demography

Question 1

trends on birth rate

Answer 1

three ‘baby booms’ in uk - two after the world wars and one in the 1960s

more women are remaining childless

average age for having children is 29.9, showing women postpone having a family - older women are less fertile = less babies

Question 2

4 reasons for declining birth rate

Answer 2

changing positions of women
decline in imr
children becoming a economic liability
child centredness

Question 3

decline in birth rate - changing positions of women

Answer 3

women have gained the same legal and social rights as men to work, vote, enter university, get a divorce, more autonomy over their bodies
this means women have more opportunities aside from having a family so postpone it - 1 in 5 women aged 45 was childless in 2006

Question 4

decline in birth rate - ao3 for changing positions of women

Answer 4

radical feminists argue women are still sexually regulated by men e.g. male gaze, sexual double standards

Question 5

decline in birth rate - decline in imr

Answer 5

previously infants would die before their first birthday often, meaning families would have more children to make up for the lost ones, but since less are dying families don’t need to replace them
improvements in housing, sanitation and regular checkups before and after childbirth for the baby and mother has reduced the imr

Question 6

decline in birth rate - ao3 for decline in imr

Answer 6

no correlation between imr and birth rates - brass and kabir found smaller families began with urban families where the imr rate was higher for longer

Question 7

decline in birth rate - children becoming a economic liability

Answer 7

previously children were used as an economic asset - sent to work at a early age to provide for the family
legal changes now ban child labour and impose compulsory schooling meaning children are economically dependent on their family for longer

Question 8

decline in birth rate - ao3 for children becoming a economic liability

Answer 8

not generalisable - ethnic minority families are often larger

Question 9

decline in birth rate - child centredness

Answer 9

children have become the focal point of the family and society, led to a shift from quantity to quality
this means parents will have fewer children to invest more financially and emotionally into the few children they have

Question 10

decline in birth rate - ao3 for child centredness

Answer 10

child liberationists argue there is a dark side to the family - children are most likely to be abused due to age patriarchy

Question 11

impacts of changes to fertility

Answer 11

families are smaller - women can go to work freely, creating a dual earner couple

the dependency ratio - in the short term the burden on the working part will be reduced, but in the future there will be a smaller working part recreating the burden

public services and policies - less children means there is less need for nurseries, schools so the government may invest money in adult health services and adult education

Question 12

trends in death rate

Answer 12

death rate has decreased from 19 in 1900 to 10 in 2007

diseases of affluence (related to wealth) became more common than infectious diseases by the 1950s

Question 13

4 reasons for decline in death rate

Answer 13

improved nutrition
medical improvements
smoking and diet
public health measures

Question 14

decline in death rate - improved nutrition (McKeown)

Answer 14

we are more conscious of the food we eat, leading to healthier diets e.g. taking vitamin supplements, 5 a day, healthy ready meals that accounted for reducing half of death rates
better nutrition improved resistance to disease and survival chances

Question 15

decline in death rate - ao3 for improved nutrition

Answer 15

doesn’t explain why women live longer than men despite getting the smaller share of the food or why death from infectious disease rose as nutrition improved

Question 16

decline in death rate - medical improvements

Answer 16

improvements in medical procedures and knowledge has reduced death rates e.g. blood transfusions, antibiotics, MMR vaccinations and the NHS in 1948
recently, improvements to surgery e.g. bypass surgery, ice cap cancer treatments, pace makers reduce death rates from disease

Question 17

decline in death rate - ao3 for medical improvements

Answer 17

medical improvements were minimal before 1950 - cannot explain why the death rate was falling before 1950

Question 18

decline in death rate - smoking and diet

Answer 18

more awareness on dangers of smoking e.g. lung cancer, rotting teeth
more awareness on diet - consuming more fresh food, awareness of what we eat

Question 19

decline in death rates - ao3 on smoking and diet

Answer 19

obesity has replaced smoking as the lifestyle epidemic - a quarter of uk adults were obese in 2012
vaping has replaced smoking

Question 20

decline in death rates - public health measures

Answer 20

government has implemented more effective public health laws to improve the quality of the environment
improvements in housing e.g. less overcrowding, better ventilation, purer water and food
bans on smoking for anyone born after 2009 to eventually create a smoke free society, bans on indoor smoking reduced deaths from passive smoking

Question 21

decline in death rates - ao3 public health measures

Answer 21

public health is still a issue - deprived areas still struggle with overcrowding

Question 22

other changes impacting death rates

Answer 22

decline of dangerous manual jobs e.g. mining
greater public knowledge of disease
higher incomes to afford a healthier lifestyle

Question 23

trends in life expectancy

Answer 23

men born in 1900 had a life expectancy of 50, in 2013 this increased to 90.3
women born in 1900 had a life expectancy of 57, in 2013 this increased in 94
more people are reaching their 100th birthday

Question 24

class/gender/regional differences in life expectancy

Answer 24

wc men in dangerous jobs are 3x more likely to die before they are 65 than mc men in professional jobs
men die earlier than women, although the gap has narrowed
those in the north and scotland have a lower life expectancy than those in the south

Question 25

overview on the ageing population

Answer 25

average age of the uk population is rising - in 1971 it was 34.1, increased in 40.3 in 2013
the number of 65 year old equalled with those under 15 in 2014
by 2041, there will be as many 78 year olds as 5 year olds

Question 26

impacts of an aging population

Answer 26

public services - older people take up most of health and social services so funds are focused there, as well as on pensions, free bus passes, bedroom tax pushed on the elderly

one person households - pensioners account of 12.5% of households, mostly women as their husbands die earlier, creating the feminisation of later life

the dependency ratio - more retired people creates a burden on the working part, a solution would be to take more money off the working part

Question 27

correlation between modern society and old age

Answer 27

old age is seen negatively due to structured dependency on the younger members of society
older people are stigmatised since they are not economically productive
Philipson - old people are no longer a use to capitalism and are inadequately cared for by the government so family members are expected to step in

Question 28

correlation between postmodern society and old age

Answer 28

fixed stages of life have broken down e.g. children wear clothes associated with adults, people marry later and retire early giving individuals more choice over their life without the barrier of age
Hunt - we construct an identity based on what we consume, the old has become a market of rejuvenation goods e.g. cosmetic surgery, anti-ageing products to get them ‘spending the grey Pound’

Question 29

inequality among the old based on class/gender

Answer 29

mc people have better pensions and savings, meaning they can have better leisure opportunities and retire whenever they want to
wc people suffer ill health more so may only have a small state pension

women have longer earnings and career breaks due to maternity leave so have lower pensions

Question 30

problems of an aging population - policy implications (Hirsch)

Answer 30

the main problem is how to finance a longer period of old age, can be fixed by paying more taxes or work for longer
argues we should reverse the current trend of early retirement by redistribute education to old people to improve their skills and continue working
we also need a cultural change on how we view old age

Question 31

PUSH factors for migration (why people want to leave their country of origin)

Answer 31

religious, racial or political persecution
conflict
poor living conditions

Question 32

PULL factors for migration (why people want to move to that country)

Answer 32

better standards of living
better job opportunities

Question 33

history of uk migration - pre WW2

Answer 33

mainly irish, eastern europeans and jews migrating to uk due to persecution, famine, lack of job opportunities

most migrants were white up to the 1950s, meaning immigration wasn’t visible until then

Question 34

history of uk migration - 1946-1960

Answer 34

men from the west indies migrating to uk due to ties made during WW2

this marked the start of mass immigration, multiculturism and made immigration visible

Question 35

history of uk migration - 1970s

Answer 35

south asians migrating to uk to resolve labour shortages, get better economic opportunities and escape civil war

the government made immigration for people of colour tougher

Question 36

history of uk migration - 1980s

Answer 36

many migrated to the us, canada, australia, new zealand due to recession and to get better opportunities

riots in brixton were sparked by racial issues
the scarman report found racial discrimination was prevalent in british life - black men are more likely to be searched by police

Question 37

history of uk migration - 1987 - 2002

Answer 37

asylum seekers migrated to uk to flee political persecution and seek a better life

there was a rise in racial tensions leading to riots, and the far right british national party won council seats

Question 38

history of uk migration - since 2002

Answer 38

eastern europeans migrated to uk due to the expansion of the EU including more eastern european states

this has led to tensions over jobs, and some minority groups feel over policed and under protected

Question 39

impacts of migration on uk population structure

Answer 39

the uk population has grown partly due to migration
in 2014, there were 583000 immigrants and 323000 emigrants
births to non-uk mothers are higher than uk mothers - this shows that migration has helped the uk population to not shrink

Question 40

impact of migration on age structure

Answer 40

immigrants are generally younger, lowering the average age, and are also more fertile so have more children, also lowering the average age

the dependency ratio - most immigrants move into the working part which reduces the dependency ratio, and since immigrants are younger, it produces more workers which positively impacts the dependency ratio in the long term

Question 41

definition of globalisation

Answer 41

the interconnectedness of the world

Question 42

examples of globalisation in the modern world

Answer 42

24/7 news channel, businesses set up across the world, social media

Question 43

trends in global migration - acceleration

Answer 43

international migration has increased by 33% between 2000 and 2013

Question 44

trends in global migration - differentiation

Answer 44

many types of migrants - permanent and temporary settlers, refugees and students - have created a multicultural society due to being from a bigger range of countries

there are class differences between migrants (Cohen) - citizens have full rights to vote and claim benefits, denizens are privileged foreign nationals who are oligarchs welcomed by the state while helots are the most exploited group used for unskilled labour

Question 45

trends in global migration - feminisation of migration

Answer 45

almost half of all migrants have been women, since domestic work have been done mostly by migrant women

there has been a global transfer in women’s emotional labour as migrant women leave their own children to take care of other children

migrant women also enter western countries as mail order brides and as illegally trafficked sex workers

Question 46

migrant identity - overview

Answer 46

migrants may have a hybrid identity - made up of two cultures e.g. bangladeshi muslims have a hierarchal identity of first muslim, bengali then british

in a globalised economy migrants have more links to other migrants than their country of origin e.g. chinese migrants in rome who use mandarin more since their colleagues

Question 47

uk government response to immigration - assimilation

Answer 47

first approach which encouraged migrants to adopt the language, values and custom of the host country

can be problematic as it encourages migrants to abandon their identity - ethnocentric

Question 48

uk government response to immigration - multiculturalism

Answer 48

approach that is accepting of the diversity that comes with migration, allows them to keep their cultural identity

can be problematic as the host country pick and choose what aspects of the culture to accept e.g. curry is seen as a british dish but veiling of women is frowned upon

Question 49

uk government response to immigration - a divided working class

Answer 49

politicans have moved to ideas of assimilation since 9/11

migrants blamed for social problems e.g. no jobs, terrorism, high crime rates which leads to racial scapegoating and a racially divided working class which prevents a uprising benefitting capitalism