Roots

Consumerism describes the growth of the way of life aopund comsumption in which shopping spending money and therefore the economy are all important. In 2006, UK consumer spending reached £1 trillion.

Demography is the study of population characteristics and movement. This includes statistics such as: births, deaths, income and the the incidence of disease.

Consumption describes the purchase and use of commodities and services including food and leisure.

A migration that is only undertaken by a certain age group or gender.

Members of the family beyond the core of parents and children (nuclear family). Members of the extended family include grandparents, aunties, uncles, etc.

A population structure in which the proportion of people over 65 is high and continuing to rise. A greying population occurs as the result of increasing life expectancy and lower rates of child birth. An example of an area with a greying population is Britain, where the median age has dramatically risen over the past 60 years.

This is the study of ancestry to show how things, such as wealth and social mobility, have changed over time. An example of genealogy is a family tree.

This is the freedom for individuals to be able to move between different levels of the social heirarchy (e.g. working class to middle class), through education and job occupation. Social mobility means a person can move into a lifestyle which has more leisure time and a better quality of life.

In recent times, the development of the global economy has resulted in an increase in the number of tertiary (services and finance) and quarternary (research and IT) sector jobs in countries such as Great Britain and similar MEDCs. The reason secondary sector jobs (manufacture) have decreased in the UK is because countries, such as China and India, provide cheaper labour. Primary sector jobs (extraction of raw materials) have also decreased with the closure of most mines in the 1980s and farmers requiring larger proportions of land to ensure they can make a profit.

There are 3 potential sources to determine how the population is changing:

• National: an example of a national data source is the UK Census, which has a good level of detail and dates back to 1801.
• Local: an example of a local data source could be church records known as parish registers, which date back to the middle ages and contain information such as births, deaths, baptisms and marriages.
• Personal: an example of a personal data source coulld be family collections such as photo albums and old memorabilia.

The total population of the UK has risen from around 38 million, in 1901, to 61 million, in 2007. However, most of this growth occurred in the first half of the 20th century when it was typical for a nuclear family to consist of around 6 or 7 people (2 parents and 4 or 5 children) Today, it is more likely just to be just 2 children with many households containing just 1 or 2 people, especially those which accommodate pensioners, divorcees or students. However, this has not, as yet, resulted in a decreasing population as life expectancy has increased simultaneously to the decrease in birth rate. This increased life expectancy, combined with immigration, is keeping the population at a steady point.