
status, class, sexual orientation, etc.
3. More globalized. - New York, London, and Tokyo
epitomize the global city.
1.
Environmental Degradation
 Environmental degradation takes three main forms:
 global warming
 industrial pollution
 the decline of biodiversity
Global Warming
 The greenhouse effect is the accumulation of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere that allows more solar
radiation to enter the atmosphere and less solar
radiation to escape.
 Global warming is the gradual worldwide increase in
average surface temperature.
Annual Mean Global Surface Air
Temperature
 INSERT FIGURE 15.6 HERE (PG. 377)
Worldwide Insured Losses Due to Natural and
Human Catastrophes
 INSERT FIGURE 15.7 HERE (PG. 378)
Industrial Pollution
 Acid rain is precipitation whose acidity destroys
forests and the ecosystems of lakes.
 It is formed by sulfur dioxide and other gases emitted by
coal-burning power plants, pulp and paper mills, and
motor-vehicle exhaust.
Industrial Pollution
 The ozone layer lies 5 to 25 miles above the Earth’s
surface. It is depleted by CFCs.
 The depletion of the ozone layer allows more ultraviolet
light to enter the Earth’s atmosphere. This increases the
rate of skin cancer and crop damage.
Decline of Biodiversity
 Biodiversity refers to the enormous variety of plant
and animal species inhabiting the Earth.
 Today, about 1,000 species are becoming extinct
annually.
 In 11 countries, 10% or more of bird species are
threatened with extinction.
 In 29 countries, 10% or more of mammal species are
similarly threatened.
Polling Question

Pollution and hazardous waste are an international
environmental problem
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Strongly agree
Agree somewhat
Unsure
Disagree somewhat
Strongly disagree
Symbolic Interactionist: Environmental
Problems
 Environmental issues are contested phenomena
 Can be socially constructed by proponents and socially
undermined by opponents
Conflict Approach: Social
Distribution of Risk
 Environmental racism: The tendency to heap
environmental dangers on the disadvantaged,
especially on disadvantaged racial minorities.
 Who is most at risk?
 members of racial minorities
 lower classes
 less developed societies
Market or High-tech Solutions
to Environmental Problems
 Insufficient because:
 Price signals do not always mirror market conditions
 Pace of change is too slow under present conditions.
 Political pressure is needed to motivate governments
and corporations to take action on environmental
issues
 Resistance by powerful interest groups
Renewable Resources, World,
Percent Change
 INSERT FIGURE 15.8 HERE (PG. 384)
Cooperative Alternative
 Increased cooperation among citizens, governments,
and corporations including:
 renewed commitment to voluntary efforts
 laws and enforcement bodies to ensure compliance
 investment in energy-saving research and development
 environmentally directed foreign aid
Climate Protection
Performance of Countries
 INSERT TABLE 15.3 HERE (PG. 385)
Polling
Question
 Which of these statements comes closer to your
own point of view?
a.
b.
Protecting the global environment should be given
priority, even if it causes slower global economic
growth and some loss of jobs.
Global economic growth and creating jobs should be
the top priority, even if the global environment
suffers.
1. Malthus’ theory of population is based on which of
the following arguments?
a.
b.
c.
d.
people are driven by a strong sexual urge
population size grows geometrically
food supply increases arithmetically
all of these choices
Answer: d
 Malthus’ theory of population is based on the
following arguments: people are driven by a strong
sexual urge, population size grows geometrically,
and food supply increases arithmetically.
2. According to Malthus, what forces hold
population growth in check?
a.
b.
c.
d.
"preventive" measures such as abortion and
infanticide
"positive checks" such as war, pestilence, and famine
"religious checks" such as abstinence and self-denial
"preventive" measures such as abortion and
infanticide, and "positive checks" such as war,
pestilence, and famine
Answer: d

According to Malthus, "preventive" measures
such as abortion and infanticide, and
"positive checks" such as war, pestilence, and
famine hold population growth in check.
3. According to demographic transition theory, in
the pre-industrial period:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
the crude birth rate was low
the crude birth rate was high
the crude death rate was high
the crude birth rate was low, and the crude death rate
was high
the crude birth rate was high, and the crude death
rate was high
Answer: e

According to demographic transition theory, in the
pre-industrial period the crude birth rate was
high, and the crude death rate was high.
4. Demographic transition theory holds that, during
the early industrial period, the population
experienced:
a.
b.
c.
d.
a fast increase
a slow increase
no increase or decline
a slow decline
Answer: a
 Demographic transition theory holds that, during the
early industrial period, the population experienced a
fast increase.
5. Differentiation in the theory of human ecology refers
to:
a.
b.
c.
vivid and detailed descriptions and analyses of
urban life
borrowing of ideas from biology and ecology to
highlight the links between the physical and
social dimensions of cities
process by which urban populations become
more complex and heterogenous over time
Answer: c
 Differentiation in the theory of human ecology refers
to the process by which urban populations and
their activities become more complex and
heterogenous over time.
6. What policies have been followed in Kerala, a state
in India, to reduce the fertility rate to a
manageable level?
a.
b.
c.
d.
The government pursued a policy of rapid
industrialization.
The government strictly enforced a childbirth
policy similar to China's
The government organized programs to educate
women and increase their participation in the
labor force.
All of these choices
Answer: c

In Kerala, a state in India, the government
organized programs to educate women and
increase their participation in the labor force.
7. The idea that industrialization is the only factor
underlying urbanization is inaccurate because:
a.
b.
c.
d.
cities existed in the ancient era as administrative and
religious centers
international trade stimulated urban growth in preindustrial Europe and the Middle East
urbanization is not occurring at a rapid rate in the
world's poor countries
a. and b.
Answer: d

The idea that industrialization is the only factor
underlying urbanization is inaccurate because
cities existed in the ancient era as
administrative and religious centers and
international trade stimulated urban growth in
pre-industrial Europe and the Middle East.