A global perspective on the impact of demographic changes

on family life
The impact of changing life expectancy upon the family
In many modern societies life expectancy has increased dramatically over the last
fifty years for a variety of reasons. This trend has led to some sociologists to reflect
on the impact that this social change may be having on family structure and
dynamics. In particular, some sociologists are now paying attention to the role of
grandparents and the positive contribution that some now make to the experience of
childhood. This section will therefore examine why death rates have fallen and life
expectancy has increased and their implications for family life. Moreover, a range of
sociological research on the role grandparents play today in families especially with
regard to their grandchildren will be considered.

Explanations for the decline in death rates and rise in life expectancy

In many modern societies death rates dramatically fell during the course of the 20th
century because rising wages increased living standards, particularly the quality of
diet and housing, and lifted people out of poverty (which many sociologists agreed
was a major cause of death). Moreover, many governments took on the
responsibility of looking after their citizens from the cradle to the grave by creating
public health programmes, investing in public health - clean water supplies and
sanitation systems which safely removed sewage (which was a major cause of water-
borne diseases) and public hygiene programmes which made clear the link between
germs, disease and lack of cleanliness. Governments also invested heavily in health
care especially maternal health care which significantly cut the maternal and infant
death rates as well as the mass vaccination of children to protect them against
measles (a major killer in 19th century western societies). Advances in medical
technology, drugs and surgery now mean that people are more likely than ever to
survive cancer, heart disease and other life-threatening diseases. consequently life
expectancy in many societies has increased.

The dramatic decline of death rates and a parallel fall in women’s fertility (they are
having fewer children) have led to an ageing population in many modern societies.
For example, in Japan, 26 per cent of the population is over 65 years old and in Italy,
22 per cent of the population is over 65 years old. In the USA, about 15 per cent of
the population is aged over 65 and this population is expected to nearly double from
its present 48 million to 88 million by 2050. One in three babies born in Great Britain
in 2013 are expected to celebrate their 100th birthday. In contrast only 1 per cent of
those born in 1908 lived to be 100 years old. However, Chambers (2012) notes that it
is important to understand that:

(a) The elderly population of most western societies is not a uniform group –
there are differences in the experience of ageing because of a variety of
factors including social class, gender, sexual orientation, location, migration
and the degree of family support.

(b) The elderly are often stereotyped as part of a culture of decline, for
example as ‘unproductive, infirm and dependent whilst the reverse is often
the case’ (p.112). Chambers argues that many elderly people remain
independent until death. They are active players in family life and they often
remain in paid work post-retirement age. For example, in many western
societies around 50 per cent of the elderly population report that they enjoy
good health. Furthermore, about one in five people aged between 65 and 74
are still economically active in western societies such as the USA and UK.

The impact of changing life expectancy upon the family

Changing life expectancy is impacting on the family and consequently childhood

in significant ways:
1. It has led to a significant increase in the number of elderly one-person
households as a proportion of all households. Most of these households are
female because women tend to outlive men. They may be housebound and
consequently very dependent on family members, social services and
neighbours for support. In traditional pre-industrial societies such single-
person households are less likely to exist because the collectivistic value
systems of such families mean that it is seen as a duty for adult children to
invite their parents to live with their family.

2. The number of extended families especially in modern societies may

increase as adult children may feel obliged to invite their parents to live
with them. Old age can be socially isolating and lonely and furthermore,
living alone can be potentially dangerous for the elderly because of limited
mobility or declining mental functions. In contrast, in traditional pre-
 industrial societies, extended families are the norm because in many of these
societies it is regarded as shameful for family members not to look after their
elderly kin. In modern societies, there is evidence that working-class families,
in particular, still see great virtue in maintaining ties with elderly kin.

Feminist sociologists have noted that daughters tend to take on a

disproportionate responsibility for the care of elderly parents compared
with sons. Judith Healey and Stella Yarrow (1997) studied parents living
with children in old age and found most of their sample had moved into their
daughter’s household. Women are also more likely to be ‘sandwich carers’
which means they combine care of the elderly and the care of grandchildren.
Feminists point out that this increases both the domestic and emotional
burden on women who already take on most of the responsibility for caring
in families in terms of childcare and housework. Women’s disproportionate
responsibility for caring for elderly relatives may lead to economic inequality
between the sexes. Women are more likely than men to give up work in order
to care for elderly relatives. Caring responsibilities may mean that some
women are excluded from the full-time labour market. This potentially means
that some women carers may have to be economically dependent on men.
They may also more likely to suffer anxiety and emotional problems because
of the stress of caring for a physically or mentally deteriorating parent.

3. Beanpole families – Julia Brannen (2003) claims that increasing life

expectancy has produced a new type of family – the beanpole family – which
contains four generations of direct kin.

The role and social position of grandparents in the family

The fact that many elderly people are active players in family life has led to many
sociologists embarking on the study of the impact of grandparenting on childhood
and family life. Chambers notes that there is a growing recognition that families
benefit from the presence of grandparents and that the interaction between
grandparents and grandchildren is of a higher quality compared with the past.
This is because grandparents today live longer. They are more healthy and active
compared with previous generations. Consequently they make a significant
contribution to the parenting and socialisation process. In this sense, elderly people
are a resource rather than a burden. A study carried out by a British insurance
company in 2012 estimated that 5.8 million or 47 per cent of grandparents aged 50+
regularly look after their grandchildren for an average of 10 hours a week. This
amounts to saving nearly £11bn in childcare costs over a year. As well as donating
free childcare, nearly half these grandparents were also spending around £142 a
month towards the children's upbringing and an average of £293 towards holiday
costs per grandchild.

Dalia Ben-Galim and Amna Silim (2013) found that grandmothers are putting in a
greater number of informal childcare hours than grandfathers, and play a crucial
role in helping families with childcare. June Statham (2011) found that in families in
which the mother is in work or education, 71 per cent receive some level of childcare
from grandparents, and 35 per cent relied on grandparents as the main providers of
childcare.

There is evidence that caring for grandchildren is associated with a higher quality
of life. Jill Rutter and Ben Evans (2011) found that an overwhelming majority of
grandparents reported that caring for grandchildren had had a positive impact on
their lives. 93 per cent of grandparents and older carers aged between 55 and 64
years old found it a rewarding experience. In particular, it was found that
grandparents enjoyed taking care of their grandchildren because they are able to
form strong ties with the children they cared for, and because they enjoyed the
ability to experience new things.

Nicola Ross et al (2005) explored the relationship between grandparents and

teenage grandchildren, looking at the ways teenage grandchildren and their
grandparents related to one other. The research looked at the care and support they
offered each other and how the relationship between them changes over time.
Ross et al found that grandparents spoke positively about becoming and being a
grandparent. When grandchildren were younger, time was spent together on
outings and playing together, or with the grandparents teaching skills and providing
childcare. As grandchildren grew older, the relationships were more likely to
revolve around talking, giving advice and support. Grandparents often referred to
providing financial support to assist their grandchildren, ranging from pocket
money to school fees. Both generations in Ross et al’s study described how
grandparents usually played a key role in ‘listening’ to grandchildren. Many
young people said they could share problems and concerns with their
grandparents and referred to the way grandparents would sometimes act as go-
betweens in the family, particularly when there were disagreements between
themselves and their parents. The research also found that grandparents also
provided a bridge to the past by acting as sources of family history, heritage and
traditions: storytellers who kept grandchildren aware of their own family
experiences and their culture. They were also active in keeping wider sets of
relatives connected. It was also apparent that the direction of care and support
altered during the teenage years, with some grandchildren taking greater
responsibility for their grandparents. Grandchildren sometimes acted as a source of
support for a grandparent with health issues, or as emotional and practical
support for the other grandparent of the pair.

Cross cultural comparisons of children’s perceptions of grandparents

There are over 500 Native American nations, and each has its own traditions and
attitudes toward aging and elderly care. In many tribal communities, elders are
respected for their wisdom and life experiences. Within Native American families,
it is common for young people to ask their elders for advice and guidance. Tribal
elders are expected to pass down their experience to younger members of their
extended family.

Both Korean and Chinese culture are influenced by the Confucian principle of ‘filial
piety’ which means that one must respect one’s parents. Younger members of the
family are brought up to have a duty of care for ageing members of their families.
Even outside the family unit, young Chinese and Koreans are socialised to respect
and show deference to older individuals as well as authority figures. For example,
it is customary in Korea to have a big celebration to mark an individual’s 60th and
70th birthdays. The hwan-gap, or 60th birthday, is a rite of passage when children
celebrate their parents’ move into old age. It is celebrated in part as an
acknowledgement that many of their ancestors would not have survived to this age.
A similar large family celebration is held for the 70th birthday, known as kohCui
(which means old and rare).
In China, westernisation and the one-child policy have lessened the power of filial
piety but adult children are still generally expected to care for their parents in their
old age. Placing parents in retirement homes often results in children being labelled
as ‘uncaring’, dishonourable’ or as ‘bad’ sons or daughters.
Many Indian grandparents live with their adult children and their grandchildren in
joint extended family units, with the elders acting as the head of the household. The
elders are supported by the younger members of the family and they in turn play a
key role in raising their grandchildren. Advice is always sought from these elder on
a range of issues, from the investment of family money to the nitty-gritties of
traditional wedding rituals and intra-family conflicts. This is not just passive advice
because the word of elders is often final in settling disputes. Moreover, the elderly
act as positive role models for the young in that they are often the most religious
and charitable members of the family. If family members disrespect their elderly
this can result in younger family members being negatively stigmatised by the
community in which they live.

However, attitudes about being a grandparent are not universally positive. Linda
Burton and Vern Bengtson (1985) interviewed African-American grandmothers
and found that those women who became grandmothers early (for example, in
their early to mid-30s) were discontented and feeling obligations they felt they
were not ready for. They were also negatively affected by the stereotypes
associated with grandparenting and age. For example, ‘I am just too young to be a
grandmother’ was a typical quote. Those grandparents who experienced a late
transition to grandparenting (for example, in their seventies) often expressed regret
and disappointment that they were not physically active enough to make the most of
the grandparental role whereas grandparents aged 50–65 were most likely to find the
role rewarding, and feel very close to their grandchild than younger or older
grandparents. John Jessel et al. (2004) researched migrant families of Bangladeshi
origin living in the UK and found examples of synergistic learning interactions
between grandparents and grandchildren; the grandmother would help the
grandchild learn about their Bengali language and heritage, while the grandchild
would be helping their grandmother learn how to use computers.

In parent-maintained households with co-resident grandparents there is much

greater opportunity for helping with child care. Although this is more the norm in
some traditional societies, Jane Pearson et al. (1990) studied a predominantly
African-American community in Chicago, and found that 10 per cent of households
with six- to eight-year-old children had co-resident grandmothers. The
grandmothers had substantial childrearing roles in these families and exercised
control over the punishment of children. Daphna Oyserman et al. (1993) examined
families where teen mothers of children under two were assisted by grandparents.
She found that involved grandfathers had a positive influence on children as male
role models who demonstrated skills rarely associated with masculinity such as
nurturance and cooperation.
Some children are exclusively brought up by grandparents because of the death of
their parents or because a parent is in prison or some other institution. Studies of
families headed by grandparents found that these often experience problems
associated with poverty. Studies clearly show that grandchildren reared in these
low-income grandparent-headed households experience poorer academic
performance than children raised in two-parent-headed households.

Changes in the concepts of motherhood and fatherhood

It is impossible, of course, to examine childhood without examining motherhood

and fatherhood. An examination of the social attitudes that dominate particular
societies suggest that there exist ideologies of both motherhood and fatherhood.
Ideologies are dominant sets of ideas that make clear cultural expectations about
how fathers and mothers should ideally behave. For example, most societies
expect parents to care for their children. Consequently, most societies have laws
which punish parents who do not live up to society’s cultural expectations about
how parents should treat their children. However, an examination of parenting
suggests that in patriarchal societies that the cultural expectations regarding
motherhood are generally harsher in terms of their judgements than the cultural
expectations about fatherhood. However, there are signs that social attitudes about
fatherhood held by males may be undergoing positive change.

Parenting: Motherhood

Luca Arfini (2016) points out that in the pre-industrial period of many societies, the
role of parenting was not clearly differentiated between mothers and fathers because
the whole family was involved in both agricultural and domestic labour. However,
industrialisation led to a major change in the organisation of parenting for two
reasons. Firstly, home and work became separate domains but it was men who left
the home in order to earn the family wage. Secondly, the state eventually banned
child labour and restricted women’s labour opportunities too because children
needed a family member to look after them. Consequently, an ideology of
motherhood and domesticity evolved as societies grew more modern, during the
19th and 20th centuries.

Arfini argues that the 20th century in particular, saw the emergence of the
traditional idea of motherhood which defined being a ‘good mother’ as someone
who stayed at home full-time and who was happy to be economically dependent
on the male breadwinner and to be fulfilled by her ‘natural predisposition’ to be a
combined domestic goddess, nurturer of children and emotional caretaker and
caregiver. According to functionalist sociologists such as Talcott Parsons mothers
performed an ‘expressive’ role within families taking charge of their children’s
education and taking exclusive responsibility for household affairs. Fathers were
‘instrumental leaders’ – economic providers and heads of households responsible
for imposing strict discipline (on both his wife and children) and ensuring the
living standards of the nuclear family unit. He was not expected to play any
significant role in domestic or childcare activity.

Arfini argues that the mother’s parenting style in early 20th century families in the
USA and Europe was culturally expected to be nurturing and indulgent while
those cultures expected a good deal less from the parenting style of fathers which
could be best summed up as authoritarian and neglectful. However ideas about
parenting styles began to shift in modern societies during the 1950s and 1960s when
more and more mothers began to enter the workforce, accomplishing a double-role
as a mother at home and as an earner at work. In combining these two aspects, the
mother’s role shifted from ‘expressive’ to ‘intensive’. About the same time, fathers
became more involved in their children’s lives and there was no longer a
distinctive separation between the two roles of father and mother. In the 1970s,
feminists started to critique both motherhood and fatherhood, and to claim that both
these roles were socially constructed by patriarchal ideology and institutions.

Chambers argues that in both modern and traditional societies today, there exists an
ideology of motherhood which is organised around the idea of ‘putting children’s
needs first’. She says ‘the mother is perceived as the core of the family’, as the
emotional stabiliser that keeps the whole family together.

Data from surveys conducted around the world generally support Chambers’
observations. For example, data from attitude surveys conducted in a range of
European societies suggest that a dominant cultural expectation is that women
should prioritise their caring role over having a job. In addition most surveys
suggest that there is a deep-seated belief in society in general that the role of mother
is just as fulfilling as the role of worker. These surveys indicate that a majority still
believe that children are negatively affected if their mothers work. Women,
therefore, are expected to take on jobs that are compatible with family commitments.
Moreover the popularity of such beliefs mean that large number of mothers feel guilt
about working full-time. Some actually give up work altogether because they believe
that their absence somehow damages their children. Madeleine Leonard (2000)
argues that women who continue to see housework and childcare as an essential
part of being a ‘good wife and mother’ are more likely to be satisfied with an
unequal domestic division of labour than women who reject such roles. However
there are signs that attitudes towards motherhood may be undergoing some
significant change in industrial societies as the following examples illustrate:

 Wilkinson (1994) argues that surveys of young women indicate a radical

shift in attitudes towards motherhood among young women compared with
the attitudes held by their mothers and grandmothers. She argues that this
attitudinal shift is so great that it can be termed a ‘genderquake’. Wilkinson
notes that previous generations ranked motherhood at the very top or very
high on their list of priorities. However, recent surveys suggest this priority
is no longer so high on young women’s ‘to-do’ lists as careers and
consumption of leisure have become more important. This change is reflected
in two other trends.
 There is evidence that educated women, and especially those in professional
and managerial jobs are postponing motherhood until their late 30s and early
40s and electing to have fewer children. Moreover, some women are electing
to raise their children alone. They are rejecting the notion that they or their
children need a male in their lives.
 A significant number of women are choosing voluntary childlessness. They
are rejecting motherhood in order to be childfree. Anthony Giddens (1993)
claims that this trend stems from the ideology of individualisation that has
supposedly swept through modern societies which has allegedly led to a
decline in romantic love and marriage.
 The renewed popularity of activist or digital feminism has led some females
to see motherhood as an oppressive ideology and practice which restricts
independence and their ability to compete equally with men in the
workplace.

Parenting: Fatherhood

Tina Miller (2010) argues that the responsibilities and practices associated with
fatherhood are not so clear cut or as morally regulated as those of motherhood.
However, there is an ideology of fatherhood which is mainly associated with
concepts such as ‘breadwinner’, family provider, head of the household,
unemotional disciplinarian and how absent fathers are negative.

Research by Hanan Hauari and Katie Hollingworth (2009) found that Pakistani,
African-Caribbean and Black African families continue to define and judge fathers
in terms of how well they economically provide for their families. Sarah Salway et
al (2009) studied four ethnic-religious Asian groups – Bangladeshi Muslims,
Pakistani Muslims, Gujerati Hindus and Punjabi Sikhs – and found that fatherhood
is associated by the community with responsibility for the family, for example,
earning an income in order to economically maintain the family and his children
generated great respect from the community. Men who did not or could not
support his children were seen as ‘shameful’.

Jo Warin et al. (1999), in their study of 95 families in Rochdale, UK, also found that
fathers, mothers and teenage children overwhelmingly subscribed to the view that
the male should be the breadwinner, despite changes in employment and family
life. The majority of the sample believed that mothers should dominate childcare
because they were the experts in parenting.
However, there are signs that men have become more willing to involve
themselves in childcare in modern societies. In the early 1990s, many sociologists
concluded that the role of fathers was changing. For example, men in the 1990s were
more likely to attend the birth of their babies than men in the 1960s, and they
were more likely to play a greater role in childcare than their own fathers. Louie
Burghes (1997) found that fathers were taking an increasingly active role in the
emotional development of their children. Ulrich Beck (1992) argues that in the 21st
century, fathers can no longer rely on jobs to provide a sense of identity and
fulfilment. Increasingly, they look to their children to give their lives purpose and
meaning. Research by Anne Gray (2006) supports this view. Her research showed
that fathers emphasised the need to spend quality time with their children. They
wanted more time to get to know their children, to take them out, to help them with
homework and to talk to them. Fathers viewed time spent with children in outings,
sport, play and conversation as an expression of fatherhood rather than as a form of
domestic work.

However, it is important not to exaggerate men’s role in childcare. Looking after

children is still overwhelmingly the responsibility of mothers, rather than jointly
shared with fathers. Recent research has focused on the pressures of work in the 21st
century. A survey of British males conducted by Shirley Dex in 2003 found that 30
per cent of fathers (and 6 per cent of mothers) worked more than 48 hours a week on
a regular basis. Gray found that many fathers would like to spend more time with
their children but are prevented by long work hours from bonding effectively with
their children.

Barbara Risman’s (1986) research on single fathers as homemaker rejects the view
that women have a natural predisposition to be mothers and that the raising of
children should be their responsibility. She found that single fathers were just as
effective and competent as mothers in terms of their parenting skills. She
concludes that we need to re-examine the general belief that only mothers have the
‘natural’ skills to raise children and children belong with their mothers after divorce.
We need to stop thinking that nurturing is only a female skill. We must adapt to the
fact that a father can also fulfil the traditional role of the mother.