Evolutionary contributions to the study of human fertility

Demography, lacking an overarching theoretical framework of its own, has drawn on theories in many other social sciences to inform its analyses. The aim of this paper is to bring to the demographic community’s attention research in the evolutionary sciences on fertility, and to demonstrate that evolutionary theory can be another useful tool in the demographer’s toolkit. I first dispel some myths which impede the incorporation of evolutionary theory into demography: I make it clear that evolutionary explanations do not assume that all human behaviour is hardwired and functions to maximize genetic fitness; that they are able to explain variation in human behaviour; and that they are not necessarily alternatives to social science explanations. I then describe the diversity of work on fertility by evolutionary researchers, particularly human evolutionary ecologists and cultural evolutionists, and illustrate the usefulness of the evolutionary approach with examples of its application to age at first birth and the fertility transition.     

Towards the Development of Objective,Universal Criteria of Cultural Evaluation: The Challenges Posed by Anti-Foundationalism,Culturalism and Romanticism

Over the course of the last century, it has become increasingly unfashionable in the social sciences to make cross-cultural evaluations. The advance of cultural relativism has ensured that criticisms of other cultures are regarded as subjective and ethnocentric. There remain, however, cultural beliefs, practices and traditions which appear, prima facie, to contradict people’s interests. Are there any means of evaluating such practices or cultures according to objective, universal criteria? If there are, these need to withstand a series of challenges posed by ‘relativist’ critics of objectivity and universality. This article categorises these challenges, detailing anti-foundationalist belief in a conflation of perception and truth, culturalist belief in the overwhelming importance to wellbeing of living according to one’s group’s traditions, and a romantic challenge, which invokes anti-universalism only instrumentally, to particular aspects of Western culture. In order to overcome these challenges, a theory of cultural evaluation must demonstrate the existence of certain goods which are intrinsic to human beings, can be affected by cultural activity and are of greater importance than the culturalist good of living according to one’s group’s traditions. I put forward three plausible conceptual candidates—needs, capabilities and flourishing—discussing briefly the possible merits of each. Finally, I argue that, if we are to measure culture, rather than quality of life, we must consider the influence of circumstance on the nature of cultures and the level of wellbeing. This article is an attempt to identify the parameters for more detailed research into this contentious, but potentially valuable, field of study.     

“It's A Boy Thing”

The recent proliferation of videogame theory has opened up a body of work concerned with legitimating the videogame as a viable cultural text. However, there is still a significant gap in research around addressing the lived cultures or cultural practices of gaming as an embedded domestic leisure activity. Furthermore, research into the “cultural practices” of videogames reveals that predications to play, perceptions about, and actual play are highly gendered in ways that reveal gaming as a normalised and normalising technology. This article is the result of nearly four years ethnographic research, during which I interviewed and recorded gamers and gameplay. Six out of the eleven participatory households are represented here. The scope of the research is also expanded through the questionnaire of, at the time of writing, 118 respondents. Included in this demographic are all-female and all-male households, mixed gender, sexuality, and ethnicity and diverse geographical intake from Northern Ireland to southern England. Throughout my research and this article, I argue the political and social necessity of including gamers into research on gaming, in order to better understand the significance of gaming and gaming discourses on our social and political lives.     

深圳市城市内部人口与社会空间结构研究

“物以类聚,人以群分”,城市内部的人们由于社会、经济、文化等原因而在空间上表现为一定结构。国内外对于深圳市这类新兴移民城市的人口和社会空间结构研究还不多见,通过采用因子分析和空间分析结合的计算机统计分析技术,使用第四次人口普查和第五次人口普查数据,从人口空间结构和社会空间结构两大方面对深圳市的人口展开研究。具体来说,一是深圳市人口数量的分布和变化研究,主要通过人口总量、人口密度和多个人口密度分布模型来测算和分析;二是对于社会空间结构的分析,主要对人口普查数据的人口社会、经济、文化属性进行因子分析,提取出若干个主因子,然后根据各个街道这些因子的得分情况进行聚类分析,得到深圳市社会空间结构的模型。     

Disparities in Academic Achievement: Assessing the Role of Habitus and Practice

Bourdieu’s theory of cultural and social reproduction—with its core concepts cultural capital, habitus, practice and field—is a leading account of the intergenerational persistence of educational inequality. Although numerous studies examine the relationship between class, cultural capital and academic outcomes, and some focus on gender differences in cultural capital, few attempt to operationalize Bourdieu’s accompanying concepts of habitus and practice, and to consider gender differences along these dimensions. The present study addresses these gaps by examining a “structure-disposition-practice” model of the relationships between family socioeconomic status (SES), sex, habitus, academic practices, and academic achievement using multilevel Canadian data. Findings of SES and gender differences in the model offer qualified support for the potential of Bourdieu’s framework to help increase our understanding of class and gender disparities in educational outcomes. Results suggest that habitus, practice and the “structure-disposition-practice” model are not only theoretically sophisticated, but also empirically sustainable and that future efforts to more precisely measure the model’s concepts and relationships are warranted.     

Measuring Social Capital in the Republic of Korea with Mixed Methods: Application of Factor Analysis and Fuzzy-Set Ideal Type Approach

Variation in the concept of social capital casts difficulties in measurements; moreover, measuring social capital requires different methods because concepts can differ by countries, regions and also according to the conceptual attributes included in the concept. Discussion on social capital has been gaining much attention in also East Asia, where Confucianism and family oriented values are suggested to be an important cultural background. This study aims to first critically review research on social capital not only in Korea, but also elsewhere, with a focus on measurements and indicators. By highlighting the importance of developing measurement that can reflect the cultural context of social capital, we compose survey questionnaires, which include multiple aspects of social capital and conduct an investigation on Korean social capital. Then, we exploit factor analysis with these questions. Next, with results from the factor analysis above, we employ the method of fuzzy set ideal type approach in order to measure social capital in Korea according to different demographic groups. The results suggest that people with low education and low income have difficulties participating in the society through interactions, even when their trust toward the society and their consciousness regarding the norm are similar to those of the other groups in Korea.     

Concepts of Chinese folk happiness

Discourses on Chinese folk happiness are often based on anecdotal narratives or qualitative analysis. Two traditional concepts of happiness popular in Chinese culture are introduced. The paper constructs a concept of Chinese folk happiness on basis of the findings of a scientific survey on the Taiwanese people regarding their concepts of well-being at nation and personal levels. The survey has revealed that people’s concepts of well-being are consisted of a diversity of elements including political, economic, social, and cultural factors, as well as health, family, job, and social relationships. The paper compares these concepts with the traditional notions of Chinese folk happiness.     

Women,Demography, and Politics: How Lower Fertility Rates Lead to Democracy

Where connections between demography and politics are examined in the literature, it is largely in the context of the effects of male aspects of demography on phenomena such as political violence. This project aims to place the study of demographic variables’ influence on politics, particularly on democracy, squarely within the scope of political and social sciences, and to focus on the effects of woman-related demographics—namely, fertility rate. I test the hypothesis that demographic variables—female-related predictors, in particular—have an independent effect on political structure. Comparing countries over time, this study finds a growth in democracy when fertility rates decline. In the theoretical framework developed, it is family structure as well as the economic and political status of women that account for this change at the macro and micro levels. Findings based on data for more than 140 countries over three decades are robust when controlling not only for alternative effects but also for reverse causality and data limitations.     

Wohlfahrtsstaatliche Politiken und ihre kulturellen Grundlagen

The cultural foundations of welfare state policies and their contribution to the development of welfare states are gaining increasing attention in comparative welfare state research. The article introduces reflections on how the impact of cultural factors on the development of welfare state policies can be analysed. “Culture” is conceptualised here as potentially contradictory and subject of negotiations and change. The article includes a proposal to distinguish three different levels with regard to the relationship of welfare culture and welfare state policies. These include the values and models on which welfare state policies are based, the values and models towards the welfare state that are dominant in the population, and the discourses of social actors in relation to such values and models. Using this approach, two different types of processes in ways in which cultural change can contribute to change in welfare state policies can be distinguished.     

Measuring cultural bias in a cross-national study

Cross-national research claims increasing attention, due in part to a growing awareness of worldwide interdependence. One of the most intriguing areas of research is the comparison of perceptions about the quality of life. However, even the first attempt to compare cross-national quality of life perceptions (Cantril, 1965) raised a question which still remains unanswered: What do the differences between countries mean? Presumably differences in income, in the objective conditions of the major life domains such as housing, health and employment, and in demographic variables account for some of the difference among countries' reported quality of life satisfaction. But how can these factors be separated from other non-random factors? The term we use for the latter is “cultural bias”. By cultural bias we mean the systematic cross-national differences in quality of life perceptions which are not explained by objective measures of quality of life nor by demographic factors. Ordinarily these culture-specific biases are acquired during the socialization process almost as automatically and unconsciously as one learns one's mother tongue. Cultural bias is manifested in the tendency for members of a particular culture to be optimistic or pessimistic, confident or cautious in evaluating their social and physical environment and in revealing these evaluations to others. Thus, our conception of cultural bias has something in common with the idea of national character, but it is more limited in scope. In this paper we discuss the problem of isolating the impact of cultural bias from the other factors affecting how people perceive their quality of life and measuring it. We describe a method which is capable of doing this and report the results of using it to measure the relative cultural bias between respondents in Springfield, Illinois and Aixen-Provence, France.     

Enhancing engagement between the population,environment, and climate research communities: the shared socio-economic pathway process

Demographers have much to contribute to climate change science. This paper describes a new framework being developed by the climate research community that holds potential as an organizing tool for population–climate scholarship, as well as being useful for identifying demographic research gaps within the climate change field. The shared socio-economic pathways (SSPs) represent plausible alternative trends in the evolution of social and natural systems over the twenty-first century at the scale of the world and large regions. The SSPs can help identify population–environment research gaps by illuminating areas of intersection that will shape climate futures but require deeper scientific understanding—the association between urbanization and energy consumption is an example. Also, to vastly enhance the policy relevance of local case studies, the parameters outlined within the SSPs can offer a basic level of harmonization to facilitate generalization. In this way, the SSP framework can increase the relevance and accessibility of population research and, therefore, offer a mechanism through which demographic science can truly offer policy impact.     

Regulating Inclusion: Spatial Form,Social Process,and the Normalization of Cycling Practice in the USA

In recent years, bicycle infrastructure has been emerged as a valued part of urban development policy in many American cities, and a process that depends on the normalization of cycling practice in three respects. First, the various ‘less confrontational’ mutations of Critical Mass have redefined the politics of cycling in cultural and consumerist terms. Second, this ‘bike culture’ is mediated through Internet networks that generate concepts of proper cycling practice. Third, both spatial models and standards of ‘correct’ ridership circulate through these networks, linking ‘bike culture’ to institutional networks of implementation. While positive from the standpoint of increased ridership, this may reinscribe the exclusions that are constitutive of the contemporary American city and may limit cycling’s egalitarian potential.     

An Indigenous Knowledges Perspective on Valid Meaning Making: A Commentary on Research with the EDI and Aboriginal Communities

Offering an Indigenous perspective, this commentary discusses collaborative research, shared meaning making, and knowledge building specific to child development, and reflects on social, cultural, and historical aspects that influence these processes. Drawing upon experiences of developing a collaborative research approach with which to engage Aboriginal communities to appreciate, understand, and potentially use the Early Development Instrument (EDI; Janus and Offord in Can J Behav Sci 39:1–22, 2007), a teacher-administered rating scale on kindergarten children’s development, the commentary focuses on five key questions relevant to research processes undertaken with Indigenous Peoples, and the importance of social, ethical, and cultural aspects of validity: How do Indigenous epistemologies and knowledges inform and influence research processes that utilize the EDI as a measurement tool? How can the EDI be used as a measurement tool within a research process that fosters the thriving of children and their families in Aboriginal communities while promoting Indigenous Peoples’ self-determination? In what ways do local, Indigenous cultural and ethical considerations inform aspects of validation research pertaining to the EDI? How can (Western mainstream) universities build research capacity that is informed by Indigenous knowledges and ways of being, doing, and knowing? What are the potential consequences of using normative research tools—such as the EDI—as a method to build knowledge on children’s development with Indigenous Peoples and Aboriginal communities? This commentary suggests that from an Indigenous perspective, research on child development is valid and meaningful knowledge if it is clearly linked to the children’s and families’ wellbeing according to local cultural norms and values.     

Demography as a Spatial Social Science

Scholars in many social science disciplines have taken note of the re-emerging interest in issues concerning social processes embedded within a spatial context. While some argue that this awakening is refreshing and new and, in fact, long overdue, I demonstrate that spatially focused demographic theories and research agendas clearly predate contemporary interest in these topics. I assert that recent methodological advancements have merely encouraged and brought refinement to the expanding body of spatially oriented population research—research strongly rooted in demographic tradition and practice. Indeed, I make the claim that, until roughly the mid-20th century, virtually all demography in the United States (and elsewhere, but not specifically examined here) was spatial demography. Then, shortly after mid-century, a paradigm shift occurred, and the scientific study of population quickly came to be dominated by attention to the individual as the agent of demographic action. Traditional spatial demography—macro-demography—gave way to micro-demography, and, I argue, most demographers simply abandoned the data and approach of spatial demography. In closing the paper I include a brief discussion of the recent awakening that has come to spatial demographers from developments in other disciplines, principally geography, regional science, and spatial econometrics.     

Das Ende der Beliebigkeit — zum evolutionär-biologischen Fundament des Menschen

The relationship between biology and sociology has always been difficult, even though (or even because) both are interested in the same human subject. Historic mishaps, such as the severe abuse of biology by political systems, ideological inferences and simple misunderstandings still strain the dialogue. In contrast to sociologists, biologists employ a comparative approach within a firm Darwinian framework for posing questions. A hypothesis only qualifies as “scientific” when rigorously testable. Along with the overwhelming success of biology in the 20^th century, the biological base of the human existence is now generally acknowledged. But the explanatory potential of the Darwinian approach is still expanding.c Over the past decades, biologist even ventured into the “cultural” domains, which lead to new battles with sociologists, but also to some cross-fertilization. It showed, that even morals and ethics have a biological and hence, an evolutionary base. Without the prefrontal cortex of the brain, humans are not able to act socially responsible. This example also shows that the long-outdated distinction between “innate” and “learned” (still a major obstacle for dialogue between biology and sociology) is indeed, obsolete, because the morphological substrate only develops towards its full functionality, when adequately stimulated via implicit social learning during early childhood. Further examples for the heuristic power of modern behavioural biology are insights into social organization and sexual strategies, evolutionary explanations of socio-sexual violence against women and children, new results towards showing the biological foundations of personality, or even the contribution of modern biology towards explaining mentalities. With the increasing dominance of biology, arbitrariness comes to an end. Today, the basidemand on all theories and concepts which claim to explain aspects of Homo sapiens scientifically, no matter whether from the humanities, social sciences or even philosophy, is their consistency and logic coherence, with evolutionary theory.     

Bioecological Theory, Early Child Development and the Validation of the Population-Level Early Development Instrument

The Early Development Instrument (EDI; Janus and Offord in Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science 39:1–22, 2007) project is a Canadian population-level, longitudinal research project, in which teacher ratings of Kindergarten children’s early development and wellbeing are linked to health and academic achievement variables at the individual level, and to demographic, cultural, and socioeconomic variables at the community level. In this article, we draw from Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory of human development to create a coherent theoretical framework for guiding validation research within a population-level approach to child development research in general and for the EDI project in particular. The discussion draws from a range of social and health sciences as well as validity theory. The paper seeks to align complex conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and psychometric considerations, to provide specific design, methodology, and validation recommendations for a population-level approach to studying children’s development and wellbeing, and to discuss the strengths and challenges of this approach.     

Research on gender in demography: Limitations and constraints

This paper explores the issue of gender in demography, focusing on the question of why we don't know more than we do about the role of gender in demographic processes. Our lack of knowledge is partly explained by demography's research and policy focus on the two questions central to the field in recent decades, fertility decline and the relationship between economic and demographic change. The focus on these issues – sometimes at the expense of other research questions and issues – has meant that some social processes surrounding demographic change, including the role of gender, have not received the attention they deserve. Understanding gender's complex relationship to social behaviors, such as demographic behavior, requires attention to social/cultural context and to power. Demography needs to expand our knowledge of gender through the development of new research questions, research designs, and methodologies. Doing so will give us new insights into demographic processes.     

Biosocial models: Can demographers ignore them?

Social demographers must take seriously the challenge to dominant theoretical paradigms that is posed by biosocial models. Accumulating empirical evidence documents the significant contribution of biological variables to the determination of social behaviors, including demographic behaviors. The simplest biosocial models may prove inadequate in social demographic research. More appropriate models may need to allow for causal relationships between biological and social determinants, and for effects that are interactive, non-linear, and discontinuous. While the articulation and testing of such models is unattainable at present, considerable insight can be gained by adding selected biological variables to ongoing demographic research. Demographic surveys should incorporate features of behavioral genetic designs. The chief short-term obstacles to the application of biosocial models in demography are disclinary boundaries; that is, the obstacles are institutional, not scientific.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Workshop on Biosocial Factors, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 12 October 1994.     

Factors Associated With Temporal and Spatial Patterns in Suicide Rates Across U.S. States, 1976–2000

Using pooled cross-sectional time-series data for the 50 U.S. states over a 25-year period, this article examines how well four conceptual groups of social correlates—demographic, economic, social, and cultural factors—are associated with the 1976–2000 patterns in overall suicide rates and suicide by firearms and other means. Unlike past research that typically considers only one dimension, this analysis differentiates between spatial and temporal variation in suicide rates to determine whether and how social correlates operate differently in these two contexts. Results indicate that suicide rates correspond closely to social correlates. Within U.S. states, lower overall suicide rates between 1976 and 2000 were associated with demographic change (e.g., larger numbers of foreign-born) as well as with fewer numbers of Episcopalians. Across U.S. states, variation in overall suicide rates over the period was related to demographic (percentage male), economic (per capita income), social (percentage divorced), and cultural (alcohol consumption and gun ownership) factors. However, findings differ importantly by type of suicide, and across time and space. Reasons for these distinct patterns are discussed.