This exciting new book presents the field of social demography, animating the study of population with a vibrant sociological imagination. Gregg Lee Carter provides multiple demonstrations of how taking a demographic perspective can give us a better understanding of social phenomena once thought to be largely the products of culture, politics, or the economy.

Five key chapters concentrate on (1) the social and individual determinants of fertility, mortality, and migration; (2) the social and individual impacts of changing levels of fertility, mortality, and migration; and (3) the...