Families in an Era of Increasing Inequality

Families in an Era of Increasing Inequality PDF

Author: Paul R. Amato

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2014-10-07

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 3319083082

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The widening gap between the rich and the poor is turning the American dream into an impossibility for many, particularly children and families. And as the children of low-income families grow to adulthood, they have less access to opportunities and resources than their higher-income peers--and increasing odds of repeating the experiences of their parents. Families in an Era of Increasing Inequality probes the complex relations between social inequality and child development and examines possibilities for disrupting these ongoing patterns. Experts across the social sciences track trends in marriage, divorce, employment, and family structure across socioeconomic strata in the U.S. and other developed countries. These family data give readers a deeper understanding of how social class shapes children's paths to adulthood and how those paths continue to diverge over time and into future generations. In addition, contributors critique current policies and programs that have been created to reduce disparities and offer suggestions for more effective alternatives. Among the topics covered: Inequality begins at home: the role of parenting in the diverging destinies of rich and poor children. Inequality begins outside the home: putting parental educational investments into context. How class and family structure impact the transition to adulthood. Dealing with the consequences of changes in family composition. Dynamic models of poverty-related adversity and child outcomes. The diverging destinies of children and what it means for children's lives. As new initiatives are sought to improve the lives of families and children in the short and long term, Families in an Era of Increasing Inequality is a key resource for researchers and practitioners in family studies, social work, health, education, sociology, demography, and psychology.

Population and Development

Population and Development PDF

Author: Tim Dyson

Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.

Published: 2013-07-04

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 1848139136

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The demographic transition and its related effects of population growth, fertility decline and ageing populations are fraught with controversy. When discussed in relation to the global south and the modern project of development, the questions and answers become more problematic. Population and Development offers an expert guide on the demographic transition, from its origins in Enlightenment Europe through to the rest of the world. Tim Dyson examines how, while the phenomenon continues to cause unsustainable population growth with serious economic and environmental implications, its processes have underlain previous periods of sustained economic growth, helped to liberate women from the domestic domain, and contributed greatly to the rise of modern democracy. This accessible yet scholarly analysis will enable any student or expert in development studies to understand complex and vital demographic theory.

Analytical Family Demography

Analytical Family Demography PDF

Author: Robert Schoen

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-09-12

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 3319932276

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In this book new mathematical and statistical techniques that permit more sophisticated analysis are refined and applied to questions of current concern in order to understand the forces that are driving the recent dramatic changes in family patterns. The areas examined include the impact of the evolving Second Demographic Transition, where complex patterns of gender dynamics and social change are re-orienting family life. New analyses of marriage, cohabitation, union dynamics, and union dissolution provide a fresh look at the changing family life cycle, emerging patterns of partner choice, and the impact of union dissolution on the life course. The demography of kinship is explored, and the importance of parity progression to the generation of the kinship web is highlighted. The methodology of population projections by family status is examined, and new results presented that demonstrate how recognizing family status advances long term policy objectives, especially with regard to children and the elderly. This book applies up-to-date methods to examine the demography of the family, and will be of value to sociologists, demographers, and all those who are interested in the family.

Demographic Transition Theory

Demographic Transition Theory PDF

Author: John C. Caldwell

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2007-09-21

Total Pages: 411

ISBN-13: 1402044984

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This book has a strong theoretical focus and is unique in addressing both mortality and fertility over the full span of human history. It examines the demographic transition in the change in the human condition from high mortality and high fertility to low mortality and low fertility. It asks if fluctuating populations is a new phenomenon, or if there has long been an inherent tendency in Man to maximize survival and to control family size.

The Demographic Dividend

The Demographic Dividend PDF

Author: David Bloom

Publisher: Rand Corporation

Published: 2003-02-13

Total Pages: 127

ISBN-13: 0833033735

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There is long-standing debate on how population growth affects national economies. A new report from Population Matters examines the history of this debate and synthesizes current research on the topic. The authors, led by Harvard economist David Bloom, conclude that population age structure, more than size or growth per se, affects economic development, and that reducing high fertility can create opportunities for economic growth if the right kinds of educational, health, and labor-market policies are in place. The report also examines specific regions of the world and how their differing policy environments have affected the relationship between population change and economic development.

Reading History Sideways

Reading History Sideways PDF

Author: Arland Thornton

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2013-09-27

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 022612679X

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European and American scholars from the eighteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries thought that all societies passed through the same developmental stages, from primitive to advanced. Implicit in this developmental paradigm—one that has affected generations of thought on societal development—was the assumption that one could "read history sideways." That is, one could see what the earlier stages of a modern Western society looked like by examining contemporaneous so-called primitive societies in other parts of the world. In Reading History Sideways, leading family scholar Arland Thornton demonstrates how this approach, though long since discredited, has permeated Western ideas and values about the family. Further, its domination of social science for centuries caused the misinterpretation of Western trends in family structure, marriage, fertility, and parent-child relations. Revisiting the "developmental fallacy," Thornton here traces its central role in changes in the Western world, from marriage to gender roles to adolescent sexuality. Through public policies, aid programs, and colonialism, it continues to reshape families in non-Western societies as well.

The Demographic Transition

The Demographic Transition PDF

Author: Jean-Claude Chesnais

Publisher:

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 656

ISBN-13:

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Demographic transition constitutes one of the most fundamental modern historical changes; people live much longer, have fewer children, and experience higher mobility. This book examines the basic mechanisms behind the modernisation of demographic behaviour. The author has marshalled an impressive array of statistical material relating to sixty-seven countries, half of them less developed countries. Most of the tables are time-series, covering many decades and sometimes go back to the nineteenth, and even eighteenth centuries. The whole sweep of western experience is dealt with here impartially. Though technically sophisticated, the book also covers issues of interpretation and analysis. The author puts forward a number of challenging propositions: mortality decrease is shown to necessarily precede fertility and decline, so-called execptions being simply false exceptions. He shows how the decline of fertility is dependent on important and manifold social transformations. The strong connections between international migration and the course of demographic transition are demonstrated, as is the fact that less developed countries are following the same general patterns as MDCs. There is also discussion of why the theory of demographic transition must include the effect of population changes on the economic progress of society.

Ageing, Lifestyles and Economic Crises

Ageing, Lifestyles and Economic Crises PDF

Author: Thierry Blöss

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-07

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 135170608X

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No society can escape population ageing. This demographic phenomenon has profound social consequences on the lifestyles of individuals and societies. In the light of the accelerated ageing of the Mediterranean area, the analyses which inform this work aim to understand how the age-related policies of Nation-States are partly responsible for the behaviours of the generations. They also highlight how the lifestyle changes are the result of trends which are common to these societies. The Mediterranean area constructed here by the researchers offers an in-depth reflection on the national cases presented, in terms of their specificities or societal singularities, as well as of their dynamics of convergence. Drawing on empirical research in sociology, demography, geography and economics, exploiting the most recent data available and setting the present in historical perspective, Ageing, Lifestyles and Economic Crises studies Mediterranean societies in relation to three major challenges which they now confront. These are: population ageing and its implications in terms of intergenerational family support relationships; increasingly insecure adult professional trajectories and their consequences for the evolution of social gender roles, in an economic context commonly referred to as a 'crisis'; and lastly the role of Nation-States' public policies in the social reproduction of these gender inequalities. These three issues are the keystone to understanding the ongoing transformations in the lifestyles and life cycles of Mediterranean societies. This volume marshals a wealth of recent data that will be useful not only to many academics and scientists but also to local and national policy-makers.

Population Change in Europe, the Middle-East and North Africa

Population Change in Europe, the Middle-East and North Africa PDF

Author: Koenraad Matthijs

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-12-05

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1317077857

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Current demographic trends raise new questions, challenges and controversies. Comparing demographic trends in Europe and the NAME-region (North Africa and the Middle East), this book demonstrates how population change interacts with changing economic landscapes, social distinctions and political realities. A variety of drivers contribute to demographic change in the various regions and countries considered, such as family policies, economic realities, the impact of educational differentials and the attitudes towards marriage. On the macro-level the new trends are restructuring the age composition of populations and are reshaping the life courses of individuals and families. In turn, the impact demographic forces have on the organisation of labour markets, on fiscal policies, on the care of the elderly, on migration flows and on political changes can be quite radical. Chapter 1 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/docs/Open+Access+Chapters/9781472439543_oachapter1.pdf