Family 4 - Changing Family Patterns Flashcards
What is demography?
Who makes up society by statistics
Why study demography?
- Suggest policies to improve life for specific groups (e.g. women’s employment laws, education acts)
- Changes in society over time and their impact (e.g decreased birth rate)
- Research issues experienced by these different groups
Why has the population of Britain increased over the last 100 years?
Natural change (births minus deaths) NOT net migration (immigrants minus emigrants)
What’s the birth rate in 1990 and 2014 per 1,000?
1990 = 29
2014 = 12.2
Why has the birth rate decreased?
Changing position of women (e.g. working)
Lower infant mortality
Children are an economic liability
We’re more child-centred
Why has IMR (infant mortality rate) decreased?
Better healthcare
Better standards of living
How have changing women’s role affected birth rate?
Shorter relationships (divorce, etc.) you might only have children in a secure relationship therefore less children are being born
Further education for women so women wouldn’t want children whilst studying and have them later when fertility is lower AND women’s attitudes have changed so they want less (Sarah Happer 2012)
Changing attitudes to women’s roles in family so women are working more and aren’t expected to have children
Birth control, abortion are less stigmatised so more often used
More likely to work, and work full time so less time to both have children and take care of them
Why are children now an economic liability?
Changes in how society sees children
Laws
How is child-centredness affecting birth rate?
Parents have more to do
What is the dependency ratio?
Number of children (0-15) + number of pensioners (>65)
——————————————————————————
Number of working age (16-65)
Whats the rough amount of deaths for the past 100 years?
600,000 per year
Why has the death rate decreased?
The population has increased considerably so the number of deaths per 1,000 has decreased
What was the death rate in 1990 and 2014?
19 and 8.9
Why has the death rate decreased?
Nutrition
Public health
Medical improvements
Social changes
Why has nutrition affected the death rate?
Better access to food -> choose healthy diet
Advances in farming tech -> vitamins
Education (link to med conditions)
Access to clean water
McKeown (1972) nutrition has halved the death rate -> fight diseases
Whats the criticism of nutrition affecting death rate?
Doesn’t explain why females live longer than males (females get less of the household food)
Diet is also the cause of a lot of new diseases (type 2 diabetes)
Diseases of affluence means we’re eating the wrong thing
Death of measles and infant diarrhoea increased when people had more access to nutrition
How has public health helped decrease death rate?
NHS free to everyone (1948)
Better legislation e.g water, sewage, pollution, less overcrowding of houses
How has medical advancements decreased the death rate?
Introduction of talking cure in 1918 for shell shock (William Rivers)
1940s - antibiotics saved 15% of soldiers in WW2
1958 - mass vaccination AND ultrasound
1960 onwards - organ transplants
New medicines = increased survival (e.g. cancer)
New technology = improvements in medical research
Heart disease has been reduced by a third
Criticisms of medical improvements?
Overuse of antibiotics = resistant bacteria
How has social changes decreased the death rate?
Improved education - greater knowledge of hygiene
Better living standards (higher wages, increasing quality of social housing)
Safer working conditions (closure of dangerous manual occupations) 1974
Introduction of social media and internet means more communication and knowledge of better lifestyles and illness symptoms
Social trends (smoking decreased)
Criticisms of social changes affecting death rate?
Social media and internet increases fake news, doesn’t help peoples health (stress) and give false information
Now alternates to smoking (vaping)
Whats the difference between structural sociologists (functionalists) and postmodernists view on ageism?
Structural - old age is a life stage, stigmatised with associations of dependency and being a burden
Postmodernists - people are always free to choose their identities through our lifestyle
Why is there an ageing population?
Increasing life expectancy
Declining infant mortality
Declining fertility
What are the effects of an ageing population?
Older people consume a larger proportion of public services which could cause changes in public services
There’s a ‘feminisation of later life’ because women live longer, and one person is living in a bigger house than they need
The dependency ratio increases
Ageism
Why does ageism exist?
Result of ‘structured dependancy’ (excluded from paying work so are dependant)
Phillipson (1982) old are no longer useful to capitalism so the state is unwilling to support them
What do postmodernists say about ageism?
Life stage boundaries are being blurred
We are a consumer culture so the old are a market, going against stereotypes
Inequalities among the old?
Pilcher (1995) class and gender remain important in old age (postmodernists understate these)
What needs to change to tackle ageism?
Paying more from saving/tax
Housing policies to encourage older people to move to smaller accommodation so younger people can have better housing
Cultural change in our attitudes towards old age
What is net migration?
Immigrants minus emigrants
Changes in cultural immigration patterns from 1900 to today?
1900 - WW2: mainly Irish immigrants (economic reasons), European Jews (fleeing persecution), Canada and USA
1950s: Windrush (Caribbean immigrants invited over to work)
1960s & 70s: South Asian and East African (economic reasons)
1960 - 1990: severe restrictions on non-white immigration
2004 - 2016: increase of Eastern European immigrants
2010s - Windrush Scandal
UK’s emigration?
Mid 16th century - 1980s: net exporter of people
1900s - : gone to USA, Canada, Australia, etc.
Reasons for emigration in UK?
Economic (push factors: recession/unemployment at home, pull factors: higher wages/ better opportunities abroad)
Impact of migration on population size?
High net migration due to immigration
Natural increase (births exceed deaths) because immigrants have higher birth rate
Impact of migration on age structure?
Lowers average age:
Direct - immigrants are younger
Indirect - being younger they have more children
Impact of migration on dependancy ratio?
Immigrants are of working age so decrease ratio
They have more kids so increase ratio
The longer a group is settled in a country, the fertility rate becomes closer to national average
What policies have been put in place for immigration?
Assimilation (encourage immigrants to become ‘like us’ and our culture)
Multiculturalism (accepts the other cultural identity, such as multicultural education)
Whats a criticism of politicising education?
Eriksen - encourages ‘shallow diversity’ (we accept surface elements such as dress but not address ‘deep diversity’ such as arranged marriages)
Castles (2000) assimilation are counter-productive because they over emphasise the minorities differences
Castles and Kosack (1973) racially divided working class prevents united action against capitalism
What are the world migration stats for 2000 and 2020?
2000 - 57.5 million
2020 - 281 million
Types of migrants?
Permanent settlers
Temporary workers
Spouses
Forced migrants (refugee and asylum seekers)
Students
What does Vertovec (2007) say 1990s globalisation has led to?
Super diversity
What types of migrants does Cohen (2006) say there are?
Citizens - legal right to settle
Denizens - privileged wealthy foreign nationals
Helots - (slaves) units of labour including trafficked workers
Whats the feminists perspective on migration?
Women migrating fit into patriarchal stereotypes (carers, sexual services, domestic work)
Ehrenreich and Hochschild (2003) argue this is because:
-expansion of service occupations (demand for labour)
-less western women willing to perform domestic labour
-western men still unwilling to perform domestic labour
-state not providing adequate childcare
Evidence for migrant women fitting into patriarchal structure?
Shutes (2004) 40% of adult care nurses in the UK are migrants and female
What does Eade (1994) say about migrant identities?
Second generational Bangladeshi Muslims in UK create hierarchal identities (Muslim, then Bengali, then British)
Why is it easier to keep transnational identities nowadays?
Eriksen (2007) globalisation means more transient movement through networks rather than a settlement in another culture
Modern tech (contact, culture)
Globalised economy means migrants have more links to other migrants around the world
What are the changing patterns of divorce and marriage?
More divorce (65% applicants women, increase on past)
Less marriages
What is the history of divorce?
1857 - rare and too costly to gain parliamentary permission
1920s - more divorces, divorce grounds equalised for men and women and widened reasons
1949 - legal aid available (more affordable)
1969 - Divorce Law Reform passed (no guilty party necessary for divorce)
1984 - reduced time from separation to divorce
1996 - Family Law Act encourages mediation
2004 - same for civil partnership
2007 - 50-50 beginning split of assets
2014 - same rules for same-sex marriages
Reasons for increase in divorce?
Changes in the law
Declining stigma and changing attitudes
Secularisation
Rising expectations of marriage
Women’s increased financial independence
Feminist explanations
Modernity and individualisation
How has changes in the law increased divorce rate?
Equalised grounds for divorce (1923 sharp rise in divorce petitions from women)
Widening grounds (1971 ‘irretrievable breakdown’ doubled it overnight)
Making it cheaper (1949 legal aid more accessible)
How has declining stigma changed divorce rates?
Mitchell and Goody (1997) since 60s there’s a rapid decline in stigma attached to divorce
This means couples are more willing to see divorce as a solution
How has secularisation increased divorce rates?
Churches previously condemned divorce but are losing influence (church attendance rates continue to decline) so people don’t take it into account when making life choices
Many churches have also softened their views on divorce
How has rising expectations of marriage increased divorce rates?
Fletcher (1966) higher expectations make couples less willing to tolerate an unhappy marriage
Allan and Crow (2001) love, commitment and intrinsic satisfaction are seen as cornerstones of marriage. The absence of these is reason to end it
How has women’s increased financial independence effected divorce rates?
They have the money to end a marriage (legally and support themselves afterwards) so don’t have to tolerate shit
Allan and Crow (2001) marriage isn’t embedded within the economic system
Feminist explanation to increased divorce rates?
Jessie Bernard (1976) Dual burden and triple shift means marriage is patriarchal and women are more confident about rejecting it
Hochschild (1997) women feel valued at work, but unvalued at home (housework)
Sigle-Rushton (2007) mothers with dual burden more likely to divorce than those not working
How has modernity and individualism effected divorce rate?
Beck (1992) and Giddens (1992) modern society means traditional norms (one partner for life) lose importance so individuals are free to pursue their own interests
If a partner isn’t adding to personal fulfilment, they don’t want to stay with them
There can also be conflict of interests with both spouses working
Divorce is now normalised through rising rates
Who believes rising divorce rates is negative?
New Right (undermines marriage and nuclear family, vital to social stability AND higher dependancy rate, poorer health and education for children, and boys have no role model)
Who believes rising divorce rate is positive?
Feminists (women breaking free of patriarchal nuclear family)
Who believes divorce is both a positive and negative?
Postmodernists and individualism thesis (individuals have the freedom to choose what they want)
Functionalists (not necessarily bad because people are remarrying so marriage is still important)
Interactionists )(Morgan 1996) cannot be generalised)
Personal Life Perspective (can cause financial problems and lack of contact for children and parents, but is normalised and can be seen as ‘one transition amongst others’ (Carol Smart))
Marriage statistics?
Marriage rates lowest since 1920s
More remarriages than ever before (33.33%) leading to serial monogamy (marry, divorce, marry, divorce)
People are marrying later - 7 year increase from 1971 to 2012
Couples less likely to marry in church (1981 - 60%, 2012 - 30%)
What are the reasons for decreases in marriage?
Declining stigma
Changing position of women
Secularisation
Fear of divorce (especially with rising divorce rate)
All of these lead to a rise in one person households (3 in 10 households in 2013)
Why has declining stigma decreased marriage?
Co-habitation more socially acceptable
Less pressure for ‘shotgun’ wedding - due to pregnancy
Remaining single is more normalised
Co-habitation stats and reasons for increase?
Increased in UK 25% of all unmarried adults under 60, double the number in 1986
Decline of stigma (pre-marital sex, 1989: 44% its not wrong, 2012: 65% its not wrong)
Secularisation
Women have their own money and career opportunities
Same sex relationships (5-7% of adults in Britain 2012)
Alternative to marriage?
Living together apart (LATs) 20% see it as ideal
Co-habitation
One-person households
Childbearing stats?
44% born outside of marriage (50% more than 1986) - more socially acceptable
28.1 womens age first child 2012 - more focused on career
1.94 children per women (2010) 2.95 1964 - more focused on career
49% of women under 30 don’t have children - more focused on career
Lone parent stats and why?
22% of all families with children
90% with lone mothers
Up until 1990s this was mostly divorced women, now women who have never married are more
A child with a lone parent is more likely to grow up in poverty
Increased divorce and changing attitudes towards marriage
Reasons for female headed lone parent household?
Divorce courts give custody to mother
Parson’s “expressive role”
Earning power of males - less willing to give up work for children
Changing attitudes towards marriage -> feminism (Renvoize women able to raise children without fathers involvement)
Rise of feminism
New right on lone parent families?
Charles Murray (1984) the growth of lone parent families is because of an over generous welfare state as it offers a ‘perversion incentive’ by rewarding irresponsible behaviour and creating a dependancy culture. He argues to abolish the welfare state.
Criticism of new right thinking on lone parent families?
Welfare benefits are not generous and they might be in poverty because:
No affordable childcare so lone parents can’t work (60% unemployed)
Mostly are women and earn less than men
Failure of fathers to pay maintenance
Step family stats?
10% of all families with children in Britain
85% have at least 1 child from the woman’s previous relationship, 11% from man’s, 4% from both
Ferri and Smith (1998) step families similar to first families and positive step parents help with childcare, but at risk of poverty (man might be paying child maintenance)
Allan and Crow (2001) may have issues with divided loyalty and contact with non resident parents could cause conflict (lack of social norms on how families should behave)
Why have the amount of step families increased?
Increased divorce rates
Social (and even some churches) attitudes to remarriages have changed
