Population and Society

Dudley L. Poston, Jr, is Professor of Sociology and the George T. and Gladys H. Abell Endowed Professor of Liberal Arts at Texas A & M University. He holds adjunct professorships at Renmin University of China, Beijing; Fuzhou University, China; and Nanjing University, China. He previously served on the rural sociology and sociology faculties, respectively, of Cornell University, New York and the University of Texas, Austin. Professor Poston has coauthored or edited eighteen books and has authored or coauthored more than 300 journal articles and book chapters on various sociological and demographic topics. Leon F. Bouvier, at the time of his death in 2011, was Professor of Sociology at Old Dominion University, Virginia. He was also Adjunct Professor at the Payson Center for International Development at Tulane University, Louisiana. He previously served as Vice President of the Population Reference Bureau in Washington, DC; as a demographic consultant to two congressional committees; and as a consultant to the United States Agency for International Development. He coauthored or edited fifteen books and numerous articles and book reviews.

• 1. An introduction to demography; 2. Theories of population; 3. The sources of demographic information; 4. Fertility; 5. The family and sexuality; 6. Contraception and birth control; 7. Mortality; 8. Internal migration; 9. International migration; 10. Age and sex composition; 11. Race and ethnic relations; 12. World population change over time; 13. Population change in the US; 14. Population distribution; 15. Population policy; 16. World population in the twenty-first century.

'This textbook is wonderfully in-depth and accessible, making this an ideal text for an undergraduate or graduate course in social demography. Filled with interesting examples, key issues, and important controversies from the field of population studies, students will come away with a good understanding of this dynamic field. Poston and Bouvier have done a great job making clear the importance of demography to our understanding of societies across the world.' Nancy E. Riley, Bowdoin College, Maine