Demography Flashcards
1
Q
What is birth rate?
A
The number of live births per 1000 of the population per year
2
Q
What is fertility rate?
A
The average number of children a women has in her fertile years (15-44)
3
Q
Reasons for the decline in birth rate (Harper)
A
- Harper - education is the main reason - change in mindset
- contraception
- lower marriage rates
- fall in infant mortality rate
- having children later/childlessness - career focused
- children are economic liability
4
Q
Effects of falling birth rate:
A
- Both work due to small families - dual earner couples
- dependency ratio - savings/taxes of workers must support the dependent
- effects on public services / policies - fewer schools
- an ageing population
5
Q
What is death rate?
A
The number of deaths per 1000 of the population per year
6
Q
Reasons for decline in death rate (Mckeown)
A
- Mckeown - improved nutrition
- Tranter - biggest decline in deaths due to fall in infectious diseases - medical improvements, surgery, antibiotics etc
- introduction of NHS/public health measures (eg. Housing, clean water, NI, public sanitation)
- Lifestyle changes (smoking, cleaner air, affluence, decline of manual labour )
7
Q
Life expectancy:
A
- The average age of the population is rising
- 1971 = 34.1, 2007 = 39.6
- fewer younger people and many more old people in population
- however there are class, gender and regional differences in this
8
Q
What is Immigration?
A
- movement into an area
- between 1994 and 2004, immigration rose annually
- reasons : expansion of the EU to include 10 new states, study or work - 1/4 to study and 1/5 to work(young), emigrants from the UK were older - retired
9
Q
What is emigration?
A
- movement out of an area
- reasons : economic reasons (push-recession,pull-better opportunities), labour shortages in destination countries, assisted passage schemes (paying for costs of of migration)
10
Q
What is net Migration?
Internal migration :
A
- Differences between the numbers immigrating and the numbers emigrating
- during industrial revolution people moved north, 20th century people moved south/midlands for growing motor car, electrical industries. Recently, London, south east due to service industries there
11
Q
Impact of globalisation:
A
- Acceleration of migration : globalisation is linked to the increase of international migration
- Differentiation : this process also increases the diversity of types of migrants: permanent settlers, temporary workers, spouses, refugees, asylum speakers, students etc
- we have “super diversity” (Vertovec)
12
Q
Reasons for ageing population:
A
- Childlessness
- lower death rate
- higher fertility/birth rate
- baby boom - after the war
13
Q
Effects of ageing population:
A
- pressure on public services - care homes, transportation, food services, ambulances, cares
- more one person pensioner households
- the dependency ratio - 3.2 people working to support each pensioner
- policy implications
14
Q
Ageism and modernity + Marxist view of ageing population:
A
- Many socialists argue that ageism is the result of ‘structured dependency’ - those excluded from production by compulsory retirement have a dependent status and stigmatised identity
- Marxists - the old are of no use to capitalism because they are no longer productive
- Pilcher - inequalities amongst the old remain
15
Q
Post modern view of ageing population:
A
- argue that the fixed stages of life course have been broken down - boundaries between life stages
- a greater choice of lifestyle, whatever their age. For postmodernists, we can now define our identity through consumption rather than production
- furthermore the media is now portraying more positive aspects of lifestyle
16
Q
Policy implications of ageing population:
A
- Hirsch argues that a number of important social policies will need to change to tackle new problems posed by ageing population
- how to finance a longer period of old age
- housing policies to encourage older people to ‘trade down’
- a cultural change in our attitudes
- the ‘grey vote’
17
Q
The Feminisation of Migration:
A
- Ehrenreich and Hochschild (2003)
- There has been a globalisation of the gender division of labour (with more women now migrating)
- Increasing number of poor women working as careers, domestic workers and sex workers
18
Q
Migrant Identities:
A
- Migrants may develop hybrid identities - an identity made up of two or more different sources
- Eriksen (2007) - continual movement means, some migrants do not belong completely to one culture/country. Instead they may develop transnational ‘neither/nor’ identities and loyalties
19
Q
The politicisation of Migration:
A
- Assimilation- first state policy, aim was to encourage migrants to accept new culture and speak new language
- Castles - these policies see minority culture as backward and to reject host cultures creates marginalisation
- Multiculturalism - accepts that migrants may wish to retain their separate cultural identity
- Eriksen - government accepts only superficial aspects of diversity
