Demography Flashcards
What is the birth rate?
The number of lives births per 1000 of the population per year
Trend of babies in the 20th century
Major fluctuations in births, with 3 baby booms’ in the 20th Century
When were the 3 baby booms?
the first 2 came after the 2 world wars (1914-18 and 1939-45) as returning servicemen and their partners started families that they had postponed during the war years
the 3rd baby boom in the 1960s after which the birth rate fell sharply during the 19780s. The rate rose during the 1980s, before failing again the early 1990s, with a recent increase since 2001
TFR
total fertility rate
is the average number of children women will gave during their fertile years
What are the 2 factors determining the birth rate?
1-
the proportion of women who are of childbearing age (usually taken to be aged 15-44)
2-
how fertile they are that is how many children they have
UK’s TFR ?
has risen since 2001, but still much lower than in the past
Changes in fertility and birth rate reflect that:
- more women are remaining childless than in the past
-women are postponing having children
AVerage age for giving birth is now…
29.6
Older women and their fertile years
have fewer fertile years remaining so produce fewer children
Sociologists have identified the long term decline in the birth rate since…?
1900
What reasons have sociologists identified for the decline in birth rates?
Changes in the position of women
decline in mortality rate ?
children becoming economic liability
child centredness
Social
Economic
Cultural
Legal
Political
Technological Factors
SELCTP
Changes in the position of women
major changes during 20th Century
These include:
-Legal equality- right to vote, sex discrimination act
-more women in paid employment
-easier access to divorce
-easier access to abortion, contraception
Result of changes in the position of women
women now see other possibilities in life apart from the traditional role of housewife and mother
may are delaying childbirth or not to have children in order to pursue a career
Childless statistics
in 2006
1 in 5 women aged 45 were childless- double the number of 20 years earlier
IMR
infant mortality rate
measure the no. of infants who die before their first birthday, per thousand babies born alive
Decline in the infant mortality rate
many sociologists argue that a fall in the IMR leads to a rise in birth rate
-this is because, parents have more children to replace those who they have lost, thereby increasing the birth rate
-by contrast if babies survive., parents will have fewer of them
What happened to the UK’s IMR in the first half of the 20th century ?
Began to fall
For what reasons did the, UK’s IMR in the first half of the 20th century decrease?
-improved housing and better sanitation
-fall in no. of women working=better health
-improved services for mothers and children
How can improved housing lead to a fall in IMR?
Improved housing and better sanitation, such as flush toilets and clean drinking water, reduced infectious disease
How can fall in number of women working lead to a fall in IMR?
Fall in no. of women working may have improved their health and that of their babies
How can improved services for mothers lead to a fall in IMR?
Improved services for mothers and children,
such as:
-antenatal
-postnatal clinics
Which sociologists reject the view that the decline in IMR leads to rise in Birth rates?
many sociologists such as
Brass and Kabir
Brass and Kabir
Argue that the trend to smaller families began not in rural areas, where the IMR first began to fall, but in urban areas, where the IMR remained higher for longer.
What were children in the late 19th century ?
until late 19th century
children were economic assets to their parents because they could be sent out to work from an early age to earn an income
Children becoming an economic liability
since late 19th century
children have gradually become an economic liability
How have children become an economic liability?
-laws banning child labour, introducing compulsory schooling and raising the school leave age meant that children remain economically dependent on their parent for longer
Child centredness
increasing child centredness
-both the family and society as a whole encouraged a shift from ‘quantity to ‘quality’ - parents now have fewer children and lavish more attention and resources on these few
Effects of changes in fertility
what factors do they effect?
changes in the number of babied born affect several aspects of society.
These include the family, dependency ratio, public services and policies .
Effects of changes in fertility:
On the family
Smaller families mean that women are more likely to be free to go out to work, thus creating the dual couple typical of many professional families
HOWEVER
family size is only one factor
E.G- better off couples may be able to have larger families and still afford childcare that allows them both to work full-time
The dependency ratio
The RS between the size of the working or productive part of the population and the size of the non-working or dependent part of the population
Earnings, savings and taxes of the working population must support the dependet population
Effects of changes in fertility:
The dependency ratio
Children take up a large part of the dependent ratio, so a fall in the number of children reduces the ‘burden of dependency’ on the working population
Longer term effect of changes in fertility on dependency ratio?
in longer term, fewer babies being born will mean fewer adults and a smaller working population, and so the ‘burden of dependency’ may begin to increase again
Effects of changes in fertility:
Public services and Policies
-lower birth rate means fewer schools and maternity and child health services may be needed
-it also has implications for the cost of maternity and paternity leave, or the types of housing that need to be built
What should one keep in mind when thinking about the effect of changes in fertility on the affect of public services policies ?
These are political decisions
E.g
instead of reducing the number of schools, the government may decide to have smaller class sizes instead
Death rate
The death rate is the number of deaths per thousand of the population per years.
Where did the death rate stand in 1900?
1900 the death rate stood at 19
2007 is had almost halved to 10
Reasons for the decline in the death rate ?
-improved nutrition
-medical improvement
-public health measures and environmental improvements
Reason for the decline in the death rate:
Improved nutrition
-who can you talk about?
Thomas McKeown (1972)
argues that improved nutrition account for up to half the reduction in death rates, and was particularly important in reducing the number of deaths from TB
-better nutrition increased resistance to infection and increased survival chance of those who did become infected
Criticisms for Thomas McKeown (1972)
others have challenged McKeown’s explanation
e.g
it does not explain why females who receive a smaller share of the family food supply, lived longer than males, nor why deaths from some infectious diseases, such as measles and infant diarrhoea, actually rose at a time of improving nutrition
Reason for the decline in the death:
Medical improvements
after the 1950s, improved medical knowledge, technique and organization did help to reduce death rates
-more recently, improved medication, bypass surgery and other developments gave reduced heart disease by one third
Reason for the decline in the death:
Public health measures and environmental improvements
in 20th century, more effective central and local government with the necessary power to pass and enforce laws led to a range of improvements in public health and the quality of the environment
What did some of the Public health measures and environmental improvements consist of ?
improvements in housing (producing drier, better ventilated, less overcrowded accommodation)
-purerer drinking water and laws to combat the adulteration of food and drink
Other social changes that also played a part in reducing the death rate during the 20th century
-decline of more dangerous manual occupation such as mining
-smaller families reduced the rate of transmission of infection
-greater public knowledge of the causes of illness
-high incomes, allowing for a healthier lifestyle
Average age of UK population is …
rising
there are fewer young people and more old people in the population,
Ageing population average in 1971 and by 2007?
34.1
2007-39.6
projected to reach 42.6
projected to have more people aged over 65 than the number of under-16s for first time in 2014
The effects of an ageing population effect who or what ?
-public services
-one-pensioner households
-dependency ratio
Effects of an ageing population effect on :
Public services
older people consumer a larger proportion of services such as health and social care than other age groups
-mainly true for ‘old, old’= 75+
as against the ‘young, old’= 65-74
What should you remain aware of when thinking about the largest consumer of public services ?
overgeneralising, since many people remain in relatively good health well into old age
Increased expenditure on ageing population may lead to …?
changes to policies and provision of housing, transport or other services
Effects of an ageing population effect on :
One-person pensioner households
number of of pensioners living alone has increased and one-person pensioner households now account for about 14% of all households
Why are most one pensioner households female?
women generally tend to live longer than men because they are generally younger than their husbands
Effects of an ageing population effect on :
The dependency ratio
-like the non-working young, the non-working old are an economically dependent group who need to be provided for by those of working age
for example:
-through taxation to pay for pensions and healthcare
As the number of retired people rises…
this increases the dependency ratio and the burden on the working population
Why would it be wrong to to assume that ‘old’ necessarily equals economically dependent?
the age at which people retire can vary- about 1 in 10 men in their SOs is no longer working, while recent changes mean that women will soon have to wait until they are 65 to access the state pension
While an increase in the no. of old people raises…
the dependency ratio in an ageing population this is offset by a declining number of dependent children
Is age status socially constructed?
Yes
this applies to old age much discussion about old age and ageing is negative and has constructed it as ‘problem’
Ageing and old age constructed as a ‘problem’ for two reasons:
-Griffiths Report (1988)
-recently there have been more concern about the ‘pensions time bomb’
-Griffiths Report (1988)
on the care of the elderly saw society as facing the problem of meeting the escalating costs of health and social care for the growing number of old people
‘Pensions time bomb’
fears about how society will meet the costs of providing pensions for the elderly
Ageism
the negative stereotyping of people on the basis of their age- often portrays the old as vulnerable, incompetent or irrational and as a burden to society
Contrast to ageism
This contrasts with the view of the elderly found in traditional societies- in these cultures, the old are revered and respected; ageing is associated with a rising status
Peter Townsend (1981)
one reason for negative attitudes to the elderly in our society is that old age has been socially constructed as a period of dependency by creating a statutory retirement age at which most people are expected or required to stop working are are forced to rely on inadequate benefits that many push into poverty
How has old age been socially constructed as a period of dependency ?
by creating a statutory retirement age at which most people are expected or required to stop working are are forced to rely on inadequate benefits that many push into poverty
Which sociologist argues that the main problem of an ageing population will be how to finance a longer period of old age ?
Hirsch
Hirsch
the main problem of an ageing population will be how to finance a longer period of old age
this can either be done by paying more from our savings and taxes while we are working, or by continuing to work for longer, or combination of both
Hirsch’s solution
we need to reverse the current trend towards earlier retirement
one way of doing this is by redistributing educational resources towards older people is that they can retrain and improve their skills and so continue earning
Hirsh’s solution
One way to reverse the current trend towards earlier retirement
one way of doing this is by redistributing educational resources towards older people is that they can retrain and improve their skills and so continue earning
Hirsh’s solution
second way to reverse the current trend towards earlier retirement
may need to be changes in housing policy to encourage older people (who are more likely to be living in larger house than they need) to ‘trade down in to smaller retirement homes and smaller accommodation
What would encouraging older people to ‘trade down in to smaller retirement homes and smaller accommodation do?
this would release wealth to improve their standard of living and free up housing resources for younger people
