Demography

Birth rate

→ Live births per 1000 of the population per year

→ Long-term decline since 1900; 28.7 to 12.2 in 2014

→ Baby booms happened over time

• post war, 1960s

→ Increased since 2001

Future trends in birth rates

→ Increase since 2001 is attributed to immigration

→

Total fertility rate

→ Avg. number of children birthed during a woman’s fertile years (16-45)

→ Risen recently, but still lower in past

• 1964 was peak (2.95)

• 2001 was lowest (1.63)

• 2014 was 1.83

→ Women are having children later, or not having them at all

Why is there a decline in birth rate?

→ Changes in womens position

→ Decline in infant mortality

→ Children are economic liabilities

→ Society is child-centred

Harper -- BR/changes in position

Education is the most important reason for the long-term fall in birth rates

→ Change in mindset among women; dont have to be housewives

→ Many delay/dont have kids

→ No of 45yo childless women has doubled in 25 years

Harper -- BR/IMR

A fall in the IMR leads to a fall in the birth rate

→ Parents no longer have to ‘repalce’ dead babies, so fewer births overall

What is the infant mortality rate and why has it fallen?

No. of infants dying before 1st birthday, per 1000 babies born alive yearly

Fallen in 20th century:

→ Better nutrition/services for mum/baby

→ Improved sanitation, reduced infectious disease

→ Knowledge of child welfare/health

→ Medical factors e.g. midwifery, antibiotics, vaccines

Children as economic liabilities

→ Can no longer work at an early age; children used to be assets, but now are economically dependent for longer

→ Changing norms = kids are more expensive

→ Parents may not be able to afford a big family

Society as child-centred

Childhood is a more important period in our lives

→ Parents have fewer children, give more attention to those few

Effects of changes in fertility

→ Effects on the family

→ Dependency ratio

→ Vanishing children

→ Public services/policies

→ Aging population

Effects on the family -- fertility

Smaller families = women freer to go to work

→ Creates a dual-earning couple

→ Better off couples may also be able to have bigger families + still use childcare services to work f/t

Effects on dependency ratio -- fertility

This is the size of the working population vs non-working

→ Children make up most of dependent population, so less kids = reduction in burden of dependency

→ Long-term, will be a smaller working population so burden rises again

Effect on vanishing children -- fertility

Fall in TFR = less kids

→ Childhood is lonelier

→ More childless adults, so fewer voices speaking in childrens’ interests

→ May make children more valued

Effect on public services/policies -- fertility

Less schools/maternity/child health services needed

→ Also lowers costs of maternity/paternity leave on the public

→ Changes types of houses needed (smaller, not bigger)

Effect on aging population -- fertility

Less kids = average age of population rises

Tranter -- death rate

Death rate has declined so heavily in 19th/20th century due to fall in deaths from infectious diseases

→ Particularly TB

→ HOWEVER these have been replaced by diseases of affluence

• Heart disease, cancer

• Affect the old, rather than the young

Reasons for decline in death from infection

→ Improved nutrition

→ Medical advancements

→ Reduction in smoking?

→ Public health measure

→ Other social changes

McKeown -- DR/nutrition

Nutritional accounts for half the reduction in deaths from infectious disease

→ Increased resistance for those infected

→ But, how come women live longer even though they tend to get smaller shares of the food supply?

Medical advancements -- DR

→ Antibiotics/immunisation

→ NHS gives care to people

→ Bypass surgeries + medication for heart disease

Reduction in smoking -- DR

→ May be counteracted by rise in obesity

• Deaths from this kept low due to medication

• Rise of American health culture where lifestyles are unhealthy, but long lifespan is achieved via medication

Harper -- DR/smoking

Greatest fall in death comes from reduction in smoking

Public health measures -- DR

Help to improve quality of the environment

→ Clean Air Act

→ Improved housing quality

→ Pasteurised milk

Other social changes -- DR

→ Decline of dangerous manual occupations e.g. mining

→ Smaller families reduce transmission rates

→ Greater public knowledge of causes of infection

→ Lifestyle changes; reduction in smoking

→ Higher incomes; healthier, higher qual. lifestyle

Life expectancy

→ Increase of 2 years per decade for last 2 centuries

→ Previously very low due to IMR

Harper -- life expectancy

We will soon achieve radical longevity if lif expectancy continues to increase

→ Predicted to be 1mil centarians by 2100

Class, gender and regional differences -- life expectancy

→ Women generally live longer than men

• Gap is narrowing due to lifestyle changes

→ Those in the North/Scotland have lower life expectancy than those in the South

→ W/c men in unskilled jobs 3x as likely to die before 65 as men in professional jobs

→ Walker; those in poor areas of England die 7 years earlier than those in the richest

Ageing population

→ Average age of population is rising

→ 2014; 65+ equal to u15s

→ Caused by rising life expectancy + decline in IMR/TFR

Effects of aging population

→ Public services

→ One-person households

→ Dependency ratios

Public services -- aging population

Elderly people consume larger proportion of public services

→ Possible changes in policy/provision of housing/transport/other services

→ BUT many remain in good health

One-person households -- ageing population

→ Lots of pensioners in this family type

→ Feminisation of later life; most are women, as usually outlive their husbands

Dependency ratio -- ageing population

Retired elderly are economically dependent and provided for via taxation

→ Dependency ratio increases as people retired

→ Pension withdrawal age rising due to this

→ Increase in number of old people is offset by declining number of kids

• Will have long-term negative effect

Ageism -- ageing population

Negative stereotyping/treatment of people based on their age

→ Rising due to ageing pop. - especially due to cost of pensions/healthcare for the old

Modern soceity and old age

Say ageism comes from structured dependency

→ Old people excluded from paid work, so dependent on family/state

→ Identity/status in modern society is based on your role in production, which old people are excluded from

→ Made powerless, as excluded from labour force, which is important in role allocation

Phillipson -- ageism

Old people are of no use to capitalism; no longer productive

→ State is unwilling to support them, so family must take on their care

Postmodern society and old age

→ Trends have blurred boundaries between life stages

• Individuals have greater choice, regardless of age

• Early retirement, kids dressing like adults

→ Elderly can shape their identities via ==rejuvenation services ==e.g. Botox

• Can write their own identities as we focus on surface features

→ Breaks down ageist stereotypes

→ Centrality of the media means positive aspects of elderly life can be portrayed

Pilcher -- inequality among the old

Inequalities of class/gender are still important after stages of the life course are broken down

→ M/c have better pensions/savings to live a better life/maintain self-identity

→ Women also suffer from this; lower pay, career breaks, + sexist stereotyping of them as ‘old hags’ vs men as ‘dilfs’

Evaluation of postmodern explanation of ageing

Understates the importance of inequality

Hirsch -- policy implications of ageing

Lots of important social policies must change to tackle issues caused by the ageing population

→ How do we finance longer periods of old age?; working for longer, or paying more taxes while working?

→ Housing policies so old people can trade down into smaller housing

• Frees up housing for young people

→ Need cultural changes in attitudes towards old age

Migration and demographics

Migration affects the size/age of the population

→ Immigration = movement into society

→ Emigration = movement out

→ Net migration = difference between im/em

• Until 1980s, more emigrants than immigrants

Immigration and demographics

→ Results in ethnically diverse society

→ Immigration acts in 60s-90s restricted non-white immigration

• White EU countries are main source of UK immigration

Emigration and demographics

→ UK used to be a net exporter of people (more em. than imm.)

• Mostly to US/CAN/AUS/NZ/SA

→ Usually economic factors caused this

• Push factors; recession/unemployment at home

• Pull factors; higher wages/opportunities abroad

→ Contracts with immigrant reasons - many people immigrated to UK due to persecution

Impact of migration on population size

→ Increase due to immigration

→ Natural increase in births; non-UK mothers account for 25% of all births

• still below replacement level of 2.1 per woman

→ If not for net migration, population would be shrinking

Impact of migration on age structure

→ Lowers avg. age of population directly + indirectly

• Direct; immigrants usually younger

• Indirect; young immigrants = more fertile, have kids

Impact of migration on dependency ratio

→ More likely to be of working age; lowers DR

• Many older migrants will return to home country to retire

→ Produce more children, so increase ratio

• Lowers long term as they join labour force

→ Overall impact of DR is reduced over time

What is globalisation?

→ Barriers between societies are disappearing

→ People are becoming increasingly interconnected across nations

→ Produces rapid social change; e.g. increased international migration

United Nations -- acceleration of migration

International migration is speeding up

→ Increased 33% 2000-2013

Differentiation -- globalisation

→ Different types of migrants; temp workers, spouses, forced migration

• Legal and illegal

→ Globalisation diversifies migrant types; students are a major group

→ Pre-90s most came from former colonies who had a right to settle

Vertovec -- differentiation

Globalisation leads to superdiversity

→ Migrants come from more countries

→ More dispersed across UK

Cohen -- differentiation

3 types of migrants

→ Citizens with full rights

→ Denizen; privileged foreign nations e.g. oligarchs

→ Helots; most exploited, found in unskilled work

Feminisation of migration

→ More migrants are female now

→ Fitted into patriarchal stereotypes; roles as carers/providers of sexual service

→ Gap of women in the services industry is filled by women from poor countries

Ehrenreich & Hochschild -- feminisation of migration

Care/domestic/sex work is increasingly done by women from poor countries because…

→ Western women/men unwilling to do domestic labour

• Western women joining labour force

Shutes -- feminisation of migration

40% of adult care nurses in UK are migrants, mostly female

Global transfer of womens emotional labour -- feminisation of migration

→ Nannies provide care to employers’ children

→ At expense of their own children from their home country

Mail order brides -- feminisation of migration

→ Women entering western countries to marry

→ Reflects gender/racial stereotypes

Migrant identities

→ Sources of identities come from many places

→ Country of origin often provides additional identity

→ Hybrid identities; 2+ sources of ID

→ Transnational identities; not belonging to just one place

Eade -- hybrid identities

Bangladeshi Muslims had hierarchical hybrid identities

→ Muslim, then Bengali, then British

→ May find others challenge their identity

Eriksen -- transnational identities

Globalisation has created diverse migration patterns

→ Back-and-forth movements, rather than permanent settlement

→ Can sustain global ties without travel

Eriksen -- links to other migrants

People may have links to migrants globally, more than just their country of origin or settlement

→ Chinese migrants in Rome had connections with other Chinese worldwide

→ Makes immigrants less likely to desire assimilation into host culture

Politicisation of migration

→ States have immigration control policies

• Linked to anti-terrorism policies

→ ==Assimilation ==was first state policy approach

• Encouraging immigrants to adopt language/values of host culture

• Transnational migrants may not want to view themselves as belonging to just one nation

→ Multiculturalism; accepts migrants want to retain a separate identity, but often limited to superficial diversity

• Move to this since 60s, apprehensive to do so since 9/11

Evaluation of politicisation of migration

→ Assimilation policies could encourage workers to blame migrants for social issues eg unemployment

→ Multicultural ed policies only celebrate shallow diversity; fail to address deeper issues of racism

Castles -- assimilation

Assimilation policies are counterproductive

→ Mark out minorities as culturally ‘other’

Eriksen -- multiculturalism

Shallow diversity is acceptable to the state

→ e.g. chicken tikka masala as UK national dish

→ Ignore deep diversity e.g. arranged marriages and veiling