Although in its early years anthropology often used demographic research
and showed interest in demographic issues, anthropology and demography
have more recently grown to distrust each other's guiding assumptions
and methods. Demographers have stressed universal causal models and
standardized survey methods, while sociocultural anthropologists have
increasingly focused on the uniqueness of different peoples and their
cultures.
Showing that the two disciplines have much to offer each other, this
book bridges the demography/anthropology divide. The editors begin the
volume with an in-depth historical account of the relations between the
fields. Eminent contributors from both disciplines then examine the
major issues and controversies in anthropological demography, including
the demographic implications of differing family and kinship systems;
the influence of new developments in cultural, gender, and identity
theory on population study; the limits of quantitative approaches in
demographic study; and demographers' views of the limits of
anthropological methods.