Family - Demography, family patterns - XXX

Question 1

What are the impacts of emigration? 2

Answer 1

Population size is growing (net - migration 260 000 in 2014)
Age structure (immigration lowers the average age of population, directly and indirectly)
Directly - Immigrants generally younger
Indirectly - younger means more fertile and therefore produce more babies.

Question 2

What are the push and pull factors on immigration?

Answer 2

Push - economic recession and unemployment at home

Pull - higher wages or better opportunities abroad.

Question 3

Example of real life migration?

Answer 3

HMS Windrush

Question 4

Effects of migration?

Answer 4

Dependency ratio (relationship between size of working population and non -working dependent population)
Immigrants more likely to be of working age therefore lowers dependency ratio. Also older migrants may also return to home country to retire. 
As they are younger, they have more babies thereby increasing ratio. Overtime however, these children will join workforce as reduce it again.
The longer a group is in a country, the closer their fertility rate comes to the national average, reducing overall impact.

Question 5

What are the causes of the ageing population? 3

Answer 5

Life expectancy has increased
UK IMR has fallen
UK fertility rate has fallen so less children.

Question 6

What are the impacts of the ageing population? 3

Answer 6

Elderly are seen as burden due to escalating costs and health care for them.
Increases dependency ratio.
Not enough houses.

Question 7

What is Donald Hirsch’s (2005) 3 step plan to solve ‘pension time bomb’?

Answer 7

1. Find way of paying for retired by retraining those who are too old to do certain jobs to work in a different area.
2. Find a different way to house the retired by encouraging them to downsize their house to make room for new families.
3. Change attitudes towards the old by coming to terms with that they can still contribute to society, not just burden it.

Question 8

Why are marriage rates going down? 5

Answer 8

• Changes in law - divorce is much easier, therefore more people do so less people get married. 4/10 people remarry.
• Declining stigma and changing attitudes - divorce and cohabitation is more socially acceptable. Widespread belief that quality of relationship is more important. Marriage rates as lowest since 1920s. People are marrying later, age of first marriage rose by 7 years.
• Secularisation - Churches and religious influence has declined so people feel freer not to marry.
• Rising expectations of marriage - higher expectations make couples less likely to tolerate unhappy marriage.
• Changes in position of women - better education and carrier prospects means women less economically dependent on men.

Question 9

What percentage of all marriages will end in divorce?

Answer 9

42%

Question 10

What groups are more vulnerable to divorce? 4

Answer 10

Those who marry young (naive)
Those who already have a child (more complicated)
Those who cohabit before marriage
Those where partners have been married before (divorce normalised)

Question 11

In 1971, what changes in law made divorce easier? 4

Answer 11

Equalised grounds
Widened grounds
Makes divorce cheaper
Includes irretrievable damage

Question 12

What does Robert Chester argue about family diversity patterns?

Answer 12

The increase is not significant or negative.
Society has moved from nuclear families to neo - conventional families (both parents play an instrumental and expressive role), however the nuclear family is still ideal which people aspire to.

Question 13

What does the new right argue about family diversity?

Answer 13

Family diversity is a bad thing.
Increase in welfare benefits has led to a perverse incentive (encourages negative behaviour) which has created welfare dependency.
Increase in lone parent families also means that they can’t discipline children properly because women work.

Question 14

What is the Rapoports view on family diversity?

Answer 14

More diverse society is vital to understanding family life - movement from the nuclear family is to adapt to increase in diversity.
Greater diversity reflects greater freedom and acceptance of difference.

Question 15

What is the post modern perspective on family diversity?

Answer 15

Even more diverse than Rapoports said - we make our own choices.
They say to allows greater freedom to plot their own life course however it is more unstable.

Question 16

What are the 5 types of diversity?

Answer 16

1. Organisation diversity - variations in gender roles/division of labour.
2. Cultural diversity - structures may vary due to religious/ethnic backgrounds.
3. Social class diversity - income can affect family structures.
4. Life - stage diversity - structures differ according to stage in life - cycle
5. Generational diversity - generations have different attitudes based on our own experience.

Question 17

What is Anthony Giddens (1992) view on the family?

Answer 17

Post-modernist
Family and marriage has been transformed by 2 things:
- Contraception has meant that sex have become the main reason for relationships.
- Feminism and greater opportunities in education/workplace have meant women are more independent.
Increase in PURE RELATIONSHIPS - not the result of social pressure and exist to meet each others needs and are about self - discovery and identity. (but they are less stable)

Question 18

What is Ulrich Beck’s (1992) view on the family?

Answer 18

Post-modernist
Says that we have more choice and tradition has less influence - this has led to more negotiated families (members in relationship are equal) which are created by greater gender equality and individualism.
We live in a RISK SOCIETY - when we make a choice, we weigh up risks and rewards of our decisions.

Question 19

What is the personal life theories of families and a key sociologist?

Answer 19

Say that development of families and relationships is complex - immediate families are not the only significant relationships we have in our lives, our sense of identity may come from elsewhere. e.g friends, chosen families, dead relatives, pets.
CAROL SMART says that modern sociological theories don’t fit realities of modern society. She says that people do have more freedom but are influenced by own experiences of family life.