Review Essay: Comparing Demographic and Sociological Imaginations

Abstract

Paul Spoonley’s wide-ranging survey of what he sees as new local population challenges is described and assessed. This is followed by an examination of Richard Alba’s critical analysis of how the misuse of demographic statistics influenced recent American political upheavals and distorts an understanding of ethno-relations in the United States. Whether his theory of new non-zero assimilation can be applied to New Zealand is then tentatively explored. Finally, some reflections on the relationship between demography and sociology and the enduring dangers of categoricalism are presented.