Population geographies for the 21st century

Abstract

The paper argues the case for population geography as a strong, self‐aware sub‐discipline that plays to its strengths, while not abandoning innovation. In place of hollow calls for (re)‐theorisation, population geographers should first recognise their claims to certain kinds of praxis in contributing to an ethical and equitable society through the insights that population geography can bring. Second, the paper argues that rather than focusing on bringing social theory into population geography, there is more potential in examining how (in)adequately social theory has engaged with demographic issues. Third, the paper suggests that population geographers need to think about the new contexts in which they are engaging with large spatially‐referenced numerical data sets.

Key words:

• population geography
• social theory
• quantitative methods