Demography in the Age of the Postmodern

Book Description
Nancy Riley and James McCarthy examine demography in this study from the new perspective of postmodernism, and survey its development as a field. Demography as a social science has struggled to maintain its political and academic strength. Riley and McCarthy accordingly argue for the inclusion of new methodologies and theories into the field in order to broaden and strengthen the analysis of demographic behavior. The book includes numerous examples of innovative demographic-related research, indicating how it enriches the field.


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Demography has developed into a remarkably coherent field and now stands as a firmly established discipline with strong ties to policy-making agencies. However, in recent years there has been increasing recognition within demography of the limits of existing theories and methods, particularily the absence of a strong critical tradition and its isolation from recent theoretical developments in other social sciences. In this study, Nancy Riley and James McCarthy use the lens of postmodernism to structure a critical analysis of the field of demography. Paying particular attention to the fundamental epistemologies and methodologies that currently underlie the field, they explore how postmodern perspectives might serve to energize the field and how demography could be enhanced by the introduction of insights from other social sciences. Drawing on examples of new kinds of research in demography and related fields, this is an important new book that seeks to reinvigorate the field of demography.


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