Migration, Demography and Global Inequality
Analyse population change, migration and unequal development through demographic measures, social networks, institutions and global power.
How to study A-level Sociology
For every issue, define the concept, identify the pattern, explain the mechanism, test the evidence and method, compare an alternative and reach a qualified judgement.
Core concepts
Concept 1
Fertility, mortality, ageing and household change reflect institutional, cultural, economic and policy processes as well as individual decisions.
Exam cue: Distinguish stocks, flows, rates and net measures.
Concept 2
Migration is shaped by state categories, labour demand, networks, conflict, inequality and life-course projects; migrant populations are internally diverse.
Exam cue: Identify the legal, economic and network mechanisms shaping migration.
Concept 3
Global inequality can be assessed through income, wealth, health, education, work and power, with competing modernisation, dependency, feminist and environmental explanations.
Exam cue: Compare measures and levels of inequality before evaluating an explanation.
Targeted study blocks
Stable specification core
Secure the regulated sociological reasoning
Demography, global development and world sociology appear in differing board routes; population evidence and global context support shared synoptic reasoning.
Contemporary evidence
Refresh examples without rewriting the theory
Check whether current migration figures are provisional and how categories changed; distinguish country of birth, nationality, visa route and self-identified ethnicity.
Risk pitfalls and guardrails
Treating demographic change as a purely natural process.
Guardrail: Do not treat one board's compulsory topic or centre choice as a national module, and do not present a dated statistic or policy as permanent specification knowledge.
Using migrant as a fixed identity without defining the measure.
Guardrail: Do not treat one board's compulsory topic or centre choice as a national module, and do not present a dated statistic or policy as permanent specification knowledge.
Comparing countries with one average that hides internal inequalities.
Guardrail: Do not treat one board's compulsory topic or centre choice as a national module, and do not present a dated statistic or policy as permanent specification knowledge.
Memory anchors
Demographic transition
A model of changing birth and death rates associated with wider social and economic transformation.
Migration flow
Movements into or out of a place during a stated period.
Migration stock
People meeting a defined migration criterion at a particular time.
Net migration
Immigration minus emigration under stated definitions and period.
Global inequality
Unequal distribution of resources, opportunities, risks and power within and between societies.
Checkpoint rule
Do the check-up only after you can summarize each concept in one sentence and identify one dangerous pitfall from memory.
Knowledge Check (after reading)
Short check-up to confirm understanding of this module.
Check-up Questions
What is a fertility rate?
A demographer subtracts the number of people leaving a country from the number entering during the same period. Which measure is being calculated?
Answer all questions to submit.
Next step personalized recommendations
Continue learning
Move forward only after this module is stable.
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