The demographic foundation of sociocultural systems

Authors

  • María Carmen Faus Pujol Departamento de Geografía y Ordenación del Territorio, Universidad de Zaragoza
  • Antonio Higueras Arnal Departamento de Geografía y Ordenación del Territorio, Universidad de Zaragoza

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3989/estgeogr.201216

Keywords:

Sociocultural, Demographic system, Demographic transition, Malthusianism, Social carrying capacity, Demographic deficit

Abstract


In Social and Cultural Geography, understood as the «study of the relationship between humans and their environment» and as «science of human settlers», demographic systems are the foundation of sociocultural systems. Demographic systems are built at the expense of the population that lives, so unevenly spread out, on the surface of the earth at any given time and whose components live together and group in order to satisfy their needs. Humanity as a whole is differentiated by the number of individuals that make up the different groups, their characteristics and the dynamics of the processes of internal growth. These factors allow one to differentiate the different demographic systems using a scale of magnitudes in relation to the number of individuals they contain, the nature of their needs and their territorial sphere of influence. Among other things, their effectiveness and stability depend on the sociocultural level of the members of the group. When the effectiveness of a demographic system diminishes, it enters a stage of degradation which concludes in the explicit manifestation of the deficit. The demographic foundation of sociocultural systems is made up of microsystems whose stability usually depends on the living conditions of the population.

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Published

2012-12-30

How to Cite

Faus Pujol, M. C., & Higueras Arnal, A. (2012). The demographic foundation of sociocultural systems. Estudios Geográficos, 73(273), 449–482. https://doi.org/10.3989/estgeogr.201216

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