Demographic trends

Question 1

Why have birth rates declined according to Harper?

Answer 1

Education of women is the biggest factor in a long term fall in birth rates. This is because women are now seeing other possibilities in life apart from the traditional role of being a housewife/mother. They instead choose to delay childbearing for a career.

Question 2

Why have birth rates declined? (economic liability)

Answer 2

In the past children were economic assets to their parents as they could be sent out to work and earn an income from an early age, but they are now an economic liability due to: laws banning child labour and changing norms about what childhood should be about and what they have a right to expect from their parents in terms of materials which means the cost of bringing up children has risen. As a result of these financial pressures, parents are discouraged from having more children.

Question 3

Why have birth rates declined (child-centredness)

Answer 3

Due to the increasing childcentredness prevalent in society and the family, children and the idea of childhood is now being socially constructed as an important part of a person’s life. This means family size has led to the idea from ‘quantity’ to ‘quality’ as families have less children so that they can focus on the quality of the child’s life that they do have, and provide for them to the best of their ability.

Question 4

Why have birth rates declined? (women’s position)

Answer 4

• Change in attitude to women’s role
• Access to abortion and contraceptive methods
• Easier access to divorce
• More women in paid employment, breaking through glass ceiling.
• Increased educational opportunities.

Question 5

Why has there been a decline in the infant mortality rate?

Answer 5

(IMR measures the number of babies who die before their first birthday per 1,000 babies born alive per year)
- Improved housing and sanitation, infants less likely to get ill
- Better nutrition
- Better knowledge of child health and welfare spread through magazines and newspapers
- Medical industry has improved with mass immunisations

Question 6

What is the link between birth rates and infant mortality rates according to Harper?

Answer 6

The IMR falling means that birth rates have declined too as parents are less compelled to have more children/replace the children lost as their firstborns are more likely to survive.

Question 7

What are the effects of declining birth rate? (dependency ratio)

Answer 7

DR is the relationship between the size of the working part of the population and the size of the nonworking part. Earnings, savings and taxes of working must support non-working.
Two ways of looking at it:
- Children make up a large part of the dependent population, so a decline in the number of children reduces the burden of dependency on the working population.
- However, fewer children being born means less young adults, meaning we will have a smaller working population which increases dependency.

Question 8

What are the effects of declining birth rate? (services and policies)

Answer 8

Consequences for public services as fewer schools and maternity and child health services needed.
However, this is a political decision and the government could decide to have smaller class sizes.

Question 9

What are the effects of declining birth rate? (family)

Answer 9

Smaller families mean more women are likely to be able to go out to work, creating a dual earner couple.
eval: richer couples with large families can work full time as they can afford childcare.

Question 10

Reasons for declining death rate:

Answer 10

• Improved nutrition
• Medical improvements, NHS
• Less smoking, has been a rise in obesity but drug therapies have kept deaths low
• Public health measures
• Decline in manual labour
• Higher incomes, healthier lifestyle

This all leads to an increased life expectancy.

EVAL: Intersectionality of class and regional differences.

Question 11

What does ‘ageing population’ mean?

Answer 11

Society where the average age of the population increases over time, so overtime there is more older than younger people.

Question 12

What has caused ageing population?

Answer 12

• Increased life expectancy
• Decline in infant mortality rates, hardly anyone dies in early life
• Decline in birth rates/fertility so there is more of the older population.

Question 13

What are the effects of an ageing population (public services)

Answer 13

Ageing population increases money spent on public services like health and social care and transport.

Question 14

What are the effects of an ageing population? (dependency ratio)

Answer 14

The retired old are economically dependent and need to be provided for by those of the working age, for example through taxation to pay for pensions and healthcare. Thus, as the number of retired people rises in an ageing population, the dependency ratio increases and the burden on the working population increases.

Marxism link- Vincent says age inequality is linked to capitalism, there is an emphasis on working in a capitalist society meaning those who are retired are seen as less useful, might foster sense of resentment.

Question 15

What is ageism the result of?

Answer 15

Developed from’ structured dependency’, working people may become resentful to older people who rely on family funds, tax paid healthcare and pensions.

Question 16

Marxist Phillips and Vincent view on the elderly

Answer 16

• In modern society our identity and status are largely determined by our role in production.
• The elderly are ‘institutionally marginalised’ they are made to retire so that younger and more productive employees take their place. A sense of forced dependency takes place as they are reliant on pensions because they are denied access to work.
• However there is an emphasis on working in capitalist society, the retired and old are of no use to capitalism because they are no longer productive.

Question 17

Post-modern Featherston and Hepworth view on old age

Answer 17

De-differentiation is occurring as the differences between different stages of of our life-course is becoming less clear.
EG: children dressing like adults, later marriages, earlier retirements. Could bring in interactionist Hocke and James view that old age and childhood are linked as they both lose their ‘personhood’ status, both are infantilised.
This shows how in a post-modern society we can choose a lifestyle and identity regardless of our age, which contrasts how retirement and other life stages have an expected age. As a result, the elderly have become a marker for rejuvenation services and goods and body maintenance such as cosmetic surgery, gym membership and anti-ageing products.

Question 18

How else does the post-modern society undermine old age as a stigmatised life stage?

Answer 18

• Media shows positive aspects of elderly lifestyle.
• Not really post modern, but some could argue elderly provide positive functions as they provide childcare which allows parents to work.

Question 19

Inequality among old, class and gender

Answer 19

CLASS: the middle class have better pensions and greater savings from higher salaries, whereas poorer old people have a shorter life expectancy and less money making it difficult to maintain a youthful self identity.
GENDER: Women’s lower earning and career breaks means lower pensions. Sonntag, double standards of ageing as women are described as ‘old hags’ and required to be youthful throughout media careers, whereas men are not.

Question 20

Immigration as a cause of diversity in society: define immigration and emigration and net migration.

Answer 20

Immigration refers to the movement into a society.
Emigration refers to movement out of a society.
Net-migration is the difference in numbers immigrating and emigrating.

Consequence of immigration is a more ethically diverse society, by 2011 ethnic minority groups account for 14% of the population.

Question 21

What are the economic reasons for migration?

Answer 21

• Push factors such as economic recession and unemployment at home
• Pull factors such as higher wages or better opportunities abroad

Question 22

How does migration impact the UK (POPULATION SIZE, AGE STRUCTURE, DEPENDENCY RATIO)

Answer 22

POPULATION SIZE: population size is increasing because net migration is increasing. Without net migration, UK population would be shrinking as non-UK born mothers birth rate is higher.

AGE STRUCTURE: immigration lowers the average age of the population directly and indirectly. Directly because immigrants are generally younger and indirectly because being younger they are more fertile and so produce more babies.

DEPENDENCY RATIO: has three affects here. Immigrants are likely to be of working age so will lower the dependency ratio, many older migrants may even go back to their home country to retire.
However because they are younger, immigrants tend to have more children and so their children add to the dependent population, but this will lower again when they grow up and join the labour force.
The longer group is settled in the country, the closer their fertility rate is to the national average, which in turn will reduce their overall impact on the ratio.

Question 22

What are the trends in global/international migration? (acceleration)

Answer 22

Rate of migration has been speeding up.
International migration increased by 33% between 2000 and 2013.

Question 23

What are the trends in global migration (differentiation) VERTOVEC AND COHEN

Answer 23

Before globalisation migrants mainly came from former British colonies, however globalisation has led to…
Vertovec: super-diversity where there is increased diversity of migrants such as permanent settlers, spouses, forced migrants like refugees, even within a single ethnic group individuals can differ.

Cohen: These migrants have class differences. Citizens have full rights like voting. Denziens are privileged foreign nationals our state welcomes like ‘oligarchs’ or high paid employees of Transnational companies. Helots are an exploited group who are treated as a poorly paid reserve army of labour, in unskilled work, illegally trafficked workers.

Question 24

What are the trends in global migration?(feminisation of migration)

Answer 24

There is now a global gendered division of labour, almost half of global migrants are women and the jobs they do fit patriarchal stereotypes.

Hothschild: Care, domestic and sex work in Western countries is being done more and more by women from poor countries. This is a result of Western women joining the labour force and are less willing to perform domestic labour tasks, Western men unwilling to perform domestic labour and the failure of the state to provide adequate childcare.

Question 25

Politicisation of Migration

Answer 25

Increased global flow of migrants has made migration a big political issue as states now have policies to control it, absorb migrants into society and deal with increased ethnic and cultural diversity.

Assmiliation- encourage migrants to adopt host’s culture and ‘be like us’
Multiculturalism- accepts people want to keep their cultural identity. Erikson says shallow diversity is chicken tikka being an acceptable British dish, but deep diversity is what the state won’t accept like forced marriage.