Demography Flashcards
What is birth rate?
Birth rate is the number of live births per thousand of the population per year
What factors determine the birth rate
- Population of women who are of childbearing age
- How fertile they are
What is total fertility rate and how has it changed?
TFR is the average number of children women will have during their fertile years. It has risen from 1.63 children per woman in 2001 to 1.83 children per woman in 2014 but it is still lower than the peak of 2.95 children per woman in 1964.
Explain changes in women’s position as a reason for the decline in birth rate.
Changes include
- legal equality with men
- more educational opportunities
- more women with jobs and laws banning unequal pay
- changes in attitudes to family life and women’s role
- easier access to divorce
- access to abortion and reliable contraception
Harper: education has led to a change in women’s mindset, resulting in less children due to delay in or not having children in order to peruse a career.
Explain decline in the infant mortality rate as a reason for the decline in birth rate.
- The IMR is the number of infants who die before their first birthday per thousand babies born alive each year.
- Harper: a fall in the IMR (less infants dying) leads to a fall in the birth rate (less kids being born).
- The IMR has fallen due to:
1. Improved housing and sanitation
2. Better nutrition
3. Better knowledge of hygiene
4. A fall in the number of married women working
5. Improved services for mothers and children eg clinics
In 1900 the IMR in the UK was 154
In 1950 it was 30
In 2012 it was 4
Explain children as an economic liability as a reason for the decline in birth rate.
Children used to be an economic asset for parents as they would work from young. Now they are an economic liability because of:
1. Laws banning child labour
Compulsory schooling and raising the school leaving age means children are economically dependent on their parents for longer
2. Changing norms
About what children have a right to expect from parents means that the cost of raising children has risen.
Explain child centredness as a reason for the decline in birth rate.
Increasing child centredness of the family and society means childhood is now socially constructed as a uniquely important period in an individuals life. There is a shift from quantity to quality and so less children are being born along with more attention given to the few children that parents have.
Explain the effects of changes in fertility on the family
Smaller families means women are more likely to work which means there are more dual earner couples. However family size is only one factor- better off couples may be able to have larger families and still afford childcare so that they can work.
Explain the effects of changes in fertility on the dependency ratio
- The DR is the relationship between the size of the working/productive part of the population and the non working/dependent part.
- the earnings of the working population support the dependent population which is mainly children; less children means less burden of dependency
- however in the long term fewer babies means fewer young adults and a smaller working population, which increases the burden of dependency
- vanishing children
Falling fertility rates means fewer children and lonelier childhood experiences due to less siblings
More childless adults may also mean less voices speaking up in support of child’s interests.
Explain the effects of changes in fertility on public services and policies
A lower birth rate can lead to
1. Fewer schools and maternity and child health services needed
2. The cost of maternity and paternity leave are impacted
3. The types of housing that needs to be built are impacted
What is death rate?
The number of deaths per thousand of the population per year
Explain improved nutrition as a reason for the decline in death rate.
- Mckeown: improved nutrition increased resistance to infection and increased the survival chances of the infected.
x Mckeown fails to explain
1. Why women, who had less food, lived longer than males
2. Why deaths from some infections rose at a time of improving nutrition
Explain medical improvements as a reason for the decline in death rate.
Medical advancements which reduced death rates include:
- antibiotics
- immunisation
- blood transfusion
- improved maternity services
Explain smoking and diet as a reason for the decline in death rate.
- Harper: the greatest fall in death rates is due to less people smoking but obesity has replaced it.
- however, death rates from obesity have been kept low due to drug therapies
- Harper says we are moving towards an American health culture with unhealthy lifestyles but long lifespans due to the use of costly medication
Explain public health measures as a reason for the decline in death rate.
Improvements in health and quality of environment include:
- improvements in housing
- purer drinking water
- laws combatting the adulteration of food and drink
- pasteurisation of milk
- improved sewage disposal methods
- Clean Air Acts reduced air pollution
Explain other social changes as a reason for the decline in death rate.
- the decline of dangerous manual occupations
- smaller families reduced the rate of transmission of infection
- greater public knowledge about the causes of illnesses
- lifestyle changes
- higher incomes = healthier lifestyle
What is life expectancy and how has it changed
Life expectancy is how long on average a person born in a given year can expect to live. It has increased:
In 1900, men were expected to live until 50 and women 57
In 2013, men were expected to live until 90.7 and women 94
What did Harper say about life expectancy?
She said if the trend to greater longevity continues, we will soon achieve radical longevity with many more centenarians (people over 100). It’s predicted that the 10,000 people in the UK will increase to 1 million by 2100.
Explain class, gender and regional differences in life expectancy
Class: working class men in routine jobs are 3x more likely to die before 65 compared to men in professional jobs
Gender: women live longer than men
Regional: those living in Scotland and the north have a lower LE than those living in the south
Walker says those living in the poorest areas of England die on average 7 years earlier than those in the richest areas
What is the ageing population
The idea that the average age of the uk population is rising.
Hirsch: the traditional age pyramid is disappearing and being replaced by more or less equal sized blocks representing different age groups.
By 2041 there will be as many 78 year olds as 5 year olds
What 3 things is the ageing population caused by?
- Increasing life expectancy
- Declining infant mortality
- Declining fertility
What are the effects of the ageing population on public services?
- Older people consume a larger proportion of services like health and social care
- however we must avoid over generalising since many remain in good health in old age
- an ageing population may also mean changes to policies and provision of housing, transport or other services.
What are the effects of the ageing population on one person pensioner households?
- the number of pensioners living alone has increased and now accounts for about 1/8 of all households. Most of them are female because
1. Women live longer than men
2. Women are usually younger than their husbands
Among the over 75s, there are twice as many women than men - this is the feminisation of later life.
What are the effects of the ageing population on the dependency ratio?
- the non working old are economically dependent on the working age
- as the number of retired people rises, the DR increases
x it’s wrong to assume that old equates to economically dependent
x the declining number of dependent children combats the increasing DR
Explain modern society and old age
- ageism happens because of structured dependency, where the old are excluded from paid work and left to be economically dependent on family or the state
- Phillipson says the old are of no use to capitalism because they’re not productive so the state is unwilling to support them, leaving the family to do it
- in modern society, age is crucial in role allocation so the old are made dependent and powerless
Explain postmodern society and old age
- the fixed stages of the life course have broken down
- Hunt says our age no longer determines who we are and how we live and we can choose a lifestyle and identity
- two other features of postmodern society undermine old age as a stigmatised life stage
1. The centrality of the media (media portray positive aspects of the lifestyles of the elderly)
2. The emphasis on surface features (the body becomes a surface for us to write identities)
Explain Pilcher’s critique of postmodernism in terms of inequalities among the old
Pilcher argues that postmodernists understate the importance of :
- class inequalities: m/c have better pensions and more savings
- gender inequalities: women’s lower earnings and career breaks as carers mean lower pensions
Explain policy implications caused by the ageing population
Hirsch says social policies need to change to deal with the issues of the ageing population.
- to finance a longer period of old age we should pay more from our savings and taxes
- housing policy should change to encourage older people into smaller accoms to release wealth to improve their living standards.
Explain the difference between migration, immigration, emigration and net migration
Migration: movement of people from place to place
Immigration: movement into a society
Emigration: movement out
Net migration: the difference between the numbers of immigrants and the numbers of emigrants expressed as a net increase or decrease
What is immigration and how has it changed?
Movement into a society.
1900-1945 the biggest immigration group were Irish
1950s ethnic minorities arrived in the uk
1962-1990 nationality acts placed restrictions on non white immigration
What is emigration and what are the reasons for it
Movement out. Main reasons are
Push factors eg economic recession
Pull factors eg higher wages abroad
What is the impact of migration on the uk population structure
- Population size
- Net migration is high with more immigrants than emigrants
- births exceed deaths leading to a natural increase - Age structure
- directly: immigrants are generally younger
- indirectly: immigrants are more fertile - Dependency ratio
- immigrants are more likely to be of working age (⬇️DR)
- being younger = more children (⬆️DR)
- the longer a group is in a country the closer their fertility rate comes to the national average (⬇️DR)
What is globalisation
The idea that barriers between societies are disappearing and people are becoming increasingly interconnected across national boundaries
What is super diversity
Globalisation has led to what Vestrovec calls super diversity with migrants coming from a much wider range of countries
What are the three types of migrant according to Cohen
- citizens : those with full citizenship rights
- denizens: privileged foreigners welcomed by the state
- helots: (slaves) the most exploited group
What is the feminisation of migration
Almost half of all global migrants are female. Ehrenreich and Hochschild say care work, domestic work and sex work is done by women from poorer counties because of
1. An increasing demand for female labour
2. Western women are less willing or able to perform domestic labour
3. Western men are unwilling to do domestic labour
4. The failure of the state to provide adequate childcare
What are migrant identities
Eade: people with hierarchical identities may see themselves eg as Muslim first then Bengali then British.
Those with hybrid identities made up of 2 or more different sources may find that their identity claims are challenged
What are transnational identities
Eriksen: globalisation has created diverse migration patterns. As a result migrants are less likely to see themselves as belonging to one culture but may instead develop transnational ‘neither/nor’ identities and loyalties
Explain the politicisation of migration
States now have policies to try and control migration including:
1. Assimilation
The first policy which encouraged migrants to adopt the language, values and customs of the host culture to make them ‘like us’
2. Multiculturalism
Accepts that migrants may wish to retain a separate cultural identity but Eriksen distinguishes between:
- shallow diversity eg regarding chicken tikka as britains national dish is acceptable to the state
- deep diversity eg arranged marriages isn’t acceptable to the state
