Anthropology in demographic research

A questioning of the theoretical and methodological focus and strategies of sociodemographic research has been evident especially in Latin America since the 1970s. This work discusses the shortcomings of most current attempts to integrate anthropological and demographic approaches to population, and introduces eight articles on various aspects of population that appeared in the same publication. Most were first presented in a work session entitled "Anthropology in Sociodemographic Investigation" at the Thirteenth International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences in 1993. The need to incorporate diverse dimensions of reality and different disciplinary perspectives in the explanation of demographic events and changes has been a significant preoccupation of sociodemography itself. A growing volume of studies of fertility, migration, processes of health and disease, sexuality, and the role of women, the family, and social institutions in reproduction, almost exclusively conducted at the micro level, reflect interest in incorporating anthropological viewpoints into sociodemographic analysis. An increasing number of scientific meetings and committees within population groups are devoted to the same themes. This introduction synthesizes the principal findings and recommendations of the eight articles, which examine very diverse topics using varied analytical approaches. All, however, offer reflections on the theoretical and methodological relevance of incorporating the anthropological perspective into sociodemographic investigation. Some also demonstrate the type of empirical findings that may result from a successful integration.     

A recycling story: Developing recycling behavior in Turkey with social marketing program

The present study focuses on improving recycling behavior in Turkey with a social marketing program. It is centered on behavior change and social marketing strategies that can address recycling behavior. The social marketing program developed herein outlines segmentation, targeting, product, price, place, and promotional strategies recommended based on theoretical elements across disciplines. This research is the first to develop a social marketing program for recycling behavior in a developing country at the household level. Furthermore, it is the first study in which behavioral change was ensured through marketing strategies. This article provides a framework that can be employed in developing social marketing programs. In this study, qualitative data collection tools and quantitative measurement data were used based on the action research design. Although there are studies in the literature that argue that women and those with undergraduate/graduate education show more recycling behavior than others, the results of the participant-level research in Turkey showed that there was no significant difference in recycling behavior based on the demographic characteristics of the participants. On the other hand, it has been found that the awareness levels of the people have changed in correspondence with the implementation-oriented efforts of the municipalities on recycling. However, there is a lack of recycling behavior due to the lack of necessary infrastructure and information in all regions in Turkey. One of the most important results obtained in this social marketing program study was that regional and cultural differences had a role in shaping the recycling behavior. This requires different strategies in implementing the program in different provinces, based on the culture and availability of recycling infrastructure. This article provides an example of a social marketing program to improve recycling behavior. It hopes to inspire significantly more work in this area to make behavior change for the better.     

Family recomposition and agrarian transformations. Two African cases and a Mexican one

"The authors discuss the role of the demographic regime, and particularly its changes, in agrarian transformations [using one Mexican and two West African case studies]. The hypothesis that guides this research...is that the factor of demographic structure explains the workings and reproduction of several social formations. The authors are specially interested in rethinking the debate over the role of innovation in the relation between population and production changes." (EXCERPT)     

Overview of the Office of Research, Statistics, and International Policy functions

Research and statistics have been an integral part of social security program development and administration since the program's beginning. The Office of Research, Statistics, and International Policy (ORSIP) is responsible for developing and disseminating information on the effects of programs operated by the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the interactions among these programs, other tax and transfer programs, and economic, social, and demographic forces. This mission is carried out by collecting and tabulating statistics and by conducting policy research and legislative impact analyses. ORSIP also provides technical assistance to other SSA components. In this overview, each of those functions is outlined and major initiatives to carry out the office's primary objectives for fiscal year 1986 are described.     

Notes for a multidisciplinary study of female sterilization

This article attempts to reconstruct part of a study on female sterilization in Mexico. The research began with a demographic survey, which was continued with a regional psychologically-oriented survey and has been complemented with studies that apply qualitative analysis techniques and the redrawing of conceptual frameworks for reproduction-related topics and the regulation of fertility. The author attempts to bring together the features of several analytical perspectives for the study of female sterilization. He also argues that research needs to focus more on the social normativity of reproduction and sterilization, the way in which it is put into effect by institutional health programs, and family planning services. The paper also suggests the need to study health aspects of the women who have chosen this birth control method, who are estimated to total 25% of all married women of reproductive age in Mexico. (author's)     

Democracy,credibility, and sound economics: The Israeli hyperinflation

The 1985 Israeli economic stabilization program provides a rare case of stable (as of late 1996) success under democratic auspices without major social disorder. Existing explanations for the success of the Israeli reforms overemphasize economics at the expense of politics. This paper analyzes the political causes of the early 1980s Israeli hyperinflation. The program's economic measures and performance are reviewed. The Israeli economic stabilization program succeeded because it was considered credible by the Israeli public. The social and political factors that contributed to the program's credibility are investigated and their importance is ranked. The applicability of the paper to other economic reforms under democratic auspices is highlighted and future research is outlined.     

Investigating the Connection Between Transit-Oriented Development and Displacement: Four Hypotheses

Transit-oriented development (TOD) has become a predominant planning model in many cities. However, although access to public transit is often seen as benefiting low-income groups, in some cities community groups have challenged TOD plans on the grounds that they could cause gentrification and displacement. Yet, empirical studies have found little evidence that gentrification actually causes displacement. This article examines the connection between TOD and displacement in urban areas and seeks to make sense of the apparent discrepancy between community opposition to TOD and the empirical findings on displacement. Four explanations are considered: methodological shortcomings in existing studies, insufficient attention to social and psychological forms of displacement, potential transportation cost savings, and use of TOD plans as a policy target. The fourth explanation is illustrated using an example from the San Francisco Bay Area of California. This article aims to synthesize literature on these previously separate topics and to illuminate paths for future research.     

Bringing the State Back In: Retrospect and ProspectThe 2007 Johan Skytte Prize Lecture

Taking off from theoretical and research agendas encouraged in the 1985 book Bringing the State Back In , this article traces developments in several areas of scholarship: studies of social revolutions and regime transformations; studies of the development of welfare states; and studies of social capital and democratic effectiveness. In all of these literatures, the author's own research and the research of many other scholars has been enriched by analyses of state-building and of the changing capacities of states to achieve particular goals, as well as by tracing 'policy feedbacks' over time. The original scholarly program called for a 'Weberian' approach to states as independent actors and for a 'Tocquevillian' emphasis on the ways that state structures and actions indirectly affect the ideas, goals and capacities of social groups in politics. The former approach remains relevant, and the latter has proved increasingly fruitful. Particularly vibrant areas of state-society research now focus on the struggles over social policies in mature welfare states and on the political, as well as sociocultural, roots of social capital and democratic citizen engagement.     

Some recent findings regarding the demographic history of Mexico

The author reviews recent contributions to the field of historical demography concerning Mexico. Articles are grouped into sections on demographic crisis, nuptiality, and the family and household. An extensive bibliography is included.     

Social Europe and its Components in the Midst of the Crisis: A Conclusion

The article starts by identifying the main institutional components of the (elusive) concept of Social Europe: the ‘National Social Spaces’, i.e. the social protection systems of the member states; the ‘EU Social Citizenship Space’, i.e. the coordination regime that allows all EU nationals to access the social benefits of other member states when they exercise free movement; the ‘Regional Social Spaces’, i.e. sub-national and/or trans-regional social policies; and the ‘EU Social Policy’ proper. Based on such reconceptualisation, the article then revisits the main analytical insights and substantive findings of the volume’s contributions, focusing in particular on dynamics of ‘social re-bounding’ during the crisis, on national implementation processes, on the relevance of ‘fits’ and ‘misfits’ for social policy compliance and on issues of democratic control. In the conclusion, some suggestions for future research and for the EU’s social agenda are put forward.     

Protest and Decision-making in a Society of Blame

The modern 'globalised' society takes for granted that future and development can be planned and controlled. Economical and political decision-making processes propose goals and intentions; protest movements show how this can be dangerous, but do not have realistic alternatives. Adopting the instruments of systems theory the paper focuses on two topics that are the very social condition of modernity and globalisation. First, decision-making can only affect variables on the level of formal organisations, but not on the level of society as a whole. Second, the results of planning are never those expected by the decision-makers. Society is a result of evolution, not of (good or bad) intentions. Protest in the society against the society is then the reaction of society to itself, once that which is possible to do is a consequence (positive or negative) of a future without shape and the only available resource is uncertainty.     

The development of political science in Lithuania: Years of the breakthrough

Abstract. The development of political science was closely connected to the democratic changes and the restoration of statehood at the end of the 1980s in Lithuania. This paper examines the historical and contemporary social and academic roots of political science in the country. The other issue investigated in detail is the institutionalisation of political studies, which required the development of new academic curricula. Major vehicles for the institutionalization of political science were the decentralisation of academic activities and the establishment of new institutions, such as the Institute of Political Science and International Relations (University of Vilnius) and the Lithuanian Political Science Association, and intensive cooperation withWestern universities and funding organizations. Nonetheless, the growth and efficiency of political studies and research depend very much on their successful integration into the environment of the existing universities. The research output of Lithuanian political science is characterised by a widening of research interests and the further introduction of statistical and computer methods of investigation, with problems of Lithuania's foreign and security policy and issues of democratisation as topics of continuing popularity.     

Change in European Societies since the 1970s

Sociology lags considerably behind political science in its comparative research on European societies, but enough material now exists to enable us to talk broadly about the major changes that have taken place since the 1970s across western Europe, and also to some extent central and eastern Europe too. Attention is here concentrated on those social trends that seem particularly salient for the study of politics, with occupational structure as the starting point. Although this dominant theme of classical sociology has tended to be neglected by much recent research in favour of such areas as deviance, gender and the formation of identities, working life remains fundamental to social organisation and in particular to politics. In fact, the theme of gender is easily accessed through consideration of changes in occupations, and considerable attention will be devoted to it here. This leads in turn to consideration of the family, then on to other aspects of demography including immigration and cultural diversity. This relates clearly to the final theme that will be discussed: the state of religion in Europe. In the conclusions some of the political implications of these changes are brought together.     

Moral consensus in a secularising society: The Irish divorce referendum of 1986

The research reported here constitutes a part of a major project on democratic transition in Southern Europe. The article seeks to bring Southern Europe within the ambit of comparative welfare state analysis by (1) developing time‐series models of social insurance growth in Greece, Portugal and Spain and (2) for the first time, incorporating these nations’ social insurance experience into a model of social security development for the advanced nations. The time‐series analysis centres on the formative interaction of democratic transition with socio‐economic, demographic and policy influences. The cross‐national analysis points to the crucial role of both democratisation processes and cultural differences; as well as the standard repertoire of explanations in this field of research.     

THIRD WORLD URBANIZATION AND AMERICAN FOREIGN AID POLICY: DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE IN THE 1990s

Over the next decade, the demographic and economic characteristics of countries to which the United States government provides technical and financial assistance for economic development will change substantially. Rapid urban population growth, the expanding role of cities and towns in national economies, continued migration of population from rural to urban areas, explosive growth in the size of the labor force, and shifts in the occupations of the labor force from agriculture to manufacturing and ser- vices will require a reorientation of American development assistance. Yet, program objectives and budget allocations of the U.S. foreign aid program fail to reflect these changes in the characteristics of its clientele. The US. Agency for International Development lacks an overt strategy for coping with urbanization in developing nations. Without an urban strategy, the American foreign aid program is likely to incur increasing opportunity costs and fail to address critical problems arising from fundamental shifts in the economic and social structure of developing countries.     

PROGRAM EVALUATION AND ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL

What is the role of program evaluation research in making and implementing social policy and how do program evaluators view the social programs they evaluate? This article discusses the findings of two closely related studies that examine these questions from the perspective of organization theory. These studies found that program evaluations rely on methods of research that do not correspond to the extent of uncertainty in social programs over goals and causal knowledge, and that most evaluations define organizational effectiveness solely in terms of goal achievement. In addition, of the various groups with a stake in the evaluation process, only federal and top program administrators influenced the implementation and interpretation of the studies. These findings, when taken together, suggest that program evaluation research acts more to augment administrative control than to increase our understanding of the effects of social policy.     

Demographic information in crisis: one point of view

This work argues that doubts concerning the reliability of demographic information in Mexico from censuses and other sources should prompt a search for ways of improving existing data rather than developing new data sources and measurement techniques. The example of labor force data is used to illustrate the achievements of past data collection efforts and to suggest a framework for reconciling statistics from diverse sources and exploiting existing sources more fully. From a practical perspective, it would be difficult to identify a nontraditional source of information, statistical procedure, or conceptual framework for collection of labor force and other demographic data that has not been tried somewhere, at some time. Economists and other social scientists who have analyzed the adequacy of existing data sources have pointed to the financial implications of extensive alterations in them and have suggested new questions to be added to censuses and surveys to fill gaps in information. Studies based on census data have been particularly effective in furthering understanding of the supply of labor in Mexico and the factors affecting behavior of the economically active population. Economic surveys have contributed to analysis of employment in the different sectors and the characteristics of workers in different types of establishments and activities. Surveys, both specialized and multipurpose, have also contributed to knowledge of employment and the labor market, especially in urban areas and in aspects related to migration. To classify the different potential sources of labor force data, 2 tables are presented. The 1st lists continuous, periodic, and sporadic sources of data produced in the public, social, and private sectors. The listing of different data sources suggests the rich potential for combining findings from different sources, e.g., correlating deaths occurring in a certain time period to working age adults with information derived from the census to assess socioeconomic mortality differentials. The 2nd table presents a classification of processes of creation, survival, and extinction of the labor force from the perspective of the individual, domestic unit, and institution. High priority should be given to establishment of an interinstitutional group that would study the congruence of the 3 major sources of demographic information: censuses, vital statistics, and surveys.     

Strategies for homeless research in the 1990s

Abstract

Existing empirically based knowledge about homelessness is neither extensive nor well grounded. Proper policy formation and program design that address homelessness are badly served by knowledge deficiencies. This paper lays out a strategy that will develop appropriate research methodology and generate better empirically based knowledge. It proposes a program of technical research, as well as moditica‐tions to several national data collection programs, such as the Current Population Survey, to collect data on the literal homeless and the precariously housed. It also presents a rationale for starting longitudinal studies that focus on the processes that lead into and out of the homeless state. Finally, it proposes evaluation research to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of promising programs.