Demography

Question 1

How does a population increase? And decrease

Answer 1

Births and immigration, Deaths and emigration (natural change = number of births - number of deaths) (Net migration is the amount of people immigrants- emigrants)

Question 2

How has the U.K population changed?

Answer 2

From 37million in 1901 to 65million today by 2031 the population should be 71 million

Question 3

What Are The two methods of measuring births?

Answer 3

Birth rate, number of live births per 1000 people of the population per year and Total fertility rate is the average amount of children per women

Question 4

Describe the trends in birth rate

Answer 4

There has been a long term decline in birth rate, from 29 in 1901 to 12.2 in 2014 a 60% decline! However it has not been a straight forward decline as there have been baby booms after world war 2, in the 60s, 80s and a small increase after 2001 abruptly stopped after the global economic crash of 2008

Question 5

Describe the changes in fertility rate

Answer 5

In the 1960s women had an average of 2.95 declining to an all time low of 1.63 in 2001 before rising slightly to around 1.9 today

Question 6

What are 4 reasons for a falling birth rate?

Answer 6

Changing position of women, fall in infant mortality rate, children as a economic liability and child centeredness

Question 7

How have changes in the position of women lead to a falling birth rate?

Answer 7

Increased educational opportunities for women, changes in attitude to women’s role and family life, easier access to divorce and less marriage expectations and access to abortion and contraception , always explain how they lead to fall in birth rate!

Question 8

How has a fall in the infant mortality rate lead to a fall in birth rate?

Answer 8

The infant mortality rate is the number of infants who die before their first birthday per 1000 babies born alive per year, it has fallen greatly from 154 in 1900 to 4 in 2016, this is because of improved housing, sanitation and the NHS, if having a child becomes less of a gamble and a chance then mothers will have less as they don’t need to ensure some survive

Question 9

How has children as an economic liability caused a fall in birth rates?

Answer 9

Until around the 1880s when compulsory education was introduced, children were economic assets as they worked and contributed to family income however they are now an economic liability as laws banning child labour and changing norms of children have meant that children are economically dependent for much longer and as a result of this families may be unable to have large families due to the cost

Question 10

How has child centredness lead to falling birth rates?

Answer 10

As the idea and social construction of childhood has grown and children have become arguably more loved, parents concerns have changed from quantity also linking back to economic assets etc. To economic to quality ensuring that their children are brought up correctly and lavishly in a competitive world

Question 11

What are some of the effects of a falling birth rate?

Answer 11

+Women are more able to have a long successful career and create a perfectly dual income couple
+The dependency ratio (the ratio between working population and non working dependents such as elderly and young people falls for young people reducing the burden of dependency but rises for old people as the decreased young working population must support an ageing population which can distract from careers
+Schools may close and there will be less people to pay for and work for public services supporting an ageing population which could cause a catastrophic problem for the nation

Question 12

What do death trends look like in the U.K?

Answer 12

Death rates have been fairly stable since 1900 at around 600,000 people per year but the population has increased exponentially since then but the number of deaths has remained stable but the death rate has decreased showing an ageing population , the death rate rose during the world wars but ever since has gradually decreased

Question 13

What are some of the reasons for a fall in death rates?

Answer 13

Up until the 1970s 3/4 of the decline in deaths rates was because of a fall in deaths via infectious diseases such as TB, measles or smallpox however since the 1970s other factors have made a larger impact such as:
Improved nutrition, according to McKeown (1972) almost a half of the reduction in death rates was due to better diet although in an NHS report from 2010 Obesity and related illness now account for half of all uk deaths showing that diet is becoming a problem once again.
Medical improvements, since the 1950s vaccines, antibiotics and better services through the creation of the NHS (1949) have decreased the death rate
Occupational changes, less dangerous and hazardous jobs such as mining have decreased due to globalisation
And health education has became commonplace
And war has decreased over time
Although medical takes the credit, social and economic factors have also helped

Question 14

What are some of the changes in life expectancy?

Answer 14

Life expectancy is how long a person born in a certain years average life expectancy is, For babies born in 1900 it was 59 for males and 57 for females but for babies born in 2013 it was 90.7 for males and 94 for females, the gap between women and men has dropped over time due to a fall in manufacturing jobs and a rise in services jobs for both men and women

Question 15

How does a falling infant mortality rate raise life expectancies?

Answer 15

As falling IMR have drooped from 154 in 1900 to 4 now it has stopped dragging down the life expectancy as a whole resulting in a rising life expectancy

Question 16

What are some of the characteristics of an ageing population in the uk?

Answer 16

In 1971 the average age of a person in the U.K was 34 years old, now it is nearly 40 showing that society as a whole in the U.K is getting older, by 2031 it will reach 42.6, for the first time ever in the U.K the number of over 65s in the U.K equalled the number of under 15s

Question 17

What Are The three main reasons for this ageing?

Answer 17

Increased life expectancy (people are living longer), Low infant mortality (less babies are dying) and declining fertility rates (less young people are being born)

Question 18

What are some of the effects of an ageing population?

Answer 18

+Strain on public services as more old people (who are the group of people who use public services the most) are living meaning existing facilities are unable to cope with growing numbers
+More one person pensioner households meaning more resources are needed to combat loneliness
+Rising dependency ratios, working age people more and more have to support dependents such as the elderly affecting their ability to work and income, Women also disproportionately get lumbered with this unpaid task
+ Ageism is where discrimination occurs as people believe that older people are senile and a burden comparing to traditionally older people being seen as having the most wisdom and experience, possibly because of rising dementia rates
+ However old people are unfairly seen as a burden as it is a compulsory pension that allows them to quit work even if they don’t want to, excluding them needlessly from the labour market
+ political implications , as political parties try to attract a growing elderly voting market they risk making decisions that are bad for the rest of society to keep elderly people happy, an ageing population brings many problems such as rising retirement age causing rising in taxes etc.
+

Question 19

What is age like in postmodern society?

Answer 19

Age has become more and more of an identity rather than a fixed period of life as many elderly people are very active and adventurous until death and some young people are very much what was would be traditionally be seen as old, such as staying at home and not being very active

Question 20

What are some inequalities amongst the old?

Answer 20

Class, MC old people have bigger pensions and savings allowing them to take out private healthcare and hence have longer life expectancies

Question 21

What are some of the characteristics of immigration to the U.K?

Answer 21

Until the 1940s immigration to the U.K was dominated by the Irish but ever since especially around the 1970s lots of non-white immigrants came to the country from the Carribean and Asia, in 2011 minority Ethnic groups made up 14% of the U.K population, However due to Nationality acts of 1962 and 1990 non-white immigrants made up barely 25% of immigrants the rest being primarily white Europeans a trend that since Poland and many other Eastern European countries joined the EU in 2004 has continued, with its free movement policy amongst nations.

Question 22

What are some of the characteristics of emigration from the U.K?

Answer 22

Since 1900 most emigrants from the U.K have gone to the U.S.A, Canada and more recently Australia and Spain alongside other E.U nations, Push factors being Unemployment or most commonly weather and pull factors being higher wages and better wether, although economic factors are important other social factors are also important such as wars etc. Especially recently

Question 23

How has globalisation increased migration?

Answer 23

Globalisation has increased global migration by 33% from 2000 to 2013 such as the E.U

Question 24

What is differentiation in migration?

Answer 24

The types of migrant varying from economic migrant, settlers, asylum seekers and refugees

Question 25

How does Cohen (2006) distinguish migrants?

Answer 25

He differentiates them into different types;
Citizens, have full voting rights
Denizens, privileged foreign nationals
Helots, Are disposable labour power found in unskilled, poorly paid work, they include illegally trafficked workers

Question 26

What is the feminisation of migration?

Answer 26

As Almost half of all global migrants are now women, this globalises the domestic division of labour and migrant workers are stigmatised for commonly being carers, cleaners or prostitutes

Question 27

What are migrant Identities?

Answer 27

Migrants may develop hybrid identities from their homeland and their current home which can lead to problems with fitting in and integration such as a study by Pope in Bradford that found that a large majority of Pakistani boys in the highly diverse city called themselves BrAsian (British Asian) and lived a life of infused British and Pakistani cultures

Question 28

What is a transnational identity

Answer 28

When temporary migrants such as refugees and economic migrants move frequently they can develop transnational identities where they live a life influenced by many cultures, this is becoming more common as technology develops making it easier for migrant to move around and keep in touch with people making it more appealing to people

Question 29

What are immigration policies often linked with?

Answer 29

Security and anti-terrorism measures such as Donald Trumps USA entry Ban on countries with a terrorist risk to the U.K called a ‘muslim ban’

Question 30

What are Assimilationism policies?

Answer 30

Policies aimed at encouraging immigrants to adopt the language values and customs of the host country, such as the 2014 introduction of compulsory British value lessons in all schools by the conservative government to help build a shared identity such as those found in the socialisation of USA children with their allegiance to the flag daily

Question 31

What is multiculturalism and what does castles say about it?

Answer 31

Multiculturalism is the belief that we should allow immigrants to retain their own culture within ours such as china towns found in many cities, food is shallow multiculturalism and veils on women is deep multiculturalism, it is a controversial topic in politics.
Castle who supports the melting pot approach of multiculturalism argues that assimilation policies only lead to a self fulfilling Prophecy where immigrants are labelled as others and purposely reject the dominating culture which he argues creates problems such as Isis recruitment

Question 32

What do Marxists argue about assimilation?

Answer 32

Marxists argue that assimilation only encourages WC workers to take their anger out at immigrants for low wages and unemployment instead of capitalism which creates a divided WC which is a very good thing for capitalism because there are no anti-capitalist rallies etc. This is shown today as many anti-immigrant far right politicians embrace capitalism and socialist politicians often support immigration