Ron Lesthaeghe

Cultural Dynamics and Economic Theories of Fertility Change

The Maslowian theory of the articulation of higher order needs was correlated to the classic economic utility theory and additional ecological theories concerning cultural mobility were considered. The notions of individuation embourgeoisement and civil religion form the foundation of interpretation of changes in Western family formation. The operationalization of these concepts was described and a model of ideational change was proposed. The model of ideational change is cohort-and education-driven; a period-cohort interaction is recognized that may capture the dialectics of idealization and subsequent disenchantment with institutional regulation. The two most salient features of Western ideational change have been the precesses of secularization and individuation. A value scale used exerted a marked impact on the proportion of young women currently cohabiting (or sharing). In Belgium Denmark France and Germany with sharing a minor confounding factor large deviations from the grand mean persisted after control for age and the two variables capturing material circumstance. Agnostics postmaterialists world citizens and nonconformists in familial matters exhibited 7-14% more nonmarital cohabitation at ages 18-29 than the average (23% among women not living with parents). Conversely young women with regular church attendance materialists nationalists and conformists fell 7-17% short of the grand mean. When Ireland United Kingdom the Netherlands which have more sharing or Italy and Spain with unknown proportions of sharing were included the deviations from the overall mean were only slightly attenuated for the religiosity and nonconformism scales. It was documented that cultural changes are not unstructured or simply endogenous. The individuation process has continued to progress despite the degradation of economic opportunities for young adults in Western Europe. The Durkheimian dimension of social integration via the acceptance or refutation of institutional regulation had a direct relationship to changes in family formation family distribution and procreation during the postwar period.

From the First to the Second Demographic Transition: An Interpretation of the Spatial Continuity of Demographic Innovation in France, Belgium and Switzerland

This article links spatialindicators of two demographic innovation wavesto historical and contemporary covariates ofboth a socio-economic and a cultural nature. The two waves of innovation correspond to theso-called “first” and “second” demographictransitions (FDT, SDT), respectively. Aconnection is made between the emergence ofspatial demographic patterns and A.J. Coalesthree preconditions for innovation, i.e. “readiness”, “willingness” and “ability”(RWA-model) and to the influence of networks inshaping relatively stable regional subcultures. Since the RWA-model is of the “bottleneck” type, it is expected that the slowest moving ormost resistant condition will largely determinethe spatial outcome of the two demographictransitions. In the instances of Frenchdépartements, Belgian arrondissements andSwiss cantons, clear statistical associationsemerge between indicators of both FDT and SDTand cultural indicators. This suggests thatthe “willingness” condition, as reflected inregional subcultures, has been the dominantbottleneck in both waves of demographicinnovation. The Swiss evidence is, however,weaker than that for France and Belgium,despite the fact that, here too, associationsare in the expected direction.

Reproduction and social organization in sub-Saharan Africa

Unlike most Asian and Latin American countries, sub-Saharan Africa has seen both an increase in population growth rates and a weakening of traditional patterns of child-spacing since the 1960s. It is tempting to conclude that sub-Saharan countries have simply not reached adequate levels of income, education, and urbanization for a fertility decline to occur. This book argues, however, that such a socioeconomic threshold hypothesis will not provide an adequate basis for comparison. These authors take the view that any reproductive regime is also anchored to a broader pattern of social organization, including the prevailing modes of production, rules of exchange, patterns of religious systems, kinship structure, division of labor, and gender roles. They link the characteristic features of the African reproductive regime with regard to nuptiality, polygyny, breastfeeding, postpartum abstinence, sterility, and child-fostering to other specifically African characteristics of social organization and culture. Substantial attention is paid to the heterogeneity that prevails among sub-Saharan societies and considerable use is made, therefore, of interethnic comparisons. As a result the book goes considerably beyond mere demographic description and builds bridges between demography and anthropology or sociology.

On the social control of human reproduction.

Most societies control fertility and population growth to some degree through basic institutional arrangements that support the functioning of the social system as a whole. This article tries to specify these arrangements to establish their raison detre and to document the ways in which the nature of the fertility transition is contingent upon changes in the normative code and the system of social control. Drawing on the record for historical Western Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa it considers first the linkages between appropriation of resources patterns of social control risk-sharing devolution and demographic checks in pretransitional setting and then proceeds to examine these variables in the context of demographic transition. (Authors) (Summaries in ENG FRE SPA)

Child-spacing in tropical Africa : traditions and change

This collection of papers by various authors focuses on the demographic consequences of current child-spacing patterns and trends in tropical Africa and on the socioeconomic and cultural environment that underpins traditional practices and differential changes in these practices. The most prevalent traditional practices namely prolonged breast-feeding and postpartum abstinence are discussed and shifts occurring as a result of modernization are analyzed. The book is based on studies conducted primarily in the 1970s. (ANNOTATION)

On theory development: applications to the study of family formation.

The field of demography has benefitted from its opening up to the paradigms used in other social sciences. That opening has turned modern demography into a sort of multicultural society in which the different cultures benefit from each other. Demographers do however sometimes retrench and isolate themselves from outside influences. Lakatos strategy of progressive problem shifts is considered as a way of avoiding a war of paradigms and integrating the varied elements and influences now found within demography. Furthermore while we can also go beyond the anchored narratives approach such narratives will remain key intermediate steps since they provide partial theories ready for inclusion into a broader new theory. No overarching theory in the social sciences can be mono-paradigmatic or mono-causal. It must therefore be located at a higher level of generality but in such a way that it remains flexible enough to permit more rigorously formulated specifications created to fit historical experiences and their variation.

The Nuptiality Regimes in Sub-Saharan Africa

While in historical Europe the modernization of marriage patterns proved to be a correlate of the fertility transition in sub-Saharan Africa the awaited nuptiality transition has been slow. In several instances no change in age at 1st marriage has been detected and in others it has been reduced to more plausible proportions. In the majority of countries with at least 2 comparable censuses and age schedules of proportions single rises in age at marriage were detected but the orders of magnitude are mostly comprised between 6 and 12 months per decade. Whenever there was a rise in the age at 1st marriage it occurred for both sexes. The age differences between the spouses at 1st marriage therefore remains the same which is consistent with the finding that polygyny has not significantly declined. The main feature that may have undergone change is the form of partner selection. Fragmentary evidence suggests that partner selection may have become a matter of greater personal choice. The main correlate of higher ages at 1st marriage both for individuals and regional or ethnic aggregates is the level of female education. Higher levels of female schooling in sub-Saharan Africa are also strongly related to the penetration of Christianity and low levels remain typical of Islamic populations. The effects of traditional social organization variables are still clearly detectable. They operate either directly or indirectly (via education) on various components of the nuptiality regime. A 3rd major factor needs to be taken into account: labor migration and sex-ratio distortion. Aside from substantial measurement error age- sex- and marital status-selective migration distort the functioning of traditional nuptiality systems. These 3 main clusters of influences namely those associated with education traditional social organization and migration only offer a partial explanation of regional and ethnic nuptiality patterns. A possible avenue for further research is the more extensive and varied measurement of indicators of the social and economic position of women.

The second demographic transition: A concise overview of its development

Significance At the end of the historical declines in both mortality and fertility (the “first demographic transition”), new demographic phenomena developed in the Western World. Therefore, new theoretical frameworks were needed to explain features such as the baby bust, the systematic postponement of marriage and parenthood, subreplacement fertility, the rise of alternative forms of partnerships, and parenthood outside marriage. The “second demographic transition” (SDT) theory is such an attempt. Although it accepts the major tenets of bounded rational economic choice, it also allows for autonomous preference drift by relying on Maslow’s theory of shifting needs. As such, an essentially cultural component is being added. This article gives a concise overview of the theoretical development of the concept of the “second demographic transition” since it was coined in 1986, its components, and its applicability, first to European populations and subsequently also to non-European societies as well. Both the demographic and the societal contrasts between the first demographic transition (FDT) and the second demographic transition (SDT) are highlighted. Then, the major criticisms of the SDT theory are outlined, and these issues are discussed in the light of the most recent developments in Europe, the United States, the Far East, and Latin America. It turns out that three major SDT patterns have developed and that these evolutions are contingent on much older systems of kinship and family organization.

Nuptiality and population growth.

Abstract In the European historical experience, nuptiality patterns played a very significant role in the development of low fertility. Late marriage and widespread celibacy provided one of the mechanisms by which age-specific fertility rates were brought to low levels in the populations of Western Europe. In Eastern and Central Europe on the other hand, where marriage customarily occurred earlier and was more nearly universal, a somewhat slower fertility transition was achieved through a reduction in marital fertility - without any drastic accompanying nuptiality change. Populations of developing countries, however, commonly exhibit nuptiality patterns characterized by a still higher incidence and a considerably younger age-pattern of marriage than even the earliest observed schedule from Eastern Europe. With few exceptions, little work has been done to date to examine the implications of these very early and universal marriage schedules for fertility in general and for the growth of these populations in particular.(1) We have therefore tried to analyse the impact of nuptiality on the fertility and growth of a series of populations from developing nations where extra-marital fertility is negligible. Populations in which the prevalence of cohabitation by age is not well documented by existing marital-status data (mainly those in Latin America and tropical Africa) are excluded from this analysis; an attempt will be made in later work, however, to extend the analysis to these populations.

Living Arrangements, Socio-Economic Position, and Values Among Young Adults: A pattern description for Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and West-Germany, 1990

The article studies the associations between the various types of living arrangements of young adults (living with parents, living alone, cohabiting, marriage) and a large set of value orientations pertaining to religiosity, politics, civil morality, gender roles, and education values. Socio-economic characteristics and age are control variables. The selection processes (values codetermine choices in living arrangements) and affirmation (living arrangement codetermines values) are discussed, together with the need to collect panel data instead of proceeding with repeated surveys.