Sociology 1020 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Capital Accumulation, Overurbanization, Informal Sector
3 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
Ciies are relaively large, dense, permanent setlements in which the majority of the residents do not produce their own food. Unil the industrial revoluion, ciies were incapable of supporing more than about 5 percent of a society"s populaion, largely because agricultural surpluses were not large enough to feed a big urban populaion. In addiion, high mortality rates, especially among children under 10 years of age, dictated that, even with high rates, urban populaion growth was slow. Demographic transiion theory holds that the main factors underlying populaion dynamics are industrializaion and the growth of modern cultural values. In the preindustrial era, both birth rates and death rates were high, and populaion growth was therefore slow. In the irst stages of industrializaion, death rates fell, so populaion growth was rapid. As industrializaion progressed and people"s values about having children changed, the birth rate fell. Malthus argued that while food supplies increase slowly, populaions grow quickly.
