Demography Flashcards
1
Q
What is demography?
A
- Describes the study of population and it’s changes
- This is gathered from the national census which takes place every 10 years
2
Q
Why do we need to collect this information?
A
- Governments need to plan policies and allocate resources such as education and finance
- They are able to do this using information on population trends
- This data can estimate the number of resources and how many people needed to run them
3
Q
What is the definition of birth rate?
A
- The number of live births per thousand of the population per year
4
Q
What is the trend of birth rate and when has there been baby booms?
A
- There has been a long term decline of births since 1900 however there has been three baby booms in the 20th century
- There was two baby booms after the world wars and the final baby boom around 1960 where people became more sexually liberated
5
Q
What is the definition of total fertility rate?
A
- This is factors determining the birth rate which are the proportion of women who are of childbearing age and how fertile they are
- The TFR is the average number of children women will have during their fertile years
6
Q
What is the trend of TFR?
A
- The TFR has increased however it is still much lower than it has been in the past
- It has decreased because more women are choosing to remain childless and more women are postponing having children
7
Q
What are four reasons for the decline in birth rate?
A
- Change in women’s positions
- Decline in infant mortality rate
- Children are an economic liability
- Child centeredness
8
Q
How has a change in women’s positions led to a decline of birth rate?
A
- Legal equality resulting in paid employment and educational opportunities
- Change in attitudes of women’s roles
- Access to divorce
- Access to abortion and contraception
- Harper argues education is the most important reason as many women use contraception and are career focussed
9
Q
How has a decline in infant mortality rates led to a decline of birth rate?
A
- Harper argues this has led to a decline because children are less likely to die when they are young therefore parents can have less children as they are more likely to survive
- Reasons for infant mortality rate has declined because of improved hygiene, higher living standards and knowledge of medicine
10
Q
How has children becoming an economic liability led to a decline of birth rate?
A
- Children were economic assets because they would be sent to work however due to changes in laws and norms, they are now an economic liability meaning many people will choose not to have children
11
Q
How has child centeredness led to a decline of birth rate?
A
- A child centred society has encouraged a shift from quantity to quality. Parents now have fewer children and spend more attention and resources on the fewer children they have
12
Q
What are the future trends of birth rates?
A
- Immigration has led to an increase in birth rates even though there has been an overall decrease. Women from outside of the UK have a higher fertility rate than those born in the UL
13
Q
What are the three areas that may be impacted by the number of babies born?
A
- The family
- Dependency Ratio
- Public services
14
Q
How is the family impacted by birth rates?
A
- Smaller families means women are more likely to be free to go out to work creating the dual earner couple
- Better off couples may still be able to afford childcare whilst they work full time
15
Q
How has the dependency ratio been impacted by birth rates?
A
- The dependency ratio is the relationship between the size of the working population and size of the non-working population
- Taxes support the dependent population
- A fall of children reduces the burden of dependency on the working population
- However fewer births means that there will eventually be a smaller working population meaning the burden of dependency may increase
16
Q
How does a decrease of birth rates impact children?
A
- Falling fertility rates means fewer children which will result in childhood becoming lonelier and fewer voices speaking up for children’s interests
- This leads to vanishing children
- However fewer children may mean they feel more valued
17
Q
How does birth rates impact public services?
A
- A lower birth rate means fewer schools, maternity and child services may be needed. This also has implications of maternity and paternity leave cost
18
Q
What is the definition of death rates?
A
- The number of deaths per thousand of the population per year
19
Q
What is the trend of death rates?
A
- The death rate has started to fall from 1870 and continued to fall, it has been at a constant decrease since 1950. There was a slight increase due to the economic depression and WW2
20
Q
What are the five main reasons for a decline in death rates?
A
- Decline of infectious disease
- Improved nutrition
- Medical improvements
- People are more health conscious
- Public health measures
21
Q
How has a decline of infectious disease impacted death rate?
A
- Tanter believed that the decline of death rate was due to the fall in infectious diseases often responsible for the death of the young
- The diseases of affluence replaced infectious diseases
- This is things such as cancer instead of infectious diseases which affected adults more than the young
22
Q
How has improved nutrition impacted death rate?
A
- McKeown believes that improved nutrition accounts for up-to half of the death
- This helps build resistance and strengthens immune systems
- However, deaths may have rose during improved nutrition such as measles
23
Q
How has medical improvements impacted death rate?
A
- Improved medical knowledge and techniques helps to reduce death rates
- Furthermore, improved medications, procedures, transfusions and developments have reduced deaths
24
Q
How has people becoming more health conscious impacted death rate?
A
- People are more health conscious therefore people stop smoking to try become healthier
- However, Harper argues people still engage in unhealthy behaviour such as obesity
- They can achieve a longer life span through medication
25
Q
How has public measures impacted death rate?
A
- More effective central and local government with the necessary power to pass and enforce laws has led to a range of improvements in public health and quality of the environment
- This included improvements in housing such as less overcrowded accommodation and purer drinking water
26
Q
What are other social changes that have impacted death rate?
A
- Decline of dangerous manual occupations
- Smaller families reduce the rate of transmission
- Greater public knowledge
- Higher incomes meaning healthier lifestyle
27
Q
What is the definition of life expectancy?
A
- Refers to how long on average a person born in a given year can expect to live to.
28
Q
What are gender differences in life expectancy?
A
- Women have a longer life expectancy than men
29
Q
What are class differences in life expectancy?
A
- Working class men in manual jobs have a lower life expectancy than middle class professional men
- People in the north, where it is often more WC population have a lower life expectancy
- Walker believes that WC are likely to die seven years earlier than MC
30
Q
What is the ageing population?
A
- The ageing population is the average age of the UK rising
- There are fewer young people and more old people in the population
31
Q
What do age pyramids show?
A
- Older age groups are growing and younger age groups are shrinking
- Hirsch believes that the pyramid is disappearing and replaced with equal blocks
32
Q
Why do we have an ageing population?
A
- Increasing life expectancy
- Declining infant mortality
- Declining fertility
33
Q
What are the effects of an ageing population on public services?
A
- Older people consume a large proportion of public services such as health and social care
- This means that money has to be spent on these services to care for the elderly
- However many people remain in good health in old age
34
Q
What are the effects of an ageing population on one person pensioner households?
A
- The number of pensioners living alone has increased
- Most are female as they often live longer than men and tend to be younger than their husbands
- This trend is the feminisation of later life
34
Q
What are the effects of an ageing population on dependency ratio?
A
- Older people are non-working and therefore an economically dependent group who need to be provided by for those of working age
- The number of retired people rises this increases the burden on the working population
- The ratio between working age and pensioners is expected to keep falling
35
Q
What are policy implications of an ageing population according to Hirsch?
A
- The main problem is having to finance a longer period of old age
- We must encourage older people to trade down into smaller accommodation and retiring homes to release their wealth for higher standards and free up housing resources for younger people
36
Q
What is ageism?
A
- Ageism is prejudice, stereotyping or discrimination based on someone’s age
- This can be shown in many different ways
- Old age and ageing is constructed as a problem
37
Q
What is age in modern society?
A
- Life is structure into fixed life course stages meaning age is important for role allocation and creating age related identities
- Those do not work have a stigmatised identity
38
Q
What is ageism the result of?
A
- Ageism is the result of structured dependency meaning older people are excluded from paid work and forces them to be economically dependent on the families or state
- They are labelled as dependent and vulnerable
39
Q
What does Phillipson argue?
A
- The old are no use to capitalism as there are not productive therefore the state do not want to support them
40
Q
What does post modernists argue about older age?
A
- Post modernist sociologists argue that the fixed stages of life course has broken down as people are doing different to things in the past
- They argue people now have a greater choice of lifestyle regardless of age
- Consumption becomes the key to our identities
41
Q
What does Hunt argue?
A
- We now define ourselves by what we consume. This means we can choose our lifestyle and identity. Age no longer determines who we are or how we live our lives
42
Q
What can older people consume?
A
- The old become a market for a vast range of body maintenance or rejuvenation goods and services to give them new younger identities
43
Q
What does post modernists argue about breaking down stereotypes?
A
- Being able to products such as plastic surgery, gym and anti ageing enables ageist stereotypes from modern society to break down
- It allows them to rewrite their identities and teach society that old people can do what young people do
- Media images are able to portray positive aspects of elderly lifestyles
44
Q
What is a criticism of the postmodernist view?
A
- Pilcher argues that PM’s underestimate the importance of social class and gender and how they impact the experience of old age
- They also ignore that older people face discrimination that limits their choices
45
Q
What is migration and why does it affect demography?
A
- Migration refers to the movement of people from place to place which can be internal, societal or international
- This affects the size and age of the population
46
Q
What was immigration like before 1950’s?
A
- 1900 until WW2, the largest group were Irish who came over for economic reasons
- The second largest were Jews who were refugees
47
Q
What was immigration like after 1950’s
A
- During 1950-60’s black immigrations arrived in the UK due to labour shortages
- During the 1960’s and 70’s, south Asian immigrants from India, Pakistan and Bangladeshi came to the UK
48
Q
What restrictions were put in place for immigrants?
A
- Severe restrictions were put in place to stop immigration
- The 1971 immigration act meant that individuals in the Windrush generation were given permanent residence however then deported people who they believed was not granted residence however they did not keep track
49
Q
What is emigration?
A
- The act of leaving their own country to settle permanently abroad
50
Q
What is the main reasons for emigration?
A
- Push factors = Economic recession and unemployment
- Pull factors = Higher wages or better opportunities abroad
51
Q
What is the impact of migration on the UK?
A
- Population size has increased
- Age structure and the average age of society has lowered, most immigrants are young and entering the workforce
- It impacts the dependency ratio, increases the size of the working age population
52
Q
What is globalisation?
A
- Globalisation is the idea that barriers between societies are disappearing and people are becoming increasingly interconnected across national boarders
53
Q
What has caused globalisation?
A
- Globalisation is the result of many processes such as communication systems and expansion of the UK
- It can also be due to rapid social change such as people people across borders
54
Q
What are the two things that globalisation has resulted in?
A
- Acceleration
- Differentiation
55
Q
What is acceleration?
A
- Globalisation has led to migration rapidly increasing
56
Q
What is differentiation?
A
- There are multiple types of migrants such as refugees, asylum seekers, legal, illegal, spouses
- Before 1950’s, immigrants came from a narrow range of former British colonies and formed geographically concentrated ethnic communities
- Vertovec found that globalisation has led to super diversity meaning individuals differ in terms of multiple factors and widely dispersed throughout the UK
57
Q
What are the three types of migrants that Cohen distinguishes between?
A
- Citizens = They have full citizenship rights
- Denizens = Privileged foreign nationals welcomed by the state
- Helots = The most exploited group that are regarded as disposable units of labour power
58
Q
What is the feminisation of migration?
A
- Today almost half of all global migrant are female when they have previously been male
59
Q
What is the global gendered division of labour?
A
- They do jobs that tend to fit patriarchal stereotypes worldwide often giving women caregiving and domestic roles
60
Q
What did Ehrenreich and Hoschild find?
A
- Observe that care, domestic and sex work is increasingly done by women from poor countries
This is a result of four things:
1. The expansion of service occupations has resulted in an increasing demand for female labour
2. Western women are now in the labour force and less likely to perform domestic labour
3. Western men remain unwilling to perform domestic labour
4. The failure of the state to provide adequate childcare - The gap has been filled by women from poor countries
61
Q
What is a global transfer?
A
- There is a global transfer of women emotional labour such as being nannies
62
Q
What are some other ways women enter the country?
A
- Migrant women also enter western countries as mail order brides which reflect the gendered and racialised stereotypes such as Asian women being subservient to western men
- Women also enter the UK illegally through illegal sex trafficking
