Topic 3: Demographic Changes and the Family Flashcards
Key Demographic change: The Birth rate is declining
in 1970, the fertility rate was
2.4 per woman in the UK, and in 2018, it had reduced to 1.7 births per woman.
Key Demographic change: Family Size is declining
In 1871 the average woman had 5.5 children, but as mentioned above, is
now 1.7 births per woman.
trends in birth rate and family size:
Changing social attitudes to children
“Childless” to “childfree”
-Up until the late nineteenth century, large families were seen
as desirable, but from the 1870s onwards, fewer children (or no children!) as a way of improving their living standards.
-many couples now describe themselves as ‘child-free’, emphasising their lack of
children as a freely chosen lifestyle option.
trends in birth rate and family size: Changing social attitudes to children
Child-centeredness:
the time and costs
involved in raising children have increased. This has further reduced the economic attractiveness of having large numbers of children. Instead, parents are more likely to concentrate their efforts on raising a small number of children as well as they can.
trends in birth rate and family size:
Changing social attitudes to children
The cost of a child:
-Centre of Economic and Business Research (CEBR),
-from birth to 21 in 2013 was £230,000.
-£460 a year on average on things they do not need after giving in to the pestering
trends in birth rate and family size Popularity of Postmodern ideas
individualisation:
-women’s desire for careers over
children and the notion of being child-free,
-Relationships
and are no longer tied to traditional social norms that, for example, might dictate that at a
particular stage in life a person should get married and then start a family.
trends in birth rate and family size Popularity of Postmodern ideas
Risk:
-children are an added risk factor, both to their relationship and to their
economic wellbeing.
-delaying or avoiding having children.
trends in birth rate and family size Popularity of Postmodern ideas
reflexivity
individuals will be more likely to question (rather than simply accept) whether they want children and whether children will fit into their current life stages.
trends in birth rate and family size Changing role of women:
Changing women’s aspirations: Sue Sharpe
trends in birth rate and family size Changing role of women:
Women’s rising levels of educational achievement:
-Maire Ni Bhrolchain (broccoli) and Eva
Beaujouan(frecnh)
-More and more women are staying on longer in education
-educated women are also likely to seek to establish themselves in careers once they have completed their studies.
- explain social class trend within age pf child bearing
rends in birth rate and family size
Changing role of women:
Women’s greater participation in the labour force:
-the Think Tank Catalyst, women’s representation in the
labour force is steadily increasing.
-Women represent just under half of the
total labour force in the UK.
Key Demographic change: Men and women are marrying later
1972 –> 28 PnL
2018 –> 38 (late 2010s)
average across both gender
Key Demographic change: Women are having children later
1972 (PnL)–> 24
2017 (late 2010’S)–>29
changes in the age of marriage and the age of childbearing,Changing social attitudes
Less Social Pressure
-Up until the 1960s there was strong social pressure on most couples to marry young,
to have children young, and to marry before setting up home together.
-British Social Attitudes Survey (Park et al. 2013)
-views on sex before marriage with 80 per cent in 2012
believing it was ‘rarely wrong’ or ‘not wrong at all’.
changes in the age of marriage and the age of childbearing
Popularity of postmodern ideas
individualisation
-Individuals are no longer bound by traditional social norms and pressure to
make certain decisions at certain times
-People may also decide to put off having children until it meets their
specific needs at a later time in their life
