UNIT 2 : DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL CHANGE

MODULE 1: POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT

1. Concepts in Population and Development:

Population Concepts: crude birth rate; crude death rate, fertility rate,
natural increase; life expectancy; migration, population growth rate,
dependency ratio, quality of life index, human development index
(HDI).

2. Population Trends
(a) Quantitative measures used for explaining trends in population for
developed and developing countries, for example, age, sex, ethnicity,
religion, occupation.
(b) Qualitative measures used for explaining trends in population for
developed and developing countries, for example, HDI.

3. Sociological Perspectives of Population

(a) Malthusian.
(b) Marxism.
(c) Neo-Malthusian.
(d) Demographic Transition Theory, including the Caribbean version of this
perspective.

4. Population Policy
(a) Birth control.
(b) Migration.
(c) Food Security.
(d) Housing (zoning).

5. Concepts of Development
(a) Development.
(b) Underdevelopment.
(c) Sustainable development.
(d) Modernisation.
(e) Industrialisation.
(f) Dependency.
(g) Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
(h) Gross National Product (GNP).
(i) Cost of living.
(j) Per Capita Income.

6. Indicators of Development
(a) Economic: GDP, GNP, Per Capita Income, Cost of living.
(b) Social: Health, Education, Social Services, Quality of life.

7. The Sociological Perspectives of Development

(a) Modernisation.
(b) Dependency/Plantation.
(c) World System.
(d) Convergence.

8. Relationship between Population and Development

(a) Urbanisation.
(b) Industrialisation.
(c) Migration.

MODULE 2: CRIME AND DEVIANCE

1. Concepts
(a) Social order.
(b) Social control.
(c) Deviance.
(d) Crime.
(e) Delinquency.
(f) Recidivism.
(g) Profiling.

2. Perspectives on Crime and Deviance

(a) Biological.
(b) Consensus/Functionalist.
(c) Conflict/Marxist.
(d) Interactionist.
(e) Sub-cultural.
(f) Feminist.

3. Issues Related to Crime and Deviance

(a) Drug use and trafficking.
(b) Juvenile delinquency.
(c) Domestic violence.
(d) Corporate Crime.

4. Effects of Crime and Deviance

(a) Economic: cost of security, budget allocation, money laundering.
(b) Social: migration, well-being, quality of life.
(c) Political: legislation, regional response.

5. Effectiveness of Institutions of social control.

(a) Family.
(b) Education.
(c) Religion.
(d) Media.
(e) Political system.
(f) Legal system.

MODULE 3: CARIBBEAN SOCIAL ISSUES: POVERTY, HEALTH AND

ENVIRONMENT

1. Main Concepts Underlying Major Caribbean Social Issues

(a) Poverty
(i) Defining poverty:
– absolute or subsistence poverty;
– relative poverty;
– subjective poverty.
(ii) Measuring poverty: poverty line, poverty map, household
expenditure per capita (HEPC) – World Bank; Human Development
Index (HDI) – UNDP; integrated performance indicator (IPI) – PAHO.
(iii) Categories of the poor
– people with special needs;
– elderly, women, children, youth;
– unemployed;
– single-parent families;
– indigenous people;
– other vulnerable groups.
(iv) Relationship to health and the environment

(b) Health
(i) Definitions of health (positive and negative) and health related
issues, for example, disability, institutionalisation, morbidity and
mortality.
 (ii) Indicators of health (death rate, infant mortality rate, morbidity
rate).
(iii) Main health problems, prevention and control in Caribbean
society, for example, HIV/AIDS; non-communicable diseases
(diabetes, substance abuse, obesity, hypertension and mental health).
(iv) Relationship to poverty and the environment.
(v) Availability of resources, for example, anti-retroviral drugs; health
personnel.

(c) Environment
(i) Climate change – sustainable livelihoods, sustainable development,
food security, disaster preparedness.
(ii) Pollution – air, water, noise, land.
(iii) Deforestation and forest degradation, for example, Haiti.
(iv) Relationship to poverty and health.

2. Sociological Perspectives on the Causes and Effects of the Major

Caribbean Social Issues
(a) Culture of Poverty.
(b) Cultural deprivation.
(c) Consensus/Functionalist.
(d) Conflict/Marxist
(e) Interactionist.
(f) Feminist.

3. Causes and Effects of Major Caribbean Social Issues

(a) Causes (Influences)
(i) Historical factors.
(ii) Economic – economic organisation, financial, employment.
(iii) Social – social organisation, social structure, socialisation, social
change.
(iv) Cultural – customs, beliefs, values, practices.
(v) Political – policy directions, governance.
(vi) Environmental – climate change, deforestation (poverty and
health).
(b) Effects (Positive and Negative Impacts)
(i) Economic – employment, cost of living.
(ii) Social – family, education, social instability, migration.
(iii) Cultural – popular cultural influences, beliefs,
traditions/practices.
 (iv) Political - policies, programmes, political instability.
(v) Environmental – forest degradation, disasters, health – pollution,
population displacement.

4. Trends in Major Caribbean Social Issues

(a) Regional trends in poverty; death rates (gender), illness in health;
regional trends in
pollution, forest degradation, climate change.
(b) Available statistical and non-statistical trends in poverty, health and the
environment.

5. Measures to Address Major Social Issues

(a) Environmental strategies – prevention and mitigation strategies.
(b) Poverty – reduction/alleviation.
(c) Health – Non communicable diseases/ HIV Aids (Education, Curative and
Preventative Medicine, Mass Media).