Department of Sociology
College of Liberal Arts
Texas A&M University

(2024 Spring) SOCI 312 – Population and Society

Syllabus


– Course information

Time: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 11:30am–12:20pm

Location: Harrington Education Center Classroom Building (HECC) 204, campus map

Canvas website:
https://canvas.tamu.edu/courses/267700

I will utilize Canvas to write announcements to students, receive assignments, quizzes and exams, and post grades.

Recorded lectures from previous semesters:
http://www.youtube.com/c/ErnestoAmaralPhD

You can find some of my recorded lectures from previous semesters in my YouTube channel.


– Instructor details

Ernesto F. L. Amaral
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology

Phone: (979)845–9706

Email: amaral@tamu.edu

Office hours: https://tamu.zoom.us/my/amaral
I will provide office hours by appointment. Students must request appointments by email at least 48 hours in advance. When you enter this Zoom session, you will be placed in a waiting room. I will add you to the chat after I finish talking to the previous student.


– Teaching assistant for Perusall assignments

Anthony Jackson
Graduate Student, Department of Sociology

Email: ajackson@tamu.edu

Anthony will provide feedback only related to Perusall assignments by email. There will be no in-person or Zoom office hours.


– Perusall assignments, quizzes, and exams

Students should read instructions about Perusall assignments, quizzes, and exams in the syllabus before starting them on Canvas. Submit all coursework on Canvas. Look for exact due dates in the syllabus and on Canvas.


– Lectures, exams, and other materials

Chapter 1. An introduction to demography
Lecture (chapter 1)

Article about cohort definitions by Dudley Poston

Example of person-years (in Excel) and article about rates and probabilities (in PDF)

Joel Cohen: An Introduction to Demography (Malthus Miffed: Are People the Problem?)


Don't Panic: Hans Rosling Showing The Facts About Population

The Population Bomb? – by Retro Report – The New York Times

Break It Down – The Pop Song – Population Reference Bureau (PRB)


Chapter 10. Age and sex composition
Lecture (chapter 10)

Examples of age-sex structure and other indicators (in Excel)

Population Age Structure – Population Reference Bureau (PRB)


Chapter 12. World population change over time
Lecture (chapter 12)


Exam 1
Available on Canvas.

Students should read instructions about online quizzes and exams in the syllabus before starting them on Canvas.


Chapter 13. Population change in the United States
Lecture (chapter 13)

U.S. life expectancy decreased after 2014

U.S. life expectancy decreases due to COVID-19


Chapter 2. Theories of demography
Lecture (chapter 2)

Theories of Demography: Objection! – Professor Matt Hauer

7 Billion and Counting – Population Reference Bureau (PRB)

Human Population Through Time – American Museum of Natural History


Chapter 3. The sources of demographic information
Lecture (chapter 3)

Population and vital statistics report (United Nations, 2006) with information on countries with censuses conducted on a de facto or de jure basis.


Exam 2
Available on Canvas.

Students should read instructions about online quizzes and exams in the syllabus before starting them on Canvas.


Chapter 4. Fertility
Lecture (chapter 4)

Example of fertility rates (in Excel)

Extra readings


Chapter 7. Mortality
Lecture (chapter 7)

The New York Times article about child mortality

Netflix documentary about Bill Gates (see part 1 about developing technology to provide better sanitation to developing countries)

Example of standardization (in Excel)

Example of life table (in Excel)

Extra readings

MortPak – The United Nations Software Package for Mortality Measurement
Site


Exam 3
Available on Canvas.

Students should read instructions about online quizzes and exams in the syllabus before starting them on Canvas.


Chapter 8. Internal migration
Lecture (chapter 8)

GeoDa: An introduction to spatial data analysis
Site

TableCurve 2D: Automated curve fitting analysis
Site

Examples of modeling migration rates
TableCurve2D by Prof. James Raymer
In SPSS
In Excel

Demographer William Frey Unpacks Why Fewer Americans Are Moving
Article at the Brookings Institution
For the first time on record, fewer than 10% of Americans moved in a year

Interview to NPR

Chapter 9. International migration
Lecture (chapter 9)

Extra readings about economic effects of immigration

Extra readings about U.S. Census citizenship question & Southern border wall

Prof. Mushfiq Mobarak: Does Immigration Create Jobs?

2019 Nobel Prize-Winning Economist Esther Duflo: 'You have no reason to fear low-skilled migration'


Final exam
Available on Canvas.

Students should read instructions about online quizzes and exams in the syllabus before starting them on Canvas.


Chapter 5. The family and sexuality
Lecture (chapter 5)

Extra readings


Chapter 6. Contraception and birth control
Lecture (chapter 6)

Extra readings


Chapter 11. Race and ethnicity
Lecture (chapter 11)

Study about race and economic opportunity in the U.S.

The New York Times article about race and economic opportunity in the U.S.


Chapter 14. Population distribution
Lecture (chapter 14)


Chapter 15. Population policy
Lecture (chapter 15)


Chapter 16. The Earth in the 21st and 22nd centuries
Lecture (chapter 16)


– U.S. Census Bureau

Census Bureau
Official website
Site

Explore U.S. Census Bureau Data
Data.census.gov

What is data.census.gov?
Explanation about transition from American FactFinder
Site

American Community Survey (ACS)
Official website
Site

American Community Survey (ACS)
Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS)
Site

Current Population Survey (CPS)
Site

Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP)
Site

Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) Program
Site

Migration/Geographic Mobility
Site

County-to-County Migration Flows
Site

Census Flows Mapper
Site

TIGER/Line Shapefiles
Site

Demographic Analysis and Population Projection System (DAPPS)
Site

Quick Facts about the United States
Site


– Demographic resources

The DHS Program
Demographic and Health Surveys
Site

Family Inequality
Demographic facts your students should know cold in 2018
Site

Population: A lively introduction
Joseph A. McFalls – Population Reference Bureau (PRB)
Site

Population Pyramids
Site

Population
Science special issue
Site
Material

Population Connection
America's Voice for Population Stabilization
Site

Rob J. Hyndman – Monash University, Australia
Demography: Forecasting mortality, fertility, migration and population data
R package
Site

Coherent population forecasting using R
Site

Applied Demography Toolbox
Department of Demography
University of California Berkeley
Site

Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS)
Minnesota Population Center (MPC)
University of Minnesota
Site

United Nations Manuals
Techniques for Demographic Estimation
Material

Population Division
Department of Economic and Social Affairs
United Nations
Site

Population.io
The World Population Project
Site

The Pudding - Human Terrain
World's Population in 3D
Data from the Global Human Settlement Layer
Site

Population Reference Bureau (PRB)
Site

Population Reference Bureau (PRB)
Data
Site

Population and Poverty Research Network (PopPov)
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Population Reference Bureau (PRB)
Site

European Social Survey (ESS)
Site

Eurostat - Your Key to European Statistics
Site


– COVID-19 Pandemic

Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19)
Our World in Data
Site

Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases
Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE)
Johns Hopkins University (JHU)
Site

COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic
Worldometer
Site

Coronavirus Map: Tracking the Global Outbreak
The New York Times
Site

COVID Community Vulnerability Map
Jvion – Prescriptive Analytics for Preventable Harm
Site

Resources about demography and COVID-19
Population Europe
Site

Sex, gender and COVID-19
Global Health 5050
Site


– Mortality data sources

The Human Mortality Database
Site

Latin American Human Mortality Database
Site


– Fertility data sources

The Human Fertility Database
Site

Human Fertility Collection
Site

European Fertility Project
Office of Population Research (OPR)
Princeton University
Site


– Migration data sources

World Migration Map
Site

Foreign-Born Population: A Nation of Overlapping Diasporas
Digital Scholarship Lab
University of Richmond
Site

Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Site

Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Tool to generate graphs of countries of birth for U.S. immigrants, 1960-Present
Site

Mexican Migration Project (MPP)
Princeton University & University of Guadalajara
Site

Mexican Family Life Survey (MxFLS)
Iberoamerican University (UIA)
Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE)
Duke University
Site

The New Immigrant Survey
Princeton University
Site

Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX)
Site


– Resources about refugees

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Site

Syria Regional Refugee Response
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Site

Syrian Refugees Project
Migration Policy Centre (MPC)
Site

Asylum Quarterly Report
Eurostat Statistics Explained
Site

REACH - Informing more Effective Humanitarian Action
Site


– Other microdata and surveys

Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID)
Institute for Social Research
University of Michigan
Site

Health and Retirement Study (HRS)
Institute for Social Research
University of Michigan
Site

American Life Panel
RAND Corporation
Site

World Values Survey
Site

Latinobarómetro: Opinión Pública Lationamericana
Site

Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP)
Site

Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES)
Site


– Aggregated-level data

Gapminder: Unveiling the beauty of statistics for a fact-based worldview
Site
Videos

World Bank Data
Site

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Data
Site

World Wealth & Income Database
Site

Opportunity Insights
Site

National Vital Statistics System
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Site

Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)
Data Visualizations
Site

Pew Research Center Data
Site

Global Attitudes & Trends
Pew Research Center
Site

OXFAM - The Power of People Against Poverty
Site

Doctors without Borders
Site

Brookings Institute
Site


– Academic associations

American Sociological Association (ASA)
Site

Population Association of America (PAA)
Site

American Political Science Association (APSA)
Site

American Marketing Association
Site

American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR)
Site


– Sources for literature review

Web of Science
Scientific citation indexing service
Site

JSTOR (Journal Storage)
Digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources
Site

American Journal of Sociology
Site

American Sociological Review
Site

Annual Review of Sociology
Site

Science Direct
Source for scientific, technical, and medical research
Site

PubMed
Citations for biomedical literature, life science journals, and online books
Site


– Resources to write about numbers

Purdue Online Writing Lab
Manuscript formatting (American Sociological Association – ASA style)

Site

Purdue Online Writing Lab
Writing with statistics

Site

Examples of tables and figures
PDF file


– Public-opinion polls

RealClearPolitics
Political news and polling data aggregator
Site

FiveThirtyEight
Statistical analysis about elections, politics, sports, science, economics and culture
Site


– Resources for migration syllabus

Migration and Citizenship Syllabus Bank
American Political Science Association
Site

Immigration Syllabus
Created by immigration historians affiliated with the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota and the Immigration and Ethnic History Society
Site
Syllabus in pdf