Introduction: The Life Course Approach as an Interdisciplinary Framework for Population Studies

Abstract

Textbooks tell us that demographers study population change, and that such change is brought about by developments in the three basic components of fertility, mortality and migration. Thus, by tradition, demographers examine the dynamic processes related to childbearing, death and moving, and their consequences for the size and structure of populations. Essentially, demography is what might be called an “object” science, a science primarily defined by its subject matter. Demography focuses on specific kinds of behavioral domains (fertility, mortality, and migration) and their manifestations at the macro level of populations.This sets demography apart from so-called “core” social sciences, which are more readily defined by the approach they take to understanding human behavior rather than by a focus on specific behavioral domains. Sociologists, for example, study social determinants, focusing on the way in which people’s behavior is shaped by the relations they have with others or by the groups to which they belong. Psychologists generally try to understand human behavior in terms of processes in people’s minds, whereas anthropologists tend to look at human behavior within the context of a specific culture. Given its origins, namely as a discipline primarily defined by its object of inquiry, it is not surprising that demography has always excelled in measurement and description.