The demographic transition: debate about theories of different levels
Abstract
The subject of the article are the problems of developing the theory of demographic transition (demographic revolution) arising from the confusion in demographic theory of the general and the specific features of population reproduction of countries, of its quantitative and qualitative changes, from the need to develop a consistent overall demographic theory based on a multidisciplinary approach. The purpose of the work is, by analyzing the two main points of view in Russia on the theory of demographic transition, to show their internal contradictions. The use of general philosophical methodology (analysis, synthesis, an integrated and interdisciplinary approach, the ratio of general and specific, historical and demographic generalizations makes it possible to interrelate this theory with the still unsolved problems of the interdisciplinary approach of human reproduction studies. It is shown that scientists are arguing about theories of different levels, and that the development of a general theory of population reproduction directly depends on the choice of strategies of its formation, the most important of which is the demographic-economic-historical-sociological approach.
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