Demography, Marriage, Diorce And Family Diversity Flashcards
What is the birth rate and why has there been a long term decline in number of births since 1940s
Birth rate: The number of live births per thousand of the population per year. There has been a decline, due to the baby boomers who were born post world wars
What is the total fertility rate?
The average number of children women will have during their fertile years (15-44)
What is the average age of a mother at child birth?
30.7
What are the 4 main reasons for a decline in the birth rate?
- Changes in women’s positions. - decline in the infant mortality rate. - Children are now an economic liability. - Child centredness
What is immigration, Net Migration and emigration?
Immigration - The movement into an area or society. Emigration - Movement out of an area or country. Net migration - Difference between the numbers immigrating and the numbers emigrating.
What’s an immigrant, refugee and asylum seeker?
Immigrant - a person who leaves one country to settle permanently in another. Refugee - A person who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war or violence. Asylum seeker- A person who says he or she is a refuge, but whose claim has not yet been definitively evaluated.
What are the possible reasons why immigration is a problem in the UK?
Housing Crisis, NHS struggling financially, Illegal Immigrants, Crime,Overpopulation,Job crises.
What are the trends in UK immigration recently?
- Net migration has been stable since 2015 at around 200,000 to 300,000 a year. - Biggest sources of immigration are Eastern European countries (e.g Poland). - The UK population stands at more than 65 million, Net migration accounts for 75% of this growth.
What are the push and pull factors for migrants coming to the Uk?
Push : Unemployment /low wages, war and conflict, political and religious persecution. Pull: higher wages/job prospects p, good social welfare, tolerance of diversity
What did Harper (education) in 2012 discover about changes in women’s positions
That Education is the most important reason for the long term fall in birth and fertility rates.
What’s the infant mortality rate
The number infants who die before their first birthday, per thousand babies born alive, per year.
What did Brass and Kabir (1978) say about the decline in infant mortality rate?
The trend to smaller families began not in rural areas, where the IMR originally began to fall, but in urban areas, where the IMR remained higher for longer.
What are the 3 main effects of changes in Fertility?
1) The Family, 2) The dependency ratio, 3) Public services and policies.
How is the family affected by changes in fertility?
Smaller families = women going to work. Creates a dual earner couple rather than the husband being the common “breadwinner”
What is the dependency ratio?
Relationship between working (independent) and non-working (dependent) parts of the population
How does changes in fertility affect the dependency ratio?
Childhood may become lonelier, more childless adults might mean less voices speaking up for them. In long term there will be a smaller working population
How does changes in fertility rate affect public services and policies?
Fewer schools, child health and maternity services needed. Also will have an ageing population
What is the death rate?
Number of deaths per thousand of the population per year.
What was Tranter (diseases) in 1996 reason for the decline in birth rate?
He found that over 3/4 of the decline in the birth rate from 1850 to 1970 was due to a fall in the number of deaths from infectious diseases such as measles, smallpox, diphtheria,typhoid and tuberculosis.
What did McKeown in 1972 argue about nutrition - in terms of death rates?
That improved nutrition accounted for up to half the reduction in death rates and was particularly important in reducing the number of deaths. Better nutrition increases resistance to infection and increased survival chances of those who become infected.
What are the reasons for the decline in death rate?
Improved Nutrition, medical improvements, smoking and diet, public health measures, other social changes , life expectancy, class gender and regional differences.
What did Walker (2011) discover to do with class and death?
Those living in the poorest areas of England die on average 7 years earlier than those in the richest area, while the average difference in disability-free life expectancy is 17 years
What is the trend of the average age of the UK population?
It is rising. In 1971- 34.1. In 2021- 41.7
What did Hirsch (pyramids) in (2005) discover about the ageing population
That the traditional age pyramid is disappearing and being replaced more or less by equal sized blocks.
What are the possible causes for the ageing population?
Increasing life expectancy, declining infant mortality rate, declining fertility rate.
What are the effects of an ageing population on families and households
Older couple households, older one-person households, extended families, extended ties and residential proximity, beanpole families, grand parenting, the economic consequences
What did Robin Cohen (2006) find about class differences against immigrants
3 different ‘types’ of people :
Citizens - with full citizenship rights such as voting rights.
Denizens- privileged people welcomed by the state- such as billionaire ‘oligarchs’
Helots - the most exploited group- include illegally trafficked workers
What did Ehrenreich and Hochschild (2003) find about the feminisation of migration?
That care work, domestic work and sex work in the UK is increasingly done by women from poorer countries.
What is the main trend of marriages?
There has been a long term decline in the number of marriages
What’s the 4 social factors which explain changing patterns of marriage?
Economic factors, changing gender roles,postmodernism- more individual Freedom/changing values/decline of traditional, The New right - moral decline.
When was the divorce reform act? And when did it become effective?
1969, became effective from 1st of Jan 1971
What was the peak year for the divorce rate?
1987
What are the 7 reason sociologists identify to explain the increase in divorce
Changes in the law, declining stigma and changing social attitudes, secularisation, rising expectations of marriage, the ideology of romantic love, marriage is seen as unrealistic, social networking sites
How has declining stigmas affected divorce?
Divorce is no longer viewed as something shameful
What is secularisation
Refers to the declining significance of religion in society
What did Beck and Beck- Gernsheim (1995) suggest about divorce rates?
Results of a rapidly changing and postmodern world which values: individualisation, conflict and choice
What did Deborah Chambers (2001) argue about family’s in 1950s
Developed their family and social structures on the white middle class nuclear family which was prominent in the media.
What is Parsons functional fit 2 ‘irreducible functions’?
Primary socialisation of children and the stabilisation of adult personalities
What did Amato in 2000 say about families?
That families face greater risk of poverty, educational failure, crime, health problems and issues in future relationships.
What is Willmots symmetrical family
It is where a family a family divides all responsibilities equally between partners
What is Robert Chester’s neo-conventional family?
A dual earning family in which both parents go out to work not just the father
