Japan's Demographic Revival shifts discussions about employing immigration as the 'best' or 'sole' solution to assuaging Japan's demographic quagmire to a more systematic approach that identifies structural, organizational and cultural impediments that contribute to Japan's (and other countries') declining demographic situations. This edited volume also sheds light on the plethora of changes required to produce a demographically sustainable Japan.Part One includes chapters explaining the endogenous, ethnocultural and structural obstacles that link ethnocultural understandings of citizenship and nationality. Part Two consists of chapters that provide insight into the societal barriers that exist in Japan to address demographic issues. Part Three shifts its focus away from identifying and analyzing the structural, organizational and cultural factors towards chapters that are policy oriented, linking existing policies as contributing factors behind Japan's demographic challenge.

Feminist concern with difference has rarely extended to rurality even if it is now widely recognized that experiences of inequality depend on intersections of several identities in each individual life. This lack of concern may reflect the urban background of the majority of feminist academics or at least their urban positionality once in the academy. It may equivalently be that feminists have been influenced by stereotypes of rural women as traditional and reactionary, and thus seen them as unlikely exponents of gender equality, and an unfruitful focus for scholarly energies. Perhaps the problem is a broader one, that is, reflective of the much documented, but still apparent unwillingness of many feminists to recognize and address difference in any of its manifestations. Regardless, even with the recent interest in intersectionality which has necessarily renewed and reenergized debates in feminism about diversity and inclusion, the question of how women are differently positioned because of their non-metropolitan location has remained largely overlooked.

Confounding all conventional wisdom, the fertility rate in the Islamic Republic of Iran fell from around 7.0 births per woman in the early 1980s to 1.9 births per woman in 2006. That this, the largest and fastest fall in fertility ever recorded, should have occurred in one of the world's few Islamic Republics demands explanation. This book, based upon a decade of research is the first to attempt such an explanation. The book documents the progress of the fertility decline and displays its association with social and economic characteristics. It addresses an explanation of the phenomenal fall of fertility in this Islamic context by considering the relevance of standard theories of fertility transition. The book is rich in data as well as the application of different demographic methods to interpret the data. All the available national demographic data are used in addition to two major surveys conducted by the authors. Demographic description is preceded by a socio-political history of Iran in recent decades, providing a context for the demographic changes. The authors conclude with their views on the importance of specific socio-economic and political changes to the demographic transition. Their concluding arguments suggest continued low fertility in Iran.

The book is recommended to not only demographers, social scientists, and gender specialists, but also to policy makers and those who are interested in social and demographic changes in Iran and other Islamic countries in the Middle East. It is also a useful reference for demography students and researchers who are interested in applying fertility theories in designing surveys and analysing data.

This open access book collects the major discussions in divorce research in Europe. It starts with an understanding of divorce trends. Why was divorce increasing so rapidly throughout the US and Europe and do we see signs of a turn? Do cohabitation breakups influence divorce trends or is there a renewed stability on the partner market?In terms of divorce risks, the book contains new insights on Eastern European countries. These post socialist countries have evolved dramatically since the fall of the Wall and at present they show the highest divorce figures in Europe. Also the influence of gender, and more specifically women's education as a risk in divorce is examined cross nationally. The book also provides explanations for the negative gradient in female education effects on divorce. It devotes three separate parts to new insights in the post-divorce effects of the life course event by among others looking at consequences for adults and children but also taking the larger family network into account. As such the book is of interest to demographers, sociologists, psychologists, family therapists, NGOs, and politicians. "This wide-ranging volume details important trends in divorce in Europe that hold implications for understanding family dissolution causes and consequences throughout the world. Highly recommended for researchers and students everywhere."

This book provides new insights into the significant gap that currently exists between desired and actual fertility in Europe. It examines how people make decisions about having children and demonstrates how the macro-level environment affects micro-level decision-making. Written by an international team of leading demographers and psychologists, the book presents the theoretical and methodological developments of a three-year, European Commission-funded project named REPRO (Reproductive Decision-Making in a Macro-Micro Perspective). It also provides an overview of the research conducted by REPRO researchers both during and after the project. The book examines fertility intentions from quantitative and qualitative perspectives, demonstrates how the macro-level environment affects micro-level decision-making, and offers a multi-level analysis of fertility-related norms across Europe. Overall, this book offers insight into how people make decisions to have children, when they are most likely to act on their decisions, and how different social and policy settings affect their decisions and actions. It will appeal to researchers, graduate students, and policy advisors with an interest in fertility, demography, and life-course decision making.

This book analyses the political transition in West Bengal, India, which witnessed longest democratically elected Left regime of the world. It examines and compares micro-dynamics of political practices in India and delineates underlying political themes of state politics. The author explores the politics of land reform and the anti-land-acquisition movements which were critical points in the contemporary history of Bengal in independent India. The volume further delves into the caste and communal politics which had been latent until the Left Front's loss in the state, as well as the what sets apart politics in West Bengal from other Indian states. Based on thorough ethnographic research, this volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of South Asian studies, politics and political processes, sociology and social anthropology.

Indian Anthropology: Anthropological Discourse in Bombay 1886-1936 is an important contribution to the history of Indian anthropology, focusing on its formative period. It looks at the political economy of knowledge production and the anthropological discourse in Bombay during the late nineteenth century. This seminal volume highlights the much forgotten and ignored contribution of the Bombay Presidency anthropologists, many of whom were Indians, from different backgrounds, such as lawyers, civil servants, and men of religion, much before professional anthropology was taught in India. The other contributions are by pioneers from Bengal, Punjab, and United Provinces - all British administrators turned scholars. This volume is divided into three parts: Part I deals with the six contributions on the history of the development of anthropology in India; Part II deals with four contributions on the methodology and collecting ethnographic data; and Part III deals with four contributions on theoretical analysis of ethnographic facts. The roots of many contemporary conflicts and social issues can be traced to this formative period of anthropology in India. This book will be useful to students and researchers of anthropology, sociology, public administration, modern history, and demography. It will also be of interest to civil servants, students of history, Indian culture and society, religions, colonial history, law, and South Asia studies.

Urban Renewal and Resistance: Race, Space, and the City in the Late Twentieth to Early Twenty-First Century examines how urban spaces are rhetorically constructed through discourses that variously justify or resist processes of urban growth and renewal. This book combines insights from critical geography, urban studies, and communication to explore how urban spaces, like Detroit and Harlem, are rhetorically structured through neoliberal discourses that mask the racialized nature of housing and health in American cities. The analysis focuses on city planning documents, web sites, media accounts, and draws on insights from personal interviews in order to pull together a story of city growth and its consequences, while keeping an eye on the ways city residents continue to confront and resist control over their communities through counter-narratives that challenge geographies of injustice. Recommended for scholars of communication studies, journalism, sociology, geography, and political science.

Declining fertility rates and increased life expectancies over the last few decades have conspired to make China one of the more rapidly aging societies in the world. Aging Families in Chinese Society focuses on the accelerated social and demographic changes in China and examines their implications for family care and support for older adults. Contributors to this landmark volume portray various challenges facing aging families in China as a result of reduced family size, changing gender expectations, rapid economic development and urbanization, rural-to-urban migration, and an emerging but still underdeveloped long-term care system. Divided into four thematic areas - Disability and Family Support; Family Relationships and Mental Health; Filial Piety and Gender Norms; and Long-term Care Preferences - chapters in this volume confront these burgeoning issues and offer salient policy and practice considerations not just for today's aging population, but future generations to come. Combining quantitative data from social surveys in China, comparative surveys in Taiwan and Thailand, and qualitative data from in-depth interviews, Aging Families in Chinese Societies will be of significant interest to students and researchers in aging and gerontology, China and East Asian Studies and population studies.

The study deals predominantly with basic questions of Historical Demography that have so far not yet been tackled, as no adequate sources seemed to exist, or the effort for digging into these problems seemed outrageous. Many major gaps are filled in this study, based on two types of sources: 14 census-like nominal population listings for 126 parishes of the Zurich countryside, complemented by 52 parishes of adjacent areas, and four reconstituted communities with very early parish books. This allowed coming up with detailed population structures by year of age, sex and marital status for the year 1634, with regional variations. Full, detailed mortality tables by sex and for all ages could be calculated for the period 1634-37, by far the earliest mortality tables worldwide. Mortality during plague epidemics was analysed in detail, too, resulting in the first and only plague mortality table. Model life tables are presented as well, showing a pattern that differs strongly from what has been assumed so far. New insights could also be gained about premarital sex and the importance of remarriages.

Despite becoming a big issue in public debate, social mobility is one of the most misunderstood processes of our time. In this accessible and engaging text, Geoff Payne, one of Britain's leading mobility analysts, presents up-to-date sociological research evidence to demonstrate how our politicians have not grasped the ways in which mobility works. The new social mobility argues for considering a wider range of dimensions of mobility and life chances, notably the workings of the labour market, to assess more accurately the causes and consequences of mobility as social and political processes. Bringing together a range of literature and research, it covers key themes of mobility analysis, and offers a critical and original approach to social mobility. This important book will challenge the well-established opinions of politicians, pressure groups, the press, academics and the public; it is also sufficiently comprehensive to be suitable for teaching and of interest to a broad academic audience.

Activist and scholar Kitty Kelly Epstein tells the unique story of a city that recruits a progressive mayoral candidate, defeats a political machine, mobilizes a thousand residents to make policy, and then implements many of the policies created by this participatory process. Violence, jobs, education, and gentrification are all addressed by the ongoing social justice movement and its victories, including a 40% drop in the homicide rate, 8,000 likely new jobs, and a program that produces diverse and effective teachers. This very accessible book will be useful in urban studies, sociology, education, ethnic studies, civic engagement, political science, and policy studies classes and to those who are studying protest movements. The author explains the history of modern urban inequity and the racial wealth gap and then proposes on-going strategy and tactics for social activists in every city. Her co-authors, Lynch and Allen-Taylor, add their own intimate perspectives on these dynamic developments.

Demographic transition, along with the economic and geopolitical re-emergence of Asia, are two of the largest forces shaping the twenty-first century, but little is known about the implications for innovation. The countries of East Asia have some of the oldest age structures on the planet: between now and 2050, the population that is age 65 and older will increase to more than one in four Chinese, and to more than one in three Japanese and Koreans. Other economies with younger populations, like India, face the challenge of fully harnessing the "demographic dividend" from large cohorts in the working ages. This book delves into how such demographic changes shape the supply of innovation and the demand for specific kinds of innovation in the Asia-Pacific. Social scientists from Asia and the United States offer multidisciplinary perspectives from economics, demography, political science, sociology, and public policy; topics range from the macroeconomic effects of population age structure, to the microeconomics of technology and the labor force, to the broader implications for human well-being. Contributors analyze how demography shapes productivity and the labor supply of older workers, as well as explore the aging population as consumers of technologies and drivers of innovations to meet their own needs, as well as the political economy of spatial development, agglomeration economies, urban-rural contrasts, and differential geographies of aging.

Activist and scholar Kitty Kelly Epstein tells the unique story of a city that recruits a progressive mayoral candidate, defeats a political machine, mobilizes a thousand residents to make policy, and then implements many of the policies created by this participatory process. Violence, jobs, education, and gentrification are all addressed by the ongoing social justice movement and its victories, including a 40% drop in the homicide rate, 8,000 likely new jobs, and a program that produces diverse and effective teachers. This very accessible book will be useful in urban studies, sociology, education, ethnic studies, civic engagement, political science, and policy studies classes and to those who are studying protest movements. The author explains the history of modern urban inequity and the racial wealth gap and then proposes on-going strategy and tactics for social activists in every city. Her co-authors, Lynch and Allen-Taylor, add their own intimate perspectives on these dynamic developments.

The world's two most populous countries face numerous policy challenges from rapid demographic change, including gender imbalance, population aging, and rapid urbanization. Drawing on social science expertise from China, India, and the United States, the contributors examine the social and economic challenges for policy across a range of domains, from family planning and old-age support to human capital investment, poverty alleviation, and broader issues of governance.

Population ageing and globalisation represent two of the most radical social transformations that have occurred. This book provides, for the first time, an accessible overview of how they interact. Ageing has been conventionally framed within the boundaries of nation states, yet demographic changes, transmigration, financial globalization and the global media have rendered this perspective problematic. This much-needed book is the first to apply theories of globalisation to gerontology, including Appadurai's theory, allowing readers to understand the implications of growing older in a global age. This comprehensive introduction to globalisation for gerontologists is part of the Ageing in a Global Context series, published in association with the British Society of Gerontology. It will be of particular interest to advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students and academics in this area.

This book presents empirical observations and theoretical thinking of the fundamental changes in the Chinese economy. It starts with a warning of the arrival of the Lewis Turning Point, which is empirically proven by disappearance of surplus labor force and a rapid increase in wages of unskilled workers. It further reveals that China's rapid population-aging trend is diminishing the demographic dividend that has kept China's economic growth rate high. Subsequently, it touches upon employment challenges that arise after reaching the Lewis Turning Point, further propelling urbanization, a balanced regional development, and so on. Finally, it introduces middle-income trap which is one of the biggest challenges China is facing, followed by recommendation of policies for the Chinese government to tackle the challenges ahead.This book should be of great interest to graduates, undergraduates, researchers and specialists who follow closely the economic development and demographic transition of China, the world's most populous country.

Population is the most influential factor in social development and economic growth, especially in China. In this book, author Tian Xueyuan provides macro illustrations of the main issues confronting China's population and development in the 21st century and advises on facing population development challenges to sustainable future development. This book explores issues such as the relation between the change of population and consumption, how the age of the working population affects economic structure and transition when above or below the Lewis turning point, the impact of population aging on growth speed and the pension system, how to remove the urban- rural dual structure, how to reform exam- oriented education, and how to balance relations between population, resource, environment, and sustainable growth. The discussions on population- consumption relations, labor- economy relations, urbanization and rural- urban relations, and beyond provide insightful judgment on and prospects for China's future development. This book is helpful for international audiences to better understand China's population and development challenges and strategies.

This book examines the demographic development of Russia from the late Russian Empire to the contemporary Russian Federation, and includes discussions of marriage patterns, fertility, mortality, and inter-regional migration. In this pioneering study, the authors present the first English-language overview of demographic data collection in Russia. Chapters in the book offer a systematic overview of the legislation regulating fertility and the family sphere, a study of the factors determining first and higher order births, and an examination of population distribution across Russian regions. The book also combines research tools from the social sciences with a medical approach to provide a study of mortality rates. By bringing together approaches from several disciplines - demography, economics, and sociology - the authors of this book provide a comprehensive and detailed assessment of the historical roots of Russia's demographic development.

This insightful study provides an overview of the changing employment context in industrialized nations, the risks associated with population ageing and how these are being tackled.Prolonging working lives is high on the agenda of policy makers in most of the world's major industrialized nations. This book explains how they are keen to tackle issues associated with the ageing of populations, namely the funding of pension systems and predictions concerning a dwindling labour supply. Yet the recent history of older workers has primarily been one of premature exit from the labour force in the form of redundancy or early retirement. Add to this a previously plentiful supply of younger labor and it is clear that much of industry will be unprepared for the challenges of ageing workforces. Older Workers in an Ageing Society includes up-to-date knowledge on issues of workforce ageing and provides useful commentary on policy responses and will appeal to scholars and public policy-makers. Contributors: D.M. Atwater, E. Besen, E. Brooke, V. Busch, N. Charness, A. Chiva, J. Edlund, P. Ester, G. Evers, F. Go, J. Ilmarinen, S. Little, V.W. Marshall, C. Matz-Costa, C. McLoughlin, G. Naegele, M. Oka, M. Pitt-Catsouphes, S.E. Rix, D.M. Spokus, M. Stattin, H.L. Sterns, P. Taylor, A.L. Wells

Explaining Long-Term Trends in Health and Longevity is a collection of essays by Nobel laureate Robert W. Fogel on the theory and measurement of ageing and health-related variables. Dr Fogel analyzes historic data on height, health, nutrition and life expectation to provide a clearer understanding of the past, illustrate the costs and benefits of using such measures and note the difficulties of drawing conclusions from data intended for different purposes. Dr Fogel explains how the basic findings of the anthropometric approach to historical analysis have helped reinterpret the nature of economic growth. Rising life expectancies and lower disease rates in countries experiencing economic growth highlight the importance of improving nutrition and agricultural productivity.

Most of the Muslim societies of the world have entered a demographic transition from high to low fertility, and this process is accompanied by an increase in youth vis-a-vis other age groups. Political scientists and historians have debated whether such a "youth bulge" increases the potential for conflict or whether it represents a chance to accumulate wealth and push forward social and technological developments. This book introduces the discussion about youth bulge into social anthropology using Tajikistan, a post-Soviet country that experienced civil war in the 1990s, which is in the middle of such a demographic transition. Sophie Roche develops a social anthropological approach to analyze demographic and political dynamics, and suggests a new way of thinking about social change in youth bulge societies.

Within the past decade, there has been a re-emergence of tourism in Europe, especially in the central and eastern regions. With socialism becoming a distant memory, these former communist countries are now attractive destinations for travel. Research on this current phenomenon is essential, as professionals and scientists must stay informed on the modern development of this global region. New Trends and Opportunities for Central and Eastern European Tourism provides emerging research exploring the theoretical and practical aspects of contemporary tourism in Eastern Europe and its effect on economics and sociology. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as monument protection, economic features, and socialist architecture, this book is ideally designed for travel agents, tour developers, restaurateurs, hotel management, economic analysts, government officials, policymakers, tourism journalists, tourism practitioners, researchers, and professors seeking current research on the development of travel in Eastern and Central Europe.

The Sami are a Northern indigenous people whose land, Sapmi, covers territory in Finland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden. For the Nordic Sami, the last decades of the twentieth century saw their indigenous rights partially recognized, a cultural and linguistic revival, and the establishment of Sami parliaments. The Russian Sami, however, did not have the same opportunities and were isolated behind the closed border until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. This book examines the following two decades and the Russian Sami's attempt to achieve a linguistic revival, to mend the Cold War scars, and to establish their own independent ethno-political organizations.