Families topic 4

• births 


  Defined as the number of live births per thousand of the population per year,

  there’s been a long-term decline since 1900 from 29 per thousand to 13 per thousand in 2012. However, baby boom e.g. after world wars have fluctuated this
• births- total fertility rate

  Factors determinimg birth rate

  • proportion of women who are childbearing age and how fertile they are total fertility is the average number of kids women will have in their fertile years
  • The U.K.’s total fertility rate has risen in recent years, but is still lower than the past all time low of 1.63 kids per woman in 2001, rose to 1.83 by 2014 but it’s still lower than the peak of 2.95 kids during 1960s baby boom
  • changes reflect the fact that more women are remaining childless than in the past and women are postponing having kids
• (births)reasons for decline- changes in womens position

  • Major changes in position of women in 20th century, included equality legislation, Sue Sharp study that girls now do better than boys at school, more educational opportunities access to abortion and contraception easier to access divorce
  • according to Sarah Harper education of women is most important reason as it led to a change in the mindset of women they see a life outside of traditional role of housewife so many are choosing to delay having kids or not having them at all
• (Births) reasons for decline- decline in infant mortality rate

  Infant mortality rate measures the number of kids who died before their first birthday per thousand babies, born alive per year

  • harper argues mortality rate leads to fall in birth rate as if many kids die, parents have more to replace them and then the opposite if they don’t die
  • in 1990 ,15% of babies died
• (Births) reasons for decline- decline in infant mortality rate p2

  during the 20th century, the U.K.’s mortality rate dropped due to several reasons

  • Better housing and sanitation
  • Clean drinking water, reduced infectious disease
  • Better nutrition
  • Better knowledge of hygiene, spreading women’s magazines
  • Improved services for mothers
  • Medical factors such as vaccines against kids diseases, e.g. measles, and the introduction of welfare state
• (Births) reasons for decline- kids being an economic liability 

  In the 19th c kids were economic assets as they were sent out to Work , however, due to banning of child, labour introduction of compulsory schooling and changing norms of what kids have a right to expect from parents has made them an economic liability, dependent on parents, they have less kids as it cost more money
• (Births) reasons for decline- child centerdness 


  increasing child centredness has made childhood socially constructed as a uniquely important period in an individual life. Shift from quantity to quality. Parents have fewer kids but put more attention and resources into the kids they have.
• (Births) effects of change in fertility-the family

  Smaller families mean women are more likely to be free to go out to work, creating dual earner couples
• (Births) effects of change in fertilit- dependency ratio

  Relationships between size of working population to nonworking population, the earnings of the working population, most support, depending population kids are a large part of depending population so fall in the number of kids reduces the burden of dependency on working population however, in long-term fewer kids will mean fewer workers
• (Births) effects of change in fertility- public services and policies 


  Lower birth rate means less schools, maternity and child health services are needed. Also affects the cost of maternity leave. However many of these are political decisions, e.g. instead of reducing number of schools government could reduce class sizes
• (Births) effects of change in fertility- ageing population 


  Women having fewer kids mean the average age of population is rising
• Deaths definition

  Defined as the number of deaths per thousand of the population per year in 1900 the death rates did at 19, whereas in 2012, it had more than half to 8.9
• Deaths- reason for decline, improved nutrition

  Mckeown argued, improved nutrition amounts to half the reduction and was important in reducing the number of deaths from tuberculosis beta nutrition in increased resistance to infection. However, he fails to explain why deaths for some infectious diseases increased such as measles and infant diarrhoea
• (Deaths) reasons for decline- medical improvements

  After 1950s improved medical knowledge, techniques, etc did help reduce deaths. Advance is include antibiotics blood transfusion, and Better maternity services.
• (deaths) reasons for decline- smoking and diet

  Harper greatest fall in death rate, is due to fall of smokers. However, in the 21st-century, obesity has replaced smoking 1/4 adults in 2012 were obese, however debts kept low due to drug therapies
• (Deaths) reasons for decline- public health measures 


  20th c more effective government with power to enforce law led to arrange of improvements, e.g. improved housing, pure water, improved sewer and disposal methods
• (Migration) immigration

  Movement  into a society, European, jewish, USA and Canada, in 1950s, there was more non-white immigrants and more Caribbean

  In the 60s/70s S. Asia and Africa invited by the UK to fill labour shortages then government placed severe restrictions on non-white immigration

  One consequence is a ethically diverse society by 2011 ethnic minority groups accounted for 14%. One result is there has been greater diversity of family patterns. Impact immigrants have a higher fertility rate than UK born women which increases the population naturally.
• (migration) emigration

  Refers to movement out, from as early as the mid 16th century to the 80s, U.K.’s been a net exporter of people, more people emigrated to live elsewhere then came to settle in the UK main reasons for emigration have been economic, push factors, e.g. economic recession, pull factors, high, wages, better opportunities abroad
• (Migration) impact of migration on the uk population structure

  Uk population is rising, partly due due to immigration net migration is high with more immigrants (583,000) than, emmigrants (323000) natural increase due to birth rate exceeding deaths birth to non-British mothers is higher. Age structure, immigration lowest average age of population, directly, (immigrants are generally younger) indirectly (being younger immigrants are morefertile)
• (Migration) impact of migration on uk population structure p2


  Dependency ratio immigration has three effects immigrants being younger means they are of working age so lowers the dependency ratio but because they’re younger they have more kids increasing it again
• (migration) globalisation and migration

  Globalisation  is the idea that barriers between society are disappearing and people are becoming increasingly interconnected across boundaries. Nationally, people see globalisation as producing rapid social change, such as increased migration, we can identify several trends in global migration:

     - acceleration rate of migration has sped up between 2000, and 2013 it increased by 33%
• (Migration) globalisation and migration p2

  Differentiation many types of migrants: permanent settlers, temporary workers spouses and force migrants. Some may have legal entitlement whilst others enter without permission before 1990s immigration to the UK came from a few British colonies who had the right settle and become citizens.

    -Super diversity, however, since 1990s globalisation has led to what vertovec call, super diversity migrants now come from a range of countries even within a single ethnic group but they differ in terms of legal status. 
• (Migration) globalisation and migration p3

  There’s also class differences across migrants Cohen identifies three types of migrants citizens(with full citizenship rights) denizens (privileged foreign nationals welcomed by the state e.g. billionaires) itelots (literally slaves, most exploited group state and employers regard them as disposable units of labour who are poorly paid illegally, trafficked and tied to an employer)
• (migration) feminisation of migration

  Globalisation of gender, division of labour female migrants find they are fitted into patriarchal stereotypes about women’s roles as carers or sexual services. Hoschild observes that domestic work/sexual work is increasingly done by women from poor countries as a result of several trends; •expansion of service occupations(which, traditionally employ women in western countries has led to an increased demand for female labour)

  • Western women have joined the labourforce and less willing or able to perform domestic labour
• (migration) feminisation of migration p2


  Western men remaining, unwilling to perform domestic labour

  • the failure of the state to provide adequate childcare

  The resulting gap has been partly filled by women from poor countries 40% of adult care nurses are migrant females

  There’s also a global transfer of women’s emotional labour e.g. migrant nannies, provide care and affection to employers kids at the expense of their own kids left behind in their home country
• (migration) feministation of migration p3

  Women migrants may enter Westcountry as male ordered, brides, reflecting stereotypes. They may also be illegally, trafficked sex workers.
• (Migration) migrant identities

  We all have multiple different sources of our identity,  (family, friends, neighbourhood, ethnicity, religion, etc) That gives us a sense of belonging for migrants, their country of origin may provide additional/alternative source of identity

  Migrants may develop a hybrid identity made up of two sources eade found second generation Bangladeshi Muslim women in Britain created hierarchal identities. They saw themselves as being Muslim first, then Bengali, then British.
• (Migration) transnational identities

  Ericksen  globalisation has created more diverse migration patterns with back-and-forth movements of people through networks rather than permanent settlement in another country. As a result, migrants, less likely to see themselves as belonging completely to one culture/country. Instead they made develop a transnational identity. Technology makes it possible to sustain global ties without having to travel, meaning migrants have more links to other migrants around the world
• Politicisation of migration

  assimilation first state policy aimed encouraging immigrants to adopt the language, values and customs of the host country to make them fit in. However, it faces the problem that transnational migrants with hybrid identities may not be willing to abandon their culture.
• (migration) politicisation of migration P2

  Multiculturalism  accepts that migrants may wish to have a separate culture identity, however, acceptance may be limited to more superficial aspects of cultural identity Erickson distinguished between shallow diversity, such as regarding chicken tikka as a British traditional dish (it is acceptable to the state) and deep diversity, such as arranged marriage (isn’t acceptable to the state) 

  There has been a move back to assimilationism e.g. France, veiling of the face in public made illegal in 2010
• ageing population

  Fewer young ppl and more old ppl in population

  number of people age 65, equalled all under 15s in 2012

  Aging population is caused by three things increased life expectancy, declining infant mortality rate and declining fertility
• (Ageing population) effect of ageing population

  Public services, old people, consume most health and social care services than any other group

  One pensioner households, number of old people living alone has increased and one pension household account for 1/8 of households

  Dependency ratio, showing the number of dependents range 0 to 14 and 65+ to the total population. As the number of retired people rises. It increases the dependency ratio and burden on working population in 2015 there were 3.2 people of working age to one pensioner.
• (Ageing population) ageism modernity and post modernity-modern society+ old age


  Sociologists argue ageism is the result of structured dependency, old or excluded from work, leaving them dependent. In modern society identity and status is determined by our role in production. Those excluded from production have stigmatised identity. Philipson a Marxist argued old people are of no use to capitalism. So state is unwilling to support them and leave them to the family to take care of.
• (Ageing population) ageism modernity and post modernity- post modernity and old age 


  Postmodernists Argue, the fixed, orderly stages of life have been broken down, and a blood, giving people a greater choice of lifestyle, consumption becomes key to our identities we can divine ourselves by what we consume. Hunt argues, we choose a lifestyle and identity, regardless of age as a result the old become a market for a vast range of body maintenance, which they can create their identities, including plastic surgery,and gym membership. These trends begin to breakdown the ages stereotypes.
• (Ageing population) ageism modernity and post modernity - postmod and old age p2

  Two other features of post modern society, breakdown, old age, stigma: centrality of media, media, portrays, positive aspects of lifestyle of the elderly. Emphasis on surface features, body becomes a surface, for which we can write our identities.
• (Ageing population) inequalities amongst the old

  Pilcher argues inequality such as class and gender remain important

   Middle-class have better occupational pensions and greater savings working class have shorter life expectancy, not enough money to maintain youthful self identity.

  Gender- women’s lower earnings and career breaks as carers mean lower pensions. They’re also subject to sexist/ageist stereotyping e.g. old hag
• (Ageing population) Policy implications

  Hirischi a number of social policies need to change to tackle new problems of aging population. E.g. housing policy may need to change encouraging old people to size down into smaller accommodation which would release wealth to improve standard of living and free up housing for young people.