Demography (familes)

Question 1

Demography

Answer 1

Who makes up society

The study of statistics which illustrate the changing structure of human populations

Question 2

Reasons to study demography

Answer 2

1) suggest policies to improve life for specific groups for example women
2) changes in society over time and look at the impact of changes over time for example birth rates
3) research issues experienced/faced by the groups

Question 3

ways that a population can increase

Answer 3

1) increase in birth rate

2) increase in migration

Question 4

Ways that a population can decrease

Answer 4

Death

Emigration ( people leaving)

Question 5

Population trends

Answer 5

In Britain the population has increased over the past 100 years and continues to grow despite lower birth rates. Mainly due to natural change rather than net migration

Question 6

Natural change

Answer 6

Is the number of births minus the numbers of death

Question 7

Net migration

Answer 7

Number of immigrants minus the number of emigrants

Question 8

Demography characteristics

Answer 8

Size- is the population small or large
Age structure- is the average age of the population rising or falling
Births- how many babies are born
Deaths-how many people die
Immigration-how many people enter the country from elsewhere
Emigration-how many people leave the country to live elsewhere

Question 9

The dependancy ratio means the % of dependant people (not of working age)/ number of people. Of working age (economically active)

Question 10

Dependancy ratio equation

Answer 10

Number of children(0-15) + number of pensioners (>65) ÷ number of working age (16-65)

For example a dependancy ratio of 1.2 means that for every 10 workers there are 12 people not of working age

Question 11

Medical

Answer 11

Influx of organ transplant (1960 kidney)
Higher survival rates at a result of new medications (cancers chemotherapy)
More technology leading to higher levels of research
Antibiotics (1940)

Question 12

Social

Answer 12

Improved level of education greater knowledge of hygiene
Higher living standards 
Increased wages(out of poverty)
Closure of dangerous manual labour
More knowledge of better lifestyles 
Anti smoking laws

Question 13

Nutrition

Answer 13

Better access to food
Clean water
Nutrition 1/2 death rate( mckeown)
Disease of affluent

Question 14

Public health

Answer 14

NHS 1948

Health and safety laws

Question 15

Ageism most structural sociologists see old age as a life stage which many argue has become stigmatised with association of dependancy and being a burden

Question 16

Post modernists

Answer 16

On the other hand believe that people are always free to chose their identities through our lifestyle

Question 17

Reasons for the decline in death rates

Answer 17

The population began to develop some natural resistance or that some diseases became less powerful

Question 18

Smoking and diet

Answer 18

Harper “the greatest fall in death rates in recent decades has come not from medical improvements but simply from the reduction in the number of people smoking”

In 2012 1/4 of all UK adults were obese yet although obesity has increased massively deaths however have been kept low due to drug therapies Harper suggests we may be moving to an American health culture where diets are unhealthy but where a long life span is achieved by using costly medicine

Question 19

Life expectancy

Answer 19

Life expectancy refers to how long on average a person born in a given year is expected to live as death rates have fallen life expectancy has increased

Question 20

Ageism,modernity and post modernity

Answer 20

One consequence of the ageing population in modern society is the growth of ageism the negative stereotyping and unequal treatment of people on the basis of their age.Ageism towards older people shows itself in many ways such as discrimination in employment and unequal treatment in healthcare

Question 21

Modern society and old age

Answer 21

Many sociologists argue that ageism is the result of ‘structured dependancy’ the old are largely excluded from paid work leaving them economically dependant on their families and the state

Phillipson(Marxism perspective) argues that the old are of no use to capitalism because they are no longer productive as a result the state is unwillingly supporting them adequately so the family often have to take responsibly of their care

Question 22

Post modern society and old age

Answer 22

Post modern sociologists argue that in todays post modern society the fixed orderly stages of the life course have broken down for example trends such as children dressing in adult like clothes later marriage and earlier retirement giving individuals a greater choice in life styles

Hunt 2005 argues “this means we can chose a lifestyle and identity regardless of age our age no longer determines who we are or how we live

Question 23

Inequality amongst the old

Answer 23

Pilcher 1995 argues that inequalities such as class and gender remain important many of these are relate to the individuals previous occupational position

Question 24

Class

Answer 24

The middle class have better occupational pensions and greater savings from higher salaries.poorer old people have a shorter life expectancy and suffer more infirmity making it more difficult to maintain a youthful self identify

Question 25

Gender

Answer 25

Women lower earnings and careers break as carers mean lower pensions they are subject to sexist as well as ageist stereotyping for example being described as old hags

Question 26

Policy implications

Answer 26

Donald Hirsch 2005 argues that a number of important social policies will need to change to tackle the new problems posed by an ageing population the main problem will be how to finance a longer period of old age

Housing policies may need to change to encourage older people yo trade down into smaller accommodation this would release wealth to improve their standard of living and free up housing for younger people

Question 27

Migration

Answer 27

In addition to natural change birth and deaths the other factor affecting the size and age of the population is migration the movement of people from place to place it can be internal within a society or international

Question 28

Acceleration

Answer 28

There has been a speeding up of the rate of migration

Question 29

Data to support the acceleration of migration

Answer 29

In 2000 there were 57.5 million migrants in the UK

In 2020 there were 281 million migrants in the UK

Question 30

Differentiation

Answer 30

There are many types of migrants they include:
Permanent settlers
Temporary workers
Spouses
Forced migrants( refugees + asylum seekers)

Question 31

Globalisation before the 1990s

Answer 31

Globalisation was from the British colonies they had the right to settle and formed tight knit communities in concentrated areas

Question 32

Globalisation after the 1990s

Answer 32

Globalisation has led to super diversity (Vertovec 2007) wider range of countries,ethnicities,legal status,cultures and religions

Question 33

Cohen 2006

Answer 33

States that there are 3 types of migrants

Citizens-legal right to settle
Denizens-privileged wealthy foreign nationals
Helots(slaves)-units of labour including trafficked workers

Question 34

Feminism and migration

Answer 34

.Most migrants used to be men but now a days half are female
.Female migrants have to fit into patriarchal stereotypes about woman’s roles e.g carers,sexual services and domestic work

Ehrenreich and Hochschild(2003) argue this is because:
.Expansion of service occupations
.Less western women willing to perform domestic labour
.State not providing adequate childcare

Roles are now filled by women from poor countries.Shutes 2011 reports that 40% of adult care nurses in the UK are migrants and females