Exploring Global Family Change through over a Million Family Pictures

Francesco Rampazzo , University of Oxford
Sander Wagner, Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science
Douglas R Leasure, Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science, Department of Sociology, University of Oxford
Arun Frey, University of Oxford

In a rapidly changing world, family dynamics are evolving, impacting fertility rates and giving rise to diverse family structures. The legalisation of same-sex marriage has further reshaped family compositions. Our project, conducted in collaboration with Getty Images, uses a vast dataset comprising approximately 1,588,019 sales images. This dataset empowers us to explore how mass media portrays these evolving family dynamics. Our objective is to understand how these portrayals correspond to actual family demographics and how they vary across countries. Preliminary findings reveal geographical disparities in the creation and purchase of family images. Additionally, our classification of images featuring children on Getty Images provides valuable insights into market preferences. The data shows that approximately 75% of the global market prefers images with one child, while 21% opt for those with two children. The remaining 4% is dedicated to families with more than three children. Our hypothesis was to observe a higher number of pictures with two children being sold worldwide, considering the average Total Fertility Rate at the global level, which slightly exceeds 2 children per woman. Furthermore, our analysis has identified a significant preference for images featuring daughters over sons across different continents. This research aims to illuminate the intricate relationship between family demographics and media representations, providing valuable insights into the cultural and demographic influences on media content.

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 Presented in Session 9. Innovations with Internet and Consumer Data