Demography Flashcards
How has the CPOW an explanation for the decrease in the birth rate?
-Major changes in law in 20th century:
-Legal equality with men inc right to vote
-Inc educational opportunities
-More women in paid employment
-Easier access to divorce
-As a result: women see other possibilities in life apart from traditional expressive role
-Harper: education is the most significant role for the changes- gave new mindset, so more likely to use family planning
-Not all women have broken through the glass ceiling
-Rad Fems: women still oppressed and sexually regulated by men
How has the decline in the infant mortality rate an explanation for the decrease in the birth rate?
-Measures how many infants die before their first birthday per thousand
-IMR decreased birth rate as they aren’t replacing babies lost
-20th century IMR fell as:
-Improved sanitisation- clean water, flushing toilets
-Post natal care for mothers and children
-Some reject fall in birth rate- Brass and Kabir- smaller families began not in rural areas but in urban ones- where IMR remained high for longer
How are children becoming an economic liability an explanation for the decrease in the birth rate?
-Until 19th century children were economic assets- sent out to work from an early age to earn an income
-Late 19th- became economic liability- laws banning child labour, compulsory schooling, raising leaving age so children remain economically dependent on parents for longer
-Many EM groups still have above average children in a family- can’t generalise
How is child centredness an explanation for the decrease in the birth rate?
-Family and society as whole encouraged to value ‘quality’ over ‘quantity’
-Parents have fewer children and lavish more attention and resources on these few
-Child Liberationists/ conflict view say there’s a dark side of the family- dv stats indicate not all families are child centred
What is the dependency ratio?
Relationship between the size of the working part of the population and the size of the non-working or dependent of the population
How is improved nutrition an explanation for the decline in the death rate?
-Mckeown: improved nutrition accounted for half the reduction in DT and deaths from TB
-Better nutrition=inc resistance to infection and survival chances of those affected
-Doesn’t explain why females who receive a smaller share of the food supply live longer than males and why measles rose in times of improved nutrition
How are medical improvements an explanation for the decline in the death rate?
-After 1950s: improved medical knowledge, techniques and organisation helped reduce death rate
-Inc development in blood transfusions, antibiotics and NHS- 1948
-Recently: bypass surgery helps reduce deaths from heart disease by 1/3
-Medical advancements were minimal before 1950s so doesn’t explain falling deaths rate before then
How is smoking and diet an explanation for the decline in the death rate?
Harper: greatest fall in deaths is due to a reduction in people smoking
21st century: obesity replaced smoking as new lifestyle epidemic
2012- 1/4 of adults in the UK were obese
Deaths from obesity remain low due to meds, vaping- new epidemic
How are public health measures an explanation for the decline in the death rate?
20th: improvements in quality of life and publix health due to govs given power to pass and enforce laws
Inc improvements in housing, purer drinking water
Clean Air Acts- reduced air pollution such as smog- 4k deaths in 5 days in 1952
Still problems either areas of overcrowding- EMs, WC immigrants
What are other social changes that led to an explanation for the decline in the death rate?
-20th: decline in dangerous manual jobs life mining
-Smaller family sizes- less spread of disease
-Higher income- healthier lifestyle
-Improved sanitisation
What has the ageing population done to public services?
-Strain on the NHS
-Increased expenditure on old people so changes to housing, transport…
What has the ageing population done to one person households?
-Less housing for younger adults
-Pensioners living alone- 12.5% of all households
-Mainly women widows- ‘feminisation of later life’
What has the ageing population done to the dependancy ratio?
-Non-workers inc
-Pensions time bomb has a sudden spike as there’s more people claiming their pension
What is said about modern society and old age?- compare to postmodernism
-Old age is seen negatively due to structured dependency- elderly have to rely on younger gens as they’re excluded from paid work
-In modernity identity is pinned on paid work one economic productivity- so those not working are stigmatised
-Marxist: Phillipson- old people are nice use to capitalism as they’ve retired so state won’t adequately care for them- thus women especially are expected to step in
-In modernity- life is structured around fixed life stages
-Age=role allocation so old age=time of dependency and powerlessness
What is said about postmodern society and old age?- compared to modern society
-Fixed life stages in modernity have broken down
-Now blurred boundaries e.g children dressing in adukt clothing
-Gives ind more choice over their lifestyle no matter the age
-Consumption becomes more important than production in postmodern society
-Hunt: we can construct an identity by what we consume- age is irrelevant
-Old becomes a market for ‘rejuvenation’ goods and services- cosmetic surgery
-Encouraged by media through emphasis on surface features
-Reduces childcare costs
-The Grey Pound- by 2040 old people will have spent £50 billion
What is the class inequality among the old?
-MC people have better pensions and savings because of higher salaries
-So have more leisure opps and more likely to retire when they want rather than waiting for state pension
-Poorer people gave ill-health so fewer opps for youthful self identity
What is the gender inequality among the old?
-Women have lower earnings and career breaks- cars for children so have lower pensions
-Subject to sexist as well ageist stereotyping e.g old hag
What is the policy implications among the old?
-Hirsch: main issue of ageing population is how to finance a longer period of old age
-Either pay more from our savings and taxes while working, work longer or both
-Need to reverse the current trend towards earlier retirement- need to redistribute educational recourses to older people do they can retrain and improve skills to continue earning
-Changes in housing policy- encourage trading down housing into smaller housing and retirement homes to free up houses to younger families
-Cultural changes- idea of how old to retire may change
Why do people migrate?
Push:
-Recession
-Religious/racial or political persecution
-Lack of job opps
Pull:
-Health care e.g NHS
-Higher wages
-Better standard of living
-Weather
-Education system
What is the impact of migration on UK population structure?
-Increases means UK population is growing
-Net migration: 2014- 583,000 immigrants and 323,000 emigrants
38% EU citizens mainly from eastern Europe
-Births to non UK born mothers higher but births remain low
-For population to sustain there needs to be 2.1 births per women- in 2014 it was 1.93
-So if not for nett migration the population would be shrinking
What is the impact of migration on UK population structure in terms of age structure?
-Directly- immigrants are generally younger
-Indirect- being younger they are more fertile and so have more children, reducing the average
What is the impact of migration on UK population structure in terms of the dependancy ratio?
-Migrants are mainly working, and they reduce the dependancy ratio
-Many migrants return to place of origin to retire
-However higher fertility rates leads to a higher dependency ratio
-But also reduces average age of population and gives more workers
-And the more time an immigrant settles the closer the fertility goes to national average
What are the trends in global migration in terms of acceleration?
-Speeding up of rate of migration
-UN: between 2000 and 2013 international migration increased by 33% or 3.2% of the world’s population
What are the trends in global migration in terms of differentiation?
Types of migrants:
-Permanent settlers
-Temp workers
-Spouses
-Forced migrants- refugees
-Students
-May migrate with or without permission
-Before 1990s: migrants came from former British colonies as they had the right to settle and formed a small geographically concentrated ethnic communities
-Vertovec: Since then there’s a state of ‘super diversity’- bigger range of areas migrants are coming from
-Cohen: class differences- citizens have full rights e.g voting
-Denizens are privileged foreign Nationals e.g oligarchs
-Helots (slaves) are the most exploited- ‘disposable units of power’- low paid unskilled work- domestic servants
What are the trends in global migration in terms of feminisation?
-Almost half of all global migrants are women now
-Elrenreich and Hochschild: care, domestic and sex work in countries like the UK is increasingly done by migrants
-Due to: expansion of service sector
-Western women have entered full time work so less able/willing to do domestic work
-State failed to provide adequate childcare
-Women from developing countries can fill these gaps
-Transfer in emotional labour- migrants looking after Westerners children at the expense of their own still in their origin countries
-Enter countries as ‘mail order brides’- oriental women being subservient stereotypes
-Trafficked sex workers kept in conditions of slavery
How has the UK government tried to handle immigration in through assimilation?
-First approach to it
-Encourages immigrants to adopt the language, values and customs of the host country- ‘Be like us’
-Can be seen as problematic as migrants with hybrid identities may not want to abandon their culture
How has the UK government tried to handle immigration through multiculturalism?
-Accepts migrants that may want to keep their cultural identity
-Accepting of diversity
-Some parts of diversity are accepted- seeing curry as an English dish
How has the UK government tried to handle immigration through a divided working class?
-Since 9/11, politicians have moved back to assimilation
-May encourage workers to blame migrants for social issues- overcrowded housing, higher taxes
-Lead to racial scapegoating- benefits capitalism as united action is prevented due to conflict
