Demography (families) Flashcards
(12 cards)
Harper (birth rate)
- education of women is the most important reason for long term fall in birth and fertility rates- change in family planning mindset women and also other alternatives
McKeown (death rate)
- improved nutrition accounted for up to half the reduction in death rates and important in reducing the number of deaths from TB
- better nutrition leads to increase resistance to infection (increase survival chances)
Pilcher (ageing population)
- inequality amongst the old- individuals’ previous occupational position determines the experience of an older person eg m/c have better pensions and savings
Hirsh (ageing population)
- policy implication; a number of important social policies need to change to tackle new problems (how to finance a longer period of old age)
- paying more from our savings and taxes while working working longer
- housing policy encourage older people to ‘trade down’ to smaller accommodation
- old age is a social construction- require a cultural change in attitudes towards old age
Ehrenreich and Hoschild (migration)
- feminisation of migration- increasing number of poor women are working as care workers, domestic workers and sex workers in western countries ie USA and UK
- increase in expansion of service sector jobs, western women now focus on their careers (less likely to perform domestic labour), western men are unwilling to perform domestic labour
Eriksen (migration)
- development of hybrid identities; identity made up of two or more different sources- composed of individuals moving back and forth rather than settling in one country, not feeling belonging to one culture/ country
- develop transnational neither/ nor identities
Birth rate
an overall decline in UK births since 1990
Reasons;
- changes in women’s positions (equality/ contraception)
- decline in infant mortality rate (if many children die, people have more to replace)
- children are now an economic liability (laws banning child labour)
- child centredness (fewer children and more attention to them)
Effects of a falling birth rate;
- dual earner couples; (both work due to small families/ lonely experience of childhood)
- dependency ratio; (reduces burden of dependency as children make this up)
- effect on public service/ policies; (few schools/ maternity and child care needed as well as smaller housing)
Death rate
- began falling from 1870, with reasons being less death to infectious diseases eg tuberculosis, measles replaced by diseases of affluence (cancer/ heart disease)
Reasons; - improved nutrition; (better nutrition increases immune strength and resistance to infection increasing survival)
- medical improvements; (improved medical knowledge and techniques eg antibiotics)
- smoking and diet; (Harper; reduction of smoking)
- public health measures; (improved housing, purer drinking water, sewage disposal etc)
- other social changes; decline in manual occupations, smaller families reduce transmission, higher incomes
Life expectancy
- how long on average a person born in a given year can be expected to live to
- death rates have fallen and so life expectancy has increased- males born in 2013 can live for 90.7 years and females 94 years
Migration
History of Immigration;
Causes; - main group of people moving to UkK were Irish through economic reasons, then Jews as refugees but also Canadians and North Americans (people of British descent)
- Black immigrants were invited to rebuild the country after second world war, working in hospitals and transportation (making great contribution to economy)
Impact; created a more ethnically diverse society
Reasons; push and pull factors arranging the people in the UK
Impact on structure of UK population;
- size of the population; net migration was 260,000 more immigrants than emigrants, also birth to non-UK mothers is higher
- age of the population; lowers the average age of population indirectly and directly
- dependency ratio; immigrants of working age help lower ratio, have more children which increase ratio
Globalisation and migration
Globalisation links to migration;
- acceleration; globalisation linked to increase of international migration (acceleration of migration)
- differentiation; increases diversity of types of migrants, arriving from wide range of countries
- feminisation of migration; Ehrenreich and Hochschild- increasing number of poor women make up domestic division of labour
- migrant identities; Erikson
- politicisation of migration ; introduced policies to control immigration–> assimilation (encourage migrants to speak language and adopt culture of host), multiculturalism (accept migrants retain separate cultural identity)
Ageing population
- average age of the UK is rising, at 2013 it stood at 40.3 and by 2037 it is projected to reach 42.8
Caused by three factors; increasing life expectancy, decreasing infant mortality, declining fertility
Effects of an ageing population; - Public services (older people consume more services)
- One person pensioner households (number living alone has increased)
- Dependency ratio (economically dependent group, increasing dependency ratio)
- Ageism, dependency and postmodernity (negative stereotyping and unequal treatment of people on basis of age- result of structured dependency)
- Postmodern society (fixed stages of life course have been broken down, giving individuals greater choice)
- Inequality amongst the old- Pilcher
- Policy implications- Hirsch
