Course Guide

SOC – 4.14 Sociology of Population

01. Introduction:
This Course Introduce to final year students reading Sociology special degree program. This
Course Unit Particularly allocated in the first semester of the academic year 2007/2008.
Course duration will be 45 hours, including tutorials and discussion classes.

02. Objective:
This Course unit has been designed to provide understanding about Society and Population.
Societies are part and partial of Population. Population growth has various impacts on Social
behavior, Culture and Socio Economic condition of this Society. This Study will attempt to
give clear understanding about Social Issues that related with Population.

03. Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the semester students are able to understand
• The concepts and theories of population studies
• The contemporary issues of population growth
• The trend, distribution, density and the structure of population
• The population management in Sri Lanka

04. Syllabus Contents:

1. Introduction to Sociology of Population
2. Population Theories
3. Mortality and Fertility
4. Population growth and Social Issues
5. Ethnicity and Religion and Population
6. Child Dependency and Social Problems
7. Aging and Social Issues
8. Population Structure
9. Population Management and Social Behavior
10. Sri Lankan Population

05. Lecture Schedule:

Week Topics Hours References

01 Introduction: 02
I. Introduction, Issuing course guide & discussion
on semester program
II. Introduction to Sociology of population

02 Population theories: 03 Ffghyd;> fh.>

I. Population theory: Pre Malthusians gf; (14-24)
Population theory: Malthus
03 Population Theories: 03 Ffghyd;> fh.>
I. Population theory: Karl Marx gf; (14-24)
II. population Transition theory
III. Population theory: Lenskey
IV. Tutorial work

04 Modern Theories on Population:

I. Post war theories gsPy;
II. Ehlrch’s theory of population `f;>Nf.vk;>vk;.>
III. Michel Hardin’s theory of population “r%f Nehf;F” - I

05 Conception in Population Studies: 03

I. Birth rate, death rate & Growth rate
II. Fertility and related concepts
III. Tutorial discussion

06 Ethnicity, Religion and Population Distribution: 03

I. World ethnic and religious distribution gsPy;
II. Anthropological distribution `f;>Nf.vk;>vk;.>
III. Factors deciding population distribution gf; (01-11)
07 Impact of Population growth: 03
I. Economical impact
II. Social impact
III. Mid semester examination
08 Population growth and Urbanization: 03
I. World urban population
II. Migration – national & international
III. Mega cities and Socio-economical issues gsPy;
IV. Tutorial work `f;>Nf.vk;>vk;.>
mj;. (03-08)
09 Population growth and child dependency: 03
I. Status of child dependency
II. Issues of child dependency
Guest Lecture program
10 Aging: 03 George L. Meddox
I. Status of Aged population
II. Issues of Aged dependency
III. Tutorial discussion
11 Population Composition / Structure: 03
I. Male-female, Urban-rural
II. Age composition
III. Population Pyramids
12 Sri Lankan Population: 03
I. Trent, Structure
II. Distribution
III. Population Issues

13 Population Management: 03
I. Conceptual Explanation
II. Status of Population Management – world
 III. International Organizations and Population
Management

14 Population Management: 03
I. Status of Population Management – Sri
Lanka
II. Challenges of Population Management
III. Guest Lecture program

15 World Population: 02
I. Trend and growth rate
II. Issues of world population
III. Students’ presentation

06. Evaluation:
Tutorial - 01 (Week - 04) 05 Marks
• Mid Semester Examination (Week - 07) 10 Marks
• Tutorial - 02 (Week - 10) 05 Marks
• Group Assignment with Presentation : 10 Marks
Group - A (Week - 13)
Group - B (Week - 14)
Group - C (Week - 15)

• End of Semester Examination: 70 Marks

Total: 100 Marks

08. Field Visit:

• A field trip will be organized to visit selected population density areas (Week - 12)

09. Recommended Reading:

1. David M. Heer and Jill S. Grigsby (1994), Society and Population, 3rd Edition, Prentice
Hall of India, New Delhi.
2. Asoka Bandarage, (1998), Women Population and Global crisis, Zed Books, London,
Chapt- 01
3. George L. Meddox, (1995), Ageing: The Universal Human Experiences, Peacock
Publication, New York
4. Ffghyd;> fh.> (2005)> Fbj;njhifapay;: Nfhl;ghLfSk; gpuNahfq;fSk;>
aho;g;ghzg; gy;fiyf;fofk;> aho;g;ghzk;
5. gsPy; `f;> Nf.vk;>vk;.> (2005)> rdj;njhifg; ngUf;fKk; efuhf;fKk;: r%f>
nghUshjhu> #oy; gpur;rpidfs; njhlu;ghd xU eilKiw Ma;T> r%f
tpQ;Qhdj;Jiw> njd;fpof;Fg; gy;fiyf;fofk;> xYtpy;