Examine the reasons for changes in birth rates and family size since 1900 Sociologists use the concept of birth rate to measure births. The birth rate is defined as the number of live births per 1000 of the population per year. There has been a long-term decline in the number of births since 1900. In that year, England and Wales had a birth rate of 28.7, but by 2007 it had fallen to an estimated 10.7. However there have been changes in births, with three 'baby dooms' in the 20th century.
However working class children were put into work houses or in agriculture to help support the low incomes of families’ economic struggles. This, in accordance to Aries, tells us that children were seen more as a financial asset than a symbol of peoples love for one another. This can be supported by looking how families in pre-industrial had larger families because of reasons of needing a better overall family income but also because life expectancy was dramatically lower than it in modern day terms. One thing in common that both sets of children shared in this society was strict control by parents/ adult authoritive figures and severe punishment for defiance. It was only in late industrialisation when significance change occurred, people began campaigning for child rights, something that had never happened until this point.
In 2006, one in five women aged 45 were childless – double that of twenty years previously. Since women are choosing to not have children – the birth rate and there fore family size has fallen since 1900. Another factor is the decline in the infant mortality rate – the number of infants who die before their first birthday per 1000 babies born alive per year. Many sociologists argue that a fall in IMR leads to a fall in birth rate because if many infants die, parents have more children to replace those they have lost and thus increasing the birth rate. This is proven since in 1900 the IMR in the UK was 154 and by 2007 it had sharply declined to 5, owing to many factors including improved housing and better sanitation.
Although there has been in a decrease in birth rate in the UK, net migration has lead to slight increase in the total fertility rate in the UK. This is because, there are more young women moving from other countries to the UK since they have an above average fertility. There was change in position of women in the 20th century which contributed largely to declining of birth rates. The changes mainly include legal equality with men e.g. right to vote, more education opportunities for girls, change in women role in family and women are now able to have paid jobs.
Life expectancy in 1900 was only around 47 for men and 50 for women whereas it now in 2013 83 for men and 87 for women. There are many reasons for the decline in the birth rate, the reduction of the infant mortality rate, meaning less children are dying in their first year of life, due to advancements in medical care meaning that families don’t need to reproduce a larger quantity of children on fear of death. Contraception was formally introduced in 1961 to the UK for married couples only, this meant that married couples could control the amount of children they could, which has become increasingly popular over the last 50 years because it has enabled couples and others to have sexual relations without resulting in a child. During the industrialization and up until around the 1900s, children were seen as a source of income to working class families as they could be sent out to work, so families had large amounts of children to bring in money. But due to the introduction of a law restricting the age of employment and compulsory education meant that children were now seen as a drain on money so families began to become smaller because of the expense of having a child.
Therefore, demand for a more educated workforce grew, and the need for children to be educated increased. This resulted in compulsory education for children in 1880, and later the school leaving age was increased. This meant that children were less likely to be working, in squalid conditions for low paid jobs however it increased child dependency on the parent or carer. As children were now made to go to school, they were unable to get jobs more easily and had to become financially dependant on
Many sociologists within these perspectives have given various explanations for why the rate has increased so greatly, such as: changes in legislation, declining stigma of divorce, secularisation, rising expectations of marriage and change in women’s expectations. A very influential cause to the high divorce rates appears to be changes in legislation that has brought about changes regarding the availability of a divorce. The Divorce Reform Act 1969, also known as the ‘quickie divorce act’, made getting a divorce incredibly easier in terms of the equality of both genders being allegeable for a divorce, it also made the cost of divorces cheaper so that they were available to more people and finally it made the process of getting a divorce a lot quicker than previously. It was noted that as a result of this act, overnight the divorce rates increased rapidly. Another reason for the change in the number of divorces, noted by Juliet Mitchell and Jack Goody is that divorce nowadays holds much less of a stigma in society.
Examine the reasons for, and the consequences of, the fall in the death rate since 1900 (24 marks) The overall death rate in the UK has remained pretty much stable since 1900, being around 600,000. Death rate is the number of deaths per 1000 per population per year. In 1900 there was of course a much smaller population than of today, which would have meant the death rate would have been out of a smaller amount of people. Since the 1900, the death rate has fallen. In 1900, the death rate was 19, however, in 2007, it stood at 10.
Abstract: “Employment promotion has dominated antipoverty policies in the United States over the last several decades. Increased employment, especially in low-wage jobs, has not generated economic stability for many parents and has brought to light uneasy tensions between increased earnings, less time with children, and reduced public supports that families face in moving up the economic ladder. We use data collected from 22 focus groups conducted with low- and moderate-income parents from four states and the District of Columbia to explore the ways in which parents make decisions about increasing hours of employment “ Body After all these years of having spent time with my children in their education, their growing covering all
Many are choosing to delay or not to have a child at all due to pursue a career. * Children have become an economic liability – children used to be able to work and were seen as assets to the economy but now laws and the cost of having a child has increased and as a result of financial pressures they would rather not have a larger family (d) Examine the reasons for changes in the size and the structure of the population of the United Kingdom since the beginning of the 20th