The European Experience of Declining Fertility, 1850-1970: The Quiet Revolution.

Abstract

Part 1 The debate about European fertility decline: theories of fertility decline - a non-specialist's guide to the current debate, George Alter. Part 2 Family and gender: gender and fertility decline among the British middle classes, John Gillis mothers and the state in Britain, 1904-1914, Ellen Ross men's marital rights and women's wifely duties - changing conjugal relations in the fertility decline, Wally Secombe the sexual politics of reproduction, Angus McLaren the contours of childhood - demography, strategy and mythology of childhood in French and German lower class autobiographies, Mary Jo Maynes. Part 3 Community and class: population, change, labour markets and working class militancy - the regions around Birmingham and St Etienne, 1840-1880, Michael Hanagan going forward in reverse gear - culture, economy and political economy in the demographic transition of a Sicilian rural town, Jane Schneider and Peter Schneider the history of migration and fertility decline - the view from the road, Leslie Page Moch occupation and social class during fertility decline - historical perspectives, Michael Haines exploring a case of late French fertility decline - two contrasted Breton examples, Martine Segalen. Part 4 State and politics: constructing families, shaping women's lives - the making of Italian families between market economy and state interventions, Chiare Saraceno demographic nationalism in Western Europe, 1870-1960, Susan Cotts Watkins war, family and fertility in 20th century Europe, Jay Winter safety in numbers - social welfare legislation and fertility decline in Western Europe, Lynn Lees. Part 5 Postscript: movements in time - an historian's context of declining fertility, David Levine.