demography

• Which sociologist found improved nutrition to reduce the death rate and how?

  Mckeown (1972) Found that improved nutrition accounted for up to half the reduction in death rates and number of deaths from tuberculosis (TB).

  increased resistance to TB and increased survival for those who had been infected.
• What changes in women's position have lead to changes in TFR?

  • Abortion legalised in 1968
  • women can access contraceptive without needing to see a doctor or nurse (2023)
  • Legal equality with men, right to vote
  • Sex discrimination act 1975
  • Easier access to divorce
• Harper(2012)

  • education of women is the most important reason for long-term fall in birth and fertility rates.
  • led to change in mindset amongst women resulting in fewer children.
  • many women are choosing to delay childbearing or not have children at all
  • in 2012, 1 in 5 women aged 45 were childless which is double than 25 years prior
  • smaller families become the norm and larger ones become deviant/ less acceptable
• Harper on IMR leading to fall in BR

  • parents no longer have more children to replace the lives of those lost
  • infants are more likely to survive so parents have fewer
• Reasons for fall in IMR in UK:

  • improved housing and sanitation
  • better nutrition
  • better knowledge of hygeine, child heath and welfare spread through women's magazines
  • improved services for mothers and children such as antenatal and postnatal clinics
• Bass and Kabir (1978)

  argue that the trend to smaller families started in urban areas where the IMR was the highest for longer
• • Children are now an economic liability, not an asset.
• • Children are now an economic liability
  • Law: banned child labour and raised child school leaving age so children are now dependent for longer
  • Changed norms: higher material standards which means parents must spend more to provide for their children
  • Parents and Couples may opt to have smaller families as they feel the financial pressures
• Child centredness has lead to a fall in birth rate because...

  • childhood is a socially constructed uniquely important period in an individual's life
  • shift from 'quantity' to 'quality' in terms of family size
  • parents have fewer children and spend more time and resources on them