Religion and the Decline of Fertility in the Western World

1. RELIGION AND THE DECLINE OF FERTILITY IN THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES: THE EMERGENCE OF A RESEARCH ISSUE During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, almost all European countries began to experience a decline in their fertility level. This transition was recognized as crucial almost from its inception, and provided a strong stimulus for the scientific study of fertility: until then there had been no apparent trend toward a decline in fertility (with the exception of France) and differentials in fertility had not been very conspicuous (Lorimer 1959: 142). Handbooks and articles on population mainly of a statistical demographic nature took up the question of falling birth rates and its causes. The bases for these studies were the routinely-collected population statistics that made it possible to observe fertility trends for administrative regions. By identifying administrative regions that differed in the timing and extent of the fertility decline, researchers hoped to find explanations for the fertility transition. Municipal statistical offices in larger cities such as Berlin, Vienna, Budapest and Amsterdam were able to obtain more diversified data than were generally collected by national agencies, and offered social scientists the opportunity to carry out more intensive investigations of differential fertility, that is of variations in fertility of socially defined subpopulations, or categories defined by occupation or rural/urban residence. Somewhat later, the national statistical agencies started to collect and publish comparable data at the national level.

Unique theoretical approach (the chapters explicitly focus on the variety of mechanisms via which religions had an effect on family life and fertility) The subject matter (moral issues related to fertility decline and family change played an important role in processes like secularisation, religious secessions etc. in the 19th and 20th centuries and are becoming a very important factor again in contemporary Western societies) Analytical approach (all chapters make use of micro-level data on family and family size, include more or less the same variables and use comparable statistical methods specifically suited for these kinds of data) Focus on international comparisons (the project is truly cross-cultural showing the similarities as well as the differences in the positions of the various churches on matters important for reproduction in Western Europe, the USA and Canada in the period 1850-1950) Attention to the historical context (the consideration of the causes and circumstances of variations in family size in the past provides a refreshing perspective on contemporary effects of religion on reproductive behaviour)

Auteur

Renzo Derosas is associate professor at the Department of History of Ca' Foscari University, Venice, where he currently teaches Economic History. He has published extensively on Italian social and demographic history, on comparative demographic history, and on historical methods.

Frans van Poppel is senior researcher at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) in The Hague, and was associate professor at the Radboud University Nijmegen. Demographer and historian, he has published numerous articles on the population history of the Netherlands.

Texte du rabat

The impact of religion on family and reproduction is one of the most fascinating and complex topics open to scholarly research. The linkage between family and religion has received no systematic treatment on a comparative basis, either in the social sciences or in historical studies. This book provides new insights into the relationships between religion and demography during the crucial period of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Apart from providing a wealth of descriptive information on family life and fertility in different national and religious settings, the major strength of the book lies in its conceptual insights. The book will attract and stimulate readers at the advanced undergraduate or at the graduate level in history, religious studies, women's studies, family studies, social demography, sociology, and anthropology due to its subject matter (moral issues related to fertility decline and family change played an important role in processes like secularisation, and religious secessions in the19th and 20th century), its analytical approach (all chapters make use of micro-level data on family and family size and use comparable statistical methods specifically suited for these kinds of data), and its theoretical orientation (the chapters explicitly focus on the variety of mechanisms via which religions had an effect on family life and fertility). The book is truly cross-cultural, showing the similarities as well as the differences in the positions of the various churches on matters important for reproduction in Western Europe, the US and Canada in the period 1850-1950. The consideration of the causes of variations in family size in the past provides a refreshing perspective on contemporary effects of religion on reproductive behaviour and the family.

"This volume successfully promotes an agenda for research on the complex and diverse historical relationships between fertility, identity, communityand religion." Simon Szreter, Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge

"These well-researched and lucidly argued papers will provide important reading for all those interested in the religious history of the nineteenth century." Hugh McLeod is Professor of Church History at the University of Birmingham

"This is a very valuable new resource for scholars, both established and new, to understand the role of religious institutions in family and demographic behavior and the ways in which those behaviors change across long periods of time." Arland Thornton, Director, Population Studies Center, University of Michigan

"This book shows also that modern demographic and social history is able to revive the past in ways unthinkable only a generation ago." Massimo Livi-Bacci is Professor of Demography, University of Florence, and honorary president of the "International Union for the Scientific Study of Population".

Contenu
Theoretical and analytical approaches to religious beliefs, values, and identities during the modern fertility transition.- Religion, family, and fertility: What do we know historically and comparatively?.- Religious differentials in marital fertility in The Hague (Netherlands), 18601909.- Stemming the tide. Denomination and religiousness in the Dutch fertility transition, 18451945.- Family limitation among political Catholics in Baden in 1869.- The evolution of religious differences in fertility: Lutherans and Catholics in Alsace, 17501860.- State institutions as mediators between religion and fertility: A comparison of two Swiss regions, 18601930.- Between identity and assimilation: Jewish fertility in nineteenth-century Venice.- The religious claim on babies in nineteenth-century Montreal.- Religious diversity and the onset of the fertility transition: Canada, 18701900.- Religion and the decline of fertility: Conclusions.