SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND FERTILITY: AN ANALYTIC FRAMEWOStructure and Fertility

Social Structure and Fertility: An Analytic Framework
Author(s): Kingsley Davis and Judith Blake

Source: Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Apr., 1956), pp. 211-235
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1151774 .
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AND FERTILITY: AN ANALYTICFRAMEWORK

SOCIAL STRUCTURE
feature of underdeveloped
areas is that virtually
all of them
A striking
than do urban-industrial
exhibit
a much higher fertility
This wellsocieties.
documented but insufficiently
analyzed fact is known to be connected with proin social
as between the two types of society,
found differences
organization
for the comparative sociology
and is therefore
of reproduction.
The
significant
and importance of the contrast,
clarity
however, should not be allowed to obscure
the equally important fact that underdeveloped
areas themselves
differ markedly
in social
and that these differences
organization,
appear to bring about variations in fertility.
of backward regions have
Though the demographic statistics
been so poor as to place in doubt the validity
of reported differgenerally
(e. g., as between
ences, there are cases in which the evidence is reliable
Of equal interest
Puerto Rico and Jamaica, or Arab Palestine
and Ceylon).
are
with differing
the cases in which societies
social
have the same
organization
for they may reach this common result by quite different
level of fertility,
All told, ample opportunity
exists
for the comparamechanisms.
institutional
of social
structure
as it affects
In view of the
tive analysis
fertility.
trends on economic development,
the pursuit of such
bearing of future population
has a practical
as well as a theoretical
analysis
significance.
an attempt to set forth and utilize
The present paper represents
an anaframework for the comparative sociology
of fertility.
It first
lytical
presents
a classification
of the intermediate
variables
factors
through which any social
the level of fertility
must operate.
It next tries to show, in
influencing
how some types and elements of social
broad outline,
organization,
acting through
these variables,
Our hope is
appear to enhance or depress societal
fertility.
that as more sociological
and demographic information
becomes available,
the
theories
advanced can be refined further and tested empirically.
The Intermediate
Variables
three necessary steps sufficiently

The process of reproduction
involves
in human culture:
obvious to be generally
(1) intercourse,
(2) conrecognized
In analyzing cultural
and (3) gestation
and parturition.1
influences
ception,
on fertility,
one may well start with the factors
connected with these
directly
Such factors would be those through which, and only through which,
three steps.
For this reason, by way of convenicultural
conditions
can affect
fertility.
and can be presented
variables"
ence, they can be called the "intermediate
as follows:
schematically
(1)
these can all

sees more steps in the process,
Although the physiologist
We are concerned only
be subsumed under the three headings given here.
and
as they may be socially
with the steps in reproduction
recognized
utilized.
-211-

AND FERTILITY
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
212
I.
Factors
A.
Affecting
Those governing
ductive period.2
II.
sexual
into
("Intercourse
and dissolution
the formation
Variables").
of unions
in the repro-
unions.
1.
Age of entry
2.
Permanent celibacy:
unions.
3.
Amount of reproductive
period spent after or between unions.
or desertion.
a. When unions are broken by divorce,
separation,
b.
B.
to Intercourse
Exposure
Those governing
are broken by death of husband.

within unions.
the exposure to intercourse
abstinence.
Voluntary
5.
abstinence
Involuntary
temporary separations).
6.
Coital
(from impotence,
unavoidable
illness,
but
periods of abstinence).
to Conception ("Conception Variables").
(excluding
frequency
Affecting
Exposure
7.
Fecundity
8.
Use or non-use
as affected
or infecundity,
of contraception.
a.
sexual
When unions
4.
Factors
of women never entering
proportion
and chemical
By mechanical
by involuntary
causes.
means.
By other means.3
as affected
by voluntary
Fecundity or infecundity,
medical treatment,
etc.).
subincision,
lization,
b.
9.
III.
Factors
ables").
Affecting
Gestation
and Successful
10.
Foetal
mortality
from involuntary
11.
Foetal
mortality
from voluntary
Parturition
causes
(steri-
("Gestation
Vari-
causes.
causes.
(2)
is not confined to wedlock, the term "sexual

Since sexual intercourse
A union is here defined as any
to "marriage".
union" seems preferable
in which either actual intercourse
occurs or
heterosexual
relationship
Every society has a
orgasm is produced for at least the male partner.
is expected,
approved, and
type of union (marriage) in which reproduction
runs the risk of unions in
even enjoined.
At the same time every society
is condemned, either because they lack the legal form
which reproduction
one or more institutional
taboos
of marriage or because they violate
K. Davis, "The
or class enuogamy, etc.--see
caste,
(adultery,
incest,
Forms of Illegitimacy",
Social Forces, Vol. 18, October 1939, pp. 77-89).
Between the fully approved and the strongly proscribed
unions, there may
be other types which have a lesser
grade than marriage but in which rein some cases
Such unions may be frequent,
normally occurs.
production
sothe majority of reproductive
unions.
Any satisfactory
representing
of reproduction
must keep straight
the different
ciological
analysis
types
of unions.
(3)
Means of contraception
other than mechanical and chemical include the
with"rhythm" method (which can also be classed as voluntary abstinence),
without penetration,
various '"perversions",
drawal, simulated intercourse
etc.

ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
AND CULTURAL
CHANGE
213
It is clear that any cultural

factor that affects
must do so
fertility
in some way classifiable
under one or another of our eleven intermediate
variHence the latter
ables.4
provide a framework in terms of which the relevance
of cultural
factors
to fertility
can be judged.
In fact,
attempts to explain
causal relationships'
between institutions
and fertility
without such a framework have led to inconclusive
and confused writing on the subject.5
The cultural factors,
or "conditioning
are presumably many, and no effort
variables",
is made here to classify
variables"
offer a means
them; but the "intermediate
of approach to selecting
and analyzing these factors.
It is also clear that each of the eleven variables
may have a negative
on fertility.
If by examining all socie(minus) or a positive
(plus) effect
ties we could find the range of influence
of a given variable,
any effect more
than the midpoint of this range would be on the minus side, and any
negative
influence
more positive
would be on the plus side.
If, for example, a society
uses contraception
it has a minus value with respect to variable
successfully,
number 8; if it uses no contraception,
it has a plus value on this variable.
The value of each variable
refers
to how it affects
in each case; so
fertility
a positive
use of something (e. g., contraception,
abstinence)
abortion,
may
mean that it has a "minus" fertility-value.
One cannot say, as is frequently
that some of
implied in the literature,
these variables
are affecting
in one society
but not in another.
All
fertility
of the variables
are present in every society.
This is because,
as mentioned
each one is a variable--it
can operate either to reduce or to enhance
before,
If abortion is not practiced,
the fertility-value
of variable
number
fertility.
11 is "plus".
In other words, the absence of a specific
does not imply
practice
"no influence"
on fertility,
because this very absence is a form of influence.
It follows
that the position
of any society,
if stated at all, must be stated
on all eleven variables.
Societies
in their social
do not necessarily
have
differing
organization
different
with respect to all the variables.
On some of the
fertility-values
variables
A nomadic tribe may have the
they may exhibit
quite similar values.
same age at marriage as a settled
a primitive
agrarian village;
group may practice the same rate of abortion as an industrial
Two contrasting
socisociety.
eties are not likely,
however, to manifest similar values for all the variables;
to do this even when their general fertility
level is practhey are not likely
the same.
The actual birth rate depends on the net balance of the values
tically
of all the variables.
which generate a high fertility
tend to
Though societies
be predominantly
on the plus side, no society
has the highest plus value on all
eleven variables;
and societies
with low fertility
turn out to be amazingly
on a number of them.
positive
(4)
The reader will note that our list

of variables
does not include infanticide
or child care.
The reason for this omission is that our analysis
is focused on factors
defined.
Infanticide
affecting
fertility
strictly
and may serve as
does, of course, affect family size and natural increase
an alternative
to factors
It is therefore
discussed
affecting
fertility.
at a later point.
briefly
(5)
For instance,
Frank Lorimer, Culture and Human Fertility,
1954,
Paris,
to make clear the ways in which fertility
can be affected,
by failing
of how it is affected.
The reader
gives in some ways a confused picture
outline of direct and
may wish to compare our framework with a half-page
indirect
factors
affecting
given by Raymond Pearl at the end
fertility
of an article
on "Biological
Factors in Fertility",
Annals of the American Academy of Political
and Social Science,
Vol. 188, November 1936,
p. 24.

214
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
AND FERTILITY
It should, of course, be mentioned that cultural

influences
affecting
do not necessarily
our eleven variables
rational
represent
attempts to govern
conditions
fertility.
stemming from socio-cultural
Many fertility
consequences
in underdeveloped
are by-products,
regions)
being unanticipated
(especially
know
scientists
and unrealized
by members of the society.
Surely by now social
actions or treat nonthat they cannot confine their attention
only to rational
The requirements
of
rational
actions as somehow defying systematic
analysis.
a given society
can be met just as well, and just as ill,
by an unintentional
as by an intentional
level of fertility
one.
Institutional
Patterns and the Intermediate

A Preliminary Analysis
Variables:
From the standpoint

of comparative sociology,
an important question is
in
of our intermediate
distribute
how the fertility-values
variables
themselves
is that underdeveldifferent
kinds of societies.
A preliminary
generalization
for numbers 1, 2, 8, and 9 on
tend to have high fertility-values
oped societies
the list;
they may have high values for 3a, 3b, and 10; and they often have low
is hard
values for 4 and 11. As for the remaining variables--5,
6, and 7--it
and
to prove that there are any consistent
between pre-industrial
differences
If this generalization
then it beindustrial
is roughly accurate,
societies.
as follows:
comes meaningful to re-group the eleven variables
The Intermediate
Variables According to Their
Values in Pre-Industrial
Societies
Usually
1.
2.
8.
9.
High Values
Usually
Age of entry into unions.

Permanent celibacy.
Contraception.
etc.
Sterilization,
4.
10.
High or Low Values
In attempting
to analyze in a preliminary
the variables,
terns affect
we shall find
just given.
Age of Entry into
Voluntary abstinence.
Foetal mortality--involuntary
Indeterminate
3a. Time between unstable unions.

3b. Post-widowhood celibacy.
11. Foetal mortality--voluntary.
Number 1.
Low Values
5.
6.
7.
abstinence.
Involuntary
Frequency of coitus.
Involuntary
sterility.
institutional
way how different
patit convenient
to follow the order
Unions
In beginning with age of entry into unions, we are dealing with one of
the variables
It should be noted that these
governing exposure to intercourse.
in themselves,
however favorable
particular
variables,
they may be to fertility
in practice
and gesmay be counteracted
by other factors
governing conception
For example, even though sexual unions begin early, pregnancy or
tation.
childbirth
This is often the case when the sexual union is
may be prevented.
not a marriage.
intereven though they permit premarital
Many societies,
forbid illegitimate
With respect to marital
course, strongly
pregnancy.6
(6)
for which he had information,

Murdock found that,
Among the 250 societies
relations
are fully permitted in
apart from incest
taboos, "premarital
65 instances,
and are conditionally
approved in 43 and only mildly disIn other words,
approved in 6, whereas they are forbidden in only 44.

ECONOMIC
DEVELOPENTAND CULTURAL
CHANGE
215
indeed expected.
is specifically
As
sanctioned,
unions, however, reproduction
non-marital
there may be, in addition,
unions in which realready mentioned,
in dealing with age of entry
also normally occurs.
Consequently,
production
into unions, we shall separate those unions in which offspring
normally appear
both marital and non-marital
(including
types) from those in which reproduction
We shall now deal with the
condemned that it is infrequent.
is so strongly
first
leaving until
mostly to marriage itself),
general class (paying attention
of non-reproductive
sexual unions.
later the discussion
the age of entry into reproductive
unsocieties
Since in pre-industrial
ions is generally
young, the question must be raised as to why the fertilityit
is usually positive
value of this variable
when on certain other variables
is often negative.
From a broad functional
the explanation
stems
standpoint,
from high mortality.
Not only does a high death rate normally prevail
in
from year to year, but there is always the danger of
societies
underdeveloped
rise in mortality.
a sudden catastrophic
Early marriage therefore
represents
the maximum possible
in population
rehedge against the threat of failure
Entering a union at a young age does not commit one irretrievably
placement.
to a large family,
because all other means of reducing fertility
come after
If a particular
this point.
union is resulting
in progeny that are too numerous under current circumstances,
this eventuality
can be obviated by abstior infanticide.
These means, precisely
because
nence, contraception,
abortion,
can be utilized
at a time closer to the actual impingement of
they come later,
new individuals
on the resources
of those responsible.
If, on the other hand,
the age of entry into unions is late,
the potential
that is lost can
fertility
never be recovered.
The threat of mortality,
from a societal
has
standpoint,
not only to the potential
reference
but also to the parents themoffspring
selves.
Early formation of unions helps to guarantee that the young adults
will achieve at least some reproduction
before they die.
This broad functional
does not, however, enlighten
us conexplanation
institutional
mechanisms by which early marriage is insured.
cerning the specific
These can best be understood in terms of family and kinship organization
(inand rules of descent)
and the control of property.
volving rules of residence
Such mechanisms apply most clearly
to formal marriage, although they may apply
as well, though in lesser
unions.
degree, to informal reproductive
is
From the standpoint
of kinship organization,
distinction
an essential
that between a joint household and/or clan system, on the one hand, and an indeon the other.
When the clan is the unit
pendent nuclear family organization
the property (whether the latter
the
in herds or land),
consists
controlling
does not normally arise,
because the clan is immortal.
question of inheritance
When the joint family is the controlling
unit, the question arises only when
the joint family divides;
the joint family,
however, does not divide when the
at the earliest,
when the father dies.
offspring
marry, but rather,
Thus, in
societies
in those having a strong clan
having a joint household (and a fortiori
on the possession
of sepaorganization),
marriage is in no way made contingent
rate property by the newly married pair.
Furthermore,
riages are usually
arrangements early
with strong clan or joint-household

control (or both), marwho are often motivated to make the
arranged by the elders,
in the lifetime
of the prospective
mates, i. e., before
in 70 per cent of our cases.

In the rest,
license
premarital
prevails
the taboo falls
a preprimarily
upon females and appears to be largely
caution against childbearing
out of wedlock rather than a moral requireOn
ment."
New York, 1949, p. 265.
George P. Murdock, Social Structure,
different
but the majority of
figures,
p. 5 the author gives slightly
his societies
sexual relations.
still
permit premarital

216
SOCIAL STRUCIUREAND FERTILITY
and the economic

Religious
may require this result,
prescription
puberty.
in such a way as to yield an
exchanges involved in betrothal
may be structured
If the system is one
advantage to the parents who marry their daughter early.
of patrilocal
for example, a grown daughter remaining in her parenresidence,
tal home is an anomaly.
Not only does her presence run counter to the normal
of labor by sex, which assumes the complementarity
division
of husband and wife,
but she must adjust to the wives of her brothers coming into the household.
Add to this fact that the daughter, as a prospective
spouse, is most in demand
when she is young, first
because she then has a greater poby other families
tential
ahead of her, and, second, because she is more attractive
fertility
and fits more easily
into a subordinate
status in her husband's parensexually
tal home. If, then, there is a substantial
or groomprice at marribrideprice
kin stand a better chance of a favorable
age, the girl's
bargain if they marry
her off early.
This may help them in procuring wives for their sons.
In societies
the forces
having neither a strong clan nor a joint family,
The Irish family, for
leading to early marriage may be overbalanced by others.
has long been organized in terms of neolocal residence
and hence mariinstance,
tal rather than filial
This being true, land had to be obtainable
solidarity.
or marriage postponed.
During the greater part of the eighteenth
century land
was scarce and could not be subdivided because the economy was predominantly
of
an obstacle
to early marriage "was the difficulty
Consequently,
pastoral.
acquiring a settlement
upon which a new family might depend."7
Later, during
the sixty years before the Famine, when the potato became the staple food and
the economy shifted
from pastoralism
to cultivation,
couples could get property
the main obat marriage by subdivision
of the land, thus removing temporarily
to early marriage.
stacle
But with the crisis
of
of the Famine, the futility
led to the Land Purchase Acts stipulating
subdivision
that the loans
progressive
which transformed tenants into owners were granted only on condition
that no
would take place.
subdivision
Since the annuities
ran for 35 years, this repreon subdivision.8
sented some restraint
was the fact
A more powerful restraint
to subdivide in bethat, once the tenants became owners, they grew unwilling
half of their sons.
The tendency was to retain only one son on the paternal
land, the remainder of the children being dispersed,
partly Through migration
The independent nuclear family was maintained,
abroad.
but the son who remained
at home could not establish
such a family until the father was willing
to resign
both authority
and property.
the average age at marriage in Ireland
As a result
became extremely advanced, reaching 29.1 for women by 1926.9
Lest our characterization
of Irish family organization
as neolocal
appear
it should be noted that although the Irish have been interpreted
surprising,
as having a joint household and patrilocal
the opposite seems to
residence,10
be true.
Even if one or two sons remain at home, the resulting
menage is not
what is ordinarily
called a joint household;
because in Ireland marriage imWhen the son brings a bride into what was
plies the independence of the son.
(7)
K. H. Connell, The Population

ours].
[underscoring
(8)
See Elizabeth
Chapel Hill,
(9)
A. M. Carr-Saunders,
World Population,
Meenan, "Some Causes and Consequences
Journal of the Statistical
and Social
session,
1932-33, pp. 19-27.
(10)
E. g., Conrad M. Arensberg and Solon

Ireland,
Cambridge, 1938, p. 80.
of Ireland,
1750-1845,
R. Hooker, Readjustments
of Agricultural
1938, esp. pp. 55-57, 106, 151, 208.
Oxford,
1950,
p.
89
Tenure in Ireland,
Oxford, 1936, p. 91. Cf. James

of the Low Irish Marriage Rate",
86th
Inquiry Society of Ireland,
T. Kimball,
Family and Community in

217
CHANGE
AND CULTURAL
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
as
the paternal homestead, he brings her into a home that has been redefined
both ownership of the
The father has relinquished
his, no longer his father's.
to own the
As long as the father continues
over the son.
farm and authority
land, the son who remains at home cannot marry because the land is necessary for
the fact that the parents are
If marriage occurs, therefore,
the "match".11
have entered "the age grade of
in the home is merely adventitious--they
still
if irreconcilable
conflict
the dying".12
develops in the shared
Significantly,
"The
not the son and his wife, who must leave.
it is the parents,
household,
bond between them [husband and wife] is stronger than that between son and parThus in Ireland the fact of sharing a house with the parents is not a
ent."13
The
of the joint family ideal but of the force of circumstances.
reflection
defined in such a way as to comply with the
fact of a common menage is socially
and independent nuclear family.
ideal of a neolocal
is neither unique to Ireland
This independent nuclear family organization
inIn Northwestern Europe the custom of impartible
nor modern in development.
was found in many areas
or ultimogeniture)
heritance
(e. g., by promigeniture
it was apparently customary for the
In some sections
during the Middle Ages.
their
old people to give their land to the heir before they died.
Surrendering
The heir's
marriage was
they expected only their keep off the land.
authority,
and brothers
on the land being turned over to him; if his sisters
contingent
The
of marriage.14
stayed on, they could claim their keep but not the privilege
no marriage,15
of no holding,
operated to advance the average age beprinciple
Furthermore, the notion of the indeyond what it otherwise would have been.
in the master-apprentice
itself
pendence of the nuclear family also manifested
for marriage often did not occur until
within the medieval guilds;
relationship
or dower.16
an adequate guild status had been acquired by inheritance,
purchase,
There is thus evidence that European society has long emphasized the marital
with a consebond as the basis of family organization,
rather than the filial
quent tendency to delay marriage.17
rather
on neolocal
The emphasis on marital rather than filial
solidarity,
which appears to have delayed marriage in Ireland
than patrilocal
residence,
and Northwestern Europe contrasts
sharply with the forces operating to preciIn a truly joint household the
marriage in an extended family system.
pitate
of the elders continues after marriage; the marital bond is therefore
authority
bond and does not require economic independence on
to the filial
subordinate
Such a family pattern is well known as the
the part of those getting married.
and Kimball,
op. cit.,
pp. 107-122.
(11)
Arensberg
(12)
Ibid.,
p. 123.
(13)
Ibid.,
p. 128.
(14)
George C. Homans, English

1942, Chs. 9-10.
(15)
Josiah C. Russell,
"Demographic Values in the Middle Ages",
1949, p. 104.
George F. Mair, ed., Princeton,
Population,
(16)
Josiah C. Russell,
163-164.
(17)
shows a retarded age

with neolocal residence
Of course, not every society
where no formal
In a primitive
at marriage.
economy with high mortality,
to adult status must be hurdled, and where
or other obstacles
training
of land is the felt need, indeof persons rather than scarcity
scarcity
be
formed
families
nuclear
early marriage, e. g., the Netby
may
pendent
Ruthenians.
Andaman Islanders,
silik
Eskimos, Fox Indians,
British
Villagers
Medieval
of the Thirteenth
Population,
Century,
Albuquerque,

Cambridge,
Studies
in
1948,
pp.
218
AND FERTILITY
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
ideal one in traditional

and many other peasant or
China, India, Bantu Africa,
In the Chinese case, the father maintains his tutelage
cultures.
primitive
over the married son and his control over the familial
property until death.
He consequently
need not fear the marriage of his son as a threat to his authand therefore,
unlike the Irish father,
has no motive (at least in this
ority,
such marriage.
On the contrary,
to the extent that his
regard) for postponing
son brings a wife into the house and has children,
the old man's authority
is
extended.
Indeed, it is only by the marriage of his son that the patriarch
can fulfill
his filial
to his father.18
obligation
Number 2.
Extent
of Permanent Celibacy
If late marriage can have a minus effect

on fertility,
so can permanent
In both cases,
if this effect
is to be produced, there must be
non-marriage.
either continence
outside of marriage, or the use of means to prevent intercourse
from resulting
in childbirth.
In practice,
does produce a
non-marriage usually
low rate of reproduction
as mentioned already,
among the unmarried, because,
is the preferred
institutional
marriage in all societies
arrangement for having
It seems wise, therefore,
children.
to discuss
in terms
"celibacy" primarily
of non-marriage,
and to consider sexual continence
only in so far as it illuminates that factor.
a more potent factor than
Although permanent non-marriage is obviously
mere postponement of marriage, it actually
occurs less frequently
and hence has
less negative
influence
on fertility.
be found
Only rarely can a population
where more than 20 per cent of the women complete the reproductive
period without ever having married.
Ireland is an extreme case, with 26.3
of its women
If we assume that these women, had they
aged 45-49 in 1946 still
single.19
as those who did, then
married, would have had the same completed fertility
their proportion
an estimate of the loss of fertility
due to nonrepresents
Thus the loss due to permanent
births).20
marriage (excluding
illegitimate
to exceed one-fourth.
non-marriage seems, even in the extreme case, scarcely
Such a loss in fertility
is greatly exceeded by that due to late age at marriFor example, in Switzerland
if
(where the data are readily
age.
available),
all women in 1941 who had ever married by ages 40-44, had married at ages 1519 and had subsequently
manifested
the same age-specific
as those who
fertility
had actually
married then or did marry at some point prior to age 40, the reIn other words,
production would have been 75% greater than it actually
was.21
(18)
Marion J. Levy, Jr., The Family Revolution

in Modern China, Cambridge,
When the family head dies there is the problem of one
1949, pp. 168-170.
of the sons assuming authority
over the others.
It is precisely
at this
but if it survives
this
point that the joint household often dissolves;
as it may, it does so because of the past institutionalization
of
crisis,
relative
age as a factor in authority.
(19)
Other cases
Switzerland
13.3%.
(20)
in mortality
Differences
and possible
unmarried women may introduce a small
this estimate.
(21)
This calculation
excludes non-marriage as a factor,
because the women who
had never married by age 40-44 were subtracted
from the women under conin each age group.
sideration
In other words, 21.4% of Swiss women at
But the remaining 78.6% had married at
ages 40-44 had never married.
of high proportions
never married are Sweden (1945) 20.9%,
(1941) 20.1%, England and Wales (1931) 16.86, Belgium (1930)
as between married and
fecundity
but probably not serious error into

CHANGE
DEVELOPMENT
AND CULTURAL
ECONOMIC
219
would have been apif late marriage had been eliminated

the gain in fertility
three times the gain (25%) if permanent non-marriage had been elimiproximately
nated.
societies
that the proportion
of women
It is mainly in urban-industrial
never marrying by the end of the reproductive
span exceeds 10%. In India in
1931 it was only 0.8%; in Ceylon in 1946, 3.4%; and in Malaya in 1947, 3.3%.
areas generally
show a very high plus value for fertility
Thus the underdeveloped
number 1 (age at marriage) and variable
number 2
with respect both to variable
societies
often show rather low
ever married),
whereas industrial
(proportion
on these.
fertility-values
We thus have to answer two
less use of non-marriage than of
underdeveloped
peoples make less
Let us attempt
trial
societies?
make
Why do all societies
generally
questions:
late marriage in depressing
fertility?
Why do
use of both of these mechanisms than do industo answer these two questions
in order.
of the human species,

can hope to reGiven the low fecundity
no society
unless either a majority of its women participate
in reproduction
place itself
or its mortality
is rigorously
has ocSince most of man's history
controlled.
of heavy mortality--conditions
for
curred under conditions
which still
prevail
viable societies
mechanisms
have evolved social
many of the world's peoples--all
in reproduction.
Their particithat lead the majority of women to participate
of marriage, which links sex and
pation is organized through the institution
to the care and socialization
of children.
This institution
is in
reproduction
The mariturn supported by its articulation
order.
with the rest of the social
tal relation
thus becomes a general norm in terms of which the hopes and expectations
of virtually
all individuals
are channelized.
If for some reason the
is relaxed,
the norm still
in effect.
Not only
continues
pressure of mortality
do normative systems change slowly,
but there still
for
remains the necessity
in terms of which reproduction
a family organization
and child-rearing
are provided for.
Thus individuals
continue to anticipate
marriage as a normal and
an event more easily postponed than foregone altogether.
important part of life,
In any case, an increase
in non-marriage would not reduce fertility
unless
either coitus outside of wedlock were successfully
banned or contraception
and
If the latter
were readily
abortion were freely used.
they could be
available,
used within marriage,
and the consequent reduction
in marital fertility
would
of denying marriage to a substantial
obviate the necessity
portion of the popuIf contraception
and abortion were not readily
lation.
available,
non-marriage
brake on fertility
would be an effective
only at the price of permanent sexual
that this price is
indicates
celibacy.
Everything we know about human society
so high that no population
to pay it.
is willing
Since no society
has ever attempted to incorporate
as
permanent celibacy
a widespread custom, we have no conclusive
evidence as to what it would do to
a social
We can, however, obtain some clues by examining countries
in
system.
has appeared to an unusual extent and by examining
which permanent celibacy
We can also say something on
which have enjoined it as a rule.
organizations
theoretical
as the chief
purely
grounds concerning what it might do if utilized
means of reducing fertility
to a modern level.
of space prevent
Limitations
various ages.
If this 78.6% had all married at ages 15-19 and had from
the same age-specific
that age experienced
as those ever marfertility
ried at each age, their total fertility
would have been 76% greater.
Stated in terms of the potential
lost by late marriage, the
fertility
is rough, because the data
64%. The calculation
figure is approximately
refer to 1941 and thus do not represent
a true cohort analysis;
but a refined calculation
on a cohort basis should yield rather similar
results.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE
AND FERTILITY
220
our giving a complete
about each of them.
treatment
along
these
lines,
but something
can be said
late age at marriage and a high proporBecause Ireland has an unusually

tion who never marry, together with a strong prejudice
against coitus outside
of
it provides
the main example of a rather extensive
of marriage,
practice
Has this adjustment exacted a price?
To answer such a question
celibacy.22
as a consetoward sex cannot be listed
attitude
is difficult.
A puritanical
itself.
That the Irish avoid requence, because this is part of the celibacy
rate--2.8
outside of marriage is shown by their low illegitimacy
production
of all live births in 1921-1930 and 3.3% in 1931-1940.23
However, such deas we have suggest that a great amount of attention,
community efscriptions
sexual expression.
and personality
conflict
Having
go into controlling
fort,
the
a social
system that emphasized the marital bond and the nuclear family,
unmarried females,
as is done in Moslem counIrish cannot completely
segregate
in courtship
The young people must have some chance to participate
and
tries.
mate selection.
But, given this system, the Irish seem to make an unusually
under a
to control sexual behavior.
For a country not living
strong effort
of literature
and ideas is exceptionally
the official
censorship
dictatorship,
to
and has as its main purpose the suppression
of material pertaining
rigid,
sex and reproduction.24
the data on mental illness,
which show
Furthermore,
indicate
a possible
a high rate for Ireland,
consequence of such repression.25
(22)
to Malthus, New York, 1953, pp. 27-54, shrewdly

David Glass, Introduction
notes that Ireland is the only country which has come close to following
In
restraint"
and no birth control.
Malthus' rules of conduct--"moral
of Northwestern Europe, such as Sweden and Norway, a late
other countries
not only because illeage at marriage does not imply sexual abstinence,
but also because contraception
is more freely
gitimacy is more tolerated
practiced.
(23)
Ibid.,
(24)
For attitudes
toward sexual behavior see Arensberg and Kimball, op. cit.,
and popular sources as Frank O'Connor,
Ch. 11; and also such literary
"Love
Holiday, Vol. 6, December 1949, p. 40; Sean O'Faolain,
"Ireland",
Life Magazine, Vol. 34, March 16, 1953, pp. 140-157.
Among the Irish",
the following
Regarding censorship,
passage from O'Faolain is pertinent:
of books and publications,
"...Our censorship
instigated
by the clergy
is a symbol of this fear of
and submitted to, willy-nilly,
by everybody,
of books and
the 150 close-packed
sex...In
register
pages of the official
banned by the Irish Censorship Board we find the names of
periodicals
Irish writer of note, some for one book, some for
almost every single
The banning is done in secret.
There is no appeal to the courts
several.
of law..."
See also an article,
"Irish Challenge Censors' Methods", The
New York Times, August 14, 1955, where it is pointed out that the Irish
Censorship Board "has banned books by the most reputable Irish authors,
and Ireland's
Sean O'Casey, Liam O'Flaherty,
Sean O'Faolain,
including
most brilliant
short story writer,
Frank O'Connor.
Nobel prize winners
have even come under the interdict...many
works of worth are condemned on
a few isolated
marked passages,
while the general tenor of the book is
the works of Roman Catholic authors approved by the church
ignored...Even
in Britain have not escaped the five Irish Roman Catholic
authorities
Censors."
(25)
In 1949 the proportion

beds devoted to mental cases was 57%
of hospital
in Ireland,
The rate of
whereas it was only 49 in the United States.
mental patients
in 1948 was 603 in Ireland as conper 100,000 population
seem not
trasted
to 382 in the United States.
Adventitious
circumstances
p. 37.

ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
AND CULTURAL
CHANGE
There appear
lost through
any nation in
that
pothesis
to be few features
in Irish
Ireland has, for
celibacy.
Northwestern Europe.
All
Ireland is paying a price
221
life
that compensate for whatever is
of
example, the lowest level of living
told, there is some ground for the hyfor its unusual degree of celibacy.
rule has been almost solely

Celibacy as an organizational
applied to rewhich have adopted such a rule for
Among those few religions
ligious
personnel.
available
for the Roman Catholic
their clergy,
our evidence is most readily
of the rule in this case encounAs is well known, the application
priesthood.
It required nearly nine centuries
before the edict of
tered great difficulties.
Priests
were first
could be enforced with relative
success.
non-marriage itself
in 385 A. D. After
commanded to separate from their wives and remain continent
that date there were periods when the ban against marriage could be safely
igfollowed by periods when the Church was militantly
nored by priests,
purging its
in enformarried clergy.
encountered such obstacles
Pope Gregory (Hildebrand)
to withdraw their obecing the rule of non-marriage that he ordered the laity
dience from all members of the clergy who disregarded
the papal canons on simony
and incontinence.
of the Church-By so doing, he undermined a basic principle
laid one of the foundaclerical
immunity--and thus as early as 1074 directly
tions of the Reformation.
Only by placing the sacrament of marriage in a lower
than that of the religious
vow (Lateran Council of 1123) did the Church
position
the issue of clerical
settle
such marrifinally
although in practice
marriage,
late as the nineteenth
ages occurred with some frequency after that--as
century
in some parts of Latin America, for example.
In periods when the ban against
the Church still
had to deal with sexual incontimarriage was being enforced,
nence among its priests
of female peni"Solicitation"
and nuns.
(the seduction
and other violations
were so common as to cause chronic
tents),
concubinage,
In some areas priestly
a
concubinage became, for long periods,
public scandal.
and the sons of priests
received preferment.26
We can thus
customary practice,
of the popusee that the enforcement of celibacy
even for that small fraction
lation represented
by the clergy was anything but easy.
to account for this result.

of
Though Ireland has a larger percentage
(24.7% at ages
persons in the advanced ages than does the United States
50 and over as against 22.4% at these ages in the United States),
she has
a higher proportion
under age 30.
The fact that Irish medical services
are less developed than in this country suggests
that the comparison
the difference
understates
in mental illness.
In 1949 Ireland had only
one hospital
bed per 1,000 inhabitants,
whereas the United States has
of mental cases in Ireland may never
9.6, so that a higher proportion
appear in the statistics.
(26)
of clerical
For the history
in Europe, see Henry C. Lea, Hiscelibacy
tory of Sacerdotal
Church, London, 1932, and
Celibacy in the Christian
A History of the Inquisition
of the Middle Ages, Vol. 1, New York, 1888,
Alexander C. Flick,
The Decline of the Medieval Church, New
pp. 31-32;
J. R. Tanner et al. (eds.),
Contest of
York, 1930, Vols. 1-2, passim.;
New York, 1926,
Empire and Papacy, Vol. 5 of Cambridge Medieval History,
esp. pp. 11-14, 40, 61-62, 73, 695; Eileen Power, Medieval English Nunneries,
Cambridge, 1922, Ch. 11; Geoffrey Baskerville,
English Monks and
the Suppression
of the Monasteries,
New Haven, 1937, pp. 261-266; Joseph
St. Louis, 1944,
McSorley, An Outline History of the Church by Centuries,
Decrees of the
pp. 83, 154, 206-207, 237; H. J. Schroeder,
Disciplinary
General Councils,
For Latin America, see J.
St. Louis, 1937, p. 193.
Lloyd Mecham, Church and State in Latin America, Chapel Hill,
1934, p.
48; Mary Watters, A History of the Church in Venezuela,
1810-1930,
Chapel
New
1933, p. 211; Gilberto Freyre, The Masters and the Slaves,
Hill,
York, 1946, pp. 446-452.

AND FERTILITY
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
222
is institutionalized
and becomes
in which celibacy
If we imagine a society
and
a norm rivaling
marriage, we can see that the result would be paradoxical
Should the celibate
class be large enough to reduce the birth rate
impossible.
to a modern level without other means, it would have to contain at least half
on such a scale to be induced to make the
the population.
For individuals
of celibacy,
sacrifice
(perthey would not only have to be firmly controlled
from the rest of the community and thus divorced from the temphaps segregated
of everyday life),
but would also have to be ideologically
tations
indoctrinated,
If the rewards were great enough to recruit
rewarded.
socially
and, above all,
this class would
portion of the population,
people for the numerous celibate
But the celibate
class would
ladder.
inevitably
occupy the top of the social
would not
be too big to be an elite.
Furthermore, the sheer fact of celibacy
of the society.
in itself
a contribution
to the productive
capacity
represent
of
If the celibate
were given useful tasks to perform, the variety
population
an indiscrimibe great; and if all these received
would necessarily
functions
this return not because
would be receiving
nately high reward, some celibates
but because of their celibacy.
In this way,
contribution
of their productive
advantages that at best only a
seeking to give half or more of its population
of productive
the society
would
few can be given (and doing so regardless
merit),
economic and social
suffer an intolerable
burden.27
in
minor role of permanent celibacy
of the relatively
After this analysis
we are now ready for our second question:
Why are late
fertility
limitation,
than in pre-industrial
marriage and non-marriage more frequent in industrial
societies?
because
societies
Perhaps non-marriage occurs more often in industrial
orthese societies
depend less upon kinship and the family as bases of social
less the individual's
The fact of being or not being married affects
ganization.
In pre-industrial
where the family is a produceconomic chances.
societies,
tive unit, marriage has a high value for the individual.
Also, where the,partas in
ners to marriage are self-selected
by a competitive
process of courtship,
who are not sucthere tends to be a substantial
modern countries,
proportion
a suitable
in attracting
mate.
cessful
nations can be
The greater postponement of marriage in urban-industrial
in
for skilled
The necessity
of lengthy training
positions
similarly
explained.
an industrial
economy, the often lengthy trial-and-error
process of courtship,
on the part of the newly married
the necessity
of economic self-sufficiency
are conducive to marital postponement.
couple--all
is non-marriage likely
to be as important
But in neither type of society
of fertility
as late marriage, because marriage remains the instia depressant
but
norm in both cases.
Wedlock may be postponed with some equanimity,
tutional
who actually
individuals
never marry have, in most cases, hoped that this would
is certainly
In Ireland,
for example, clerical
not be their fate.
celibacy
among laymen.28
valued, but not permanent celibacy
ration
Once again let us note

of marriage necessarily
the postponement nor the total abjuthat neither

Hence no industrial
implies sexual celibacy.
(27)
Of course, a society
could be imagined in which half or more of the women
in polyandrous
were forced to be celibate,
the rest of the people living
But such a speculation
would evoke more paradoxes than that
marriage.
A society
could
organization
already sketched.
capable of such deliberate
be expected to use celibacy
alone as its means of controlling
scarcely
With other less drastic means available,
the end would hardly
fertility.
the means.
justify
(28)
Arensberg
and Kimball,
op. cit.,
p. 69.

ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
AND CULTURAL
CHANGE
223
today is required to use either method as a dominant means of controlsociety

methods are
less sacrificial,
because other less drastic,
ling fertility,
and abstinence
It is clear that marital postponement,
available.
non-marriage,
in limiting
all have a common
if they are effective
within marriage,
fertility,
that this entails.
and all share the difficulties
feature--sexual
denial;
Number 8.
Use or Non-Use of Contraception
on fertility
have a negative
effect
Whereas the "intercourse
variables"
revariables
neither the conception
nor the gestation
only through abstinence,
necesor the institutionalization
behavior by the individual
quire this drastic
variables"
With the "conception
(of which the use
sary to insure such behavior.
is not foreof intercourse
or non-use of contraception
is one), the pleasure
from paying a heavy appetitive
thus released
The individual,
gone.
penalty for
is much freer to decide this issue in terms
not to have children,
the decision
of his economic and social
interests
alone.
its apparent efficiency
With reference
to contraception
in particular,
of fertility.
might lead one to expect a widespread use of it as a depressant
Yet we have already stated that this is one of the three variables
which almost
in pre-industrial
have a strong plus fertility-value
societies.
universally
Why,
so widely exhibit
the non-use of contraception?
To
then, do these societies
the two types of contraception.
answer this question,
we must consider separately
In many primitive
and
8a.
by chemical or mechanical means.
Contraception
the idea of chemical and mechanical contraception
is known and
peasant cultures
the indiviattempts are made to apply it.
motivating
Yet, even in situations
dual to limit his fertility,
this is not usually
the means adopted, simply because the technology
of underdeveloped
methods.
societies
cannot supply effective
In the absence of a knowledge of reproductive
physiology,
people in these soto look for.
cieties
sense of even the kind of instrumentalities
have little
there is not enough knowledge of chemistry to give command over maSimilarly,
The methods, therefore,
tend to be hit or miss, with magic rather than
terials.
science playing a prominant role.
Lack of experimental
technique leads one method to be valued as highly as another.29
Even the methods that would actually
are apt to be clumsy, sexually
unsatisaccomplish the purpose of contraception
and unhealthful,
e. g., insertion
of an okra-like
seed pod in the vafactory,
of rags or finely
gina (Bush Negroes of British
Guiana); insertion
chopped
insertion
of dung (Egypt and
grass (Bapindas and Bambundas in Central Africa);
other societies).30
method is
Furthermore, granted that a really satisfactory
hit upon, such as possibly
the use of a douche containing
lemon juice or a dethe materials
coction of the husks of mahogany nut (Martinique or Guiana),31
to be available
only in one locale
are likely
or in certain
seasons of the year.
Thus the technology
and economy of pre-industrial
societies
have not been equal
to the task of providing
a chemico-mechanical
that would be at
contraceptive
once cheap, satisfactory,
and readily
available.
effective,
8b.
without chemical or mechanical
Contraception
methods as withdrawal,
intercourse
means.
Clearly such
and various heterosexual
(29)
Norman E. Himes, Medical History of Contraception,

Baltimore,
1936, pp.
53-54, 99. See also Clellan S. Ford, A Comparative Study of Human ReproNew Haven, 1945, pp. 40-42.
duction,
(30)
Himes,
(31)
Also see M. Soors,

Ibid.,
p. 17.
Vol. 4, May 1950, pp. 525-532.
op. cit.,
pp. 10,
18-19,
63.
"La denatalite
chez les

Mongo", Zaire,
224
AND FERTILITY
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
and technological
do not depend on scientific
They
progress.
"perversions"
Yet
in one form or another in nearly all societies.32
are known and practiced
a major control over feremployed to represent
they seem to be insufficiently
but apparently
societies,
They may be so employed in a few primitive
tility.
such as that of China, India, and the Near East where
not in the civilizations
For the most part, it seems, they are
are found.
aggregates
huge population
interor in those cases where premarital
relations
employed in extra-marital
But it is doubtful that
course is permitted but premarital
pregnancy forbidden.
to fertility
control in whole
an important contribution
such practices
represent
with a good share of the world's people-Numerous societies--some
societies.
or
either do not permit the ordinary female to engage in premarital
intercourse,
would play a small role
have such a young age at marriage that such intercourse
those societies
which permit them
in any case.
As for extra-marital
relations,
concerned about the woman's
are not particularly
under certain
circumstances
is not stressed.
because biological
Only those
paternity
becoming pregnant,
would condemn the maras illegitimate
children
societies
branding adulterous
ried woman's pregnancy by another man than the husband, and these would be socito have an
For these reasons,
intercourse.
extra-marital
eties which restrict
non-mechanical
on fertility,
effect
and significant
contraceptive
independent
forced to ask
We are therefore
methods would have to be used within marriage.
sowhy such methods are not more widely used within wedlock in pre-industrial
cieties.
must in
with a high mortality
that any society
The reader should recall
Under
favorably.
reproduction
general motivate its members to view legitimate
in question,
as already pointed out, are so organized
the cultures
this pressure
values in the early stages of the reproductive
as to maximize fertility
process
it is still
is one step later,
--e. g., by early marriage.
Although intercourse
If conditions
so early as to involve a risk of inadequate fertility.
subsequently
be taken after conception.
measures can still
make children undesirable,
is
consideration
An additional
and the responsibility
childbearing,
(32)
burden and danger of

that the physical
fall
and rearing the child,
for nourishing
the
is doubtless
Himes, speaking of Europe, says that "coitus interruptus
has been for
method of contraception...and
most popular, widely diffused
of man."
is probably nearly as old as the group life
centuries...[It]
in which
He also cites numerous primitive
tribes
0p. cit.,
pp. 183-184.
is practiced.
I. Schapera, writing of the Kgatla of
coitus interruptus
locally
pracsays: "The commonest method of contraception
Bechuanaland,
is widely employed not only by married
ticed is coitus interruptus...It
Sometimes the woman, by moving
but also by unmarried lovers."
people,
her hips so as to extrude the penis just before ejaculation,
accomplishes
Married Life in an
without the male's cooperation.
coitus interruptus
Coitus inter femora is pracAfrican Tribe, New York, 1941, pp. 222-223.
Girls may
ticed in many societies,
by the Bantus in Africa.
particularly
C. Daryll Forde,
wear special
designed to avoid penetration.
girdles
London,
Nigeria,
Marriage and the Family among the Yako of South-Eastern
but not pregnancy
sexual relations
Bantu tribes,
1941, p. 14.
permitting
before marriage,
teach (or did teach) their young people how to have
the unbroken hymen in some tribes being
intercourse
on at marriage.
insisted
regarded as an important index of virginity,
to climax" to have been pracAlfred C. Kinsey et al. found "petting
the U. S. male
ticed by 24% of the male sample (blown up to represent
The cumulamales.
by age 21, and by 50% of college-educated
population)
tive incidence
being 24%
substantial,
among females was less but still
at age 20. Sexual Behavior in the Human Male,
for the college-educated
and ...in
the Human Female; 1953, p. 270.
1948, pp. 531-542,
Philadelphia,

ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
AND CULTURAL
CHANGE
mainly on the mother.
wish is apt to be hers
non-chemico-mechanical
operation and partial
his
sures that affect
avoiding pregnancy.
225
If therefore
there is a wish to avoid childbirth,
this
rather than her husband's.
It happens, however, that the
methods of contraception
are the ones requiring
the coof the male.
Since he is not under the presfrustration
wife in this matter, he may be reluctant
to aid her in
of the two sexes is often carried so far that comThe social

insulation
This insulation
munication between them is difficult.
is particularly
observable
in regard to sexual behavior,
which tends to be surrounded by taboos and rituAs between husband and wife, sexual intercourse,
als.
by virtue of being the
the focus of anxiety and conflict
bond and therefore
between them, may
special
be the topic they discuss with least freedom.
Thus the cooperation
necessary
for contraception
is made difficult.
In such terms we can understand why the available
methods of contraception receive
scant use in underdeveloped
societies.
Which of the considerations
mentioned plays the greatest
role is hard to say, but the fact should be emphasized that not all the reasons for limiting
births are predictable
at the time
of intercourse--particularly
in simple societies
that live close to the environment and are threatened
The individual
by quick catastrophe.
couple may,
as we shall see later,
limit fertility
after rather than at the time
therefore,
of intercourse.
Number 9.
Voluntary
Control
over Fecundity
Like chemical and mechanical contraception,

control of fesatisfactory
of pre-industrial
societies.
Neither
cundity is beyond the technical
capacity
the reduction
nor the enhancement of fecundity
by harmless medical measures
in such cultures.
appears possible
genitalia
Operations on the male external
can be performed, such as subincision
and castration,
but these are either too
drastic
to be harmless or have little
effect
on fecundity.33
We may conclude,
societies
are plus on variable
then, that pre-industrial
number 9. But so are industrial
The latter
societies.
may have even more of
a plus fertility-value
on this variable
than simple societies
because they can,
and usually do, forbid sterilization
and, at the same time, foster medical
treatment for sterility,
thus enhancing the fecundity
of partially
sterile
couples.
Although
yet been used,
modern science makes harmless sterilization

it has not
possible,
except in Puerto Rico, as a popular method of avoiding children.34
(33)
Castration
is so drastic
that it is apparently never used with enough
the splitting
of the
frequency to affect
Subincision,
group fertility.
from the lower part rather
penis in such a way that the semen is expelled
than through the glans, seemingly has little
effect
on fecundity,
depenassumed during intercourse.
Also the pracding in part on the position
tice has a very limited distribution
even in primitive
and seems
society
unknown in more advanced pre-industrial
societies.
Among the Australian
where it is found, opinion differs
as to its effects.
German
aborigines,
held that the operation
theorists,
according to Himes, have generally
lowers fertility
and is so intended.
Modern anthropologists,
on the other
Himes himself believes
it may
hand, have denied both these contentions.
have some negative
effect
of this kind.
Op. cit.,
pp. 41-51.
(34)
See J. M. Stycos,
"Female Sterilization
Vol. 1, June 1954, pp. 3-9.
terly,
in Puerto
Rico",
Eugenics

Quar-
AND FERTILITY
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
226
The Puerto Rican case suggests,

however, that sterilization
may in the future
in underdeveloped
If the operational
techareas.
become more widely diffused
that it
reversed--so
nique were improved to the point where it could be easily
the total number, of
as well as for limiting
could be used for the spacing,
in backward
children--it
might become the principal
areas.
Number 3a.
Time Between Unstable
Unions.
of both
3a is a function
on fertility
from variable
effect
Any negative
of unions and the time lost between them. If unions are
the rate of dissolution
will
or if they are unstable but no time is lost between them, fertility
stable,
not be affected
adversely.
seem generally
societies
to marital unions, pre-industrial
With reference
to this
to have a low rate of dissolution.
True, there are certain exceptions
Some of the Islamic peoples show a tendency toward marital instability,
rule.
the clan or joint household takes such precedence
societies
and in some primitive
On the
tends to be somewhat unstable.3
over the nuclear family that the latter
of pre-industrial
structure
groups buttresses
whole, however, the institutional
stability.
marriage in such ways as to give it considerable
of informal unions which it
has a significant
When a society
proportion
is nevertheless
to legal marriage but in which reproduction
regards as inferior
unions" in Latin America and "common law" unions in
expected (e. g., "consensual
of such unions is that they tend
one of the features
the British West Indies),
a
In such cases the woman may wait some time before entering
to be unstable.
For a small sample of
lost may be substantial.
new union, and the fertility
the reduction
women in Jamaica (where around 70% of the births are illegitimate)
37%.36 The indue to the instability
of unions was approximately
in fertility
form from various historical
as an institutional
formal type of union arises
that have been disorganized
In societies
causes.
they may
by Western contact,
In other
and legal marriage itself
may become unstable.37
appear abundantly,
out of a former slave class,
order has grown largely
where the social
instances
(35)
See Ralph Linton, Study of Man, New York, 1936, Ch. 10. Murdock, op. cit.,
Linton for holding that in some societies
organized on
p. 3, criticizes
a "consanguine" basis the nuclear family plays an insignificant
role, but
dismarital instability
the fact is that in such cultures
may have little
See K. Davis, "Children of Divorced Parents", Law and
effect.
organizing
Contemporary Problems, Vol. 10, Summer 1944, pp. 700-710.
(36)
and Reproductive
Behavior in Jamaica",
Judith Blake, "Family Instability
Milbank Memorial Fund, New York,
Current Research in Human Fertility,
1955, pp. 26-30.
(37)
Margaret Mead, Changing Culture of an Indian Tribe, New York, 1932, pp.
Ch. 10; Migrant Labour and Tribal
14-15, Ch. 10. Schapera, op. cit.,
Life, London, 1947, pp. 183-189; and "Cultural Changes in Family Life",
The Bantu-Speaking
Tribes of South Africa,
London, 1937, pp. 380-385.
The literature
covering the impact of Western culture on native peoples is
the tendency of such conso enormous that one could document indefinitely
in such unions and
tact to produce illicit
sexual unions and instability
in marriage.

ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
AND CULTURAL
CHANGE
informal
ages.38
unions
may be both more numerous and more unstable
than legal
227
marri-
to premarital
With reference
unions, there is every evidence that in the
where these are permitted they are, as a rule, highly unstable,
many societies
amounting in many cases to adolescent
promiscuity.
However, there is ordinarily
time lost between such liaisons;
few societies
in
little
permit reproduction
them; and, given a young age at marriage, most such unions occur at an age when
adolescent
seemingly reduces the number of conceptions.
sterility
It follows
that pre-industrial
societies
have a plus fertilitygenerally
number 3a, buf the exceptions
are more numerous
value with respect to variable
than was the case with the other variables
so far considered.
Number 3b.
Post-Widowhood
Celibacy
the high rate of widowhood found in pre-industrial

What effect
societies
has on fertility
of the widow. In many
depends on the institutional
position
time from exposure to intercourse,
she loses little
such societies
because she
In other pre-industrial
soon marries again.
cultures,
however, the widow either
must wait for a protracted
period or is subject to a distinct
against
prejudice
An important problem in analyzing
the institutional
remarrying at all.
impingeis the discovery
of why some societies
ments on fertility
take one course in
this regard and others take the opposite course.
If we study those societies
in which remarriage occurs universally
and
the widow to marry a kinsman of
soon, we find that they are the ones requiring
the deceased husband (levirate).
Such societies
are usually primitive,
praca shifting
or pastoral
and are characterticing
cultivation,
hunting,
pursuits,
ized by strong clan or lineage
substantial
organization.
Marriage involves
economic exchanges and, if the system is patrilineal
and patrilocal,
these are
The woman brought into
weighted in favor of the bride's
lineage
(brideprice).
as a wife is conceived as belonging
the clan or lineage
to this clan, which has
her children,
who are automatically
members of the husband's
paid the brideprice;
her contribution
in return for the cost of procuring her.
lineage,
represent
When the woman is widowed, the lineage retains
control over her, not only because
a price has been paid for her but also because her children must remain with the
If she still
is fecund, the lineage feels
it would be losing potential
lineage.
if she did not remarry.
But remarriage to an outsider would be unsatchildren
of that union would belong to another lineage.
because the children
isfactory,
Hence the remarriage must be within the clan.
Since in the exchanges cementing
the husband's nearest relatives
bore the main cost, it is
the first
marriage,
natural that his close kin (notably his brothers)
should have first
claim on the
If the deceased husband has no actual brothers,
widow.
one of his "classifiIn anticipation
of her possibly
catory brothers" can be substituted.
entering
a leviratic
with her husband's actual and classifiunion, a woman's relation
The term for "husband's
catory brothers is often one of privileged
familiarity.
brother" may be the same as that for "husband".
The social
structure
clearly
that the clan is thinking of the widow in terms of her potential
demonstrates
of children.
even if the widow should
Among the Nuer, for instance,
production
take as a lover a person outside the clan (she cannot legally
marry outside),
(38)
T. S. Simey, Welfare and Planning in the West Indies,

Oxford, 1946, passim.
F. M. Henriques,
G. W.
Family and Colour in Jamaica, London, 1953, passim.
in the West Indies",
PopuRoberts, "Some Aspects of Mating and Fertility
lation Studies,
Vol. 8, March 1955, pp. 199-227.
R. T. Smith, "Family
in British
Vol. I, FebOrganization
Guiana", Social and Economic Studies,
ruary 1953, pp. 87-111.

228
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
AND FERTILITY
of the dead husband and therefore

the children are viewed as the descendants
as members of his, not the lover's,
clan.39
on the other hand, the widow is forbidden to marry a
In many societies,
close relative
of the deceased husband.
These seem to be cases in which the
clan, however important it may once have been, has receded in economic and poadvance and greater
litical
seemingly as a result of technological
significance,
The economy is that of a more stable agriculture
in
class stratification.
Under such
cultivated
which the same land is intensively
year in and year out.
the joint household acquires more independence and more significircumstances
cance as an economic unit than it seems to have in most primitive
societies.
in different
households thus takes precedence
The distinction
between relatives
as members of the same lineage
or clan.
To be sure, the
over their solidarity
woman marrying into the joint household may do so in terms of some form of ecohouseholds rather than
nomic exchange, but this exchange is between individual
The widow and her children accordingly
clans.
belong to the deceased husband's
household.
Remarriage to one of her dead mate's brothers or other close male
because the joint
however, would be structurally
relatives,
inappropriate,
and must be so organized as to minihousehold is always subject to dissolution
of suuh dissolution.
Unlike the clan or lineage,
which
mize the complications
the household is a residential
economic'
is immortal and indefinitely
expandable,
unit which can easily
With stable
grow too large for its immediate resources.
the household must be near the land it works.
If its memberships
agriculture,
it must ultimately
break up because the land required for sustenance
increases,
will be too distant.
When the household does break up, usually at the death
of the male head, it does so by the separation
of its nuclear families.40
Aceven when the nuclear family forms part of a joint household,
it is
cordingly,
not only as a separate unit but also as one that may in the future
visualized
A widow's remarriage to one of her husband's
have its own independent residence.
indewithin the household would conflict
with this idea of potential
relatives
It would inextricably
It would require
merge two nuclear families.
pendence.
of the sibling
rather
polygyny and would emphasize the solidarity
relationship
than the father-son
relation
so central to the independent joint household.
Stable agrarian societies
not only forbid the widow to marry within the
of her husband's kin but also often frown on her marrying anyone at all.
circle
This additional
seems likewise
to be explicable
in structural
terms.
prejudice
For the widow to marry outside would require that some agency make a match for
are arranged by persons
her, because marriages in traditional
agrarian societies
to the union.
other than the parties
is no
However, her family of orientation
for her.
The family of her deceased husband is restrained
longer responsible
from taking the responsibility
for several reasons.
It would, in seeking a mate
for the widow, have to treat her as a daughter, which might interfere
with the
rights of the actual daughters.
Furthermore, since she is a widow and is older,
she has become less valuable than upon her first marriage, so that it is difficult to get her married at a social
level reflecting
on the family's
favorable
If the widow has children,
her marriage outside the immediate kin
prestige.
from them. It is thus understandable
would require her separation
why traditional agrarian societies,
where the joint household is normally
especially
a prejudice
should exhibit
Such unions
against widow remarriage.
preferred,
do occur, particularly
in the lower classes
which cannot carry out the
certainly
but the prejudice
joint family ideal,
may be strong enough to prevent a high
(39)
E. E. Evans-Pritchard,
pp. 112-123.
(40)
For mention of the joint household's

vulnerability
sequent fissive
tendency, see Murdock, op. cit.,
Kinship
and Marriage
among the Nuer, Oxford,

to change and its
p. 36.

1951,
con-
DEVELOPENTAND CULTURAL
ECONOMIC
CHANGE
229
In India the caste

from remarrying.41
of widows in the upper classes
proportion
widow remarriage.
those of the joint household in preventing
reinforce
controls
and since marriSince such unions are thought to lower the caste's
prestige,
to a remarriage are condemned.
age is endogamous within the caste, both parties
due to widow agamy is probably greater
For this reason the reduction of fertility
because of the early age at marin India than in any other country, especially
there.
riage and the high mortality
Number 11.
Voluntary
Control
over Foetal
Mortality
foetal mortality,
have few means for lessening
Underdeveloped societies
such
for increasing
available
but they do have readily
means, through abortion,
in pre-industrial
In fact,
abortion is widely practiced
societies,
mortality.
Since medical
means of limiting
fertility.42
being the individual's
principal
do not, at least as yet, have as much influmeasures to avoid foetal mortality
as voluntary
abortion can and does, we can say that whether
ence on fertility
11 dewith respect to variable
has a plus or minus fertility-value
a society
some
abortion.
on the extent to which it practices
Accordingly,
pends primarily
abortion and pracare on the "plus" side (forbidding
societies
pre-industrial
abortion
but many others are on the "minus" side (practicing
it little)
ticing
is
with conception
to a considerable
If we grant that interference
extent).
with pregnancy, an important questhan interference
le3 s hazardous to health
used in underdeveloped
tion for us is why abortion is so much more frequently
than contraception.
sc ieties
one can point to the following
In answering this question,
(a) as compared to mechanical and chemical means of contraception,
considerations:
abortion is
(41)
Levy, op. cit.,

p. 46, points out that although the Chinese gentry have
the peasants have usually practiced
always frowned on widow remarriage,
if a peasant widow was young and lacked grown sons, remarIn fact,
it.
As the peasantry is said to comprise as much as
riage was inevitable.
of
is hardly characteristic
80% of the population
(p. 44), widow celibacy
set the ideals for the entire
China as a whole, although gentry patterns
between gentry and peasantry,
society.
Olga Lang, without distinguishing
New
says that remarriage is frowned on. Chinese Family and Society,
She says (p. 126) that poor men often marry widows
Haven, 1946, p. 53.
because they are easier to get than virgins.
Any divorcee or widow can
With reto marry beneath her status.
find a husband if she is willing
in China, it is integard to the absence of anything like the levirate
to note that Miss Lang says (p. 21) that "early in the feudal
resting
period, under the Chou dynasty (ca. 1027-256 B. C.), the clan began to
divide into economic families."
Today, even in the South where clans
in family matters.
are of some importance,
they have no real authority
of clan
The strongest
clans in Central and North China lack the essential
a fair amount of common property (pp. 177-178).
life,
(42)
Ford, op. cit.,

pp. 50-51, found that most of his tribes took cognizance
and
stated to be forbidden,
In eleven it was specifically
of abortion.
in 21 it was permitted to
to be forbidden;
in eight it could be inferred
and in 4 this could be inthe young girl who finds herself
pregnant,
ferred to be the case; and in 12 a married woman was allowed to practice
that she had become pregnant through an adulterabortion if she believed
societies
Himes regards abortion as widespread in primitive
ous intrigue.
A recent study by George Devereaux, Abortion in Pri(op. cit.,
p. 52).
New York, 1955, pp. 25-26, cites cases of tribes where
mitive Society,
abortion is quite frequent.

SOCIAL STRJCTUREAND FERTILITY
230
to such non-chemico-mechanical
methods
(b) In contrast
technically
simple;43
or coitus inter femora, abortion is not applied at the
as coitus interruptus
and does not require cooperation
time of intercourse
between man and woman. It
is a woman's method and can be practiced
without the man's knowledge.
(c) Unit is completely
like contraception,
effective.
(d) Once an undesired pregnancy
has occurred,
the need for abortion is certain,
whereas at the time of intercourse there is always the chance that pregnancy will not eventuate anyway.
(e) Although a child may be desired at the time of intercourse,
subsequent events
is a
at which time abortion rather than contraception
may alter this attitude,
remedy.
is not dealt with as an inteA note on infanticide.
Although infanticide
one should note
because it does not affect fertility,
gral part of our analysis
of abortion in controlling
a functional
that it is virtually
family
equivalent
and that it too is practiced
much
widely in pre-industrial
size,
societies,
The rationale
more so than contraception.
for its use is much the same as that
in at least three respects.
for abortion,
but it does differ
from the latter
infanticide
allows the progeny to be selected
First,
by sex, as shown by the
The logic of this practice
custom of female infanticide.
is exemplified
by the
Netsilik
Eskimos:
The most glaring consequence of the struggle
for existence
is manifested
in the way in which they try to breed the greatest
number of boys
possible
and the fewest possible
if they have
are killed
at birth,
girls...girls
not already been promised to a family where there is a son who some day is
to have a wife...They
hold the view that if a woman is to suckle a girl
child it will be two or three years before she may expect her next conhunter must take into consideration
that he can only subject
finement...A
himself and his constitution
for comparatively
few years to all the strain
that hunting demands...Now if he has sons, they will as a rule be able to
Thus it
step in and help just when his own physique is beginning to fail.
is life's
own inexorability
that has taught them the necessity
of having
as many sons as possible.
Only by that means may they be certain that they
will not need to put the rope around their own neck too early; for it is
the common custom that old people, who can no longer keep themselves,
prefer to put an end to their life by hanging...44
the persistence
of the immemorial custom of female infanOlga Lang discusses
ticide
in China.
The hospital
records used for her study "contained matter-offact references
to infanticide
made by Chinese social
and medical workers
that it was taken for granted.
Much more often, however, infant
indicating
What happens is that the small amount
daughters have not been killed
outright.
of food available
for the family is unequally distributed:
the son gets the
Hence the frequent
starved.
larger share and the daughters are practically
than of boys."45
Much the same
epidemics have taken a heavier toll of girls
could be said of India.
also allows
Second, infanticide
status, weeding out thosewith
physical
the offspring
to be selected
according
or unacceptable
deformities,
badhealth,
to
(43)
Premature labor can be induced by killing

the foetus.
This can be done
or massaging the abdomen; by drinking poisons or
by beating,
pressing,
the foetus or amniotic sac with
strong emetics or laxatives;
by piercing
or by wearing a tight belt.
See Ford, o.
sharp reeds or instruments;
p. 52; Devereaux, op. cit.,
cit.,
pp. 27-42.
(44)
Knud Rasmussen,
(45)
Lang,
op. cit.,
The Netsilik
Eskimos,
Copenhagen,
1931, pp. 139-140.
p. 150.

ECONOMIC
AND CULTURAL
CHANGE
DEVELOPMENT
231
when the ciror racial

characteristics.46
Third, it can be practiced
physical
to be abnormal and ritualistically
cumstances of birth are considered
taboo.
or with teeth, infants whose mothers died
Twins, children born with feet first
and offspring
born on unlucky days are typical
at their birth,47
victims.48
obFourth, whereas abortion may injure the health of the mother, infanticide
does not.
viously
of infanticide
A disadvantage
may seem to be that since a child has already been born, a living person is being killed.
However, the newborn child is
until he has passed through some sort of
often not viewed as a member of society
of the child to the father
ceremony (amphidromia in ancient Greece, presentation
The destruction
of the child is therefore
in China) which defines him as such.
in much the same light as abortion.
viewed psychologically
Number 4.
Voluntary
Abstinence
within
Unions
much more, on the average, in preAbstinence within unions is practiced

on ferthan in industrial
The effect
of such abstinence
industrial
societies.
for there are at least four types
however, depends on the circumstances;
tility,
The first
and menstrual.
of restriction--post-partum,
occasional,
gestational,
two types tend to limit fertility,
while the last two, if they have any effect
at all, tend to increase
it.
our own.
occurs in nearly all societies,
including
Post-partum abstinence
the way from one to
The amount of time involved,
however, varies greatly--all
to two to three years in others.
two weeks in some societies
Many pre-industrial
insist
for an arbitrary
societies
upon abstinence
period of time after birth,
In a few instances
the duration of abstiweeks or months.
for several
usually
nence is fixed by some developmental
stage of the child--e.
g., when the baby
In many cases the taboo on
first
crawls, sits up, walks, or cuts its teeth.
coitus extends through the lactation
period, which may last two to three years.49
of course, represents
a loss of fertility,
because
Not all of the time involved,
for a time after parturition.
is often delayed or occurs sporadically
ovulation
It is only when the period of abstinence
extends to two months or more that a
loss of fertility
can be assumed, although even then it may not be quite commensurate with the amount of time covered.
These longer periods,
though found
in primitive
and peasant societies,50
are not customary in industrifrequently
al countries.
taboos on intercourse
Long post-partum
obviously help to space out chilsuch
dren, but this is not the reason usually given in communities that practice
a violation
of the taboo is viewed as being magically
taboos.
dangerInstead,
ous to the child or the parents.51
Such notions probably lead to the observance
Taboo: A Sociological
pp. 59-61.
(46)
Hutton Webster,
(47)
Ibid.,
(48)
to the Tanala
Linton, Study of Man, op. cit.,
pp. 194-195, with reference
to W. Lloyd Warner quoted by Himes, op. cit.,
In a letter
of Madagascar.
"I do not think that there was any idea of limiting
p. 8, Linton says:
In at least
but the losses were severe.
in it [infanticide],
population
one tribe all children born on three days in each week were killed."
(49)
Clellan S. Ford and Frank A. Beach,

York, 1951, p. 219.
(50)
Webster,
(51)
Ford and Beach,
Study,
Stanford,
1942,
pp. 59-65.
op. cit.,
Patterns
of Sexual
Behavior,
pp. 67-71.
ap. cit.,
p. 219.

New
232
AND FERTILITY
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
of the abstinence
In addition,
it should be noted that in many instances
rules.
the male has access to another wife (if he is polygynous)
or to a concubine or
other available
woman. The social
structure
may encourage observance of the
taboo in another way. lWhen, as in India, the wife customarily
goes to her parents' home to bear each of her first
two or three children and stays there for
a few months after the confinement,
the taboo is enforced with ease.
Thus the
in one study reported post-partum abstinence
fact that 80~ of Indian villagers
of six months or more indicates
a significant
loss of fertility
from this cause.
cause.52
Doubtless similar or greater losses
occur in many other agrarian societies.
The "occasional"
restrictions
on sexual intercourse
are those occurring
in connection with regular holidays
and special
tabooed days of the
ceremonies,
The
etc.).53
week, and important communal tasks (war, economic undertakings,
exact amount of time lost to reproduction
in this way has seldom been calcubut the Indian field study just cited found that the average number of
lated,
reasons was 24 per year in a rural village,
days of avoidance for religious
while in a middle class housing project
it was 19.54
If these days occur spomuch loss of fertility,
because they are pracradically,
they hardly represent
but in many socitically
comprised within the normal frequency of intercourse;
the abstentions
eties
extend over substantial
"The natives
of the
periods.
a part of the Caroline group, proscribe
Mortlock Islands,
any sexual intercourse
in time of war; a man who violated
the rule would die a sudden death.
During
the fishing
season, which lasts for six to eight weeks, every Yap fisherman is
are very strictly
tabooed to him..."55
subject to many restrictions...Women
In contrast
to post-partum and "occasional"
taboos on coitus,
gestational
abstinence
cannot diminish fertility.
The only question is whether
obviously
it may slightly
increase
Most societies
intercourse
fertility.
during
proscribe
some part, but seldom during all or even the major portion,
of the gestation
Only seven of the primitive
period.
groups in Ford's sample extended the taboo
to the greater part of the period.56
Usually it is toward the end of the pregIf intercourse
nancy that the prohibition
during the later stages
applies.
induces miscarriage
or causes puerperal infection,
as is sometimes
occasionally
then the taboo may enhance fertility,
but only slightly.
claimed,57
the almost universal
of coitus during menstruation
Similarly,
prohibition
can have little
or no negative
effect
on fertility.
Such abstention,
when fertilization
is least likely,
tends to concentrate
sexual activity
in the more
fertile
In some pre-industrial
the taboo
cultures
part of the menstrual cycle.
is extended for a few days after the menstrual flow has ceased (as among the
ancient Hebrews), which has the effect
of concentrating
coital
still
activity
more directly
on the days when conception
is most likely.
(52)
C. Chandrasekaran, "Cultural Patterns

in Relation
to Family Planning in
of the Third International
Conference on Planned ParIndia", Proceedings
enthood, 1952, Bombay, p. 78.
(53)
Ford, Comparative Study of Human Reproduction,

op. cit.,
ster,
pp. 132-139.
(54)
Chandrasekaran,
(55)
Webster,
(56)
Ford,
op. cit.,
(57)
Ibid.,
p. 49.
o.
cit.,
op. cit.,
op. cit.,
pp. 28-29.
p. 78.
p. 134.
p. 48.

Web-
ECONOMIC
CHANGE
DEVELOPMENT
AND CULTURAL
233
and peasant societies

On the whole, primitive
appear to have a greater
abstinence
loss through intra-marital
number 4) than do
(variable
fertility
more post-partum and "occasional"
industrial
societies.
They have considerably
of these in inhibiting
and the effect
is not fully
abstinence,
reproduction
societies
also occasionally
counterbalanced
by the fact that underdeveloped
taboos (which may slightly
have longer menstrual and gestational
enhance fertility).
The Other Intermediate
Variables
There remain four variables--number

10 (which usually has a low fertilityand numbers 5, 6, and 7 (which seem indetervalue in non-industrial
societies)
minate in their values).
All four of these variables
appear not to be clearly
in different
determined by institutional
If there is any
cultures.
patterns
in their fertility-values
as between one type of society
difference
and another,
the difference
seems to be more a function
of the general level of living
than
of the specific
institutional
structures.
Perhaps one clue to this circumstance
lies in the fact that three of the four variables
(10, 5, and 7) are defined as
in the sense of not being under control and hence not amenable to
involuntary
The other variable
motivational
determination.
(number 6, frequency of coitus),
is possibly
too private
and too linked
control,
though subject to individual
to be culturally
controlled.
up with organic capacity
With respect to number 10--foetal
from involuntary
causes--we
mortality
is generally
low in pre-industrial
have said that the fertility-value
societies;
that stillbirth
because the data available
indicate
rates are greater in such
is tentative,
because adequate comparative
societies.
However, the conclusion
does not exist for miscarriage
information
rates.
Number 5--involuntary
varies according to several
abstinence--presumably
In so far as health or sickness
the nonfactors.
may be involved,
disparate
a higher degree of such abstinence.
industrial
peoples would probably exhibit
The same inference
might be drawn with regard to impotency, except that this
is often caused by psychological
determinants
condition
which may be more prevalent in industrial
Another cause of involuntary
the
cultures.
abstinence,
of couples due to migration,
would seem to vary according to the
separation
of the society.
circumstances
historical
particular
Except under conditions
of European contact,
mobilindividual
indigenous
groups apparently have little
these divergent
influences
abstinence
can
Clearly,
ity.
affecting
involuntary
It is therefore
run counter to each other.
to claim, for this varidifficult
between societies.
overall
differences
We are also handiable, any consistent
has been
capped by an almost total lack of data, for no comparative information
with this issue in mind.
collected
of intercourse--possibly
Variable number 6--frequency
favors fertility
more in underdeveloped
than in industrial
But at best the evidence
societies.
for this view is indirect,
drawn solely from a few advanced societies
where
coital
frequency appears greater among the manual than among the sedentary
Such direct evidence as we have supports no view at all.
classes.
Average
on "coital
figures
frequency" given in the literature,
usually stated as so
many times per week, are ambiguous, because it is unclear whether they mean
because of sickevery week or only those weeks when coitus is not impossible
or other taboos, etc.
ness, absence, menstrual,
Also, the comparative frequencited in the literature
are fantastic
from one
showing variations
cy figures
to another that are wholly inexplicable.58
We have found no reliable
society
(58)
Thus Ford and Beach report as an apparent

as often as three
tralia have intercourse
fact that "the Aranda of Ausor five times nightly,

sleeping

234
AND FERTILITY
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
for comparable age groups

evidence that the average frequency of intercourse
none
as between one society
and another, and certainly
varies significantly
variations
factor in inter-societal
that this is a significant
which indicates
in fertility.
we again have
number 7 (involuntary
to variable
With respect
sterility)
of life
in pre-industrial
societies
The hard conditions
little
evidence.
may
or absolute sterility--paramount of low fecundity
give rise to a considerable
in the latter
ticularly
part of the woman's reproductive
span; and in given invenereal disease may have
after contact with highly civilized
stances,
peoples,
a pronounced effect
On the other hand, the nervous tension and
of this sort.
tend to
modes of life in urban-industrial
artificial
may possibly
populations
to some extent.
lower fecundity
of the four intermediate
the comparative fertility-values
variPatently,
are unknown. Not only is evidence lacking,
but there is
ables just discussed
no sound line of reasoning by which the behavior of these variables
can be
At most, there may be some
institutional
linked up with specific
patterns.
in each case with the general level of living.
The evidence for
connection
this is best with respect to number 10, but the other three must be left for
the time being as indeterminate.
Conclusion:
The General
Pattern
must first
of institutional
factors
in fertility
Any analysis
explain
in general have a higher rate
societies
the well known fact that underdeveloped
The explanation,
in brief,
is that
than industrial
of reproduction
societies.
in the face of high mortality,
have had to develop
the pre-industrial
peoples,
which would give them sufficient
to
an institutional
organization
reproduction
at this level does not carry us very far.
In order
survive.
However, analysis
of institutional
one needs to break down the reto study the effects
factors,
the various mechanisms
so as to distinguish
clearly
process itself
productive
fertilthrough which, and only through which, any social factor can influence
In trying to do this, we have found eleven "intermediate
variables".
ity.
it can be seen that the generally
is made along those lines,
When analysis
high
of underdeveloped
areas does not mean that these areas encourage
fertility
in every respect.
As we have seen, they do not have high plus
high fertility
values on all the intermediate
variables.
Why, then, do they have low values
in some respects
and not in others?
It is possible
to discern a systematic
difference
between underdeveloped
In general,
and developed societies
to the eleven variables.
with reference
for those variables
the pre-industrial
societies
have high fertility-values
farthest
removed from the actual moment of parturition
and which, therefore,
to fertility.
outlook favorable
To a much greater degree
imply an overall
than industrial
societies,
they tend to encourage early exposure to intercourse
a far younger age at marriage and a higher proportion married.
--exhibiting
between each sex act", and that for Chagga men "intercourse
ten times in
a single night is not unusual".
Nothing is said about how these bizarre
are gathered,
statistics
or about what age groups in the population
are
The authors say simply, "it is reported that", or "it
being considered.
is not unusual that", etc.
Such reports are all the more questionable
since societies
are said to
apparently with a similar level of living
have extremely different
at "once a week" or "once or twice
figures--some
a week"--without
of why they should be so low and others
any explanation
fifteen
or twenty times as high.
Op. cit.,
pp. 78-79.

ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
ANDCULTURAL
CHANGE
235
by delaying or avoiding the formation

They thus lose little potential fertility
tend to enjoin more
of unions. After unions have been formed, these societies
abstinence than industrial societies
do (and therefore have lower values on
variable number 4), but such "sexual fasting" arises from religious and magical
motives rather than as a deliberate fertility
control measure, and it does not
appear to be great enough to have a substantial negative effect on fertility.
also have high fertility-values
for the concepUnderdeveloped societies
tion variables.
They practice little
contraception and virtually no sterilization.
Consequently, the tendency is to postpone the issue of controlling pregnancy until a later point in the reproductive process, which means that when a
couple wishes to avoid children, those methods nearest the point of parturition-abortion and infanticide--are
employed. These have the advantage, in societies
living close to privation, of being nearer to the actual momentwhen the child
must be supported.
on the other hand, exhibit low fertility-values
Industrial societies,
for
those variables involving the early stages of the reproductive process, especially age at marriage, proportion married, and contraception; and they manifest
for the variables in the later stages, especially infanhigh fertility-values
It follows that for many of the variables the two types of society
ticide.
exhibit opposite values.
This is true for age of entry into unions, permanent
celibacy, voluntary abstinence, contraception, and (if included as a variable)
It is not necessarily true of the time spent between or after
infanticide.
or of abortion; and it, of course, is not true of
unions, of sterilization,
those variables characterized as "indeterminate"--involuntary
abstinence, freBut the general contrast is
quency of coitus, or involuntary infecundity.
clear to require explanation.
sufficiently
A key to the position of the industrial societies lies in the fact that,
as compared to pre-industrial
cultures, they have achieved their lower reproducfor all the intermediate variables,
tion, not by acquiring low fertility-values
but by singling out particular ones as the means to that result.
They took those
which involved the least institutional
organization
and re-organization and which involved the least human cost.
In the secular decline of the birth rate they relied more heavily on the mere postponement of
marriage than on non-marriage. They relied less on abstinence, which makes heavy
demands on the individual, and more on contraception and abortion, which do not.
They dropped infanticide altogether and, in the later stages, tended to reduce
In other words, they have undertaken to lower fertility,
abortion.
not primarily
was
by extending further the negative effect of the variables by which fertility
lowered in the pre-industrial
stage, but by using readily available institutional
mechanisms with respect to marriage and by employing the possibilities
of their
advanced technology for conception control.
Marital postponement was easily extended in the early and middle stages of industrialization
because the basis for
it already existed in Western society and because contraception and relatively
safe abortion freed those who married late from the necessity of premarital celibacy. Gradually, in the late stages of industrial development, contraception has
on the other varigained such predominance that it has made low fertility-values
ables (including abortion and late marriage) unnecessary.
Kingsley Davis
Judith Blake
University
of California


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Social Structure and Fertility: An Analytic Framework

Author(s): Kingsley Davis and Judith Blake

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AND FERTILITY: AN ANALYTICFRAMEWORK

three necessary steps sufficiently

these can all

This content downloaded from 201.174.75.10 on Wed, 9 Oct 2013 18:16:17 PM

are broken by death of husband.

of women never entering

is not confined to wedlock, the term "sexual

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It is clear that any cultural

The reader will note that our list

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It should, of course, be mentioned that cultural

Patterns and the Intermediate

From the standpoint

Age of entry into unions.

High or Low Values

3a. Time between unstable unions.

for which he had information,

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with strong clan or joint-household

in 70 per cent of our cases.

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SOCIAL STRUCIUREAND FERTILITY

and the economic

K. H. Connell, The Population

E. g., Conrad M. Arensberg and Solon

Oxford, 1936, p. 91. Cf. James

Family and Community in

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George C. Homans, English

shows a retarded age

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ideal one in traditional

If late marriage can have a minus effect

Marion J. Levy, Jr., The Family Revolution

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would have been apif late marriage had been eliminated

of the human species,

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late age at marriage and a high proporBecause Ireland has an unusually

to Malthus, New York, 1953, pp. 27-54, shrewdly

In 1949 the proportion

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rule has been almost solely

to account for this result.

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Once again let us note

the postponement nor the total abjuthat neither

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today is required to use either method as a dominant means of controlsociety

Use or Non-Use of Contraception

Norman E. Himes, Medical History of Contraception,

Also see M. Soors,

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burden and danger of

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of the two sexes is often carried so far that comThe social

Like chemical and mechanical contraception,

modern science makes harmless sterilization

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