David I. Kertzer

Anthropological demography : toward a new synthesis

The chapters in this volume are substantially revised versions of papers originally presented at the Brown University Conference on Anthropological Demography November 3-5 1994.... This volume is motivated by a sense that the time is ripe for a reconsideration and renewal of past achievements together with the development of a new synthesis in the relationship between anthropology and demography.... The contributions take various and not always reconcilable points of view. The opening chapters for example illustrate that the foundations of demographic engagement with anthropology in issues of kinship social organization and the formation of domestic groups are as alive and valid today as in the past. Subsequent chapters expand on standard demographic concepts by demonstrating the role of anthropology in rethinking their cross-cultural validity. Some chapters more critically evaluate the relationship between demography and anthropology with reference to their epistemological roots while others apply specific frameworks from the general anthropological and theoretical literature to demographic issues. (EXCERPT)

Census and Identity: Censuses, identity formation, and the struggle for political power

The past decade has seen a great outpouring of interest in the nature of collective identities of various kinds. Within the United States, both popular and academic interest in identities that divide the population have not only spawned heated debates but have also had substantial social consequences and public policy implications. Fueled in part by the legacy of racism and the still daunting problems of racial division, and nurtured as well by recent and ongoing waves of immigration, the issue is frequently framed in terms of “multiculturalism.” In this version, the American population is presumably divided into a fixed number of different “cultures,” each deserving of equal respect and some, perhaps, deserving of special aid. Beyond the American shores, interest in issues of collective identities, their nature, and their consequences, is scarcely less acute. Nineteenth-century theorists of nationalism – riding the Europe-wide wave of state-creation according to principles of national identity – gave way in the twentieth century to theorists who predicted that such national identity would soon be supplanted by supranational allegiances. The European Union was, for some, viewed as the very embodiment of these processes. Yet events of the recent past have sent these evolutionary internationalists into retreat and ushered in a new concern for the continuing – some would say growing – strength of national and ethnic loyalties. Moreover, from the Balkans to central Africa, ethnic conflict and violence have been interpreted as evidence that peoples collective identities do not necessarily match national borders.

Understanding Family Change and Variation: Toward a Theory of Conjunctural Action

the gaps between empirical and model-based paradigms in greater detail; some studies have already proposed frameworks for reconciling those differences (Silverman et al. 2011). As part of this drive for integration, recent developments have illustrated the potential of advanced statistical methods for the analysis of complex computational models. In particular, Gaussian process emulators, which allow for a comprehensive statistical analysis of uncertainty in such complex models, demonstrate great promise for probing the often opaque depths of simulations (Kennedy and O’Hagan 2001). Because these methods connect more directly with theory-driven simulation approaches in the social sciences, we suspect that the seemingly immutable dividing lines between modelbased science and empirical social science will start to blur significantly. We can only hope that any future survey of these developments is as in-depth and accomplished as it is in this volume. The book is vividly written and has been skilfully translated from the French by Jonathan Mandelbaum. The bibliography is impressive, with around 750 items, many of which, written in French, may not be familiar to an anglophone reader. The book also contains a brief glossary of the key terminology. On the whole, the volume is very carefully typeset, and typographical mistakes are few and minor, and mainly related to the retention of French notation in some formulae and symbols. For example, on page 78 belief function is referred to once as Bel and once as Cr [croyance?], on page 171 there is a ‘si’ instead of ‘if’, and on page 54, in the definition of plausibility, F probably refers to an empty set, ¥. A demographic purist would also probably grumble about ‘immigration rates’ and ‘net emigration rates’ (p. 203) not being rates in a proper sense owing to the problem of defining appropriate populations at risk. Still, for a volume of its size and ambition, the overall level of precision is outstanding. In sum, this book is a very welcome compendium on the history and perspectives of probability and the social sciences that can be fully recommended, especially to academics and doctoral students engaged in a quantitative social science. The main barrier to its use, and one beyond the control of the author, is the price: in September 2012, the online catalogue of Springer listed the hardcover version at £126.00 and the e-book at £119.99. A reasonably priced paperback student edition would enable a much wider audience to afford this remarkable volume. # 2013 JAKUB BIJAK and ERIC SILVERMAN University of Southampton j.bijak@soton.ac.uk e.silverman@soton.ac.uk http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00324728.2013.765163

The Family in Italy from Antiquity to the Present

In this important new book original contributions from an international panel of experts offer historical and anthropological perspectives on the Western family, focusing on family life in Italy from ancient Rome to the present. Using methods ranging from symbolic to quantitative analysis, the authors discuss a wide variety of topics, from matchmaking, marriage, and divorce to childrearing, sexual mores, and death.

Italy’s path to very low fertility: the adequacy of economic and second demographic transition theories

The deep drop of the fertility rate in Italy to among the lowest in the world challenges contemporary theories of childbearing and family building. Among high-income countries, Italy was presumed to have characteristics of family values and female labor force participation that would favor higher fertility than its European neighbors to the north. We test competing economic and cultural explanations, drawing on new nationally representative, longitudinal data to examine first union, first birth, and second birth. Our event history analysis finds some support for economic determinants of family formation and fertility, but the clear importance of regional differences and of secularization suggests that such an explanation is at best incomplete and that cultural and ideational factors must be considered.RésuméLa fécondité a baissé de façon très marquée en Italie, pour atteindre à présent un des niveaux les plus bas du monde, ce qui représente un défi pour les théories contemporaines de la procréation et de la formation des familles. Parmi les pays à revenus élevés, l’Italie disposait de caractéristiques en matière de valeurs familiales et de participation des femmes au marché du travail qui auraient dû lui permettre de bénéficier d’une fécondité plus élevée que celle des pays voisins vers le Nord. Nous testons des hypothèses économiques et culturelles, à l’aide de nouvelles données longitudinales représentatives à l’échelle nationale, nous permettant d’examiner la première union et les première et seconde naissances. L’analyse biographique que nous avons menée fournit des éléments en faveur des déterminants économiques de la formation des familles et de la fécondité, mais l’importance des différences régionales et de la sécularisation suggère que ce type d’explication est au mieux incomplet, et que des facteurs culturels et normatifs doivent être pris en considération.

Advances in Italian and Iberian Family History

In the past decade a tremendous increase in family history research in Italy, Spain and Portugal provides new insight into family processes and has many implications for generalizations regarding the course of European family history. In this article many of these new findings are detailed and their historical and theoretical implications assessed. Previous generalizations regarding Mediterranean family history are examined in light of this new evidence. Among the topics discussed are the sources and methods employed in recent research, the household formation systems operating in Italy and Iberia, the role played by inheritance norms and by dowry, changing childrear ing practices—especially as regards child abandonment, marriage patterns, the family lives of the elderly, and the impact of migration on family life. The benefits of considering certain cultural topics in understanding the course of southern European family history are also considered

The Joint Family Household Revisited: Demographic Constraints and Household Complexity in the European Past

Debates about the nature and geographical distribution of complex family households in the European past continue to animate much of the work of family history. This ar ticle criticizes the common view that demographic constraints prevented the realization of com plex family forms in western Europe. It also takes issue with recent attempts to contrast a Mediterranean household system with those found in northwestern Europe and in eastern Europe. Evidence from Italian sharecroppers in the Bologna area in the period 1861-1921 is presented and comparative evidence from eastern Europe is discussed. The important differences between stem and joint family systems are elucidated.

On the move: migration in an Italian community 1865-1921

Migration patterns in Italy during the years 1865-1921 are examined using data from the population registers of the town of Casalecchio di Reno. The focus is on population mobility as a whole which includes permanent migration temporary migration and residential mobility. Data are included on both the origins of in-migrants and the destinations of out-migrants. Changes in migration patterns over time are discussed. (ANNOTATION)

Gender Ideology and Infant Abandonment in Nineteenth-Century Italy

Gender Ideology and Infant Abandonment in Nineteenth-Century Italy Few images of Italian women are more vivid than the devoted mamma, zealously protecting her children. That image is still invoked in Italy today when people lament the decline in family values. Yet it cannot withstand historical scrutiny, as an examination of the massive dimensions of infant abandonment in Italys past makes clear. Just over a century ago, more than 33,000 Italian newborns were being abandoned every year at foundling homes which were so overrun by unwanted children that they scarcely knew what to do with them. For part of this period, over one third of all babies born in the cities of Milan and Florence were left at foundling homes. Nor was Italy exceptional in this regard, for similar mass abandonment of newborns occurred in France, Russia, Austria, Spain, Portugal, and elsewhere in the nineteenth century.1 Boswells The Kindness of Strangers has directed attention to the staggering dimensions of infant abandonment in European history.2 Yet his book deals primarily with the centuries before institutionalized means were established in western Europe to deal with abandonment. Foundling homes were built in a number of Italian cities in the fifteenth century, and this system then spread to many other European countries. Abandonment of infants

Reflections on the European marriage pattern: sharecropping and proletarianization in Casalecchio Italy 1861-1921.

Reviewed in light of evidence from the commune of Casalecchio, the Hajnal thesis and its subsequent reformulations are shown to be in need of modification. With respect to the “Mediterranean marriage pattern” (postulated by Peter Laslett), the Casalecchio evidence shows a strong patrilocal tradition of postmarital residence but not a concomitant early female age at marriage, a large spousal gap, or a small proportion of people who never marry. Moreover, marriage age remained relatively high during the period of proletarianization and the proletarian segment of the community married at much the same ages as the most traditional sharecropping population. The relationship between the impact of industrialization and marriage age in particular is therefore more complex than has been hypothesized.