(Re)theorising population geography

Population geography has become separated from other branches of human geography by not engaging strongly with recent debates in social theory. The reasons for this partly lie in the wealth of data that population geographers have available to them concerning their major interest – demographic events. However, researchers have been relatively uncritical of the ways in which such data come in ready‐categorised forms, and have not sufficiently examined alternative (non‐essentialist) ways of thinking about social categories and labels. A case is made here for population geographers to consider in particular three areas of social theoretic debate – social construction theories, realist ideas on extensive and intensive research, and the politics of position. Suggestions are made as to what a (re)theorised population geography might look like. It is argued that population geographers need not necessarily give up their aggregative and applied approaches, but with a recognition of the power of arguments from social theory, the sub‐discipline could be reconnected to human geography as a whole, strengthening its ability to research major contemporary issues.