demographics Flashcards
reasons for decline in birth rate
changes in women’s position
decline in infant mortality rate
children are no an economic liability
child centredness
changes in womens position definition
-legal equality with men, increased educational opportunities, women in paid employment, changes in attitude to family life, easier access to divorce, access to abortion/contraception
decline in infant mortality rate definition
-if many infants die then parents have more children to replace those that are lost which increases birth rate
-IMR in UK showed over 15% of babies died within their first year, these figures are higher than those of less developed countries
decrease in IMR could be due to:
improved housing and sanitation, better nutrition, better knowledge of hygiene and improved services
children are now an economic liability definition
until late 19th century children were economic assets which theyve now become a liability
due to:
-laws banning child labour, compulsory schooling, raising school leaving age so children remain economically dependant on their parents for longer
-changing norms about what children expect from parents in material terms so cost of children has risen
=parents are less able to have more children
child centredness definition
childhood is now socially constructed as a uniquely important period of someones life so this has encouraged a shift from quantity to quality so parents have fewer children and lavish more attention and resources on the children they already have
dependency ratio definition and what does this mean in terms of children
relationship between the size of working or productive part of the population to the size of non-working part of population - children increase the ‘dependent’ part of population so a fall in the number of children = reduces ‘burden of dependency’ on working population
-however fewer babies mean less working population in the future
consequences of lower birth rate
problems for public services e.g fewer schools, maternity and child health services ma be needed - also it affects cost of maternity and paternity leave and types of housing that need to be built however we should remember that many of these are political decisions e.g instead of reducing numbers of schools the gov could create smaller class sizes
reasons for decline in death rate
improved nutrition
medical improvements
smoking nd diet
public health measures
other social changes
divorce rate stats
- before 1857 divorce isnt existing only through parliament
- 1857 men can divorce unfaithful wives but women have to prove cruelty
- 1923 grounds for divorce are equalised
- 1949 = legal aid and more affordable
- 1969 Divorce Reform Act
- 1996 Family Law Act encourages therapy
- 2014 same grounds apply for same sex couples
changes in patterns of divorce
- number of divorces rose from 27,000 in 1961 to 180,000 in 1993 then fell to 130,000 by 2012
- 1974 = 1/4 of divorces in marriage and 1/2 in 2012
reasons for increase in divorce rates
- changes in law - made divorce easier and cheaper
- changing role of women - employment increased for women, more financially independant
- rising expectation of marriage - couples expect more in the relationship
- secularisation - declined influence on religious beliefs and institutions, less sacred
- changing social attitudes - regarded as unfortunate not shameful
- contraception - exposes couples to greater instibility
sociological views on effects of high divorce rates
- interactionists - cant generalise findings as interpretaton and each individual is different
- postmodernists - gives individual freedom to choose and end relationships when they want = family diversity
- functionalists - doesnt prove marriage is under threat just a result of higher expectations of marriage, higher rate of re-marriages shows peoples commitments
