impact on fam and society

• equal gender roles- the reduced amount of children being born and the rise of voluntary childlessness (Hakim) has given women more freedom and have more financial independence. they are more likely to be able to leave unequal relationships
• beanpole families - brannen. decreased birth and death rates means there are fewer members in each generation, with msny generations alive at the same time so the family tree looks like a beanpole. families are multigenerational and introduced modified extended families.
• ageing population - hirsch argues the traditional age pyramid is being replaced by an 'age square' where there is roughly the same number of people in each age catagory. the average age is getting older.
• advantages of an aging population - increasewd role of grandparents in the family, positive aging and the grey pound, community cohesion
• increased role of grandparents - Ross et al claim grandparents can provide free childcare for parents and so they are now part of primary socialisation. both paretns now have opportunity to work so this improves quailty of life for family and helps with the dependency ratio and pension timebomb
• positive aging and the grey pound - there is now a third age of elderly being active and enjoy freedom from work. this is positive ageing. the spending of power of the eldery is known as the grey pound as they significsntly boost the economy
• community cohesion - over 65s are likey to volunteer time for community work and less likey to commit crime so make society a better place
• disadvantages of an ageing population - dependency ratio, healthcare and strain on NHS, housing shortages and policy implications
• dependency ratio - the ratio of people who are paying taxes to those who don't. the retired eldery are the largest group of dependents (don't pay taxes). many do not have enough money from a private pension to support themselves so they rely on benefits. as many are living decades after retirement, the state has to put more money towards supporting them - pension timebomb
• healthcare and strain on NHS - the oldest people of the population make up 50% of those in hospital and 60% of prescriptions in 2013. costs of healthcare for the elderly are rising and many people are caring for elderly at home. this has led to a sandwich generation where women are caring for both children and elderly at the same time - links to equality and dual burden/triple shift.
• housing shortages - young people are unable to afford their own house as older generations are staying in large family houses on their own so house prices rise as demand is high. this creates a clipped wings generation
• policy implications - with the pension timebomb growing, increasing taxes and the retirement age can help deal with this. the retirement age is expected to go up to 68 from 2044
• conc for ageing population - Hirsch argues old age is simply a social construction. we need to change the way we view the elderly - we need to see how they still contribute to society, and that many over 65s are still healthy and physically capable of working to support the economy
• migration has increased family diversity within the UK due to bringing different family types instread of just the typical nuclear family
• with younger Eastern European people coming over for work, this helps reduce the dependency ratio as they work and pay taxes. they tend to have more children than the average British woman and so these children will grow up and work and pay taxes so this lowers the dependency ratio