Barren States
Category=JHBD
Category=NHD
Category=NHTB
Category=YPA
comparative family policy
demographic transition theory
East German Women
Eastern German Women
Eastern Germany
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eq_history
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eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
European fertility decline case studies
Family Allocations
Family Benefits
French Family Policy
gender roles demography
Good Lives
Great Famine
humanity
implosion
Large Family
low fertility
Lowest Low Fertility
Modern Families
Nizhni Novgorod
Overseas Departments
population ageing Europe
Postsocialist Bulgaria
Postsocialist Generation
Prenatal Care Appointment
qualitative fertility research
Replacement Level Fertility
Reproductive Life Stage
social implications childlessness
Social Reproduction
southern Europe
Triple Filter
West German
West German Women
West Germany
West Hospital
Young Men
Product details
- ISBN 9781845200497
- Weight: 399g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 01 Jan 2005
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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The fertility rate has dramatically declined across Europe in recent years. Globally, over sixty-four countries have fallen below generation replacement levels and countries in eastern and southern Europe are registering the lowest birth rates in the history of humanity. Demographers emphasize that these developments could have serious repercussions for society and public policy - from a projected drastic loss of national population numbers to labor shortages and a swelling population of over-65s. Typically, analysts have approached the issue of low fertility quantitatively and from state levels. As a result, most research tends to elide any nuanced understanding of this significant trend. Filling a major gap, this timely book goes well beyond existing studies to investigate how people experience, understand and speak about what is called "low fertility." On the individual level, is there such a thing? How do people understand their choices and the perceived limitations on their lives? What is the meaning of motherhood for women today? How has the definition of "family" changed? What are the particularities of fertility decline in each country? And, perhaps most importantly, what does this tendency toward fewer births mean to the women and men who ultimately become demographic statistics? Offering new readings and a much deeper understanding of Europe's decline in fertility, this exciting book adds the voices of everyday people to previous state-centered studies. Overturning a number of assumptions, case studies show that having fewer children is often understood positively in Europe as a means to freedom and self-empowerment. Anyone wishing to understand what low fertility means to the people who live it will find this book essential reading.
Carrie B. Douglass is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Spanish at the Mary Baldwin College, USA
