Demography - American Sociological Association

Your assignment is to write a 12-15 page paper (typed, double-spaced) using the questions that
follow as guidelines. It is not necessary for you to address every question I have raised. Some
may be unanswerable or irrelevant for your family and you may think of others that seem better.
In deciding which issues to focus upon, use your own judgment or consult with me. The
guidelines for organizing your family demographic history in conjunction with the reading in
Weeks, Population, Eighth Edition, are as follows:
Chapters 1 and 2 Begin organizing all of the demographic information available for your family.
Using index cards or other tools (a computer spreadsheet program is especially useful), arrange
your data according to the three population processes and population characteristics. What were
the major demographic trends taking place during the times and places in which your family was
located historically (including up to the present)? Determine the basic levels of fertility,
mortality, and migration with which you will be comparing your family's experience.
Chapter 3 Since a major goal of this project is to relate the demographic events in your family
with those that were taking place in the wider social context, you should begin to develop your
own demographic perspective that will help you to organize your material in a meaningful
historical pattern.
Chapter 4 Calculate the average age at death and the distribution of death by age and sex for
people in each successive time period. For example, what was the pattern of mortality in the
family during the 1900-24 period compared to the 1950-74 period? Are there any discernible
differences by geographic location or socioeconomic differences among family members? What
were the known or probable causes of death in each generation? Discuss how family life was, or
might have been, influenced in each generation by the mortality levels prevailing at the time.
Chapter 5 What have been the levels of childbearing in each successive generation in your
family? Is there any evidence of subfecundity or infecundity? Any evidence of deliberate control
of fertility and any family knowledge (even gossip) about means of birth control? When did
people marry? Were there divorces or deaths that would have interrupted childbearing?
Chapter 6 What stories exist within the family about the desire for particular numbers of
children? What might have been the motivations for the specific numbers of children born to
particular family members? Were people just following the fads? Was there ambivalence? To
which of the various theories of the fertility transition does your family seem to conform?
Chapter 7 Can the family be traced back to a place of origin other than the United States? If so,
what were the characteristics of those international migrants? Where were they from? Where did
they go? Why did they migrate? Has there been internal migration in the family? If so, from and
to where, and what were the characteristics of those who moved compared to those who did not
move? Can you speculate on the reasons for people moving or not moving?
Chapter 8 Pick a date, such as April 1, 2000 (or any census date will do) and determine the sex
and age of all people alive on that date in your family. Construct an age pyramid. Then choose
an earlier date (perhaps 30 or 40 years earlier) and construct another age pyramid. Compare the
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