Global Problems of Population Growth - Audio
by Robert Wyman
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Description
(MCDB 150) This survey course introduces students to the important and basic material on human fertility, population growth, the demographic transition and population policy. Topics include: the human and environmental dimensions of population pressure, demographic history, economic and cultural causes of demographic change, environmental carrying capacity and sustainability. Political, religious and ethical issues surrounding fertility are also addressed. The lectures and readings attempt to balance theoretical and demographic scale analysis with studies of individual humans and communities. The perspective is global with both developed and developing countries included. This course was recorded in Spring 2009.
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01 - Evolution of Sex and Reproductive Strategies | Reproduction is not simple or easy, nor is it fair. Females often bear a larger reproductive burden of child bearing and child rearing. Reproductive strategies can be simplified into two primary strategies for males and two for females: males often ... | 10/27/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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02 - Sex and Violence Among the Apes | Chimpanzee males compete for position in a dominance hierarchy; status often depends on support from other members, including females, of the group. High ranking males have much greater sexual access to females in estrus. Males control... | 10/27/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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03 - From Ape to Human | Throughout prehistoric, written, and recent history, human warfare has been commonplace. Nearly all societies engage in regular or periodic war. In many examples, human warfare has characteristics similar to chimpanzee war: an in-group fights with and ... | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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04 - When Humans Were Scarce | Hunter-gatherer populations were much less dense than later agriculturalists. The variety of their food supply protected them from crop failures and their sparseness reduced the spread of infectious diseases. Hunter-gatherers were healthier and ... | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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05 - Why Is Africa Different? | In addition to cultural controls acting to maximize fertility, there are important, and often competing, interests of individual families to limit fertility. Unwanted births are dealt with by infanticide in many cultures. Additionally, fertility is ... | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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06 - Malthusian Times | In many regions, the central cultural idea is that of a lineage, a family and its line of male ancestors and descendants. The prime duty in these cultures is to keep the lineage going. Religion is small scale with the ancestors performing many of the ... | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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07 - Demographic Transition in Europe; Mortality Decline | European population grew only slowly during the period 1200-1700; factors include disease and wars. Human feces and rotting animal remains were not sequestered and often contaminated drinking water. Cities were so filthy that more people ... | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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08 - Demographic Transition in Europe; Fertility Decline | Prior to Malthus, population growth was seen as good for the power and wealth of a country. The rapid population growth of America was crucial in expelling England (via the Revolution) and France (via the Louisiana Purchase) from the US. But in ... | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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09 - Demographic Transition in Europe | Prior to the Demographic Transition, fertility in northwestern Europe was controlled by limiting marriage. Marriage was regulated by landowners and the churches, and was not allowed unless a man had accumulated the resources necessary to support a family. | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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10 - Quantitative Aspects | Census data is often politically influenced and hence inaccurate. The birthrate in developing countries is nearly twice that in developed countries. Most humans live in less developed countries, so the world birthrate is near the higher number. | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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11 - Low Fertility in Developed Countries (Guest Lecture by Michael Teitelbaum) | Concerns about low fertility have been present in many countries for at least 100 years. A large population was considered essential to national power. But the issue is never simply a shortage of warm bodies: overall the world population has increased ... | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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12 - Human and Environmental Impacts | Until recently,the world population has been growing faster than exponentially. Although the growth rate has slowed somewhat, there are about 80 million more people each year and about 3 billion more will be added by 2050 (a 50% increase). | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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13 - Fertility Attitudes and Practices | Surveys show that most women are having more children than they would prefer to have. Further, studies show that the vast majority of women know about various forms of contraception. One World Bank study has shown that family planning programs ... | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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14 - Demographic Transition in Developing Countries | By 1950, in most of the underdeveloped world, mortality had fallen to about half its pre-modern rate. The birth rate, however, had remained high and, by 1950, was about twice the death rate. For the rest of the century, both rates fell ... | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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15 - Female Disadvantage | In East and South Asia there are many more boys than girls. Previously, this resulted from female infanticide, now it is sex-selective abortion. In those cultures, girls generally marry out of the family as teenagers and thus provide no benefit for... | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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16 - Population in Traditional China | China's early demographic history is similar to that of Europe; population grows only slowly due to war, disease and Malthusian resource limitation. Later, introduction of American foods allowed cultivated land to expand, but population expanded ... | 10/14/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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17 - Population in Modern China | Families lived together in traditional China and sons remained on the land; division of family land led to tiny plots and rural poverty. Because labor was so cheap, the country did not urbanize or mechanize. The Communist government started out with a... | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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18 - Economic Impact of Population Growth | 1) Population in China: Until recently, Chinese families did not much alter their fertility depending on life events like deaths of children. However, under government prodding and eventually coercion, fertility drops drastically in China in the 1970s ... | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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19 - Economic Motivations for Fertility | Data shows, consistently, that poor people have more children than rich people; economically speaking, children are an inferior good. Children are production goods because they do work, consumption goods because they are enjoyable, and investment ... | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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20 - Teen Sexuality and Teen Pregnancy | Rates of teen pregnancy in the US are quite high, in contrast to European countries which have much lower rates, especially those with liberal attitudes toward sexuality. Traditionally, puberty and marriage were simultaneous. Now, the many years spent... | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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21 - Global Demography of Abortion | Abortion is very common: worldwide, and in the US, there is 1 abortion for every 3.2 live births. In places where contraception is not used, abortion is used as birth control. Neither legal nor religious proscriptions have a strong effect on abortion ... | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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22 - Media and the Fertility Transition in Developing Countries (Guest Lecture by William Ryerson) | Guest lecturer William Ryerson is President of the Population Media Center which produces radio and TV serial dramas in developing countries that aim to effect behavior change on women's status, family planning and AIDS. Working with governments... | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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23 - Biology and History of Abortion | The idea that "life begins at conception" is not a scientific one. Since the disproof of 'spontaneous generation' (1668-1859), we have known that life only derives from life. Life arose billions of years ago and has continued since as a cycle. | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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24 - Population and the Environment | World population will continue to rise until at least 2050. Environmental impact is the product of the number of people and how much of their income and technology is devoted to either consumption or conservation. So far, the balance is far at the ... | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 24 Episodes |
Customer Reviews
Amazing - a scientific approach to vexing social problems by a true Renaissance man.
I'll hate when the series ends!
