Demography and Sociology

Demography and Sociology both considered as man as a social animal and that as a unit of society human being have to perform a series of activities both as an individual as also as a partner of a larger group. A sociologist uses demography as a tool and supplies of social space for understanding social relations, social issues, social interactions, social reactions and the evolution and continuation of social processes. The study of population would be largely incomplete and could be misleading too if social and cultural issues do not receive the attention it deserves. Demography is not simply a study of population compositions, sex ratio in the population, prevailing or changing birth rate, death rate, migration rate and marriage rate. They are meaningful only in the context of social, cultural and economic background of the human aggregate under scrutiny.

When the demography viewed as an applied science, has closest relation with sociology since study of composition and distribution of a population cannot be understood without reference to the social environment that foster them. When structures and compositions are to be understood about a population, the frequently used criterion is social.

It has a strong social base on both fertility and migration; often they are treated as part of a social phenomenon. Even change in death rates especially age-sex specific death rates and marriage rates are mutual related to social customs and cultural determinants.

The population policy which basically is a demographic issue is discussed and debated in social, cultural and economic context. The measures recommended and practiced for controlling birth rate differ from one country to another primarily because of the social and cultural circumstances prevailing in those countries.

A representative mutual relation appears to exist between social status on the one hand and fertility and mortality on the other. Class position has proved ascendancy over others in explaining fertility, expectation of life and even some of the principle causes of mortality and morbidity in a population.