Demography

What is demography?

The scientific study of population characteristics.

How is the birth rate calculated?

the number of live births per thousand per year

What is the total fertility rate?

the amount of children women have at childbearing age

When was the TFR at it's highest and lowest in the UK?

Highest = 1960s, 2.93 \n Lowest = 2020, 1.58

How has the average age that women give birth changed?

It has increased; now the average age is 30.7

Why have birth rates decreased?

- The change of women's position \n - Lower infant mortality rates \n - Children as a economic liability \n - Child centred family

What does Harper argue is the main reason for the decline in birth rates?

the education of women; changing mindsets, ambitions and encourages family planning \n - found that in 2019, almost 1/5 45 year old women were childless \n Argues that once the pattern of low fertility has lasted one generation, norms surrounding the family change

Why have infant mortality rates decreased?

better housing, better nutrition, womens magazines started spreading knowledge about looking after children, less women were married meaning they had better health, improved medical factors since the 50s

How has the infant mortality rate changed?

1900 = 154 \n 1950 = 30 \n 2019 = 4.6

Children as an economic liability

- until the late 19th century childrem were economic assets \n - laws and attitudes meant that children could no longer work and therefore became economically dependent on parents \n - norms and values surrounding what and how parents should provide for children

The effect of the child centred family on birth rates

the increasing importance of 'childhood' meant that there was a shift from quantity of children to quality of parent, parents were having less children

dependency ratio

working population : non-working population

How is the dependency ratio affected by fertility?

if there are less children, there is a smaller dependent population. However, this also means that there will be less future workers, creating a higher dependency ratio

burden of dependency

The working population has to pay more tax and national insurance to support those unable to work and provide the services they need

Vanishing children

Argument that fewer children with fewer siblings and more childless adults will lead children to have less of a voice - they lose power \n - less need for child centred services \n - governments will make changes that negatively affect children eg. less maternity leave

Ageing population

a population with a rising average age (UK)

What are the changes in death rates in the UK

1900 = 19 \n 2019 = 9.1

Tranter

Fall of deaths is mainly due the fall in number of infectious diseases; the most decline was among young people

Diseases of affluence

Affect primarily wealthy countries due to mainly lifestyle choices and extended age, replaced infectious diseases in the 1950s \n Obesity, Diabetes, alcohol and smoking, heart disease

Mckowen

improved nutrition accounts for half the reduction of death rates \n HOWEVER: women live longer than men but receive less of the family food supply \n deaths from measles and infant diarrhoea increased at the time of improved nutrition

Medical improvements

antibiotics, immunisation, NHS (1948) since the 50's \n eg. medication and bypass surgery has decreased deaths from heart disease by 1/3

Smoking

Harper believes that the greatest fall in death rates has come from the decrease in smoking \n HOWEVER more women are smoking

American health culture

Some sociologists argue Britain is moving towards an American health culture that relies on costly medication rather than maintaining good health: health as a commodity. \n eg. drug therapies used for obesity

Public health measures

laws, policies, improved housing, Clean Air Acts, prevention of dangerous manual labour, more public knowledge

How has life expectancy changed?

over the past 200 years, life expectancy has increased by 2 years per decade

Life expectancy differences in social groups

- women live longer than men \n - People living in the poorest areas of England die on average 7 years earlier than those in the richest (Walker) \n - there is a 17 year difference between disabled people and able bodied people \n - Working class men with routine jobs are 3x more likely to die before 65 that those with professional jobs

What is the trend of the average age of the UK population?

1971 - 34.1 \n 2020 - 40.4 \n 2037 - estimated to be 42.8

Hirsch age pyramid

the traditional age 'pyramid' is being replaced by less equal sized blocks

The affect of the ageing population on public services

- older people consume more eg. healthcare \n - there are changing policies surrounding housing and transport etc.

One person pensioner households

The number of pensioners living alone as increased and make up 1/7 of households

feminisation of later life

Among the over 75s there are twice as many women as men: women live longer than men and are often younger than their husbands

How many pensioners are there compared to people at working age?

2022: 3.5 people of working age for every pensioner (dependency ratio) HOWEVER: the pension age is rising, so old doesn't equal economically dependent

What affects the dependency ratio?

pensioners, birth rates, ageing population

Structured dependency

old people are excluded from paid work and therefore made dependent on the working population. This results in ageism

Phillipson

The old are of no use to capitalism as they are no longer productive so the state is no longer willing to support them fully so the family (mostly female relatives) have to take responsibility for their care.

modernity and ageism

status is given based on your role in production - elderly are excluded so face more discrimination

postmodernity and identity

identity is more fluid and based on consumption rather than production

Hunt and identity

people can now choose an identity regardless of age, old people become a market for 'rejuvenation' goods

inequalities among elderly

Pilcher: middleclass elderly have a higher pension and more savings, women suffer from lower pensions and sexist ageism

age concern

Identified three key media stereotypes of the elderly. Old people were disproportionately represented as: \n -A burden \n -Mentally challenged \n -Grumpy

immigration

moving into a society \n - by 2021, MEG's made up 14.4% of the UK population \n - immigration lowers the population's average age and afffects the dependency ratio

Emmigration

moving out of a country \n from the early 16th century, the UK was a net exporter of people \n push and pull factors

Examples of mass immigration

windrush generation (after WW2) \n new countries joining the EU meant that people were free to move to the UK

Assimilation

taking on a host culture

Multiculturalism

embracing different cultures

Superdiversity

A term used to describe diversity across and within immigrant and ethnic groups; includes a range of factors beyond language and ethnicity (e.g., race, education level, country of origin, migration history, socioeconomic status). \n since the 1990s,globalistation has led to superdiversity in the UK

Class differences among migrants

-citizens - have full rights \n - denizens - privileged foreign nationals \n - helots - disposable labour - poorly paid workers - including illegal trafficked workers \n (Cohen)

the feminisation of migration

- half of all migrants are now female \n - globalisation of the gender division of labour: female migrants are fitted into stereotypical roles

globalisation of the gender division of labour

Ehrenreich and Hochschild

care/domestic/sex work in western countries is increasingly done by women from poorer countries

Shutes

40% of adult care nurses in the UK are migrants, most of these are female.

Hybrid identities

migrants often identify with mutiple identities \n - Eade found that second generation Bangladeshi Muslims in Britain had hierarchal identities; Muslim, then Bengali, the British

Globalisation and migration patterns (Erikson)

migrants are likely to create hybrid identities instead of belonging to a single culture. The internet has meant that migrants can have global connections