Demographic Transition and the Problem of Demographic Self-Regulation. Answer to A.B. Sinelnikov

In: Sociologičeskij žurnal: Sociological journal, Band 25, Heft 4, S. 93-104

Abstract

This response emphasizes the need to consider the problem of the mismatch of demographic interests of individuals and society as a special case of the problem of social order that has long been known and studied by sociologists. The idea that socialized individuals can behave as they please when participating in the life of society is sociologically naive. The author of the reply proceeds while bearing in mind the notion that society is a self-organizing system, and interprets the demographic transition as a classic example of such self-organization, a spontaneous historically determined response to the imbalance in fertility and mortality. He considers the threat of global depopulation to be a myth, but at the same time recognizes the seriousness of the problem of population decline for many post-transition countries. For them the only solution to this problem may be immigration.