decline

Examples of decline in the following topics:

• Urban Decline

  • Urban decline is the process whereby a previously functioning city or neighborhood falls into disrepair.
  • Though scholars can identify factors that contribute to urban decline, it is notoriously difficult to explain precisely why one urban area slips into decline and another with similar circumstances does not.
  • In some ways, urban decline is an inevitable result of urbanity itself.
  • Economic decline tends to lead to urban decline.
  • An example of deindustrialization and urban decline in the United States is Detroit.

• The Future of Religion

  • Freud, Weber) believed that as society modernized it would also see a decline in levels of religiosity.
  • A clear example of this definition of secularization would be the declining religious affiliations in much of modern Europe.
  • Thus, if you are interested in discussing religious decline within a specific denomination or religion, you need to specify which elements of that specific group you believe are declining, as Christianity is too variably defined to allow for generalizations for a specific denomination.
  • As there appears to be some merit to this position, other scholars have countered by introducing the idea of neo-secularization, which broadens the definition of individual level religious decline by arguing that secularization can also refer to the decline of religious authority.
  • (a debate still taking place), religion's authority is declining and secularization is taking place.

• The Middle Years

  • Middle adulthood is generally accompanied by a decline in physical health and fertility, and an increase in ability to cope with stress.
  • Both male and female fertility declines with advancing age.
  • However, well-being involves more than merely physical factors, and middle age is not experienced as a "time of decline" for healthy people.

• Aging and Health

  • While aging is often associated with declining health, current research suggests there are some things people can do to remain healthy longer into old age.

• Levinson

  • The other three are directionless change, stasis, and decline.
  • Research in this field questions not only whether development ceases after adolescence, but also the notion, popularized by many gerontologists, that a decline occurs after late adolescence.
  • Research in Positive Adult Development questions not only whether development ceases after adolescence, but also the notion, popularized by many gerontologists, that a decline occurs after late adolescence.

• Aging in the US

  • Add to this the fact that many young people are moving away from Pittsburgh to find jobs, and you have the perfect recipe for both population decline and an aging population.
  • Another result of these trends is the decline in students attending Pittsburgh schools.
  • In the 1980s there were nearly 70,000 students in the public school; by 2008 there were only about 30,000 and the number is declining by about 1,000 every year.

• The Potential of Urban Revitalization

  • Urban revitalization is hailed by many as a solution to the problems of urban decline by, as the term suggests, revitalizing decaying urban areas.
  • The Act provided federal funding to cities to cover the cost of acquiring declining areas of cities perceived to be slums.
  • These federal incentives to revitalize declining urban areas were particularly attractive to cities that were in states of economic decline at the time.

• Disinvestment and Deindustrialization

  • First, a straightforward decline in the output of manufactured goods or in employment in the manufacturing sector may indicate deindustrialization.
  • However, not every simple decline in output or employment of the manufacturing sector necessarily indicates deindustrialization; short-run downturns may be part of the economic cycle and should not be mistaken for long-term deindustrialization.
  • The decline in employment in manufacturing sectors that comes about from this progress can indicate deindustrialization.
  • As such, deindustrialization can be seen as a redistribution of industrial capacity and development rather than a simple decline.
  • The number of American workers in the manufacturing industry has declined steadily from its peak of 31.5 million in 2000.

• Introduction

  • An example of a sociological theory is the work of Robert Putnam on the decline of civic engagement.
  • Putnam found that Americans involvement in civic life (e.g., community organizations, clubs, voting, religious participation, etc.) has declined over the last 40 to 60 years.
  • While there are a number of factors that contribute to this decline (Putnam's theory is quite complex), one of the prominent factors is the increased consumption of television as a form entertainment.
  • What's more, it is an explanation of one phenomenon with another: part of the reason why civic engagement has declined over the last several decades is because people are watching more television.
  • In the theory proposed above, the astute reader will notice that the theory includes two components: The data, in this case the findings that civic engagement has declined and TV watching has increased, and the proposed relationship, that the increase in television viewing has contributed to the decline in civic engagement.

• Demographic Transition Theory

  • In Europe, the death rate decline started in the late 18th century in northwestern Europe and spread to the south and east over approximately the next 100 years.
  • The birth rate decline in developed countries started in the late 19th century in northern Europe.
  • While improvements in contraception do play a role in birth rate decline, it should be noted that contraceptives were not generally available nor widely used in the 19th century and as a result likely did not play a significant role in the decline then.
  • It is important to note that birth rate decline is caused also by a transition in values; not just because of the availability of contraceptives.
  • And low-fertility countries like China, Australia, and most of Europe will actually see population declines of approximately 20 percent.